Chapter 16: Disobeying Orders.

In the dream.

"Where am I..." Chu Qingqing looked around, her expression filled with incredulity.

She distinctly remembered falling asleep in her sleeping bag, yet upon waking up, she found herself in another house.

Outside the balcony, the scenery of the residential area remained, only shrouded in a bloody glow, giving off an eerie sense of fear.

In the distance, on the edge of Wujian Town, strange flames could be vaguely seen, along with faint cries for help carried by the wind.

If it weren't for these anomalies, she might have thought she had simply fallen asleep and been moved to the neighboring house by these people, then awakened again.

"This is where the nightmare begins," Cheng Jinyang explained. "Let's go to the safe house."

The so-called safe house has been confirmed to be Su Lili's residence. If she stays at her own home, then the safe house's scope is her home, and vice versa.

This time, everyone was reborn at Su Lili's home. Cheng Jinyang quickly checked the room, confirmed that Xiao Li was not there, and then went straight to the next house to knock on the door.

After a moment, Su Lili opened the door and, upon seeing the visitor outside, immediately showed a surprised smile.

"Who opened the door just now?" Su Lili couldn't see the three girls, and naturally, Chu Qingqing couldn't see her either. She only saw the door open by itself, which horrified her. "Is it a ghost?"

"It's just a phantom that you can't see or touch," Xing Yuanzhi sighed. "Cheng Jinyang can see her, so... let him handle it alone."

Cheng Jinyang and Su Lili went into the bedroom. Xing Yuanzhi brought Chu Qingqing to the living room and explained the mechanism and principles of the nightmare monster spawning to her.

"In the nightmare, demons will infinitely respawn? And killing them will increase blood concentration?" Hearing this, Chu Qingqing was initially incredulous, but then, realizing Xing Yuanzhi couldn't be lying, she quickly became ecstatic. "And we can respawn indefinitely after death?"

Of the three features, the most precious was undoubtedly the ability to increase blood concentration in reality by killing demons. Even without infinite respawns, it was completely worth it for any aristocratic descendant to take the risk for this opportunity.

However, with the addition of two other features, the entire nightmare immediately becomes a harmless monster-spawning reward machine... No wonder Cheng Jinyang would call this secret enough to form a 'community of shared interests.' My so-called battle cry syndrome is nothing compared to this!

"I understand," Chu Qingqing smiled, "I also understand why you had those concerns before. But any person with even a minimum level of intelligence wouldn't recklessly leak this secret, right? That would be completely foolish, harming others without benefiting oneself."

"Yes," Xing Yuanzhi said lightly, "but we can't be sure if you're within the realm of at least average intelligence."

"In any case, now that I'm bound by the ideological imprint, you should have some basic trust and confidence in me, shouldn't you?" Chu Qingqing remarked, unfazed by the situation.

Xing Yuanzhi remained noncommittal, simply nodding slightly.

"So, when can we go kill the demons?" Chu Qingqing couldn't wait, her eyes gleaming with a bloodthirsty light.

"Let's wait until Jinyang comes out first," Xing Yuanzhi sighed.

"He's in there... with that phantom, doing what?" Chu Qingqing impatiently asked.

"Probably just eating grapes," Xing Yuanzhi replied indifferently.

"Eating grapes?"

Chu Qingqing blinked, then seemed to misunderstand something, immediately showing a half embarrassed, half disgusted expression.

——————

In the room.

After recounting the recent events involving Chu Debiao, Su Lili expressed some sympathy:

"His sister is so pitiful. Fortunately, Miss Qingqing is willing to take care of her."

She leaned her head against Cheng Jinyang's chest and whispered:

"If it were me, I would rather die in the mouth of a demon than linger on half-dead, causing those who are alive to worry about me."

"I'm sorry, it's my fault for not protecting you..." Cheng Jinyang sighed and hugged Xiao Li tighter.

Wait a minute! Before I came here, Su Lili was already dead, so her death is clearly the fault of the original owner. Why should I apologize?

Then Cheng Jinyang suddenly realized that the residual thoughts of the original owner within him seemed to be merging deeper and deeper with his own.

"Cough, Xiao Li," he gently pushed Xiao Li away and stood up. "I'm leaving now, see you tomorrow."

"Do you not want to stay with me for a while longer?" Su Lili pouted slightly, her hopeful expression resembling that of a young deer. She grabbed the corner of his sleeve, looking at Cheng Jinyang with pleading eyes.

"Next time for sure," Cheng Jinyang reassured her with a gentle tone.

Leaving the bedroom, he let out a long sigh.

The original owner is the original owner, and I am me. I've taken over his childhood sweetheart, but I won't take the blame for his mess!

Then Chu Qingqing's charming face suddenly appeared 3 centimeters in front of him.

"Wow, you startled me!" Cheng Jinyang stepped back suddenly.

"What are you doing in there?" Chu Qingqing's face turned sour, suspicion evident in her eyes.

"I'm recharging the safe house," Cheng Jinyang blurted out without much thought.

Chu Qingqing: ???

Wasn't he supposed to be eating grapes?

"When are we setting out to kill the demons and monsters?" Miss Qingqing decided not to dwell on it. She was already thirsty for blood.

"Did Yuanzhi and Wanrou brief you on the rules of the monsters in the nightmare?" Cheng Jinyang asked cautiously.

"They did, they did," Chu Qingqing's killing intent became even harder to contain, her whole body trembling as she stomped on the floor repeatedly.

"Alright," Cheng Jinyang sighed.

Anime characters always talk about how cute 'tsundere' types are, but in reality, they're not cute at all, especially when they glare at you with red eyes like venomous snakes, their aura feeling as sharp as knives, as if just being near them could hurt you.

Chu Qingqing, who revealed her true nature, also gave him this strong sense of discomfort—really, can't I have a normal girl by my side?

Like Xiao Li, a cute childhood friend, or the Princess, a mature older sister type, can't I have more of those?

With three girls in tow, Cheng Jinyang led the way downstairs and rushed outside, hoping to enter the narrow alley before the first 'Weird' level creature appeared.

"Jinyang!" Xing Yunzhi suddenly shouted when he was approaching the gate of the community.

"Miss Wang, why is it you again? Didn't I tell you to exercise last time?" Cheng Jinyang scolded impatiently, then turned around helplessly to carry Miss Wang, who was panting heavily.

"Hmph." Wang Wanrou sneered from his back, "Gentlemen labor with their minds, while commoners labor with their strength, as per the customs of the ancient kings."

"You're just being stubborn!" Cheng Jinyang mocked her without reservation.

Four people rushed to the alley entrance, and then heard the sharp howl of the demon from behind.

The demon, with its arms turned into sharp claws, suddenly dashed out from the left rear corner of the street ahead, swiftly attacking towards the four people!

"Quick, into the alley!" Cheng Jinyang quickly said, while running towards the parking space on the left side of the alley entrance.

However, Chu Qingqing did not follow his command. She just roared, "Bring it on!" and turned directly towards the demon, charging at it.

As she ran, she reached out her right hand towards the nearby parked vehicle. The vehicle's shell melted at a visible speed, transforming into a dark brown opaque liquid metal. It swiftly formed into a thorny barricade around Chu Qingqing, with huge sharp spikes pointing straight ahead.