Nightmare's Call - Chapter 120

Chapter 120: Searching: Part 3

The memories of the fire-splitting fat man were more vivid than the others. There were precise pieces of information about language, writings, and worldviews. This was the reason why Lin Sheng was appalled by the differences. “Since I’ll have a few weeks in a new dream, I won’t be in a hurry. I should first dig a way out of the dungeon and see if I can find new leads.”

The switching and relationship of the dreams had aroused his interest. “If I could freely manipulate the pattern of entry and exit of the dreams, would it mean that I could also control which dream to enter? Maybe not now, though. There is a hand-to-hand combat technique in the memories of the flame-spitting fat dude. This guy was a master of back punch fighting!”

Recalling the terrifying moment where the fat dude pulled off a back punch while he was behind him, Lin Sheng became curiously interested. Although his mastery of Naxi Swordsmanship and Blackfeather sword skills was at its best, Lin Sheng was handicapped when it came to hand-to-hand combat. Even he was treating his hands as swords during close-quarters combat most of the time. So, the discovery of the hand-to-hand combat technique of the fire-spitting fat dude had come at the right time. The fat dude was the only one who could defeat Lin Sheng at once, although Lin Sheng’s strength and defense technique were absolutely no child’s play. It showed how terrific the hand-to-hand combat technique of the fat dude was. “But the memories only contain a limited record about his technique. It will only have a limited effect on my skill if there is any at all.”

Lin Sheng got out of bed, took out his note from the drawer, and began to write down his experience using the complicated Han characters-pinyin encryption method. People were forgetful, and if he did not record things down quickly, the ideas would quickly skip through his mind. Once out of mind, he would eventually forget about it altogether. After he was done, he put the note back to the drawer. He then put on his outer garments and walked out of the bedroom.

In the living room, his sis, Lin Xiao, was on the phone. However, he could vaguely hear a female voice on the other end of the line. But he noticed Lin Xiao’s expression; she was not particularly in a good mood. It was easy to see why. Lin Sheng figured that since the day she met with the accident, her boyfriend had never visited her, which said a lot about the state of their relationship.

“Breaking up isn’t a bad thing, sometimes. It’s better to only think about this stuff after graduation and when you have a job.” Lin Sheng was not hopeful of university puppy love. The chances for this kind of budding relationship coming to fruition were slim. Not mention the challenges and difficulties that both sides had to face in a long-distance relationship if they had to be separated due to study reasons. But it did not mean that there had never been successful cases of such relationships. It was just that things were overly tiresome.

He went into the washroom, pouring out half of the hot water from the thermal flask into the water sink. He then took down the facial towel on the wall and dipped it in the water. Suddenly, something caught his attention. He looked at his left hand, on the back of which was a fully bloomed silvery flower pattern. Like a W-shape vein, every leaf and branch on the pattern carried an exquisitely mysterious symbol. But what amazed Lin Sheng was the numerical symbols; they were thousands of them, yet no two were the same. “Holy sh*t! This could be brought into the real world! The Circle of Reaping!” Lin Sheng was astounded and full of excitement. “Does this mean that I can use the circle in the real world to conduct blood infusion with my body?” He could not suppress his excitement. From the memories of the fat dude, Lin Sheng knew that the blood infusion would come with a sequela, and this sequela could be the result of not having a strong-enough soul.

However, since he practiced holy light and Ashen Seal, his soul had been strengthened; he was not worried about what undesirable effects the Circle of Reaping could cause to his soul. “I should be fine as long as I only choose the less brutal creatures.” His eyes were fixated on the pattern on the back of his hand, and inspiration came to mind. He saw in his mind’s eye flora and fauna with various abilities. Those swimming in the water, flying in the air, and squirming in the ground, he saw all those frighteningly powerful abilities. Only if he could acquire some of them, he would gain an explosive improvement in his strength, he thought. “But… the Circle of Reaping would only respond to blood with supernatural ability. Are there any creatures with such blood in the real world?” He began to wonder.

“Sheng Sheng, are you done yet? I need to use the toilet.” His sis, Lin Xiao, called out from the living room.

“I’m just done.” Lin Sheng pulled his sleeve down to conceal the pattern on his hand. He quickly washed his face, hung the towel back on the wall, and came out from the washroom.

Meanwhile, his mom, Gu Wanqiu, was helping Lin Xiao get up. “The congee is in the toilet…” His mom suddenly realized her gaffe, face blushing, and quickly corrected it. “The congee is in the kitchen. Reheat it if you want. The dishes are from yesterday—shredded pork with veggies and cucumber meat soup.”

“Okay, mom. I’m eating out with my friends. Don’t worry about me.” Lin Sheng took his jacket, hurried to the door, and quickly put on his shoes. Actually, he was eager to test out the circle on the back of his hand.

“It’s already ten something now. Who are you seeing?” asked Gu Wanqiu perplexedly.

“Sarroux!” Sarroux has been his trusted cover all this while. After snapping on his shoes, Lin Sheng rushed out the door and disappeared down the stairway as the burglary-proof door slowly closed with a soft click. Just then, as Gu Wanqiu turned around wanting to say something more, Lin Sheng was gone.

In the Huaisha pet market, somewhere in the new town farthest away from the port, buses constantly came and then left, blaring their horns as they came and went after passing by the pet market. The ear-piercing noise, together with the sounds the cats, dogs, and poultries made, formed a symphony orchestra of utter chaos, which was, too, an understatement.

A row of shops that looked like a long loaf of bread and a flea market of pets along the street formed the scene fifty meters away to the right of the bus terminal. Lin Sheng was wearing black gloves and a workout suit, sauntering past the pet shops, where cats and dogs, as well as birds, hamsters, rabbits, piglets, hedgehogs, were all kept in cages. He walked past those places, trying to see if the circle on the back of his hand responded. However, he was disappointed. “Is it because the animals here do not have the supernatural blood in them? Or is it because it’s not even possible to use the Circle of Reaping in the real world?” Lin Sheng speculated. If possible, he wanted to reserve this circle for the more savage creatures—those in the dreams. Compared to the real world, there were more monsters with supernatural blood in dreams. But then, Lin Sheng was also worried that if he used the circle in the dreams, the infused blood in his body might not be useful in the real world then.

Just like how he was killed in the dream but not dead in the real world. Things added up to become a trilemma because he could only use the circle once. He did not want to gamble on it. If the Circle of Reaping were real, he would prefer to use it on the creatures in the real world. He had even thought of using it on Sacred Shield Tyrant that he had once summoned. Since his soul was capable of accommodating more summoned creatures, and he could summon one of them and infuse its blood with his. It might work. But before that, Lin Sheng wanted to first check out the pet market here. The Circle of Reaping was not only a magic circle to perform blood infusion, but it also could be used as a detector of creatures with supernatural blood.