Chapter 16: Dream Illusion Bar (Revision)

When the game screen lit up again, the in‑game time was already the afternoon of the second day.

Ying Duo's stamina and hunger values were fully restored, and the status bar showed 【Vigorous】.

"It's time to see what kind of saint this 'contact' is."

Yang Yixie opened the world map; its vastness was a bit beyond his imagination. The Rusty Plaza where he had taken the entrance exam appeared on the map as only a tiny icon at the edge of a ground region.

The entire map was clearly divided into two major sections, upper and lower:

The lower part is a chaotic ground area, described as a buffer zone between the Slum and dangerous wilderness, also the residence of lower‑class civilians, a gathering place for mercenaries and drifters.

The upper part, however, is a massive city floating in the sky—Tianmian City, the headquarters of the Church, featuring the grand "Pale Throne" cathedral.

Just the icon alone gives a sense of untouchable reverence, radiating a holy and lofty halo.

His gaze quickly locked onto the constantly flashing exclamation‑mark quest marker—【Dream Illusion Bar】, located in the ground Slum District 7; just the name tells you it isn't a place of kindness.

Incidentally, the safe house the system assigned to his inn is in Slum Third District.

Ying Duo stepped out of the inn, and the scene outside entered his view.

Low shanties and haphazardly erected metal frames tangled together; exposed pipes and cables spread like twisted veins between his head and the surrounding walls.

That head of Ying Guang Lu hair, in this ruined and dim setting, was like a rare intact neon sign—out of place and glaringly bright.

That dazzling green hair constantly attracted ill‑intentional prying gazes.

The closer he got to District 7, the surrounding visual style gradually shifted from dilapidated chaos to… psychedelic and noisy.

But Ying Duo simply followed the navigation path, ignoring all potential interaction prompts, perfectly playing the role of an emotionless travel machine.

Various flickering, hyper‑saturated neon signs crowded the phone screen, most flashing incomprehensible, color‑mad abstract patterns.

Ying Duo's Ying Guang Lu hair was no longer that conspicuous here, and the ill‑intentional glances were far fewer.

As he advanced, the surrounding NPCs thinned, and he eventually entered a scarcely trodden alley.

【Dream Illusion Bar】 was tucked at the end of an alley far narrower than the main road, its lighting even dimmer.

Its sign was twisted and bizarre; the "Illusion" character had completely gone out, while the "Dream" character occasionally lit up unstably like a spasming nerve.

As for the "Bar" characters, they steadily flickered with a dim red glow.

At the entrance, a crooked glowing plaque hung, flashing the red word "Close".

Yet a sliver beneath the metal door let out a wavering cyan light, indicating the interior was not empty.

Ying Duo ignored the "Closed for Rest" sign and pushed straight open the rust‑spotted metal door.

The old hinge immediately emitted a "creak", sounding especially harsh in the quiet alley.

The only light inside the shop came from a cyan light strip installed behind the bar; its glow reflected off a wall‑filled array of glassware, providing basic illumination. The cups, polished to an unusual shine, were outlined with crisp lines by the light.

A tall bartender, wearing a stained apron, stood with his back to the doorway, leisurely using a relatively clean white cloth to repeatedly, tirelessly wipe the walls of a glass cup in his hand.

He paused at the sound of the door opening, but did not immediately look up.

His voice was full of irritation at being disturbed, as if a long‑rusted gear had been poked from some corner and forced back into operation.

"Didn't you see the sign at the door? We're closed today."

The bartender's voice was hoarse; his muscles were quite solid, the kind that subtly bulge beneath his bartender uniform, giving an impression of someone not to be trifled with.

Ying Duo remained motionless and silent, standing in the doorway's shadow like an unresponsive NPC.

Only the conspicuous Ying Guang Lu atop his head stubbornly radiated presence in the dim light.

In fact, at this moment Yang Yixie was silently sliding his phone screen, raising the brightness, and not really paying attention to the game view.

After all that was done, he finally began to observe the bar's interior décor and the bartender NPC.

One of the bartender's arms appeared to have been replaced with a mechanical one; his muscles were constrained by the uniform, and the oversized pixelated figure clutching a tiny glass cup looked especially comical.

The bartender waited a few seconds without hearing a response, and no footstep indicating departure was heard.

He finally stopped wiping the cup and, by the dim light, looked toward the doorway.

But when he saw the newcomer's Ying Guang Lu hair, which was glaringly conspicuous even in such an environment, its mocking effect maxed out, he was left stunned in place.

In the Slum, many people especially like to sport these colorful hair dyes, even making them a hallmark of certain groups, but a self‑illuminating effect like this was the first he'd ever seen.

The bartender's gaze carefully examined Ying Duo's young yet expressionless face.

Looking at the hollow‑eyed youngster before him, his brows gradually knit into a deep shape resembling the Chinese character for river.

The more he stared, the more familiar the brows became; after a while, he finally dredged up a distant memory from deep within his mind and, combined with the above command…

"…so it's you, kid."

His tone was complicated as he slowly set down the cup and cloth, his rough fingers tapping the bar.

"Alright, I know the rules. Don't waste time—state the 'code'."

At that moment, a simple input box outlined in Ying Guang Lu lines suddenly popped up in the center of Yang Yixie's phone screen, boldly displaying:

【Please enter dialogue content: ——】

The cursor blinked quietly within the box.

"Wait a minute? So this game's dialogue has to be typed manually by me? Is that how you play?"

Yang Yixie was somewhat surprised; he had previously complained that the game didn't allow dialogue interaction with other NPCs, that the NPCs just kept rambling on, and now he was expected to type?

"Isn't the designer supposed to be silent?"

But if the game dares to offer this mechanic, it must have been well prepared…

Just don't know how far the freedom goes.

He quickly scanned the game screen, clearly finding no clues.

That must have been something searchable earlier, but he had overlooked it.

But there's already alcohol, still a code—this must be it, right?

His fingers tapped on the screen, quickly typing out a line of text and sending it.