Dream Travel

Chapter 173 What is an Accident?
I slept soundly until the next day, and everything was calm. I turned on my computer, went online, and checked the news. Nothing major had happened; the world was peaceful.

The cell phone and computer he brought could be used in this world, so he didn't need to prepare any new communication equipment.

Bai Mu took advantage of the daytime to scout out the location. After identifying the target, he spent his time eating and drinking in the city, just like any other tourist.

Even when they encountered the police, who saw the white-clad box with its anime-style design, they didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Strong anime characters are still anime characters; they've seen strong male and female maids before, so someone like Shiro Muku is just average.

By the afternoon, Bai Mu had identified three...six targets. As night fell, he slapped the Dream-Eroding Imperial Arm, which possessed bio-fusion capabilities, into his left eye.

They began their operation under the cover of night.

But just as he found the first local gang's stronghold, an unexpected incident occurred: someone beat him to it.

A series of flashes of light and the rattling of gunfire expressed the simple and honest folk customs of the local people.

Standing behind a container, Bai Mu, sensing the sounds from next door, activated the X-ray vision effect of the Observer Imperial Arm, bypassed the two groups engaged in combat, and headed straight for the place where he could make money.

Since people have started fighting, he doesn't need to get involved in these grudges and feuds.

He's here to make money, not to kill people.

Through the Observer Imperial Arms, White Veil accurately determined the distribution of people inside the house.

The people inside were fully armed. The gang was ambushed, but with henchmen outside intercepting them, the people inside had enough time to prepare.

The people inside were armed with long guns and short cannons. It was impossible to tell whether there was a white screen during their training, but their equipment was quite complete.

Having bypassed these people, Bai Mu found his target: the gang leader's bedroom.

As a private area, this place must have enough start-up capital to get the White Screen up and running.

The gang leader was also there, and he was contacting someone. There was also a box of suspicious powder on the bed.

Seeing that white curtain, you know it can kill the opponent instantly.

Having found his target, Bai Mu cleaved the wall in two with a single sword strike. The gang leader, who was on the phone, was stunned for a moment before exclaiming, "Who are you?!"

His hands moved faster than he spoke, and with a swift motion, he executed an American-style iaido.

The Dream Eater Greatsword blocked the incoming bullets. Bai Mu was somewhat surprised. The Observer's illusions were resisted by an ordinary person?

Since the opponent was resisted, Bai Mu switched to a direct attack, but the gang leader was extremely agile and was able to hold his own for several rounds against Bai Mu.

However, the weapon was not powerful enough to match the gang leader's skills, and his movements were anticipated. Before the gang leader could even call for protection, Bai Mu chopped off his head.

Having found the safe, Bai Mu cleaved it in two with a single sword strike. The safe was indeed very strong, but the Dream Eater Greatsword was no less powerful.

If he can't be split open normally, he can also unleash demonic energy to enhance his power.

After taking the contents of the safe, Bai Mu glanced at the slain gang leader, threw a grenade into the suitcase on the bed, and left through a hole in the wall.

This gang leader left a deep impression on him; the other party was so powerful that he didn't seem like an ordinary person.

An ordinary person wouldn't last more than a few rounds against him, but this gang leader did, and the feeling of being slashed by him was also strange.

Bai Mu thought there were no special powers in this world, but the fact that a gang leader could demonstrate such physical abilities meant that his previous guess was wrong. This world is still worth exploring, right?
Not long after Bai Mu left, the gang leader's room was broken into. A fully armed man wearing a helmet saw the corpse on the ground and roared angrily, "Who is it!?"

The enraged man ripped off his helmet and grabbed the person next to him: "This is your customized service?!"

"Please be patient. Unexpected situations are unavoidable, as we have mentioned in the agreement. The loss of one person's worth of energy will not affect the final result."

"Damn it!" The fully armed man stared angrily at the corpse on the ground.

The man looked exactly like the gang leader. According to the plan, this guy should have died at his hands, but he died in an accident!

This means he will not be able to receive a complete upgrade in the future.

The fully armed man angrily left the bedroom, leaving one of the action group members behind staring at the hole in the wall before looking away.

The Bureau of Processing has already intervened in this alternate dream. It's normal for the spread of the alternate dream terminal to attract the Bureau of Processing's attention, but they mainly target organizations. However, this time, something unexpected has happened.

The authorities wouldn't bother a local gang for no reason, but now an unexpected situation has arisen: the damage to the wall wasn't caused by firearms.

Even if other people enter the Otherworld through the Otherworld Terminal, they wouldn't specifically come looking for trouble with a gang, right?
That's what he thought before, but now this has happened, affecting customer demand.

Withdrawing his gaze, the organization member led the others away. An accident is an accident precisely because it is difficult to control.

They cannot completely control the entire Dream World. The official forces of this world are not weak either. Even if they have people with stronger powers, the authorities possess superior technology.

Moreover, the unique mechanisms of this alternate dream world prevent their organization from going too far; this world has an entity called the Time Police.

They possess the technology to enter different parallel universes, but these people mainly maintain the balance between the various parallel universes and generally do not appear on their own unless they commit a crime.

For example, in a parallel universe with time-space police, if a criminal uses this technology to escape to another parallel universe, the time-space police will go there to pursue and capture him.

After all, such technology has been invented, so there will always be the problem of leakage. Moreover, this technology is a mature technology in this dream world.

Of course, the technology is unique in this world, but the organization has a hard time replicating it in reality. Even if they obtained a portable time-travel device, it would be unusable in reality.

For reasons unknown, the organization paid a considerable price to take out the items, only to find that they were worthless, forcing them to find another way.

So their development of this alternate dream changed; instead of trying to acquire the technology of this alternate dream world, they formed a special 'criminal organization'.

This is what the 'Time and Space Police Department' determined, but they don't consider the organization to be a criminal organization; they are just legitimate businessmen.

Using unique technology, it is specifically designed to provide exclusive customized enhancement services for wealthy individuals.

This customized and enhanced service is based on the unique patterns of this world.

There are 125 parallel universes in this world. In each universe, there are the same individuals, but these individuals have different lives except for being the same age.

There are good people and bad people; some may be gay, or even have actively changed their gender. The lives of parallel individuals in parallel universes will never intersect; even if one parallel individual experiences an accident, it will not affect the others.

Unless two parallel individuals meet, and one of them kills the other, a strange change will occur in this world.

Killing a parallel entity allows you to acquire the energy possessed by that entity. This energy can be used to strengthen all parallel entities through the connections between parallel universes.

Although this enhancement is not like 1+1, it will not give the last survivor the full power of 125 people.

However, for the last survivor, the other party can still obtain superhuman power, and the effect becomes more and more obvious as time goes on.

Therefore, his organization customized a series of enhanced services for some of its actual customers based on this situation.

After all, the special enhancements performed in this alternate dream world are much safer than certain enhancements performed in reality.

This is a super service that guarantees a smooth and safe journey to the extraordinary, without affecting one's physical condition.

As for how to ensure that outsiders also possess the corresponding characteristics in this dream world, that is a secret of their organization.

They've already invested heavily in the portable time-travel device they're taking out; if this secret is leaked, they'll truly lose everything.

The employer has suffered a significant loss due to the accidental death of one of its parallel individuals.

The energy possessed by the eliminated parallel individual will be distributed among other individuals. If an accident occurs at the beginning, then at most one unit of energy will be lost.

If an unexpected event occurs halfway through or in the final stage of a project, the employer will suffer significant losses, especially during the final one-on-one phase.

If the employer fails to kill the last parallel individual by hand, and the parallel individual dies accidentally, it means that the employer's enhancement project is only 50% complete.

However, due to the large number of individuals involved, their organization cannot guarantee that the enhancement project will be 100% complete; they will ensure that the enhancement project is at least 80% complete.

If the level falls below this, a full refund will be issued, and the employer will be assisted in obtaining all available enhancement progress.

It's unlikely that they would default on their debts, because the employers who accept this enhancement project are all wealthy and influential, and there's no need to offend them.

These employers had no complaints about the agreement; even an 80% enhancement rate was enough to make ordinary people reach the extraordinary level.

Although this kind of extraordinary ability does not possess special powers, it belongs to the category of numerical warriors, reaching the extraordinary level with simple and unpretentious physical qualities.

Although they lack those fancy abilities, with such physical attributes, they can still acquire other powers, and because of their superior physical attributes, the powers they acquire later can be even stronger.

If the project fails, the employer will receive a full refund. Even if they achieve 50% of the enhancement progress, they will still possess physical abilities far exceeding those of ordinary people.

If the employer's individual energy is strong enough, they can also enter the extraordinary realm, but the numerical improvement will be less, which is why this enhancement program is very popular.

Now, this employer has less than 25 parallel individuals left. The unexpected death of one parallel individual means that the employer's enhancement progress cap has been directly reduced by nearly 5%!

That's somewhat better. But when it comes to the final ten-person stage, if even one person has an accident, the damage to the enhancement progress is even more severe. If two people die, it's almost like hitting the refund line.

Ironically, the fewer the number of parallel individuals, the more likely the remaining individuals are to cause trouble.

During that phase, each parallel individual received an average of twelve, nearly thirteen, portions of energy.

While this energy may not give each individual ten times the physical attributes in all aspects, it will certainly give them several times the attributes. The degree of enhancement decreases as the individual's basic attributes improve.

The higher an individual's foundation, the more energy is needed to make significant improvements based on that foundation.

Otherwise, if they could easily mass-produce individuals with 125 times the strength of ordinary people, their organization wouldn't need to do this kind of business.

If someone suddenly gains a significant increase in strength, can they be expected to behave themselves?
Some will be obedient, while others certainly won't. Individuals in parallel worlds differ in personality and experience, aside from appearance and age, so no one will be content with the status quo.

Any attempt to cause trouble is prone to unexpected consequences.

However, with fewer parallel individuals, the organization can better monitor the remaining individuals and avoid too many unexpected incidents.

The organizers weren't too concerned about the employer's anger; the progress had only decreased by about 5%, which wasn't enough to warrant a refund.

Just keep an eye on the remaining parallel individuals.

As for this accident, I hope it really was an accident.

The organization members glanced at the bed that had been blown apart, and the smell in the air was slightly off.

The people who come here seem to be only after money, which makes the organizers somewhat frustrated.

Why did you have to come here to make money, with so many gangs around?
"Mr. Tang Mu, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the subsequent reinforcement, we will provide faster service."

"Can't the missing individual be replaced? I can pay more." Tang Mu frowned. He wanted to get the best enhancement, but now he was missing an important enhancement energy, which made him very unhappy.

Nobody likes defective products.

"Sorry, each parallel individual can only be activated once," the organizer said apologetically.

Hearing this, Tang Mu became even more agitated: "I know, let's move on to the next step quickly, I don't want any more accidents to happen!"

Tang Mu felt no guilt about killing the remaining parallel individuals; they were merely copies of him, lacking even his complete experiences.

He is a real person, while those parallel individuals are merely 'natives'.

Tang Mu had no interest in finding out how the organization did it; he just wanted to enjoy the related enhancement services and easily step into the extraordinary realm.

But his extraordinary foundation is now flawed due to an accident!
"What exactly happened with that gang leader?" Bai Mu, who had absconded with the money, regretted acting too quickly.

He should have tried to get more information from the other party; he could confirm that through the Observer Teigu at the time.

That gang leader probably didn't know anything about supernatural powers; he was just fighting a normal battle and trying to call on his underlings for help, not trying to kill him with power far exceeding that of an ordinary person.

The other party did not demonstrate that level of confidence.

(End of this chapter)