These past few days hadn't been good for Qin Ming.
He was doing badly in the Nightmare Space—and equally badly in the real world.
Because in the real world, he had actually ended up sleeping under a bridge!
The reason? He didn't have an ID card! No one would rent him a room without it!
As for applying for a new ID? You try asking someone who's been missing for forty years to walk into a police station—while still looking exactly like he did forty years ago—and request a new identification card. Do you think that would work?
It wasn't just reality where he was having a rough time. Qin Ming's situation in the Nightmare Space was also incredibly awkward.
He had inquired about the matter with the Nightmare Space. While the entity itself didn't appear to respond, that cold, synthetic electronic voice still gave him a sliver of respect, seeing as he was a "special case," and offered a brief reply.
His bloodline fusion had, in fact, consumed forty years—both in the real world and in the Nightmare Space.
In other words, Qin Ming had unknowingly become a relic of the Nightmare Space!
His peers had either retired, become top-tier adventurers, or straight-up died.
The ones who were still alive had at least made it to high-rank adventurer status, scraping by with jobs here and there.
But this poor guy? He was still a mid-rank adventurer, stuck trying to do business and compete with a bunch of newbies who'd entered the game several generations after him!
As for the underlings and fighters he had recruited before, the reason they hadn't told him how much time had passed was because the Nightmare Space had sealed off all mission worlds related to Qin Ming—for a full forty years.
To them, time had also passed in the blink of an eye. This was a special courtesy from the Nightmare Space, in acknowledgment of Qin Ming's unique status.
Otherwise, if he had gone back to those earlier worlds to continue adventuring—just take The King of Fighters world for example—by now, all the tournaments would've ended! Some of the characters might even be buried six feet under!
What would Qin Ming do then? Enter a senior league and duke it out with a bunch of 80-year-olds? He'd win every single match!
The sudden twist of fate had left Qin Ming completely unable to process what was happening.
Just a second ago, he had countless friends and a line of top-tier adventurers eager to curry favor with him. He was even a wealthy man in the real world.
Now you're telling him he's completely out of touch with the times?
His friends all thought he was dead. He was officially a missing person in the real world. And he had to sleep under a bridge?!
Earlier, he'd gone out asking around—and that damn old woman Shuangqiangpo had already become a Transcendent! She was officially enjoying retirement now!
And the Sun God—yeah, the one from the King of Fighters team, the guy they hadn't seen in forty years—had screamed the moment he saw Qin Ming, thinking he'd seen a ghost.
Oh right, that old bastard probably got bullied too badly by his peers. In the end, he couldn't resist the temptation and ended up fusing with some other power.
Now he was half-paralyzed and constantly losing control of his strength…
Sitting in his room, Qin Ming still wore a blank, stunned expression. He couldn't accept how drastically his life had changed in an instant.
Meanwhile, Kasamoto Eri acted like nothing had happened. She even casually raised her hand and gave Qin Ming a solid pat on the back, as if to comfort him.
"Aw, c'mon, boss. Don't take it so hard. Sixty is just sixty. No one's judging you. I still like you just the same. Oh right—when's your sixtieth birthday party?"
"Get lost!"
Staring at Kasamoto Eri's schadenfreude-filled face, Qin Ming couldn't help taking a deep breath.
Of course she wasn't worried—her whole world had been sealed off, and she could go back to being a hardened military commander like nothing happened.
But Qin Ming wasn't so lucky! What the hell was he supposed to do about being a blacklisted citizen in the real world?!
"Forget it. When the bed reaches the—cough—I mean, when the boat reaches the bridge, it'll straighten itself out. Whatever, it is what it is."
He raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face, then suddenly stood up.
So what if he was blacklisted? Worst case, he just wouldn't go back. From now on, he'd live at the company!
Salary of 2,000? F**k you!
Salary of 5,000? Not a word!
Salary of 10,000? I love my home!
Salary of 100,000? This is my mom!
By now, Qin Ming could genuinely be considered one of Nightmare Space's seeded candidates—an honest-to-god, top-tier seed, even higher than the regular chosen ones.
After all, the Nightmare Space had explicitly told him that as long as he followed the proper procedures, leveled up and killed monsters, and accumulated enough merit, he'd eventually be promoted to general.
If you converted that, it was basically the equivalent of a CEO with a multimillion annual salary—so living at the company wasn't that crazy!
He casually bought some gifts from within the Nightmare Space and began visiting old friends one by one.
These were all people from forty years ago—top-tier adventurers. Naturally, every last one of them was scared out of their minds.
Back then, they'd all firmly believed Qin Ming had died, even gone around spreading the news.
Now that he'd suddenly reappeared, how could they not be shocked?
Rebuilding his network, Qin Ming didn't even forget to visit the now-retired and living-in-luxury Shuangqiangpo.
It took him nearly a full week just to find her.
Because she was no longer active in the Nightmare Space scene. Instead, she'd been assigned several of her own mission worlds and become a local tyrant there.
Whenever something came up, she'd bring along her gang to help the Nightmare Space fight. And when there was nothing to do, she just threw her weight around in her own little world.
The moment that woman saw Qin Ming, she didn't even recognize him!
It wasn't until he smacked her upside the head that she finally remembered who he was.
Qin Ming ended up spending a whole month on her turf, watching as she played tyrant and completely wrecked the mission world she'd been given: the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs world.
After riding dinosaurs with her for a full month, Qin Ming finally bid her farewell.
After all, she was retired. But Qin Ming? He was still company grunt-level! He had to go back and keep working!
He had even asked the Nightmare Space once: if they valued him so much, couldn't they just bend the rules a little and recruit him directly?
But the response he got was blunt and to the point: No!
Climbing up from the bottom was the rule! No one got to skip that! That was how the Nightmare Space filtered out qualified soldiers!
Even if Qin Ming's talent and capabilities had already caught the Nightmare Space's eye, the rules were the rules. They had to be followed.
If you didn't grind for a few years and complete your probation period, you couldn't officially join the Nightmare Space!
So Qin Ming still had to work, still had to take exams, still had to get promoted to high-rank adventurer—and only then would he face the final evaluation. Only then could he become a Transcendent or top-tier adventurer.
And right now, Qin Ming's next trial was already beginning.
World 17! Entering!
The light gate opened! The mission world was activated!
[This world is: Metal Slug 2]
(End of Chapter)