“Basically, that’s how it is. I’m going to be invisible for a while. I’m exhausted, man.”
Chen pointed at that white door: “Don’t go into sleep mode yet. You haven’t told me about the situation here. Don’t bail on me now.”
“This is your dream. Once you wake up, you will leave this place,”
The System said indifferently.
“Also, although this is only Level 363 of the dream, it has some of the level’s characteristics. Try opening this door.”
Chen did as told and opened the white door.
Behind the door was a void.
There wasn’t even darkness; it was pure ‘nothingness’.
“Is this the real Void?” Chen swallowed hard.
He had gained a new concept of what the Void was.
“Yes. If you fall in, you’re imprisoned for life. You can’t die, and you can’t get out,”
The System said with a strained tone.
“Stop scaring me. Just go ahead and turn invisible; I need to get out of here.” Chen really didn’t want to stay in this Level 363.
Even though it was just a dream level, Chen instinctively hated it.
This level seemed to naturally reject outsiders.
And since Chen happened to be a transmigrator, his instincts told him to stay away.
“If you want to leave, wake up quickly. As for how to wake up, that’s up to you.”
After thinking for a moment, the System added:
“Although I was discovered by the will of 363, I have successfully unlocked some items in your inventory. You might be able to use these things to kill that aberration outside.”
“Doesn’t that make me invincible?”
“…”
The System was speechless; silence was the order of the night.
The System couldn’t be bothered to argue with Chen anymore and went straight into sleep mode, turning invisible.
After waiting for a while and hearing nothing from the System, Chen pondered how to leave.
“Wake up, wake up, wake up…” Chen slapped himself a few times, but it was useless.
“Demons and monsters, begone! Demons and monsters, begone…”
Reciting incantations was also useless.
After trying a whole circle of methods, Chen realized that he couldn’t wake up.
Chen felt incredibly frustrated at this moment.
He was fully conscious, yet he clearly knew he was in a dream.
How to wake up was a difficult problem.
Fortunately, Chen wasn’t trapped there for too long.
While he was pacing in circles, trying to figure out how to get out, his stomach let out a growl.
He was hungry, and this sense of hunger woke him up.
Chen felt the world spin, and the next moment, he opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was the gloomy sky.
He looked around and saw the same scarlet forest and boundless darkness.
That’s more like it.
Chen didn’t know how long he had slept.
It was impossible to tell from the outside situation; it seemed to always be like this here.
He listened carefully to the sounds inside the safety door—total silence.
Should he go out and take a look?
He didn’t know if the monster was still waiting for him outside, and Chen fell into a dilemma.
He waited quietly for another five minutes, but there was still no sound.
“Not letting me go out is worse than death. Screw it!”
Chen quietly pulled open the safety door.
Then, he saw a monster that looked like an anteater mixed with a Xenomorph, its bloody mouth wide open, facing him.
“I’m doomed!”
With the fastest hand speed of his life, Chen quickly pulled that piece of meat out of his backpack and plop—threw it into the monster’s mouth.
The monster’s lunging motion came to an abrupt halt, and it began to stand there, chewing on the meat.
Chen watched the monster up close and realized it was truly ugly.
He poked the monster’s skin and felt a sense of stickiness.
Ugh, so disgusting.
Better run quickly.
Chen hurried downward.
After sprinting down dozens of floors, Chen was out of breath.
During this time, he didn’t forget to count the stairs, and while descending, he collected 5 full meals and two pieces of meat.
“Roar, roar, roar!” Suddenly, a roar of excitement came from far up the stairs.
“This jerk mutates after eating meat?” Chen was astonished.
Now the monster’s speed had increased by 5%.
It seemed he needed to be more careful.
Estimating the distance, Chen quickly ran into the safety door.
Listening to the patter, patter of footsteps outside, Chen calculated silently in his heart.
This monster’s speed had clearly jumped up a level.
You call this 5%?
System prompt: “This is 5% of its peak state.”
“Why are you popping up again? Do you really want me dead?” Chen said, furious.
The monster’s movement speed had exceeded Chen’s expectations.
He felt that if he fed it two more pieces of meat, this jerk’s movement speed might reach 600.
Truly exhausting.
The monster sped past outside.
After confirming the monster had left, Chen hurried to climb upward.
But just like every viewer, the speed of climbing upward is always slower.
The stairs in this vicinity had all been counted by Chen; he had no choice but to continue moving upward.
But climbing stairs is really tiring, Chen complained to himself.
(Climbing stairs is great for weight loss; for those friends who want to lose weight, you can give it a try.)
Continuing to count the stairs, collect meat, and avoid the monster, Chen had become quite skilled at it.
…
Time flew by, but Chen couldn’t feel the passage of time in the Stairwell, and the scenery outside the balcony remained unchanged.
Chen didn’t even know how many days and nights had passed; he only knew that he ate when he was hungry, and he had already eaten nearly ten meals.
During this time, several pieces of meat were consumed, but Chen had successively found dozens more.
Chen now had 13 pieces of meat; he only needed one more to collect them all.
However, the stairs in the surrounding large area had all been scavenged.
To find new supplies, he had to explore new areas.
Chen headed all the way down.
Meanwhile, his assimilation rate had reached 60%.
More than half of Chen’s body had turned into a skeleton, yet he still felt nothing.
It is worth mentioning that after the monster ate the fourth piece of meat, it never crossed paths with Chen again, allowing him to collect items smoothly.
“Why does something feel off? Has it been going too smoothly?” Chen pondered as he moved forward.
Chen always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Hearing the monster’s footsteps again, even though it had sped up four times, Chen still skillfully dodged into the safety door.
About ten seconds later, the footsteps passed by Chen’s floor and continued downward.
“Something’s wrong, something’s wrong.”
At this moment, there was no joy of impending escape in Chen’s eyes, only confusion about the monster.
“This monster is too stupid, right? It sped up four times, and it’s still the same as before, ever since…”
Chen thought for a moment and suddenly considered a possibility.
“Is this jerk farming me like a pig?”
Chen’s expression turned solemn; he felt like he had been played by this monster.
Because he hadn’t found any meat for a long time, and the monster seemed to be intentionally not catching up to him.
Chen knew that at 20% of the monster’s peak speed, he definitely couldn’t outrun it.
Yet he was still able to narrowly slip into the safety door every time, and the monster didn’t block his door.
This is just too cruel.