CHAPTER 1149: CHAPTER 885: GIVE THE ITEM TO SHALLOW DREAM

Xu Cheng sat on a platform near a cliff, silently watching the Giant Tower repeatedly pass through her field of vision.

"Quack." Xu Cheng looked at the bizarre silver-white Giant Tower ahead, it flickered and transformed before her, mysterious and unpredictable.

"When you feel tired, just take a rest," Xu Yang advised.

"Quack." Xu Cheng stubbornly refused, just like hundreds of times before.

She could manage. The Giant Tower in her dream held unfathomable purposes, with tens of billions of variants, but Xu Cheng could traverse the dream road and make it here, quietly observing it.

No tools can be brought into her dream, Xu Cheng can only observe it here.

Perhaps she could figure out what it really is. Xu Cheng mused. Even memorizing its every illusionary form.

"Little Fool has more patience than anyone else, doesn’t she?"

...

Waking up the next day, Bubble got up first and turned to look at Xu Cheng’s sleeping face. It was strange that even in deep sleep, Xu Cheng always had a furrowed brow, as if she were working, her hands clenched in fists, like fighting something. Was it a nightmare? Bubble really wanted to know, but Xu Cheng would never talk about what she dreamt.

Bubble always wanted to help Xu Cheng escape from her nightmares, so she would always wake Xu Cheng up.

She tidied the room a bit first, and finally extended her little finger, gently touching Xu Cheng, whose crisis-ridden life made her very alert, quickly opening her eyes.

"Time to get up," Bubble said cautiously.

Xu Cheng looked up, morning light streamed through the grid window on the wall; she then turned to Bubble, who was kneeling submissively beside her, having tidied everything, ready to head out anytime.

Heavens, Bubble is so small; Xu Cheng thought fuzzily. Has such a small Bubble done everything for her?

She got dressed, bringing all important items, including the Separation Chip and her credentials, and the loot scavenged from raiders, heading downstairs.

Grandma Bai Jiayi was preparing breakfast alcohol; there were new faces in the shop. They were burly mercenaries she had hired, all heavily modified with metallic prosthetics, boasting formidable defenses. Modern battlefields rarely see someone carrying a large shield, full-body prosthetics or modern armor is a better strategy.

"Heading out?" Bai Jiayi smiled and asked.

Xu Cheng didn’t want to attract the mercenaries’ attention; they gave her an uneasy feeling. She waved her hand, and with Bubble, they slipped out through the side door by the bar like two rabbits.

The Yishen Sisters were drinking by the bar; Lianhua poured two drops of pink liquid from a cocktail into Shahua’s mouth, watching how Shahua extended her tongue to catch that bit of alcohol. When they turned and saw the back view of Xu Cheng and her group, Lianhua hurriedly called Shahua to follow.

"Going for breakfast?" Lianhua shouted, "Sushi place?"

"Ramen shop." Xu Cheng replied without turning back, "The mysterious person arranged to meet at the ramen shop."

They armed themselves, prepared to ward off attacks from the Cold Bay Seven Groups’ thugs on the streets, arriving near the city checkpoint.

The checkpoint itself was fortified with massive walls and high-pressure light screens, barring anyone with insufficient Credit Points from entering Jialong Slope. Law Enforcers donned advanced black Power Armor, wore Enclosed Helmets, wielding Main Battle Rifles while sniper drones patrolled high above, occasionally scanning the crowd below with cameras, marking suspicious individuals.

"No, it won’t be in the city, our credit is precious, we can’t get in. I wouldn’t want to sell my meager remaining credits just to get some goods~" Lianhua lamented.

"It’s outside the city," Bubble pointed to a ramen shop at the street corner, its sign blinking like it was luring them in.

Xu Cheng’s gaze passed through the checkpoint, seeing Jialong Slope Urban Area protected behind the walls, magnificent buildings reaching skyward, blocking out the sun, ubiquitous glowing ads promoting Kanako Xisheng Company’s products and services.

Due to severe disconnection between regions by the Heavenly Tribulation, monopolies like Kanako Xisheng could completely control a region’s lifeline, penetrating Jialong Slope deeper than ever before.

Xu Cheng saw some luxurious Shuttle Machines moving swiftly overhead, seemingly enjoying the thrill of high-speed racing, but much like avoiding high-voltage power grids, they quickly circled the city edge, refusing to venture their expensive models far from the city, intending to remain under protection of anti-air missiles, laser turrets, automated robots, and elite Law Enforcers.

There were also gigantic promotional posters, even hanging at the checkpoint’s entrance, one of which showed Kojima Kanako sitting decently behind a business desk, her professional and solemn gaze sending shivers down the spine. She was the city lord of Jialong Slope, six years gone by, her bun higher, attire more exquisite, demeanor more confident.

Under Kanako’s governance, 95% of Jialong Slope’s areas were incorporated into "urban safety" management, only the small fringe zone beneath Xu Cheng’s feet was negligently managed, becoming the lawless raucous area of Jialong Slope, unable to afford city life people were discarded here like trash.

"Be an honest citizen, let Jialong Slope rest easy!" Inspirational phrases hung everywhere, encouraging all Jialong Slope residents to serve the city’s public interest, followed by smiling faces of those honest workers, employees, programmers, construction workers, drivers, postmen, smiling at the camera, indistinguishable between whether taken live or AI-generated, or perhaps distinguishing the two had become meaningless.

Xu Cheng opened her mouth, those smiles gave her the creeps. Even if invited into the Jialong Slope Urban Area, she wouldn’t go, preferring to stay at the sin-ridden Jialong Slope Port.

"Be careful of these beggars and wanderers, they might pull out a gun and shoot you at any moment," Lianhua warned Xu Cheng, their height towering over Xu Cheng and Bubble, like big sisters leading two little sisters.

Xu Cheng rubbed her nose, sneezed, and walked into the ramen shop where the mysterious person had scheduled the meeting.

She crossed the automatic glass doors, even by the standards of this era, she felt this place was somewhat peculiar, entirely automated with no employees, and devoid of customers.

"Is anyone here? Hello!" Bubble waved her hand as she walked in, ahead of Xu Cheng, ready to catch any traps for Xu Cheng.

"Such a strange place," Lianhua raised her rifle to scan each corner while instructing her sister, Shahua, to watch the door to avoid being blocked in.

Xu Cheng stood behind the counter, able to see a fully automated kitchen inside. Soft dough flipped through the air into the preparation area, noodles shot from the noodle machine, accurately jumping into boiling water, spices and garnishes dropped through a conveyor to the soup bowls, following which, four bowls of ramen were delivered to the front counter, along with a black package.

"Is it a bomb?" Lianhua tensely eyed the package, having seen many like this.

Bubble leaped in fright, covering the package with her body, shutting her eyes tightly, until Xu Cheng pulled her back, her heart pounding as she opened her eyes.

"Quack." Xu Cheng saw the package bore a standard label, that every envoy could use to discern the destination, recipient, and reward, issued from the global shipping alliance platform.

She read the content on the label, her hand froze.

"Destination: Seven Hills City, Italia, Lithavia University, Faculty of Paleontology and Archaeology, Shallow Dream, recipient," Lianhua read the label’s content aloud.

"Someone named ’Shallow Dream’ with such a strange name?" Bubble did not know Shallow Dream.

Xu Cheng pursed her lips, tightly hugging the package, her face pressed against the label, glimpsing the name Shallow Dream from her peripheral vision. Shallow Dream, one of Farosa’s Seven Witches, has been staying in the Taixi Continent for many years without contact. Now, as an envoy, her mission is to find Shallow Dream, re-establish the connection?

Good, good, good... Xu Cheng’s eyes were wet; she cherished all of her past experiences and missed them dearly, including everything related to her father, Farosa, and the Witch Division, the New Witch Council, and, of course, Shallow Dream.

"Quack." She vowed that she would surely find Shallow Dream and deliver this package to her hands, regardless of the distance separating them, however difficult it was to find her, she was determined to deliver it.

"Then let’s eat the noodles and set off," Lianhua felt this was indeed quite remarkable, this fully automated ramen shop, no known customers, no known proprietor, a mysterious package, the excited little envoy, bringing Lianhua a peculiar sensation.

"This person truly exists," Bubble opened her phone to search, many archives hadn’t been updated, but educational institutions did show there’s a student named Shallow Dream at Lithavia University, Italia.

She was low-profile yet young, had excellent academic performance, and was quite successful in several field surveys in Italia; barring any disasters, she should become an excellent archaeologist.

"Can she pay a billion, or does the employer have another agenda? What’s in the package that requires shipping from the Eastern Hemisphere to Taixi Continent?" Lianhua had always wanted to hit a big score, feeling now it had appeared before her, breaking into her life and elevating it to a whole new level.

"Quack!" Xu Cheng was filled with thoughts of meeting Shallow Dream, talking about their past together with Shallow Dream, sharing memories regarding Shallow Dream, reminiscing about happy times in Shijin Mansion, and the memories within Nestor Headquarters, the grand rug fortress that has now been dismantled. She longed to chat with Shallow Dream about the past, finding this Witch who hasn’t returned to Nestor Corporation in ages.

Shallow Dream, master of time!

Xu Cheng and her companions slurped the ramen quickly, Shahua waiting for Lianhua to finish her meal before sitting down, bizarrely interested in the leftovers, picking at them with chopsticks. These strange, ferocious sisters increasingly made Bubble uneasy.

They left the ramen shop, Daniel Wu sat in a black sedan at the roadside, watching them disappear, his towering figure occupying the vehicle’s two rear seats.

"That girl wearing the Frederick’s goggles," Daniel noticed Xu Cheng’s sunglasses, "How pitiful, killed by women."

"They are just girls," the driver in the front seat commented.

"No, no, they kill without blinking, treat them as women, with Frederick’s goggles, one would have their eyes gouged out. They, along with the ferocious duo, killed many of our brothers last night... Have you found out?" Daniel asked the hacker in the front passenger’s seat.

"Found out: Xu Cheng, Bubble, two envoys registered in the Northern Archipelago, their Greyhound class ship held at the spaceport, owing 80,000 in ransom for lost cargo," the hacker reported.

Daniel Wu nodded, pressed the communicator on his wrist, connecting with the security bureau in Jialong Slope.

"Brother Wang, I encountered two foolish girls at the port, withdraw the Law Enforcers from the port district, all other security personnel have been arranged, only need Law Enforcers delayed. Rest assured, the Hip-hop Gang has been wiped out, from now the port affairs are under our control, we will eliminate anything hindering Lord Kanako’s goods, and ensure nothing leaves a trace, the bureau wants someone gone, we’ll risk everything to assist, a great deal. Brother Wang, sorry for troubling you but I must get my revenge for my brothers," Daniel said slowly.

After arranging, he instructed the driver to head for the port, several shuttle machines just departed, Xu Cheng and Bubble’s Greyhound class was held in the center, locked in place.

"That’s the machine they’re using to deliver cargo, absolutely unmistakable," the hacker in the front seat confirmed.

"Then let me reveal this world’s truth," Daniel Wu walked over, patted the shuttle machine’s shell, raised his mighty arm, and smashed it into pieces.