Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

"The target of this plan is the Thief of Dreams."

The elder watched Baitu Meiyi's reaction intentionally. While stroking his white beard, he deliberately said in an urgent tone:

"We believe that the time is now ripe enough to aim high and focus on their leader, thereby completely dismantling the Alliance of Dream Thief."

"Feng Chenghuan, I remember that when you founded the Ghost Knights, you said that the ultimate goal was to destroy the Dream Thief Alliance. Don't you think it's too early to implement your ultimate goal now?"

Baitu Mei expressed her opinion tactfully, but the elder denied her statement with an arrogant laugh.

"No! Of course it's not too early. Because our highest goal is no longer the Dream Stealer, but to win this war of domination. At that time, we can share the victory like the Dream Stealer."

Hearing the old man's declaration, Baitu Mei couldn't help feeling disgusted to the bone.

They once said that the root cause of their dislike of the Dream Thief is that the Dream Thief won as a group. It is too unfair to other Dominators who act in groups of 12 or alone. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are cheating .

But time has passed, and now they have changed their tune, wanting to follow the model of the Dream Stealer and share the victory of the domination war.

"I understand. It really caught my eye. I have always admired your ambition, but it is too arrogant to impose it on others. After all, it is not a good thing. I have no objection to your actions this time. , but will never participate.”

She stated her opinion in a strong and unquestionable manner, because she knew that even if she explained it euphemistically, they would accept her meaning with a shy face and force herself to participate in this matter, as can be seen from their reaction just now. a little.

But how could the elder easily let Baitu Mei go? The cause of all this is the "ghost action" incident caused by Mei Baitu. She is the vanguard of the Dream Thief, even if she doesn't mean to.

If the cause of fighting against the Dream Thief does not participate in this task, then other people will not have the courage to attack the Dream Thief, and the task will not be feasible. Let's not mention that she didn't participate in the previous missions, but this time, she must participate, and she must participate.

therefore. He had to come up with the last resort.

The elder glanced to the left, and the man sitting on his left immediately slapped the table and stood up after receiving the instruction.

"Why you didn't participate, don't think that I don't know! Early this morning, something spread among some people, saying that it was this white ghost who secretly colluded with the Thief of Dreams and had a very close relationship. I tried my best I put all my strength into suppressing this.”

The man at the front on Mei's left made a surprised look, quickly looked at Baitu Mei, and nervously asked knowingly:

"What, what's going on here? Is what he said true? Can you explain this to us?"

"No need to explain. I have a good relationship with the Thief of Dreams. Do you have any objections?"

Mei stood up and looked at the man condescendingly.

"It's not a question of whether the relationship is good or not. You should see the big from the small in everything. You... are tantamount to betraying us."

"Don't use that word to me, I'm not responsible to you."

Hearing this, the elder's face immediately fell down. He leaned forward and waved his fingers from side to side with a cold face.

"What you said is very problematic, Baitu Mei. I advise you, don't cross the river and tear down the bridge. If you apologize to me, I will treat it as a joke for the sake of long-term cooperation. Otherwise, I might go too far matter."

"No, it doesn't matter to me what you do, Feng Chenghuan."

"Really? A Mr. William Andres made a special trip to find the Core Research Association and asked us some academic questions. The point is, I specifically checked his information and found that he has a wife named... Baitu Mei. "

"Ah, how could such a thing happen?" The person opposite Feng Chenghuan pretended to be surprised, looked at Mei and asked, "Isn't it the same name?"

Mei didn't speak, stood up calmly, and grabbed Feng Chenghuan's collar abruptly.

"Don't threaten me with other things. You seem to have forgotten that you made the "White Ghost" such a strong appeal, and the person who is closely connected with this name is me, not you. Do you think I and you behind the scenes Compared with pushing hands, who has more appeal?"

Blindly giving in at this time will only make William and himself their pawns.

Bai Tumei didn't know that William's core research association, which was determined to be progressive, had something to do with dominating the war, but it was not unacceptable. No matter how innocent the other party's purpose is, or how powerful the power behind the scenes is, she has Feng Chenghuan's handle.

The so-called handle is the appeal they created for the "White Ghost". No matter what Baitu Meiyi did, as long as she could make up a reasonable excuse, those people could continue to follow her, so it was possible to make Feng Chenghuan and the others lose their hearts.

Of course Feng Chenghuan understood this truth. He originally believed that this gentle Japanese woman had no ambitions and would not pose a threat to them, so he continued with the next plan and pushed the name of "White Ghost" to the commanding heights of appeal. But he didn't think that her character is actually not as docile as it appears on the surface, and she can do it at any time when it comes to resisting her.

"It seems that you understand what I mean." Baitu Mei tilted his head and let go of his collar, "If you don't hinder me, I won't destroy the Ghost Knights you have arranged to such an extent. But If you threaten me again, then I am willing to die."

Baitu Meiyi dropped the threat and left the conference room on her own.

Feng Chenghuan clapped vigorously, leaned back a few steps, laughed and sat back on the chair. And all the other people in the conference room ran out of the conference room, grabbed their hands and let them catch up with Baitu Meiyi, only Feng Chenghuan and another person remained in the conference room.

"This woman who crossed the river and demolished the bridge... If it wasn't for the name of the Holy Mother, I wouldn't have participated in this bullshit game!"

Feng Chenghuan stood up and kicked over the wooden table in front of him. After venting, he had to adjust his heavy breathing.

"Your husband, William Andres, what's the matter?" The other person who stayed here glanced at the overturned table in surprise, turned sideways and asked, "I remember White Clay Mei said before that she is not married yet, only her fiancé."

"The time of the dream is not synchronized. The same dominance war does not necessarily all come from the same era. Maybe our time in reality is different from hers. Compared with her reality, it is the time in the future."

While Feng Chenghuan answered the other party's question, he seemed to be talking to himself, and at the same time he was using this to sort out his own thoughts.

"Feng Chenghuan, I don't understand. If you insisted on using her fiancé as a threat just now, even if it's a fiancé from the future, no matter how determined she is, even if she said 'death', she would definitely compromise to save him, right? ?”

Feng Chenghuan didn't respond to the other party's words, he just bit his nails.

"Feng Chenghuan? What are you thinking?"

"Don't bother me, I just thought," Feng Chenghuan raised his hand, acting a little crazy, "If the Baitu Mei here is not the same name, she is the wife of William Andres... Then I found it in the information. The death certificate of this woman is the future of this woman."

"You mean, the Shirato Mei you found over there...is dead?"

"Yes. And she died a certain number of years ago. As for me not threatening William Andres again, because I was indeed bluffing. I can't threaten him. He came to me many years ago What happened, now he... tsk."

＊＊＊

"Arket, this is the truth you want."

On the remote wasteland, Baitu Mei gave a rare wry smile and looked sideways at the ruler clock standing in the sky like a star.

"The cause of the Ghost Knights is my refusal out of sheer reluctance. Its founders are forces from the real world. It used you and me. Because in fact, there is no courage to stand up against Inception the white phantom of the

No one really dares to resist the most powerful alliance in the world by himself. What the Ghost Riders are not following is Baitu Mei, but the rumors created by those elders. They are following the impure "White Ghost" ".

"Okay. Just pretend you haven't heard about these things. As long as you don't tell them, you won't be in danger."

Arquette raised his drooping head, and saw Mei Baitu standing up lightly, with her hands behind her back and her figure swaying. For some reason, Arquette felt as if she had returned to reality when she was not paying attention.

"He still hasn't come."

Arquette didn't know if the "he" she was referring to was her fiancé William who was away for a long time, or Zuo Xibai who came on time every day, or a pun.

Baitu Meiyi really came here with the intention of waiting for Zuo Xibai, and wanted to confide something to him, but accidentally ran into Arquette who was worried about her. So while waiting for Zuo Xibai, she told Arkat the truth about the Ghost Knights.

On the other hand -

"He is not going to come back. He said that he received an invitation from the Association and was going to the next distant country. I told him that the Core Research Association might not be pure, so I asked him to stop, but he felt that I did not want to support him, so he moved out. this conspiracy theory."

"Actually, he is not my fiancé either. We just haven't had a wedding yet. For our children, he came back for two years and would go home every day. But the children seemed unable to keep him, and he accepted it again in a blink of an eye. Invitation from the association."

Shirato Mei whispered to herself, then looked at Alket, with a nice but bitter smile on her face.

"Ah, I'm sorry... The person who usually confides is not here, so I have to tell you." She took a deep breath and said, "Don't mention these, I have to go."

"Where are you going?"

"Go to my friend's place. He usually comes here on time at this time, and he never misses an appointment without saying a word."

As soon as the words were finished, Baitu Mei waved goodbye to Arquette and left the wasteland quickly.

Arquette looked at her back, looked at the unattainable light, stretched out his hand swaying in his thoughts, and finally could only clenched his fists, fell to the side, and beat the grass weakly. The white ghost he followed was after all just an unreachable afterglow.

In this colorful light, Zuo Xibai stretched out his hands towards it, and then his hazy consciousness suddenly came to life, and the light disappeared. Zuo Xibai struggled to open his eyes, the surrounding light was dim, and there was only a dilapidated skylight three meters above the ground.

Zuo Xibai tried to stand up, but his body was tightly bound by the rope and he couldn't move at all.

"You haven't been here yourself, have you?"

A hoarse voice sounded from right in front of Zuo Xibai, and he squinted his eyes hard to recognize the other person's appearance.

"This is the wine cellar under the tavern. You have always waved your hand and asked your subordinates to throw the captured people here, but you have never been here. I have always interrogated the people here for you. .”

The other person's face suddenly approached him, and with the help of the dim light, he saw a face with an expression, it was the young man from before.

"I thought I was serving a wise king. He was just too busy, so he didn't have the spare time to take care of this. Who knew that what he used the spare time to plan was not how to lead us to victory, but how to betray."

The young man never touched Zuo Xibai from the beginning to the end. After saying this, he straightened up, took a few steps back, and walked to the door.

The young man opened the door of the wine cellar, and the light in the room temporarily eased. He commanded the man guarding the door:

"The king of sabers has sent a message saying that he has found the trace of the "Black Death", and I need to rush there. You stay in the wine cellar and watch him. If she comes by then, you will follow orders... Ah, this will definitely be a good one It’s a pity that I can’t witness it myself.”

The door was closed, the light dissipated again, and Zuo Xibai's line of sight was once again in darkness.

"Can you see it?"

Zuo Xibai squinted his eyes, found the direction of the door based on his memory just now, and asked the man standing at the door.

"In the past, the dormitory of the arena would only turn on the lights from 6:30 to 8:30, and the rest of the night could only be in the dark. I have long been used to this level of light. Although this is a dream, there must be The cognition that can see clearly in the darkness is enough.”

"Then I've cultivated the cognition that the rope can be easily broken away here, so I can escape easily."

Zuo Xibai deliberately uttered slightly threatening words, but the other party still didn't panic, and replied unhurriedly:

"If you are in your own dream world, temporarily created cognitions can quickly materialize into reality. But for dream gaps, only those deep-rooted cognitions will continue, such as dominance. Temporary cognitions will not work .”

"You are very boring. You answered me seriously. Do you think I really don't know about such things?"

The other party did not answer Zuo Xibai's complaint, and the atmosphere fell into silence again.

After a long time, Zuo Xibai was the first to break the silence.

"There is no actual betrayal, just a connection with the leader of the hostile faction. Is such a betrayal really a betrayal?"

"You ask me a newcomer, oh, I don't have much idea about dream stealers and the like. Of course I can't understand the betrayal they think. I can't give you the correct answer, but if you can prove it with actions, then it can It may not be betrayal."

"Why should I justify my actions as not betrayal?"

"To survive." He paused, and then said, "As long as you use your actions to publicly show that you are against the 'White Ghost', you can survive. I don't think this is a loss-making business."

These words made Zuo Xibai suddenly think of what the young man said before he left. He suddenly had the answer to what he meant by the "good show" in his mouth.

"What do you mean?! Don't you think... I will never accept your proposal!"

"I don't have a diploma or education. I only know the simple truth of living. I don't know whether people have the freedom to seek death, and I don't know whether it is right to seek death, but it is not wrong to want to survive."

[Even if you stand in front of me at that time, I will recklessly take away the victory of the domination war. 】

For some reason, Baitu Meiyi's voice echoed in Zuo Xibai's ears. Zuo Xibai always thought that he had some similarities with Baitu Meiyi, but he never realized the difference between himself and her.

She likes to act alone and doesn't want to be bound by any party, but that doesn't mean she has no goals. She wanted to win the war of domination and do something with it. But Zuo Xibai still doesn't know what he can do with it.

Zuo Xibai was determined to avoid fighting her. Hearing her say that if her fiancé comes back, she will withdraw from the domination war, thinking that he will never leave such a good wife, and sincerely feel relieved that she will not have to fight against each other one day.

It is also now, blindly and persistently rejecting other people's proposals. After all, is this betrayal what I want?

He just doesn't want to respond to the expectations imposed by others, not that he doesn't want to live.

Suddenly there was a fierce commotion outside the wine cellar, and the noise of people for a while pulled Zuo Xibai out of his thoughts and brought him back to his eyes.

"Aren't you going out to have a look?"

"My mission is to stay here and protect you, other things have nothing to do with me."

As soon as the words fell, the door of the wine cellar was roughly pushed open, and the light of the flashlight came directly. Zuo Xibai, who couldn't adapt to the light, closed his eyes forcefully, and then he barely got used to it. He noticed that the person who came was The man who was yelling at "tied up" earlier.

"Bring him out!"

The man ordered without a doubt, and quickly left to go outside. Zuo Xibai didn't ask much, only knew that the rope tied to the chair was untied, but an iron chain was added around his neck, and he was forcefully dragged out like this.

outdoor. The flames rolled up all around against the crimson sky. The dream stealers who stood neatly on both sides of the square faced the people coming in front of the fog. Zuo Xibai wanted to resist, but was dragged to the other side opposite to the fog by his neck.

Standing on the roof was a man holding the hilt of his sword in his backhand. He rushed straight into the mist, and the moment he swung the knife, the sharp wind shook the air violently, and the fog instantly dissipated due to the gust of wind. A figure with dots of bright red reflected in the pure white was exposed in the field of vision.

The moment the sword light was approaching, Baitu Yayi leaned back and dodged it. At the same time, with an extremely clear perception of the things in front of him, he quickly found the man's loophole, and directly pulled out the sword in the man's hand.

At this time, Zuo Xibai actually understood that Baitu Mei's dominance ability was the same as his absolute observation.

But thinking about it carefully, no matter what, Zuo Xibai felt that it was impossible for someone to rush recklessly towards the "White Ghost" whose dominance ability was not yet known. What's more, even if it was exaggerated, she did cause the result of the Ghost Action incident.

It is impossible for anyone to be willing to carry out such a senseless sneak attack unless...

Not far away, the man who failed the sneak attack but was disarmed took a step back and quickly retreated into the square next to him. And Baitu Meiyi held the hilt of the sword with his forehand, ready to catch up.

At this moment, Zuo Xibai suddenly remembered what the young man had said to his guard before, and he suddenly realized the purpose of the Dream Thief, and immediately shouted at Baitu Meiyi:

"Don't pass...!"

Just halfway through his speech, the person standing behind him tightly covered his mouth, as if he would not stop until he was suffocated.

Zuo Xibai struggled desperately, the iron chain wrapped around his neck and tightened, he tried to make a sound, but watched Baitu Yayi break into the trap deliberately set by the dream thief. When Baitu Meiyi entered the square, a fiery flame burst out from the edge of the circular square, and gradually spread from behind Baitu Meiyi to Zuo Xibai's eyes.

At this moment, Zuo Xibai regained his breath, and before he had time to adjust, the people behind kicked him in the back, and at the second when the fire completely closed the square, Zuo Xibai also entered the square. Flames instantly surrounded the entire square.

Zuo Xibai stood up holding the mud, breathing heavily, and looked around him. The flames shot straight up into the sky to form a barrier to the outside world, and the temperature of the square rose steadily due to the surrounding flames, as if it could melt the body.

[If she comes at that time, you will follow the instructions... This will definitely be a good show, but unfortunately I can't witness it in person. 】

The young man anticipated the possibility that the white ghost would come to the King of Pirates of Dreams. Because Zuo Xibai has a fixed time to go out every day, the youth judges that they will meet every day, so they restrict Zuo Xibai's actions, which is likely to attract white ghosts.

The young man actually didn't want to take the position of King Thief of Dreams. If Zuo Xibai proved with his actions that he did not betray them, then the young man would honestly give up the position to him. After all, it is not a rational decision to change the leader at this time.

What's more, as long as Zuo Xibai is sincerely willing to lead the Dream Stealer, he does have the ability to lead the Dream Stealer. That's why he was chosen to be the king of the dream thief, not someone else. The problem is just that they didn't ask him from the beginning.

Trapping Zuo Xibai and the white ghost together to test Zuo Xibai, this is the meaning of the name of the Virgin, and it is also the idea of ​​​​the youth.

"White Ghost, do you know why we chose this tavern as our base?"

A distant, sarcastic voice sounded, approaching Baitu Meiyi on the square.

Through the firelight around, Baitu Mei could barely see that not only Dream Thief gathered around the square, but they also deliberately attracted the rulers of other forces, as if to let everyone witness the rebirth of the Dream Thief, Or outright death.

"Because here, the name of "Prisoned Arena" has been circulating. As long as the rulers are here, they will not be able to wake up and return to reality. So it also has another name, called "Cradle of Eternal Night". "

"Are you trying to trap me?"

Baitu Mei asked loudly to the man outside the square coldly.

"No! No, this is not a delusion, it is a fact."

Baitu Meiyi knew in her heart that it was not difficult for the Dream Thieves to trap Zuo Xibai. Zuo Xibai had told her that in reality he was threatened and monitored by a certain force. Therefore, the only thing the dream thief needs to deal with is whether Bai Tumei can escape.

"This is the "battle field" I created for you. The field will only be invalidated when one of you wins. We also have rulers here who have the ability to disable the world gate, so you don't even want to use the world gate to escape. "

As if reading the rules of the game, the boiling human voice and absurd atmosphere filled the air.

"If you want to escape from here without deciding the outcome, unless you have the control ability to nullify the control ability. However, based on your performance just now, you don't seem to have this kind of control ability."

The atmosphere became depressed. The eyes of Baitu Meiyi and Zuo Xibai inadvertently met.

"Ladys and Gentlemen! Allow me to introduce you once again. The bloody battle here is the white ghost with the "Dream Stealer Killer"! And the leader of the Dream Stealers, our King of Dream Stealers! All present You will witness the most eye-catching battle of the domination war—"

The light curtain of the square changed from fiery red to blue-white, and the temperature also increased to a higher level.

"Please allow me to give advice to my respected king out of selfishness. If you lose and die here, you will not be greeted by four blank hours, but real death. You will be treated as garbage, And we will usher in a new king."

This is a warning, not good advice. Zuo Xibai knew in his heart that this carefully planned battle was the ultimate test for himself.

[I don't know if "seeking death" is correct, but at least, "wanting to survive" will never be wrong. 】

Zuo Xibai didn't regret it until this moment, his betrayal was like a small fight, but this doesn't mean that the measures taken by the dream robbers to deal with their betrayal were also the same small fight.

"What's wrong, you two? Please don't disappoint everyone."

Baitu Meiyi looked at Zuo Xibai quietly from a distance, as if no matter what decision he made, she would choose to accept it. Not to give the other party the right to choose, but because the other party has never had the right to choose, so she left the choice to him.

"Hey, although you have the right to choose yourself now, I still hope you can choose to fight."

Even though she wanted him to choose, she expected him to make better choices.

Baitu Meiyi's gentle voice seemed to be whispering in the ear, but Zuo Xibai shook his head vigorously.

This is not a "right to choose". Because the two choices before him were not the result he wanted.

Choosing to fight is obviously just a compromise to survival.

"White Rabbit... Let me ask you, you walked into this trap on purpose, right?"

Baitu Meiyi didn't mean to deny it, she just approached Zuo Xibai step by step. The temperature became hotter and hotter, and the time left for Zuo Xibai to choose became less and less as Baitu Meiyi got closer and closer. His heart was beating violently.

"I just, hope you can live."

When Baitu Meiyi realized that Zuo Xibai was in danger, he knew that things would get out of hand. The solution is in her. Because if she didn't come here, then Zuo Xibai would not have the option of "surviving".

She came here to give him another choice.

It's just that under the situation of unequal intelligence between the two parties, no matter what choice Zuo Xibai made, it would be unfair to him.

Back in time, Zuo Xibai, who heard someone calling softly, suddenly breathed heavily and opened his eyes.

As if he had a dream about the past, the King of Pirates of Dreams woke up under a dark sky, with boundless green beneath him.

The one who also sat up with him was William who died with him the last second.

"It's really a place suitable for a last stand."

The moment William's eyes met the King of Pirates of Dreams, he became sharper, and the King of Pirates of Dreams stood up without hesitation.

"That's right. There is no way out on the desolate star. If we die here, there will be no second desolate star that allows our thoughts to go blank. It will be death in the true sense."

The deserted lonely star, and the noisy arena that was overcrowded at that time.

For some reason, different pictures can be integrated into the same atmosphere, completely natural.

Thoughts switch back and forth between the two pictures of the past and reality.

Faced with the two unacceptable but unacceptable choices, Zuo Xibai finally chose——

Under the more and more arrogant shouts outside the square, Baitu Yayi almost came close to Zuo Xibai before stopping. She intentionally placed the time selected by Rong Zuo Xibai at the widest position.

Choices are time-limited. Because if Zuo Xibai refuses to fight Baitu Meiyi for a long time, even if Baitu Meiyi deliberately admits defeat in the end, the dream robbers will think that Zuo Xibai has really betrayed them, and this will become a meaningless victory.

"The only wrong choice I made was that after meeting Baitu Mei, I chose a childish way of betrayal. As for choosing to live, just like what the executioner in the wine cellar said at that time, it is not necessarily right to seek death, but wanting to live It’s never wrong to go down.”

The moment Baitu Mei stood in front of him, he repeated the three words "I'm sorry" in his heart, and punched her with all his strength. On this answer sheet with only one multiple choice question, he gave his answer.

Baitu Meiyi showed a smile on his face for a moment, and sideways dodged Zuo Xibai's punch.

The reason why he chose that childish way of betrayal was because he wanted to break free from the shackles of the dream thief and the name of the Virgin, not because he didn't want to live.

There is nothing wrong with living. This betrayal is essentially just to live better-to live without being restrained.

"My choice itself is not wrong. The culprit who made it wrong is you, William Andres!"