A sharp, searing pain jolted Feng Qi awake.
His bloodshot eyes fluttered open, greeted by the all-too-familiar sight of his dormitory ceiling.
He sat up, groaning slightly, and reached for the mental soothing agent he had left on the coffee table beforehand. Tilting his head back, he took a deep gulp.
A cool sensation spread through his mind, easing the torment of his lingering negative emotions.
It took a long moment before he finally let out a deep breath.
The problem of accumulating negative emotions remained unresolved. He would need some time to recuperate before entering the future dream again.
Otherwise, the emotional backlash would only continue to build up, leading to inevitable eruptions.
And that was something he absolutely could not afford.
Losing control could mean doing something irreversible.
[To be honest, I sensed intense emotional fluctuations from Shadow Lord as well. That guy must've had a hellish childhood… But your negativity runs even deeper than his. I don't know if Shadow Lord ever overcame it, but you clearly have.]
"Just means I have an unshakable will." Feng Qi grinned.
He got up from the sofa and made his way to the desk, flipping open his notebook.
His memories were still overlapping, so he carefully reviewed the previously recorded timeline information first.
After flipping to a blank page, he picked up his pen and began writing.
This war timeline had been a major success in gathering intelligence.
First Intelligence Gain: The captive known as Tian Shu at the Tiger Soul Research Institute's sub-base was, in fact, a warrior from the Path of Ascension. Through Tian Shu's account, he had uncovered the truth about the Path of Ascension—it was humanity's first line of defense against domain invasions.
The warriors who had mysteriously disappeared over the years hadn't died.
They had gone to the Path of Ascension.
Tian Shu had once been a guardian of Main Route No. 32 along that path.
Note: Tian Shu has fused with part of the Pillar God's power, which causes him to fall into frequent states of instability. There may be a way to help him break free from this condition. If successful, he would undoubtedly become a steadfast ally.
Second Intelligence Gain: The major energy research institutes in the western district of Star City had already fallen under the control of the Silver Moon Clan.
Feng Qi's brows furrowed slightly as he wrote this down.
He had previously assumed that the Silver Moon Clan's arrival in the human world was still far off.
But this war timeline had proven otherwise.
The vanguard of the Silver Moon Clan had already infiltrated Star City long ago, waiting for the perfect opportunity to seize control.
Their goal in targeting the energy research institutes was to construct spatial teleportation arrays.
The sudden descent of the Silver Moon Clan in this timeline was clearly the result of Yin Ling and the other vanguard members identifying a weak point in Star City's defenses—this was the best moment to strike.
Meaning, the Silver Moon Clan's invasion was not bound to a fixed point in time.
As long as the opportunity arose, Yin Ling and the vanguard could activate a teleportation array at any moment, allowing the full forces of the Silver Moon Clan to descend.
If he hadn't opened this war timeline, he never would've realized this.
The enemy had hidden too well.
Up until now, he had only known that the Silver Moon Clan would one day arrive, but there had been no direct intelligence linking them to an active presence.
[These domain forces are staking the future of their entire species on their strategies. Of course, they're going to stay hidden. Good thing you have unlimited trial runs, or else you'd be dying left and right without even knowing why.]
Feng Qi already had a plan for dealing with the Silver Moon Clan.
Now that he had located their operatives within the energy research institutes, there was no way he was going to let them off the hook.
Once the Silver Moon Clan was eradicated, Suction Cup would live.
One thousand five hundred years later, Suction Cup would still be alive and bouncing around happily.
[Looks like Suction Cup's brain-dead version is getting scrapped. The new patch buffs Suction Cup's stats—officially promoted to the developer's favorite child.]
Ignoring the narrator's jabs, Feng Qi continued recording more intelligence findings.
Third Intelligence Gain: War against Future City provided the following intelligence:
1. Through Mo's explanation, it was confirmed that Little Black was actually a rules-based entity (exact details unknown).
2. It was confirmed that Black Shadow was a Psionic Clan traitor who had secretly established a technological research institute to influence the future.
Note: Killing Black Shadow would actually be quite simple. There was no need to initiate a war timeline. If he simply handed Black Shadow's coordinates over to the Psionic Clan, they would take care of it (using one enemy against another). However, doing so would provide no new intelligence.
3. The Psionic Clan's hidden strength was likely far greater than previously estimated. The clan had access to numerous Miracle Items.
Known Miracle Items thus far: Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault, Five-Sense Suppression, Curse Countdown (the power that killed him and later killed Mu Qing at the end of the war timeline), Temporal Rewind.
4. It was discovered that humanity also had absolute powerhouses who wielded Miracle Items. Jiang Nanqiu was one such figure. He possessed a Miracle Item with five distinct abilities and was immensely powerful.
Note: The foundation of human cultivation studies remains weak. Most of humanity's powerhouses have risen due to rare encounters or mutations. Pure cultivation-based powerhouses remain extremely rare. The field of cultivation studies still has a long way to go and requires extensive knowledge expansion to build a solid foundation.
5. Based on Black Shadow's account, the Blue-Skin Clan was classified by the Psionic Clan as "Beta-Test Creatures."
It is speculated that the Blue-Skin Clan collects Miracle Items through life projection, laying out a long-term plan for the future. This explains why Blue-Skin creatures constantly receive mysterious signals, show no fear of death, and why, upon dissection, no functional organs are found within their bodies.
In essence, Blue-Skin beings are mere projections. Their true bodies remain hidden in some Domain Field, remotely controlling these projected avatars.
For now, I will tentatively name the Miracle Item that allows the Blue-Skin Clan to perform life projection—"The Player."
Judging by the importance the Psionic Clan places on the Blue-Skin Clan, their potential must be enormous. Their true strength might far exceed my expectations. However, current intelligence on them remains limited. Neither the present timeline nor the future database offers detailed information on them.
6. Mo's identity is extremely mysterious. All that is known is that he was once imprisoned in the Psionic Clan's Infinite Research Laboratory, classified as Specimen No. 1.
Through my conversations with Mo, I learned that Black Shadow was one of the future factions he secretly supported. His goal was to use Black Shadow to place a bet on the future—whether for personal gain or some other purpose remains unclear.
Mo reminds me of Mu Yan.
Fundamentally, both of them are searching for individuals with the potential to change the future.
But unlike Mu Yan, Mo does not side with either humanity or domain creatures. He simply invests in anyone he deems worthy, regardless of race.
What I still don't understand is—how does Mo ensure that the individuals he invests in won't betray him once they grow stronger?
The preliminary effectiveness of the virtual game Dawn was successfully tested.
In this war timeline, the Dawn Army was able to achieve victory. One of the key factors behind this success was the Dawn game.
It is now confirmed that Dawn has significant potential to aid humanity's growth, especially in combat training and scientific research. In a virtual environment, these aspects can be developed with nearly zero cost.
Note: If human society's internal infiltrators are not completely eradicated, the promotion of Dawn will face immense resistance. It may even trigger a coordinated extermination attempt from multiple domain factions.
This game directly threatens the interests of domain forces operating in the shadows. Humanity's rapid rise is the last thing they want to see.
Feng Qi paused his pen.
The potential of Dawn, this Super Virtual Game, had already been proven in this war timeline.
However, Dawn was fundamentally different from Flesh Sacrifice.
Flesh Sacrifice was a cultivation technique that could be used by both humans and domain creatures.
Many domain factions were actually eager to see its future development. In fact, Xiao Can's kin had even delivered Flesh Sacrifice to their homeland, allowing their clansmen to train in a technique with limitless potential.
But Dawn was different.
The game's framework was designed exclusively for humans.
The virtual player models were based entirely on human anatomy—human meridians, organs, and energy pathways. Domain creatures had no way of utilizing it.
A Super Technology that solely benefited humanity was something domain factions would never tolerate. They would definitely sabotage it—both in secret and through direct action.
Through this war timeline, Feng Qi also discovered something else.
Many domain factions hiding within human society possessed the raw power to destroy human civilization completely.
Take the Psionic Clan, for example.
In this war timeline, the Psionic Clan had already demonstrated that their strength far exceeded humanity's.
And yet, they hadn't wiped humanity out.
Feng Qi believed there were two reasons for this.
The first reason—which he deemed the most important—was that human society functioned like a Dark Forest.
Various domain factions were using humanity as a cover, lurking in the shadows, unable to see each other. As long as they remained hidden, everyone could coexist peacefully.
But if humanity disappeared, every faction would be forced into the open as direct competitors.
At that point, there would be no more alliances—only a brutal battle for survival.
The existence of human civilization had unintentionally created a buffer zone, allowing all the infiltrating domain factions to develop in relative peace.
To the domain factions, humanity itself wasn't important.
What mattered was that human civilization served as a veil—a shield that prevented open warfare between them.
This was one of the key reasons why the Domain Weak Tribe Alliance chose to integrate into human society rather than annihilate it.
In essence, human civilization was a barrier of darkness, concealing all these factions from each other.
If that barrier ever collapsed, what awaited them was total war.
The second reason—many humans had already become pawns of various domain factions, secretly harvesting resources on their behalf.
Future City was a perfect example.
The City Defense Forces fought to protect Future City.
But in reality, they were merely shielding the domain factions lurking in the shadows.
For multiple reasons, these powerful infiltrators had chosen not to flip the table and destroy humanity outright.
In the past, many of these things hadn't made sense to Feng Qi.
But now, with each new piece of intelligence, the puzzle was coming together.
What once seemed illogical had suddenly become clear.
After contemplating for a moment, Feng Qi continued recording his findings.
Intelligence Gain – Pending Further Analysis.
After recording all the information from the war timeline, Feng Qi carefully reviewed it again to ensure there were no errors.
Beyond the intelligence gathered from the war timeline, this journey into the Future Dream Realm had also yielded significant findings.
The future 1500 years from now was clearly far more brutal and competitive than the present.
From what he learned in Shadow City, the future world was divided into different regions, each with its own unique designation.
For example, the intelligence sold by the green-skinned dwarf included information about the Frostburn Region.
This structure was completely different from the world of today.
After the Cataclysm, the world underwent tremendous changes. The emergence of Domain Fields not only altered the geography of some regions but even expanded their total landmass.
Before the Cataclysm, Star City, Future City, Winterfell, Victory City, and Old Day City, along with their affiliated satellite cities, all belonged to East Asia—but they weren't the entirety of the world.
After the Cataclysm, this area became known as the Eastern Region.
However, the connection between the Eastern Region and the outside world was quickly severed by Domain Fields, cutting off all communication.
The humans of the Eastern Region had attempted multiple times to break through and reestablish contact with the world beyond, but the Domain Fields blocking their path were like impassable mountains.
Repeated attempts came at a great cost, and ultimately, all efforts ended in failure.
What had become of the world outside?
There were many theories circulating online.
The most common belief was that the world beyond the Eastern Region had been completely overtaken by Domain Fields, turning into a battlefield where different factions of Domain Creatures waged endless wars.
According to this theory, all remaining humans outside the Eastern Region had long since been wiped out.
As for the actual truth, no one knew.
Perhaps, when humanity finally reopened the sea routes and reconnected land transportation, they wouldn't find fellow survivors on the other side.
Instead, they would only find more Domain Fields—and not the long-lost human civilization they had hoped for.
If the Eastern Region was truly the last surviving bastion of humanity, the implications were grim.
The world had expanded multiple times over due to the Domain Fields. Even if Feng Qi successfully eliminated all the internal threats within humanity, the battle against the Domain Fields was far from over.
Beyond their borders, there might be species wielding even more terrifying Miracle Items than the Psionic Clan, their strength beyond anything humanity had yet encountered.
Perhaps, humanity's future enemy would be a being on the level of a Pillar God.
[Stop overthinking. The future is long, and as long as your strength keeps improving, I believe you'll be able to punch a Pillar God into dust someday. Nothing can stop you from leading humanity to victory. When the era of interspecies war arrives, humanity will not just be a contender—we'll be the only winners.]
"Yeah."
Feng Qi flipped through the notes again, then closed the notebook and stood up.
He grabbed the mental soothing agent on the coffee table, took several gulps, then walked to the fridge and placed the remaining half bottle inside.
As the cooling sensation spread through his mind, he turned and left the dormitory.
Outside, the sky was just beginning to brighten, and the morning mist was gradually dispersing.
The willows by the lake swayed gently in the wind, and the crisp chirping of birds echoed through the air.
Feeling the breeze on his face and breathing in the fresh air of this world, Feng Qi suddenly felt as if he had returned from hell—as if he had been given another chance to live.
The future 1500 years ahead and the present era were like two completely different worlds.
The oppressive weight of emotions lingering in his heart was momentarily lifted.
"Good morning, Teacher Feng!"
A student carrying breakfast passed by and greeted him warmly.
Feng Qi immediately responded with a smile.
His next destination was Crimson Research Institute.
He needed to report the knowledge implanted in his brain from the Future Dream Realm.
This included:
Improvements to the latest version of the Super Virtual Game "Dawn"
Partial memory extraction technology
Psionic weapon technology
Living Combat Armor technology
These technologies would be crucial for Crimson Research Institute's development.
According to Wei Wei, these were strategic reserve technologies for the future.
If they unlocked a new war timeline, the Dawn faction's strength in the next cycle would undoubtedly surpass the previous one.
Once human society's internal infiltrators were completely eradicated, these technologies would serve as the foundation for humanity's rapid ascent.
As he walked towards the school gate, he pulled out his phone and dialed Wei Wei's number, informing her that he would be visiting the Crimson Research Institute.
Rejecting her offer to send a car for him, Feng Qi quickened his pace.
As for breakfast, he decided to eat at Crimson Research Institute.
The food there was way better than what Star City Academy had to offer!
Just as he reached the school gate, his phone rang.
Answering the call, he heard Lin Ran's lazy voice:
"Food. Now. Understand?"
"You guys go ahead. I have something to take care of."
"I think your mindset has been corrupted lately. Spill it—where are you sneaking off to?"
"Saving the world."
"Can you at least eat first before saving the world?"
"No."
"He~tui!"