Chapter 088: I Have a Dream

Isn’t that exactly how it always happens on television?

Some ordinary book, some scripture, left unheeded for decades or even centuries, secretly concealing an earthshaking mystery, waiting only for the fated person to unlock it.

Perhaps the Scripture of Reincarnation was one of them.

At that thought, Tang Mubai put away the Cloud-rolling Hand and Taiji Fist manuals, then held the Scripture of Reincarnation and began to read it... no, that was wrong; he should be chanting it, reciting scripture.

He chanted all afternoon, even after his little cousin Lin Tianzhen got home from school, and still found nothing.

The little girl pushed the door open, saw Tang Mubai holding the scripture and murmuring away without pause, and her mouth fell open in childish amazement.

“Brother, are you planning to become a monk?”

“...”

You brat. You’re the one who’ll become a monk.

Tang Mubai stopped chanting and gave her a helpless glare.

What was depressing was that after an entire afternoon of reciting the Scripture of Reincarnation, he had discovered nothing at all.

This so-called secret manual was just an ordinary Buddhist scripture.

“Wow, is this candy you brought back for me?”

His little cousin suddenly cried out in delight, picked up the vial of blood and qi pills Tang Mubai had casually left on the table, opened it, took one out, and popped it straight into her mouth.

“Wait!”

Seeing that, Tang Mubai hurriedly dropped the Scripture of Reincarnation, rushed over, and said tensely, “Quick, Zhenzhen, circulate your energy!”

“Circulate my energy? Why?”

The little girl was chewing on the blood and qi pill, looking puzzled.

“Because, because...” Tang Mubai opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but fearing she would not understand. In the end, he could only guide her in simple terms. “Don’t you feel warm in your stomach?”

“Yes!”

The little girl grinned mischievously.

“This candy tastes good. After I ate it, my belly felt warm, but then it went away really quickly.”

As she spoke, she reached for a second one.

“Hold on first.” Tang Mubai stopped her. “Besides feeling warm, did you notice anything else? For example, did you feel full?”

“Nope.” The little girl shook her head. “Only warm, and then it went away really fast.”

“I see.”

Hearing this, Tang Mubai relaxed, and at the same time remembered his little cousin’s bodily abnormality.

For ordinary people, if blood and qi pills were not refined, they would feel extremely uncomfortable, and might even be driven ill by them.

But his little cousin clearly did not fall into that category. These days she ate ferocious beast meat and giant insect meat at every meal. If she were going to be stuffed full, she would already have been unable to walk.

Yet nothing had happened to her at all. On the contrary, she had only grown healthier and healthier, her complexion rosy, her skin fair and smooth, supple with a fine elasticity. Pinching it felt wonderful.

A few blood and qi pills were nothing to her. She swallowed them and digested them with effortless ease.

Thinking of this, Tang Mubai no longer stopped her, and watched as she ate the pills like candy, bright and cheerful, her mouth chattering nonstop.

“Brother, are our relatives in the neighboring city distant?”

“Distant relatives? Well, yes, sort of.”

Tang Mubai smiled faintly. He was just about to shake his head when he suddenly saw Fang Shuixian standing outside the door, gesturing to him with both hands and making frantic eye signals. After a moment’s blankness, he finally understood and nodded.

“Yes, distant relatives. We haven’t been in touch for a long time. I ran into them by chance yesterday when I was out, and after their enthusiastic invitation, I went to the neighboring city with them and stayed there one night.”

That excuse was obviously meant for his little cousin by Fang Shuixian and Xu Dalu.

Tang Mubai had disappeared for a day and a night, so there had to be some explanation.

A long-unseen distant relative in the neighboring city, gone to visit family—that was a pretty good excuse.

The little girl did not doubt it. After hearing Tang Mubai’s explanation, she pouted and said, “Then did your phone break, Brother? I called you several times last night, but it wouldn’t go through.”

“...That, haha, it seems it ran out of battery. I forgot to charge it yesterday.” Tang Mubai laughed awkwardly.

He had been outside the domain wall; it would have been strange if it had gotten through.

“Hmph, how could you forget that? You had me worried all night. I’m going to beat you to death!”

After finishing the blood and qi pill, the little girl lunged at him like a tiger, knocked Tang Mubai onto the bed, then straddled his stomach and flailed her tiny fists at him.

Tang Mubai begged for mercy while refusing to be outdone, reaching out to tickle her under the arms. The little girl burst into peals of laughter.

The siblings played for quite a while before Fang Shuixian called them for dinner, and only then did they stop.

After dinner, Tang Mubai stayed to watch television with the little girl for a while.

Once she had fallen asleep, he prepared to head out and harvest some life force.

For Taiji Fist to reach perfection, he needed five hundred years of lifespan.

On the system panel, however, his remaining lifespan was only three hundred ninety-two years, still more than a hundred years short.

Tang Mubai had to gather the rest, and then some, before he could advance it.

This Taiji Fist belonged to the category of martial arts imbued with dao charm. Tang Mubai was eager to see how a dao-charm martial art would differ once raised to perfection from the others.

Just as he stepped out of the front door, though, Yang Kai came knocking.

“Captain, I... I have something I want to talk to you about.” Yang Kai said a bit awkwardly.

“All right, let’s go to the rooftop terrace.”

Tang Mubai closed the door and led Yang Kai up to the roof.

Once on the terrace, he lifted his head to gaze at the brilliant star-filled sky.

“What is it? You can tell me now.”

“I... I’ve had a dream since I was very young.” Yang Kai gathered his thoughts for a moment before exhaling.

“And then?”

Tang Mubai asked with curiosity.

“And then... no, I’d better just say it directly.” Yang Kai gritted his teeth and said quickly, “Since I was a child, I’ve had a dream: to create a robot operated by a human!”

“I don’t remember where I first saw it, only that I saw a robot moving in the street. At that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind: if a person could hide inside a machine, and then use that machine to fight monsters, would my parents... would they not have to die?”

“This idea never disappeared from the moment it was born. All these years, I’ve kept working toward that dream. Though so far, it has only remained theoretical. I also know that the robots we have now can only move around, not truly walk, much less fight. Their purpose is nothing more than replacing some labor and exploring mines.”

“But I think that if a robot is designed well, a person can hide inside it!”

“If there were a robot that could run fast and was equipped with powerful weapons, then could amateur martial artists operate it and fight giant insects, ferocious beasts, and even dinosaurs?”

“If that day really comes, then amateur martial artists will no longer be ordinary people. They won’t need to hide behind the domain walls anymore. They’ll be able to hunt nonhuman life just like professional martial artists!”

His face flushed with excitement. Reaching this point, Yang Kai paused, then gave a self-mocking smile.

“I know this idea is far too fanciful, but...”

“No.”

Tang Mubai raised a hand to interrupt him.

“It’s not fanciful. It’s imaginative.”

“Imaginative?” Yang Kai blinked.

“What it’s called doesn’t matter.” Tang Mubai waved a hand and grinned.

“What matters is your idea, and I very much approve of it. If there were a robot an amateur martial artist could control, one they could drive into battle against ferocious beasts, then you would be founding a new era!”