Chapter 250: Chapter 249: New Year’s Celebration

To verify this point, Lin Qing actively invited Chen Xuan for a close-range duel.

Because death was not a concern, the duel was essentially close to a real scenario.

As a result, Chen Xuan found that he actually couldn’t beat her!

Although he could use the Divine Eye Technique to see through her movements, Lin Qing’s artificial eye could achieve a similar effect. The competition was essentially about combat experience and body control. It was only then that he realized the woman in front of him was a killing machine born for war; her fingertips, wrists, and elbows were all lethal weapons! For instance, after he had just used the Thousand Thoughts Sword to block Lin Qing’s hook punch, her forearm immediately twisted, and an electromagnetic projectile shot from her elbow cavity, piercing through his chest.

Trying to catch her fist was simply unthinkable; even though his body had been strengthened by the Celestial Mist Skill, it still fell within the realm of carbon-based life forms. Her seemingly flesh punches were actually uncompromising steel; a light touch would result in fractures, and a heavy one would shatter the arm entirely.

Chen Xuan felt like he wasn’t fighting a human, but rather battling a flexible heavy tank.

The only opportunity for victory was to avoid getting entangled in combat, create distance in advance, and then use Decomposition and Re-Fusion to take her down.

In other words, once Lin Qing got up close and personal, his chances of victory approached zero.

Death in the dream wasn’t too painful since the process was always very brief.

Chen Xuan could even see his own death—when Lin Qing’s kick smashed his head, he suddenly felt like a ghost, his perspective floating up to watch his body collapse softly.

Resurrection was just a matter of thought.

As long as he didn’t choose to end the dream, it would continue indefinitely.

After sparring five or six times, Chen Xuan, panting heavily, called for a stop; continuously being killed was indeed tiring.

Upon waking up, he exhaled deeply, and turned to see Lin Qing lost in thought beside him.

"What’s wrong?"

"I didn’t expect you to be so capable, holding out for dozens of seconds against me." She mused, "For a moment, I thought I might be rusty from being away from the battlefield for so long."

Chen Xuan wryly noted, "Are you complimenting me or criticizing me?"

"Of course, I’m complimenting you," Lin Qing naturally responded, "Even without any prosthetic gear, your performance is quite remarkable. Normally, an average person wouldn’t last a second against a soldier equipped with military prosthetics."

"You’re not entirely complete, either."

"That’s true. If I could utilize a neural accelerator, my strength would climb even higher." She smiled while scrutinizing Chen Xuan, "How about it, do you feel like your skills have improved?"

"Probably," Chen Xuan slightly nodded.

It definitely wasn’t just his imagination. At the moment of life and death, he felt his concentration sharpen like never before, as if entering a state of ethereal clarity. Particularly in the last two confrontations, he could almost predict Lin Qing’s next two attack routes and how he might die.

"This is also the most basic application of a super dream, and so far the side effects of your dreaming seem minimal."

"Is there such a thing as a super dream?"

"Of course, its essence is simulating brainwaves to directly activate the corresponding brain regions. The stimulation from death can exceed sensory thresholds and can drive someone mad with repeated exposure." Lin Qing chuckled, "Since you don’t seem burdened, practice more often."

Later on, Chen Xuan also tried replicating other opponents.

Like the Cyan Dragon "Vortex."

He discovered he couldn’t summon Vortex in Jiang City; the dream setting seemed to limit which entities could appear. Only when he dreamed of Wanshan Wilderness could Vortex manifest.

The cost of Cyan Dragon’s Decomposition and Re-Fusion was 55 of himself.

Another outrageously large number.

This confirmed that the decomposition cost did not fully reflect an opponent’s strength; just by mimicking Liu Shuyue using the Demon-slaying True Sword, he could also cleave open the Dragon Demon’s head. Compared to Lin Qing, which cost 0.8 of himself, winning against her openly was incredibly difficult.

Amid continuous sleep and exploration, Chen Xuan welcomed New Year’s Eve.

"Dad, Mom, I have a friend coming over to spend New Year’s with us." He said plainly after lunch.

"Who?" Dad Chen asked, surprised.

"One I met while working. She’s also good friends with Lin Qing."

"Sure!" Mom Chen agreed immediately, "But it’s almost New Year’s now. Does your friend still have transport to get here?"

"She’s already arrived." Chen Xuan said, opening the living room door, "Come on in."

This friend was naturally Liu Shuyue.

The reason for inviting her was simple: to bring her over to join in the festivities. Since the main shop was closed now, she was either busy at Hot Pepper Village or with the Yunzhou Liu Family, barely having anyone she could interact with as an equal, let alone casually chat with.

In fact, when he invited Liu Shuyue, she was surprisingly happy and agreed immediately.

"Greetings to you, sir and madam." Liu Shuyue bowed at a 90-degree angle upon entering, "I’m truly grateful for the care your son has given me."

Both were dumbfounded.

This form of greeting they’d only seen on television.

Chen Xuan felt a twinge inside. He had remembered to ask her to wear casual clothes, but forgot about etiquette.

"Shuyue, you’re here!" Lin Qing quickly pulled her over to sit on the couch, "No need to be so formal. Uncle and Auntie are very easy-going."

"Yes, yes, sit down, sit down, I’ll pour you some tea," Mom Chen nodded repeatedly.

"I couldn’t possibly—"

When Liu Shuyue saw this and wanted to get up and stop her, Chen Xuan held her down.

"Your name is..." Dad Chen asked.

"Liu Shuyue."

"Oh! Spending New Year here, your family doesn’t mind?"

"I don’t have a family..."

"They don’t mind, because her parents went on a trip abroad and plan to spend New Year’s overseas. So she came here to find me for some fun." Chen Xuan interrupted before she could finish.

Lin Qing’s backstory was that her parents were not around. If Liu Shuyue had the same story, it would be too strange. How could all of one’s friends are alone and without a home!

"Spending New Year’s abroad?" Dad Chen realized, "Your parents are quite trendy."

"Yes." Liu Shuyue quickly accepted Chen Xuan’s new setup.

"No worries, since you’re here, treat this as your home. It’s New Year’s... the more, the merrier! You all chat first; I’ll check what fruits are in the fridge."

Dad Chen chuckled as he got up and slipped into the kitchen.

"What’s going on?" Once inside, he said to Mom Chen, "What exactly is Chen Xuan doing in Jiang City? Why are all his friends stunningly beautiful?"

"Wasn’t he finding a temporary job to ease his mind after resigning? I know as much as you do." She rolled her eyes, "Besides, this is good. I was worried he wouldn’t find a girlfriend." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Having one is a good thing, but having two... something seems off..."

"Why think so much? Go prepare the fruit!" Mom Chen urged.

Admittedly, the more the merrier; it’d been a long time since Chen Xuan celebrated New Year like this. In the afternoon, he first taught Liu Shuyue to play mahjong, then pulled out his childhood NES console for turns playing Super Mario.

During dinner, everyone sat in a circle, eating and watching the New Year’s Gala.

Chen Xuan never thought he’d watch the Gala in his lifetime, but it was quite fun with company.

Liu Shuyue watched with relish.

And Lin Qing, she might have been watching TV, or she might’ve been online—it wasn’t hard for her to multitask.

And thus, the lively New Year passed.

Chen Xuan originally planned to return to Jiang City around the fifth or sixth day, but got unexpected news on the first day of the New Year.

"Jiang Siqi updated her status!" Lin Qing held her phone up to him.

It showed several photos of Jiang City, along with a short statement, "I’m back! Does anyone still remember me? This business trip has worn me out!"

The update was two minutes ago.

"Wait..." Chen Xuan suddenly thought of a key question, "Hadn’t the Dimensional Limit Mechanism’s execution team been exploring in Paris World before? Now that the future has drastically changed, can they feel this difference?"