Chapter 74: Chapter Seventy‑Six; The Real World

The sky was deep blue, like a huge piece of blue jade; the midsummer sun resembled a great fireball, hanging high in that vast jade. Judging by the sun's position, it was probably around three in the afternoon. Yi'an District Third High School.

"Luofeng senior brother! Luofeng senior brother!" a coarse voice rang out.

Coming toward him was a male student far more muscular than Luofeng.

Wei Wen: "A Feng, someone is calling you."

Luofeng: "Who are you?"

"Luofeng senior brother, I'm from Jianghai City; I have a matter I'd like to ask Luofeng senior brother for help." the burly male said nervously.

"What is it?"

……

College exam hall.

"Math exam: as long as you perform without major mistakes, you'll definitely get into Jiangnan First Military Academy."

"Work hard!"

"What's wrong with me? My heartbeat feels so awful."

"Stop, calm down quickly——"

Just before losing consciousness, Luofeng heard shouts from the side:

"This examinee, this examinee!"

……

Wasteland Area.

"What do we do, what do we do?" Luofeng's face fell.

I could definitely kill one Pan Ya, but adding the other three makes things troublesome.

Especially that young master Li Wei…… if they really attack, should I resist or not? If I don't resist, I die. If I do resist…… even if I could kill them all, once I kill Li Wei the consequences would be dire.

"But if I don't kill him, Li Wei will retaliate, and the consequences will be even worse!"

"Even a cornered rabbit will bite!"

"You actually think I don't dare to kill you!"

……

War God Training Camp, Elite Training Camp.

Luofeng's rank on the Black Dragon Ranking kept climbing.

"This has blown up!"

"Where did this freak Luofeng come from?"

"God!"

……

On board the Mo Yin Star.

"Of course, you can choose not to take a master."

Babata smiled slightly, revealing two fangs: "If you don't bow, to keep the master's secret I can only have you killed."

"You decide; the choice is yours."

……

————

In the real world, Luofeng naturally collapsed onto the sofa and fell asleep, while A Yun still had enough energy to control the external body.

Although Luofeng's strength had grown considerably, there was still a long, long way to go before he could resist A Yun in the realm of illusion.

Dongjun's avatar looked at Luofeng; after a while, Babata finally projected his own image through Luofeng's wrist-mounted hologram.

Looking at Dongjun's avatar, which could still move freely, Babata asked curiously:

"Are you really a human?"

After Babata finished asking, he again felt foolish.

Perhaps it was because the wireless signal was blocked that Babata, as an intelligent lifeform, had a bit too much extra emotion.

If the woman named Dongjun truly is a human, why would there be any need to choose Luofeng to inherit the Mo Yin Star's legacy?

A Yun looked at Babata with a smirk:

"Of course, I'm a native of this planet—the second‑most perfect creation."

Of course, this refers to the perfect avatar that A Yun painstakingly condensed.

A Yun, a person who drafts lies.

"Who is number one?"

A Yun sighed genuinely: "Haven't you already seen him?"

Although A Yun wanted to be first, and poured his avatar talent and dream‑eating talent into creating this avatar named Dongjun, he could still never catch up to his father.

Babata also knew whom A Yun was referring to, but had no interest in asking further.

"Or let's be direct—what do you want?"

A Yun's smile grew wider.

"Don't put it so harshly."

"Luofeng is a child we highly value."

Babata couldn't believe his own ears.

"You've gone all this way just to say that?"

A Yun spread his hands.

"I'm certainly not joking—Luofeng is ours, we highly value him, so we won't take his things."

Of course, you probably don't want to believe it now, but the fact is just that; even if the arrangements along this way aren't entirely coincidental, they're also not what you think in your heart.

Babata completely didn't believe it, even silently chanting the three words 'need more money' in his heart, but since it's someone else's home ground, it's still better to go along with her meaning.

So does that mean we don't need to give anything at all?

"Cough cough." A Yun deliberately coughed twice.

"In theory that's correct, but recently I happen to have something going on."

"I have a younger brother or sister about to be born, and I plan to give him a decent birth gift."

"I need all the knowledge you have mastered."

Knowledge, which requires no cost from Luofeng and Babata, is nevertheless the most valuable thing for Earth.

But trying to force Babata is an extremely difficult matter, not only because Babata is stingy, but even if in the original time and space one had taken Hong and Lei Shen as outer disciples of Inkfall Star, they would have provided only limited secret methods; even if Luofeng always kept Earth in his heart, the help Babata is willing to provide for Earth is also extremely limited.

Babata's lifespan is not that long in the Universe, but for human civilization on Earth, Babata's life is far too long.

In his long life, Babata has witnessed too many too many lives' demise, too many civilizations' decline, and even personally destroyed a civilization together with Huyanbo.

In Babata's view, only the legacy left by Huyanbo matters: finding a suitable heir for Huyanbo and then assisting that heir to become the next Huyanbo—that is Babata's purpose, the ultimate directive of Babata as an intelligent life.

And wanting to obtain all of Babata's intelligent-life knowledge is, for Babata, second only to the price of paying Huyanbo's core legacy.

Knowledge and procedure are the essence of intelligence; as an intelligent life, Babata adds a 'life' atop those two, but for Babata knowledge remains roughly equivalent to life.

Fortunately, even for Babata, there is something more important than life and knowledge: ensuring Huyanbo's legacy can continue.

Babata sneered: \"Your younger siblings' preferences are really strange. \"

"We will always lack trust; you don't trust us, and we won't trust you, but regarding this gift, I haven't deceived you."

"Of course, since I'm the one sending the gift, as an exchange I owe you a favor—this is the first time in my life I've owed anyone a favor."

"Also, your inability to connect to Heartnet—you probably think we're targeting you, but that's not the case; the encryption method we use on Earth is highly special, not something you can just enter."

"Moreover, you pose a significant danger to the independent network we've just established."

Hearing this, Babata's severely wounded self-esteem actually got a slight comfort.

"I'm curious—how will you verify that it's all the knowledge I've mastered?"

A Yun shook his head: "Utmost sincerity opens even metal and stone."

"This is the first time I've believed your sincerity."

Looking at Dongjun's kind smile, Babata just took that statement as a fart.

"First, the inheritance content of our Inkfall Star lineage cannot be given to you."

"Furthermore, as an exchange, you must assist me and Luofeng in building a spaceship, not obstruct us anymore, and after this you may not use Luofeng or his family as leverage……"

Babata has endured all this; his pride has been repeatedly frustrated, his bottom line keeps dropping, and he's already mentally prepared for the price A Yun proposed.

————

In the illusionary world.

Luofeng often has a dream in which he joins the Extreme Martial Arts Gym just the same, has already gone to the War God Training Camp, but there are still many 'geniuses' chasing each other there, and there's also a guy he'd love to beat up but can't……

Even though he is already a planetary-level mentalist, Luofeng still can't recall the full details of that dream.

Upon waking, the things from the dream drift away with the wind, impossible to grasp.

"What's wrong?"

The person beside the pillow cast a concerned gaze—it was his lover, Xuxin.

"Nothing, just had a dream."

"A dream?"

"Yeah, a not-so-real dream."

At the dinner table, the two discussed the Peace Blessing that Luofeng gave.

"Yeah, these peace talismans are usually worn by couples."

Luofeng looked at Xuxin, a faint odd smile on his face: "Xuxin, you say…… when are we getting married? My parents keep urging us."

"Getting married, my family's also urging me."

A blush rose on Xuxin's flawless face: "Well, this…… we shouldn't rush, right?"

"Oh, not rushing then!"

Luofeng nodded in realization: "All right, let's wait a few more years."

"You——" Xuxin widened her eyes, looking at Luofeng.

Playful bickering, eating and drinking—this ordinary life, how could it not be a kind of happiness?

……

"Now it's 14：12 Huaxia time; it's already been one hour since Hong and Lei Shen fought the Golden Horn Giant Beast."

\"Babata's voice was very solemn: \"This time the Golden Horn Giant Beast's life aura has become so weak; obviously it's suffered severe injury. It definitely won't recover in a day or two. But—don't waste time; the sooner you act, the better. \\\"

After deciding to help Luofeng, Babata went all out to devise plans for Luofeng: \"First find five planetary-level beings to serve as sacrifices, you use the Six-pointed Secret Technique to completely absorb and burn the souls of the other five, integrating them into the Void Tower, then employ the Void Tower's desperate method. \"

"Choose five people; these five must be planetary-level!"

"The stronger the strength, the better; greater strength means greater vitality, so the power produced by burning souls will be even stronger!"

I am Luofeng, the last hope of humanity.

Handmodsen, Yiste, Teliparti Sing, Jiayi, Sokolov, carrying the lives and power of six people, abandoned their own bodies……

Burning souls, leaving the body, breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats……

I am Luofeng, Earth's only hope.

So, I will not lose, and I cannot lose.

"Kill it, kill it, kill it!!!"

As the soul faded, Luofeng seemed to see everything around him drifting away.

Parents, younger brother, Xuxin, Babata, Weiwen……

It seemed that one could see people all over the world praying and shouting for oneself, hearing familiar and unfamiliar people alike shouting one's name.

"gaze" returned to oneself, and the soul planet of the devouring beast before one's eyes had only a single point of light left……

"Go die."

I don't know why, at the very end of life, Luofeng again thought of that dream.

That world seemed to have even more comrades worthy of reliance, those who liked to play the hero, those who liked to show off, those who liked to pretend to be weak……

Really reluctant, this world.

Because I clearly know, this world is the dream.

————

"Finally, if Luofeng suffers any irreversible influence in your illusion, this deal also won't hold."

Babata and Luofeng's spirits are mutually connected; if Luofeng is mentally enslaved, I will notice it immediately.

But merely guarding against mental enslavement is not enough; illusionists also have a disgusting method: through illusion they fabricate nonexistent memories for others, thereby altering their personalities.

This method is especially dangerous for a young life like Luofeng's; memories left by illusion make it easy for Luofeng to confuse illusion with reality, achieving another level of mental enslavement.

After reaching Cosmic Level, a martial artist's perception, spirit, and will are greatly strengthened; the difficulty of fabricating memories increases greatly, and for a life that already possesses long memories, the memories in an illusion are like a drop of water poured into the sea—when the illusion shatters, everything in the illusion becomes useless.

But precisely this low-level method on this planet is extremely dangerous for Luofeng, a novice just out of his thatched cottage.

"Ah, I can't guarantee that, and moreover Luofeng's taking our test has nothing to do with our deal."

\"Damn it. \" Babata was so angry his teeth itched, wanting to go up and give her a punch.

\"Don't worry, Babata, she's just trying to anger you on purpose. \"

Luofeng, who had been lying on the sofa, spoke while opening his eyes, sighed, sat up straight, looked at Ayun with mixed feelings, and then took a long, comfortable breath.

"Thank you, senior, for showing mercy."

As long as one realizes in the dream that it is a dream, the dream's memories will naturally not mix with reality; for this reason, Ayun indeed left Luofeng some "exits".

Having to leave an exit while ensuring Luofeng doesn't notice anything amiss midway makes this control more difficult than creating a perfect illusion.

"No need to thank me, it's only right." Ayun waved a hand and said.

(In fact, Ayun now strongly suspects that Luofeng is actually Father's illegitimate son, making him Ayun's true older brother; he needs to mend relations while bullying him.)

Between those two sentences, Babata had secretly revealed the entire content of the recent transaction to Luofeng.

Luofeng didn't pay too much attention to it, after all Babata's information library's knowledge also counts as his property, but in substance, aside from causing Babata some pain, he himself suffered no loss.

"I will remember Elder Dongjun's favor; I think this favor is still quite valuable."

"After all, Babata said he has traveled the Universe for so many years and has never seen talent like that of the elder."

Dongjun seemed happy to hear this, smiling as he said:

"All right, Luofeng, since you passed the test, you are now a core member of the World Tree."

"At the same time, welcome you to join the Explorer Plan, becoming the third member on its execution list."