Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

The tides come and go, rustling waves wash shells on the shore.

Suddenly, the melodious and sad piano gradually overwhelmed the sea water, bringing with it waves of emotions.

Tears ran across my cheeks, I opened my eyes in a daze, and the light of the tears reflected a hazy surrounding.

Instinctively, I raised my arms to cover my eyelids, wiped away tears that I didn't know why, and stood up from the hard plank bed.

Back to the gray room of the prison, the colors fade like petals.

Sure enough, it was the effect of the medicine. I lowered my eyes, slowly spread my palms, and tried to pinch into the thick flesh of my palms, but I didn't feel anything except the pain, let alone wake up. I changed the target into a finger, put it on the edge of my mouth and bit down hard, the blood oozing out flowed into my mouth, arousing a bloody smell on the tip of my tongue.

The pain is uncannily real, but it's not reality here, and I can't use the pain to wake me up.

The warning light above the cell door stopped flashing, and the plaza outside the room gradually became noisy. I also stood up on the edge of the bed, and my back throbbed like it was pulling my chest. The trace of the wound, the pain responds to my movements.

This made me lift up my clothes in amazement to check my chest, and found that the whole area of ​​my chest was tightly wrapped with bandages, only the blood on my chest stained the bandages red.

"that……?"

A shy female voice suddenly sounded at the door, and I quickly raised my head, only to see the black cat twitching its hair uneasily, its eyes dodging left and right, and it never dared to look directly at me.

"I can, come in?"

It wasn't until she raised her small face and saw her flushed cheeks that I realized that the girl in front of me was actually Xiao Lulu.

"Ah... of course."

I quickly pulled off my clothes, but Xiao Lulu still looked quite embarrassed, and reluctantly walked into the room with a small box.

When she came closer, I saw that she was carrying a medical kit. She gently put it on the side of the bed, and looked at me again with puffy cheeks.

"I... I... I'm here to help you treat the wound! Please carry your body on your back!"

After finishing speaking, Xiao Lulu immediately bent down like a bow, tightly clutching the hem of his clothes with both hands, trembling cautiously.

I didn't expect her to be so aggressive, and I didn't know how to respond for a while, so I was stunned for a long time.

"Um, this is actually a dreamland. This injury will heal soon."

"No! If you don't treat such a serious injury, you will die! It's a dream, but it's different from ordinary dreams..."

Xiao Lulu's tone suddenly became serious, but he was no match for his shyness, and his voice without confidence gradually softened.

I didn't expect her to be so shy, obviously she always looks mature. Seeing how hard she mustered up the courage, she had no choice but to carry her body on her back as she said.

"Then, can I trouble you?"

Looking back to observe her reaction, Xiao Lulu raised his head quietly, but lowered his head again with blinking innocent eyes.

"You're staring at me like that, I don't dare to move..."

"It looks like an assassination operation, and everyone will stare at you."

Xiao Lulu raised his blushing pretty face and pouted his small mouth pitifully, as if he had been greatly wronged.

"I-I'm doing this to a boy for the first time, of course I will..."

"Don't say things that make people think wildly... I'll just stop looking at your head office."

I finally compromised with her, staring blankly at the blank wall in front of me.

The air was silent for a few seconds, Xiao Lulu seemed to be sure that I didn't mean to look at her, so he finally straightened up, ran to the edge of the bed and sat down like a rabbit, opened the medical box on the bed with one hand, and lifted the clothes behind me with the other.

She coughed uncomfortably, and said as if about to perform a sacred ceremony:

"Then, let me start."

Although she tried her best to avoid direct contact with me, she still inevitably put her cold little hand on my back, and with the other hand, she picked up cotton and dipped it in the medicine to apply the scars on my back. But even if her demeanor is deliberately light, it still provokes a sharp pain.

In order to ease the awkward atmosphere and distract myself, I casually asked about things I was more concerned about.

"Speaking of which, how did I get back?"

"I was not at the scene, so I don't know the specific situation. However, it is said that the prison guards suddenly broke into the scene at that time, and everyone returned here in a blink of an eye as if teleported instantly. People outside are guessing what happened."

As she spoke, she took off my original bandage, picked up the bandage in the medical box sideways and cut it, and continued:

"You are also very lucky. You can survive such a serious injury. However, after returning home, you will be lethargic throughout the free rest time."

Xiao Lulu's words made me fall into deep thought. If you guessed right, this dream prison is maintained by the device in the laboratory. Since all the criminals disappeared overnight, the administrator should have searched for our location through some program in the device, and then was able to teleport us Back to the original position, that is, their respective cells.

And the reason why I fell asleep may be affected by the series of events of the dream I experienced and the short return to reality.

As for the so-called fate, it is actually just the fact of my death and the loss of the support of recognition.

"Then, what about Lin Yuren?"

Xiao Lulu's movements stopped for a short while, she was stunned for a moment, then tied the strap around my chest to my back.

"He and everyone involved were interrogated in a makeshift cell, and soon they will be sent to the restricted area to spend the rest of their lives."

Her tone pretended to be relaxed, but her breathing became heavy.

"However, they can come out of this free rest. If there are no accidents... it will be the last time."

I didn't think that I wasn't included in the range of those involved, but after thinking about it-maybe it was because I was wearing a prison guard uniform and suffered extremely serious injuries.

To say it is a coincidence is somewhat deliberate. I don't know why I feel that Lin Yu has considered the possibility of failure and prepared in advance to draw me out of the line. If it succeeds, let me die, if it fails, at least erase the suspicion of my involvement. This is indeed an extreme but thoughtful approach in line with Lin Yu's style.

During the conversation, Xiao Lulu had already treated my injury. She turned around and closed the medical box, put it gently on her lap, and just sat on the edge of my bed without saying a word, as if she had no intention of leaving.

It stands to reason that prisoners are not allowed to enter other people's rooms. I think it may be because of my injury that Xiao Lulu authorized Xiao Lulu to do so.

"I want to meet Lin Yu again."

I straightened out the wrinkles on my clothes, turned around and got out of bed, only to find that the hair of the girl sitting by the bed had been cut short. She no longer saw any shyness in her eyes looking back at me, but stared at me uncomfortably.

"Is it fun to tease your own sister?"

"Hey~ Listen to what you mean, you want me to help you treat the wound yourself?" The black cat raised her eyebrows maliciously, knowing that I didn't mean it, she said in an ambiguous tone, "I was the one who helped you when you first came back. You are bandaged. I thought we two sisters would take turns serving you, which would make you so happy that you would be resurrected with full blood."

"No way. You just want to make your sister blush?"

"No, actually I want to see your reaction, but I was surprised that you were so calm. Could it be that you couldn't get hard?"

"...Do you really want to see me locked in by prison guards?"

I curled up the corner of my mouth helplessly, but unexpectedly, I fell into the arms of the black cat, causing her to cover her face and laugh.

I don't quite understand the black cat's joke. However, I always feel that the feeling she gives me now has a subtle change compared to before.

If you want to ask what is the specific difference, it should be said that she has become frank, right?

The sense of distance that used to be close but actually distant is no longer felt.

Is it because she abandoned the lie?

I readjusted my breathing and looked at the black cat who finally held back her smile. Her eyes seemed to be filled with refreshing wind.

"I want... to meet Lin Yu again."

Say it. The black cat's mouth slightly opened into an O shape, and soon returned to her iconic smile. But her smile at this moment is much purer than before, with a bit of charm in her frankness. Finally she hummed with a smile, as if expecting me to do so.

"Then, do you need my help?"

After leaving the cell, the square was filled with an atmosphere that had never existed before. After a long period of abnormality, the lifelessness of the past can no longer be felt, replaced by the restlessness eager to try. Anxiety is conveyed silently, even without overt clamor.

However, no one recognized me. Otherwise, it will definitely attract unnecessary attention, and maybe even cause confusion.

I put my hands in my pockets, not for anything else, but to relieve the weight on my back, and the pain dissipated a little. Try not to let other people notice my injury, lest anyone think of me as the player who played against Lin Yu.

After walking a short distance, I easily found the "temporary cell" that Xiao Lulu mentioned. The prison guards just came out of the cell, gloating and still condescending when they left, but the criminals in the cell seemed to ignore them at all.

I don't know if he was unmoved by the provocations of the prison guards, or if he has completely given up on the escape.

I waited for the prison guards to go far enough out of sight, and quickened my pace to approach the door of the temporary cell. Although it was the last free time they could enjoy, none of them walked out of the cell, and they just sat in their respective positions in an unbelievably quiet manner.

Lin Yu just stood near the wall without saying a word, maintaining a sitting posture with the help of his arms supported on his knees.

I took a deep breath and worked up the courage to walk to the door of the cell. Lin Yu raised his head almost at the same time, as if he had noticed my gaze in advance.

After being stunned for a few seconds, I took the lead in breaking the deadlock between the two of them looking at each other, and said:

"Are you free...? Can you come out and have a chat?"

Lin Yu's appearance couldn't be that he didn't have time. I was afraid that what I said would irritate him again, so I quickly changed my words and greeted him in another way.

However, Lin Yu was surprisingly straightforward, stood up and walked out of the cell, not to mention making things difficult as I expected.

"Let's go to Fenglin."

Lin Yu casually dropped these four words, brushed past my shoulder and walked behind.

I really didn't expect him to agree to talk to me so easily. I thought he would completely fall into a state of self-isolation because of this failure.

"Why don't you go? You haven't been to Fenglin yet, have you?

"No. Been there quite a few times."

"Then follow up quickly. I don't have much time. Black Cat or Xiao Lulu should have told you, right?"

Lin Yu was no longer ready to waste time, turned around and walked in the direction of Fenglin with ease. I also followed up slowly.

It seems that he must have often chosen Fenglin as a place for secret talks since he first came here, right?

"You regretted it before the battle, is there a reason behind it that I don't know?"

Lin Yuleng spoke to me unexpectedly, his tone was not that cold, but it seemed too calm, as if he was talking about a trivial matter.

"Yes."

"Then you came to see me for a different purpose, right?"

The words continued almost seamlessly, Lin Yu tilted his head backwards, and projected his gaze at a forty-five-degree angle. He also has no scruples about the sights that are often cast on him in the square. Some are pity, some are sympathy, some are indignation, and some are even pity.

"Well, it's an important thing."

"Is that so?"

Lin Yu casually threw down a sentence in response, and we had already reached Fenglin at this time, he pushed the mirror lightly, so our reflection in the mirror caused ripples, like ripples of water pulling away into the distance, It was as if Lin Yu put his hand into the clear water and stirred it up.

It is still a paved lawn. But today, there is no one in Fenglin except us, maybe everyone can't calm down because of what happened recently.

What's more, we are the only ones who came here not to study, but to regard Fenglin as an excellent conference hall.

"I'll just say it straight to the point."

Lin Yu randomly chose a corner seat to sit down, and I sat across from him while talking.

"Compared to taking away the power to control reality, we actually have a more convenient escape plan."

"Escape from what? It's not just this prison that I want to escape from. If we just escape into a bigger cage, don't you think our efforts are in vain?"

Lin Yu's tone was not hostile, but merely stated objective facts. But it's this kind of blandness that makes people breathless.

The door of the birdcage hanging above was not closed tightly for some reason. The robin sang, pecked open the door with his beak, and fled out with flapping wings.

"I know that what you want to rewrite is fate, and I understand what you said... But if we can't even escape from this prison, how can we think about the future? Maybe you will think that I am short-sighted, or even think It's too naive. But I think we have to take this step."

I met Lin Yu's indifferent gaze, trying to muster up momentum in front of this protester who was suffering from fate.

There was an imperceptible wave in Lin Yu's eyes, he was silent for a few seconds, and slowly let out a breath, as if reconciling with his stubbornness.

"Tell me. You already have a rough plan, right? Let me hear your thoughts. If it's not feasible, I have the right to listen to your story."

I realized that Lin Yu was leaving room for me, so I immediately climbed up the rope he threw.

"It may be complicated to say. To put it simply, I woke up once."

The birdsong echoed in the maple forest at the right time. Lin Yu frowned slightly in surprise, and leaned forward towards me.

"You mean... after coming here?"

Sure enough, Lin Yu didn't have a similar experience. After all, this was the basis for me to talk to him.

"Well, right after the battle with you, I came back to reality." I said as I lifted up my blouse, showing my bandage-wrapped chest, "Shortly after you stabbed me down and lost consciousness, I was in the Core Research Association's The lab woke up, and it was full of people who were sleeping like me."

"Let me ask you first, you didn't make up this story to convince me, did you?"

"If you don't believe me, then you have the right to listen to my story."

I returned what Lin Yu had said to him intact. Lin Yu didn't expect me to answer like this, so he raised the corners of his mouth with a sneer, motioning for me to continue.

"... That laboratory is the one where the "Beyond Dream" is projected, you should remember it?"

"Remember, it's better to say that I will never forget it in my life. Is it the place where they study ESS and extreme sleep disorders?"

For some reason, Lin Yu seemed to grit his teeth and give such an answer, but his anger was not directed at me.

"Yes. Professor Huan is also in the laboratory. He seems to be in charge of managing the entire system. The medical staff will supplement the sleeping people with medicines every once in a while. One of them is a suspected nutrient solution like glucose, which is supplemented by infusion. The other type is contained in a syringe and supplemented by injection. I think it is a drug that induces high-intensity persistent sleep, which should be the reason why we are sleepy."

"It is several times stronger than sleeping pills, lasts longer, and has the effect of compulsive sleep. Is it such a drug?"

Lin Yu closed his eyes slightly and massaged the center of his brows, as if he was carefully considering the medicine I mentioned.

"...In short, the medicine is very effective. I was drowsy and drowsy almost immediately after being injected, and I couldn't violate it at all. In addition, everyone's body is connected to some kind of detector-like device, and these devices are all connected to the center of the laboratory. and transmit the body information to the host in real time. It is through the host that Professor Huan discovered the abnormality of my waking up. If there is no accident, it is the host that built this prison and synchronized the dreams of all of us. .”

"The main machine you are talking about is the device that reflected the dream world before?"

"That's right. This host seems to be taking on another important task. You just mentioned the characteristics of the drug, which is actually a bit doubtful. The persistence of the drug's effect is through the intermittent replenishment of the drug and the immersion effect produced by the host."

"Immersion function?" Lin Yu frowned, seeming to have an impression of the name, "So, when I rescued you from nuclear research, I operated that device, and it did have the function of 'immersion mode'. You woke up almost immediately after it was lifted."

"Then it will be a final conclusion. When I was about to wake up the sleeping people nearby, Professor Huan said that no matter how much influence the outside world had, they couldn't make them break through the barrier of consciousness. In other words, they couldn't perceive the influence from the outside world. It should be The effect of the "immersion mode" you mentioned."

Having said that, I pretended to pause and met Lin Yu's gaze.

"So you're saying... there's always a stage where the effects start to fade as the drug needs to be replenished periodically, but the key reason why we can't wake up even in this stage is the so-called 'immersion mode', right? ?”

"Exactly. As long as we break the "immersion mode", we have a chance to return to reality. But if only a few people wake up, they may still fall into my result-being driven back to the dream by the potion. Only by calling more People need to be involved in this.”

"But how do you crack it? And according to the information you gave, even if you crack it successfully, you need to match the timing of the medicine to return to reality, right?"

Lin Yupo felt a little reluctant, and keenly found the loopholes in my encouraging words.

"About how to crack it, what is in front of you is a living example. I have carefully analyzed the internal reasons that prompted me to wake up, except for the luck that happened to be in the weak period of the medicine, that is the factor that caused the immersion mode to fail. No matter what Even if you think about it, you can’t get around what Professor Huan said about the imperceptibility of sleepers to external influences.”

I clasped my hands together and raised my fingers, resting my elbows on the edge of the table, kneading my fingers a little nervously.

"The following are all my personal guesses. What caused me to break through the immersion mode was the shock from within. More intuitive explanation, I think the immersion mode puts us in the bottom layer of dreams that are extremely far away from reality, that is, this Prison. I came to the second layer of dream you constructed—the dream layer that is closer to reality than the bottom layer. After being impacted enough to die, my consciousness, which seemed to be trapped in a marquee, escaped from your second layer of dream, Shuttle back and forth on the dream level above. In the end, through the complete collapse of my consciousness through the double dream, I broke through all the way to the dream closest to reality, and was able to wake up from reality.”

After talking about my unsubstantial conjecture, I couldn't help but hold my breath and observe Lin Yu's reaction, worried that he would find a loophole that could completely overthrow my conjecture.

But Lin Yu just lowered his head, with a bitter, meaningless smile on his lips.

"That's enough."

I couldn't help being at a loss, and didn't speak in a daze.

"If you want to escape from this prison, you alone are enough? Hehe, I thought we were bearing the same fate, and you were destined to end your ridiculous life in tragedy like mine. But maybe fate is not impossible Rewrite, but the one who can rewrite fate is not me, but you, Su Luoyang. That's enough, I already know your answer, please move on instead of me."

"But you know I need your help..."

"How can you help you by letting a person who will soon lose his freedom forever? I already know what my fate is, which is why you can get back to reality by chance, but I never had this opportunity. I am going to spend the rest of my life here, and you are going to fight against this unreasonable world. So in fact, you are not a fluke, it is just fate.”

After Lin Yu finished speaking, he finally raised his head, with a bitter arc at the corner of his mouth. It seemed that the previous indifference was just a disguise for despair, as if my existence once again made him feel at ease to give up resistance.

"I finally understand. The fate you are talking about is not the script preset by the Creator. In fact, it is you who refuse to let yourself go, right?"