Chapter 1610: Chapter 1610: Entering the Dream
Xu Huo was about to enter a sleep state, and naturally couldn’t completely forgo protection. Other players used it as a convenience to be awakened, but he didn’t need to.
Looking at the shelter that appeared in the room, a player curled up in the corner said, “I thought you were more forthright than that…”
The words were spoken deliberately for others to hear, so Xu Huo turned his head to look over, “This is also for your safety.”
The players present, including Chi Xian and Liao Xiaorong, believed this was just his excuse for not trusting others. However, given his formidable strength, the others couldn’t intervene.
But Yi Jun reached out to the door frame of the shelter and asked, “You don’t have a mental illness, do you?”
The others all looked at him: Are you trying to pick a fight?
Yi Jun explained, “It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just don’t know the extent of your spiritual evolution. If you lose control while asleep, everyone else will suffer.”
“I’m just a Rank-C Player.” Xu Huo smiled, left the Battle Maid outside, and closed the door of “Shelter No. 101.”
The shelter exchanged air with the outside when the door opened, so one couldn’t remove their protective gear even inside. However, this shelter could withstand nuclear-level attacks and was a Rank-B prop; general-level props shouldn’t be able to destroy it immediately.
Of course, Rank-A props were another matter, so he left the Battle Maid outside and placed Butler 25 inside as a humanoid shield. He also took out the “Magician” prop, which had only a minute of combat time but could simulate half the strength of a genuine magician, which was quite good.
The defensive prop with a longer duration was the “Goalkeeper,” which could last ten minutes; most others lasted three minutes. “Blossom” would disappear only when completely destroyed or retrieved, making it perfect for use here, and with the addition of “Three Hundred Sixty Defenses,” should something happen, it could buy time until he fully woke up.
In addition to these, “Undaunted Martyr Substitute,” “Kitty Grants You Three Lives,” “Lifelike Wax Figure,” and “Three Seconds of a Lifetime” were all on him as a backup.
Naturally, these were merely defensive measures. If someone really broke through the shelter while he hadn’t awoken, no amount of props would be useful.
Thus, he once again entered the spiritual world, sitting next to the white table under the library.
Three other personalities representing different periods of him appeared.
The childhood personality was still a shadow, with his face and body indistinct. The adolescent and young adult personalities sat by the table, remaining calm.
Xu Huo nodded gently to the young adult personality, “Thank you.”
The young adult personality also nodded.
“I will enter a sleep state for a while, and may not wake up in time,” Xu Huo said. “If there’s danger and my defensive barrier is breached, wake me up immediately.”
His gaze moved over the three personalities, finally resting on the shadow personality, and emphasized, “Remember, wake me up when I’m in life-threatening danger.”
The shadow personality stood silently at the table, not facing him, with no response.
Xu Huo looked at him for two seconds before withdrawing his gaze, refocused on the shelter, and only after temporarily buying a set of Rank-A Armor did he lie down.
A minute later, Butler 25 shook him awake.
He was woken up after three minutes on the second attempt at sleep.
Like the players previously, after half an hour, general pain could no longer awaken him.
Once Xu Huo fell asleep, he could no longer keep track of time, and he didn’t know how long it had been before his dreams began.
First, he saw his former home.
Bright sunlight cast through the window into the room, with the afternoon cicadas’ chorus a disturbance. Standing under the glass window and looking up, one could still see dust floating in the air.
Father Xu led a newly awakened Xu Zhi out of the bedroom, took three ice lollies from the fridge, placed them on the table, and invited him over with a smile, asking what color he wanted.
Three ice lollies, three flavors, three colors.
This scene wasn’t unfamiliar to Xu Huo. He had memories from a young age, richer than those of typical children—not fragmentary but continuous recollections—so this scene, frequently occurring in summer, wasn’t strange.
“You choose first this time, then it’s your brother’s, and after that, it’s Dad’s turn,” Father Xu said with a smile.
Xu Huo casually picked the red one.
Xu Zhi’s gaze lingered on the red ice lolly for a moment, then picked up the white one, saying, “Next time, I want strawberry flavor.”
Xu Huo smiled, his gaze moving with him towards the television. As Father Xu sighed, “So hot,” his eyes shifted to the window, and behind the glaring light, the room’s scene changed.
Xu Zhi was nowhere to be found, and Father Xu and Lady Fang remained silent, one sitting by the dining table and the other on the sofa.
Neither glanced his way. Only the ticking of the clock filled the room, increasingly irritating.
When the clock hands ticked to the next hour, Lady Fang suddenly erupted, picking up a cup and smashing it against the wall—the cup shattered alongside the clock, sending fragments flying with a sparse scattering sound, one of which flew towards Xu Huo’s eye.
He reached out, caught the fragment, and casually tossed it to the ground.
As the fragment hit the floor, rings of ripples spread out, altering the entire room’s scene, and noises surged around him. He was now standing in an underground casino, pressed by the crowd to a table for buying points. People around were laughing and shouting about which number to buy while Xu Huo clearly saw the croupier manipulating the mechanism beneath the table to roll out the number he wanted.
Xu Huo had chips in hand, and the people by the table urged him to place his bet.
He casually tossed a chip on a number no one else had bet on.
The wheel began to spin, and after a heart-pounding wait, the ball stopped precisely on the number Xu Huo had chosen.
The croupier looked up at him, pushing more chips back toward him.
Xu Huo sat by the table, his gaze fixed on the croupier opposite.
In just a few seconds of eye contact, a wave of henchmen surged from both sides, inviting him into a small room. A man in a suit placed chips and a knife before him.
“Cheating calls for cutting ears, that’s the casino’s rule.”
Xu Huo remained unmoved but raised his hand to stop the man as he approached with the knife and instead took the knife, cutting off the man’s right ear himself.
The room’s window was open, seeming to overlook a bustling street, and the man’s cries drew more henchmen, who were slamming against the door.
Xu Huo let the man go, went over, and kicked the door and those outside it down together, walking out over the door slab.
No one dared to stop him. As he left the casino, a car suddenly sped past him, leaving a gun at his feet.