Chapter 1 Hao Ren

Hao Ren hid behind a piece of cover, observing the activity outside. Although he hadn't seen any enemies yet, the distant sound of gunfire indicated that this was no peaceful place. It was important to remain hidden until he understood the situation.

He saw that the surrounding streets were dilapidated, the buildings were mottled and crumbling, and bullet holes were everywhere on the walls and roads. Twisted metal fragments were piled up on the corners, and everything was a scene of post-war destruction. The sky was grey as if it were about to rain, but the dry, chilly air reminded him that it was not cloud cover but a kind of persistent high-altitude dust cloud. A breeze brought the smell of gunpowder from afar, along with a pungent, chemical-like odor.

"What's going on? Has World War III really started?" Hao Ren muttered to himself, concentrating and checking his brain. He found that he was not dreaming.

"It can't be a dream..." he murmured to himself, "the details are too complete... Was I teleported to some place in the Dream Plane again?"

Ordinary people who sink into dreams find it difficult to recognize their situation, because the brain naturally processes all the details in the dream and self-deceptively constructs the required senses. But Hao Ren had undergone physical modification and had specifically trained his mental strength. He could remain conscious in dreams, distinguish reality in extreme sleep, and even resist various powerful illusions to a certain extent. But after confirming that he was in reality, Hao Ren was still a little puzzled: he felt that he might have entered the Dream Plane again, but after entering this time, there was always a sense of disharmony that lingered, and he couldn't tell what was going on.

"Terminal, can you hear me?" Hao Ren activated the mental connection and called the data terminal in his mind. He knew that the guy was connected to his mind twenty-four hours a day, including when he was asleep. "My current situation is a bit subtle..."

The data terminal's voice came after a few seconds of delay: "Received, signal clear, but this unit's condition is also a bit subtle..."

"You're in here too?" Hao Ren said in his mind, cautiously moving towards the nearest building. He hoped to go to a higher place to see the situation in this place. "Is this the Dream Plane?"

The data terminal's voice was sometimes loud and sometimes soft: "It should be, but this teleportation process was very sudden. This unit was 'pulled' in by your mental strength and didn't have time to record the 'descent' process. Also, the surrounding environment is a bit abnormal, but it is indescribable."

"Heh, I actually fell asleep and entered the Dream Plane again," Hao Ren twitched his mouth. He saw a tall tower. Although the outer wall was damaged a lot, the structure was still very intact and solid. He decided to go up and take a look. "I thought I would never need this method of entering again... It's been more than a year since I experienced it."

"Theoretically, this shouldn't happen. Your mental strength has become increasingly stable and highly controllable, and there should no longer be uncontrolled dream incursions. Moreover, this unit is connected to you, which is equivalent to a firewall... At least there is a warning function."

"There are always unexpected times. Speaking of which, you mentioned that the environment here is abnormal? It's probably because we entered the Dream Plane as spiritual bodies this time," Hao Ren reasoned casually. "Since finding the Tanagus Rift, we have been entering as physical entities. I almost forgot what it feels like to enter as a spiritual body."

The data terminal's voice was delayed again by a few seconds: "Insufficient data, no comment."

Hao Ren climbed to the third floor of the dilapidated tower, looking down at the streets below: "Why did you suddenly get serious? Speaking of which, this place is really... not optimistic."

Standing on the tower's balcony overlooking the city, everywhere he looked was devastated. Almost every street was in a dilapidated state. The entire city must have suffered a large-scale bombing—or had been ravaged to this point in a protracted urban warfare.

The data terminal's voice continued to come: "This unit needs to allocate some computing power to analyze the situation here."

"Okay, continue your analysis," Hao Ren said casually, "But before that, can you determine the location of this planet? How far is it from Holleta? Can you contact the Crystal Nucleus Research Station or the Alamanda Base?"

"...Insufficient data. It can only be determined that it is in the Dream Plane, but the current location cannot be determined. Signal transmission with the Crystal Nucleus Research Station and the Alamanda Base is normal, but the physical address cannot be resolved. There may be unexpected interference or a data chain error."

"It may also be too far away," Hao Ren looked up at the grey sky, as if trying to see the starry sky behind the dust, "Or this place is in a special star region."

In this universe where True Gods exploded, it was not unimaginable that there would be one or two distorted areas with chaotic space-time rules. Now Hao Ren was just grateful that he had entered this place as a spiritual body, and he could retreat completely if there was danger.

However, a doubt had begun to linger in his mind: why did he suddenly fall into this place?

He had initially entered the Dream Plane through dream "descent" like this, so he was no stranger to the intrusion process. But he had also tested it. If he descended through dreams in the surface world, he would be teleported to the planet Holleta one hundred percent of the time—it seemed that Holleta and the surface world had some kind of mapping relationship, or that a large rift in the Wall of Reality was projected onto the planet Holleta.

But this time, he came to an unfamiliar planet, and it seemed to be very far away from Holleta.

He told the data terminal his question: "Terminal, what do you think is going on?"

The data terminal thought for a while: "...Pessimistically speaking, this phenomenon may mean that the rift in the Wall of Reality is further expanding. Originally, when you dreamed in the surface world, you could only enter Holleta, but now... more places in the Dream Plane are connected to the surface world."

Hao Ren felt a pain in his liver: "What's the optimistic estimate?"

"The optimistic estimate is that there's something wrong with your brain and you're running around randomly."

"Damn you!"

"This unit comes from the production line. This unit's father is a substrate detector. Please pay attention to your orientation. This unit's father is harder than any part of you."

Hearing the data terminal arguing with him so vigorously, Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief: it seemed that this idiot had also recovered from the aftereffects of the sudden teleportation.

"Not completely out of trouble yet," the data terminal sensed Hao Ren's thoughts and sent a message with some frustration, "There was a bit of a data conversion error when entering the Dream Plane. This unit has lost its ability to move. Come pick up this unit."

Hao Ren was stunned: "Why are there so many problems this time?"

"This unit is asking who! You were the leader during the descent!"

"Okay, okay, where do I pick you up?"

The data terminal transmitted navigation information to Hao Ren's mind. The latter looked in a certain direction along the mental induction and found that smoke was rising from the streets there, and a sporadic sound of gunfire was coming from there.

That guy really chose a good place to "land."

Hao Ren shook his head, sighed, jumped directly off the third floor, and ran quickly towards the smoky streets.

As he approached the area of ​​fighting, he found some corpses: wearing non-uniform combat clothing, both male and female, equipped with small-caliber individual weapons. Judging from the wounds, they should have died in the recent firefight.

By the time he arrived at the street where the data terminal was sending the signal, the battle here was over.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of gunpowder, and the smell of blood mixed in the breeze. The soldiers who had fought here should have withdrawn or died in battle. He could only see the damaged equipment left on the ground and a few corpses behind the street corner cover—they didn't even have time to take away the corpses, which was obviously the losing side.

Hao Ren looked around and didn't find any living people. Behind the few concrete slabs closest to him were lying two fallen soldiers. He walked over and bent down to check the condition of these two people.

"The firearms are gunpowder-powered, but more advanced than those on Earth," Hao Ren mumbled while inspecting the equipment of the fallen soldiers, "Well, the gun body is inlaid with advanced electronic auxiliary devices, possibly for aiming and guidance... connected to the combat uniform..."

He reached out and picked up a rifle, and a line of text was immediately projected on the gun body: User error, mechanism locked.

"...It even has permission identification."

At this moment, a clear reprimand from behind suddenly interrupted Hao Ren's actions: "Don't move! The person in front, put your hands behind your head, face this way, and stand up slowly!"