Chapter Two: The Realm of Dreams

Yan Luo opened his eyes and sat up from bed.

Outside, the world was shrouded in darkness—it was the dead of night.

"Was it a dream?"

Everything from the dream remained vivid in his mind. Suddenly, his phone vibrated, catching his attention.

He picked it up and found a text message.

"Hello, new friend who has joined the ranks of World Modulators. The auxiliary program has already been sent to your phone. You don’t need to click anything; it will download automatically. As a newcomer, after the program is downloaded, you will be forcibly summoned into a guided mission for a period of time."

"So, it wasn’t a dream?"

As Yan Luo stared at his phone, the screen suddenly switched to a download interface.

Program downloading...

Download complete, installing...

World Modulator Program has been installed on your phone.

Now initiating initial scan and analysis.

"Character panel creation..."

"Creation complete."

"Opening minor cross-dimensional storage space..."

"Space opened."

"Analyzing surrounding environment..."

"The surface world area you reside in has not been subjected to any contamination. No descent points have appeared nearby in your surface world area."

"Commencing inner world detection..."

"Beep! In your surface world area, three inner worlds on different world lines were detected nearby. Beginning analysis... The three inner worlds are: Level 4 Magical Warfare World, Level 1 Sports Competition World, Level 3 Role-Playing Paranormal World."

"Other modules are locked. Please increase your Modulator level."

Yan Luo gazed silently at the new icon on his phone.

A black and white block.

Below, two words: Surface / Inner.

He tapped the program to enter.

Yan Luo saw four function modules labeled with text:

"Character Panel"

"Storage Space"

"Inner World Detection"

"Dreamspace Transfer"

He pondered for a few seconds before tapping the character panel.

Name: Yan Luo
Limit Breakthrough: First Tier
Life Source: 100%
Mental Source: 100%
Emotional Fluctuation: 0
Soul Contamination: 0
Faction: Absolute Neutral

Bloodline: Human
Innate Ability: Heartless Marionette
Skill Slot: Empty
Gene Slot: Empty
World Modulator Level: LV1

He then tapped the storage space; nothing particularly special, just a small space for storing items.

"Inner World Detection—what could this be?"

Yan Luo saw a map appear on the screen, showing his residential neighborhood and the surrounding area. There were three flickering points of light.

A white light was at the community gym, labeled "Level 1 Sports Competition World." A red light was at a nearby school, labeled "Level 3 Role-Playing Paranormal World." The last, a dark red light, was in his own bathroom, labeled "Level 4 Magical Warfare World."

Each of these points came with a program note: Worldline fluctuation node—when activated by a World Modulator, it allows entry into the corresponding inner world.

His gaze moved to the last unlocked feature.

"Dreamspace Transfer"

Upon clicking it, a line of explanation appeared on the screen: "Click to transfer into Dreamspace, a place for World Modulators to communicate, trade, and transport across various surface world locations—akin to a transit hub or trading market."

"As a newcomer, you currently cannot use this function. Please await the Guide's summons."

Yan Luo was silent for a while.

As someone who had lost his emotions, he felt no fear toward the unknown future that awaited him. His current silence was to check his own power of hope, the fate-bestowed talent born from a wish: Heartless Marionette.

In his consciousness, a transparent humanoid figure.

It could absorb and store emotional value (capacity: 100 points), and fuse emotions to craft personality masks.

The auxiliary program explained: Personality masks are combat masks you forge from emotions to face adversity. Different emotional fusions create different masks; when you wear a mask, you become the corresponding persona.

"The inner world, is it?"

While he mused, he suddenly saw a hole rapidly expand in the void before him, forming a doorway of light. Half the portal was encircled by angels, the other half by demons—half white, half black, like the surface and inner worlds.

"Newcomer summons. Please enter the portal to transfer into Dreamspace."

Yan Luo did not hesitate and stepped into the portal.

"This batch is all here."

A young man standing by a sphere of light turned around and looked at them.

Yan Luo examined the youth, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with medium-length black hair, eyebrows neither thick nor thin, clear eyes. Besides him, there were eight others in the sealed room, men and women, each with a distinct air and style.

"Are you the Guide mentioned in the prompt?" asked a bespectacled man politely.

"No, I’m not the Guide, but rather the Administrator of Dreamspace," replied the youth by the light sphere, glancing around. "Unlike you, I sometimes feel lonely here in Dreamspace. So, whenever newcomers arrive, I always come to meet them—and to see what kind of limit breakers humanity has produced."

"Since you’re all newcomers, why not introduce yourselves?"

"Alright."

The bespectacled man spoke with a gentle smile—a scholarly type, his hair meticulously styled, gold-rimmed glasses, a white leisure suit. He smiled, "I’m Chu Qingfeng, a psychologist who has broken through the limits of humanity."

"Are we the chosen ones? To save the world? Ah... I knew it... This world is in crisis..."

A girl’s dramatic exclamation interrupted Chu Qingfeng’s introduction. She seemed about fifteen, perhaps younger, slender, dressed in black and red gothic attire with a short skirt, and wore a white eyepatch over her right eye.

She suddenly pressed a hand over her eyepatch, trembling as if suppressing something. "At last, is it my turn, the Princess of Eternity and Infinity, Yari Takanashi, to save this sin-laden world? Heh, heh heh... But if I unleash the power in my eye, oh heavens, the world shall end!"

Chu Qingfeng’s eyes widened slightly at her performance, then he mused, "Rikka Takanashi? Light Yagami? Kuroneko?"

"It seems this is the chuunibyou who has broken through human limits. As a psychologist, I’m quite familiar with this condition. Let her immerse herself in her world; we needn’t interfere. Now, this cool-looking friend, who are you?"

"What are you staring at!"

A young man with heavy black eye circles snorted unpleasantly. Each ear bore four earrings, with additional piercings on his nose and lips. Most striking was his hair—styled in a ‘Statue of Liberty’ fashion, each strand shaped into a long, sharp spike pointing in all directions.

Most impressively, the seven spikes were each a different color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

"The limit-breaking Shamate: Li Zang’ai."

"Gentlemen."

A deep, gravelly voice sounded. Speaking was an obese young man in a loose, earthy yellow shirt emblazoned with an anime beauty, brown shorts exposing two furry thighs, a belly with rolls of fat, his waist thicker than a barrel.

"My name is Zhu Xiaoyong, but you can call me Fatty Zhu. I weigh 315 jin, and for half a year, I never once left my house."

He boasted proudly, "No one fatter than me is as much a shut-in, and no one more shut-in is as fat as me. I am the ultimate NEET, having broken through the limits of humanity! Miss, you’re so cute—just like my waifu, Princess Kuroyuki. Can I take a few pictures?"

He took a camera from his pocket and began snapping pictures of a girl.

"Ah, please, please don’t..."

The camera-shy girl had shoulder-length hair with neat bangs, a delicate, fair face, a small, straight nose, and bright, lively eyes—looking as adorably perfect as an anime character.

"Hey, you damn fatty, are you looking for a beating?"

A handsome young man strode over, pushed Zhu Xiaoyong aside, and then raised his hand as if to comfort the girl, perhaps to pat her head. But the girl stepped back to avoid him.

His hand hung awkwardly in midair, but he quickly composed himself, introducing himself in a confident tone.

"From birth, I inherited billions in wealth. Every time I buy a lottery ticket, I win the jackpot. In every online game, no matter how low the odds, rare items always drop for me. In gacha games, I pull SSRs one after another. Once, a gang tried to kidnap me, but a gas explosion in my estate wiped them out."

"I am Tang Tianjie, the luckiest man alive, favored by the world itself! May I know your name, adorable girl?"

"I..." The girl shyly twisted her fingers, glanced at Tang Tianjie, then at the others, finally lowering her head, cheeks flushing. "I am the embodiment of cuteness, having broken through the limits of humanity. My name... is Li Changxin."

"How wonderful," sighed a man in his late twenties or early thirties, his expression gloomy. "The talents you all have—cuteness, luck, being fat, or cool—let you live happily in this world. Why is life so unfair?"

"Sorry..."

Seeing the puzzled looks, he forced a wry smile. "I got a bit emotional. I am Wang Dongwei, who has broken through the limits of humanity as a failure."

"Whether lucky victors or failures, in the end, we all meet the same fate: death. Death is the great equalizer—heroes, celebrities, ordinary folk, beggars alike—all reduced to dust in the earth. I am Xu Han, the mortician who has broken through the limits of humanity..."

Clad in a black suit, his face solemn, he pressed a hand to his chest and bowed. "Should anyone require it, I will grant them their final peace."

With the introductions over, only one remained.

"I am Yan Luo, who has broken through the limits of humanity as Calmness."

Since these were self-introductions, there was room for concealment or deception. Yan Luo had no way of knowing if others had revealed their true talents. But ‘the Heartless’ was a label that easily aroused suspicion. As part of a team, in a crisis, who would you trust more—a "Heartless" or a "Calm" one?

"Calmness—what a wonderful trait," the psychologist Chu Qingfeng praised, his eyes brightening.

"Alright, now that introductions are over, it’s time to leave. Next, the Guide will lead you through the novice mission so you can familiarize yourselves with the inner world. Perhaps we’ll meet again."

A flash of light, and all nine were transported away.

The self-proclaimed administrator stood silently by the sphere of light. Another beam of light flared, and a new figure appeared beside him.

"How was this batch of newcomers?"

"Better than many previous ones. I saw a few who truly shone. But... before that moment arrives, will they be able to grow? The world is like a castle of blocks stacked on a sand dune... the moment of destruction draws near."

The administrator sighed and asked the figure beside him, "Kunlun Wonderland, Babel Tower, Atlantis—the three great ruins, how are they faring?"

"Restoration progress: 31%."

Hearing this, the administrator slowly shook his head. "Far from enough... Does our effort matter at all? I hope a new future can be created for this world... But, my friend, this is no longer our era."