I'm not a cyberpsycho

In the distance are towering mountains.

And the end of the mountain seems to be a mountain, and the mountain extends to the horizon. I don't know whether it is the light of the purple moon or the deep starry sky. The continuous mountains show a light deep purple color and extend to the end of the sky and the earth.

The majestic and towering mountain tops seem to be hidden in a deep gray mist, and only the layers of endless mountains and dangerous peaks are vaguely exposed, as if they are waves set off by the sea, as if the endless mountains and land are all surging with waves It was undulating and rolling, and following the waves of the sea of ​​mist, it seemed as if it was about to overturn and be knocked down at any time.

For a moment, Li Pan was in this purple world and almost forgot his own name. There was an inexplicable tremor in his heart, and he subconsciously wanted to fall over.

Suddenly, "Ouch!" A dog barked and Li Pan came back to his senses.

He took a step back, stood still, turned around and saw a big black dog squatting at his feet.

This looks like a black bear dog, with a big head and wide mouth, a pair of black eyes, a meter high at the shoulders, black and thick hair, a curled-up tail, strong and powerful, and a bright chest that looks like a neck It looks like something is hanging on it.

Li Pan squatted down, stretched out his hand to touch the dog's head, and gradually came to his senses when he saw the silver key peeking out from between the thick neck hair.

Oh, I'm probably dreaming now.

First of all, it is definitely not the Mewtwo simulated by a virtual machine. The physical reality is different, and I don’t hear the system beeps to see whether to fast forward, whether to increase the sense of reality, whether to skip ads, or whether to renew the membership.

It was obviously not an hallucination born from drugs and alcohol that paralyzed the brain, because his consciousness was still under his control.

"Ouch!" The black bear dog barked again and jumped up the ridge, looking like a black cloud from a distance.

If he didn't know anything, Li Pan would probably be wandering in this dreamland in confusion.

But after being reminded by Mr007 and seeing the key on the dog's neck, Li Pan also knew that this was now probably the so-called 'Formal Wear/Guardian's Trial'.

Now Li Pan also understood a little bit about the urine properties of Monster Company, and a big dog was much more reassuring than a pen stuck in his eye, so he no longer panicked and followed the lead of the black bear dog along the ridge. Climb up.

So, one person and one dog, facing the stars, climbed towards the deep purple mountains illuminated in the mist.

The black dog had to stop and wait for him from time to time. When Li Pan arrived, he would pet the dog's head and then jump out to lead the way.

He didn't know what the black dog was taking him to find, but this mountain was really weird.

I don't know if it was an illusion in the dream, but Li Pan seemed to feel that the stars in the sky were moving with them while climbing the mountain.

In this strange dream, time and space were unbelievably long. Li Pan felt that he had been walking, walking, walking, for at least ten days, climbing along the bare ridge, but he could never get out. The confused gray fog made it impossible to see the end of the distant mountains.

Fortunately, the black dog has always been with him. Sometimes dogs are really more reliable, more loyal, and more trustworthy than people.

Maybe ‘company dog’ is actually a good name in some people’s ears, right?

In fact, he himself was almost trained like a dog by the company.

After all, these days there are only a handful of top-level people whose families are wealthy enough to complete their studies at their own expense and get a diploma. Most people have to apply for student loans from the company and go to technical schools and universities run by the company. After graduation, they will naturally become blue-collar and white-collar workers in the company. . Some poorer families cannot even afford to attend company technical schools, so they will send their children to military schools with relatively low tuition fees. Although they will be regarded as reserve forces after graduation, they will be drafted into the army in case of company wars, and the chance of survival is slightly lower than that of a narrow escape. A little, but at least the military school provides food and accommodation, and has the opportunity to achieve a class leap. For example, in the recent fleet battle, no one died in the ship, and a certain number of places will be issued every year to recruit cannon fodder, cough cough, and upgrade the infantry reserve For the Starship Troopers.

Li Pan remembered that when he was in the military academy, he was dragged off the bed in the dormitory by a group of people in the middle of the night and beaten because he had the highest overall score. It was a peaceful era at that time, the corporate war had just ended, and a large number of soldiers were forced to retire. There is only one quota for ship petty officers. Even the time he was almost killed by a hacker, it was probably his good classmates who secretly brought the puppets to the military school intranet to open a back door for the hackers.

What's even more funny is that after battling these scum for several years, Li Pan, who finally came first in the written examination, was still unsuccessful in the interview because of "ill-grooming." After all, as the saying goes, soldiers who don't want to be generals are not good soldiers, but everyone from the general to the director of the recruitment office also has sons, so they all understand.

Well, although the Starship Soldiers are "already lying in the coffin," at least they don't have to participate in stratospheric airborne operations. They wear mobile uniforms, carry portable nuclear bombs, and use their bodies to hit the Star Fortress like moths flying into the flames, right? .

So in the end, Li Pan suddenly lost the opportunity and interest in being a dog seriously.

It’s too far off topic. Anyway, it’s a pity that in a place like Night City, keeping pets has long been a privilege for a very small number of people. After all, Tokyo has been wiped out thirteen times, and nuclear wars and corporate wars have wiped out the ground countless times. 0791 Earth The ecological circle has collapsed many times. Now so many people are living in a miserable place like the Night City. This is because the entire planet has only a few urban areas and the private estates of the rich to survive. , the ecology of most places has been seriously polluted.

Wild animals may carry viruses and biological weapons left over from previous generations, and all household pets, including cats and dogs, are monopolized by genetic biology companies and cannot be domesticated and bred at all. A living dog is just a regular biological Safety inspection and certification, and pet licenses all cost five digits. Most people can’t even support themselves, so they want to raise dogs instead of cockroaches.

Hey, don’t mention it. Cockroaches, mice, and flies are still going strong these days. Of course, it doesn’t mean that human technology can’t really eliminate these pests. The main reason is that no one is willing to pay the money...

So Li Pan took advantage of the opportunity in his dream to stroke the dog vigorously, rub the dog's head angrily, and while climbing the mountain, he taught the black bear dog to stand upright, lie down, roll, and spin around while being shot in the left and right hands.

In the end, the whole dog found him annoying, so he ran forward in a hurry, jumped into the fog, and ignored him, "hey, hey, hey, hey".

The farther he went, the heavier the fog became. In the end, even the distant mountains and the starry sky above his head were no longer visible. Li Pan could only rely on the barking of dogs in the fog to determine his direction.

Then suddenly, a wall made of black bricks appeared in front of him, and Li Pan knew that he had finally arrived at the destination of the trial.

The wall looked like an old Chinese-style compound. It extended into the mist, and it was unclear how high it was. Li Pan groped along the wall and the sound of dogs barking, and finally found the main entrance. The door looked like some kind of In the Chinese-style archway, the writing on the plaque is unclear.

Black Dog squatted at the door and gave Li Pan a wink.

"Why don't you go in? Okay, wait for me here."

Li Pan rubbed the dog's head angrily again and walked into the yard.

The fog inside became slightly thinner, so Li Pan could see the surrounding pattern.

This seems to be...a Taoist temple?

There is a huge alchemy furnace in the courtyard of the courtyard. The alchemy furnace is made of some kind of iron. It is cold and cold, but there are curls of gray smoke rising from the top, connected with the fog in the sky, and even people can't help but feel this endless gray fog. , are all illusions born from the alchemy furnace.

Li Pan walked around the alchemy furnace and found that all the doors to the Western Zhou wing were closed, but only the main hall was open, so he walked forward.

The main hall was also dark, with no light at all. There were three ancient seal characters written on the plaque. Li Pan didn't recognize any of them...

On the altar in the main hall, there is a huge statue carved in stone.

Li Pan looked carefully for a while before recognizing it.

It seemed to be a coiled snake, with thorn-like dragon scales all over its body. It was so black that you couldn't even see it carefully. The snake's head was coiled up by its body, as if it was curled up and sleeping.

The waist of this giant python is two meters wide, and the carving is lifelike. If Li Pan hadn't recognized the deep purple color, it was probably made of rocks quarried outside, and he almost thought it was a giant python coiled in the palace.

On the stone shrine in front of the altar, there was no incense burner tribute, only a stone box. Li Pan noticed that the stone box was pull-out and seemed to contain something, so he reached out to lift the stone box. It was very difficult. Opening it, I saw a black bamboo slip in the box.

The black slip seemed to have inscriptions on it to the touch, but Li Pan couldn't see clearly, so he took the bamboo slip and walked outside the hall, held it up and compared it with the ancient inscriptions on the plaque.

I still don't recognize it, but there are four characters on the bamboo slips, and when I open it, I can see that it is densely packed, and every bamboo slip is full of writing.

Just when Li Pan was hesitant, not knowing what to do next in this trial, he hesitated whether to go to the door and ask the dog.

At this moment, the dog at the door started barking "Ouch!" It was clearly a warning to him!

At the same time, Li Pan seemed to catch a glimpse of something moving in the main hall.

Then he heard the sound, click, click, click, like the loud sound of rocks colliding and colliding together during a landslide.

What else could it be? Li Pan stiffened his neck, slowly turned his head, and saw that in the temple, the giant python really came to life, and raised its head in the shadow... Wait, it looks like a human head!

"Fuck!"

Li Pan ran away and rushed out of the temple. When the dog saw him coming out, he shouted, "Ouch!" and rushed down the mountain.

Li Pan ran after the dog with all his strength. He didn't know whether it was because he was too nervous or too scared. He even felt that his feet were weak. The ground under his feet was undulating like a trampoline and he couldn't focus on it. He was tossed and rolled and fell all the way. I stumbled several times, but fortunately I didn’t sprain my ankle. I got up and continued running in the direction of the dog barking!

I ran all the way, and then it suddenly dawned.

Yes, it is dawn, and the light shines down from the top of the head, dispersing the fog that shrouds the sky and the earth.

Li Pan couldn't help but look up, and then saw two huge golden suns clearly exposed in the strong wind and fog. The golden balls of light were falling rapidly from the distant starry sky!

For a moment, the dog's barking of "Ouch - Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!" seemed to be driven away by the strong wind, far away from Li Pan's perception.

Li Pan was paralyzed from his neck down and could no longer run. He knelt down on the ground and hugged the raised rocks on the ground.

Because it was not an illusion. Around him, at his feet, the distant mountains were rolling like the vast sea. The ground was shaking, and the mountains were falling apart. The dense fog in the sky was swept away by the strong winds set off by the leaping mountains, and the earth rose up like a tsunami! Mountains lead! The galaxy is upside down! Cover the starry sky! Cover up the Milky Way!

In Li Pan's vision, the endless mountains rolled up like snakes, roaming in the galaxy, rushing towards the endless whirlpool of deep space.

In this crazy and majestic scene, Li Pan couldn't help but shed tears of blood. He seemed to hear the sound of blood vessels bursting in his head, and he could feel warm liquid overflowing from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose.

But he didn't blink, because he really saw it.

It's a snake.

An indescribably huge snake.

Those two golden suns are the eyes of the snake.

It rolled up, poked its head out of the darkness, and looked at Li Pan.

Li Pan also recognized its face.

That's his face.

…

Li Pan opened his eyes suddenly and felt his heart beating wildly in his chest.

When he raised his eyes, he saw his face again, like a snake-bodied monster in his dream, staring at him not far away, and he almost screamed in fright. He stared so hard that he almost forgot to breathe, and it took him ten seconds to react.

It was just a reflection in the bathroom mirror.

At this moment, he was sitting in his small apartment with one bedroom, one living room and one bathroom. The time on the mirror flashed, showing that it was two o'clock in the morning.

Although in the dream, he seemed to have been climbing on the mountain, no, on the back of the snake for several days, in fact, he only slept for an hour when he returned to the apartment after work on the first day.

"...Made's strange dream..."

Li Pan's voice became hoarse, he wiped his sweat and suddenly felt something was wrong.

Then he saw the scroll of bamboo slips in his hand.

"WTF..."

Li Pan trembled and climbed to the window. He carefully looked out and saw only the dirty and crowded Tongzilou in the slums. He was slightly relieved when he didn't see the huge snake.

For a moment, he didn't know which truth was more terrifying.

It was he who really arrived in another world just now and stole the bamboo slips from a giant python with a human head.

Someone still sneaked into his apartment in the middle of the night and thrust a roll of bamboo slips into his hand...

Li Pan quickly got up and took a shower. There were no external injuries on his body, and no blood vessels burst like in the dream. The newly purchased prosthetic body was also in good condition. It seemed that the only connection point with the weird dream was this bamboo slip. .

"Xingtian, call up the video of the apartment an hour ago. Also include my sleeping status and physiological signs."

However, Li Pan did not dare to neglect, and quickly did a full-body test. Fortunately, according to the surveillance, he was still normal. Even after he came back, he sat on the sofa and started to sleep. There were no hackers or ninjas sneaking into the apartment. Even when he got off work, the bite marks on his hands from the female vampire were still there.

But there is a small problem.

No matter in the video or in the mirror, there is no scroll of bamboo slips.

Obviously Li Pan can see and touch it with his naked eyes, in the mirror, in the video, in the system, but there is nothing, nothing can be observed!

The person in the mirror repeatedly raised his head to check the air in his hands, making him look like he was acting like a lunatic.

Not optical invisibility, not camouflage.

Really, something that only exists in dreams.

"Made, monster..."

Li Pan couldn't understand or think clearly, so for the time being he had to attribute these strange dreams and monsters to the 'formal test'.

Frowning and glaring at the bamboo slip in his hand, he felt that this 'formal test' was not over yet.

But now that he had 'returned' to the real world of 0791, Li Pan copied the ancient handwriting on the bamboo slips one by one and searched them out through the Internet.

Then looking at the translated results, Li Pan was speechless. He suspected that someone was messing with him, and fell into deep self-doubt. He even wanted to apply for a mental evaluation to see if he was really crazy.

Can you believe that this crazy thing is actually the "Nine Yin Manual"...