Chapter 1 Hao Ren Leaves the Dream Plane

Hao Ren threw the data terminal in its corpse-puppet state into his portable space to prevent anything unexpected happening to the carrier after he left the Dream Plane. Then, he deliberately greeted a few mercenaries and swaggered out of the Gray Fox's base.

He wasn't worried about anyone discovering that the corpse in the room had disappeared: firstly, he was only leaving for a day, so the mercenaries shouldn't be breaking into his room. Secondly, he left an autonomous machine in the room before he left. If anyone did break in, the autonomous machine would delay them for a while and immediately send him a signal, so he could return in time.

But all these measures probably wouldn't be necessary.

As he left the base and reached an intersection leading to the district, Hao Ren saw Heaton's body hanging from a tall lamppost, with a huge sign underneath: The fate of betraying the Gray Fox.

"I still can't believe Nolan is only seventeen years old," Hao Ren muttered, passing by Heaton's body. "Since Ulanov, who was once on the verge of death, can live for so long with the help of artificial organs, Nolan's age is probably not real either."

"It would be nice if this unit's functions were complete," the data terminal's voice sounded in his mind. "A scan would tell you what's strange about that little girl's body. Unfortunately, this unit can't even figure out its own body…"

Hao Ren walked along the dilapidated street into the depths of the district. After confirming that he was out of range of the Gray Fox's last sentry post, he turned into a winding alley. Black Street had only three kinds of places: factories, legions, and slums. Now, he was near the border of the slums. The air was filled with a pungent, strange smell. Rusty tin houses were draped with old clothes that looked like rags. The roads were always wet, and dirty, toxic sewage leaked from the factory pipes, flowing everywhere in the unregulated district. Hao Ren tried to walk on the cleanest spots possible. He noticed people peeking out from the nearby tin houses, and anxious eyes flashing in some of the window cracks: a person dressed neatly and wearing a mercenary badge walking in here seemed like a bad omen.

Hao Ren ignored the spying eyes and finally found a deserted corner. After making sure that no one could see him, he murmured, "Disconnection."

A sense of vertigo and weightlessness, like waking from a long dream, assaulted him after a long time. Hao Ren's vision went dark, and then he felt his back soften, as he should be lying on his familiar bed. He opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of his bedroom. Even though he had only stayed in the Dream Plane for half a day, the vast difference between the two worlds made him feel a sense of emotion when he saw his home: this place is still the best.

It was already dark outside, and the house was not lit, so it was dark everywhere. The living room was also quiet, and most of the people in the house were probably asleep. Hao Ren groped around to reach for the light switch next to him, but as soon as he moved, he heard a whooshing sound from next to him. Then, a pair of golden eyes suddenly jumped up: "Wow! Landlord, you're finally awake?!"

Hao Ren was startled, and after taking a closer look, he realized it was Lily. This girl's werewolf form was fine, except that her eyes glowed golden at night, and suddenly popping up in the dark was like two will-o'-the-wisps. He reached out and pressed the furry silver head in front of him: "Lily, what's wrong with you? What are you doing in my room in the middle of the night?"

Lily slapped Hao Ren's hand away and glared at him with her arms akimbo: "I was being nice and waiting for you to wake up to eat, and you're scolding me?"

Hao Ren turned on the light, and then he saw a meal on the small table next to him, which had been heated many times and was still steaming. Looking at Lily, who was already sleepy, he was immediately touched, and also particularly surprised: "Uh… I didn't expect… Thank you. By the way, where did Vivian go?"

Hao Ren thought that it would be more normal for Vivian to wait here in this situation, but it was incomprehensible that this husky was so considerate. Lily didn't think so much, and she continued with her arms akimbo: "The bat went out for a walk at night, and she told me to wait here. Also, I just heated up the food because the data terminal popped up a window saying you were about to wake up."

Hao Ren felt that the world line was still normal when he heard that it was Vivian's arrangement. The husky was indeed not the type to take the initiative to care for people. Then he realized that he was really hungry: from noon to midnight, he hadn't even had a sip of water. But he was stunned when he came to the table: "Why are these steamed buns…"

Lily turned her face away: "I tasted them for you…"

Hao Ren: "…"

Lily gritted her teeth and took out a packet of spicy sticks from her pocket and handed it over: "Here, it's better than steamed buns."

Hao Ren took the spicy sticks, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, thinking that this was really a straightforward and easy-to-understand girl, and then began to eat this dinner that was several hours late. He glanced at the sky outside and asked casually, "What time is it now?"

Lily sat on the edge of Hao Ren's bed, swaying her legs boredly, and said while yawning, "Probably half past ten. By the way, Landlord, did you enter the Dream Plane again this time? The data terminal sent out a message earlier saying that you were exploring a new world, what's it like over there, what's it like?"

The more Lily spoke, the more her eyes lit up, and her sleepiness faded at a speed visible to the naked eye. According to her normal biological clock, this girl would have been yawning and unable to hold on long ago after ten o'clock in the evening, but staying up until now was definitely not just to take care of Hao Ren's meal – she was waiting here to listen to stories.

Hao Ren rolled his eyes: "I'll tell you after I finish eating, I'm starving to death. Also, can you stop sweeping the bed with your tail? Don't you know how troublesome it is to clean up dog hair?"

After he finished eating, Lily diligently ran to clean up the dishes, and Vivian also happened to return from her walk outside. The three of them gathered in Hao Ren's room, and the latter knocked on the data terminal that was lying on the bedside table pretending to be dead: "Wake up, wake up – you're just a PDA, why are you pretending to have psychological trauma?!"

The data terminal had been lying there without moving since returning to the surface world. Apart from occasionally flashing to show that it was still alive, there was no other movement. At this time, it only shook and floated up after Hao Ren poked it: "Phew… This unit's precious and perfect body! Finally returned! This unit was just enjoying itself!"

Hao Ren got goosebumps from the tone of this thing: "Do you know that your tone is like a pervert?"

The data terminal unceremoniously threw back a sentence: "Better than a necrophiliac."

Lily immediately looked at Hao Ren with a strange look: "Necrophiliac? Landlord, what exactly did you do in the Dream Plane?"

Meeting Lily and Vivian's staring eyes, Hao Ren, despite his unwillingness, had to recall the situation of the data terminal turning into a corpse-puppet in the Dream Plane, as well as the broken things he and a brick were misunderstood as a couple. The more he thought about it, the more he felt his balls ache, and finally couldn't help but cover his face: "Don't mention it, I really fucked a dog…"

As soon as he finished speaking, a silver light flashed in the room, and Lily darted under the bed like lightning, only revealing her head cautiously: "Land… Landlord, explain the situation clearly! Single dogs also have dignity, you can't be thinking of taking advantage…"

Hao Ren: "…"

He went forward and dragged this idiot out by the ears: "You sit here for me! I'm talking about the broken things I encountered in the Dream Plane, it's like fucking a dog… Hey, don't bite me!"

Lily mumbled vaguely with Hao Ren's wrist in her mouth: "But that's sexual harassment!"

Vivian watched the commotion with her arms crossed, and only spoke leisurely after Lily had gnawed on Hao Ren's arm a few times: "Landlord, you've been living with a bunch of monsters for so long, how come you still don't learn your lesson?"

Hao Ren pressed Lily onto the chair, and this interruption finally made him temporarily forget his annoyance. Then, he picked out the important things and told them about his and the data terminal's experiences in the Dream Plane for most of the day, especially mentioning the various doubts he encountered in this operation, wanting to see what Vivian and Lily thought about it.

Don't look at Lily's silly appearance, her brain is not slow at all, and with the advantage of broad thinking, she is sometimes even more reliable than Vivian when encountering difficult situations.

His and the data terminal's "dream entry" this time was full of doubts. Whether it was being transported to a strange planet or the sudden uncontrolled dream connection, it was abnormal, and the most suspicious thing was what happened to the data terminal. A high-precision gadget, whose reliability is even higher than the human brain, is now experiencing mental abnormalities, which is worrying no matter how you think about it.

Hao Ren poked the data terminal that was floating around in front of him: "But I think this thing's spirit has never been normal from the beginning, so it's only natural that something unexpected happened."

The data terminal slammed into Hao Ren's forehead to protest.

Hao Ren: "Pay attention, you're not a soft girl anymore, I have no pressure to beat a brick!"

Lily looked at Hao Ren curiously: "Landlord, you said you also got a mercenary dog tag? Let me see what it looks like."

"You really have a different focus," Hao Ren muttered, reaching out to touch the identity card that he should have brought out from the Dream Plane, "This is… Hey? Where's my tag?!"