Chapter 800: NO. 169: The Riddler also harmed you

NO. 169: The Riddler also harmed you

"Is Suzi classmate's medicine really just making the Aomo trainer smaller?"

At the door quite far from the sickbed, Ludaofu Xiangzheng, somewhat at a loss due to the Aomo trainer's overreaction, asked Aimu Zhiji.

Although she stays in a certain group and occasionally chimes in, she has always just observed without participating.

She even has to take responsibility to suppress anything too excessive, acting as a mediator.

This time, too, after seeing someone in the group show off, she came with the intention of rescuing, and coincidentally ran into the Aomo trainer having fainted, which further solidified her idea.

Protecting subjects is the emperor's duty; now the Aomo trainer is someone she fully acknowledges as talent, and she can't let those fellows run amok—goodness, the Aomo trainer is overly indulgent in his own duties, ending up in this state……

She met Aimu Zhiji on the road; with the emperor's information, she naturally understood her relationship with Aomo. As Student Council President, she keeps track of the recent status of current students and knows their character.

After a few words, she became a companion in rescuing the Aomo trainer, and together with the flustered Mr. Chaocang, she sent Aomo to the infirmary—only to find that upon waking, he reacted in such an over-the-top way.

So extreme that even the emperor's resilient heart felt a twinge of distress.

She had never heard Aomo utter such a tense, panicked shout before, as if even she herself were untrustworthy.

But the emperor, after all, is the emperor; that pang of distress was suppressed the next second.

She naturally saw that he was having a nightmare, even still in a state of lingering fear, and she thoughtfully summoned Aimu Zhiji to stay away with her, leaving Mr. Chaocang there to look after him while the two observed remotely.

"There must still be some effect making him fragile and sensitive? I can't even believe it..."

Looking at the little Aomo's Aimu Zhiji from afar, upon first sight she paid more attention to the other's cute feeling, a very soft little face.

But when the other woke up, she was also astonished to see an Umastar she had never seen before.

Of course, she indeed had never seen an Aomo of this age, but what she heard from the clever one was merely that the trainer's body had shrunk, with spirit and memory intact—yet the helplessness and panic upon waking were not feigned.

Even if the other forces himself to stay calm, she can tell, because she herself is also someone who forces herself that way.

It's hard to imagine that the one who usually gives composed lectures, and in person is even more steady and reliable, would have such a fragile side.

"... Perhaps the trainer really has become smaller." she thought.

"But that also means..." she unconsciously looked toward the Student Council President.

As a General Affairs Committee member, she needs to regularly attend student council meetings, and she has work-related trust in the Student Council President Ludaofu Xiangzheng.

Moreover, she realized she seemed never to know Aomo's family situation, whereas the Student Council President should have access to information about the trainer outside work—after all, handling reports, registration procedures, and even leave requests are the student council's responsibility.

Although Miss Junchnuan could also take over, that belongs to a shortcut only possible with a sufficiently good relationship.

Aomo indeed has a good relationship with the reins, but she also isn't clear; however, just like with a wrong code the program can still run, the President indeed gave her the information she wanted to hear:

"The Aomo trainer's childhood was indeed not very peaceful." Ludaofu said with some concern.

"Abandoned by his parents in an orphanage, after being adopted by his foster father he followed him to the Jiemen district; the foster father had no economic planning aside from that, and no bad habits, but lack of economic planning alone was enough to make their life impoverished."

"Look how mature he seems now; as a child he endured how much hardship."

But that probably shouldn't have reached such a point, right? Ludaofu looked far away at the boy who had just awakened, doubting in his heart.

Believing in the Xiangzheng family's information capabilities, they could gather all data on him over the past 19 years, even yearly and monthly photos, even if just screenshots from camera footage.

And among those, there probably wasn't any such loss of composure as before.

What exactly did he dream of? Or perhaps he experienced something somewhere he didn't notice?

No matter what, the current Aomo trainer absolutely needs protection.

She thought that in her heart.

"..." and remaining silent without speaking, merely looking toward Aomo's direction, Aimu Zhiji hugged her shoulders as if feeling cold.

She decided she still ought to treat the trainer better.

Even her sister Sang nearby thought the same.

——

Nightmares are a common physiological phenomenon.

And frequent nightmares are a sleep disorder, often linked to childhood experiences, traumatic events, living environment, and personality traits.

Of course, it might also be a sign that illness is impending or already here.

Aomo feels that if he really wanted to investigate, there would be too many problems.

After all, his childhood experiences aren't optimistic, and theoretically there are traumatic events, such as traveling and the death of his foster father, etc.

Of course, this actually isn't that impactful, after all, although he died, the insurance pieced together the character fragments quite completely.

Now they can still be seen jumping around on screen, and even point fingers at the adopted son for fraudulently obtaining an ID.

As for the living environment aspect, his life looks fulfilling, but actually being overly fulfilled brings a bit of oppression.

As for personality traits...

He himself admits he is ill.

So calculated, perhaps only the illness aspect could be ruled out, because the Tersen infirmary's examination equipment is complete and advanced; even if he brings the mare over for no reason, he can still do a spare checkup himself.

Then doctors and nurses politely praise his physical condition as truly good, and then Qianming teases him for coming again to freeload medical resources.

But this itself is also the easiest reason to rule out, while the remaining few are hard to rule out as related.

By the way, even if he was previously healthy, his body before this nightmare can't really be called healthy, right?

Brain overload causing full-body fever and total coma, just a few steps from shock—having nightmares under such circumstances is quite normal.

The brain's nervous system receiving strong external information stimulation. Sudden cardiac dysfunction precursors—both tachycardia and bradycardia can also be triggers.

Of course, ordinary people needn't trace the source of their nightmares, after all it's said to be a common psychological phenomenon—who hasn't had a few bad dreams?

Perhaps you simply have a bad sleeping posture, which are all triggers.

If it were Aomo himself, in the past he didn't care much about the source of nightmares, but still that saying——

——Now is different from the past.

After having a nightmare he can't bear to recall, when facing someone who might have watched the whole thing as an 'audience,' he naturally wants to explain something.

At least he wants to clear the relationship, refuse to admit his subconscious could create such a story—there must be some other cause!

The urgent task is to cut first!

Then he, with his ten fingers crossed to form a prop for his chin, gave Miss Ling a look that said 'I'm just listening to you boast,' and went on and on about the aforementioned reasons until he even felt thirsty.

This is probably just a psychological effect, after all he was speaking directly via telepathy.

He was indeed thirsty—before losing consciousness he was still dissipating heat from his whole body, so he needed to rehydrate.

But it's a pity; even after all his effort, the other's expression showed no reaction, and instead became even more relaxed, as if swiftly turning toward one of her sisters.

He even, seemingly reading the mood, offered his own gourd: 'Thirsty? Want a drink?'

No thanks.

He refused, but still thanked her.

Aomo picked up the water cup refilled with fresh water before him, yet couldn't help but gaze at the clear surface.

After staring for several seconds, he finally brought it to his lips and sipped.

By the way, he finally had a moment to attend to Chao Cang Lu beside him.

This good kid had been asking after his health and refilling his cup, but unfortunately Aomo had been arguing fiercely earlier and never found a moment to tend to him.

Now, Aomo gave him a smile, responding to his repeated calls, and the kid became happy as if a companion had reconciled with him.

He was genuinely simple-hearted.

'In any case, Miss Ling, please believe that dream was just an accident...' Meanwhile, the not-so-simple Aomo was still trying to sum up his excuses.

'If it's an accident, perhaps the starting point really was an accident,' Ling said, after being refused, not minding as she took a gulp herself, shaking her head: 'You don't have to panic so much, Mr. Aomo; you should have noticed that your memory doesn't have me in it, right?'

Indeed so.

'And I previously ventured into your pitch-black... nightmare, so...'

She drew out her tone, and Aomo understood: 'So I will gradually forget?'

Exactly.

Thank you for your help.

'No need to thank me, after all I didn't come here specifically to help you.'

'?' The boy's face suddenly froze.

That stunned silence lingered, as if he had thought of some deep cause worth panicking over.

Miss Ling roamed free, appearing as unpredictably as Qianming, her timing impossible to gauge; normally one might chalk it up to coincidence, but this time it happened in a dream……

For those groups that freely wander and even control dreams, there is a common situation called 'detected abnormal account login,' and the trigger is……

namely, someone else dreaming of them.

That absurd dream even encompassed the other party……

'Mr. Aomo, even if you take on a child's appearance you're still a smart person,' Ling said, sizing him up, clicking her tongue in wonder; but at the end of her words she slowly leaned in, bringing her pointed ear near his cheek, whispering lightly as if it barely touched his skin, 'On the contrary, it looks dangerous—sometimes it's better to be a bit clueless.'

……

'According to the rules of your dream, I will appear just like this.'

The liquor scent near his nose unexpectedly carried a hint of fragrance; the tip of her pointed ear brushed his cheek, and as she turned, the grazing sensation brought a faint itch, paired with that affected low, alluring tone—Aomo, in silence, lurched sharply left, as if bitten, overreacting to create distance.

Now it's hard to tell who is the poisonous snake.

This scene fell into the eyes of Chao Cang Lu, Aimu Zhiji, and Ludaofu Xiangzheng, who could not see Ling, adding another layer to their worries.

'(Aomo) trainer (Lintonsan)'s mental state still seems not quite good… dazed and swaying… face still flushed, could he still have a fever?'

Aomo had no time to worry about their reactions now: 'Is it still timely for me to apologize?'

'No problem, no problem—I'm not that Xiao Xi kid who, upon seeing his own… bath pictures pop up online, would shout for the other to look good,' Ling laughed carelessly, 'but it's been a long time since I've been in such a situation.'

'If it were just me, that would be fine, but seeing Mr. Aomo's miserable state in the dream, we can't simply lump it all together.'

'You should just be watching from the sidelines, right?'

Seeing her still behaving childishly, the boy had a wild thought flash through his mind, blurted it out instantly, then immediately regretted it.

How could he have said such an offensive thing?

Miss Ling's immortal bearing, carefree and free—how could she be so crazy… although she seemed to be constantly drinking, never stopping, making him unable to tell whether she was drunk or not.

Hmm~

What a hum—don't keep being clueless about this… Little Aomo felt annoyed in his heart, but didn't dare to actually speak up.

'Gee, why take a nightmare so seriously~ In my view, what you really need to ponder is the meaning of this dream.'

'Meaning?' Aomo's attention was instantly diverted by this topic, and he frowned involuntarily.

'Isn't the popularization of sorcery in your world quite developed? Look at all those reasons you gave earlier—didn't the Taoist priest courses mention that the dreams of those with keen spiritual awareness and cultivators are full of hidden secrets?'

'What you mean is……'

'Some things are fake, some might be real, but who can tell true from false? Who would care so much about a dream?'

'But no matter how you say it, a nightmare linked to reality is still a warning worth heeding, Mr. Aomo.'

'But… by now you probably can't remember anything at all, right?'

……

'If that's the case, then I should take my leave too; although it's a nightmare, it also has some nice scenes and inspiration—maybe it could help you a bit, Year.'

No, what do you want her to film……

Little Aomo blinked, hadn't even gotten to ask, when the other party vanished.

Well, Sai Luo and Jie Si Ti Si also rushed over.

Well, Sai Luo and Jie Si Ti Si also came.