Chapter 74: A New System Quest – Searching for “Dream Fragments”

Jiang Chen held a crystalline fragment the size of a fingernail, glowing with a faint blue light, his gaze somewhat fixed.

"This is... the thing I almost got arrested as a pervert for?"

Rewind to two hours ago.

Inside Cloud Top Villa, Jiang Chen was adjusting his 'equipment' in front of the mirror.

Blue work pants, a baseball cap printed with 'Professional Repair', and a heavy toolbox in hand. This getup looked exactly like a plumber or electrician fresh off a construction site.

"Brother Chen, are you going to... fix a sewer?" Little Fatty Chen, mid-chicken leg, nearly choked seeing this.

"Fix what sewer? I'm going to save the world."

Jiang Chen said with a serious face, stuffing that starry-night-blue pillow into the very bottom of the toolbox and covering it with a pile of wrenches and screwdrivers. "Tonight's an 'S-class top-secret mission' that needs to be carried out in the girls' dorm. None of you follow me, it'll blow my cover."

"The girls' dorm?!"

Little Fatty Chen and Su Qingyue, who had just finished her shower, shouted in unison.

Su Qingyue looked at Jiang Chen with that 'looking at trash' gaze. "Jiang Chen, have you finally given in and decided to prey on the junior girls? Or... are you planning to steal something unspeakable?"

"Shallow!"

Jiang Chen declared righteously, "Am I that kind of person? The System... ahem, there's an important clue indicating a hidden danger threatening campus safety there. I'm going to defuse it!"

"Pfft." Su Qingyue rolled her eyes. "If you get caught, don't say you know me."

"Relax, my stealth skills, even a Grandmaster couldn't detect me."

Jiang Chen pushed the door open, brimming with confidence.

However, just after leaving the villa area, he encountered his first major problem.

At the foot of the girls' dormitory building, the legendary dorm supervisor Auntie Wang—reputed to have 'piercing eyes' and not even letting a male mosquito pass—was sitting by the entrance on a chair, holding a palm-leaf fan, her gaze sharp as she scrutinized every passing creature.

"This defense... tighter than the Northern Frontier Fortress."

Jiang Chen, hiding in the bushes, had a headache.

Charging in was definitely not an option; that was asking for death.

Only cunning would work.

He pulled out a pre-prepared 'repair request form' from his toolbox, took a deep breath, adjusted his expression, put on a simple and honest smile, and strode over.

"Hello, Auntie! I'm from the logistics department. I heard the water pipe in Room 302 burst, so I came specifically to fix it."

Auntie Wang narrowed her eyes, sizing Jiang Chen up and down, her gaze finally settling on his slightly youthful face.

"Logistics department? New here? Don't think I've seen you before."

"Yes, yes, yes, just an intern." Jiang Chen nodded and bowed. "See, no one else was willing to come this late at night, so they sent this newbie. You know, if the water spills out and floods the hallway, that wouldn't be good."

Auntie Wang looked suspiciously at the toolbox in his hand, then at the flawlessly forged repair form (actually drawn by Little Fatty Chen).

"Alright, go on up. Be quick about it, don't look around everywhere! If I find out you have any crooked ideas, watch your legs!"

"Got it! Don't you worry!"

Jiang Chen, as if granted amnesty, scurried into the stairwell.

According to the System's guidance, the energy fluctuation of that 'Dream Fragment' was in Room 302.

Jiang Chen arrived at the door of Room 302. Just as he was about to knock, he found the door slightly ajar.

The sound of running water came from inside.

"Someone's taking a shower?"

Jiang Chen's heart sank. If he went in now, it'd be like yellow mud dropping into his crotch—even if it wasn't shit, it would look like shit!

But the System prompt was frantically urging him:

[Warning! Dream Fragment energy is decaying. Please retrieve it within 5 minutes! Otherwise, mission failure!]

"I'll risk it!"

Gritting his teeth, Jiang Chen gently pushed the door open and slipped inside like a cat.

The dorm room was filled with the scent of shower gel, pink curtains, a desk covered in cosmetics. A typical girl's boudoir.

"Where is it? Where?"

Jiang Chen, holding a detector (actually just his phone with the flashlight on), shone it around everywhere.

[Beep beep beep! Signal source in the left wardrobe!]

Jiang Chen's eyes lit up. He rushed towards the white wardrobe.

Just as his hand touched the wardrobe door, the sound of water from the bathroom stopped.

*Click.*

The sound of the bathroom door lock turning rang out.

"Damn it!"

Cold sweat broke out on Jiang Chen's back. If he was caught now, it would be social death for real!

In his panic, without thinking, he directly pulled open the wardrobe door, dove inside headfirst, and closed the door behind him.

The whole sequence was smooth and executed in one breath.

The next second, the bathroom door opened.

A girl wrapped in a towel, her hair still damp, walked out.

Through the gap in the wardrobe, Jiang Chen saw a familiar face.

Su Qingyue?!

"Holy crap... it's her?"

Jiang Chen almost cried out. He never expected he'd ended up in Su Qingyue's dorm room! What were the odds?

Humming a tune, Su Qingyue walked to the mirror and began her skincare routine.

The towel she wore was short, barely covering the top of her thighs. Her long, fair legs glowed with an ivory-like sheen under the light.

Inside the wardrobe, Jiang Chen felt his mouth go dry and his nose grow warm.

"See no evil, see no evil..."

He closed his eyes, silently reciting a mantra to clear his mind.

But just then, Su Qingyue suddenly turned and walked towards the wardrobe.

"Where did I put that nightgown?"

Muttering to herself, she reached out and grabbed the wardrobe door handle.

Jiang Chen's heart instantly leaped into his throat.

If it opened now...

He could already see tomorrow's headline: *Shocking! Top Freshman is a Pervert, Sneaks into Girls' Dorm at Night to Peep at Campus Belle!*

At this critical moment.

[Ding! Detected host's heart rate excessively high, about to trigger 'stress-induced unconsciousness'.]

[To protect the host, System is automatically activating 'Nightmare Concealment' mode.]

*Hum!*

An invisible wave instantly enveloped Jiang Chen. His body actually became semi-transparent, as if merging into the darkness.

Su Qingyue pulled open the wardrobe door.

It was filled with all sorts of clothes, but... no one.

"Strange, I definitely heard a noise just now..."

Su Qingyue, puzzled, rummaged through the clothes, found nothing amiss, took out her nightgown, and closed the door.

*Whew...*

Jiang Chen let out a long sigh of relief, slumping against the wardrobe wall as if exhausted.

"That was close... the System is pretty reliable in critical moments."

Just as he let his guard down, his hand suddenly touched something hard.

Beneath the pile of soft clothing lay an inconspicuous black box.

That familiar energy fluctuation was emanating from right here.

"Found it!"

Jiang Chen was overjoyed. He quietly opened the box.

Inside lay a fingernail-sized blue crystal, emitting a mesmerizing halo.

[Obtained item: Ancient Dream Fragment (1/9).]

[Function: Key to unlocking 'Dream Dungeon'. Collect all nine to reforge the 'Nightmare Divinity'.]

"Good stuff!"

Jiang Chen was just about to put it away when a powerful wave of drowsiness hit him.

It was the aftereffect of consuming a large amount of Mental Energy to activate 'Nightmare Concealment' earlier.

"No... can't fall asleep... I'm in a wardrobe..."

Jiang Chen desperately pinched his thigh, but his eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds.

In the end, he couldn't resist the Sleep God's call. Clutching the fragment, his head lolled to the side, leaning against a few pieces of Su Qingyue's underwear, and he fell into a deep sleep.

*Huff... huff...*

Soft snores sounded from within the wardrobe.

Su Qingyue, who was changing clothes, froze mid-motion.

She whipped her head around, staring intently at the wardrobe.

"That sound... why does it sound so familiar?"

She pulled open the wardrobe door again.

This time, the concealment effect had already worn off.

That guy in work pants and a baseball cap, drooling while clutching a fragment, was exposed right before her eyes, completely defenseless.

Their eyes met (though Jiang Chen's were closed).

The air froze for three seconds.

"Jiang——Chen!!!"

A scream loud enough to shatter glass echoed throughout the entire girls' dormitory building.

Ten minutes later.

A chase scene titled 'Don't Let That Pervert Get Away!' unfolded across the campus of Imperial Capital Martial Arts University.

Jiang Chen, clutching his toolbox, fled in disarray across the rooftops.

Behind him, Su Qingyue, sword in hand, pursued relentlessly, her Killing Intent palpable. Even more terrifying, dorm supervisor Auntie Wang turned out to be a hidden master herself, wielding her palm-leaf fan, her speed astonishingly fast.

"Stop! You underwear thief! I'm going to cripple you!"

"It's a misunderstanding! All a misunderstanding! I was here to fix the water pipe!"

Jiang Chen yelled his innocence while running. "And I didn't see anything! Really! That fragment, I just found it!"

"Still making excuses! Prepare to die!"

Su Qingyue swung her sword, a flash of cold light.

"Holy shit! Murdering your husband!"

Jiang Chen let out a strange cry, his feet moving like the wind. He directly activated 'Sleepwalking Steps', transforming into an afterimage that vanished into the night.

He left behind only a group of awakened students, pointing and gossiping by their windows.

"Wasn't that the Sleep God?"

"What was he doing at the girls' dorm?"

"What else? Flower-picking, of course! Truly a role model for our generation!"

That night, Jiang Chen's 'glorious deeds' once again hit a new low.

But only he himself knew that this glowing fragment in his hand was about to bring what kind of earth-shattering 'dream storm' to the entire Imperial Capital Martial Arts University, and even the whole world.