72: Chapter 72 Your Takeout Has Arrived

"Never trust anyone!"

"Never trust anyone!"

"..."

Frantic screams, shrill roars, and low murmurs—all sorts of distorted and chaotic sounds flooded his ears as Chu Xuan snapped his eyes open.

This time, Chu Xuan wasn't startled by the sensation of "sleep paralysis." Instead, a wave of ecstasy washed over him. Without any panic, he immediately opened the System interface.

[Name: Chu Xuan]

[Rank: LV.2]

[stamina: 10]

[Strength: 10]

[agility: 10]

[spirit: 10]

[Charm: 11]

[Talent: Precognitive Dream]

[sequence: Illusionist]

[health points: 95 (Base Health is stamina × 10)]

[spirituality value: 50]

[attribute points: 0]

[skill points: 0]

[Regular Skills: Mixed Martial Arts LV.MAX (Perfect), Basic Swordsmanship LV.MAX (Perfect), Tongue Blooming Lotus LV.2 (Proficient), Kato Taka's Hand LV.3 (Expert)]

[Transcendent Skills: Heart Bewitchment LV.2, Myriad Forms (Temporary/Incomplete), Clone (Uses Remaining: 1)]

Looking at the 40-point reduction in his spirituality value, Chu Xuan thought to himself that it was just as he suspected: every time he died in the dream, the spirituality cost to re-enter would increase by 10 points.

He had wondered before if the spirituality cost for entering the dream would reset every day.

Now it seemed that idea was a bit too optimistic. Fortunately, he had prepared 100 spirituality points in advance; after using the [Myriad Forms] skill once, he still had 90 left.

And now, with 50 spirituality points remaining, it was enough for him to revive once more in the dream.

"I thought you were in such a hurry to sleep for some special purpose, but I didn't expect you to actually just... sleep. This is truly strange... My friend, can you explain this to me?"

The Phantom Demon's gentle voice suddenly echoed eerily.

Chu Xuan's heart skipped a beat, but he maintained a normal expression. "You think I just slept?"

"Otherwise? Did you do something I'm unaware of?"

The Phantom Demon's laughter was warm. "I can feel the joy in your heart, but that is merely an emotion you are deliberately projecting. Do you wish to deceive me this way and confuse my perception? But my friend, I have merged with you. How could I not know what you have done? Why must you act so profound?"

"You're right, I just slept."

Chu Xuan said dismissively, no longer engaging with the Phantom Demon. He picked up his phone from the bedside; the time displayed was exactly 3:00 AM.

He quickly opened the chat app. At that exact moment, an unread message appeared. The sender was none other than [Future Tang Zheng]!

The previous chat logs were all still there.

—[For such a critical matter to fail to send, it must be the interference of the Rules! I should have realized sooner...]

This was the last sentence [Future Tang Zheng] had sent before his death.

And now, the other party had sent a new message.

—[Tang Zheng: Chu Xuan, thank you for the warning. I successfully survived this assassination attempt. Although I'm still quite badly injured, I managed to pull through.]

Seeing this message, Chu Xuan felt a great sense of relief.

This was enough to prove that his initial idea was correct. By relaying the critical information about the ambush that killed the [Future Tang Zheng] three years from now to the "Present Tang Zheng," the latter was able to prepare and successfully survive three years into the future!

Another message from [Future Tang Zheng] came through:

[Tang Zheng: This is such a strange feeling! I was clearly dead, but just now, I came back to life. A massive amount of memories regarding the altered past has appeared. My current memories are even a bit chaotic; I can't quite sort them out for the moment.]

[Tang Zheng: It's incredible! Yesterday at the final moment, when there were only seconds left until three o'clock, you definitely shouldn't have had time to kill the parasitized Chen Qing. But in my new memories, the you from three years ago killed Chen Qing in just a few minutes without any hesitation. You must have awakened some incredible talent!]

The past was changed? New memories appeared?

Chu Xuan also found it fascinating and didn't quite understand the logic behind it, but none of that mattered. It was enough that [Future Tang Zheng] was alive.

He had too many questions he wanted to ask [Future Tang Zheng].

But Chu Xuan knew that every word the other party communicated to him came with a price.

After a moment of deliberation, Chu Xuan asked his first question: [What happened to the future me?]

[Tang Zheng: The future you is... wait! Why don't I have many memories of you?!]

Chu Xuan's heart sank. He quickly replied: [What's going on?]

[Tang Zheng: Wait! Let me think, my memories are a bit jumbled... Oh no! In my memories, you're already dead. You died on this very day, three years ago!]

Chu Xuan's pupils constricted instantly. He immediately asked: [At what time did I die? And how?]

[Tang Zheng: At exactly this time. The me from three years ago saw through the surveillance that a delivery man was knocking on your door...]

Bang, bang, bang...

A sudden knocking sounded from outside, followed by a bright, clear voice:

"Hello, your delivery is here."

The hair on Chu Xuan's neck stood on end!

Delivery?

When did I ever order delivery?!

So, I'm about to die at the hands of this delivery man knocking on the door?

Chu Xuan immediately pulled his pistol from under his pillow.

Bang, bang, bang...

"Hello, please open the door. Your delivery is here."

The knocking became somewhat urgent. At that moment, [Future Tang Zheng] finally sent the latest message.

[Tang Zheng: Hurry and open the door! If he knocks a third time and you still don't open it, he'll break in himself, and you'll be dead for sure!]

Chu Xuan tucked the pistol into the back of his waistband and headed straight for the door.

Bang, bang, bang...

"Hello, hurry and open the door. Your delivery is here!"

The voice outside gradually became slow and cold, devoid of any emotion.

Clack—Ding-a-ling!!

The locked door was pulled open. A string of bells hanging behind the door let out a crisp chime. Standing before Chu Xuan was a handsome young man wearing a yellow delivery uniform.

His face had been gloomy, but as Chu Xuan pulled the door open, it immediately broke into a radiant smile.

"Hello, your delivery is here."

The delivery boy was all smiles as he held up a packaged food container. However, Chu Xuan could clearly smell a thick, putrid stench. He had no idea what was inside, but it was definitely not edible.

Take it, or not?

At this moment, something seemed to have happened on [Future Tang Zheng]'s end, as no more messages came through.

Chu Xuan narrowed his eyes.

Through his day-long operation of hunting Specters, Chu Xuan had roughly figured out some patterns. Generally, one had to comply with the other party and satisfy certain conditions to avoid triggering their killing Rules.

For example, the killing rule of the strangely beautiful Specter in the park's small woods was [Insatiable Desire]. Thus, when the man trysting with it could no longer satisfy it, he was eaten on the spot.