Pei En and Xi Ge

Their resting place that night was an abandoned village. After clearing out the monsters roaming around it, everyone found their own spot to rest.

Liu Xuan found a corner as well. He took out the shield [Tomb of the Gods] and used it as a pillow.

He wanted to see exactly how this thing would make someone “rest in peace.”

Leaning against the shield, Liu Xuan gradually succumbed to drowsiness. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Suddenly, someone patted him on the shoulder.

“Peien, wake up. We’re almost there.”

He quickly opened his eyes, thinking one of his teammates had called him. Instead, he found himself swaying back and forth inside a somewhat shabby carriage.

Across from him sat an elderly man dressed in aristocratic clothing.

He was the one who had woken Liu Xuan.

“So this is the former owner of the shield’s dreamscape? His name is Peien?”

Liu Xuan lowered his head and looked at his body. He was wearing an exquisite aristocratic outfit as well, but his body was much smaller than his original one. He looked to be only a little over ten years old.

At that moment, a line of text appeared before his eyes:

“You are Peien, the descendant of a minor noble family. You are currently fleeing to the southern town of Vark with your grandfather, Sige, to escape the plague.”

It seemed to be a background prompt, so he would not be completely clueless.

“Peien? Peien?”

When he failed to respond for some time, his grandfather, Sige, called his name again.

Liu Xuan hurriedly replied, “Ah, I heard you, Grandfather. I just woke up, so I’m still a little dazed.”

Sige reached out and felt his forehead. Then he nodded.

“Good. You haven’t caught the disease.”

As he spoke, he glanced toward the curtained window and said solemnly, “I never expected the plague to have spread all the way south. Once we reach the estate, you mustn’t go wandering around.”

“Understood.”

Liu Xuan had not yet figured out the situation, so for the time being, he could only agree to everything.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out outside the carriage, accompanied by a woman’s sobbing. Liu Xuan could not help glancing toward the window.

“Do you want to know what happened?”

Sige suddenly asked. Before Liu Xuan could answer, he continued, “Then take a look. It’ll only be for a moment. You won’t catch anything.”

Hearing this, Liu Xuan lifted the curtain and looked outside.

They were in a small stone city, but the streets were now deserted, and the air was thick with the pungent scent of medicinal herbs.

There were almost no pedestrians on the road. Every house had its doors and windows tightly shut.

Near Liu Xuan’s carriage, a man wearing a beaked mask stood blocking the entrance to a residence. Two soldiers with their faces covered stood behind him, one of them holding a baby.

The child’s mother sat on the ground, clinging desperately to his leg and refusing to let them leave.

Liu Xuan frowned. Considering the background information he had received earlier, he had already guessed what was happening.

Sure enough, faced with the mother’s pleas, the plague doctor ordered the soldier to forcefully shove her aside. A muffled voice came from behind his mask.

“Your child has contracted the disease. He cannot be saved. If he remains here, everyone on this street will suffer. We have to deal with him.”

The woman knew perfectly well what “deal with him” meant: taking the baby into the wilderness and burying him alive.

She burst into tears.

“You’re a doctor! You must be able to do something, right?!”

The plague doctor remained silent.

The woman then turned to the masked soldier holding the child.

“Soen, you’re his father! Are you really going to kill your own child?!”

The soldier’s body stiffened for a moment. Then he shoved her away with all his strength.

“Doctor, we should go!”

The woman’s sobs and cries continued behind them. Liu Xuan silently lowered the curtain.

Sige asked, though he clearly already knew the answer, “Peien, what did you see?”

“A tragedy.”

“A tragedy?” Sige nodded. “Yes. A doctor unable to save a patient, a father unable to protect his child. It’s just like your grandfather. Back in North Aegna City, countless people begged me to save them or their friends and relatives, but I was powerless. I came to Vark not only to escape the plague, but also because I couldn’t face those people.”

After saying this, Sige seemed to remember something. He suddenly fell into deep thought and said nothing more.

In silence, the carriage continued onward, passing through the entire town of Vark before arriving at an estate outside the town. The estate stood in beautiful surroundings, surrounded by blooming flowers.

It was clearly another property belonging to Sige’s family. Several servants had been waiting at the gate for some time, and they led the two of them inside after they stepped down from the carriage.

Sige seemed preoccupied, as though he were still considering something. As soon as he entered, he claimed that the journey had left him exhausted and ordered a servant to take Liu Xuan to his room to rest.

Once the servant had left, Liu Xuan looked around the room. There was a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a mirror. Nothing else.

He collapsed onto the bed and quietly pondered the situation. He was still rather confused about this dreamscape and had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Surely he was not expected to cure the plague?

He had no idea how to do that.

Unless the plague had been caused by a person or a monster, and defeating them would yield the antidote.

With that thought, Liu Xuan tried opening his character panel, only to discover that it had been replaced with a different template.

Name: Peien (Liu Xuan)

Identity: Noble

Race: Human

Age: 11

Classes: Alchemist (Level 2), Knight (Level 1), Archer (Level 1)

As a noble and the grandson of the grand alchemist Sige, Peien had learned quite a few things. Compared with Liu Xuan, however, his abilities were still rather weak.

Although Liu Xuan could not yet determine how much combat power the labels “Alchemist (Level 2),” “Knight (Level 1),” and the like actually represented, he imagined they could not be very formidable.

If there really was someone behind the plague, then with his current strength, he might be powerless to do anything.

After thinking it over, Liu Xuan recalled that the description of [Tomb of the Gods] had only said that he would “enter the original owner’s dream and gradually awaken the equipment’s abilities.” Perhaps he did not need to take the initiative at all. Maybe he simply had to follow the course of the story.

In any case, he would take things one step at a time.

At dinner that evening, Liu Xuan noticed that Sige had not come. He asked the servant standing nearby.

“Master asked us to deliver his meal to the study. He said he had something to take care of, so he told Young Master to eat by himself,” the servant answered respectfully. Then he covered his mouth and coughed lightly several times.

Liu Xuan nodded, but inwardly he wondered: Sige has been acting mysterious ever since earlier. What exactly is he doing?

Could he be the one who caused the plague? Could the objective of this dream be to make me turn against my own grandfather for the sake of justice?

No, that did not make sense. If Sige could brew healing potions after the plague broke out and make a fortune from them, then perhaps the plague really was connected to him.

But from Peien’s memories, Liu Xuan knew that Sige truly could not cure the disease. One of his own relatives had even died from the plague.

Moreover, Sige had seemed perfectly normal when they first fled south to escape the disaster.

He had only begun acting this way recently.

The chances that he was connected to the plague were slim.

As he ate, Liu Xuan analyzed the clues he currently had, trying to uncover the “main storyline” of the dream.

Suddenly, the corner of his eye caught sight of the servant standing nearby. His brows lifted slightly, but he rose to his feet as though nothing had happened:

“I’ll go check whether Grandpa has eaten. He might have gotten so busy that he forgot again.”