Chapter 314: Underground City and Fool Dream
In the following days, Ninglan Qiuyue’s efficiency was remarkably high. Compared to the association president named Wumali, it could be described as a dimensional suppression, after all, her status was there.
After learning about the president, I understood some of his situation. He was just a young man who had recently taken office; the previous president, his father, had passed away not long ago. This brother Wumali was still sorting out his father’s connections and could be considered very young. The only noteworthy aspect might be his love for extraordinary skills, but this offered no real help in solidifying his position as president.
If Ninglan Qiuyue hadn’t extended a hand to him, whether he could hold onto the position would have been questionable.
Now, with me stirring things up, his pressure had increased even more. So even though he loved extraordinary power, he had hardly attended my classes a few times, which was enough to prove that he was very busy.
Upon arriving at the so-called Extraordinary Research Group, it was completely different from the previous association.
“Where are we going?” I asked habitually after following Ninglan Qiuyue to a secret location.
“Naturally, it’s the secret base of the Extraordinary Research Group. Such groups cannot exist in plain sight and must be in the safest place. What place is safer than underground? Moreover… researching extraordinary skills underground means that even if there are explosions or other loud noises, it won’t affect the normal lives of ordinary people.”
“That makes sense,” I nodded, and Sister Bai and I followed Ninglan Qiuyue into a massive structure resembling an elevator.
The steel and mechanical creations here were covered in dense inscriptions, indicating that their use of runes had surpassed my expectations.
After a millennium of development, one could say they hadn’t made breakthroughs, but it couldn’t be denied that they had accumulated a wealth of knowledge.
As the elevator slowly descended, this process lasted a long time, enough to suggest they had dug deeper than I had anticipated.
Eventually… I felt an energy fluctuation passing through my body that I could no longer ignore, and I realized we must be close.
Before long, the elevator reached a vast and expansive area.
“This… this is!”
I looked at the scene before me, utterly shocked. Was this really a research group dug underground?
This was like a… a… Ninglan New City underground?
We descended little by little, allowing us an overview of the entire underground region from above.
It had already become a residential area, with buildings everywhere.
And… the most eye-catching was the earth vein that connected the ground of this underground city to the dome!
The earth vein shimmered with a faint blue light, illuminating the entire area. The massive machinery was built around the surging earth vein, and all the structures were centered around it, radiating outward.
No wonder when we reached a certain height, I felt such a strong influx of earth vein energy information; they had actually reached the earth vein!
This was the first time I had experienced such a solidified earth vein tributary. From the looks of it, they had already reached the stage of developing and utilizing earth vein energy!
I seemed to understand how the huge protective stone tablet in the center of Ninglan New City came to be; oh no, I might be wrong. Perhaps it was precisely because they were curious about the role of that stone tablet that they found the source so deep underground.
After comparing positions, it seemed to correspond exactly with the stone tablet above ground.
So… does that stone tablet count as an extension of the earth vein tributary?
“Welcome to the Extraordinary Skills Research Base in Ninglan New City. This place has become a nearly autonomous underground city. The initial research base likely wasn’t as vast as this.”
“Of course, this is also the last refuge of Ninglan New City, set up as a last hope in response to the complete destruction of the above-ground Ninglan New City. Here, we have gathered the most outstanding geniuses in extraordinary skills from across Ninglan New City. They have lived here for a long time and have quietly passed away, with their descendants living here. So… you can also see scenes of ordinary life here, as their family members and children all reside here.”
“Is that so…”
Listening simply to Ninglan Qiuyue’s introduction, I nodded to show my understanding. I said Ninglan New City had developed for a thousand years, how could it possibly be just what I saw before? It turned out there was a forward experience section here.
Looking at this underground city, it was completely different from the above-ground style, with runes etched everywhere. The extraordinary energy they used was not only extraordinary power but also earth vein energy! Even the operation of this entire city was powered by the earth vein!
So, if that earth vein tributary were destroyed, the entire underground city could… collapse!
Wait… why was I subconsciously thinking about how to destroy this place?
I suppressed such thoughts and waited for the elevator to reach the ground as if nothing had happened.
Once we fully connected with the underground surface, a petite figure appeared before us.
“Welcome to the underground city, would you like me to guide you… eh? It’s Sister Ninglan Qiuyue.”
“Okay, you don’t need to trouble yourself this time,” Ninglan Qiuyue bent down and patted the small figure in front of her, who was only half a person tall. With her cute appearance and the cat ears that twitched from time to time, she turned out to be an adorable catgirl!
“Catgirl?”
“Fool Dream?”
At this moment, Sister Bai and I exclaimed in surprise simultaneously.
Both Sister Bai and Ninglan Qiuyue turned their gazes toward me, with a hint of surprise flashing in Sister Bai’s eyes, while Ninglan Qiuyue simply looked curious.
“You know what they are?”
“No…” I swallowed hard, took a moment, looked at the catgirl in front of me, then turned to Ninglan Qiuyue, “Wait a second, can I ask, have they… always lived here?”
“Not exactly, they… probably appeared around the same time as your first batch of outsiders, and suddenly appeared in this underground city.”
“I see…” I looked back at the catgirl Fool Dream, whose eyes not only expressed curiosity about us but also a unique ignorance that belonged solely to Fool Dream. Of course, this was not meant as a pejorative—just a simple description.
“They… probably number in the hundreds?”
“Pretty much. The sudden influx of so many outsiders in the underground city indeed surprised us for a while. However, after interacting with them, we found they were very friendly and quite pitiful. Many people were willing to accept them, so they have thus been accommodated temporarily and do some simple work in exchange for food.”
Ninglan Qiuyue explained to me. After finishing, she looked at me again, “Teacher Xiao Han, from your tone, do you… know them? Their name is Fool Dream, right?”
“Yes…” I nodded.
“Are they dangerous? Forgive me for asking, but the underground research base is indeed very important; we cannot allow any danger to exist here.”
“We’re very obedient…”
I watched the somewhat timid catgirl Fool Dream, her voice trembling as she spoke. The originally expressionless face broke into a shy smile.
“Fool Dream… are all just kind little cuties. How could they be dangerous?” I reached my hand toward the little one, but I found my fingers went right through her.
Have these Fool Dreams already received the body shaped by the Academy Head? So they are body projections.
Then, their appearance was likely the result of the Academy Head’s deployment. But why would the Academy Head send them here?
After pondering for a while without clarity, I decided to give up for now. If things couldn’t be understood, let them unfold naturally.
However, I also chose to conceal one fact from Ninglan Qiuyue—that is the relationship between Fool Dream and Nightmare. Since Fool Dream had appeared in Ninglan New City, even in this secretive underground city, it wouldn’t be surprising for Nightmares to frequently appear in Ninglan New City.
I figured that before long, all the Nightmares would “reasonably” appear in Ninglan New City. The protagonists driven by the script would experience a great battle to eliminate all the Nightmares, while I would cut the earth vein shackles to separate Fool Dream and Nightmare, using the Grand Wisdom Enlightenment Spell to enlighten them. Thus, everything would come to an end.
This was likely the script the Academy Head had arranged.
“Is that so? Then I’m relieved. To be honest, not everyone here likes their presence; some even resent it. After all, on the very day they arrived, there was an incident of Nightmare invasion, and people blamed these little ones for it.”
“Is that so?”
“But you don’t need to worry. Although many geniuses gather here, it doesn’t mean there aren’t ignorant people.”
“Ignorant, indeed.” I smiled and nodded, this time the ignorant ones just happened to stumble upon the truth. Those Nightmares really were related to Fool Dream, and they hadn’t wronged them.
But that wasn’t how it looked; at least in the eyes of those who didn’t know this information, those ignorant people were imposing their excuses upon Fool Dream, which didn’t change the essence of their ignorance.
So… naturally, I had to cooperate and strongly condemn these folks.
After that, Ninglan Qiuyue took us to the central area, the very cradle where extraordinary skills were born, which was the purpose of this place.
“Um, Teacher Xiao Han, basically, only geniuses can come here to conduct extraordinary skills research, and geniuses always have privileges and peculiar personalities. I hope you can understand this; it’s best if no conflicts arise.”
“Peculiarities of geniuses? I understand. If they are truly capable, then that’s fine. I won’t be polite to those who show off without ability.”
“Um… there’s also the Ground Patrol Team here, which is responsible for maintaining stability. So it’s best… sorry, I forgot that you can ignore these, Teacher Xiao Han.”
“Indeed, that saves a lot of trouble.”
“I’ll arrange a place for you, Teacher Xiao Han. Staying at the Ninglan Xiang Hotel up top is already somewhat inappropriate. Of course, if you want to go outside for some fresh air…”
“I have my own way to go up, so there’s no need to worry about that. Let’s check out the accommodation first.”
After learning about our accommodation from Ninglan Qiuyue, we were also ready to go see the core research area. As for the previous accommodation, I didn’t care about the environment. No matter how dirty or messy it was, I could easily modify it.
The main thing was to get acquainted with the research of extraordinary skills here, and of course, the primary way to do that was through a visit.
After all, those geniuses all had their own ongoing projects and developments, and it was impossible for me to return and take over leadership right away, making them all listen to me and have to learn runes—that wouldn’t be realistic.
To a certain extent, I had no intersection with them anymore, and Ninglan Qiuyue brought me along merely to announce my presence and promote the extraordinary Rune Literature I had previously taught.
After all, the people here were not the ordinary folks I’d seen before; they were all extremely knowledgeable regarding extraordinary skills. Even if they had never come into contact with runes, the saying “one thing leads to another” wasn’t just empty talk.
As long as rune-related materials were released, those interested would naturally seek me out. This was much faster than sifting through ordinary people, and the quality of those who came to study rune literature was also high. I wouldn’t need to worry about solving basic knowledge problems since they had their own diligent research attitudes and would only turn to others for key insights after running into walls.
Just as Ninglan Qiuyue said, this place was indeed very suitable for me, and I didn’t have to worry about the interests of those factions in Ninglan New City since their influence wouldn’t extend here.
After all, you couldn’t negotiate terms with their last refuge. When they were living independently underground, and the Ground Patrol Team was formed, those upper-level interest groups would find it difficult to reach out, at the very least, they could be pushed back.
It was somewhat akin to a distant land with a distant emperor. The only elements that could constrain them were probably the daily supplies.
Logically speaking, Ninglan New City shouldn’t foster such a situation; it was utterly audacious, akin to a city within a city. However, Ninglan Qiuyue didn’t explain the reasons behind this to me, and I couldn’t be bothered to inquire actively. I just needed a result.
Here, I had an independent research laboratory that belonged to me. Although it was quite empty, excess things had no use for me. I could achieve self-sufficiency with the Dream Rewriting Spell, and at this point, the utility of this seemingly useless spell became fully apparent.
“By the way, those Fool Dreams, the catgirls you mentioned, can I have them come help me in my lab?” I asked Ninglan Qiuyue.
After all, from what Ninglan Qiuyue said, those Fool Dreams weren’t having a good time here, so I thought if possible, I might as well provide some shelter for these little cuties, though I couldn’t attend to each one of them.
Their lives had been fraught with difficulties, perhaps this was the price they had to pay for initially seeking help from the Academy Head to become true beings.
“It is possible, but can their presence really help you? Teacher Xiao Han, although I’m not trying to persuade you, excessive compassion is unnecessary.”
“Thank you for the reminder. I’m in the dream world, unreachable by reality. Let these little cuties help out. Besides, they hold a special meaning for me, and seeing them puts me in a good mood. Don’t worry.”
“Alright, since you insist, I can actually arrange for you some apprentices; they would do better.”
“No need, let it be this way.” I shook my head, insisting.
