In Ye Chui’s mental world.
This place takes the form of the city where Ye Chui once lived, based on his memories. It is bustling and vibrant, with towering buildings and endless streams of people, all appearing as if they truly exist. In reality, everything here is a projection of Ye Chui’s memories. Inside a small diner in the western suburbs of this illusory mental city, the customers are now nervously gathered around a television mounted on the wall. The TV is broadcasting an urgent news report:
“…Experts are still unsure of the origin of this strange creature. A prehistoric being? An alien visitor? Or perhaps a product of genetic science? The military has been deployed, but they are unable to stop the creature’s rampage. This is the live footage coming from the scene. It is currently moving towards the western suburbs…”
Accompanying the anchor’s slightly panicked voice, the television shows shaky footage, captured from above. On the streets below, the demon Yanmo is roaring and slaughtering. The military has mobilised, but their firepower cannot harm Yanmo in the slightest. Countless people have already perished under its claws.
Then, with a piercing scream, Yanmo seems to notice the television crew broadcasting live from the air. Its body leaps upward, the camera shakes violently, and the anchor screams in terror, “It’s coming! It’s coming!”
The live broadcast on the television cuts out.
As the screen turns to static, the small diner falls silent for a few seconds before erupting into chaos. The customers scream in panic: “This terrifying creature must be an alien! Aliens are invading Earth!” “It’s heading towards the western suburbs! We need to escape now!” “Run for your lives, we’re all going to die!”
People display sheer panic in the face of crisis. Tables and chairs are knocked over, bowls, plates, and bottles shatter on the floor. No one cares about such things anymore. The diner’s owner and waiters have long since disappeared.
Soon, the small diner is left empty, except for one table in the corner where a young boy remains seated. Not only is he calmly sitting there, but he is also calmly slurping a bowl of noodles, the diner’s signature dish, lamb stew noodles.
The greasy broth and fiery flavour make the young boy sweat profusely, yet he eats with relish.
Outside the diner, a commotion erupts, followed by a loud boom, the sound of an explosion. The ground seems to shake. Several fully armed soldiers drag an injured comrade into the diner. They frantically tend to the wounded soldier’s injuries while reporting Yanmo’s movements over their radios. Then they notice the boy calmly eating his noodles.
“What are you still doing here? Get out now!”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“It’s coming! Everyone else has evacuated, and you’re still here eating noodles? Do you think this is a movie set? Move!”
The soldiers rush over to drag Ye Chui away. The nearby streets have been cleared of residents as much as possible, yet here is a boy eating noodles.
Despite the soldiers’ warnings, the boy seems completely unconcerned, continuing to slurp his noodles as sweat drips satisfyingly from his forehead.
This angers the soldiers, who move to grab him. But at that moment, a terrifying roar echoes, followed by a loud crash. The diner’s roof is torn off, and the four-metre-tall Yanmo steps inside. Its blood-red eyes sweep over the tense soldiers gripping their guns, ready to fire. It dismisses them with contempt, its gaze settling on the noodle-eating boy.
“I found you. You can’t escape,” Yanmo says in a raspy voice, tinged with excitement. This is the first time it has spoken human language in this mental world.
The boy, Ye Chui, finally finishes his bowl of noodles. He takes a sip of the spicy lamb broth, his face showing complete satisfaction. He grabs a tissue to wipe his mouth, then turns to the rigid soldier beside him with a relaxed expression. “What I miss most is the taste of these noodles. The food in Castro Continent is decent, but it’s far inferior to our Huaxia cuisine.”
“What!?” The soldier stares at Ye Chui in shock. What are you talking about, kid? Is this really the time to discuss food?
“Roar!”
Ye Chui’s words are in a language from another world, incomprehensible to Yanmo, but it can sense the disdain in his tone. Enraged, it roars and lunges at Ye Chui. In this world, its power is limitless, and no one is its match. If it kills this boy, the entire world will submit to it.
“Watch out!” a soldier shouts, scrambling to the side.
With a crash, the table in front of Ye Chui shatters into splinters. Yanmo’s claws descend towards his head.
Then, a loud bang.
Ye Chui stands and throws a punch.
With this punch, everything around him, the floor, table fragments, and walls, ripples as if the world has taken on a rubber-like texture, stirred by his fist.
His punch lands on Yanmo before its claws can reach him. With a boom, Yanmo’s massive body is sent flying, crashing into a shop across from the diner, nearly collapsing it entirely.
The soldiers stare, dumbfounded, at Ye Chui, who seems to have transformed into a superhuman.
Yanmo roars and leaps from the rubble. Ye Chui becomes a blur, charging forward. With a deafening crash, their bodies collide in battle, a breathtaking fight. The soldiers can barely follow their movements, hearing only a series of loud bangs, with flames, lightning, dust, and wind, the forces of magic scattering and impacting everything around them.
Ye Chui is now wielding his dream magic.
Earlier, he had summoned Dom Toretto to drive him to the western suburbs. During the journey, with a nervous heart, he spent three thousand points to [Comprehend] the movie *The Matrix*. He was tense, unsure if, as he suspected, a “hacker invasion” movie would be transformed by his iPad into “mental magic”.
The result proved he was right.
Through this [Comprehension], he unlocked two magical attributes: Mental Enhancement Magic and the advanced Dream Magic.
Mental Enhancement Magic allows him to unlock the spell [Invasion], while Dream Magic allows [Matrix Infinity].
By unlocking these attributes, Ye Chui gained a deeper understanding of both. Mental magic controls and disorients others, making them obey commands or confusing their will, but it cannot fully alter memories. Dream magic, however, targets one’s own or another’s memories and mental world.
Ye Chui’s iPad grimoire hovers beside him. He is now casting [Matrix Infinity], a spell that makes him a superhuman in the mental world, like Neo from *The Matrix*.
The mental world is an illusory, ethereal place. A powerful person may become weak here, while a weak person may become immensely strong, depending on the strength of their mental power. Yanmo, nearly dead in the real world, is an almost invincible entity in the mental world, with power exceeding a million points.
Dream magic enhances one’s mental strength, granting immense power in the mental world, as Ye Chui now possesses.
With dream magic, he has infinite attributes: infinite strength, infinite stamina, infinite magic, and…
Bang!
The clash between Ye Chui and Yanmo halts. The panicked soldiers in the ruined diner peer out. They see Yanmo’s massive claws gripping Ye Chui tightly, its hand squeezing. Ye Chui’s face shows pain.
“I’ve got you!” Yanmo says in a language the soldiers cannot understand, though they sense its meaning. Yanmo’s body, impervious to weapons and gunfire, bears some bloodstains, evidence of injuries from fighting Ye Chui. Yet it has finally caught him.
“I didn’t expect you to master dream magic, but it doesn’t matter. You’re done!” Yanmo laughs savagely, tightening its grip. Ye Chui’s body emits cracking sounds as his bones break. His face turns ashen, blood streaming from his nose, mouth, and eyes.
Yet Ye Chui smiles.
“Kill me? Impossible… This is my mental world. Every person here is a projection of my mind, so…”
The soldiers hiding in the wrecked diner suddenly feel an indescribable dizziness. Their sense of self begins to fade, their bodies tremble violently, and then they transform. Their appearances change completely, becoming Ye Chui. Even the gravely injured soldier twitches, rises from the ground, and becomes Ye Chui.
“…Every person here can be me.”
The Ye Chuis in the diner step outside. On the streets, soldiers who fought Yanmo and residents hiding in their homes begin to twitch, transforming into Ye Chui. Dozens, hundreds of Ye Chuis emerge.
Each possesses the same power as the Ye Chui who fought Yanmo.
Infinite strength, infinite stamina, infinite magic, and infinite clones.
This is Ye Chui’s dream magic: [Matrix Infinity].
It turns his mental world into the Matrix, granting him the combined powers of Neo and the infinitely replicating Agent Smith.
Hundreds of Ye Chuis, their numbers still growing, as countless people in this mental world rapidly transform into Ye Chui and converge on the scene. The city has ten million residents, so Ye Chui can create ten million versions of himself. Surrounded by countless coldly smiling Ye Chuis, Yanmo’s once-arrogant, cruel demeanour finally shows a trace of fear.
This is a nightmare.
But not Ye Chui’s nightmare. It is Yanmo’s.
Yet the “nightmare” is not just the multitude of Ye Chuis. There is more.
“The world in *The Matrix* is a programmed digital world. Some people can code weapons at will. Guess what? I can too.”
One of the countless Ye Chuis smiles, waving his hand. The golden greatsword of the Goddess of Wealth appears in his grip. Then, every Ye Chui holds the same golden greatsword. Any weapon or power Ye Chui possesses gains “infinite attributes” under dream magic.
In Yanmo’s blood-red eyes, countless Ye Chuis, each wielding a greatsword and smiling coldly, close in.
All the Ye Chuis speak in unison, “Who else would you invade but my mental world?”
