Chapter 020: The Troublesome Formal Dream
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It had been so many years since he’d last heard his parents’ nagging that, as Yang Tang listened, he found himself shedding tears in front of his father and mother.
Seeing this, Yang’s mother thought he was upset by their words and had accepted their advice. She hurried into the kitchen to heat up some food for him, completely unaware that these were tears of joy.
After dinner, Yang Tang returned to his room and searched the internet for Wu Lie’s background. Instantly, he felt a headache coming on.
“Damn, this short, chubby Wu is also from Ba County! We’re actually from the same hometown!”
“Wait a second—this guy started out as a beat cop and then climbed up step by step.”
“Hold on, why does his career progression seem so familiar?”
“Could it be? Is Wu Lie actually that person from my previous life?”
A shadow crossed Yang Tang’s heart. He searched once more through the officials of Mist City’s government, but found no one with the surname Wen.
“It’s over—it must be him. No wonder so many sins fell on me when I saved that guy with glasses. Wait, the Wen family changed their surname to Wu. Does that mean my wife will still have her original name?”
Yang Tang didn’t care much about what would become of the Wu father and son, but it was impossible not to think of his wife from his former life.
“What if she doesn’t even exist in this world?”
He asked himself this question, knowing it wasn’t impossible. After all, some famous figures from ancient times didn’t exist here—like Li Bai and Du Fu—while others, such as Liu Zongyuan, still did.
To make things even more confusing, for instance, Hua Tsai exists, but Xueyou doesn’t sing “Meet in Ninety-Eight”—instead, it’s Xing Li, not Na Jie. Or, to be more specific, for someone like Hua Tsai, “Ice Rain” exists, but “Men Cry, It’s Not a Sin” does not.
In short, this entire world seemed incomplete to Yang Tang: some areas were missing, some had swapped identities, others were unrecognizable. The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt, so he simply pushed all these thoughts aside, took off his outerwear, and went straight to sleep.
Soon enough, Yang Tang, drifting into slumber, once again found himself standing amidst the golden haze and before that statue.
Seeing the “Aimed Shot” plaque suspended in midair, he still felt a sense of unreality. Right now, he had over a thousand sin points; redeeming a skill was entirely possible.
“Let’s do it!”
A prompt arose: “Currently in the zero-level test dream zone; skill solidification slot: 1, base dream level: 20. Redemption unavailable. If forced, skill will vanish after 24 hours!”
Yang Tang fell silent.
After a while, he laughed at himself. “So this skill is just for show right now—I can’t redeem it?”
A prompt: “Redemption possible in one hour and three minutes.”
Huh?
Though surprised, Yang Tang quickly realized the reason: it was almost midnight. If he redeemed “Aimed Shot” then, the skill would last 24 hours and enter the first dream interval of Saturday. According to the formula given earlier, the dream level for the first dream would be one; with that, the solidification slot base would rise to two plus the dream level, making three slots in total. Subtracting the one taken by “Scar Touch,” he’d still have two free.
“Alright, I’ll wait. Remind me when it’s time to redeem.”
No reply came.
But Yang Tang felt as if only two or three minutes had passed in the haze before the prompt arrived: “Redemption now possible for ‘Aimed Shot’!”
As it was a test dream skill, its effectiveness was only a tenth of normal, but he could use tenfold the merit or sin points to redeem an enhanced version.
“Redeem it with sin points, tenfold!”
Ten sin points, multiplied by ten, were deducted.
Current sins: 1,206.
Prompt: “Warning: If both merit and sin reach zero, great misfortune will befall you!”
“Damn, there’s that warning again—see section 007. Looks like I really need to pay attention to this ‘great misfortune’ business.”
“Solidify skill?”
“Can I solidify it now?”
Solidification countdown: 23 hours, 58 minutes, 9 seconds!
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Estimated solidification time: 7 hours. Once complete, one skill slot will be occupied automatically.
“Wait, why only seven hours? Wasn’t ‘Scar Touch’ solidified for seven days?”
“Due to your physical condition meeting the standard, skill solidification is seven hours, or possibly less.”
At this, Yang Tang understood.
On Friday, he spent the entire day dutifully at home, studying English and math. He didn’t care whether Wu Hao had regained consciousness.
By evening, with the “First Dream” about to begin, Yang Tang started pondering: there were three skill slots for the first dream. One was already used, another was reserved—what should he solidify in the last open slot?
“‘Touch of Gold?’ ‘Mountain-Shifting Wave?’ I don’t need any of those right now. Fulfilling my parents’ wish would be best.”
What was their wish? Simple—good academic results.
Yang Jixue, his father, was an associate researcher at a university—what most people would call an associate professor. His mother had a college degree and worked at Mist University Press. Both his late maternal grandparents had spent their lives at Mist University. By all accounts, the Yang family had a scholarly legacy.
Unfortunately, by Yang Tang’s generation, he had not lived up to expectations. In his past life, he only got into Chengda University. In this life, his father had pulled strings for him to get a sponsored position, at least ensuring he had a job.
The problem was, professors and associate professors aren’t short of money. When they met acquaintances, the talk was always about academic matters and their children’s education.
Naturally, the subject of grades would come up. Maybe people asked without much thought, and his parents didn’t mind, but Yang Tang himself, even after all these years, still felt guilty—not because he hadn’t gotten into some top university, but because he’d embarrassed his parents. He hadn’t been a good son.
So, even though college entrance exams were even more competitive in this world, Yang Tang was trying his best to score higher. Now, with this dream ability giving him an easy way out, why not use it? Maybe he could even break free and focus on making money.
“I’m in the liberal arts track—rote memorization matters more than deep understanding. I should find a skill that boosts memory more than intelligence!”
Just as he finished muttering to himself, a prompt appeared: “Desire detected—enhancing memory.”
“Hey, what about intelligence? Are you just skipping that?”
“When memory is greatly enhanced, intelligence will also improve accordingly.”
“Continue memorizing English vocabulary.”
Near midnight, he finally washed up and went to bed.
Before long, Yang Tang realized he was once more in the golden fog.
“Shouldn’t I go straight into the scenario?”
Season check.
Season matches. First dream officially beginning!
“Aimed Shot” is being solidified. Seven hours required.
Due to the low dream level, you may only copy one skill per scenario.
As this is an official dream, you may choose your scenario.
Available scenarios: Three—Manga Serial Version, Korean Drama, Manga “Brynhildr in the Darkness.”
Frankly, Yang Tang remembered the third option best; the other two were a blur to him, but in any case, he wouldn’t have chosen them.
Alternatively, by spending 100 points of merit or sin, you can pick a scenario.
“Robbery!” Yang Tang cursed inwardly, then said, “Deduct 100 sin points. I want to choose the scenario.” As soon as he spoke, he frowned. As his dream level rose, choosing his scenario would probably become more and more costly.
Due to insufficient merit, 100 sin points have been deducted. Please specify your scenario.
“I don’t remember much about the plot anymore, but let’s go with this one!”
Acknowledged. Entering the scenario “Brynhildr in the Darkness!”
This is your first official dream. Entry requires ten Samsara Points. Should they be converted from merit or sin?
“Sin!”
Understood. Twenty sin points deducted, ten Samsara Points generated!
Samsara Points created. Ready to enter the scenario!
The first dream is beginning—
A buzz.
The noisy sounds around him roused Yang Tang from his daze, and he found himself surrounded by several adorable sailor uniforms.
Wait—wasn’t this Murakami’s class from the manga?!
Memory enhancement skill searching—
Search complete. Super Memory meets requirements.
To copy Super Memory from Ryota Murakami, you must spend ten seconds multiplied by the Samsara multiplier. Currently, the multiplier is ten. Before Murakami meets Neko Kuroha, you must tell him about the existence of witches and put your arm around his shoulders for 100 seconds without interruption!
“Damn, that’s not easy!” Yang Tang realized that he had become one of the two boys at the start of the first manga episode, praising Murakami’s grades—specifically, the one who only echoed others with a nervous laugh and almost no lines.
Just as Yang Tang was racking his brain for a plan, the black-haired boy beside him began praising Murakami’s academic excellence with Risa Kashiwagi.
“Oh no!” Their praise jogged his memory—soon the teacher would enter with the transfer student, Neko Kuroha!
In a moment of panic, Yang Tang had a flash of inspiration. He darted to Murakami’s desk, threw his arm around his neck, and dragged him toward the back door.
Murakami, slightly annoyed, was about to shake off Yang Tang’s arm when Yang Tang whispered chillingly in his ear, “Come with me if you want to know about the black cat.”
These words made Murakami tremble, his gaze suddenly sharp as he glared at Yang Tang.
Without a care, Yang Tang pulled open the back door and, at that moment, the teacher entered, announcing, “Morning study begins.” He quickly ushered Murakami out, making sure he didn’t look toward the front corridor—
Where, in a sleeveless sailor uniform, Neko Kuroha was waiting.
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