Chapter 145: Zhang Jie Realized His Fate

Arcane! Add status!

As Zhang Jie gave the order, streams of buff arcane instantly clung to his body.

The twisted, huge, powerful nightmare before him howled at Zhang Jie, and the instant-death skill activated instantly.

Be careful!

Yu Xiaomo and Bai Zhou shouted in alarm, watching wide-eyed as the instant-death skill struck straight at Zhang Jie's body.

At that moment, Yu Xiaomo's heart rose to her throat.

Boom!

Zhang Jie, bearing nine powerful nightmares, wielded the nightmare staff sword, his body loaded with over thirty buffs of various sizes, and with a single slash he cleaved the nightmare that had once slain four top god players into scraps.

Yet that instant-death skill landing on Zhang Jie only shaved off less than one-tenth of his HP...

Zhang Jie sheathed his sword handsomely, his purple-black coat fluttering away, as he slowly walked up to Yu Xiaomo and rua-rua her head.

How? Scared you?

Don't worry, your brother Jie Ge is a panel monster.

The reason Zhang Jie is so fearless is simple: in the data world, instant-death skills are not truly instant-death skills in the real sense.

It's merely a string of data sufficient to kill a player; when your own panel stacks higher than that string of data, this instant-death skill is no different from a normal skill.

You... you're just like Liu Delie!

You can't be a bit steady!

Yu Xiaomo punched Zhang Jie's chest with her little fists, while Liu Delie beside her chimed in at the right moment.

Jie Ge, Jie Ge! Your panel is indeed strong, but if I pull out percentage damage, how would you respond?

Get lost, percentage damage isn't that easy to come by, and besides, don't forget I still have plenty of skills looted from others.

Just use a purification skill, and the arcane's super-position healing arcane is also percentage-based recovery.

What if someone comes with a hundred-percent instant-death slaying skill?

Zhang Jie gave Liu Delie a speechless glance, his hands gripping Xiao Mo's head and rubbing it more fiercely.

I don't believe it; I just don't believe such a skill exists.

6.

Zhang Jie! Stop rubbing my head!!!

After clearing the first layer, the main storyline finally extended fully; NPCs from the first and second layers gradually appeared, and it was no longer a world of only nightmares.

Bai Zhou also reminded you that all storylines within the "nightmare" need extra attention, after all this game is closely tied to reality; needless for him to say, you wanting to become an Ultimate Player is precisely to uncover the reason behind the convergence of reality and the Dream Realm, as well as whether your robot dad truly died, so without him saying, you yourself must investigate carefully.

You carefully studied every text left in the game, searched the world for side quests, and finally grasped the background of these two worlds.

First, the NPCs of the two worlds have different cognition; second, the order of this world is strange—you originally thought the second layer was the future version of the first layer, but after thorough investigation you realized the first layer is actually the future version.

This made you feel quite strange; after sharing the clues you'd gathered with other top players, you began to strive harder to conquer the final game world.

24 years old: compared to the first layer world's obvious smooth plot, the second layer Feitu world's plot began to turn weird and bizarre, giving a feeling like concrete mix number forty-two with spaghetti.

And sometimes you wonder, could this plot that's as mismatched as a cow's head not matching a horse's mouth truly be written by a human? Everything here feels more like a madman's mutterings—even top players and the strategy team, racking their brains, couldn't piece together a complete storyline.

Actually, in your view, all of this fits two words better: the Dream Realm.

For most people in this world, the Dream Realm is all games, all work, all things that follow a pattern; perhaps many have never seen such a bizarre dream realm, but you have, and you often do.

Your Dream Realm will always pop up unnoticed to assert its presence, then fade away silently; although you may not recall most of what happened in it, you do remember its bizarreness.

Ever since you joined, the entire attack progress has begun to advance at breakneck speed; Bai Zhou is happy every day, as if he can already see the final player's present world.

But you don't think so; the more you tackle the Ultimate Game, the more uneasy you become—although you already had doubts in the first layer world, after completely clearing the second layer you discovered many things that coincide far too much with your own self.

You faintly sense that a mysterious pair of big hands is toying with fate; the problems previously buried in your heart keep surfacing in your mind, and when they finally reach a certain threshold they erupt completely.

Why do nightmares appear in reality? Why do reality and the Dream Realm intersect? Why have I become a Legendary Player? Why does Bai Zhou claim he's not human? Why is his ability specifically to summon nightmares, and why must even the ultimate mission bear the title 'Legendary'?

After successfully clearing the second layer, everyone longed for the third world, where the legendary throne, the legendary Genesis Permit, and the place to resolve all roots lie hidden.

But you inexplicably felt fear—even though you are a panel monster, a once-in-a-century peerless genius, at this moment you suddenly felt a fear you had never felt before.

It is that feeling of helplessness, an utterly unknown terror; even for a period you refused to go to the third layer, afraid to see what you shouldn't see, and your abnormality was first noticed by Yu Xiaomo, then by Bai Zhou.

Regarding your condition, Bai Zhou frankly said it might be due to the influence of some powerful nightmares in the game, but Yu Xiaomo disagrees.

In her impression, her brother Jie Ge has always been fearless, forever confident and proud; she still remembers that the last time you looked like this was when you were bullied as a child.

During that time, this little ghost loli didn't engage in the usual back-and-forth teasing and mischief with you; instead, she stayed by your side, keeping you company.

Perhaps teasing and playing yin-yang are what Yu Xiaomo excels at, but she still used clumsy words to comfort you, hoping you could regain your spirits.

Afterward, you didn't set foot in the Dream Realm for nearly two months....

(Writer's block, I want to die; from twelve I wrote until four... just a thousand words short, I'd call it the unreachable shore...)

(Tomorrow it's supposed to be the first stage ending, as for why we say first stage, do we even need to say it? Bosses all have second forms, right! As for who the boss is, you all, my adoptive fathers can guess, hehe!)