Chapter 81: Each's Nightmare

"Yeah, I heard they've already started to rot, right? Carrying a corpse to the camp, at first the rescue team was still preparing to pull the person off the little girl to save them, but who knew that as soon as we got close we smelled the stench…… I also don't know how that little girl managed to endure."

"Just being able to run over here is not bad, and even bringing a corpse……"

"I heard her condition was also pretty bad then, her body severely dehydrated, she was almost two corpses……"

————

Jiāng Jiāng suddenly opened her eyes and casually grabbed the clock.

4:03

"Ah——"

She let out a long breath.

It's been a long time since I slept; I didn't expect that as soon as I fell asleep I'd have such a dream.

But the content of this dream……

Jiāng Jiāng shook her head, feeling that the dream's content seemed familiar.

That's right, lately I seem to have been having the same dream.

Clearly I'm an illusionist, yet I've been interfered with by a fabricated memory for so long; sigh, how could I be so weak?

If I continue like this, weak, I won't be able to become a strong martial artist……

Thinking that in my heart, my body was already continuing to cultivate.

Two hours later, it was about time to make breakfast; the lily-of-the-valley greens planted in the yard would grow after a while, and then we could try more dishes.

Breakfast was almost ready; checking the time, there were still five minutes until six-thirty, hurry up!

Quietly opening Chén Chén's door, I stepped in, gently closed the door, walked to the side of the soft big bed, lifted a corner of the cup, and carefully slipped in.

Turning my body to look at Chén Chén's side profile, I was a bit reluctant to close my eyes, but I forced myself to shut them.

After all, according to what's said online, the longer the time and the more frequent the attempts, the higher the chance.

After closing her eyes for a few seconds, Jiāng Jiāng opened them again.

I don't know if five seconds counts as long……

Jiāng Jiāng stared at Chén Chén's side profile, but this time she didn't close her eyes again.

Chén Chén seemed to be dreaming, in the dream bad things appeared just like for me, and it's been going on for several days straight.

Since the day the counteroffensive war reignited.

At six-thirty, Chén Chén opened his eyes on time; since he came back last time, Chén Chén has become punctual instead of lingering in bed, although for him he really doesn't need to sleep that long each day.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning."

Five minutes later, the breakfast on the table had just lost its scorching heat, the flavor having reached just the perfect moment.

"Chén Chén, I've recently been having a dream."

"What dream?"

"I dreamed you died."

(I thank you, (T_T))

Chén Chén: "... just a dream."

"Hmm."

Jiāng Jiāng glanced at Chén Chén, seemingly confirming the person before her.

"Even if you died, I would definitely think of a way to revive you, you said that before, right? As long as you cultivate to a certain realm, you can do it."

If it weren't to the point of utter despair, I wouldn't be counting on you.

Chén Chén still encouraged: "Then you really need to cultivate well; to truly revive a person, even immortality isn't enough."

Jiāng Jiāng nodded seriously.

Breakfast was almost finished, and then Jiāng Jiāng asked:

"Do you have something to go out for?"

Just like last time, it's not hard to guess that Chén Chén wants to go out.

"Hmm."

"Can you bring me along?" Jiāng Jiāng looked at Chén Chén with some anticipation.

"Cannot."

Jiāng Jiāng's expression fell a little, then she continued: "Then come back early."

"Don't worry."

Although I don't know exactly what Chén Chén is going to do, Jiāng Jiāng vaguely guessed it's related to the war against the monsters; not bringing herself along, she wouldn't forcibly follow and cause trouble.

But after this, it seems there won't be any more.

Come to think of it, could I rush to the front lines and contribute to ending the war sooner?

I always feel like I'm setting a flag for Chén Chén again.

After thinking it over repeatedly, Jiāng Jiāng decided to just stay at home and guard the house.

Spending time to really ponder, that dream…… what exactly is it.

————

Chén Chén left Xin Aili Du, not going anywhere strange either, but directly headed to the newly opened battlefield at the edge of Antarctica.

Antarctica, due to Chén Chén's terrain transformation, the interior environment is like a fairyland, but the icy ocean regions at the continent's edge remain extremely cold.

In the Southern Ocean, monster density is the lowest among all oceans, while monster quality is the highest; and along the coast of the Antarctic continent, the shallow-sea defense line has already been built ahead of time.

In the previous great war, besides not attacking the two countries maintaining the ceasefire agreement, one reason the monsters also did not choose to attack Xin Aili Du was...

The Earth Guard Army responsible for defending Xin Aili Du is jointly commanded by Chen Yang's father Chen Shuo, and the two other planetary-level experts recruited early by Chen Chen, Ku Ke and La Bisen, the three legion commanders.

Most of the army were martial artists even before joining the World Tree; many, when rescued by Chén Chén, already had War

The three major legions, including the newly established fourth legion, all share a trait: their commanders are all under thirty, and most of their soldiers are likewise, representing the fresh blood of the World Tree.

Meanwhile, many in the Earth Defense Force are already around fifty years old; if it weren't for martial artists greatly extending their prime years, the Defense Force would largely be truly elderly.

It is precisely this age gap that makes the Defense Force's strength extraordinarily strong.

And the vanguard of this counteroffensive war was launched from the coast of Antarctica.

Chén Chén arrived at the front without seizing command, merely treating the entire army to a feast, and after eating and drinking his fill, he simply gave a short speech declaring the start of battle.

"Is that the future leader? He looks quite young."

"Being young is great; this is our Earth, the future of our World Tree."

"It is said that in just one year he has slain over sixty king-level monsters and even repelled a royal-level; besides him, no one can compare."

"What a pity, unable to follow in his footsteps."

Many of the elderly in the Defense Force were saved by the 'dry' vest, so although they respect Chén Chén's identity, his prestige is still insufficient.

And this battle is precisely the opportunity to conveniently establish his prestige.

When the elderly of the Defense Force joined the World Tree, they ranged from warrior to war commander level; six years later, under Chén Chén's resource allocation, many have become war gods, which is why the Defense Force is chosen as the vanguard.

The next day, under Chén Chén's leadership, the Defense Force dispatched over ten thousand war gods, nearly a hundred planetary-level beings, and hundreds of underwater warships, marching out from New Ariel.

……

The shallow-sea lightning battle has already passed several days, and the sea beasts have also prepared for combat.

The natural barrier of the deep sea cannot simply be abandoned; the sea beasts use king-level as regional chiefs, with dozens to hundreds of regions each having a royal-level as regional leader.

Regions assist each other to build a patrol network; once a region is attacked, surrounding regions' monsters will immediately reinforce and promptly notify the regional leader, who then leads the entire large region in encirclement.

The number of sea beasts is enormous; at least those that retreated in the previous war have reached beast-commander level, and with their environmental advantage, dozens of high-level beast commanders would already cause considerable trouble for ordinary war gods, and if a few lords were added, even fully armed, they could possibly die in hatred in the deep sea.

Thus this first battle was fought very conservatively; after Chén Chén slew the regional chief, he issued the retreat order.

During the retreat, Chén Chén voluntarily covered the rear and also slew two king-level beasts that came to encircle, expanding the gains of this sortie.

The retreating Defense Force also saw Chén Chén's heroic bearing on the battlefield for the first time.

"I don't know why, but I always feel we have become his burden; if not for covering the retreat, he could have slain even more."

"That legendary man is probably just about this level."

After withdrawing to the Antarctic shallows, the statistics of this battle's results and the distribution of contributions were also immediately released via the Heartnet—real-time contributions, merits, and battle rewards—something Chén Chén truly lacked the energy to handle before having rest.

Without human expansion of the Heartnet, the Heartnet is like a most primitive computer, with only a little memory, and this CPU of Chén Chén only needs to use its limited performance to open limited functions.

But the newly networked Heartnet connects all of humanity; Chén Chén's CPU remains the original one, yet the computer's other performance has undergone a major upgrade—although Chén Chén also took the opportunity to develop some entirely new software, the Heartnet still has a large amount of its performance wasted.

Therefore, after returning, Chén Chén has been using his talent to nurture rest; now the Heartnet has finally completed the final step of its major upgrade, and thereafter he no longer needs to manage it, as the Heartnet will grow infinitely with his increasing strength and the progress of Earth's species.

This extra talent, existing only because of the mountain dweller, also possesses infinite potential like his other innate talents; although the Heartnet's ability to upgrade also relies on a portion of the authority of the life link.

Returning to the edge of the coast, Chén Chén gazed far into the deep sea.

Sharing the vision of Earth's entity, there is no place on this planet where Chén Chén's sight cannot reach; in the deep sea, that salty fish seemed to also realize that it was being looked at.

The salty fish also, sensing something, looked toward the direction where Chén Chén's human body was; its gaze seemed to be anticipating something, waiting for something.

Chén Chén closed all his senses, quietly feeling the pain and wails transmitted from the monster spirit gate.

"Mending Heaven."

"It should also end."

——

In a cave over forty thousand meters deep beneath North America, Luofeng and Hàn mò dé sēn's group lost another member.

Originally there were Hàn mò dé sēn, Yīsītè, Ātèjīn, and the five subordinates they each brought, making nine people total.

The nine quickly found where the horned giant beast was resting by following its trail; the juvenile horned giant beast, although possessing vast inherited memories, the star lacked actual combat experience and vigilance, and under the first round of ambush by Luofeng and others, it fell into a passive state.

However, Luofeng's group also had limited understanding of the giant beast; after it suddenly erupted and killed one of them, they fled.

Afterwards, Luofeng's group and the horned giant beast began a days-long pursuit; Babata, after being able to connect to the Heartnet, discovered that the Heartnet's detection network could actually reach down to tens of thousands of meters underground, relying on the Heartnet signal to unleash great power—once the horned giant beast slightly slowed its pace, it would be caught up by Luofeng and his companions.

Unfortunately, within just a few days they fought the horned giant beast seven times; the beast's injuries hardly increased, while the nine pursuers suffered successive losses, leaving only six now.

"Babata, continue locking onto the horned giant beast's position."

"Don't worry, Luofeng, it can't escape."

"Our opportunities are few." Babata reminded.

"I know."

After the two people's covert exchange ended, Luofeng was about to set out again.

"Wait, Luofeng."

The one who spoke up to stop them was Atkin, the person who surprised Luofeng the most during this pursuit.

Atkin is the behind-the-scenes figure of the HR Alliance, its actual controller, and Luofeng's impression of the HR Alliance has never been good, whether from his dealings with the Li Yao couple, or from the later news of the HR Alliance's corruption, or even from the reputation that Atkin thought was spreading abroad.

Although in this pursuit Atkin wasn't necessarily the most zealous, he was still daring enough to fear death, and just that alone was enough to make Luofeng look at him anew.

"You Chinese have a saying that goes quite well: 'If you don't cut off when you should, you will suffer the consequences.'"

"Now, the time for decision has come."

"Teach us that thing."

Luofeng looked at Atkin, staring intently.

This guy isn't merely fearless of death…… he came here already resolved to die.

"Although I know this guy became like this because of that person, I still find it somewhat funny, hahaha."

Hammudson beside him suddenly burst out laughing.

"I have to admit, he's absolutely right; if we don't make a decision soon, that monster, if it gets the chance to reach the stellar level, even you won't have any hope, Luofeng."

The others also turned their gaze toward Luofeng.

Luofeng also knew in his heart that these people who came had been prepared as sacrifices for him from the start.

Yisite, who hadn't spoken much along the way, also advised:

"Luofeng, you perhaps still don't understand enough about us in this world; actually, we here are all selfish sinners."

"It is precisely because of our sins that the innocent lives of the people on this land who trust us have fallen into danger."

"To atone for our sins, dying like a hero is the best outcome for us."

"If the Devouring Beast, due to our unwillingness to sacrifice ourselves, is delayed until it reaches stellar level, then the sins we should atone for will be borne by the people of this land; that would also be our harshest punishment and greatest nightmare."

Luofeng only felt speechless, while Babata was sighing at the fragility of human hearts.

"So Luofeng, you must be careful of that guy; this kind of influence on the mind, from a certain perspective, already amounts to soul enslavement."

"Many of your judgments after coming out of the illusion are also like this, including your inexplicable fondness for Hanmodesen and Yisite, as well as your judgments along the way."

"The best way to eliminate the influence of this illusion is time, but you also need to rid yourself of it yourself."

"Moreover, they are right; it's time for us to make a choice."

Luofeng remained silent, continuing to pursue the position locked onto by Babata.

The others also followed closely.

After flying over a hundred kilometers, Luofeng then responded in his heart to Babata:

"Teach them."