Chapter 159 The Black Sheep
There was a faint layer of bright red in the sky, as if it was the afterglow of a blood-red setting sun.

The road surface was cracked in many places, and weeds growing wildly in the cracks gradually devoured the sidewalks and driveways. Scattered car wreckages were overturned on the roadside, the bodies were covered with thick dust and rust, and the tires had long been deflated. Occasionally, a few wild dogs or rats jumped out from the dark and hurriedly ran across the street…

Two off-road vehicles crushed weeds and fallen leaves and sped past, breaking the silence.

“The inheritor…”

Li Nanke kept in mind the warnings from the Great Other Shore and never revealed his identity as the inheritor.

However, what does inheritor mean?
From a literal meaning, inheritance is nothing more than teaching and inheriting. It seems that it can be understood that the Great Other Side teaches the special power system of the four major matrices, and he is the heir.

But Li Nanke felt that it was far from that simple…

It seems that Zhong Pao seems to have some understanding of the inheritor, but Li Nan Ke doesn’t dare to ask too much for the time being, so as not to reveal his true identity and arouse suspicion from the other party.

Just as he was thinking about how to get more information indirectly, Feng Ling in the back seat suddenly asked, “Captain, what is a successor? Why haven’t I heard you mention it before?”

He turned his head to look at the curious girl in the pointed magic hat and silently gave her a thumbs up.

The driver leaned back in his chair, one hand on the steering wheel, and kept scanning the scenery along the street:

“The Inheritor has always been very mysterious. I’ve only encountered him once in all the dreams I’ve experienced. Hawkeye and she were there at that time, and you hadn’t joined the team yet.”

Chong Pao took out a box of cigarettes with retro packaging and handed one to Li Nanke. Seeing that he waved his hand to indicate that he didn’t want to smoke, he smiled and said, “This is not an ordinary thing. It is a high-end product produced by the Great Other Shore.”

【Millicent Premium Cigarettes】

[Type: Props/Consumables]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Rating: 23/100]

[Details: The favorite paper tobacco of the wild chopper, its value is second only to Dr. Hawthorne’s cigars. After smoking one, it can slightly increase the recovery speed of mental strength at the cost of a slight loss of physical strength. ]

Since suffering from a severe lung infection, Li Nanke has completely quit his smoking habit.

Seeing that the other party really didn’t smoke, Chong Pao exchanged for a box of inferior quality “Red Rocket Cigarettes”, lit one by himself, and continued:
“It is precisely because of the existence of the inheritor of this dream that our fixed conscription once a month suddenly becomes a temporary conscription. After this dream ends, the fixed conscription period will not be refreshed, which is equivalent to experiencing another dream for no reason.”

For ordinary nightmares, there is a chance to enter the dream at a fixed time every month, which is called conscription.

Nightmare can refuse the call-up for the month, and can refuse up to twice in a row, for a total of three months of rest time.

If rejected twice in a row, the third call-up will be changed to a forced call-up. Nightmare will no longer have the right to refuse and must enter the next dream under the compulsory measures of the Great Other Side.

The dreams were filled with dangers, and the mortality rate was higher than on the battlefield, so most nightmares would rest for three full months, waiting for forced conscription before entering the next dream.

After all, no one in their right mind would rush into a dream to die.

But there is one special situation that breaks the rules and forces the Nightmares to interrupt their rest and go to the battlefield to work overtime without any warning. That is the temporary conscription without any regularity.

The appearance of temporary conscription means that there are inheritors involved in this dream. Heavy Artillery does not know how the Great Other Side recruits inheritors. He can only guess from the strange time of the temporary conscription that the inheritors are different from ordinary dreamers.

After knowing the meaning of temporary conscription, Li Nanke thought to himself, I did not follow the time limit stipulated by the Great Beyond when visualizing the forbidden objects entering the dream. If I want you to join the multiplayer mode as well, wouldn’t you have to interrupt your vacation and work overtime?

“Will the fixed conscription deadline not be refreshed?” Feng Ling had originally frowned when she smelled the smoke, but now her eyes widened, “Then we will have to participate in another dream next month, how can we be so unruly!”

“What kind of place do you think this is? I’m telling you the rules… We nightmares are just a bunch of pathetic creatures struggling between life and death. The Great Beyond controls our lives, and its rules are rules that cannot be crossed.”

Heavy Artillery rolled down the window, took a deep breath and exhaled the smoke, then continued with a worried look:

“It’s okay to experience the dream once more, but the presence of the inheritor will make the dream more difficult… This is the most troublesome thing.”

The difficulty increased… Li Nanke’s heart moved, but he did not ask any questions.

As expected, Feng Ling immediately shouted, “The normal dream is already difficult enough, and now the difficulty is increased? Just because of this inheritor?”

This little girl is really thoughtful and told me everything I wanted to ask.

“Otherwise, the dreams we have experienced in the past have contained many life-and-death crises, but as long as we don’t actively dig out hidden nodes and commit suicide, the probability of survival is still quite high, even if this is a wrong choice made out of helplessness…” As a strong man of the physical system, Heavy Artillery has an extremely exaggerated lung capacity and can finish a cigarette in just two or three puffs.

He didn’t wait for the cigarette to burn out, but took out a new one and smoked the hot butt.

“Captain, could you please stop smoking? There are others here.” Feng Ling frowned and glanced at Li Nanke who was sitting in the passenger seat.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Li Nanke responded with a smile.

“If you don’t want to hear it, then change to the car in front and sit with Hawkeye. The Dream Master said it’s okay…” When Heavy Artillery saw the girl’s eyes wide open, his expression froze. He pretended nothing happened, threw the cigarette away calmly, and continued, “Where was I just now?”

Feng Ling saw the captain silently throw away the cigarette, his face lightened up a little, and said: “If you don’t commit suicide, you won’t die. There are also wrong choices.”

“Yes… If you don’t actively explore the hidden nodes, you won’t be able to get high scores, nor will you be able to get some precious rewards, but the probability of survival will undoubtedly be greatly increased.” Heavy Artillery smacked his lips, feeling itchy in his heart unless he held something in his mouth.

He rummaged in the armrest box beside him and found a small can of chewing gum. He threw a piece into his mouth and chewed it.

“The reason why I say it’s a wrong choice is that if we only live on the minimum living allowance, we will eventually be eliminated. The difficulty of the dream is getting higher and higher. If we can’t quickly strengthen our strength to keep up with the difficulty of the dream, I’m afraid that in the end, the difficulty of the key nodes will become unbearable for us.”

Feng Ling opened her mouth and whispered, “In fact, we can also try to dig out the hidden nodes.”

“What? Are you tired of living?” Heavy Artillery glanced at the rearview mirror. The girl named Feng Ling was still in high school. “It’s better to live a miserable life than to die… I won’t make the same mistake a second time.”

There was a hint of dejection between Chongpao’s brows, and he subconsciously wanted to touch the cigarette box again, but he stopped when he remembered Fengling’s warning.

The girl in the back seat didn’t know what to say when she saw this. She reached for the cigarette box, hesitated for a moment, took out a cigarette, looked at Li Nanke and said, “You really don’t mind, right?”

Li Nanke nodded, indicating that they should ignore him.

Feng Ling clumsily lit the cigarette and put it into the captain’s mouth: “This is the last one. You are not allowed to smoke again before you get off the bus.”

“Okay.” Heavy Artillery smiled and took a deep breath of satisfaction. “I’ve strayed off topic. In fact, most nightmares only live on the minimum living allowance, but it’s different after the inheritors join.”

He gritted his teeth and said, “These bastards are desperate to find hidden nodes to dig, as if they are afraid that the difficulty of the node tasks is not low enough.”

Li Nanke felt offended, but the situation did not allow him to speak out.

The girl in the back seat was a little confused: “Since the inheritor can always complete the hidden nodes, his strength should be much stronger than us ordinary nightmares. If we are in the same camp with him, shouldn’t we be grateful to have such a big leg? Why are you not happy to be in the same camp with others?” Before the heavy artillery could answer, she asked again: “Besides, let the inheritor dig for the hidden nodes, what does it have to do with us?”

“You are stupid. Triggering a hidden node will increase the overall difficulty of the dream world. It will even change the content of subsequent key nodes, greatly increasing the difficulty of all key nodes.”

Chong Pao flicked the ash off his cigarette and continued with a serious look:

“Don’t forget that this dream is a faction killing mode. Nightmares in the same faction will receive the same key node tasks. Once the inheritor triggers a hidden node, other nightmares in the faction will be forced to accept more difficult node tasks.”

“You are stupid. I haven’t conquered any hidden nodes, so how would I know these?” Feng Ling curled her lips, took out a short staff, and poked the back of the driver’s seat again and again.

Heavy Artillery sensed the girl’s dissatisfaction and grinned:

“So, whichever camp the inheritor is in will suffer. Now it’s the camp killing mode. There are already two powerful hostile camps threatening us. If we dig out hidden nodes and increase the difficulty of all members of our camp at the key nodes… this is simply asking for too much.”

Li Nanke frowned secretly.

If you only complete the key points in a dream, it can indeed reduce the difficulty a lot as Heavy Artillery said.

However, the main qualities and characteristics that Li Nanke uses to improve his strength and class are basically in the hidden nodes. It is difficult to improve his strength without digging out the hidden nodes.

The difficulty of each dream he experienced was greatly increased compared to the previous one. Imagine what a miserable situation he would have been in if he had not conquered the hidden node and obtained the second-level animal essence and went to the world of “Dolls and Angels”.

It is estimated that he will not even be able to complete the first few key nodes, and will die at the hands of monsters or be wiped out by the other side.

The same is true for the previous dream worlds. If he didn’t have the relevant main traits to improve his strength, he would have died long ago.
While the inheritor gained a special power system, he also seemed to have lost the qualification to receive subsistence allowances like an ordinary nightmare.

He had to actively look for hidden nodes and overcome more difficult hidden tasks.

“If the inheritor is in the Undead camp, can’t we negotiate with him and ask him not to dig for the hidden nodes?”

Feng Ling saw that the captain was getting happier the more she poked him, so she had no choice but to retract her staff and continued, “We are all in the same camp. We should be able to solve the problem if we have a good discussion. Otherwise, if everyone suffers heavy casualties due to the more difficult node tasks, and the camp points are negative in the end, then the inheritor will also be wiped out by the Great Other Shore.”

Chong Pao took a deep breath, threw away the cigarette butt, and said with a smile that said “You are still too young”: “Dream Master, you are also an old hand, come and help me tell this little girl why.”

Li Nanke is not an old hand, he is just a rookie who is participating in the reincarnation multiplayer mode for the first time.

However, he did not show his fear, and said to the girl in the back seat: “It’s actually very simple. As long as you put yourself in the shoes of the inheritor, you will understand. For a ruthless person like this who dares to keep digging for hidden nodes, every time he dreams about it, he is on the verge of life and death. He doesn’t even take his own life seriously. Will he give up the hidden node just because of us?”

“If the inheritor can dig deep into the hidden nodes in every dream, then his strength must be very strong, at least much stronger than our ordinary nightmares. For the inheritor, as long as more people from other camps die and the points are lower… As for us, as many people as die, so be it.”

“As long as more people die in other camps and the points are lower…” Feng Ling chewed on the meaning of this sentence and felt the cruelty between the lines.

“Yes, that’s the truth.” Chong Pao nodded and smiled. “If he touches the hidden node alone, the whole camp will be implicated. Moreover, this kind of person will most likely not stop at digging out only one hidden node, but will definitely conquer all the hidden nodes he can find… He is simply a black sheep who doesn’t care about the lives of others.”

Li Nanke felt offended again, but the situation still did not allow him to speak out.

Heavy Artillery continued, “I heard that killing the inheritor seems to get extremely rich and unique rewards, which can greatly increase one’s strength. I don’t know if this killing is restricted by the faction, and I don’t know if the news is true or false. Have you heard about it?”

“There is such a reward? I’ve never heard of it.” Li Nanke responded nonchalantly, but his heart skipped a beat.

The reminder from the Great Other Shore warned him not to reveal his identity as the inheritor unless necessary when he first entered the multiplayer mode. Could it be because of this unknown reason?

If the answer is yes, then this rumor is no longer a rumor, but a fact…

Feng Ling put herself in the role of the inheritor, and after thinking for a moment, she said: “If I were the inheritor, after hearing such news, I would definitely choose to conceal my identity, lurk in the dark, observe the situation, and then take action based on the actual situation…”

“Yes, you have learned your lesson.”

“I have always been very smart, but you are too stupid.” Feng Ling rolled her eyes at the captain and continued, “According to what you said about the disadvantages of our camp, the nightmares in our Undead camp are not as strong as those in the human camp. Since the nightmares in the human camp are the strongest, then the inheritors who are stronger than ordinary nightmares must be on the human side if nothing unexpected happens.”

After these words came out, Heavy Artillery was obviously stunned for a moment, as if he had forgotten about this before: “Indeed, if nothing unexpected happens, the probability that the inheritor is in the human camp is very high. What we should be more worried about is the nightmare of the human side.”

Sorry, an accident has occurred… Li Nanke thought to himself that he, the inheritor, was in the undead camp. If the law of balance of camp power was still in effect, then the nightmare of the human side would only become more powerful and terrifying.

The two off-road vehicles searched in the buffer zone for a long time. Hawkeye, who was in charge of lookout in the front vehicle, had his eyes sore from staring, but he did not find any trace of the other undead and nightmares.

As the sun was setting and night was about to fall, everyone gave up the search for their friendly forces and rushed to the location of the provisional government – the safe zone.

After nearly an hour’s journey, night gradually fell and the blood-red fog in the sky became thicker.

Two off-road vehicles slowly approached the entrance to the safe zone. The tall walls and tight fortifications gave people a sense of order of returning to civilized society.

There is a strict checkpoint at the entrance to the security zone, and several undead guards in protective suits are carefully checking the identity of every vehicle and passenger.

Since everyone in the group is undead, there is no need to worry about being mistaken for fallen ghosts and being shot dead on the spot.

However, the human survivor who was tied up in the off-road vehicle received preferential treatment that was different from ordinary people.

“Hand in the surviving humans. This is a great achievement. This is your reward.”

The leading undead at the checkpoint wore a neatly pressed white shirt, but a short black cape that didn’t match the style of his attire.

There are many blood-colored lines engraved on the black cloak. It is the blood-sucking fang armor that only the official undead can possess – a magical equipment developed based on the BOR parasite.

Normally it maintains the appearance of protective clothing, but in battle it can transform into a living creature with the powerful ability to devour and suck blood.

The leading undead handed over a small suitcase. When it was opened, it was filled with blood-tear crystals.

“Sir, I heard that the government is recruiting fighters recently. Can you introduce them to us?” Heavy Artillery asked respectfully.

“Recruitment… Today is the last day. It’s over. If you want to take the test, you have to wait another half a year.”

“What, it’s over?” Chong Pao was obviously stunned for a moment, but he quickly reacted and immediately said, “Sir, can you be flexible? We really want to join the organization.”

“There is no such precedent, and you asked the wrong person. The recruitment test is not my responsibility.” The leading undead said and turned to leave.

Li Nanke exchanged a glance with the heavy artillery and had a bad feeling in his heart.

I am afraid that key node one, which seems simple, is actually not that easy to complete.

(End of this chapter)