Chapter 12 An Eye for an Eye

To check whether the surgery was successful, Li Ang suggested that Ma Bonde seize the time to get some sleep.

Magistrate Ma agreed repeatedly, ordering a servant to lead Li Ang to a side hall to rest, while he rushed back to his bedroom to wake up his concubine.

He asked her to sit by the bed and watch him fall asleep.

If anything unusual happened, she was to tell the servant to fetch the Ximenzi Daoist from the side hall.

The sleepy woman looked bewildered. Earlier, he had said someone was beating a drum to report to the authorities, but now he was going to sleep.

Despite her confusion,

the concubine put on a blanket, lit a candle, moved a stool, and sat by the bed.

She watched the magistrate climb into bed, excitedly close his eyes, and breathe calmly, preparing to fall asleep.

Strangely enough, as soon as Ma Bonde had the thought "I want to sleep," he immediately fell asleep.

In the past, after falling asleep, he would dream of passing through a narrow, long, dark tunnel, and when he opened his eyes, he would be in another world, living another life.

But this time, after falling asleep, he didn't dream of any tunnel. To be precise, he didn't dream of anything at all—when he opened his eyes, he directly saw the familiar ceiling of his bed.

Ma Bonde belatedly came to his senses, feeling that the movement of his eyeballs and the reactions of his limbs were much slower than usual, as if he were drunk.

"My lord, you're awake."

He turned over and got out of bed, only to see his concubine sitting by the bed, still wearing a blanket, looking sleepy. The gauze windows of the bedroom were dimly lit, as if it were just dawn.

Was it already morning? He didn't feel like he had slept at all!

Ma Bonde sat up in a daze, calmed his mind, and asked his concubine, "Lüe, did I talk in my sleep last night?"

"No."

The woman shook her head, hesitated, and said softly, "But my lord, you slept with your eyes open last night."

What? Sleeping with his eyes open? Wasn't that Zhang Fei, Zhang Yide?

Magistrate Ma was even more bewildered when he heard the concubine continue, "After you fell asleep last night, you suddenly opened your left eye and vaguely ordered me to pour tea for you, scaring me half to death. I thought you were awake.

When I brought the tea, you didn't drink it, but slowly opened your right eye, sat up in bed, and asked me to bring you a book, saying you wanted to read late into the night.

After that, you kept reading, alternately opening your left and right eyes, until almost dawn before you put down the book and lay back down."

Such a thing had happened?

Ma Bonde was dumbfounded. He comforted his concubine with a few words, then put on his clothes, pushed open the door, and ran to the side hall.

In the side hall, Li Ang was leisurely drinking the sweet pumpkin porridge that the servant had cooked and brought to him. Seeing Ma Bonde rushing over, he slowly put down his spoon and said with a smile, "Magistrate Ma looks well."

"Daoist, please don't make fun of me."

Ma Bonde said with a wry smile, "Although no strange dreams occurred last night, according to my concubine, I slept with one eye open and one eye closed, like an oddity."

"That's normal."

Li Ang nodded calmly and said, "It will be like this from now on."

"Ah?"

"Those strange dreams have haunted you for too long. Even if I use corresponding Daoist techniques to counteract them, I still can't completely eliminate their influence."

Li Ang said calmly, "But it's not a bad thing.

From now on, Magistrate, you only need to sleep one or two hours a day.

And as your body gradually adapts, you can also control yourself in a half-sleeping, half-awake state, and maintain a normal life, without even needing a bed.

As for sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed... that's just a minor side effect of the Daoist techniques clashing. It's not a big deal."

"This..."

Ma Bonde was speechless. On second thought, since the main purpose of eliminating the strange dreams had been achieved, there was no need to worry about the other minor details.

He had no idea that beneath his seemingly normal skull, the structure of his brain had undergone significant changes. The lateral preoptic area had expanded by a circle compared to before, and was even more similar in shape to that of a dolphin's brain.

This transformation was actually very successful.

The newly created brain could significantly reduce the amount of sleep the host needed, requiring only 30 minutes of sleep per day to meet the needs of a full day's sleep.

It could also break up the 30 minutes of sleep into more than a dozen sessions, each lasting only two or three minutes.

In addition, the new brain could also allow the host to enter unihemispheric slow-wave sleep.

While one half of the brain rested, the other half could work.

In this way, the host might never even need to enter deep sleep, and could work continuously for twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.

If the biological template hadn't been too powerful to reveal to the public,

Li Ang might have even considered selling the brain modification surgery to the Special Affairs Bureau or other transcendent organizations.

They would surely pay a high price to acquire this modification plan, which would allow agents to engage in high-intensity, high-stress, and long-duration continuous combat.

Hmm...

Now that he thought about it, maybe capitalists would also like this kind of surgery.

If it could be promoted, the vast number of laborers might not even be able to enjoy 996 (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week) anymore, and it wouldn't be impossible for them to stay in the company from morning to night, without ever leaving work.

Li Ang thought about the sweatshops that would result from that situation, and immediately gave up the idea of selling the technology.

He would rather use the brain modification on the worms and the soldier bees. With this experience, he would be able to create all-weather high-altitude cruise biological weapons like unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in the future.

After repeatedly confirming with Li Ang that there were no problems, Ma Bonde finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At Li Ang's request, he gratefully sent him out of the mansion, onto a carriage, and toward the Tongfu Inn.

The members of the merchant caravan at the inn were quite worried that Li Ang hadn't returned all night (except for Liu Wunai, Wanlifengdao, and Xing Hechou).

They were quite surprised to see him returning in a sedan chair from the county magistrate's house.

Out of medical ethics, Li Ang didn't reveal Ma Bonde's condition, but made up a lie, saying that the Goose City magistrate admired Daoist methods and invited him to the mansion to discuss Daoism.

In any case, with Ma Bonde's connections, it was much easier for the caravan to replenish supplies in the city. By the afternoon, they had packed up their people and horses, and were ready to leave the city for Lü Prefecture.

Li Ang and the others also set off with the caravan, leaving the city gate.

Strangely enough, it was very easy for players in the second layer of the Living King of the South Dreamscape to trigger the reward for "resolving anomalies."

Whether it was killing those bandits who blocked the road, killing the gangsters in the inn, or curing Ma Bonde's strange illness,

they were all recognized by the system as resolving anomalies, and gave more or less experience points and reward points.

It seemed that the efficiency of scoring in this second layer was much higher than in the first layer.

The caravan hadn't gone far from the city gate when they heard the sound of hooves behind them. Looking back, they saw a middle-aged man riding a horse along the street, rushing out of the city gate and hurrying to catch up.

"Daoist, please wait!"

The middle-aged man pulled on the reins, dismounted, and held a small box in his hand.

Li Ang, riding on his horse, glanced at him and recognized him as the steward of Ma Bonde's mansion, "Steward Zhao? Why are you here?"

Steward Zhao gasped for breath, swallowed a couple of times, looked up and said, "The magistrate said that he was troubled by the Daoist's guidance in Daoist methods, and specifically sent me to deliver a thank-you gift..."

He handed the box he was holding to Li Ang. Li Ang took it and weighed it. It should be some loose gold and silver coins.

It was estimated that because of the strange dreams, Ma Bonde didn't dare to live too luxuriously and extravagantly, and didn't keep much gold and silver at home. Knowing that Li Ang was leaving, he barely squeezed out some wealth.

Li Ang didn't refuse, accepted the box containing the gift, and nodded to Steward Zhao, "The magistrate is kind. If the magistrate encounters any problems in the future, he can send a letter to Lü Prefecture City. I will stay there with the caravan for a few days."

"The Daoist is thoughtful."

Steward Zhao complimented him, but his expression was somewhat hesitant.

Li Ang frowned, "Is there anything else?"

"This..."

Steward Zhao glanced at the caravan and bit his lip. He said in a deep voice, "The Goose City yamen arrested a strange demon in the afternoon. The magistrate is interrogating him in the yamen. Please, Daoist, move your noble steps to the county yamen."