Forge a path to success.

Chapter 168 Let's dream together after get off work

He died of a broken heart.

Unharmed and invincible, the Mistbringer was a force even the Blood Knight could not overcome. The Tax Collector, long a symbol of terror, was decisively defeated in close combat by the new assassin…

It shattered into dust!
This fact, along with the silhouette of the Silver-Armed Assassin, was deeply imprinted in the minds of the monsters. They emitted unconscious sobs, cries, and laughter; the voices of the crowd merged together into an exhilarating roar that stretched across the sea of ​​sand.

"He won!" "Well done!!" "Losing all hope!!"

"That man has defeated the messenger of fear!"

Another messenger appeared at the entrance of the valley at night, his gaze sweeping over the excited monsters beneath his mask. Ji Huaisu immediately erected an ice wall and stood guard before it, wielding the Boundless Sword.

“The situation isn’t good for you,” Ji Huaisu said. “It’s now two against one.”

Night Walker sheathed his black sword.

"My job is to assist in tax collection. The current tax official is dead, so there is no point in me staying here."

His figure vanished like a phantom, leaving only a faint voice in the mist.

"Let's meet again on the battlefield."

There was no sign of the Nightwalker anywhere, and the messenger left decisively. Ji Huaisu dispersed the ice wall and finally relaxed, while the monsters cheered even louder: "Even that Nightwalker has retreated..." "The newcomers are stronger!" "An unprecedented victory!"

That's not the case at all, Ji Huaisu thought. The messenger known as Night Walker was astonishingly strong. Unlike the Fallen Soul who relied on the mists of history, his swordsmanship revealed the spirit of a martial artist who had once reached the pinnacle of skill. In his prime, he was probably a very high-ranking Remnant Soul. Even now, with only a broken body remaining, he would need to exert all his strength to decide the outcome.

She turned around, a healing flame igniting in her palm. Chu Hengkong maintained his stance, determined to decide the outcome, without moving an inch.

"Ah Kong," Ji Huaisu said anxiously, "Hold on!"

The assassin blinked. "It's alright..." he said slowly. Then his face was shrouded in blood, and the Undying Technique he had been barely managing to maintain came to an end. The injuries inside and outside his body erupted simultaneously, and a large amount of blood surged into the sky.

"—Ah Kong!"

It wasn't for show that he hesitated to use the "One Qi for a Thousand Autumns" technique. Rather, it was because the assassin's condition was already extremely poor before the battle even began. The monsters only knew that he effortlessly annihilated the Fallen Soul, forgetting that just minutes before, Chu Hengkong had been struggling between life and death because of the old man's gift. He could only throw a punch by forcibly utilizing the power of his prosthetic arm; using the secret technique again would have been fatal. Therefore, he fought only with his left hand in the latter half of the battle, and only used the secret technique at the decisive moment.

However, Luo Hun was unaware of this. It probably thought it had been completely outmaneuvered and killed by its opponent...

Would you say I've finally gotten my revenge?

The cheers around him abruptly ceased, and the figures of the crowd blurred in his vision. Chu Hengkong smiled silently as he disappeared into the murky darkness.

He knew he would fall into a dream again, but he didn't know what kind of nightmare he would face this time.

·
When he opened his eyes, he saw pure white—white clothes, white bed, white room, even the window screens were white. The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant, and the IV drip was falling drop by drop, occasionally accompanied by the rustling sound of newspapers turning pages.

He forced his head to turn, catching the only unusual sight. A man in a suit sat beside the hospital bed, the open newspaper like a black and white wall, obscuring half of the man's body and blocking Chu Hengkong's view. Everything seemed so familiar that he remained stunned for a long while before mumbling:
Good morning, boss.

"I'm not well," the man in the suit said. "It's rare to have a dream where I meet you. I hope it ends soon."

"…………"

Chu Hengkong closed his eyes. He opened them again. The time on the front page of the newspaper matched his memory perfectly; the scene of this dream was the day after he was sniped by Shax.

“That’s not what you said,” he protested weakly.

"You actually still remember what you said back then. The dream at the border of Heavenly Prison is even more realistic than I imagined."

"Indeed, it looks just like the real thing."

The newspaper turned a page. The shopkeeper took a sip of tea. Chu Hengkong wanted to wipe his face, but couldn't lift his hand because of the equally terrible situation in his dream. He stared blankly at the ceiling.

"This is a dream, right?"

You're asking a question you already know the answer to.

“I really don’t think this makes sense.” He tried to explain his thoughts. “If this is my dream, you should at least show some concern for me, instead of acting like this… indifferent.”

"Is this your dream?" the boss laughed. "Ah Kong, how did you come to that conclusion?"

"Because I'm sleeping."

"What I want you to realize is, how can you prove that you are the master of this dream, and not just a character in it?" the boss said with amusement. "Perhaps this is my dream, my way of reminiscing about the time I visited the assassin. Or perhaps it is the dream of some unimaginable, incomprehensible creature, and you and I are just fleeting bubbles in that dream."

Chu Heng opened his mouth, then closed it again. This happened several times, like a salted fish being thrown ashore.

"This dream felt so real," he said finally.

"You realize you can't prove it. This is the core contradiction at the border of Heavenly Prison. The people in the mist are like bubbles in a dream, unable to prove their existence. The survivors of the great war are outside the black box, unable to provide proof of the reality inside. In the end, only the gods who have their backs on the heretical path can 'prove' themselves..."

The boss talked on and on, as if he were explaining his own papers and patents back in the day. Whenever this happened, Chu Hengkong felt dizzy and wanted to jump out the window.

"Okay, boss, let's compromise," the assassin said desperately. "I just finished a tough battle, I'm exhausted, I don't have the strength to continue. This is your dream, and I'm just a character in your dream. Can we talk about something else?"

“Okay.” The boss replied readily. “Then please disappear as soon as possible. I don’t want to waste any more energy in my dreams.”

"You're angry with me." "I'm not."

“Then you shouldn’t have said those things by my bedside,” Chu Hengkong pointed out the key point. “I am seriously injured right now.”

"You could have solved the problem in a more efficient way, but you ended up like this."

"...Which time are you talking about?" Chu Hengkong tried his best to think. According to the context, the boss in the dream should be talking about the time when he killed Shax on Earth, but the conversation just now also contained content based on the information of the Submerged Realm. The content of this dream was a mess, and he couldn't tell which time the other party was talking about for a moment.

"every time."

Chu Heng was speechless.

“I’m not as smart as you—” he tried to defend himself.

"Ah, Chu Hengkong, the first thing you did after waking up was to try to provoke me," the boss said coldly.

"I just..." Chu Hengkong sighed, "I'm just so glad to be able to talk to you again, even though it was just a dream."

“I must remind you, only those who are desperate about reality will pour their emotions into their dreams.” The boss turned another page of the newspaper. “Have you considered what’s behind the newspaper? Imagine a twisted nightmare mimicking your old boss’s tone behind the newspaper. It keeps turning the pages to cover its own voice because it’s gloating over having gained control of the dream. It’s just waiting for you to let your guard down so it can rip out your heart and brain.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll kill Vansalar,” Chu Hengkong said. “I mean what I say.”

"Are you only satisfied when you've made me furious?"

"No, what's there to be angry about?" Chu Hengkong tried to sit up. "Honestly, I don't understand, or rather, it's very unfair. I've taken care of you for nine years, why do you have the patience to negotiate with those mortal enemies for three months, but you always lose your temper with your assassins?"

“You got emotional in your dream,” the boss said. “You lost.”

Chu Hengkong struggled for a long time but couldn't get up. He gritted his teeth and said, "OK, I don't care anymore. This is my dream. Give me a cigarette, I want to smoke."

"No, you have to quit smoking."

The assassin shouted, "This is my dream!"

“You can break a promise even in a dream.” The shopkeeper shook his newspaper. “What a flexible standard.”

"..."

Chu Hengkong felt like he was about to wake up from his own anger, and he suddenly said, "Take the newspaper away."

"You can't wait to meet the Nightmare."

"Correct."

"It's time to wake up from the dream."

Chu Hengkong sighed loudly. He was once again trying to reason with his old boss, even though the latter never reasoned with him.

"Boss, listen to me. I'm fucking exhausted lately, I'm fucking dead tired. I inexplicably ended up in a place full of lunatics, I just fought a deadly battle, and after waking up, I have to deal with a bunch of difficult problems that I don't know how to solve. Any wrong decision could kill the people around me."

"It sounds just like our everyday life," the boss commented.

“Yes, that’s right,” the assassin said. “This dream is probably my only legal vacation in a while. I desperately need a break and really don’t want to argue with my old boss anymore. I’m waking up soon, just a few seconds. Can we go back to how things are before?”

"I think you're more vulnerable than you were when you were a child."

"I woke up."

"If you need nightmares' feigned affection so much."

"Goodbye."

The shopkeeper put down his newspaper. Her face was as beautiful as ever, and her eyes held a smile filled with his deep longing.

"You are invincible; you are my assassin."

Chu Hengkong closed his eyes with satisfaction, leaving the gradually fading dream.

Okay, I slept very well.

·
When Chu Hengkong woke up, he stared at the pale, low ceiling and it took him a moment to realize that he was still in the underwater valley. Ji Huaisu was sleeping on an ice bed beside him, the girl's sleeping face peaceful, seemingly fast asleep.

He sat on the bed in a daze for almost half a minute, then met the gaze of Vander on the bedside table. The Eye Demon spoke dryly: "It is said that those who defeat the Fearbringer will receive a reward from the Nightmare King, such as not having nightmares for a short period of time."

"Oh, like this."

Van Der maintained his gaze with an unsettling look: "Dude, you slept pretty well this time, didn't you?"

"what happened?"

“You were laughing like an idiot just now,” Van der said.

(End of this chapter)