Chapter 1 Hao Ren Waits

Hao Ren sat upright in front of Raven 12345, waiting for her to explain everything. Actually, he hadn't expected her to be so forthcoming. In his mind, Raven 12345 had always been a headstrong person who did things her own way. This impression had been cemented since the day she forced him onto this pirate ship. But now it seemed… this woman wasn't so unreasonable after all.

"This world is more complicated than you think," Raven 12345 said, sitting directly on her desk in an unceremonious manner, her temperament resembling that of a gang boss. "There are races you don't know, another society you don't know, even another space you don't know—most humans are completely ignorant of this, but a very few with special talents will come into contact with it, which is the Dream Plane."

Hao Ren swallowed subconsciously. The serious expression on Raven 12345's face made him feel an invisible pressure.

"Of course, the name 'Dream Plane' is something I decided on recently. Before, I called it the Phantom Space, then the Mirror World, the Phantom Universe… um, I think I even called it the Second Realm before," Raven 12345 scratched her head, and that bit of seriousness vanished. "Anyway, it's a unique phenomenon of this universe. You can call it whatever you want. Let's just call it the Dream Plane for now. I'll change it again when I think of a better name in a couple of days."

Hao Ren had already somewhat adapted to this strange woman's erratic rhythm. At this time, he endured the urge to retort and asked, "What exactly is the Dream Plane? A parallel space? I do know that theory…"

"No, it's a bit more complicated than that," Raven 12345 shook her head. "The Dream Plane is a special kind of information structure in this universe. It's a bit similar to a parallel space, but more illusory and more unstable. The Dream Plane and this universe are superimposed on each other. The latter is real, stable, and regulated, while the Dream Plane is illusory, changeable, and unregulated. When the real world operates normally according to the rules of the universe, the Dream Plane changes along with the real world like a dream, but the mapping relationship between them is very chaotic, so this change is basically untraceable. You can just listen to these theoretical things. Most humans don't understand this anyway. In short, you just need to know one thing: the Dream Plane is a place superimposed on the real world. It's very unstable, but it almost never intersects with the real world. It also has mountains, rivers, plants, animals, and even intelligent life, but all of this is very chaotic. Before you have enough experience… it's best not to touch that place."

"Who would want to touch that thing!" Hao Ren immediately shrank his neck. "I fell in and was surrounded by dozens of wolves in a group, okay? They were at least twice as big as Earth wolves! Didn't you say that the Dream Plane wouldn't intersect with the real world? Then what about me?"

"I also said that people with special talents will come into contact with it," Raven 12345 pointed to Hao Ren's forehead. "That's through dreams. This world is in an information state. Everything is a manifestation of information. Information such as cold, heat, size, quality, etc., is stacked up to make something describable and perceptible, and thus all things are produced. This is the most simple theory of the grand unification of information. Oh, this theory is actually more complicated than this, but it's enough for you to hear this far—you just need to know that due to the existence of the grand unification of information, things in the Dream Plane can be guided to the real world, and the medium is dreams. That's also why I recently named it the Dream Plane. Throughout human history, there have been some people who could connect to the Dream Plane. Most of them were short-lived, and they were accidentally killed by the twisted things in the Dream Plane, but their short lives brought endless trouble to the real world… the Black Death, floods, some… um, very troublesome things. Everyone who dies in the Dream Plane will more or less bring something out of it, and eighty or ninety percent of it is harmful to the real world."

Hao Ren listened in a cold sweat. He never expected that the world he was so familiar with had such a side—just a few days ago, he had complained that this world was too boring and everyday life was too uninteresting. Now he didn't think so at all. On the contrary, this world had suddenly become a little too exciting!

"So, I'm considered to have talent?" Hao Ren didn't know whether he should cry or laugh, so he pointed at his nose with a strange expression. "You make the Dream Plane sound so mysterious, like you'll die if you're not careful… then you should think of a way."

"Talent? You didn't have this talent originally," Raven 12345 grinned. "Don't think too much. You're just an ordinary person, but you've been affected by the information disturbance force after being in contact with me. This influence can make you gradually become different from ordinary people. The initial change is that it becomes easier to come into contact with those extraordinary things, which also makes your future work easier. But you don't have to worry—the unlucky guys who die in the Dream Plane are all those without a backer. None of those tragic guys in history were employees of our Administration. How long could they last on their own? You're different. You have a certificate. This is called 'appointed to cross'—I'll try my best to pull you out every time you're about to die…"

Hao Ren's forehead dripped with sweat: "…"

"Now you know the situation in the Dream Plane, but I doubt how much you can understand just by talking about it. You still need to come into contact with this kind of abstract thing more often. When the time is right, you'll have plenty of opportunities to come into contact with that place," Raven 12345 jumped off the table and patted Hao Ren's shoulder comfortingly, almost nailing the latter into the ground. "As for nightmares, haven't you encountered them these days? This shows that the balance between you and the Dream Plane has been restored. Under normal circumstances, an individual in the real world won't fall into nightmares casually."

Hao Ren rubbed his shoulder with a grimace and finally remembered that he had something else to ask: "By the way, do you know about demon hunters?"

From Vivian, Hao Ren learned about the thousands of years of grudges between demon hunters and the Other, as well as the historical origins between the Other and humans: weak but numerous humans, powerful but rare and loosely organized Other, and demon hunters of unknown origin, between humans and the Other. These three were once three equally active roles on the Earth's stage, but now humans have taken control of this planet, the Other have been extremely marginalized, even to the point that ordinary people don't know about them, and the demon hunters have also gone into hiding in human society. The former three-way rivalry has become a human monopoly, and everything seems to be calm under this situation—but Hao Ren knew that this calm was only superficial, and it was the demon hunters and the Other who tacitly maintained the superficial stability of this world.

Demon hunters still roamed everywhere in this world. These powerful warriors, who looked no different from humans, were still hunting down the Other. And very unfortunately, Hao Ren had two of the Other, the most unusual kind, living in his house—he urgently wanted to know what Raven 12345, the woman who called herself a god, thought about this situation.

Or, in other words: how did this Xiling God System and the Temporal Management Bureau view the various races on Earth? Which side did they belong to?

Hao Ren thought a lot in his heart, but Raven 12345 just waved her hand indifferently: "I know, but I'm too lazy to care. Anyway, they haven't found you yet, have they? We'll talk about it when they find you."

Hao Ren thought for a while and felt that he couldn't beat the white-haired witch in front of him, so he obediently sat back in his chair, folded his hands, and said with a sincere expression: "Then there's one last question: I'm such a weak Earthling, and you want me to deal with that bunch of superhumans. It's fine now that Vivian and Lily have good tempers, but what if I encounter someone with a bad temper… you have to give me some ability to protect myself, right? How about a deal, give me two hundred years of cultivation?"

Hao Ren was just saying this, he didn't expect Raven 12345 to really nod happily and then pass him a Tathagata Palm.

But Raven 12345 slapped her head: "Hey, I would have forgotten if you hadn't said something! New employee on-the-job strengthening, I was wondering why I always felt like something was missing… Fortunately, I remembered this before sending you to the battlefield!"

Hao Ren: "…"

If he died an unnatural death one day, it would definitely be because of this unreliable, crazy, mentally ill boss!