Chen Xuan thought for a moment and realized this line of guessing actually did make sense.

"Those Demons are pretty capable then, if they could actually send Lucy to the Moon."

"What they relied on wasn’t abilities, but their control over human society... or you could just call it money." Lin Qing added, "I also found something else that might serve as supporting evidence."

"What is it?"

"If you compare the technology of the other side with ours, you’ll see they’re very close. Even where there is a gap, it’s basically no more than ten years. Then I checked this side’s historical records. After 2040, first‑generation lunar development tech was already more or less mature, and humanity’s push toward the Moon entered a boom period. All kinds of Earth–Moon commercial companies popped up like crazy."

Lin Qing paused. "In other words, all the Demons had to do was set up a private aerospace company, and they could send the mother body Lucy into space without anyone ever noticing."

"If that’s the real truth, then I can relax." Chen Xuan sighed.

Facing a future that had suddenly changed for no reason, he’d been feeling very unsure. This explanation happened to fill the theoretical gap, showing that their operation to wipe out the Demons was the very node that pried the worldline off its old track. N5 being gone was actually a good thing.

"So that Ancient Worm no longer poses any threat at all?"

"Under this hypothesis, yes." Lin Qing nodded. "Unless the Angel Alliance still has other mother bodies in storage."

"We can ask Elorie to look into it when the time comes."

Chen Xuan was quite concerned about what exactly that Ancient Worm on the Moon was.

Since it could feed on N5, did that mean it counted as a kind of strange object too?

At least from what he’d seen so far, the size gap between strange objects was enormous, their appearances wildly varied, and there were even humanoid individuals like Liuli.

And Guess the Coin, that Forbidden Ability—was it related to the worm as well?

Meanwhile, the Ability Store classified both Flesh Power and Worm Abilities as Forbidden. What was the connection between them?

He couldn’t shake the feeling that these worlds did not exist in isolation.

"Oh, right..." Chen Xuan suddenly recalled the store manager promotion conditions—one of them was to save a world on the brink of destruction.

Elorie’s world should already count as successfully avoiding the apocalypse, right?

Unfortunately, even if those conditions were met, there would be no notification.

So just like before, he gave himself a round of shameless self‑praise and then submitted the application email.

The next few days went by quite peacefully.

Chen Xuan also received his November and December salaries: the first was as high as 23,000 yuan, and the second was 17,000. Puzzled, he checked the breakdown and found that 17,000 was the base salary for a level‑five store manager, while November’s number was higher because it included 6,000 in chaos performance bonus.

The payment text even had a special note: long‑term business trips may result in delayed salary payouts.

Was that referring to the stretch when he stayed in Chang’an City founding a sect?

He’d brought cultivators from the East to the West to fight monsters and the United Kingdom alongside France—that was basically all he’d done in November. Seemed the Ability Store was quite satisfied with his work during that period; the performance bonus was nearly a third of his salary.

His wallet, which had only 900 yuan left, suddenly jumped back up to 40,900.

Of course, Chen Xuan didn’t rely on this bit of salary to live.

His main income came from selling medicine and dividends from the arms business. Especially after opening the pipeline with Beitian Academy, Hot Pepper Village could casually press out some pills and sell them for a hefty sum.

The dream of financial freedom that he’d had at the very beginning had now been realized for him.

But Chen Xuan found that he had no desire to lie flat at all; instead, he was thoroughly enjoying his store‑manager life.

Turns out you only fantasize about loafing around after getting rich when you’re still broke.

Only after you actually have money do you find out what you really like.

And what he’d come to like was the freshness and excitement brought by adventure.

In his spare time, Chen Xuan took the chance to thoroughly try out the Legendary Ability Dream Maker he’d obtained earlier. Although it was acquired through proper channels, the previous owner had basically no experience using it, so Chen Xuan could only figure it out himself.

Luckily, his advantage lay in knowing clearly what kind of ability he possessed and how to activate it.

Take Dream Maker for example—it was an ability that could only be used after falling asleep.

It sounded very strange, but that was how it worked.

Before going to sleep, Chen Xuan had to plan out the dream he wanted to have, and then go to sleep. Even then, it wasn’t a hundred percent guaranteed. If it failed, he wouldn’t wake up immediately; it would just feel like he’d had a normal sleep. Over four days, he slept eight times, to the point his family suspected he’d gotten sick, since he’d never taken naps before.

Only half of those eight attempts resulted in a successful entry into the dream.

But once Dream Maker activated, he could directly "wake up" inside the dream. The sensation was quite marvelous—his body was clearly asleep, yet he was completely lucid, with all five senses intact, and he could even use abilities like Divine Eye Technique and Thousand Thoughts Sword inside the dream. When he woke up afterward, he didn’t feel tired at all; it was as if he’d actually had a really good rest.

Viewed this way, Su Xingwan’s mental breakdown wasn’t caused by the ability itself, but by being scared to pieces by an incomprehensible weird phenomenon.

The most distinctive feature of Dream Maker was its realism.

Chen Xuan tried recreating a Jiang City in his dream, and it turned out he really could. This Jiang City was almost identical to the real one, only with far fewer people—streets everywhere were empty.

The Ability Store staff, however, were perfectly reproduced. He saw Liu Shuyue and Lin Qing sitting in the store, both wearing convenience store uniforms. One handled checkout while the other worked the shelves, and when they saw him they greeted him with smiling faces, exactly like in reality.

This made a thought creep uncontrollably into Chen Xuan’s mind.

Since nothing he did in the dream would affect reality, couldn’t he just vent all his dark impulses here without restraint?

Just as the ability’s name suggested.

Dream Maker... the master of the dream. From the perspective of this bubble‑like world, he was no different from a creator god.

In the end, Chen Xuan didn’t keep probing in that direction. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He was afraid that once he crossed that line, he’d never be able to pull back.

He also had Lin Qing join him to test joint dreaming. He discovered that even without relying on the Smoke Soul Pillar, he could "invite" a guest into his dream, as long as the person was in the same room as him and also asleep. Once Lin Qing entered, she almost seamlessly replaced the dream version of herself—Chen Xuan couldn’t even tell what had changed before and after.

From Lin Qing’s perspective, she simply opened her eyes and found herself in the store.

"Isn’t this just a larger‑scale and even freer version of a super‑dream?" she commented. "I thought the previous dream had something to do with Su Xingwan’s special experience."

Chen Xuan did know what a super‑dream was.

It was a program that digitized senses and experiences, which, once recorded, could be replayed for others over and over.

Lin Qing glanced a few times at Liu Shuyue behind the counter, then suddenly turned a dangerous look on Chen Xuan. "You didn’t... do that kind of thing to her, did you?"

"What kind of thing?" Liu Shuyue looked over curiously.

Apparently, the dream had even faithfully copied her keen perception.

"Uh... nothing, we’re not talking about you." Lin Qing coughed hastily.

Liu Shuyue tilted her head and didn’t press further.

Lin Qing immediately dragged Chen Xuan off to the side. "You didn’t, right? And not just with Liu Shuyue—no one else either!"

"Of course I didn’t do anything with anyone. Why are you being so serious?" Chen Xuan was puzzled.

"Phew..." She let out a soft breath. "Good. You have no idea how corrosive that stuff is to a person’s will. I’ve seen too many people who couldn’t pull themselves out after being exposed to illegal super‑dreams. Excessively strong stimulation makes self‑control difficult, and the hyper‑real sensory experience blurs the boundary with reality. Those people end up either becoming lunatics who’ve lost their humanity, or criminals in the real world. So you must never try it."

It was obvious Lin Qing’s warning came from the heart.

"Okay, I won’t." Chen Xuan agreed seriously. "What do you think this ability is good for?"

"Since it’s basically like a super‑dream, then it should be able to do everything a super‑dream can. For example, gathering intel, fighting people to hone your skills, testing abilities and weapons, and so on... just think of it as a rehearsal of reality." She said, "And considering its larger scale and the fact you can invite multiple people in, its potential is practically unlimited."