Before the game came, Tang Xinjue always thought that nightmares were just psychological suggestions after the brain was stimulated.
When monsters emerged from the darkness and nightmares became reality, she temporarily regarded the nightmares of the past three years as some kind of prophecy, like some subtle spoiler, revealing the details of the dark creatures in advance.
But it wasn't until last night, when she saw the black fog in the "cave", that she realized she had overlooked another possibility -
Nightmares, why can't they be real?
"...You mean to say that every day for the past three years, you haven't just had nightmares, but have actually come into contact with dark creatures, fighting and escaping in the form of nightmares?"
After listening to the statement, Zhang You finally concluded this point. When she spoke the last few words, her voice subconsciously became higher.
She had personally experienced how dangerous dark creatures were in the dungeon.
What's more, three years ago, Tang Xinjue had no special abilities or props, and was just a high school graduate! Once he failed in a nightmare... She looked at him in disbelief.
Tang Xinjue nodded slightly: "If dreams are considered another form of reality, dying in a dream may not harm my real body, but it will kill me in another way."
Spiritual death is also death.
…
During the sleepless night, Tang Xinjue recalled a lot of things, not knowing whether to be thankful or frightened.
She never gave up or slacked off for even a second despite all the bizarre nightmares and chases. Even if she thought it was an absurd dream, she would fight to the death as if it were real, and thus survived the near-death experience again and again.
How many times has she brushed shoulders with death?
"Wait, I don't understand!"
Guo Guo raised his hand and interrupted the conversation: "Jueshen Jueshen, putting aside why your dream appeared three years earlier than the game, what exactly happened last night, and how does it relate to this matter?"
The most important thing is that Tang Xinjue and the counselor kept talking about something like dark aura, wrong judgment, not like a human, etc. Every word stepped on her sensitive and fearful nerves and made her dance wildly.
If he doesn't figure it out, Guo Guo will be scared to death by his own imagination before the next exam starts.
Under Guo Guo's earnest gaze, Tang Xinjue pushed out the draft paper again. The drawing on it was so horrible that only the original conical outline could be vaguely seen.
She briefly described what she saw in the "cave," ultimately summarizing it with her brushstrokes: "The space inside the cave is a cone that shrinks infinitely at the top and expands infinitely at the bottom."
Human consciousness is often described as an iceberg, with a small portion above the water and the majority submerged. The counselor intended to kill her, but accidentally allowed her to enter the depths of her own consciousness, giving her a glimpse of what lay within.
"And this cave is the center of my entire spiritual power—my sea of consciousness."
The surface consciousness is like a hole illuminated by a faint light from the outside world, and where the light cannot reach is the deep and vast space of deep consciousness.
The dark aura the counselor had mentioned lingered in the depths as a black mist. When Tang Xin Jue sensed it, fragments of her memories began to return—details of her mental energy escaping and battling through countless dreams.
It turns out that from the very beginning, through these "nightmares", the omnipresent darkness has been encroaching.
So she can sense the presence of ghosts, use ghost items, and resist mental pollution... To a certain extent, her existence itself is already approaching the other side of the game, so it's no wonder that she encounters so many "special treatments."
"In summary, I'm sorry for causing trouble for everyone."
Tang Xinjue spread his hands. "These things that have taken root in my brain, although they haven't shown any signs of attack or danger, have already become a trend. I currently have no way to eliminate them, so I can only coexist with them for the time being."
[The counselor’s encouragement] has limited effect and is generally considered to be a temporary solution rather than a fundamental solution.
This was also the first time she faced this situation and she had no idea whether anything unexpected would happen in the future.
"Perhaps, is it possible?" Guo Guo gritted his teeth and hypothesized, "What do you mean the dark aura isn't serious? The counselor is just trying to scare you? Look, Wanqing, Zhang You, and I are with you every day, and we haven't even sensed it..."
Halfway through his story, Guo Guo couldn't continue.
Things that even Tang Xin Jue has confirmed are most likely a final conclusion.
The dormitory was silent for a while, half because people were trying to digest the matter, and half because they were worried about Tang Xinjue.
"No wonder that Li Xiaoyu said you were perfect for the same kind the moment she saw you." Zheng Wanqing realized belatedly that she had been so close to the spoiler. "Did it see that too?"
“That brings us to another issue.”
Tang Xinjue took out another piece of paper with dense handwriting and pasted it on the previous mind map.
Another problem is the hierarchical differentiation of ghosts.
Taking all the student ghosts that have appeared in the game so far as an example, Tang Xinjue briefly talked about her speculation on the level of ghosts: they should be distinguished by three universities.
The most common ghosts in the third-tier universities should be Little Red, Little Green, and the four people next door, Jin Wen, and others in the movie Headless Ghost. Human freshmen can also try to fight against them with the help of props and special powers, and the danger is not high.
The most dangerous ones are the university ghosts, such as Wu Shi who broke into their exams and Li Xiaoyu who took their rewards from the copy. They even have the ability to break the rules to a certain extent - even like the black fog, they can leave marks in Tang Xinjue's sea of consciousness.
The three roommates looked at the four strange-shaped patterns on the paper.
Zhang You frowned. "Counting Wu Shi and Li Xiaoyu, there are only two first-level ghosts. You have four marks..."
They couldn't understand the ghostly painted symbols. They looked at Tang Xin Jue hesitantly, wanting to say something, but Tang Xin Jue nodded in satisfaction: "My painting skills have improved greatly. These four things are obvious at a glance. You should be able to see them even without me saying anything."
Everyone: “???”
Under strong requests, Tang Xinjue, who wanted to skip it in a hurry, had to explain with a sullen look:
"The first mark is a glass bottle. It's the clue on Li Xiaoyu's seat in the movie. There's also the exact same red sand inside..."
Glass bottle, silver ring, yellow eyeballs, white tape.
Tang Xin Jue could only distinguish three of the unique markers.
The glass bottle and ring likely belonged to Li Xiaoyu and Wu Shi, respectively. The yellow eyeball looked more like a fragmented version of the giant yellow eyeball that appeared outside the dormitory window the night the game launched. As for the white tape, Tang Xinjue hadn't found a suitable candidate, so he had to put it aside for the time being.
After trying all night, she found that she could not return to the state of immersion in the cave for more than five minutes a day by herself, so the information she could obtain was very limited, and she could only hurry to record it down.
Then, looking at the 15 pages of notebook paper on the table, everyone fell silent.
Tang Xin Jue's frenzy finally subsided a bit, and he said calmly, "Danger and opportunity go hand in hand. Now that I've been marked, whether it's a blessing or a curse, I should be prepared to deal with it. That's the only way I can be responsible to everyone."
...For some reason, whenever the situation was dangerous, Tang Xinjue was always as calm as a bell, but at this moment she was so excited that everyone inexplicably felt a little dangerous.
The next minute, they knew where this bad feeling came from.
Tang Xin Jue divided his notes into three parts and said casually, "There's still an hour until today's exam starts. Everyone, take 40 minutes and memorize the classification details of the dark creatures on these fifteen pages. I'll finish the rest of the details after the exam is over."
Three people: "..."
Guo Guo swallowed his saliva and said, "Well, Jue Shen, you don't need to be too stressed. We can still take the exam normally when we don't know about this. Otherwise, we can just take it slowly..."
"Memorize it."
"OK."
The three people who had not slept much began to frantically browse and recite the contents of the manuscript, but the more they read, the more frightened they became.
Low-level nightmare ghosts that can imitate sounds, gluttonous ghosts that imitate shapes, transparent wandering spirits that absorb souls, long-tongued ghosts that devour human heads, phantom demons that travel through space... In addition to the monster types they have already encountered, there are also some that they have not yet encountered, such as skinless monsters, shadow monsters, millipedes, and air monsters...
"Wait, what's an air monster?"
Guo Guo opened his eyes wide.
Tang Xin Jue: "As the name suggests, I have never seen the specific image of this monster, and I can't kill them. They seem to be able to survive and move with the help of air, and their attack method is to absorb your air."
"Breathe on me?"
"Yes, and then you'll find that all the air within a radius of dozens of meters is gone."
Tang Xin Jue indicated that there was indeed a relevant record in the notes:
[If there are only a few air monsters nearby, hold your breath and escape from the area to survive immediately. If there are dozens or hundreds of them, just wait for death.]
“…”
Eight o'clock arrived in a flash, and the three of them only had time to read the contents of the notes once, and could only hurriedly put them into the storage ring and look at them again after the exam.
"Ding-dong-dong, dong-dong-ding—"
"Happy Friday, class time has arrived, the test papers have been distributed, everyone get ready~"
The test interface is refreshed:
Paper A: Investment and Financial Management (Grade B)
Volume B: Sanitary Surprise Inspection (Level C)
Volume C: Research on Viruses and Parasites (Level C)
The original option interface now shows the difficulty level due to the addition of the [Counselor's Encouragement] buff.
"Level B difficulty must be eliminated first. As for Papers B and C..." Guo Guo scratched his head.
Zhang You: "Paper C contains specialized questions, which are more beneficial for medical students. Paper B may not seem very targeted, but this type of exam may be more difficult."
Experience tells them that the lower the threshold of the test questions, the more perverted the test content is likely to be.
Tang Xin Jue disagreed. "Not necessarily. Cleaning also requires a certain level of skill. Simply cleaning perfectly is a technical job that many people find difficult to achieve."
Having said that, three pairs of eyes fell on Zhang You.
What's more, they have a god of logistics.
Zhang You, who was placed with high hopes, said: "...Then let's choose Volume B. Is there anything I need to buy last-minute at the mall?"
Tang Xin Jue used the last of his achievement points to exchange for a few bottles of cleaning supplies and upgraded his appraisal skills. He nodded and said, "Let's go."
"Oh right," she suddenly remembered before her consciousness fell into darkness, "I owed you guys the spicy chicken feet with yogurt last time... I'll definitely do it next time!"
Everyone: That’s not necessary.
“Bang bang bang!!”
"Hurry up and get up! You lazy bastards! Check the hygiene immediately! Anyone who fails will be punished severely and expelled!"
The sound of a door slamming rang in his ears. Tang Xinjue opened his eyes suddenly and found himself lying on a hard and uncomfortable bed.
Looking around, this was not the dormitory bed she was familiar with, but a room that was many times larger.
Within a few seconds, the sounds of gasping, whispering, and lifting of quilts spread rapidly throughout the room.
Tang Xinjue stood up silently and, using the height of the second-floor bed, took in the faces of the young girls, some expressing surprise and fear, some serious and solemn.
This gray room is a dormitory for 16 people!
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