Inside the pitch-black bus, apart from the front and rear windshields, only the three windows on each side let in the eerie, dim light from the outside world.

{Open it, and it will consume your lifespan.}

Huang Xu stared at the door in front of him.

Although it looked normal, Huang Xu always felt that as long as he pushed that door open, he could enter a vast new world…

At the cost of… his lifespan…

{Hesitating, are you? No wonder, with so many people on the bus, why should you be the one to step up and take the lead?}

Huang Xu glanced back at the sinister figures in their seats, staring coldly at him. Their eyes were vicious, as if they had decided: either he would open the door for them, or they would all die together.

“This bunch belongs in hell,”

Huang Xu cursed under his breath, then reached out and touched the door handle, immediately feeling a slippery sensation, as if touching a membrane of flesh.

“Director Huang, do you really believe in such nonsense?”

“We’ll find out soon enough.” Huang Xu said with resentment. Grinning with hatred, he grabbed the handle and yelled, “Take whatever lifespan you want from me, just open up!”

Slosh!

The door whooshed open to the side, revealing a dark road outside the eerie cabin, but in the distance lay a hazy, warm otherworldly cityscape.

“Did it actually work?”

The crowd inside the cabin sprang to their feet, and the door, which had seemed impossible to open just a moment ago, was now actually pulled wide. Everyone scrambled frantically to rush out.

Huang Xu, already decades older, stepped out of the carriage. He turned his head to look at the seven or eight people rushing toward him, a conflict evident on his face.

{If they die here, you can claim their lifespans.}

The flickering monitor blurted out a seductive voice at this inopportune moment.

Huang Xu’s face hardened, and closing his eyes, he gripped the door handle tightly. “Then all of you can die! You ungrateful bastards!”

……

“Did I just dream of that bus?” Huang Xu, slumped beside the makeshift camp table, frowned. The camp was eerily quiet. He glanced around, realizing everyone else was asleep for some reason.

In the dim light, a small orb of brilliance drifted down, materializing into a cool-looking little elfin boy.

“You failed, you big idiot.”

“Oh? Failed?” Huang Xu was slightly taken aback.

Without saying much, the little elf darted over to the few people sleeping soundly, face-down on the ground in the distance.

A drowsy voice came from behind, “Huh? How did I fall asleep?”

One person rubbed their eyes and got up, followed by another.

The appearance of the little reporter put Huang Xu on high alert immediately. Was someone attacking this place? He grabbed nearby belongings—some cold-weather work clothes and food distributed by Rose Creek to the workers—and then walked out of the work shed to glance at the towering, elegant hall in the distance.

He heard that the large client’s cargo convoy was inside that hall. His feelings were conflicted, but after a moment of thought, Huang Xu decided without hesitation to leave early. He didn’t want any familiar person to see him in his current down-and-out state.

……

The hall, where the campfire crackled and burned quietly, gradually filled with a few murmurs.

{Congratulations, Yuan Yuan darling, for successfully passing the [Lost Illusion Company]’s [Joint Recruitment Spiritual Power and Tendency Assessment Test].}

{Yuan Yuan darling’s spiritual power peak is rated at Tier 2, Stage 2, and her goodness-evil tendency score is Positive 3.}

Wooosh! Having finished speaking, the small, sharp voice along with the little elf hovering by Xu Aiyuan’s head took off into the air.

Xu Aiyuan, still groggy with sleep, looked puzzledly at her intact wine-red garments, then touched the flower at her collar.

This embroidered rose opened delicate, petal-like eyes, glanced at her, and said:

{Finally awake, was it fun?}

“Just a dream?” Xu Aiyuan’s clear, jade-like voice whispered softly, then she quickly realized that she must have been hit by a mental attack.

She looked around warily, then looked up at a small ball of light above her, from which a tiny fairy zipped high into the sky, as if too embarrassed to face her.

“Did I get drunk?”

One person after another awoke.

“Hey, how did we all get drunk? Guys, I just dreamed about you all.”

“I dreamed of you too. Wait, I failed? What does that mean?”

The tiny fairy above flew over as if finding salvation and pointed boldly at the few people who had just awakened on the table.

“You bunch of guys. You, you, you, and you, all negative scores!”

“Huh?”

……

Xu Aiyuan looked at the young man beside her who was still sleeping, his body reeking of alcohol, with a faint layer of misty energy surrounding him.

Xu Aiyuan extended her snow-white hand to touch the man’s cheek, but it was completely blocked by that energy layer.

The ball of light flew down and landed on Xu Aiyuan’s shoulder.

The tiny fairy whispered softly:

{Do you want to take a peek at what that rascal is doing inside?}

Xu Aiyuan cast a sidelong glance at it before a subtle quirk of her lips turned into a gentle nod.

{Hee-hee.}

At once, this sly, odd little fellow lifted a tiny hand to Xu Aiyuan’s temple, pressing lightly with a feather’s touch.

In an instant, Xu Aiyuan felt as if she had entered a lucid dream, seeing the figures of many people floating around her, huddled together in terror as they resisted the wildly flailing powerful bandages.

—{My ability is to burn life force… Within this range, Nen abilities are ineffective…}

“Ah.” Xu Aiyuan lightly covered her mouth. After glancing at the sorrowful Lin Site, she quickly scanned the edge of the hall, where the thin man’s body lay by the wall next to a soup pot, still holding a piece of firewood that had not been placed into the iron stove.

She saw a brocade-like light spreading and burning, rapidly dispelling the surrounding bandages.

“Is this something Xiao Lin can do?”

“That’s right. His ability is actually no longer an ordinary Nen ability. Well, it’s okay to reveal this to those who have passed the assessment. Nen abilities are also divided into many types. Some are ordinary mental enhancements, while others, due to the purity of their energy, have already resonated with bloodline… That’s all I know.”

The little spirit felt a bit embarrassed.

Xu Aiyuan nodded. There was actually someone so extraordinary hiding by her side.

“Sweetie Yuanyuan, watch quietly now. I’m going to get busy. Also, a company named the Lost Illusion Company is already preparing to offer you a job invitation.”

The little spirit flew up, dissolving into a faint light as if merging into the overlapping illusions filling the great hall.

As the spirit quickly vanished, Xu Aiyuan saw that Lin Site, who had just ignited the Nen flame, instantly lost his ability to sustain it.

Xu Aiyuan immediately tensed up.

Someone had actually murdered this sacrificial person!

Fortunately, it was just the work of that little reporter.

Within two seconds, Lin Site propped himself up with a dazed expression, then saw several figures at the table looking at him, among them the tender gaze of the person who had appeared many times in his dreams.

{Congrats, little Site—you passed the test spot in one go!}

A little spirit flew down.

{Originally, this wasn’t meant to be a test chance for everyone; it’s great that you managed to pass!}

Realizing what had happened, Lin Site’s face flushed bright red.

The noise in the hall grew louder. The energy layers on Moli and Boppoli faded away.

{The test was good, but your performance wasn’t great~}

Awakening, Boppoli heard this voice first.

“What?”

On the other side, the red-haired young man opened his eyes in confusion. He first looked at Xiao Yushan beside him, who was also waking up while rubbing the back of his neck, then scrambled backward a few steps.

“You, you you—are you real or fake?”

Xiao Yushan stared blankly at the young man questioning him, “?”

Captain Qin said hoarsely, “Are we really awake?”

“Someone slap me.”

Slap! Slap slap.

“Ow, goddamn it, go easy.”

Everyone had already realized they had been unknowingly pulled into a real dream at some point… The same people were here, but the atmosphere had become extremely strange and awkward.

Some people were almost digging out a luxury villa with their big toes from the sheer embarrassment.

Suddenly, everyone’s gaze fell on the center of the long table.

The faint energy layer around Yang Zicang began to dissipate!

“Hey! Yang Zicang.”

The group surged forward in a swarm, and even Lin Site, who was far away, ran over worriedly.

This young man, with sleepy eyes, looked up at everyone and then flopped back onto the table with a thud.

Soon after, a loud snore could be heard.

“Ah… you scared me.” A few people wiped the sweat from their foreheads and exchanged glances. Then they looked at Lin Site, then at the Rose Queen.

Lin Site’s face flushed red, and he hurriedly shifted the topic:

“Who carried out the assassination just now?”

Everyone looked up at once. The small light orb zipped away quickly.

……

The night grew deeper. After discussing with Boboli, Morrie had Boboli take the Invisibility Orb back to Hub Town first, as it was safest there. He would continue distributing the remaining “Training Contracts” and then have the Big Star Train come to pick him up.

As for Yang Zicang, he was carried into the only bedroom behind the stone hall.

“Big sister.” A spirited girl walked over. “That guy just… went to your room? That wicked blade kept it for so long and never got in.”

The girl felt a bit heartbroken about the now-vanished Flowing Cloud Path.

Xu Aiyuan gazed at the empty hall, “I’ll stay here tonight.”

She sat quietly at the long, vacant table, with only two or three girls beside her reading or resting with their heads on the table.

The hall grew increasingly still until only the crackling of the fire remained.