Nightmare Light

Chapter 194 Re-entering the Nightmare
[Server functionality upgrade in progress...]

The sudden appearance of this line of text left Lin Wang a little bewildered, but upon further reflection, he felt it made perfect sense—if a World Tree's server function was only being used by him as a stupid AI, then it would be far too weak.

But... what new features will be added if the upgrade is implemented?
Lin Wang felt a faint sense of anticipation.

Seeing that the upgrade progress bar on the server function still had a while to go, he decided to go check on the fruits first.

Lin Wang grabbed a vine and used it to pull himself up toward the fruit.

At that moment, the branches of the tree fern suddenly trembled a few times, and one of the fruits, following the vine, stretched out in front of him.

This fruit is a bit strange—it also has a golden shell, but it has many patterns on it.

As they drew closer, a line of glowing text appeared on the fruit: [Skill Fruit]

A skill fruit? Will I gain a skill after absorbing it?
Lin Wang was a little curious and pressed his hand on the fruit's outer shell.

[Identify and absorb the interactive behavior?]

"Yes."

The fruit split open, and a burst of bright energy surged out from within, pouring into Lin Wang's body.

Lin Wang let out a muffled groan, feeling the surging energy within his body.

After the stinging pain on his forehead caused by the surging energy subsided, Lin Wang realized that he had gained a new ability—

"I...can I talk to the dead now?"

Lin Wang felt that he could now have a conversation with the dead whenever he wanted—whether they had just died or had become zombies, as long as their souls were still intact, he could communicate with them.

"This ability is very useful... The only problem is that there are no dead people in this tree fern space... I've got it!"

At that moment, a "ding" sounded in Lin Wang's mind, followed by a message from the server function.

[Server functionality upgrade complete, new features are being rolled out...]

[World Tree's self-repair function activated, searching... Functionality missing... Query...]

The necessary samples for the repair have been scattered and need to be retrieved by the administrator.

[Scanning in progress at sample location... Coordinates have been sent, please proceed as soon as possible.]

After this long message was sent to Lin Wang, the server function immediately transmitted a bunch of coordinates into Lin Wang's mind.

Lin Wang opened the message and was immediately stunned: "Most of the missing samples... are in the Nightmare World? Why is that?"

He rubbed his chin: "Thinking about it carefully, it has indeed been a while since I explored the Nightmare World... Why don't I go to the Nightmare World and try out the new skill I just acquired?"

Although he hadn't encountered any dead bodies during his previous exploration of the Nightmare World, Lin Wang was 100% certain that the place was teeming with corpses.

Especially since there aren't many living people in that place, having this skill will make exploring that world much easier.

Thinking of this, Lin Wang found a suitable branch on the giant tree, leaned against it, and struck a comfortable pose.

Close your eyes and tune the frequency.

When the dizziness subsided, he opened his eyes again. Before him lay a pitch-black earth, with swirling dark clouds and an endless desolation stretching to the horizon.

Nightmare World, long time no see.

Lin Wang looked around. He was still standing on the plain where he had previously "mending the sky".

Looking northwest from that plain, one sees a range of rugged mountains.

Previously, the servo function sent him thousands of coordinates, and comparing them one by one was too troublesome.

So, Lin Wang called out in his mind: "Server function?"

[Server function is ready]

"Can you sense my location in this world? And perceive the surrounding locations?"

[As a server function, this function does not have the ability to implement coordinates, but the main body of this function, the World Tree, does have this ability.] "...So you really didn't need to say that." Lin Wang retorted, and then issued a new command, "Show me the location of the nearest recyclable."

[Command received, searching...]

[Recoverable core detected: 11 o'clock direction, proceed 4700 meters.]

"Five kilometers, not too far, not too bad."

After thinking for a while and confirming that he was in good condition and could easily defeat any small monsters that suddenly jumped out, Lin Wang began to head towards his target location.

After advancing for about three thousand meters on the dark earth, Lin Wang bypassed a small hill.

After rounding the mound, Lin Wang saw the third area on this land with traces of man-made structures.

This building complex is much larger than the previous paper village—it's a town.

Stone slab walls, wooden beams and pillars, and many similar stone buildings cluster together, with a high platform piled up in the center of the town.

Like the previous paper village, the entire town was deserted and lifeless.

Unlike the paper village, this village is filled with festive red ribbons and bright red lanterns hanging everywhere, swaying in the deserted town.

Upon reaching the town entrance, a decayed plaque lay askew on the ground atop a stone archway, bearing a few ancient characters.

Huncheng Sizhen.

"Is the Marriage City... a city that governs marriage... and what is the Succession Town?"

Lin Wang pondered for a moment, then nodded: "Forget it, why bother thinking about it? We'll just go in and find out everything."

As we entered the town, there was no one around; the entire town was deathly silent.

But for some reason, Lin Wang felt that this town was quite different from the deathly stillness of Paper Village.

If Paper Village was a truly lifeless and desolate place before, then this Si Town now feels like... something is hidden in the town, lurking in the shadows.

Lin Wang became secretly on guard.

[Recyclable material is approaching... distance, 1100 meters.]

More than a thousand meters... Does that mean the recyclables are right here in this town?
Lin Wang's spirits lifted.

He quickened his pace and walked several hundred meters more toward the recyclables.

After turning a corner in the town, Lin Wang suddenly noticed a person lying on the street corner ahead!

Or rather, a figure!
What is that? A living person or a corpse? Or some kind of eerie thing that looks like a human?
In this bizarre world, anything can happen...

Considering previous experiences...

That guy, could he be a cult member? If he is, his companions must be nearby!

Lin Wang immediately tensed up.

He summoned a tree spear, which grew to more than two meters long. He held it carefully in his hand and walked towards the human figure lying on the ground.

As they drew closer, Lin Wang saw that it was a humanoid figure dressed in the combat uniform commonly seen in Tangsheng City—judging from the clothing, it looked more like a mercenary.

The probability of someone wearing this kind of clothing being a cult member is much lower... but we can't let our guard down, in case it's a crazed mercenary, or...

Lin Wang walked to the "corpse" but did not rush to examine it or touch it.

The "corpse" lay on its side on the ground, leaving Lin Wang with only the back of its head visible.

Therefore, Lin Wang remained vigilant and circled around to the front of the "corpse".

Then, he opened his eyes wide.

"Dog brother?"

(End of this chapter)