"Haha… I've heard it often, but this is the first time I've seen someone actually get a Good Person Card in real life."
On the grass in the Small Grove, a person was sitting and couldn't stop laughing as he spoke to Ren Suo.
Although the moon wasn't very bright that day, Ren Suo was familiar with the voice. "Is that… Li Dan?"
"Call me Brother Dan," Li Dan said indifferently.
"Uh… okay, Brother Dan." Li Dan was far stronger than himself, so Ren Suo immediately backed down and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Sleeping," Li Dan responded before lying back down.
Ren Suo was puzzled and walked over to see him lying on the grass, asking, "Sleeping…on the grass?"
"Is that so strange? It's not like I'm sleeping naked."
"What's strange is why you aren't naked… never mind." Ren Suo sat down trying to make conversation. "Is it because the wooden beds in the dorms are too hard?"
Li Dan replied, "My bed has a Simmons mattress."
Ren Suo asked, "Then… is it because you have a roommate?"
Li Dan answered, "It's a single room for one person."
Ren Suo, "… Could it be that you naturally like the smell of soil and grass?"
"No, I still have to shower when I get back," Li Dan shrugged weakly.
"Then why do you want to sleep here?"
"Because I can't sleep."
Ren Suo was slightly taken aback, "Oh? You have insomnia? Or is it neurasthenia? Or perhaps it's because you have insatiable desires?"
"Too handsome to sleep."
Ren Suo didn't speak, just watching Li Dan in the shadows.
After about a minute, Li Dan finally spoke, "It's a physical condition. Even with earplugs, I can hear distant noises, which keep me awake."
"Have you tried noise-canceling headphones?" Ren Suo scratched his head, "Like Hell Corporation's noise-canceling buds, Persian Corporation's large noise-canceling headphones, stuff like that…"
"Useless, they are even more annoying. Those noise-canceling headphones work by emitting sound to cancel out external noises, but I can hear all of it," Li Dan lay back down, "But it's not a big deal. Even if I don't sleep now, it won't cause any physical issues."
"Is it… because of Awakening?" Ren Suo tentatively asked.
In an instant, the temperature around him seemed to drop several degrees, and Ren Suo suddenly found himself unable to breathe. Li Dan's eyes glowed ominously in the darkness, and Ren Suo felt for the first time in reality what the term 'murderous intent' truly meant!
It was like having several S686s, AK47s, and M416s pointing at him, the cold steel barrels against his skin, the destructive power capable of tearing apart muscles and snapping bones transmitting through the air to his nerves, continuously stimulating his pituitary gland!
However, the fear of guns, the fear of wild beasts, were all learned later in life; but facing Li Dan, Ren Suo felt he was confronting fear itself!
The absolute suppression from a higher being to a lower one!
"…Do not casually inquire about someone's Awakening information in the future," Li Dan said lightly, "Even in the Eighteenth Bureau, it's highly sensitive content."
"In the last six months, I've seen many Awakeners who, to hide their information, have killed countless ordinary people. Holding a weapon, born of murderous intent, that's what it means."
As the pervasive killing intent that filled his body dissipated, Ren Suo finally managed to catch his breath and gasped, "Understood, clearly."
"If there's nothing else, you should go back. You need to register tomorrow morning and then leave," Li Dan said.
Ren Suo hesitated for a moment, and it took him more than ten seconds to hesitantly say, "Well... I also know a little about making it easier to sleep. Would you like to try?"
"Hypnosis?" Li Dan said indifferently, "As cultivators, when we practice breathing spiritual energy, it strengthens our vital energy and spirit together. Even you, if you try to undergo hypnosis now, it will mostly likely not succeed, let alone me—I've tried it; I didn't fall asleep, but the doctor himself did."
Ren Suo scratched his head, "Well, the method I learned by accident is a unique skill, very powerful. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I use it on myself, and I can fall asleep in less than ten seconds. It should be pretty impressive."
"Use it on yourself?" Li Dan was slightly startled and laughed, "Counting sheep?"
"No, no, no..." Ren Suo couldn't explain clearly, "Do you want to give it a try? There's no harm if it doesn't work, and if it does... you must not have had a good sleep for a long time, right?"
Ren Suo's words struck a chord with Li Dan.
Most people think of sleep as a waste of time—a lightweight waste of six hours, or a heavy nine, a third of the day gone. If that time could be put to use, imagine how many games could be played, how many books read, how much work done...
However, as someone who hadn't slept for over forty days, Li Dan felt that besides physiological necessity, sleep was also necessary for rest.
Admittedly, Li Dan wasn't fully insomniac; he didn't sleep but his mental state wasn't great either, roughly equivalent to that of a physical worker after a day's hard labor, just barely enough to get by.
But Li Dan realized that even with so much free time, there was still a need to be alone in a dark, quiet place to think. Darkness, serenity, warmth, a trance—sleep for humans was almost akin to revisiting the fetal state.
Aside from greatly recovering physical strength, it was also a profoundly delightful enjoyment.
Li Dan now, however, couldn't enjoy that. Unless he made a breakthrough, this lifestyle was set to continue. Since his body was nourished by spiritual energy, he wouldn't face issues like liver explosion due to lack of sleep, but he really wanted to sleep.
"Alright, give it a try."
Ren Suo suppressed his excitement, mentally switched to the "Good Dream Technique" he had drawn from the Assassin's Treasure Box, then looked at Li Dan lying on the ground and thought: 'hypnotize him'.
Then, Ren Suo naturally extended his hand, and in the air directly before Li Dan's gaze, he continuously flipped his fingers.
There wasn't much light in the Small Grove, but as a first-turn high-order cultivator, Li Dan's eyes already had some night vision capabilities, so he naturally saw what Ren Suo's hands were doing.
It seemed like the hand movements a magician uses to captivate the audience during a magic show and also like an old lecher teasing the daughter of the Huang Family.
'Is this kid a paperclip?' Li Dan thought, sneering even more at Ren Suo's so-called Good Dream Technique.
These movements could hypnotize? Only a fool would believe that...
Ren Suo waited for more than ten seconds without hearing any sound from Li Dan, and then he lowered his hands.
In the shadows of the Small Grove, Li Dan lying on the ground was still silent.
Ren Suo quietly,
quietly,
placed his hand on his,
thigh.
—Other positions didn't seem quite right; the thigh had more flesh and should have lower sensitivity.
Li Dan still made no sound.
"Key detected."
"Key is in sleep mode, beginning retrieval."
"Key is fully formed, retrieval will take 303 seconds, maintain continuous contact during the process. 302, 301, 300..."
It worked!