Chapter 1 Awakening from a Dream

Icy coldness jolted Li Cheng Yi awake from his sleep.

He groggily struggled to move, opening his eyes.

He was still in the car.

The taxi was still moving forward slowly.

But the female driver was gone. The screen beside the steering wheel displayed the words "Autonomous Driving."

"Where is she?"

Li Cheng Yi rubbed his aching temples, feeling like he was catching a cold.

He had been too stressed lately and hadn't gotten enough rest. Even his body, strengthened by the Hualinyi (Flower Scale Armor), was showing signs of being in less than optimal health.

Now, his head throbbed, and his throat was itchy and dry, clear signs of an impending cold.

"Where am I?" Li Cheng Yi looked around outside the car window, finding only darkness.

Only the headlights illuminated two streaks on the white road ahead.

Outside the side windows was pitch black; he couldn't see anything.

The driver was gone, the car was still running, and he was all alone.

This unusual environment made Li Cheng Yi's keen heart sink.

He reached for his phone.

The display showed zero bars, no service.

'Crap... another dead zone! A new dead zone omen!' Li Cheng Yi's heart raced.

He hadn't even gotten over the dead zone from the Quiet Shop, and now this happened in a taxi.

Was there no end to it!?

All he wanted was a quiet life and some rest!

He suddenly understood why many people couldn't last long, and why many dead zone survivors became mentally unstable over time.

Now it seemed there was a reason.

Once a dead zone latched onto you, you could enter another at any time, no matter what you did.

Though it was just an omen, it still posed a mortal danger.

This kept your nerves constantly on edge, because you never knew when you might be pulled in.

Like now, he had just dozed off in the car and was already in a new dead zone.

'...I need to assess the situation. Can this car be stopped, or can I open the door?'

He reached into the front seat and tried to turn the steering wheel, but it wouldn't budge.

The entire steering wheel seemed to be welded in place, unmoving.

Not only that, but all the other buttons and keys were unusable, like painted decorations.

'I knew it.'

Li Cheng Yi sighed and tried to open the car door.

Same result.

The car door wouldn't budge.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a white shadow flash past the window.

'What was that?' He quickly looked up, staring at the right-side window.

But outside was only the darkness rushing by, with vague glimpses of something flashing past in the dark.

Those things seemed like waves, twisting, changing, rising and falling, appearing and disappearing.

To get a better look, Li Cheng Yi moved his eyes closer to the window, trying to get a clear view of the outside.

Suddenly, he saw the reflection of the car's interior in the window glass.

In the reflection on the glass, in the back of the car, beside him...

Sat a blurry, dark woman with long hair.

She was sitting right next to him, her pale face facing the window, facing him, her dark, hollow eyes staring at him calmly.

Li Cheng Yi abruptly turned his head to look beside him.

He was sitting on the right side of the back seat.

In the reflection, the woman was sitting on the left side of the back seat.

They should be right next to each other.

But when he turned his head, he saw nothing.

The car was silent.

A small, knitted red flower cushion sat on the old leather seat.

No one was there.

Li Cheng Yi's heart turned cold, and he looked at the window again.

In the reflection on the window, the woman was gone.

Huff...!

He exhaled a long breath.

He had almost put on the Hualinyi (Flower Scale Armor).

Swoosh.

Suddenly, the car burst out of the darkness, as if emerging from a long tunnel. Outside was bright and sunny.

"You're awake? We're almost at your destination," an elderly female voice entered his ears.

Li Cheng Yi's vision blurred for a moment due to the strong contrast between light and dark.

When his vision cleared, the taxi was different.

The female driver who had disappeared was now sitting in the driver's seat, driving calmly and naturally.

The screen no longer displayed "Autonomous Driving."

Outside the window were lush green fields and a white road. He happened to see a white flyer spread its wings, retract its wheels, and take off into the distance.

"Was I asleep?" Li Cheng Yi's heart relaxed.

He realized that he had probably exited the omen.

Dead zone omens usually didn't last long and could be escaped at any time. Only a very few lasted longer.

It was normal for him to escape so quickly.

"Yes, you've been asleep for a while," the driver replied. "Working is hard, isn't it? My son is the same as you. Every day he comes home looking exhausted, falls into bed, and snores. Nowadays, many young people are more tired than old people like us."

"Tell me about it," Li Cheng Yi said with a wry smile. His dead zones were much more terrifying than working.

The car began to slow down.

"We're almost there. I've already sent the order in advance. Please pay before you get out," the driver reminded him. "It's company policy."

"Understood," Li Cheng Yi nodded, took out his phone, scanned the QR code on the back of the driver's seat, and clicked to pay.

Ding.

The sound of successful payment rang out clearly.

The car came to a complete stop.

"Paid."

"Okay, make sure you don't leave anything behind," the driver kindly reminded him.

"Okay."

Li Cheng Yi had slept and escaped from a dead zone omen, feeling much more refreshed and in a better mood.

Plus, he would soon be able to absorb the mutated flower qi, which could possibly complete the second evolution of the Zihua Teng (Wisteria). This made him feel a sense of anticipation.

He pushed open the car door, got out of the car, and stepped onto the ground.

Bang.

As the car door closed, he saw snowflakes in front of his eyes, caused by poor blood circulation.

Li Cheng Yi rubbed his eyes and looked up again.

".!!?"

In that brief moment.

Everything around him was dark.

Directly in front of him, a small, brightly lit convenience store stood quietly.

Ding-dong.

The glass door seemed to sense his arrival and opened automatically.

Li Cheng Yi stood in place, a feeling of something blocking his heart, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Right at the entrance to the botanical garden, he was almost pulled into the Quiet Shop again.

He turned around and looked behind him.

Behind him was darkness, and he couldn't see anything. It seemed as if there was nothing, yet it also seemed as if countless dark things were hidden in the depths, rolling and surging, ready to burst out of the darkness and rush towards him.

Just looking at it, Li Cheng Yi felt a cold and profound sensation crawling all over his body.

Since the Hualinyi (Flower Scale Armor) had enhanced his physical senses, he trusted his five senses immensely.

The appearance of this feeling meant that the dangers hidden in the darkness outside the Quiet Shop were likely far greater than those inside the shop.

He looked around and found that he was standing right outside the glass door, on a small rectangular space on the steps.

On both sides of the open space were the shop's green belts.

What Li Cheng Yi didn't expect was that there were a few scattered small flowers in the green belts!

Flowers!?

Seeing the flowers, he immediately felt less tired and more energized.

The goods in the Quiet Shop were already bizarre, so what kind of flower language would the flowers planted at the entrance have?

Li Cheng Yi instantly felt a sense of anticipation.

For others, dead zones might be more dangerous than they were opportunities.

But for him, the opportunities and dangers of the dead zones were roughly equal.

The flowers encountered in dangerous and strange dead zones might have some unimaginable special flower language abilities.

This was what Li Cheng Yi looked forward to the most.

Taking back his thoughts, he looked at the shop in front of him, but didn't go in. Instead, he slowly took a step back.

But as soon as he took a step back, a spine-chilling cold instantly touched his skin, spreading from the back of his heels.

It felt as if the farther away he got from the Quiet Shop, the more danger he would encounter.

Li Cheng Yi stopped.

He looked around again.

Everything around him was silent, and the darkness seemed to completely envelop this place, with only the light of the Quiet Shop as the only source of illumination.

Holding his breath, he resolutely turned around and took another step towards the green belt.

He chose the green belt on the left, where a few purple flowers were blooming.

The black-green seaweed-like leaves clustered around these flowers, making them appear even more delicate and strange.

In this darkness devoid of any signs of life, the appearance of such beautiful and vibrant flowers was already a strange thing in itself.

Slowly, Li Cheng Yi walked step by step to the green belt.

By now, his feet were starting to feel stiff, and an icy chill was constantly spreading up his legs.

'Flower Language: Glorious Force Field.'

With a thought, an invisible light slowly released from his body, covering the surrounding area within a dozen centimeters like a wave of water.

Warm and gentle as a breeze, it instantly dispelled the coldness in his legs.

Not only that, Li Cheng Yi clearly felt a tingling sensation in many parts of his body.

He guessed that the Glorious Force Field might be repairing some hidden injuries in his body.

This feeling was very reassuring.

He could sense that there was an invisible, thick layer in the air around him, separating him from everything outside.

That layer was warm and reassuring.

Standing in front of the green belt, he lowered his head and carefully examined the small flowers inside.

The entire green belt was about half a person's height, surrounded by stones with gray and white patterns.

The center was filled with a large amount of black soil, dotted with small, colorful pebbles.

The flowers grew among these pebbles, delicate and beautiful, reflecting the lights of the shop, as beautiful as crystals.

There were a total of three small flowers, scattered within the green belt, which was a little over a meter long.

The flowers were like chrysanthemums, with many slender petals. The petals were like long purple needles, densely protecting the slightly white stamens in the center.

Li Cheng Yi took a deep breath, gently reached out his hand, and touched the needle-like petals with his fingertips.

Instantly, a cool flower qi flowed into his finger.

'Bristlehead (Contaminated): Perennial plant, often found on hillsides, grasslands, valleys, and beside fields. Has the effects of dispelling wind and dampness, promoting blood circulation and relieving swelling, cooling blood and stopping bleeding. The effects of contaminated plants may change, requiring testing to confirm.'

'Flower Language: Inferior Shadow Dragon Bloodline (The aura carried by certain unknown individuals has contaminated this special flower, causing it to undergo some kind of mutation).'

'Hualinyi (Flower Scale Armor) Collection: 0%, Evolutions Available: 5.'

Li Cheng Yi's heart trembled instantly.

Inferior Shadow Dragon Bloodline!?!

Even if it was inferior, it was still a dragon!

He didn't know what this Shadow Dragon was, but he had almost never seen a flower language with negative effects. Therefore, this bloodline was definitely much safer than the so-called Blood Exchange Bottle!

His breathing suddenly became rapid.

Unlike the flower language carried by the Chinese hawthorn, which was suspected to be a high-level martial arts technique, this dead zone, this Quiet Shop, was determined to be a permanent type based on Professor Zhong Hui's handwriting!

In other words, as long as he kept guarding this place, he would be able to obtain this mysterious flower language sooner or later!

This was completely different from the uncertainty of the Chinese hawthorn!

This was a flower language that he would definitely be able to obtain as long as he had enough time!