Chapter 352: The Truth?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 352: The Truth?
When the invisible domain enveloped the entire battlefield, pulling all conscious minds from reality into the dream, the Dream Demons found their former home turf had become a cage.
They had no choice but to flee, for they were now facing the elites of the Transcendent Academy—warriors who had been suppressed and stifled until this very moment!
The barbarians of the Beast Academy let out a chorus of bone-cracking knuckle pops. The other students were the same; they had waited far too long for this moment.
Their gazes shifted toward the sole focus of the battlefield. It was that witch who had given them this chance. Was it gratitude? Admiration? Worship?
Perhaps all of the above, but mostly, it was a lingering fear of her methods, which far exceeded their understanding.
They couldn't fathom how the gap between students of the same freshman class could be so vast. Was the disparity in education between academies truly this great?
"Dream Demons... Ugh! I've put up with you for long enough! Eat my fist!"
The students from the Beast Academy were the first to lose their patience. One lunged at the nearest Dream Demon, his fist making intimate, heavy contact with its cheek. The sheer brute force sent the creature sprawling... and only then did the crowd realize this was no illusion!
"Kill them! Wipe out every last one of these Dream Demons!"
Someone in the crowd screamed the command, and the dam broke. Everyone began to vent their pent-up frustration on the Dream Demons.
Amidst the chaos, I retreated from the center of the battlefield.
A fight like this didn't even require my intervention. If I had already gone to these lengths—and given their overwhelming numerical advantage—they still let a few Dream Demons escape, then I could only say they truly deserved the title of "useless."
"Thanks. Your Luck is quite effective." I walked back to the Transcendent artifact formed by the Luck Seed. The First Generation City Lord appeared somewhat haggard now, though I still couldn't make out his features.
"It is I who should thank you... After this is over... please, hand me over to the new City Lord of Ninglan New City..."
"So, you intend to continue guarding Ninglan New City?"
"I do..."
"Do you have any requirements for the new City Lord? I don't mean to discourage you, but the previous Ninglan Qiuyu was the last male heir of your Ninglan lineage. The only one left is a girl, Ninglan Qiuyue."
"I know... I am aware of much regarding Ninglan New City. I even know why Ninglan Qiuyu was the only male of the next generation. Please, return me to Ninglan Qiuyue."
"In that case, she’ll be the first female City Lord of Ninglan New City."
"What does that matter?"
"True. It doesn't matter to me either."
"..."
In the short time I spent conversing with the First Generation City Lord, the battle on the Transcendent Academy's side had already reached its conclusion.
I had said I believed in their strength, and the results proved me right. It was an undisputed slaughter. Now, the Dream Demons could truly have a "sisters' reunion"—if they were going to die, they’d die on the same day of the same month of the same year.
I watched the summoning channel gradually contract as its energy depleted. The flesh and blood energy of over half the residential areas in the Underground District had been sacrificed, only for it to end in such a farce.
I truly felt the cruelty of the Script's progression. Ordinary people, ignorant of the truth, were honored just to serve as cannon fodder. How utterly ironic.
Did their deaths have meaning?
What did they buy? A gamble that allowed these Children of Destiny to glimpse the truth. Even now, not a single one of these "chosen ones" felt any sorrow for the victims.
Including... me.
"Don't! Don't kill me! I’m the one who made the promise! It was me! I can give you the truth!"
"You! You traitor!"
"You bastard! Why don't you just die! You're the one who summoned us all here to die with you!"
"Don't make me laugh! If I hadn't summoned you, you'd still be scratching your heads trying to find a way into the Main World! What right do you have to curse me!"
As some Dream Demons were taken prisoner and others were beaten into dream-bubbles by those who didn't know their own strength, the battle—which felt like a dark comedy to me—finally ended.
When that specific Dream Demon cried out for mercy, many finally remembered why they were fighting this battle in the first place. It was for the questions and answers the Dream Demon had dangled earlier. Or rather... the truth.
Consequently, any Dream Demons trying to stop her from speaking were promptly slapped into silence. It was a pathetic sight.
Some Dream Demons, foreseeing their end and realizing they could never turn the tables, chose to end their own lives rather than endure the humiliation.
But none of that mattered.
"Heh... I admit we lost. I said that even if we won, I would tell you the truth, because sometimes the truth is far more cruel than you imagine..."
Having calmed down, the Dream Demon stopped resisting. Her tone was mocking, as if she wasn't the one who had just lost the war.
Even I instinctively turned my head, curious to hear what "truth" she was about to reveal.
At that moment, the First Generation City Lord dissipated. Without the maintenance of the flesh and blood energy, he stopped functioning like a toy that had lost its batteries.
I caught the artifact before it hit the ground and tucked it away carefully.
I wasn't entirely sure what qualified as a Transcendent artifact, but according to the feedback from my Spirit Vision, I understood that the power to manipulate Luck wasn't the First Generation City Lord's innate ability. He had achieved it through this artifact.
Upon touching it again, I felt the illusion that I could use its power myself. However, to use it... it seemed an equivalent price had to be paid.
I could even manipulate the artifact to completely strip the Luck from my own body.
This was a sensation I hadn't felt when I first touched the white crystal. It seemed that back then, the true user of the artifact was the First Generation City Lord. Now that he had been "forced offline," I was able to access it.
Realizing that the First Generation City Lord resided within this artifact, I sensed a trace of his Soul Essence. It was only a sliver, far less than a normal person's, but it was there. Why was this fragment of Soul Essence inside?
It seemed this sliver of Soul Essence was entangled with the Luck Seed. The Luck within had cocooned the fragment, allowing it to persist for a thousand years.
Truly miraculous. If that was the case... theoretically, if his Soul Essence were restored, the First Generation Ninglan City Lord could actually be resurrected!
"Stop stalling! What's the deal with the Slumber Curse you mentioned earlier!"
"How should I know where your Main World picked up some 'Slumber Curse'? That was nothing more than the instinctive behavior of Nightmares. You should be grateful they're just a bunch of mindless dream creatures; otherwise, they would be far more troublesome enemies than us Dream Demons."
"Then why did you come here? And why target us so specifically!"
Another student nearby interrogated the Dream Demon. Her tone was harsh, and her reddened eyes suggested she had lost a friend here.
"I almost forgot. You fools in the Main World still don't know what Luck is, do you?"
"Luck?"
While the crowd murmured curiously about the concept, the Dream Demon ignored them and continued.
"We came here for the Luck of your Main World! The Luck of Ninglan New City! Someone in your Main World stuffed Luck into the bodies of Nightmares and then released them here. In reality, this is just a game of 'hunt the Nightmare' to seize that Luck! A creature like a Nightmare could never carry Luck on its own. You've all been set up... do you know why?"
"Because... because most of you gathered here are... the Main World's Children of Destiny!"
"Oh, wait—you're candidates! You aren't true Children of Destiny yet! Because... there can only be one true Child of Destiny!"
By the end, the Dream Demon was practically screaming, wanting everyone to hear.
As teenagers of a modern society, how could they not be familiar with tropes like "Luck" and "Children of Destiny"?
Web novels were full of protagonists who were Children of Destiny; the concepts were household terms.
But now, they were being told that they were those chosen ones!
How could they not be shocked?
When the Dream Demon said there could only be one true Child of Destiny, many instinctively looked toward me.
In their eyes, if there had to be one true Child of Destiny among everyone present, only one person fit the bill...
"What are you all looking at me for?" I crossed my arms, my tone flat. I knew my own background well enough not to be bothered.
"And you... your name is... Yang Yuehan, right! You are the most special among all these people... you are destined to be the Child of Destiny! Let me tell you all: in the end, there is only one Child of Destiny, and there can only be one! All of you will become stepping stones for that final one! You will use the glory of your entire lives to build the staircase for her to ascend to the highest throne!"
As the Dream Demon finished, the crowd fell into a heavy silence. No one wanted to be someone else's stepping stone. Yet, looking back at everything that had happened since the Dream Exchange Competition began, only one person fit that narrative.
She had crushed everyone with absolute dominance, standing at a peak they could never hope to climb.
"Can I take it that you're trying to sow discord?" A faint smile played on my lips, but to those watching, it looked like pure disdain and mockery.
There was no foundation for discord here. Even if everyone present teamed up, they wouldn't be able to touch the hem of my clothes.
"So what if I am! I know a few words won't make you fall into internal strife. And you, looking down from your high horse—do you think being the protagonist of this world means you can do whatever you want?"
"..."
"All of you are forced to scramble for Luck. Do you think your arrival here was truly a coincidence? You are nothing but slaves to Luck. You gathered here... only because there was Luck here to attract you. Those Nightmares—if we hadn't intervened, those Nightmares would have been your enemies. You would do anything for Luck. Even if you didn't know the concept of Luck, you would have hunted those Nightmares for other reasons, indirectly acquiring it. For instance, just to find a way back home."
"The concept that manipulates Luck is the Script, and you are nothing but pawns! Puppets! You act out the World Script without even realizing it!"
"And the ones manipulating the World Script are none other than the high-ranking officials of your so-called Transcendent Academy. Those Transcendents you call teachers, deans, and principals!"
"They hold your fates in their hands, turning Luck into threads to control you like marionettes! They toy with you as they please!"
"And you idiots don't know a thing!"
Every word the Dream Demon spat out hit them like a sledgehammer to the heart.
They were... pawns? Puppets?
Their actions were being manipulated?
And the masterminds were the teachers and deans of the Transcendent Academy! The blow was devastating. Even those who didn't believe it felt the seeds of doubt being planted.
Nearby, Tan Han was equally stunned as she listened to these revelations. Though she had suspected something, she hadn't expected the truth to be this vast.
She recalled her last conversation with Xiao Han. She had asked how big this deception was, and Xiao Han's answer—that it was "unavoidable"—now seemed hauntingly accurate.
This was a scam involving every Transcendent Academy, targeting all of them.
As long as they attempted to step into the Transcendent world, this was an inescapable fate. But Tan Han was curious: why? Why her, and why these people?
Xiao Han clearly knew something, but she seemed unable to speak of it. Either she was bound by a Confidentiality Contract, or she had been threatened. That was why she could only offer hints.
But... if this truth wasn't meant to be known by the Children of Destiny themselves, then... how did Xiao Han know?
Had she figured it out on her own?
It was obvious that Xiao Han's knowledge went far beyond simple deduction.
Was Xiao Han also a Child of Destiny?
But Xiao Han's previous behavior didn't match someone who knew they were a Child of Destiny. For instance, her attempt to distance herself was the biggest flaw in that theory.
Her actions suggested she was trying to hint that Tan Han was the so-called Child of Destiny, and Xiao Han had instinctively chosen to stay away after finding out.
And another thing... if this was a trap set by all the academies, a grand deception, why was the Transcendent Academy allowing the Dream Demon to reveal the truth like this?
Was it because they couldn't stop it?
Tan Han knew she had to ask. Now that the truth was out in the open... would Xiao Han be honest with her?
But before that, she needed to question the Dream Demon.
"Impossible! You're lying! How could something like 'Luck' exist in this world! No one is a born protagonist!"
Just as Tan Han was about to speak, a girl's voice, sounding on the verge of a breakdown, screamed at the Dream Demon. Her outburst immediately triggered a wave of denials from the others.
Faced with an unknown and unacceptable truth, people often choose to flee, or even react with violent rejection, attempting to excise anything that falls outside their perception.
Perhaps this, too, was a cognitive correction by Luck?
"Exactly! You're a liar! You're just a prisoner! Still talking tough even now—go back to your Abyss!"
"Kill her!"
The Dream Demons watched as these people claimed not to believe, yet became frantic and irrational because of her words. Their anger couldn't hide the terror in their hearts. Mocking expressions appeared on the Dream Demons' faces; they seemed to have forgotten their own fear.
Yes, they wouldn't leave this place alive, but they could expose the truth. They could make these people feel the agony that truth brought!
"Yes, the world has never been fair. Some are born protagonists, while others are just supporting characters! This is a fate you cannot resist!"
"You are nothing but livestock being raised in the Main World, waiting to be harvested by those Transcendent Academies. You know nothing!"
"The truths they hide from you go far beyond this! Go ahead, keep guessing!"
"You've defeated us, but are you any better off? We were merely stepping stones for you. But even if we die, we'll make sure you're disgusted to death! You don't deserve to live in the beautiful lies those people wove for you!"
"Face your miserable truth... that is what you truly deserve to experience. I will make it so that from now on, you won't even be able to smile in your daily lives!"