Chapter 168: Must say, watching this makes my conscience ache a bit

Chapter 168 I gotta say, watching this actually made me feel a little guilty!

Through sheer tenacity, the group managed to wear down the monster.

Unlike in the original story, they didn’t rely on items like itching powder. Instead, they achieved this purely through raw strength.

It wasn’t that itching powder couldn’t be used—when survival was at stake, people would dare to do anything, from scattering itching powder to even flinging urine or boiling waste if necessary.

Compared to that, itching powder was practically nothing!

But since this was meant to be practice, relying on items was out of the question.

After a night of fierce battle, as the red sun rose over the eastern horizon, the monster finally collapsed.

When it first arrived, ugly as it was, it still looked imposing and majestic, exuding an aura of undeniable strength.

But now, as it fell, its eyes the size of lanterns stared blankly, and you could almost see a hint of relief in its gaze.

From the moment the battle began, its emotions had shifted rapidly and intensely—no acting, pure emotion, real feelings.

From fury, to amusement, to rage, to the outraged disbelief of *You’re cheating, this isn’t fair!*

From initial disdain, seeing them swarm like a ragtag bunch it could crush effortlessly,

To later abandoning thoughts of killing them out of anger and instead trying to flee.

Then realizing escape was impossible, with no chance at all, it resolved to drag them down with it.

Only to realize it couldn’t even drag anyone to the grave, leaving it with the tragic despair of a cornered beast—*I can’t believe I’m dying to you lot!*

Finally, it devolved into: *Damn it, you’re just chipping away at me! Can’t you make it quick and spare me the torment?*

Monster lives matter!

“…I gotta say, watching this actually made me feel a little guilty!”

Having witnessed the entire ordeal, Sheng Qingquan felt a weird pang of guilt. But then he recalled the atrocities the monster had committed in the past, and soon, his resolve stiffened again.

"Can’t be helped. What goes around comes around—this is just its just deserts!"

As Sheng Qingquan mused, the crowd broke into cheers at the sight of the fallen boss.

"Finally dead! Ugh, my sword’s tip is practically blunted!"

"My two hammers were sparking from overuse—you don’t hear me complaining!"

"Nice, the fight’s over! Can we eat now?! I came here full, but after a whole night of fighting, if that thing hadn’t died, I’d have starved to death!"

"No kidding, battles drain you!"

"I’m starving too. By the end, I was running on rage—pretending it was my boss I was hacking at. A worker’s resentment is scarier than any ghost."

"Am I the only one who got more pumped the longer it went? When the monster finally dropped, I swear I heard the victory fanfare in my head: *BOSS defeated! All participants gain +100% EXP!*"

"It’s dead, hahahaha! I’m amazing, I’m incredible. I’m splurging on that entire lipstick collection I’ve been hesitating to buy!"

"My hands are throbbing, that bastard's scales were insanely tough. But tough or not, we still wrecked it! So happy!"

"Dead tired and starving, but man, what a rush!"

...

The group was hyped out of their minds, their eyes blazing with crazy intensity, faces red with adrenaline.

They were stoked, but still kept their guard up.

A far cry from their earlier recklessness.

After watching the monster collapse, they talked the biggest game, yet didn’t rush to claim their victory. Instead, they cautiously approached—making sure to double-tap it first.

Even after hacking the mangled corpse to bits, they still didn’t dare relax.

"Wait, which one of you’s the coroner? Quick, you’re the professional—check if it’s really dead!"

"What if it’s faking?"

Though only the forensic expert was called, several others stepped forward.

"I’m a doctor."

"I’ve got EMT training!"

"We’re professionals too!"

Hell, even if it’s not human, it’s still alive. And after practicing on half-demons and demons lately, they might not be able to treat non-humans, but determining life or death? No problem.

Indeed, the monster was properly dead!

With the all-clear, the crew went wild—the same guys who’d been whining about food completely forgot about eating.

They whooped, hugged, and lost their damn minds.

Some glanced up at the eaves, but no one dared act recklessly. Instead, they mobbed the Instructor standing nearby, getting yeeted like a ragdoll into the air.

The place went nuts.

With the monster dead, loot popped into existence.

Sheng Qingquan could tell it was properly dead—their inspection hadn’t been wrong. So why rain on their parade?

As for the debrief? Watching the Instructor being chewed out later, Sheng Qingquan figured—

Well, the Instructor would chew them out later.

By the time the group burned off their hype and calmed down, they looked up at the eaves again—only to find them empty.

The figure there had already slipped away unnoticed.

Cleanup crew’s problem now; no need for him to worry. His task was complete. Returning home, the loot plopped right into his palm.

"Alright, what’ve we got?"

Sheng Qingquan couldn't help but speculate.

"Could it be the monster's power to grow stronger by absorbing faith?"

If this was the new ability he gained!

The staff could barely contain their excitement. Wouldn’t Sheng Qingquan become unstoppable?

Okay, calling him "invincible" might be pushing it.

But his ability to grow infinitely was a sure thing.

If they ever faced an unbeatable enemy, at the critical moment, they could simply make the matter public, showcase Sheng Qingquan's credentials, and reveal his identity as the Foundation Establishment Master and the foremost figure on Tianlan Star.

Seriously, no god could compete with him.

The people’s faith... would flood in like wedding congratulations.

Even if Sheng Qingquan started as a nobody, this method could elevate him into a true deity.

Possessing divine-level power.

This is it—this has to be the one!

The staff muttered prayers under their breath.

This ability would be a game-changer!

"But the drawbacks seem quite obvious too," someone suddenly voiced a differing opinion.

Nobody really got how faith boosted strength or smarts,

but they had all read plenty of Immortal Cultivation and supernatural novels, dropping a third of their paychecks on novel subscriptions every month.

Without government subsidies footing the bill, they probably wouldn’t have been able to save any money.

But the investment paid off.

Sure, most of it was made-up, but some weirdly matched reality—elements that could even align with real-world situations.

If they hadn’t vetted these writers, they’d think the authors had cheat codes.

Faith cultivation and worship-based ascension were basically the same deal.

With faith, you’re golden.

But lose faith, and you’re back to square one, no matter how OP you were.

If it were just a simple regression in cultivation, that would be manageable—they could always start over.

The scary part? Potential backlash.

This was a future they absolutely did not want to see.

It’d be like Tianlan Star shooting itself in the foot.

Were they worried the aliens would think the 'easy targets' weren’t easy enough, so they decided to soften them up first?

Beyond Tianlan Star’s top-tier fighter status, everyone just wanted Sheng Qingquan to thrive.

In this world, good people ought to get their due.

Although the faith-based power boost was substantial and tempting, the downsides were too harsh.

The staff couldn't help but shake their heads, wishing for alternatives.

"Perhaps there are other better options out there!"

"At the very least, it shouldn’t come with hidden dangers."

The souvenir items transformed into a streak of radiance and merged into his body. After a while, Sheng Qingquan opened his eyes, taken aback.

"It’s actually the ability to craft dreams!"

When he'd slain that Nightmare, Sheng Qingquan had indeed acquired this ability.

But he wasn’t a Nightmare, so even with the Nightmare’s core, what he could actually do with it was extremely limited.

Normally, absorbing the Nightmare’s core should have granted him the ability to craft dreams.

However, because they weren’t of the same species, Sheng Qingquan could only slightly influence people’s sleep—giving folks either restless nights or deeper sleep.

That was pretty much the extent of it.

But now.

Sheng Qingquan clearly felt he had fully mastered this ability.

Dreams were now his personal sandbox; he could manipulate them however he pleased.

Every sleeping person would be like putty in his hands, to be arranged as he wished.

Had Sheng Qingquan not leveled up along the way, building up his mental fortitude, he might have let it go to his head by now.

"No wonder that monster, despite its low intelligence, lived large right up until its bad luck caught up."

"It wasn’t just luck in avoiding heavy hitters or its own fighting chops!"

As usual, to test his new skill, Sheng Qingquan contacted the Liaison and found volunteers willing to act as guinea pigs.

Many staff members were lining up to volunteer, but considering the issue of willpower—while the staff’s willpower was commendable, the battle-hardened soldiers had the clear edge in this regard.

For an experiment, the firmer the willpower, the more evident the results would be.

Thus, Sheng Qingquan returned to the training ground.

By now, the monster’s corpse had long been cleared away, and the area given a full scrub-down.

Those who had participated in the battle had been sent to a hotel for a victory bash.

After the bash, they still had a full plate—like debriefings and sit-downs with professional psychologists. So, they were out of the picture for a while.

The soldiers, however, were all still there.

Upon learning what Sheng Qingquan intended to do, everyone was enthusiastic—even those who had been utterly humiliated at his hands.

Everyone had mentally prepared themselves to fall asleep immediately, since the skill was about controlling dreams, right?

You gotta fall asleep first to dream—duh!

So when they dutifully hit the bunks, even tucking themselves in to stay warm, and were just about to close their eyes to sleep—

Sheng Qingquan stopped them.

"Don’t sleep yet."

"You don’t need to get up either, just stay lying down, but fight to stay awake. If you’re the type who falls asleep too easily as soon as you hit the bed, then get up first and grab some foam pads. If that’s not enough, have a couple of guys spot you."

???

The troops were confused.

Why? Ditch the beds for foam pads?

But obeying orders was instinct.

Sheng Qingquan held no official rank, but everyone present knew it was by choice, not because he lacked the qualifications.

Command had made it clear—Sheng Qingquan’s words carried the same weight as military orders.

So the soldiers complied without question.

Training bases were stacked with foam pads, so gathering them was easy.

The moment the foam pads hit the floor, one man dropped like a rock onto them with a dull thud.

"Holy crap, Sarge? Sarge, what’s wrong?"

"Did he just have a medical episode?"

"What kind of illness?"

"Never heard of the Sarge having any health issues. His family’s all healthy as hell, and he’s always been fit too—no hereditary conditions or old injuries."

For a moment, the soldiers freaked out. One of them bolted to grab the med-scanner from the dorm.

Then, as if struck by a realization, someone asked, "Hold up… is the Sarge just asleep?"

The scrambling guys, who had been in the middle of lifting him onto a bed, stopped dead.

Now that they thought about it…

Worry turned to bafflement as they set the Sarge back down and carefully examined his condition.

He was totally limp, face totally calm, breathing natural, and heartbeat steady.

No way he was sick.

"Dude’s straight-up asleep."

"No way—lights out in seconds?!"

The whole squad was shook. After all, when Sheng Qingquan had earlier instructed them to stick to the order no problem, they’d all followed through without hesitation.

Not only did everyone heighten their vigilance, but some even took out medicated oil from the medical kit and applied it.

They didn’t just dab it under their noses—they boldly slathered a thick layer right beneath their eyes.

The burn was so fierce that tears streamed down their faces.

Forget feeling sleepy—there was no way they could doze off now.

So, only one thing made sense.

Everyone turned to Sheng Qingquan.

This power was even handier than they had imagined!

At first, they’d figured that dream manipulation, while powerful-sounding, was too limited.

It could only be used when the enemy was asleep—if the enemy remained awake, the skill would be useless.

But if it could now straight-up knock enemies out without needing to bash them over the head…

Holy hell!

As they looked at their squad leader, who was cool as a cucumber despite the eye-stinging balm, they felt awe for Sheng Qingquan’s new ability.

In reality, this wasn’t solely the effect of the newly acquired ability—or at least, not entirely.

The newly obtained dream control ability had merged with the Demon Core previously obtained from the Nightmare, resulting in a synergy where one plus one equaled ten.

The two complemented each other, amplifying their effects.

Before, Sheng Qingquan could make people fall asleep, but the ability wasn’t strong—it was comparable to taking melatonin, or at best, sleeping pills.

But now? It was like Wuxia-style knockout powder!

The effect was instantaneous!

There was no gradual process—people just collapsed straight away.

If Sheng Qingquan had previously been limited to running a clinic for insomniacs to make ends meet, now, if he had ill intentions, he could easily clean house with this ability.

He could hit the top of the food chain overnight.

This power not only made it easy for him to snatch folks off the street but also to commit burglaries. He wouldn’t even need to check if the residents were home or asleep.

He could just put ’em under.

Not only could he steal valuables without ’em batting an eye, but he could also ransack an entire house and drag the owner out for a walk of shame—all without them noticing.

They might not even realize the severity of the situation when awakened by stares and gossip the next day, thinking they had just sleepwalked.

Just imagining this, the soldiers couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Thank their lucky stars this ability was in Sheng Qingquan’s hands.

If it had fallen into someone else’s… —yikes.

Wait—whoa, dark. They had just helped apprehend a robber who went rogue with his powers not long ago. They were spiraling.

The soldiers quickly shook it off and continued watching how this played out.

Sheng Qingquan activated his skill again, and the troops gathered around the squad leader noticed that as he slept, his face suddenly broke into a grin. He even rolled over and let out a goofy laugh.

Must’ve been one hell of a good dream.

But the next moment, the happiness on the squad leader's face vanished instantly. His face twisted up like he’d bitten into a lemon, and he winced over and over.

A short while later, his expression returned to calm.

Just when they thought the show was over, they suddenly heard the squad leader thrust out his hand like he was handing something off.

"Xiao Zhang, here’s an orange for you. This thing’s crazy sweet! Never tasted an orange this sweet and juicy in my life!"

"I didn’t share it with anyone else—just secretly gave it to you."

"Ain’t I the best?!"

The squad leader suddenly smacked his lips and began talking in his sleep.

Xiao Zhang, who had been standing nearby nervously watching over the squad leader, snorted in exasperation upon hearing this.

"Gee, thanks a lot! You’re so good to me!"

"Gotta single me out, don’t ya?"

A sweet orange? If that orange wasn’t sour enough to peel paint, he’d eat his own boots!

Xiao Zhang filed this away for payback when the squad leader’s expression suddenly changed again—from playful to dead serious.

"Xiao Zhang, I’ve got your six—move it!"

"Get that intel home!"

"Oh come on! This shit again?!" Xiao Zhang cursed, his eyes burning as he tore up the mental note he’d just made.

The guy might be an ass, but he was a real brother.

The kind who’d risk his life to save you when it mattered.

The squad leader began flailing like a wild man, his eyes darting rapidly beneath his eyelids, arms and legs pumping like a flipped beetle.

Normally, if someone was having a nightmare, they’d wake up screaming by now.

But the squad leader remained trapped in the nightmare, unable to break free.

Soon, sweat pooled on the olive-drab mat beneath him, leaving dark patches.

Sheng Qingquan noped out fast and quickly released his control.

The squad leader abruptly sat up, then lunged forward—still in the posture of shielding his comrades, trying to hold back the enemy to buy them time.

If not for Xiao Zhang and the other soldiers reacting quickly to catch him, the squad leader would have thrown himself right off the foam mat, likely landing hard and eating concrete.

Given the force of his lunge, that fall would’ve hurt.

Seeing Xiao Zhang and the other comrades in front of him, with clean clothes and intact limbs, and then looking around at the surroundings, the team leader finally came to his senses.

He remembered what had actually happened.

The team leader plopped down onto the cushioned mat, rubbing his temples with an exhausted but relieved look. "So it was just a dream!"

At the beginning of the dream, he had actually been aware that it was a dream.

So he tried to wake up, and in the dream, he did "wake up."

He thought he had truly woken up.

Who knew it was a dream inside a dream?

The dream version of him had woken up, but the real him was still asleep.

"It felt so real!"

"Even now, I can still taste the sourness of the orange in my mouth, and the smell of blood and gunpowder from the battle still lingers in my nose."

"The feeling of blood splattering on my face was especially vivid."

"Even now, my face still feels wet and sticky." As he spoke, the team leader wiped his face—only to find a bright streak of blood on his hand.

Shit, he was really hurt!

Thinking back carefully, in the dream, he had been slashed across the face by a knife in the end.

Sheng Qingquan had actually controlled the content of the dream, not pushing it too far. Otherwise, the team leader would’ve woken up with more than just a minor scratch on his face.

The team leader took the medical device handed to him by Xiao Zhang, patched up the wound, and then stood up.

He described what had happened in detail, and everyone understood the process.

But the soldiers weren’t deterred.

Xiao Zhang was the first to step forward, saying the experiment should go on—now it was his turn.

Sheng Qingquan was a fair person.

Earlier, he had made Xiao Zhang eat an extremely sour orange in the team leader’s dream.

Now, it was Xiao Zhang’s turn to get payback in his own dream.

So the team leader soon noticed that after Xiao Zhang fell asleep, he suddenly began rubbing his hands together, grinning slyly. "That was your sister visiting last time, right?"

"Your sister’s really pretty, team leader. She’s single, right? Well, you know me—I’m right under your nose, so I’m totally trustworthy."

"I’m not the type to fool around, and I don’t have any bad habits."

"I don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t gamble, no shady business—my health is great, and my physique is absolutely solid!" With that, Xiao Zhang proudly pounded his chest.

The team leader’s face darkened even more than when he had faced an overwhelming enemy in his dream—his sweet little sister was now being eyed like prey.

But Xiao Zhang, still with his eyes closed, kept rambling on, "My record’s spotless."

"You already know everything about my family, even if I don’t say it."

"My parents are civil servants, we’ve got money put aside, and I’ve got some savings of my own. Unless it’s a big city like the capital, wherever your sister wants to live in the future, I can buy a place."

"My parents aren’t the nosy type either—they’d treat your sister *exactly* like their own daughter. And they wouldn’t need her to take care of them—my own parents are my responsibility."

"As for in-laws, as long as they don’t mind me, I’d step up as their son-in-law, no question."

"A son-in-law *is* half a son—I know how it works!"

"So, squad leader, cut me some slack?"

"Play matchmaker for me!"

"Hit or miss, I’ll owe you one! Whether your sister ends up liking me or not, I'll be grateful either way!"

"If I’m not her type, I won’t bother her. But if by chance she is, wouldn’t that be perfect?"

"Squad leader..."

The squad leader was *fuming*.

Sheng Qingquan quickly cut off his *mind-trick*.

"If I said it was an accident, would anyone believe me?"

"I really didn’t deliberately craft the dream content—just gave him a hint to mess with the squad leader’s head a bit."

"Just wanted him to settle a score, that’s all."

Sheng Qingquan shifted his eyes and rubbed his nose, guilty as charged.

"Well, I didn’t expect his payback to be this *savage*!"