Light Fortress
Chapter 195 - 182 [Dissolving Dream]

Chapter 195: Chapter 182 [Dissolving Dream]

The funeral march wafted out from Freedom Hall, as someone stood atop the tower in silent mourning.

"What a grand funeral this is..."

"It’s just that the funeral is burying you yourself."

A faint voice of agreement came from the nearby roof of the hall.

Xiao slowly turned his head.

Under the grand moon, he saw an old man and a younger man standing on the roof of the hall, the smile on the V-shaped mask seeming even thicker than before.

"Mr. Shu... you finally arrived..."

Xiao slowly bowed, performing an ancient and elegant genuflection as a greeting.

Gu Shen, standing beside his teacher, frowned.

He remembered... Where had he seen this ceremony?

He remembered now!

A-009 had performed the same genuflecting courtesy before!

Gu Shen turned his head to look at his teacher... Sure enough, when Zhou Jiren saw Xiao’s genuflection, his eyes became icy and chilling, and in an instant, the rooftop tiles shattered.

The next moment.

Zhou Jiren appeared inside the tower.

A punch!

"Ugh—"

It was indeed a stunning image, Zhou Jiren’s seemingly frail body contained such great power, and with a punch, he struck Xiao directly in the abdomen.

Xiao was sent flying, his limbs hanging in the air, as he coughed out a mouthful of blood with a heavy sound.

The V-shaped mask which Song Ci had tried all his strength to break, cracked under the aftershocks of this punch!

Zhou Jiren stood above the tower, his face expressionless as he looked down.

The inner and outer red brick walls built around Freedom Hall were smashed into pieces, and after the smoke and dust spread, a blood-stained, familiar face slowly became visible.

This face... had been declared dead by Deep Sea ten years ago and was deregistered from the database.

Zhou Yu held the fragments of his mask on his cheek, his tone full of regret as he looked at the broken pieces in his hands. This time, the miraculous power did not reappear to fix it.

"Ah, what a pity... it’s completely unusable now..."

He sounded a bit aggrieved, raising his head to complain, "You really did put too much force into it, you know. That was a near-A grade sealed item."

Seeing the familiar face, neither Zhou Jiren nor Gu Shen showed much surprise... The mentor and apprentice exchanged glances, seeing the message each wanted to convey in the other’s eyes.

All of this was consistent with their previous deductions.

But rather than Zhou Yu, they preferred to call the man before them "Xiao."

The Judgement Institute’s genius Judge had died in the great fire of Yinghai that year.

"Your ability is... to devour bodies and then possess their abilities," Zhou Jiren said calmly. "I am very curious what exactly you want to do by causing such a big scene tonight."

Zhou Yu wiped the corner of his lips.

He leaned against the collapsing wall, slowly stood up, and with a smile said, "Actually, I’m not as bad as you think... Look, Da Du is so quiet at this moment, no explosions, no noise, just the drifting music... It’s been how many years since this city has enjoyed such silence?"

From the time the skyscrapers rose into the sky.

From the moment artificial intelligence took over life.

The world... started to become more and more noisy, more and more clamorous.

"I just feel... it’s too noisy, and I wanted some quiet,"

Zhou Yu shrugged and said, "That’s all."

But who would believe such a lie?

All the participants of tonight’s freedom ball were trapped in the dreams imposed by Xiao Bushi... but this dream was far more than just that, the whole Dadu District was affected, people fell into sleep en masse, the mortal world seemed like a dream.

"Perhaps... I’m a bit greedier than you think, I hope tonight and every night, Da Du would be like this,"

Zhou Yu looked down at his hands and said with a laugh, "That’s why I took this body..."

Just then.

The interface of Gu Shen’s glasses displayed a declassified file.

With Mr. Shu’s joint authority, the strict confidential information about Zhou Yu was laid bare by Deep Sea... The reason why this genius Judge obtained a near-S grade rating was because the extraordinary ability he awakened was extremely special.

[Dissolving Dream.]

[An extremely powerful trait-type ability. Once Domain Expansion is activated, it can pull real objects into the dream and directly destroy them.]

If the whole Dadu District is pulled into the dream.

Then when [Dissolving Dream] is activated... objects, life destroyed within the dream, would also shatter in reality.

Such powerful extraordinary ability, no wonder it had been strictly confidential by Deep Sea.

However, the "Dissolving Dream" ability also came with a fatal limitation: the cost of using it. Such a powerful ability was a tremendous violation of order every time it was activated, and as the Transcendent carrying this power, one had to possess sufficient spiritual strength.

In other words,

not everyone who awakened the "Dissolving Dream" could cause widespread destruction.

Some people’s "Dissolving Dream" could not even pull living beings with a spirit into the dream realm; they could only shatter inanimate objects, and struggling to kill even a single insect would be difficult.

...

...

"I have seen the power of ’Dissolving Dream,’" Mr. Shu said indifferently, "I don’t believe you can expand your domain to cover the entire Da Du... that’s something even Divine City might not be able to do."

Zhou Yu smiled silently, offering no rebuttal.

"I also don’t believe that you can cover the Freedom Hall with ’Dissolving Dream.’ There are dozens of Transcendents nearby, and each expansion of the ’Dissolving Dream’ domain is a tremendous consumption of spiritual power for every living being affected... If possible, you would have already crushed the heads of those in power inside the hall. Killing them, Da Du could still be quiet."

"Tsk... really sharp insight,"

Zhou Yu said with a smile, "The last part you mentioned, I quite agree with. Only, what makes you so sure that Da Du’s important figures aren’t within the ’Dissolving Dream’?"

"Because you used that waltz to spread the illusionary dream and tried to encompass Da Du," Zhou Jiren lit a cigar, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said calmly, "It indicates you’re feeling guilty, afraid of being exposed. When everyone is trapped in the dream realm, no one will know how many beings ’Dissolving Dream’ has enveloped."

"Impressive, impressive..."

Zhou Yu clapped his hands, then smilingly asked, "So... if you’ve guessed everything correctly, what about it?"

The cigar-smoking elder fell silent.

"You want to say that ’Dissolving Dream’s greatest flaw is the toll it takes on oneself, right? But I don’t care about the life or death of this body... Explosion is an art, and fully unleashing the ’Dissolving Dream’ domain to set off everything in an explosion, whatever follows... has nothing to do with me anymore."

Zhou Yu tossed out this response frivolously.

He no longer looked at Zhou Jiren, instead turning his gaze towards the youth on the roof of the hall.

Xiao chuckled softly, "Gu Shen... interested in playing a game with me?"

The blood-colored Compass, he had gifted it.

It was for today... This Compass ensured Gu Shen would not be hypnotized by the music and would come before him for this conversation.

"I’ve heard you’re a spiritual genius that the Judgement Institute sees once every hundred years, shattering the record for the fastest Dream Interpretation within the audit team, so today’s game... we’ll use your specialty to decide the winner."

"The rules are simple: I kill, you save... If you can rescue the people covered by my ’Dissolving Dream’ without the help of any external forces, then you win."

Xiao extended one finger, "The time limit is... this symphony. I won’t trigger ’Dissolving Dream’ to explode before the piece ends."

As he said this, he glanced at "Shuang Chuan" Gu Zhi, who was preparing to approach from behind.

"The game is fair because, regardless of winning or losing, I will choose to ’sacrifice’. So from this moment on, I won’t dodge or resist... If you gentlemen want to kill me, you must be prepared for the possibility of ’Dissolving Dream’ being crushed."

Xiao raised his head, asking provocatively, "The famous Sky-reaching Tree, want to give it a shot? Let’s see whether you’re faster at taking action or I’m quicker at triggering ’Dissolving Dream’ with spiritual power... if you lose, the deaths of those innocents will be on your head."

Zhou Jiren’s face, hidden in the mist.

He looked down at Zhou Yu expressionlessly, finally matching his gaze with Gu Zhi’s... he did not make a move.

Everyone in the Freedom Hall was asleep.

He had no idea... just how many people were pulled into the ’Dissolving Dream’.

Maybe it was all a bluff from Xiao, but currently no one could afford the cost if ’Dissolving Dream’ were activated.

"You want to compete with me... in Dream Interpretation?"

Grasping the Truth Ruler tightly, Gu Shen narrowed his eyes.

"Correct."

"I have been waiting for this day of reunion... for a very long time."

"I will drag you into the ’dream’, where you can try to find those locked by ’Dissolving Dream,’" Xiao said with a smile," How about it? Da Du’s savior, want to give it a shot? Their fates rest in your hands. Agree, or refuse?"

He slowly spread his arms.

He was truly offering no resistance.

If Gu Shen refused the game... he would directly detonate ’Dissolving Dream’, and the consequences of that...

Xiao didn’t care.

Agree, or refuse?

Gu Shen looked towards his mentor and then towards another Titled Transcendent... he finally took a deep breath in silence.

There was no choice to this question.

"Fine."

"I agree."

...

...

(Due to some issues, the update will be late. Sorry about that.)