Lord of Prayer

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In a daze, Zhou Chen heard chaos in the distance.

He walked forward for what felt like an eternity, finally reaching the edge of a vast, boundless snowfield and looking down.

Fierce flames burned half the sky red, stinging his eyes.

It was a town completely engulfed in a sea of fire. The ground had cracked open as if forming tunnels to Hell, spewing forth scorching lava that set everything ablaze. Tens of thousands of people wailed in this desperate, agonizing Purgatory. Bodies lay in pools of blood everywhere, and tragic cries filled the air.

“Mommy…” a little girl wailed, kneeling on the ground. Her mother was crushed under a pile of rubble, with only a single hand showing. Blood slowly trickled out from beneath the stone slabs. A moment later, the building collapsed, burying the little girl as well.

“Abby… Abby!” A young man, his legs crushed by rocks, grit his teeth against the excruciating pain and crawled toward a body in the distance. He cradled her, his face streaked with tears as he called her name over and over, but the girlfriend in his arms was already gone. He sat there in a daze, letting the fire consume him.

“No, no, no, no, no…” a man sobbed, holding the bodies of his wife and daughter, only to be struck and killed on the spot by a speeding car.

Countless figures scrambled and fled while cars on the streets went on a Rampage, completely disregarding whether they might kill others in the process.

In the midst of the disaster, people had completely abandoned their humanity and morals, desperate to escape at all costs.

Death and chaos spread rapidly, creating a horrific Hell on Earth.

In the haze, a blood-curdling roar of fury erupted.

Then, a blinding white light exploded, engulfing everything.

“…Zhou Chen? Zhou Chen?”

The calls gradually pulled his drifting consciousness back. Zhou Chen jolted awake from the Nightmare.

Then, his pupils constricted as he saw the flat of a greatsword slapping toward his face.

BAM!

He was swatted away like a fly, solidly embedding him into the cave wall.

“Uh… sorry.” Renie quickly withdrew her greatsword. “What happened to you? You were just standing there like you were possessed. I called your name for ages and got no response, so I decided to use a more… physical method to wake you up.”

Zhou Chen looked utterly bewildered. It took him a moment to come to his senses and climb out of the man-shaped crater in the rock wall. He touched his face and was surprised to find it damp.

’Is this… a tear?’

’What was that dream about?’ Zhou Chen wiped the dampness from his face and looked outside the cave. The light was dim; dawn was just breaking.

After a long moment, he said in a low, thoughtful voice, “I saw a town on fire. It was a very realistic Nightmare.”

“Are you under too much stress?” Renie asked.

Zhou Chen rubbed his face, let out a long breath of Turbid air, and quickly returned to his usual state. “I suspect it was some kind of Essence Resonance—something that once happened in this Restricted Area.”

Hearing this, Renie raised her fiery red eyebrows and stared at the crackling campfire, deep in thought for a long while. “That’s not impossible. The flow of time in a Restricted Area is usually bizarre. In some, it’s accelerated relative to the real World; in others, it’s slowed down; and in some, time even flows backward.

This Restricted Area is all ice and snow right now, but a civilized society might have existed here a long time ago. However, due to factors like the flow of time, that civilization was destroyed long ago. Only residual Essence drifts throughout the area, recording scenes from the past… You’ve got pretty high sensitivity. You might actually see ghosts if you go to a place with heavy yin energy.”

“That’s not exactly a good thing,” Zhou Chen sighed. He couldn’t even get a decent night’s sleep.

He went to the mouth of the cave, grabbed a handful of snow, and scrubbed his face with it, letting the icy cold shock his mind awake and sharpen his thoughts.

“I have a feeling it’s not that simple.”

“What do you mean?” Renie asked.

“Remember what the commentator said before?” Zhou Chen recalled for a moment before repeating, “Our contestants will embark on a journey full of unknowns, gathering resources, crafting equipment, surviving in the wild, competing against other contestants, and guarding against the dangers that could appear at any moment in the Restricted Area—while also gradually unearthing certain unknown truths.”

He emphasized the phrase that came after “while also.”

Renie’s expression turned slightly grim. She hadn’t actually paid any attention to that line before, figuring it was probably just some generic script for the commentator. But now, thinking about it in the context of Zhou Chen’s experience, the implications were chilling.

’This damned place doesn’t actually have some kind of unknown secret, does it?’

·

“Wow, [Joyful Sawman] has actually discovered the secret hidden in the commentator’s script! Let’s give him a round of applause for his quick wits.”

In the broadcast room, Colonel Guan clapped his hands. “I didn’t expect [Joyful Sawman]’s sensitivity to be so high! Through a dream resonance, he’s become the first contestant to pick up on the plot. Once the competition is over, a corresponding Investigator trophy will be awarded to him.

As for what the truth is, well, we’ll just have to wait for the contestants to uncover it themselves. Let’s keep our eyes on the competition.

After a night of rest, [Joyful Sawman] and [My Big Hammer is Thirsty] have formed a powerful alliance. Who knows what kind of sparks will fly when the second and third-place winners of the qualifiers team up.”

「In the cave.」

“In any case, this competition is definitely not as simple as it looks on the surface,” Zhou Chen said with certainty. “With contestants of this caliber, the organizers are bound to pull some crazy stunt to crank up the difficulty and prestige.”

“I agree. The head of the Forging Association is a real character. This is exactly the kind of thing he’d do,” Renie nodded. Her tone and demeanor showed not a shred of respect for the Forging Association’s leader.