Capítulo 6: Noise in a Dream
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
He watched as the foreign woman's figure vanished into the mist.
Ling PingAn returned to the store and pulled down the rolling door.
Then he locked the door, walked to the counter, and picked up his phone.
After thinking for a little while, he looked at the watch and the cyan-colored crystal-like object in the drawer below the counter and said to himself, "These may be valuable items..."
"I think I'll keep them upstairs."
Public security in the Federal Empire had always been good.
But there was no way to completely prevent things like petty theft.
Going upstairs and turning on the lights, he plunked the two items down on a table as he slumped onto the soft sofa as he usually did.
"I feel good..." He opened up a canned drink and slurped a few mouthfuls.
"Time to play some games.
"I have a feeling that I will be able to break through to Silver tonight and maybe even step into Gold!"
It had been several days since he'd dropped into the Silver rank before swiftly plummeting into Bronze.
Now, it was time to return and let those brave heroes in Gold witness the fury of an avenger!
He forgot about the strange cyan crystal and the watch, took out his phone, and went into the rift.
Tonight, foul winds and showers of blood were bound to reign over the rift!
...
Exiting the fog, suddenly hills of ruins appeared before her eyes.
With the Gospel for Synthetic Beings held tightly in her hands, Elizabeth issued an order to her core, "Core, check the time!"
"The time now is Void Era Year 102, 14 April, 3:12 p.m."
"When did I enter the fog?" Elizabeth asked another question.
"Void Era Year 102, 14 April, 3:11 p.m."
Elizabeth raised her head abruptly.
Sure enough, things were just as she had expected.
She held up the Gospel for Synthetic Beings high, feeling the rhythm of steel and the roaring of engines that were coming from the book.
"Core!" She demanded. "Flesh is weak, but steel is eternal!"
"Will you join me on the path of spreading the everlasting way of steel?"
The quantum core under the frontal lobe of her brain was a tool that had been mass-produced and installed by the Doomsday Fortress.
It was just a rigid tool.
But Elizabeth knew that, at present, it was no longer the core it had been in the past.
The will of machinery had already penetrated into the core's database.
The everlasting steel had given her core a will of its own.
It was indeed as she had expected.
After a momentary lag, the voice of the core echoed in Elizabeth's brain.
"Flesh is weak, but steel is eternal!"
"Good." Elizabeth smiled.
At this instant, her mechanized mind disintegrated.
It was replaced by a brand-new power.
A true machine was by no means rigid and ruthless.
On the contrary, it had absolute materialism, absolute reasoning, and absolute rationality.
As Elizabeth smiled, the nano-biochemical machinery in her body began springing up, one by one, and completely covered her body.
She knelt in the fog and chanted the hymn of the Church of Machinery aloud: "The bell rang once. An Impetus was given to the lever. Valves and engines were switched on!"
The armor on her body gradually flowed along with the chanting, merging with each other like water.
"The bell rang twice, and the button was pushed. Generators were ignited, turbines were blazed, and life was injected…"
The miniature nuclear fusion reactor installed in her body began to dissolve, slowly turning into an ancient, obsolete, yet powerful, steam turbine.
Flesh and blood were pumped into it, generating immense power.
The will of steel appeared in Elizabeth's body.
"The bell rang thrice…"
The clock of machinery rang from within her body.
"Sing your praises!"
The almighty will descended from the void, watching over this miserable world.
Elizabeth trembled and praised, "The almighty spirit of all machinery!"
"You are the Lord who created all things, and the apocalypse who annihilates all that exists!"
"More is excellence. Big is beauty!"
"Evaporate! Burn! Cast!"
"Steel is forever. Machinery is life everlasting!"
When Elizabeth stood up again, she had been truly and completely integrated with steel. All the nano-biochemical machinery that had been originally installed in her body were now truly integrated with her, including the quantum core.
She extended her hands. Her silver-white skin of steel shone brightly in the pale, cold sunlight.
With a slight turn, her arms of steel reverted into flesh once again.
Crystal clear, as white as jade.
She knew that she had become a nun of steel, a Missionary of Synth.
The almighty Spirit of Machinery was watching over her.
From this moment onward, flesh and blood were steel, and steel was flesh and blood.
In her hands, the Gospel for Synthetic Beings flipped itself open.
The ravings that were near her ears were now being transmitted directly to her brain.
She learned her grand commission: Construct a temple of machinery, build an altar of steel, and spread the gospel of machinery and steel to the people of the world.
Ultimately, the almighty Spirit of Machinery would descend into this universe.
Driving away all Diablos.
And bringing Divine Truth to the universe.
Flesh is weak, but steel is eternal!
...
The scene in the rift wasn't too different from usual.
Flamers, trash-talkers--they were never absent in any game.
However, none of these difficulties could stop Ling PingAn's journey on rising in the ranks.
As the enemy's Nexus exploded, a ray of golden light flashed across the screen of his phone.
Ling PingAn had officially stepped into the Gold Rank.
After a few days in depravity, he was finally back, returning to his former peak and honor.
"What a pro I am!" He picked up his drink as he sat on the sofa and guzzled it down. He was very pleased with himself. "Wait for me, you scrubs in the rift!"
"Your king is back!"
He already gained the confidence to enter the legendary Challenger Rank and let all the heroes in the rift surrender under his feet.
Suddenly, Ling PingAn scratched his head, "Why is this drink so spicy?"
He felt as if he was drunk.
His chest and abdomen were burning.
He also seemed a little drowsy.
After an enormous yawn, he picked up the bottle and regarded it closely, "Yeah, it's soda, not beer..."
And, he didn't give it any further thought. He put down his phone and lay down on the sofa. "Had an all-nighter yesterday, so it's only normal for me to have to make up for it today."
However, he had completely forgotten to guard the foreign girl's items. The cyan crystal he'd placed on the table near the corner of the sofa had already disappeared.
Soon, he fell asleep and started dreaming.
Everything in his dream was chaos. Before his eyes, all he could see was only darkness and nothingness.
"This dream again!" Ling PingAn sighed in his sleep.
He'd been having this dream since he was a child.
Sometimes, he wouldn't dream of it once in a year, but other times it would show up several days in succession.
It was difficult for Ling PingAn to understand this dream.
But he was already used to it.
Hence, he simply floated around in the chaos of his dream.
Everything in this dream was silent and dark, and his body was like a feather floating in the wind. His body was so light that it could fly everywhere.
Over the years, he had gotten used to it.
Normally, he would just float and float and float and float until he woke up naturally.
But this time, it was a little bit different.
He floated and floated in his dream. This time, after floating for an unknown length of time, all of a sudden waves of ear-piercing noises from suonas and other musical instruments rang into his ears.
The sound from the suona was very strange and more unpleasant than any noise.
The sound of all those musical instruments was like a DJ playing maniacally and loudly in a bar or nightclub.
Just listening to it would annoy anyone's peace of mind and render them grumpy. Subconsciously, Ling PingAn reprimanded the musicians, "Stop blowing!"
"Silence!"
Then the world became quiet.
And he also woke up.
"It's morning already..." He opened his eyes. The first rays of the morning sun were falling onto his balcony.
There were already cars on the road outside.
Picking up his phone on the sofa, Ling PingAn glanced at the screen. There was a message.
Little Aunt: PingAn, that girl who I introduced you to last time I saw you told me that you didn't add her to your contacts. What's the matter?
When Ling PingAn saw it, he quickly pretended that he hadn't seen it.
He slid his phone into his pants.
Blind dates or whatnot...they were too troublesome.
Weren't games fun?
Or was it that writing novels made him unhappy?
Why must he bother himself to be like those 20-year-olds who had one baby in their left hand and another in their right?
"Eh?" Ling PingAn abruptly looked at the table near his sofa.
The watch was still in the same place where he had left it.
But the crystal was gone, nowhere to be found.
Ling PingAn immediately became nervous, searching for it all around his living room for a very long time.
However, he couldn't even a shadow of the crystal in the end.
"Where did it go?" He scratched his head. "Didn't I bring it upstairs? No, I'm sure. I remember that I did!"
He thought about last night. As soon as he'd arrived upstairs, he'd slumped onto the sofa, fought in the rift, and casually had a can of soda.
At that time…
It seemed that the crystal had once been placed near the soda...?
He hastily picked up the soda can that he'd already crunched up, but no matter how he looked at it, he didn't see the crystal.
"Oh, no!"
"I guess I'll have to pay for it."
"I wonder how much that crystal is worth…"
"She can say any price she wants and screw me…"
The young bookstore owner began worrying.
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