Chapter 113 – The Choice Within the Grand Dreamscape
The pure white forest was completely silent. The tall, black trees stood straight as if piercing the sky. But in Xu Zhi’s eyes at this moment, the trees—which should have remained rigid and still—seemed to bend subtly toward her, as if something on her body was attracting them.
The shadows of the trees clung to her like maggots on bones, and the towering black trunks twisted, as if forming a giant dark bowl to trap her inside.
A cold sweat broke out across Xu Zhi’s back. For some reason, her subconscious screamed: Don’t let them catch you!
She began to run forward instinctively. Fortunately, she had just passed a fork in the road before leaving last time, so she didn’t need to make an immediate choice. Her mind was still foggy, her field of vision narrowly confined and veiled in mist. Even a simple action like turning her head to look behind became difficult.
She had to watch her footing carefully to avoid falling. As she ran, the only sounds she could hear were her own footsteps and breathing—danger itself remained eerily silent.
But the road soon came to an end, and she once again faced a fork in the path.
The two roads looked identical in every way, mirror images to the left and right. Even the alignment of the black trees was nearly the same. Xu Zhi came to a halt, unsure of which path to choose.
She couldn’t hesitate for long. Even just a few seconds of standing still made her feel a prickling sense of danger on her back.
But how could she choose the “right” road?
Wait, where’s the moth?
Xu Zhi vaguely remembered that in previous crises, the moth would appear to guide her toward the right path.
Left to choose on her own, she had no idea which to pick. The two paths looked exactly the same—she’d be gambling. And unless it was a last resort, she didn’t want to gamble.
Xu Zhi wasn’t the kind of person who believed she had “invincible luck.” Even if she did, she wouldn’t rely on luck to make important decisions.
Right now, the only solution she could think of was the moth. Gambling was the last resort. But how did the moth appear before?
She concentrated hard, thinking back, but her mind was still sluggish. All she could vaguely recall was that the moth had appeared when she felt panicked or afraid.
Well, I’m panicked now too!
But what else?
Was the moth’s appearance random?
Definitely not.
Xu Zhi had a strong intuition—the moth appeared for her. She just needed to remember the circumstances clearly.
Even as the black forest seemed to collapse inward like towering walls behind her, Xu Zhi didn’t panic and rush to gamble on a choice. Instead, she dug deep into her memories, trying to find the key within the extreme pressure.
Her efforts paid off. Just when the pressure peaked, it was as if a switch flipped in her mind. The fog in her thoughts dispersed, and she instantly recalled everything about herself—including how to summon the moth.
There was no time to think. She could already sense something like sharp claws nearly grasping her ankle from behind. She immediately summoned the moth, and when it fluttered its wings and chose a direction, she dashed down that path without hesitation.
Wind stirred in the air, perhaps from her own sprinting—or perhaps from the fury of the presence behind her, frustrated it had just barely missed her.
Maybe it was her imagination, but Xu Zhi felt a burning pain at her right ankle, like something had almost seared her.
Her heart pounded violently, like back when her illness used to trigger episodes of suffocating panic. Adrenaline surged, her scalp tingling. She knew—if she had remembered even a second later, she might not have made it out unscathed.
This wasn’t just choosing a path. It was betting whether she could recall how to survive.
The crisis eased somewhat. Xu Zhi noticed that each time she correctly chose a path at a fork, she seemed to pull slightly farther away from danger.
Her overheated brain began to cool, and she suddenly realized—maybe, without knowing it, she had once again made a “correct” decision.
After all, her mind now felt clearer than ever. Had she recklessly picked a path in panic, she likely wouldn’t have gained this clarity.
Maybe this was her reward for making the right choice.
Or perhaps it wasn’t the path itself, but the fact that she withstood the pressure and calmly thought it through—that was what made it the “right path.”
It wasn’t impossible.
While thinking, Xu Zhi noticed the once-white sky growing blindingly bright, as if an invisible sun were drawing nearer. She instinctively squinted as her vision blurred. When she finally sensed the light had dimmed a little and opened her eyes again, she found herself “back” in her room in the residential district.
She had awakened from the dreamscape.
This time, she didn’t forget everything. She clearly remembered everything that happened after regaining clarity within the dream.
Although the first half was still a blur, having the latter half vividly in mind was enough for Xu Zhi to understand what she had experienced in that dream.
“So, every time I advance in rank, I’m actually being tested in that pure white forest?”
Xu Zhi asked her game console.
[No. The focus is the path itself—not the test. The tests are simply the trials you inevitably encounter while walking the path.]
Xu Zhi raised an eyebrow, half-understanding:
“So… next time, the test will be similar?”
[No one knows what kind of test you’ll face next. Dangers on the path are ever-changing. It’s best not to make assumptions.]
[But one thing is certain—each one will be more dangerous than the last.]
[I can’t foresee the future, and I can’t peer into what happens in the dreamscape. Everything depends on you.]
[As always: Stay rational! As long as you stay rational, I believe you can overcome any danger.]
Xu Zhi was a little surprised.
“Wow, such trust in me?”
She vaguely remembered that early on, the narrator hadn’t shown her much trust—more like a cold, businesslike tone.
[…..Not necessarily.]
“Two-faced liar!”
[Instead of messing with me, maybe you should check what abilities you gained from this upgrade.]
At those words, Xu Zhi responded with a casual “Oh, right!”
“I almost forgot.”
She’d been so focused on questioning the dreamscape and that white forest, she hadn’t even checked her new supernatural abilities yet.
