Chapter 12: The World in the Corner
Is this Dawn City?
Mo Ling recalled what Stationmaster Liang had said when he first entered the monitoring station.
Dawn City must be the city above the Abyss.
Could it be that this black corner brought him out of the Abyss?
Following the path, Mo Ling walked into the Dawn City Library.
The interior of the library was still incredibly luxurious, with high ceilings and sunlight streaming through the glass windows.
This was the type of glass used in the monitoring station; it looked like tile from the outside, but was glass from the inside.
The first floor of the library was filled with many reading machines, and Mo Ling walked over to one of them.
Sitting in front of the chair, the machine humanely began to introduce its operation, and Mo Ling quickly grasped the method.
Opening the search box, Mo Ling typed in the term “Black Corner.”
The information that popped up was mostly the same as what Li Luo had found earlier.
Mo Ling then experimentally entered Li Luo’s name, but the information栏 did not pop up anything.
“Sure enough, I can’t check citizen identities.”
After thinking for a moment, Mo Ling wrote “Hunter Level” in the input field.
In that instant, countless pieces of information popped up:
“Hunters are those who explore the Abyss.”
“Originally, hunters did not have a level classification; it was a mix of fish and dragons.”
“However, as exploration of the Abyss deepened, some discovered that the Abyss had levels and descended to the second layer, bringing back an artifact called the ‘Balance of Judgment.’”
“This artifact can grant each hunter a nameplate that automatically displays the hunter level and title given to them by the Abyss in the language of the Abyss.”
“Dawn City took this opportunity to regulate the behavior of all hunters; to enter the Abyss, one must carry the nameplate for management purposes.”
“The hunter level on the nameplate increases with the depth of the Abyss reached.”
“From Level 2 Hunter onwards, titles are granted by the Abyss.”
……
So that’s it, no wonder everyone has a nameplate.
At this moment, Mo Ling had a sudden idea and walked around the Black Corner, beginning a search with the entry: “Black Hole Dizziness Memory Loss.”
The progress bar slowly moved, and soon a piece of information appeared in front of Mo Ling:
[Artifact: Dream]
[Cost: 500 grams of glass jarred Korean kimchi]
[Ability: To put the user into an unrecoverable sleep]
[Discovery Location: Earth]
[Discoverer: Zhou Ming]
……
This was an artifact that emerged at the beginning of the great disaster.
At that time, smoke rose in all corners of the world, and people were filled with fear.
On Jeju Island, a cult emerged.
—The cult of Dreams.
Of course, they did not call themselves the cult of Dreams; this was merely a term used by later generations.
This cult claimed that the current world was false, a world from a novel, artificially created.
It was necessary to escape this world and run to another world that the Creator had no mood to control.
Such ridiculous statements.
But in the climate of that time, with frequent abnormalities and bizarre Abyss creatures and artifact phenomena impacting people’s worldview, many gullible people believed them.
The cult organized its followers to visualize, imagining a constantly falling black hole.
They even printed flyers about that black hole and distributed them everywhere.
They explained to their followers that simply visualizing this black hole in their hearts while pressing 500 grams of jarred Korean kimchi under their pillows before sleeping could lead them to another world, a paradise, an uncontrollable world.
During the great disaster, there were many such cults, and this one, which one could tell was absurd at a glance, did not attract the attention of the authorities.
The officials were busy dealing with more critical matters and had no time to deal with such nonsensical cults.
However, one day, the son of a Dream Cult follower discovered he could not contact his elderly father.
Calls went unanswered, messages were ignored, and even when he reached his doorstep and knocked, no one responded.
He hurriedly opened the door and rushed into the room, only to find his father still at home.
Sleeping soundly.
A glass jar was pressed under the pillow.
As more and more reports emerged, the authorities finally took notice.
But it was too late; almost all the cultists had fallen into a death-like sleep and could no longer awaken.
No means could revive them.
When the military stormed into the Dream Cult leader’s home, they found only a smiling corpse on the bed, with a glass jar under the pillow.
The officials urgently burned those black hole flyers and encrypted the appearance of the black hole for storage.
It was thought that this would be the end, but the cleanup crew caught a madman.
That madman incessantly told the cleanup crew:
“This world is a dream!”
The cleanup crew promptly notified the research institute.
The madman recounted his experiences to the researchers:
One day, a friend gave him a flyer.
He explained the Dream Cult’s beliefs and the method of reaching another world.
Though he didn’t believe in another world, he found it amusing and decided to give it a try.
At first, he didn’t have a glass jar at home, so he used a bag to hold 500 grams of kimchi under his pillow.
After a sleep, nothing happened.
The next day, with a skeptical attitude, he bought a glass jar.
Then he operated according to his friend’s instructions.
At night, with a wave of dizziness, he felt himself being pulled into another world by the black hole in his mind.
He also lost his memory, believing that this world was real, and began his daily life in this new world.
One night, he and a friend went to a bar, where his friend told him an interesting rumor.
“As long as you look at this flyer before bed and press a 501-gram glass jar of Korean kimchi under your pillow, you will reach another world when you fall asleep!”
He looked at the flyer his friend had given him, finding it too fun!
On his way home this time, he bought a glass jar.
……
“As long as you look at this flyer before bed and press a 1997-gram glass jar of Korean kimchi under your pillow, you will reach another world when you fall asleep!”
“Will the pillow hold that? Isn’t it too much? Can I even sleep?” he asked his friend.
He began to imagine how he would sleep awkwardly.
In that instant, a sense of absurdity exploded in his heart, and countless memories surged forth.
When he realized he was dreaming, he found he could wake up.
Thus, he began to wake up continuously…
After telling his story, the madman said to the researchers: “There’s no meaning in telling you, I need to continue waking up.”
Then the madman’s face began to twist, and he struggled to open his eyes, looking as if he was holding back some great move.
When he found it ineffective, he curiously asked the researcher: “How many grams of kimchi should you put under the pillow in your world?”
“500.”
Upon hearing this, the madman stared blankly at the researcher, tears streaming down his face.
This madman, who had fallen into a dream for so long, was the discoverer of the artifact “Dream,” Zhou Ming.
In the end, the researchers categorized this incident as an artifact phenomenon.
Because the cost of that 500 grams of jarred Korean kimchi was too in line with the style of artifacts.
Although the actual artifact was never found, this incident was successfully resolved.
