Chapter 154: Chapter 154

Qi Qian came to Yuan Shan Research Institute and saw Qiu Ren’s body in reality.

He was tied up in a restraint suit like a mental patient. Tubes with unknown liquid were inserted into his back, as if they were extracting something away from his body.

Qi Qian didn’t have any emotions when she saw this scene. Qiu Ren’s body should have been disabled. Even if she could save him, he would probably have to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Qiu Ren’s parents in this world were so poor.

While Qi Qian was pondering, she felt someone getting close to her.

“Director Zhou.”

Before the other party greeted her, Qi Qian turned around first and looked at the person in charge of Yuan Shan Research Institute behind her, Zhou Zeping.

“Your senses are still as sharp as always. Those eyes that seem like they never blink terrify me every time you stare at me.”

Zhou Zeping was a middle-aged man with stubble on his chin. He was an influential minister of the Imperial Court and a top Dream Maker with two Level S Dream Seeds.

One of them was a Dream Seed about space exploration, while the other had a Martial Arts theme.

“That’s just your personal feeling, Master,” Qi Qian said.

“My personal feeling? Other people in the Dream Hunting Bureau say the same thing about you, Miss Qi Qian.”

Zhou Zeping was one of the important members of the Dream Hunting Bureau, too. Qi Qian was a famous “city legend” in the Dream Hunting Bureau mainly because of her terrifying eyes. Whoever was stared at by her would feel like he was in a Nightmare Dungeon.

Qi Qian didn’t continue this stupid topic. Her gaze fell on Qiu Ren in the confinement laboratory again.

“Scary, isn’t it? The most dangerous Lord of Nightmare in history is a human being and even a Dream Maker like us.” Zhou Zeping looked at the unconscious Qiu Ren and said, “Besides, the nightmares he transformed are very attractive to us. Damn it… The idea of the Celestial Being in ‘Iron Blood’ makes me a bit jealous. If not for our different stances, I might have found this Lord of Nightmare for the second episode of the reset version.”

“…While waiting for the second episode, perhaps you should participate in the review of ‘The Ravages of Time.'”

Qi Qian didn’t really want to talk to this important minister of the Imperial Court anymore. He knew too much, and he was also too sensitive.

“I’ll definitely go to the review, but Miss Qi Qian, I want to know who constructed ‘The Ravages of Time.'”

“You’re not convinced by the proof that my blood brother constructed it?” Qi Qian said.

“Your blood brother? But I feel like… the Dream Maker who constructed ‘The Ravages of Time’ is someone else. Do you know that the Lord of Nightmare we captured is just an empty shell? We still haven’t been able to find his original body and consciousness.”

Zhou Zeping glanced at Qiu Ren. His implied intention was already very clear.

“If you want to get answers from me, I’m afraid I’ll let you down…” Qi Qian said to show Zhou Zeping that she didn’t want to continue this topic.

“However, I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of a world of the Three Kingdoms will be presented in ‘The Ravages of Time.’ Miss Qi Qian, you also have to participate in the review. Have you thought about which character you want to play?” Zhou Zeping asked.

“Diao Chan.”

Qi Qian didn’t think too much, directly telling him about the character she wanted to play. The part of the comic she read was about Diao Chan, which was the scene where

Xiao Meng was in danger after being offered to Dong Zhuo in The Ravages of Time.

If she played Diao Chan, she would be able to experience the next stories in the plot in person.

“The Diao Chan that Miss Qi plays will truly… give people a chill down their spines. For me, I want to experience Guan Yunchang’s life as usual. I wonder how Guan Yunchang is depicted in ‘The Ravages of Time.’ I just hope he’s not a woman again!”

Zhou Zeping sounded like he was really looking forward to the Dream Dungeon of The Ravages of Time. After all, it was a production that Mr. Shuijing approved of.

Even though it hadn’t been reviewed by the Imperial Court yet, it still made him excited as long as it wasn’t too weird, like all characters turning into females.

“You’ll have to confirm this yourself.”

Qi Qian glanced at her watch. It was time for the review to start.

Zhou Zeping didn’t ask Qi Qian anything else. He found somewhere he could lie down among the researchers, then closed his eyes and entered the dream of The Ravages of Time.

The character he reserved was Guan Yu, Guan Yunchang. Such a famous character would definitely be snapped up.

Strangely, the review of “The Ravages of Time” only opened Guan Yu for the public, while Liu Bei and Zhang Fei were characters that people couldn’t choose to play. There weren’t many famous Generals they could play either.

Most low-level reviewers could only start from playing soldiers of the lowest level. Basically, they were like the walk-ons in the crew.

Zhou Zeping didn’t think too much. He even looked forward to seeing where Guan Yu’s part would begin in The Ravages of Time.

The most common opening would start with a disturbance and his dispute with Zhang Fei, then the oath of brotherhood sworn by Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu in the Peach Blossom Spring.

This wasn’t the first time Zhou Zeping had experienced a Dream Dungeon related to Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Except for the version with all female characters, he had tried all the others.

To be straightforward, Zhou Zeping was an experienced Guan Yu player. He had been through all kinds of wars Guan Yu took part in and had also experienced various unexpected incidents, like beating up Lu Meng, who asked his subordinates to disguise themselves as businessmen to sneak attack Guan Yu’s signal fire turrets, during the Battle of Xiangyang.

Being able to restart again this time, he started looking forward to seeing what new elements that Dream Maker could create!

Zhou Zeping closed his eyes and connected himself to the Dream Dungeon of The Ravages of Time. When he opened his eyes again, he subconsciously touched his chin…

As expected, he touched a familiar beard, and his clothes had also changed to a green cloth gown. Having such a familiar feeling, he knew that his current identity was undoubtedly Guan Yu.

So… Should he go fight with Zhang Fei and lure Liu Bei out right now?

Zhou Zeping looked around and found that he wasn’t part of a commotion. Instead, he was in the central government office in the center of the entire city.

People of the city were gathered around him, anxiously waiting for the person next to Zhou Zeping to speak.

The one standing next to him was… Liu Bei?

Without guessing, Zhou Zeping recognized that the person standing next to him was his big brother, Liu Bei, Liu Xuande. It took him some time to identify his younger brother, Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei in The Ravages of Time was different from those poker-faced Zhang Fei’s in the past. Instead, he had a colorful face like an actor in a Peking Opera. However, after looking at him for a while, Zhou Zeping felt like this colorful face gave him quite a feeling.

So, what was Liu Bei planning to do? To recruit voluntary soldiers to fight against the Yellow Turban Bandits?

No. Zhou Zeping noticed that Liu Bei already had an army… and their equipment wasn’t bad.

Then, this was the time where the State Lords fought against Dong Zhuo? Zhou Zeping heard the name “Dong Zhuo” from the discussion of people around him from time to time. He was immediately certain that Guan Yu in The Ravages of Time had skipped the oath of brotherhood in the Peach Blossom Spring. They were at the Yellow Turban Rebellion, starting right at the chapter where the State Lords fought against Dong Zhuo.

So, Liu Bei was gathering troops to prepare for the campaign against Dong Zhuo?

While Zhou Zeping was thinking, his big brother, the future Emperor of Shu Han, Liu Bei, Liu Xuande, yelled at the people in the city, saying something that almost made Zhou Zeping choke to death.

“Today, I, Liu Xuande, came here to collect military charges for the Imperial Court on behalf of Lord Dong Zhuo!”

Zhou Zeping almost spurted out blood. What? When did Liu Bei join Dong Zhuo’s army? In what world did this fucking story come from?

Most importantly, even though Liu Bei said he was here to “collect military charges,” he actually wanted to plunder the whole city and steal all the properties and food of the citizens!

Such plundering behavior was something evil in any era. How could Liu Xuande possibly do something like this?

People down there couldn’t believe it either. They pointed at Liu Bei and snapped at him loudly. Then, Zhang Fei walked out and lifted the person who had scolded Liu Bei the most fiercely. He threw him out of the city wall!

Zhang Fei killed someone, a civilian!

Zhou Zeping’s eyelids twitched as he watched aside. He wanted to stop Zhang Fei, but he couldn’t intervene at all.

So, he could only watch Liu Bei loot all the properties of the people in this city in Dong Zhuo’s name.

What was most hateful was that Liu Bei truly didn’t plan to leave anything behind for the people. He took away all the valuable things and even pulled out someone’s gold tooth.

This act of looting to the fullest caused public grievances to rise. Zhou Zeping couldn’t bear to watch this anymore. If he could intervene with the plot, he might have directly raised the sword in his hand and killed Liu Bei.

However, what went around came around. News saying that the Kwantung Army had arrived suddenly came.

Liu Bei was shocked when he heard the news…

“Run! Quickly! Get out from the west gate!” Liu Bei commanded the troops, who had looted a few carriages of properties, and fled in a hurry. After all, he did this in the name of Dong Zhuo. He had to run when he encountered Dong Zhuo’s Kwantung Army.

Zhou Zeping speechlessly sat in the same carriage with Liu Bei as the citizens picked up gravel and threw them at Liu Bei furiously.

“Yunchang, you disagree with what I did?” Liu Bei suddenly asked.

Not only disagree, if it’s not that the system doesn’t allow me, I would have killed you with a slash already! I don’t have a brother like you!

“No, but I hope that you have your reason for doing so.” Zhou Zeping could only say so.

“My reason…” Liu Bei ran all the way to the west and avoided the Kwantung Army entering the city…

While Zhou Zeping was thinking about how Liu Bei was planning to deal with these stolen goods, Liu Bei led the men to another city… This was a city that had just been looted by the Kwantung Army.

Zhou Zeping saw that the buildings in this city had been reduced to ruins, and the people’s clothes couldn’t even cover their bodies. None of them looked like human beings. He then remained silent for a while.

This was a normal situation in the late Eastern Han dynasty. There had been many incidents where the army robbed cities and massacred people for supplies and other strategic purposes.

People in this city were frightened when they saw Liu Bei. They couldn’t even keep themselves alive right now, so they had nothing for Liu Bei to plunder.

However, Liu Bei was here to save the city this time.

Under his order, his troops distributed the money and resources they had looted in the last city to these suffering people and gave them hopes of living again.

Zhou Zeping was dumbfounded as he saw this…

“People in the city we plundered just then, Jingyang City, will know our brother’s intention sooner or later.”

Zhang Fei explained when he saw Zhou Zeping so confused.

“Brother plundered the city in the name of Dong Zhuo’s army, so people in that city will definitely hate the army to their bones. They’ll give the Kwantung Army a warm welcome when the Kwantung Army comes again, fawning over them voluntarily. Their passionate thoughts and the food we intentionally left behind will probably make the Kwantung Army give up on looting the city. If not, when the Kwantung Army really loots the city… it’ll probably be destroyed from top to bottom like this one.”

It turned out to be like this… This seemed to be a bit reasonable.

“Robbing one city to save two cities, this may be a world wonder. Only our brother can come up with such a strange strategy.”

Robbing one city to save two cities… Zhou Zeping looked at Liu Bei, who was celebrating with the people down there. At this moment, an uncontrollable thought appeared in his mind.

The world of the Three Kingdoms in The Ravages of Time seems… quite interesting!

…

In Yuan Shan Research Institute in reality.

Qi Qian didn’t enter the dream to play Diao Chan. Instead, she stayed in Yuan Shan Research Institute for a while longer. Most senior researchers in the entire research institute were in a deep sleep right now.

“Isn’t it more straightforward to directly kill their bodies?”

A researcher stood next to Qi Qian as he gazed at Zhou Zeping, who was in the Dream Dungeon.

“A Dream Maker’s body that can carry two Level S Dream Seeds… is something very precious,” Qi Qian said. “Where’s… Where’s that Dream Maker?”

The researcher pointed at Qiu Ren, who was tied up somewhere.

“His body is already useless.” Qi Qian whispered, “What we need is his consciousness, but the bait he made… ‘The Ravages of Time’ is indeed amazing. More and more targets are taking the bait already.”

“And you…”

“I certainly want to join the fun as well.” Qi Qian flipped her hair as she walked out of the laboratory, “At the same time, I need to negotiate with the Generals in the Three Kingdoms. They have very high demands on their bodies.”