A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 49 Promotion Sequence 5: Dream Thief

Where am I? Did I fall asleep?
Ryoma Riku slowly woke up and realized that he had fallen asleep on his desk, and his arms were still numb.

Wait, desks? Ryoma Riku stared blankly at the classroom, utterly bewildered. Hadn't he already defected from his main family and joined the Oni Clan?
Why are they still in the family school classroom?

"Excuse me, Ryoma-kun." At that moment, a melodious girl's voice came from the side, captivating Ryoma Riku's attention.

That was the first time he felt affection for a woman; she was his unforgettable white moonlight—Sakurai Takanami.

Sakurai Takanami loves to draw and secretly uses her paintbrush to record her life. When Ryoma Riku discovers this, she gets so shy that she first turns her head away to deny it, and then turns back to beg Ryoma Riku to keep it a secret.

The scene of the girl turning her head away from his gaze played repeatedly in Ryoma Toshihisa's mind.

Upon seeing Sakurai Takanami again, Ryoma Riku was so excited that he stood up, unable to contain himself, and couldn't wait to express his longing.

At that very moment, a enforcer from the Snake Clan, who resembled Xu Lie, suddenly appeared and blocked Ryoma Toshihisa's path.

Meanwhile, Sakurai Takanami bowed deeply beside her, holding in her hand the love letter that Ryoma Riku had spent three nights thinking about writing.

Bowing is so common in this country that its meaning is self-evident, and Ryoma Toshihisa's heart sank.

The law enforcement officer, who resembled Xu Lie, sternly reprimanded Ryoma Riku: "Have you forgotten? You are a dangerous bloodline?"

"You must be under our surveillance at all times, and undergo bloodline and psychological testing every week. It's impossible for Sakurai-kun to be someone like you who might fall into demonhood."

"No! I will get tested every week, I will!"

Ryoma Riku suddenly woke up to find his hands and feet in special shackles, and his shoulder blades cruelly pierced through, causing constant, excruciating pain that went straight to his bone marrow.

My vision blurred for a second before I could see my surroundings clearly. This was obviously a modern interrogation room, fully equipped with audio and video recording devices, and all sorts of torture instruments that looked like they would give me nightmares.

Oh right, I remember now. They received a message from Miyamoto Toru saying that Lord Ryuou was preparing to take over the Nightclub of the Snake-Headed Eight Families.

In order to take revenge on his family, Ryoma Toshihisa actively participated in the affair, but eventually, an inexplicable pressure overwhelmed him until he lost consciousness.

But then, he dreamed of Sakurai Takanami again… Ryoma Toshihisa’s feelings were indescribably complicated at this moment, and even the pain in his shoulder blades could not compare to the bitterness in his heart.

'Clang.'

As Ryoma Riku was pondering, the interrogation room door was pushed open, and a law enforcement officer resembling Xu Lie walked in, startling Ryoma Riku.

So many years have passed, and Ryoma Toshihisa's memory of Sakurai Takanami's appearance is somewhat vague, but he has a deep impression of Xu Lie, whom he just dreamed about.

How can characters from a dream appear in reality?

Ignoring everything else, Xu Lie sat down, took out a stack of documents, and began the interrogation: "Ryoma Riku? Tell me honestly, why did you attack the Nightclub?"

"This attack by your Oni Clan has caused us heavy losses. Sakurai Takanami and Fumachi, a second-class member, have all died under your RPG rockets."

"If you don't want to suffer, you'd better explain everything clearly!"

Ryoma Toshihisa could no longer hear Xu Lie's subsequent questions; his entire focus was on the sentence: Sakurai Takanami died from an RPG rocket.

How could this be? How could this happen!
Ryoma Riku began to struggle violently like a madman, his handcuffs clanking loudly: "Bastard, bastard! Sakurai-kun, how could this be! How could I have joined your Enforcement Bureau!"

"Oh?" Xu Lie looked surprised and picked up the documents again to compare them. "I'm sorry, I made a mistake."

“Before, the higher-ups were pushing me hard, so I just randomly found Sakurai Takanami to kill Ryo and take credit for it, saying she was a member of the Oni Clan.”

Ryoma Riku was stunned for three seconds before he suddenly came to his senses, his eyes turning completely red: "You beast, you beast!"

Xu Lie shrugged: "Who could be more like you crazy beasts and madmen? You've done plenty of similar things, and even worse things."

“You beast…” Ryoma Riku finally woke up and saw that in the interrogation room, Crow and another interrogator were sitting opposite him.

"Finally awake. Who are you cursing? Why have you been cursing for so long?" Crow asked curiously. Not long ago, Crow and the young master were out, planning to wander all over Tokyo looking for the head of the Uesugi family. But when they heard that the man had safely returned to Genji Heavy Industries, Genji hurriedly went back to see his sister.

Only when the crow had some free time to come and interrogate them did he hear from the Yaksha that the people who had deliberately caused the car accident and delayed them had all been investigated and found to be without any problems.

This put pressure on Crow; if he didn't find out something soon, he wouldn't be able to withstand the young master's wrath.

Ryoma Toshihisa completely ignored the young lord's retainer. Upon seeing the black-clad officers from the Execution Bureau, he immediately retorted, "Beasts! You beasts from the Execution Bureau!"

……

On the top floor of the Sumitomo Building, owned by the Sumitomo Group, in a spacious conference room, sat more than twenty of Xu Lie's clones, watching his main body drink the medicine.

On the surface, it seems like the clones are just watching the show, but in reality, they are Xu Lie's backup plan. If anything goes wrong, the clones will need to activate the talisman, contact Bao Lie, and work together from the inside to save Xu Lie.

Although there is little chance of an accident, as members of the Gou family, it is still necessary to be prepared. One should not be too much like Master Luo.

The Dream Thief potion, infused with Kazama Ruri's blood, Deadpool's soul, and other auxiliary materials, has been prepared. It is dark and deep, looking even more ink-like than ink itself.

Xu Lie, feeling the gazes of his clones from all directions, was not uncomfortable at all, and picked it up and chugged it down in one gulp.

The gurgling sound was not like a liquid at all; it felt like drinking a cloud of mist, with almost no tangible sensation. But as the potion traveled down my esophagus into my body, this cloud of mist began to emit an endless chill.

Xu Lie found himself seemingly bound—ten chains? A hundred chains? Thousands of cold chains, binding his body and soul.

Not only the body, but all thoughts seemed to be bound together, unable to break free, unable to even think about questions like 'Who am I', as if time had been paused.

At the same time, an inexplicable surge of violent emotions began to rise, overshadowing all thought, leaving only the thought of killing.

Fortunately, at this moment, from the depths of the universe, five equally violent emotions came from afar, their resentment and hatred violently tearing at the chains that bound and protected Xu Lie.

As the chains swayed, Xu Lie multitasked, simultaneously witnessing five different dreams. The protagonists of these dreams were filled with tyranny and hatred, and the intense malice, bordering on a curse, brought Xu Lie back to his senses.

And based on this, we can gradually break free from the chains that restrict our thinking.

His mind returned to his body, which in turn broke free from its restraints. The five dreams in the darkness still conveyed surging emotions, which transformed into external forces that broke the chains, helping Xu Lie to completely break free from his constraints.

The moment I opened my eyes, I saw several versions of myself clustered in front of me, filling my entire field of vision: "How are you? Out of control?"

Xu Lie's face twitched slightly: "If I lose control, you won't have a good ending either, will you?"

Upon hearing this, the clones left one after another: "Sigh, this is boring, let's go."

Xu Lie was left alone to slowly experience the enhanced abilities he gained after advancing to Sequence 5, Dream Thief.

The original stealing ability has been further enhanced, and the range has been expanded to 80 meters. If it is to steal a word of power, it can be used continuously for half an hour. If it is not used, it can even be retained for a week.

It's equivalent to sealing a hybrid's incantation for a week.

Now they can even steal people's memories, thoughts, ideas, and even dreams.

A common application scenario is probably during a fight, when the opponent is about to throw a right punch and Xu Lie has the thought of stealing, the opponent will be in a state of mental blankness, thinking, "What am I supposed to do?"

However, stealing thoughts has a small side effect: Xu Lie cannot retain the thought and needs to perform the corresponding action, such as throwing a right punch.

However, it's not a big problem. Just hide a few Time Worm clones in the soul and let the Time Worms steal thoughts and perform corresponding actions. It won't affect the main body at all.

They also gained the ability to impersonate believers, allowing them to disguise themselves as followers of other gods and steal their divine favor.

　Thank you so much for the recommendation vote from "I Want to Time Travel, Please Give Me a System" OvO
　　

(End of this chapter)