Chapter 152: Your Own Freedom (5)
Chapter 152: Your Own Freedom (5)
Chapter 152: Your Own Freedom (5)
(Invigilator: ?!*%?#, Emotionality: 6, Rationality: 6.)
(You end the deduction!)
"Ah!"
The big fat man was already charging with his sword.
Gu Yi's gaze turned extremely cold. With a slight turn of his head, he sidestepped, easily dodging the attack.
The big fat man was visibly stunned. It was the first time he had seen someone so effortlessly decipher his sword moves as if Gu Yi had anticipated his actions.
Gu Yi stepped back, reaching his right hand towards the void behind the wall, absorbing a mass of the void’s tide into the black orb.
"I'll kill you!"
The fat man screamed and lunged at Gu Yi.
Gu Yi extended his right hand forward, and the black orb in his palm immediately swallowed the fat man's sword.
"What... Agh!"
Before the fat man could react, Gu Yi's counterattack followed. He struck the fat man's throat with his palm, causing him intense pain and almost making him see stars.
Plop...
The fat man, fell to the ground, causing the floor to tremble thrice.
Gu Yi straddled him, pinning his chin down with his knee, and said coldly, "Don't move, or I'll break your neck!"
"Uh..." Fat man's eyes rolled, as he mumbled, not daring to speak.
Gu Yi checked the black orb in his hand.
The fountain pen and examination admission ticket were all intact, but the fat man's sword and the bottle containing the potion had been shredded by the void. Seeing this, he carelessly tossed the trash from the orb outside.
"Who are you?"
"Uh..."
Gu Yi slightly loosened his knee, then took out the pen, pointing it at the fat man's eye, "Don't try to play any tricks. I will ask questions and you answer."
"Yes, I understand."
"Who are you? What do you do?"
"My name is Da Luoshan and I am your master..."
"Not anymore."
"Yes, yes, I know, you, you are my master now."
"Everyone is their own master," Gu Yi corrected, "What is this place?"
"This is a factory for producing dream fragments, specifically for the Wapeng High School."
Gu Yi fell silent for a moment.
Indeed, everything in the dream simulation had a real prototype. This slave factory was built to supply Wapeng High School.
In the recent deduction, the Invigilator had uttered an incomprehensible string of words, sounding like a recording played backward. This could be because his method of clearing the level was completely unforeseen by the teacher, and all these variables were brought by the black orb in his possession.
Straying beyond the teacher's expectations further confirmed that Gu Yi was on the right path.
"Friend..."
"Who's your friend?"
Gu Yi raised the pen in his hand and stabbed it into Da Luoshan's eye.
As he struggled fiercely, Gu Yi exerted force on his leg and casually broke his neck.
"Guagh..."
Luoshan spat out foam from his mouth, gradually losing his breath.
Gu Yi's heart remained eerily calm, his frequent experiences with killing had steeled his emotions. His surroundings began to blur, and he instinctively closed his eyes.
"?*%?#, Emotionality: 6, Rationality: 6."
The incomprehensible voice of the Invigilator echoed in Gu Yi's ears. When he opened his eyes, he found a rune-like the one on his palm drawn on his exam paper.
He felt a moment of fright, but soon, the rune on the paper dispersed, turning back into dense text.
At the same time, the system's notification sounded.
"You have completed the fourth subject of the exam."
"Your plot exploration has increased."
"Your current plot exploration is at 70%. You have earned one opportunity to communicate with reality. Would you like to use it now?"
Gu Yi was about to agree but quickly closed his mouth.
"No, I refuse."
The school's rules were clear: no form of communication with the outside world was allowed.
The communication opportunity offered by the system could very well be a trap, and Gu Yi was not willing to risk communicating with reality.
"The exam is over, time to collect the papers."
The Invigilator came down from the podium and collected all the examinees' papers.
Gu Yi sat in the waiting room, deep in thought.
Chen Zeyu, sitting beside Gu Yi, initiated a conversation, "I heard about your score, you only got 12 points?"
"Yeah, what about you?"
"18 points."
"How did you do it?"
"I used my knowledge and skills to help the slave master improve production methods, and he rewarded me with my freedom," Chen Zeyu explained and asked. "What did you do?"
"I killed the slave master."
Chen Zeyu froze, looking at Gu Yi incredulously. "Are you joking?"
"What's wrong?"
"How could you possibly kill him? He's impervious to weapons, and even if you managed to sneak into his room, it's unlikely you could have killed him. You must be making this up."
"Believe it or not, that's up to you."
Chen Zeyu, not wanting to argue further with Gu Yi, turned and went to the teacher's office to receive his reward, and Gu Yi followed.
The Invigilator showed no signs of surprise or irregularity upon seeing Gu Yi.
Gu Yi was somewhat surprised by the Invigilator's lack of reaction.
The only explanation he could think of was that the black orb in his hand was beyond the scope of the host, or at least beyond the entire dungeon world. Neither the NPCs in the exam nor the teachers at the school could see the orb or the tattoo on his hand.
Back in his dormitory, Gu Yi lay on his bed, continuing to examine the black orb.
To his amazement, some dream fragments still remained inside the orb.
"Amazing, I can actually bring things back from the dream simulation?"
Gu Yi was thrilled and immediately sat inside the black orb to concoct a potion.
Each time after drawing blood, as soon as he exited and re-entered the orb, he would return to his prime state. He drew a whole liter of his own blood, not only feeling no discomfort but actually becoming more invigorated.
The power of the black orb was both exhilarating and frightening for Gu Yi.
The unknown and powerful forces always instill fear.
"At least for now, it's under my control, so there's nothing to worry about."
Gu Yi stepped out of the orb, squeezed his palm, feeling a bit tired, and decided to just lie down on his bed and fall asleep.
...
The real world.
In the base of Dragon Country's strategy team.
A bizarre scene unfolded.
The base of the strategy team had completely vanished, replaced by a vast expanse of stable void. This void was neither expanding nor contracting.
For safety, agents scattered across the country returned to where the base was and established protective measures around the perimeter of the void.
Agents from Bear Country arrived at the scene the previous night. With their technical support, the protective measures were rapidly constructed.
"Thank you for your help."
"You're welcome."
Old Zhai and Ivan, the representative from Bear Country, shook hands and exchanged work details. Old Zhai, who had to take care of the injured Ah Jian, was not at the base on the night of the incident, thus narrowly escaping disaster.
Ah Jian, sitting in a wheelchair with bandages around his head, insisted on coming to the base despite advice to the contrary.
"Ah Jian, let me take you back to rest."
"No, I don't want to," Ah Jian said, sounding dejected. "We have no clue about the situation of the team leader and the others. How can I rest easy in such circumstances?"
"The people from Bear Country said that our base might not have disappeared. They could have just gone to the weird world."