48 Hours a Day

When it came to emotions, he wasn’t all that different from his childhood peers. Once he got involved in the game, all his abilities began improving rapidly. However, his emotions fluctuated less frequently, allowing him to remain calm during a battle and always making the right choices. Unfortunately, it came at a price. He wasn’t sure if he could still be classified as a human. Especially after this incident, he realized that his body had also undergone some changes...

Han Lu’s was done venting her anger after she tossed the bottle. After that, she sat on the ground while hugging her knees, seemingly in great despair.

Just then, Zhang Heng received another WeChat message. It wasn’t from Fan Meinan but the Stranger Things group.

(Are you there? Did your friend close her eyes?]

Zhang Heng was in no mood to reply to any messages, but seeing how the sender had actually messaged in the early hours of the morning, the person must have been paying close attention to this matter. Out of courtesy, Zhang Heng typed in a reply.

[It’s over for her. Thanks.]

[It’s over? Don’t give up. Maybe I can solve your friend’s problem.]

(What do you mean?]

The other person did not reply, sending a WeChat ID instead. Zhang Heng took a look at it and realized that it was Shen Xixi. It meant the person from the group who texted him should be Shen Xixi as well.

Zhang Heng added the WeChat ID with another phone number.

Shen Xixi didn’t say anything unnecessary, going straight to the point. (You are a player, right? I saw your previous message. However, you didn’t reply to us after that. Do you believe that we can save your friend?

(Have you people figured out a way?]

[It’s all less complicated now since you are a player. Even without us explaining that much, you must know how terrifying the Dreamland of Death could be. The worst thing is, we found out that it’s a frequently used item. We have been studying it for a long time.]

Before Zhang Heng could reply, Shen Xixi’s sent another message to him.

[I know what you’re about to say. The three major guilds and other players have also been studying the Dreamland of Death, but they haven’t gotten anything out of it so far. You really think we can achieve what they can’t?)

(Why not?] (Have you heard of Morpheus?] (Onirii, one of the three thousand dream gods in Greek mythology. How is the Dreamland of Death related to him?]

[No. So far, several theories have been circulating among the players on the Dreamland of Death’s origins. For now, most of them are leaning toward the idea that the Dreamland of Death is related to Hypnos. Hypnos is the twin brother of Thanatos, the personification of death. The sea nymph, Pasithea, gave birth to three children, who were also the leaders of the three thousand dream gods. One of the three happened to be Morpheus.

Shen Xixi pondered for a while before she replied again.

(Half a month ago, our people acquired a game item related to Morpheus. It allowed us to enter the dreams of a person. We still don’t know the Dreamland of Death’s mechanism, but judging from its name, it has something to do with killing the person in their dreams.)

(Name your price.]

[It’s not that valuable, being a D-Grade item. We thought of using it to deal with the Dreamland of Death, but the plan was never actually put into action. Hence, we don’t know what will happen in an actual situation. Even if we can enter the victim’s dream, I’m not sure if it might be too late by then. We have no idea what the dreamer dreams about as well. The worst thing is that we can find no Dreamland of Death survivors. There is simply no way to delve deeper into it even if we wanted to.)

(What do you want then?]

(We don’t want anything. We just want to enter the victim’s dreams and observe the Dreamland of Death from a closer vantage point. From there, we hope that we can learn methods to prevent it from doing more harm . Of course, if you are worried about the danger, you don’t have to follow us. Just give us your friend’s address and contact information, and we can go to her directly.]

[How many people are allowed to enter the dreamland together?]

[In theory, the thing allows up to four people to enter the dream.]

(Save a spot for me.)

[Sure.]

Shen Xixi didn’t hesitate when Zhang Heng asked to enter the dream with them.

[Give me the address. If it’s not too far away from where we are, we will arrive in about an hour.]

Zhang Heng sent Han Lu’s address to Shen Xixi. In such desperate times, he saw no reason to continue concealing his identity from her. He could choose to wear a mask, but that too was no longer necessary. When Shen Xixi saw Han Lu, she would automatically think of Zhang Heng. The two had just met in the school supermarket in the afternoon, and Shen Xixi knew that he skipped class because of Han Lu. It was a little too obvious at this point.

Forty-five minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Zhang Heng got up to open the door. Shen Xixi was outside the door with two people. The moment she saw Zhang Heng, her expression changed immediately. “Why are you here?!” she blurted without thinking.

Then, something seemed to cross her mind, and she hesitated a bit. “Are you the Simon that I added on WeChat?”

Zhang Heng nodded.

“How do you guys know each other?” asked a ponytailed girl standing behind Shen Xixi.

“I always thought we knew each other, but it seems we haven’t really met,” said Shen Xixi.

“I must apologize for not telling you the truth before this,” said Zhang Heng. “I trust you, but I’m not sure if I can do the same for your buddies.”

“I understand your concerns,” replied Shen Xixi. “Huang Yu withdrew from our team after that incident, so there’s nothing to worry about. These people here are my old teammates. They have been with me for a long time.”

Shen Xixi then briefly introduced her three teammates to Zhang Heng.

The ponytailed girl was called Rabbit, and the boy next to her with a small head and holding a flowerpot was called Li Bai. Once they entered the house, they began admiring the luxurious decorations sprawling all over the floor. It was a shame that they had to see the wall splashed with plum wine. Shen Xixi quickly snapped back to reality and soon entered her working mood.

“Han Lu is the person targeted by the Dreamland of Death?”

Zhang Heng nodded. “She hasn’t closed her eyes for four days.”

“That explains the mess here,” said the girl named Rabbit.

“Where is she now?” Shen Xixi asked.

“In the bedroom, I told her about the situation, and she agreed to cooperate with us for the last fight.”