Chapter 104: Transformation and Bar Chatter

“Not selling?”

Shen Youran was a bit surprised, but after Yan Jing promised he wouldn't sneak a bite himself, she nodded.

"As long as you know what you're doing, Xiao Yanzi."

"Then I'll go contact that person!!!"

Shen Youran ran out the door in excitement.

Now that enough money had been gathered, her plan could finally begin.

Once the Shielding Item arrived, this place would serve as the prototype for a safe house.

No mighty figures would pay attention to a forgotten corner of Ling'an like this, and the peak entities within the city wouldn't be able to detect this shielded space. It would become a true ghost zone.

From then on, Yan Jing could focus entirely on clearing Dungeons without worrying about being disturbed by trivial matters.

Once the Fortress was fully developed, everything else could be delegated to others.

Yan Jing's rating from this recent Dungeon only fueled Shen Youran's anticipation for their bright future.

...

After Shen Youran left, Yan Jing took out the bottle of Fear Original Fluid.

Without him needing to say a word, the sapling curled inside his body began performing a highly sycophantic dance.

This time, it conveyed much more than usual.

It insisted it could process the fluid without any accidents.

It also expressed absolute submission to Yan Jing.

...

This was the first time Yan Jing had sensed such strong subjective consciousness from the Fear Tree.

Ignoring its antics, Yan Jing closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and quietly felt the connection between them.

In a trance, he seemed to return to the space where he had initially chosen his Day Selection Ritual.

He was once again before that pitch-black great curtain, with the same cushion and incense burner.

The only difference was the shivering little sapling next to the incense burner.

Yan Jing pictured the bottle of Fear Original Fluid in his mind. Soon, a desire to devour it emanated from the great curtain.

Although those figures didn't surface on the great curtain again, the implication was clear: it wanted Yan Jing to offer the fluid as a Ritual.

Yan Jing opened his eyes and exited the space.

Naturally, he couldn't use the Fear Original Fluid as a Ritual.

But since the great curtain wanted the Fear Original Fluid as a Ritual, it meant the item was still under the great curtain's control.

Thus, he released the phantom image of the Fear Tree.

Instantly, the Fear Tree trembled with excitement. It had long since integrated with Yan Jing, and right now, he could clearly feel its internal thrill and gratitude.

After reaffirming its loyalty, it extended a withered branch and touched the fluid.

The fluid inside the bottle depleted at a visible rate.

Meanwhile, the Fear Sapling's excitement gradually subsided.

It seemed to be concentrating on digesting the liquid.

The entire process didn't take long—just a little over ten minutes.

Behind Yan Jing, a purple light bloomed once more. Accompanied by sharp screams, the Fear Tree stretched its body.

At first glance, it didn't look much different—only slightly taller, and its originally listless dark-red leaves seemed a bit more vigorous.

"It doesn't seem to have changed much. If I'd known, I would've sold it for money,"

Yan Jing remarked as he examined the Fear Tree.

Unexpectedly, this statement provoked the Fear Tree's dissatisfaction. It quivered continuously, urging Yan Jing to look closer.

Finally, under careful observation, he noticed a subtle change:

Beneath one of the Fear Tree's main branches, a vibrant new sprout had emerged.

Its leaves were fresh and tender, and it even bore a tiny flower bud.

But what shocked Yan Jing the most was the faint trace of black light blooming from that bud.

"Black..."

Yan Jing was genuinely startled this time.

Even a mere sliver meant the Fear Tree's quality had breached the bottleneck of the Day Selection Ritual, evolving past purple.

It had squeezed into the ranks of black-purple!

At the same time, the Fear Tree conveyed its grievances and dissatisfaction to Yan Jing:

In truth, its transformation was far greater than it appeared. Due to Yan Jing's own Tier being insufficient, it couldn't advance any further. The bottleneck of the Day Selection Ritual stood in its way, so even with its immense new strength, it couldn't fully display it.

It could only temporarily store part of that power away.

Yan Jing blinked.

So he was the one to blame?

He coughed lightly. Ignoring the Fear Tree's dissatisfaction, he mobilized his weird energy to sense its abilities.

First, the Fear Fruit's recovery capabilities had improved, and its resistance to external powers had increased from 20% to 40%. Additionally, the enhancements to strength, speed, and stamina had all been upgraded.

Next was the Fear Thorn. Although he didn't summon it directly, he could feel it had grown much tougher; it had likely undergone some sort of evolution as well.

Most importantly, the storage capacity for both abilities had increased from three to five uses.

It was a massive qualitative leap.

Dispersing the Fear Tree's phantom, Yan Jing gathered his thoughts.

Now that he had cleared the Dungeon, his next one wouldn't arrive for another month. Right now, the most crucial matters were the Cameraman's unfulfilled wish and Mantou's favorability.

With that in mind, he closed his eyes and started the Ghoulish Life Role-playing Game.

[Loading Character...]

[Have a pleasant journey]

...

...

Despite Yan Jing's tardiness that morning, Rose Bar opened as usual.

When the lunch break arrived, the bar was occupied by Yan Jing's group and a few regulars, just like any other day.

However, today seemed to have the most complete turnout.

Not only were the two regulars from Virtue Bridge present, but also Tiger, An Ze, and even...

Yan Jing carried a glass of wine to a seat in the very back.

"Your special Margarita, officer."

"Mhm."

Lu Miao didn't look up, continuing to read the book in her hands.

According to An Ze, Lu Miao had been like this since yesterday—the book simply never left her hands.

Setting the glass down, Yan Jing didn't return behind the bar. Instead, he sat at the large round table in the middle.

Today, apart from Lu Miao, all the customers were gathered at the round table, engaging in their respective amusements.

Old Master Liu and Chen Nian were currently competing in a headcount game.

The rules of the game were simple:

Sit at the table and count how many people were inside the bar across the street.

Neither could leave their seats, and One-Eye acted as the referee, heading over to verify the exact number.

Such a game shouldn't have taken long. The catch was that while Old Master Liu and Chen Nian only needed a few seconds to declare their numbers, it took One-Eye over half an hour to trudge across the street and finish counting.

Yan Jing shook his head. He had a feeling Chen Nian would lose again this time.

Chen Nian always held back a little.

Next to the two men, Mantou was playing rock-paper-scissors with Rose.

Since Rose temporarily couldn't speak, Mantou had to call it out for both of them:

"R—Rock... paper... sci—scissors... shoot..."

Although this was no different from a sprinter firing their own starting pistol, the two still had a blast.

Ever since Rose lost her voice, she seemed to have found a common wavelength with Mantou, and their relationship was growing closer by the day.

Sitting at the table, Yan Jing looked toward the man with a vacant stare and spoke up.

"Mr. Cheng, the banquet starts tomorrow. How is Elder Kindness doing?"

After spending some time together, Yan Jing had learned the names of the two regulars from Virtue Bridge: one was Cheng Xin, the other was Shan Shan.

"Still unconscious,"

Cheng Xin replied. "Elder Honesty will likely take charge of the banquet this time."

The kind-faced man, Shan Shan, nodded.

"Elder Honesty is already at the Second Tier. With him around, there shouldn't be any accidents."

"Hard to say."

Cheng Xin took a sip of his wine.

"Didn't you see what happened to Yu Mu, the manager of Dandelion Manor? She's at the Second Tier too, and look what state she's in now."

"They had to dispatch two more Second Tier experts overnight just for this banquet."

Shan Shan nodded in agreement.

"To be honest, Miss Yu is quite pitiful. I heard Sleepland is behind this incident. Yu Mo was hypnotized by someone from Sleepland, which is why all this happened."

"That's true."

Cheng Xin nodded. "Rumor has it that Meng Shuangsheng, the deputy chief of Sleepland, paid a massive price to finally settle the matter privately with the Sun-Swallowing Tower."

Finally arriving at the topic he was waiting for, Yan Jing chimed in.

"Hypnosis? Is there a way to resist methods that target the mind? It can't be impossible to counter, right?"

Regardless of who that person from the desire pathway was, he would have to face them eventually. Yan Jing wanted to ask while everyone was gathered, drawing on their collective wisdom to find a viable solution.

"My method is to set up a fixed defense mechanism,"

Cheng Xin explained. "Techniques that target the mind essentially drag you into an inescapable environment."

"At that point, you have to find an opportunity to break the illusion."

"For example, I ask myself a specific question twice every day: Would you lie for a certain person or a certain thing?"

"If my answer is yes, it means I've already fallen under their spell. Even if I don't notice the anomaly the first time, asking this daily ensures my subconscious eventually catches on and finds a chance to break out."

"There's no need for so much trouble."

At that moment, Old Master Liu, who was waiting for One-Eye to return, spoke up.

"It's actually very simple. Just take a two-step approach. Step one: absolute control over your body, including your brain."

"This way, when the opponent affects you, you'll immediately notice—as long as their Tier isn't vastly higher than yours."

"Then, before they can influence you, just blow their head off!"

Beside him, Chen Nian also seemed slightly interested in the topic. "I've encountered pathways targeting the neural network before."

"How did you defend against them?"

Cheng Xin asked.

"I shut down my neural network."

Chen Nian gave his answer.

???

This answer left everyone at the table utterly bewildered, but Chen Nian clearly had no intention of elaborating and simply went back to his drink.

"I don't have an answer to that."

An Ze took a large gulp of sparkling wine, then lowered his voice.

"But I know what the Boss would do."

"What would she do?"

Cheng Xin also lowered his voice.

"The Boss went on a mission to Sleepland before. The culprit tried to hypnotize her,"

An Ze explained. "And as a result, heh..."

"After the Boss was hypnotized, her body automatically determined that she was violating the Order she always followed, and she directly ripped that guy's head off."

Hearing this, the corner of Yan Jing's eye twitched imperceptibly.

Answering oneself honestly, controlling the brain, shutting down the neural network, automatic judgments...

Perhaps it was only in moments like this that he truly realized he was in the Inner World.

No, wait. Even the Inner World shouldn't be this outrageous, right...?

Right then, Tiger chimed in meekly from the side.

"Mr. Yi Ji, I... I think I know a way."

"Oh?"

Yan Jing looked at Tiger. "Please go ahead, Mr. Tiger."

Tiger spoke slowly.

"Zebra said that the former Mr. San once taught them: if someone tries to use mental techniques on you..."

"Just use an even stronger mental technique to crush theirs."