Chapter 49: Klein Somnambulates the Simulated Universe

In Intis, the concept of the "universe" had existed for several centuries. Needless to say, this was also proposed by Emperor Roselle.

"Simulated Universe." Klein read out the words. This was not any language that Klein recognized, yet he could understand it.

He looked down at himself; he was wearing a long trench coat and black trousers. A pendulum was wrapped around his right wrist, several charms rested in the left pocket of his trench coat, and a revolver hung in a shoulder holster under his armpit.

He pulled out the revolver and checked that the cylinder was fully loaded. Then he patted the left pocket of his trousers, which contained bullets and a few coins.

This was the attire he had deliberately maintained before going to sleep.

"Is this the lucid dream that Celreis spoke of?" Klein stepped forward, the floating text dissipated, and Klein walked straight through it.

In this dim room, only the area immediately around Klein was bright, as if he himself were glowing. After taking a few more steps, a line of text appeared before him once again.

"This Simulated Universe was developed by Madam Herta of the Genius Society's #83 seat."

Klein walked up to the text, and it vanished once again. In the second before the words faded, the sharp-eyed Klein caught sight of a line of small print.

"Ported by the Masked Fool Celreis."

The light radiating from Klein's body expanded, illuminating the entire room. It was a room that looked full of high technology, far surpassing the technological level of Klein's original "homeland."

A spatial gate-like structure appeared before him. Klein walked up to the door and tossed a coin to attempt a divination.

The coin slipped through his fingers and fell to the ground.

The divination had failed.

Klein silently picked up the coin and stepped into the portal. After all, this was merely a dream; it probably didn't matter.

The surrounding environment shifted rapidly, and he arrived at a shop filled with metal, its shelves crammed with candies that appeared to be made of metal.

A man approached Klein, enthusiastically recommending every product to him. The man's face was painted all over with red and black rust spots, displaying his adoration for mechanical intelligence.

"Eutectic candy, metal purity 29%. It not only replicates the texture of alloy, but even perfectly recreates the taste of rust when chewed."

The man grabbed a handful of candies from a jar and shoved them into Klein's hands. "Have a taste, an authentic, genuine alloy flavor."

Klein looked at the candies in his hand, feeling that he was probably in no condition to enjoy them.

"And this magnetic fluid ice cream, I guarantee the engine in your belly will spin in reverse." The store owner's torso below the head spun in a complete circle, and the prosthetic limb behind him held up the ice cream. "Metal purity 22%, suitable as a gift for friends with a low degree of prosthetization."

"Sorry, I feel that my degree of prosthetization might still be a bit too low, and there is no engine in my belly either." Klein did not take it, attempting to refuse the man's kind offer.

"There's also the heavy stuff with a metal purity of over 70% here." The man continued to chatter incessantly, just like a pre-designed program. "It is said that as long as a person's metal purity exceeds one hundred percent, they can transcend the frail flesh and become an inorganic lifeform."

The store owner grew more and more enthusiastic as he spoke, his four prosthetic eyes spinning frantically in their sockets.

Klein took a step back, gripping the revolver in his right hand tightly. He didn't know whether he should hold onto the eutectic candy in his left hand or throw it away.

"Of course, you cannot understand." The man suddenly calmed down, appearing somewhat desolate. "You are merely a pathetic carbon-based lifeform."

He looked Klein up and down, his expression pitying as if he were gazing at a beggar on the street.

This look severely wounded Klein's self-esteem. No, what kind of look was that?

Klein glanced around the room full of high technology, then silently placed the candy in his hand onto a table.

"Sorry, I'm not very interested." Yes, he was a pauper.

Little Ke felt aggrieved inside, but Little Ke wouldn't say a word.

Klein noticed a door behind him. He backed up toward it, cautiously pressed the door handle, and it opened immediately.

The next second, the surrounding environment shifted once again.

He seemed to have arrived in another room.

In the very center of the room stood a three-head-tall humanoid doll. It had straw-like hemp rope hair, and a timer was affixed to its chest.

Beside it lay an instruction manual stating that this doll was crafted by the Aeon of Elation in their own image, and that they wished to see themselves getting beaten up.

Klein stepped forward and gave it a gentle tap.

A sentence appeared on the doll: "You just got looked down upon, and you don't have even a sliver of temper? Think about your wallet—does your empty-as-a-desert wallet even support you using any more force than that?"

Actually, there was nothing special about this sentence, but for some reason, Klein became extremely furious upon seeing it. It felt just like being hit by some Extraordinary ability. Klein took a deep breath.

"Fascinating, fascinating, fascinating." It had angered Klein into a little kitten.

He took a few steps back, raised his gun, and took aim.

"Bang!"

The doll shattered into pieces all over the floor. Something drifted into Klein's hand. The moment he grasped it, Klein understood—it was a Cosmic Fragment, the currency of this place.

He heard a voice echoing in his ears, singing an unfamiliar tune.

"Erudition is a piece of scrap iron, Preservation is a dullard, The Hunt has zero sense of humor, Destruction is a total lunatic, The Aeons are all one-track minds, Aha has no face at all, Aha has no face at all~"

Oh no, Klein felt as though he had heard something extraordinary.

The surroundings twisted once more.

This time, he seemed to have arrived in a wasteland.

A woman weeping silently was riding a gigantic elephant, slowly entering Klein's field of vision... For some reason, she was still crying.

Arriving before Klein, she dismounted from the elephant and offered a prayer to perform a free magical mountebank trick for him.

Before Klein could express his stance, she immediately produced four empty cups. The next second, the Cosmic Fragment in Klein's hand appeared in her palm, and she dropped it into one of the cups.

Then she rapidly shuffled the positions of those cups. It all ended in an instant. The mountebank placed her hands over her chest and politely asked Klein to choose one.

Why were all these people so self-absorbed and doing whatever they pleased?

Klein was somewhat speechless. But since the money had already been given, he casually pointed at one based on his spiritual intuition.

The woman picked up the cup, revealing a playing card inside. She handed the card to Klein and turned to leave.

A Light Cone.

Still, the moment he took hold of it, Klein once again intuitively understood what this item was.

Looking at this Light Cone, Klein felt a wave of sadness—a sadness whose origin was unknown.

The imagery on the Light Cone was very blurry, but one could vaguely discern an elderly person collapsed on the ground, with what looked like a paper bag beside them, something having fallen out.

Klein flipped it to the back and saw the following text written there.

Light Cone Name: 《Straw in the Wheat Field》

Description: 『The glitz and glamour of high society cleverly muffled the death rattles of ants. Smog danced like a ruthless grim reaper swinging its sickle.』

『Countless figures fell: whether it was the worker just heading home from work, the textile seamstress who had worked hard to save up tuition for her daughter, or the lucky soul who had just saved enough money to buy ham and begin a new life—all met the same fate.』

『They were merely straw in the wheat field; when the wind blew, they fell.』

『Now, the wind is here.』

P.S.: Double monthly tickets at the end of the month, begging for monthly tickets!