Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

Xiao Lulu, who had been sleeping in the tea cat's arms, slowly opened his eyes. I froze for a moment, and saw that she stood firm, and the tea cat let her go gently.

Xiao Lulu took a step back a little later, looked around in a daze, and finally set his eyes on me.

"here it is……?"

After hearing this, I took another look at this strange medieval town, and I glanced at Elus who was kicking a small stone under her feet.

"It seems to be the dream world of that little lolita."

The inexplicable sense of distance made me dare not talk to him in the way I spoke before. Of course, now I can't transfer the cold eyes I saw in that alley to the current Xiao Lulu. After all, in front of me now, she only exudes a faint sense of intimacy, and her tone is not scary at all. Of course, there is also my rather subjective personal feeling of "I am an idiot".

Suddenly, I felt a strange gaze, I looked back according to that feeling, and noticed that Luo Luo was watching Xiao Lulu subtly.

Speaking of it, she didn't seem to be surprised by Lulu's coma. In other words, it's not like Xiao Luoluo has never seen the terrifying state just now.

Xiao Lulu rubbed his temples, it seemed that he was still in a state of confusion. Probably because the clothes on her body were burned by the black mist just now to the extent that her skin was exposed, many passers-by in strange clothes cast doubtful glances.

"Since you are awake too, let me tell you from the beginning." William said softly, "The twelve Dominator clocks have played a key role in determining the outcome of the past."

As he spoke, William leaned back slightly, trying to lean against the rust-red brick wall next to the fruit shop. At this time, Elus raised her staff high, and a magic circle shining with orange-red light came along with a strange air current. Leaning back, William took advantage of the opportunity and sat on the leather sofa by the wall that Chen suddenly appeared behind.

Not only that, but in the blink of an eye, everything around her changed into Ling's appearance. We sat around a dining table, and at the same time as the sound of heels scraping against the ground, a woman in a crimson dress passed by nearby, wearing something like a nightgown. She smiled and put the tray full of wooden cups on the table, and put the cups in front of us one by one. When my cup was put down in front of me, I realized that the liquid in the cup was bubbling, and a strange but familiar taste entered my nostrils.

Well, it's the smell of alcohol that blows your face when you walk into a tavern when the headmaster stops you from drinking. And only then did I realize that this place is also a tavern.

The layout everywhere...whether it is the hanging lamps glowing with golden light, or the huge wine barrels piled up next to the man who seems to be a bartender, all reveal a decadent atmosphere. On the contrary, the people who passed by were full of vigor.

"Well, it's better to talk here." Eluth obviously noticed the confusion in the eyes of most of us, and reminded softly.

Her glass was filled with orange-red juice. It should be ordinary orange juice, right?

William had a familiar expression, as if he was not a newcomer, and looked relaxed. It's also possible that he doesn't come to this kind of place less often, right? He moved the wine glass to his mouth, then turned his head up and drank it down. When I put down the glass, I deliberately glanced at it——there was only half of the glass left.

Ha, should I say that he is really a bold guy? But a bold person... can't talk and always goes around in circles, right?

"We must restore the broken Dominator Clock, but to do so, we must use the power of the Dominator Clock."

Look, it avoided the straight road again and made a big circle.

"It's really contradictory." I narrowed my eyes slightly, and raised my head to signal William, "Then you have to tell us, what role does the Dominator Clock play?"

"As I said, it is closely related to our rulers...you don't need to know too much other than that."

William looked away, drank the wine again, and put down the beer glass, causing the table to tremble slightly.

"Don't you want us to follow your orders without knowing why?"

"..."

There was no answer, and it seemed that he would have to hide something next. Thinking of this, I rolled my eyes impatiently.

It's really interesting, what is there to hide from us...

Since you don't want to speak by yourself, then I can only use mind reading again. I secretly made a decision, coughed, and leaned forward towards William.

"I'm sorry." When I said these three words, I couldn't help showing a bitter smile against my will. It really doesn't fit my style of words.

—At least I never used to ask permission to pry into the hearts of others.

In a blink of an eye, before me was the door to the inner world that had already been knocked open, and the hearts of people who were speaking different words were arranged in an orderly manner.

I recalled the first time I was spying on people's hearts.

At first I wanted to enlighten him, but I also racked my brains to make many assumptions and gave him a solution that he could think of, but my efforts only resulted in disappointment. Facing the student whose eyes had dimmed in front of me, I finally couldn't help but make this decision... From then on, while relying on dreams, I despised other dreamers who escaped from reality, and found the truth for myself. A valid reason, no,—an excuse that would excuse the sin of spying on others.

Thinking about these things, I came to the end of the corridor, where a dark red door was silently placed. I carefully pushed aside the rope that obstructed my sight. The moment I opened the door, what rushed up was William's thoughts.

——"Each ruler clock is connected to several "cores" of the real world.

"They are like shackles, hindering the free movement of the real world, but at the same time preventing it from developing to an unpredictable level and even destroying it.

"Rather than saying that the Dominator Clocks are a 'symbol' of the world, they are the world itself."

The thought coming from the other side of the door made me withdraw my hand holding the doorknob, and at the same time I took a sudden step back. In a daze, all the scenery of mental illusion dissipated with the pain from the forehead, and what filled was the scene of the tavern.

I saw William leaning forward and making a movement of retracting his fist. I instinctively rubbed the painful forehead, not caring about his unhesitating punch just now, but thinking about the strange sentence I just read.

Does those words mean that there are 11 other real worlds besides the real world I am in? ...And thinking that not long ago, the clock on the tenth was destroyed by the madman of the dream-what does this mean, it is hard for me to think. It's not that I can't find the answer, but—"The ruler clock is the world itself", this sentence made me timid to continue thinking. Now that our clocks are being attacked by Dream Thieves, this...will have an impact on our world too, right?

"Your ability is really a hindrance to me." William said through gritted teeth. I looked up at him again, and William's face showed an undisguised hostility towards me.

"...Although I don't quite understand the current situation. But this time, I am on the same side as Lin Yu." Xiao Lulu put his elbows on the table, and the light in his eyes was no longer so slack. It seems that no matter how impulsive she is, she still retains a little bit of reason.

"Yeah... What are you hiding, and why are you hiding it? I am very concerned." Xue Xueer said cautiously, obviously worried that she had said something wrong. The doubts shining in the eyes gave off an inexplicably seductive aura.

There was a lot of chatter at the table for a while... William sat there in embarrassment, clenched his fists, and knit his brows together in displeasure, as if he would slam his fist on the table in the next second out of displeasure.

"Each clock corresponds to a different real world...Since this is the case, then the destruction of the tenth clock must mean something, right?" I coughed. I saw William's slightly hostile gaze fell on me again, and his fist was clenched so tightly that he made a "clack" sound. My words also made other people's eyes focus on me alone. While thinking about it, I added, "I think you should at least tell us about this matter honestly?"

Barbaric intrusion, blocked the silence between us, making it difficult for the air to be inhaled into the nasal cavity. William stared hard at me, and I looked into his eyes without flinching. In the end, he was the first to breathe a sigh of relief and looked away. broke the suffocating silence.

"...I think their world is probably out of control and on the verge of destruction." Speaking of this, William stared into my eyes with piercing eyes, "Hey, are you satisfied with this answer?"

I exhaled my unhappiness, no matter where I put my hands, I felt something was wrong, and I felt uncomfortable all over my body, so I had to rub my itchy eyes.

When he got the answer, he clearly relaxed all over his body, but he did not expect a more repressed sense of tension trembling up to his heart.

To be honest, once I know that this is the truth, I don’t think it’s unreasonable—just imagine how the dream madman longing for chaos would kindly tell us everything about this world?

Not only that, but I think he must also deliberately want us to deviate from the right track? There must be a lot of things that are not what we think, but there is no opportunity to sort everything out.

"No! That's not the punishment that was originally agreed, is it?" Suddenly, Su Ruoyang slapped the table and stood up excitedly, his eyes wandered towards Xia Yinci's direction.

Xia Yinci's eyes flickered, like dust flying under the light, still unable to settle down. She still avoided Su Ruoyang's direct gaze and lowered her eyes.

Su Luoyang seemed to be trying to remember something, and read out a sentence that we all heard before participating in the domination war. "If you don't have enough people in your team, you will be punished without dreams... Even if you enter a dream, you will only enter a nightmare! After all, how can dreams have anything to do with reality! That's too unreasonable!" The meaning of pouring out all the grievances.

"...That's obviously just a lie." Xiao Luoluo told the truth calmly. She doesn't look like she just found out about it. Facing Su Luoyang's vacillating eyes, she shook her head, "No... no, it's not a lie~ In fact, the destruction of the world, to some extent, doesn't it mean "eternal nightmare"?"

Silence came again, but this time it was fundamentally different from before. Everyone wanted to say something, but they didn't know what to say, so they closed their mouths tacitly.

——If the punishment is dreamless, people will show the illusion of fearlessness and deceive themselves with the excuse of "I have nothing to lose, so I can only put all my eggs in one basket"; How many people can take the risk that the world may be destroyed in their own hands, regard it as a game, and participate willfully?

Most of the rulers are just characters who "show off the limelight in their dreams, but are trampled under their feet in reality". I don't think they've made that sense. Putting on the mask of "one who doesn't have any nostalgia for reality will devote himself to dreams", but actually retains a slight hope for reality. If they deny that they are participating in the game in order to dominate reality, I certainly do not believe it.

Everyone knows the cruel reality of "not everyone can be the protagonist". But in fact, not everyone can play the role of "villain king".

"You...you didn't tell us. This is a lie, right?" A trace of panic flashed in Elus' eyes, as if all the strength in her body had disappeared, she lowered her head.

Su Ruoyang, who was standing there alone and hesitantly, also showed a little confusion, and looked back at her.

"Didn't you say that William told you and Charte about this before?" As soon as the words fell, Su Luoyang suddenly thought of something, and looked at William, "Or, what you know is another thing matter? You didn’t know about this matter before this?”

Elus nodded her head lightly, her lips were slightly pale. Xiao Lulu, who has always been impulsive, parted his red lips slightly at this moment, and wanted to say something, but he couldn't be impulsive no matter what.

"The domination war has already begun anyway. From my point of view, I hope you don't back down." William interlocked his fingers and looked around us solemnly.

"How could it be as simple as you said?" Su Ruoyang sat down a little dejectedly, Xia Yinci gave him a concerned look, with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"However, the so-called "dreamless" punishment is gone. For you, participating in the domination war may be more or less forced, and there may be no reason to participate." He suddenly paused, as if he was deciding on something Things that are difficult to decide, took a deep breath, and said softly, "Forcing you who have no fighting spirit to stay will lead to failure... So, now, I will tell you directly-you still have a chance to back down."

These words made everyone's eyes focus on William. Even Su Luoyang, who said those words just now, trembled.

It can be seen even without mind reading skills, it is obvious that Su Ruoyang has already made a plan that he cannot quit. Just now, it was just a complaint about others' concealment of dissatisfaction.

"Actually, I've already prepared for you to leave...you are the 'tickets for admission', and you can't enter the domination war if you don't have 12 people... and now we have already passed this time on the second clock Guan, even if the number is missing again, you will not be punished. In other words, your withdrawal does not mean that we will definitely fail. So you can back down, and I will find a way to make up the number at that time. "

Everyone didn't know what to say for a while, and they all shut their mouths, as if they were waiting for others to make a decision first, so they had to look at each other. There is no complaint, only the entanglement expressed by the difficulty in deciding on an answer.

"I participated in the last Domination War for the same reason... As long as you go deeper into this world, you will encounter more unacceptable things. In the last Domination War, there were also many people who could not Accept it, people keep quitting." William said to himself, showing a meaningful smile, and turned his eyes to us for a while. "As for me, I was invited to join after the start of the game precisely because of a serious shortage of people in a certain team."

The noise from the surroundings seemed extremely unreal, and only at this moment did I realize soberly that no matter how real things were copied, I was just in a dream. However, this dream has determined the reality.

——Fate seems to use this to mock me who has always despised dreams and dreamers.

"It's really a cunning statement." I sighed lightly, "However, I still reserve my opinion. Isn't the original purpose of your participation in the domination war just for self-satisfaction?"

"Now that things have come to an end, don't be so mean when you speak." Elus narrowed her eyes slightly, but the light in her eyes was not as lively as usual.

"...You probably misunderstood me." This sentence made Elus look at me slightly confused, and I responded to her question with a smile. Since they know this fact because of me, I can only clean up this mess. I thought about this, took a deep breath and continued, "For me, instead of quitting the game and worrying about reality, maybe waking up one day, everything has been annihilated... It's better to stay here , fight for your life."

Unbelievable emotion flashed in William's eyes. Does saying this kind of thing from my mouth make them suspicious? I couldn't help but look back with displeasure.

"You mean...?" William's frowning brows relaxed a little, and then he deliberately raised the slight expectation.

"So, I'll stay here." I reluctantly tossed out my reply.

"Huh? That's weird." Suddenly, a faint fragrance penetrated into the nostrils. Immediately afterwards, the arm was itchy, and a few strands of hair were hanging on the arm. Xiao Luoluo's eyes drifted away from my body, I swallowed, but couldn't retreat. In the end, Xiao Luoluo finally looked away, released the invisible restraint on me, and smiled slightly, "It really doesn't fit the speech of a bystander like you."

"So what did you say?" I was made a little uncomfortable by her, deliberately put on a bad tone, and asked Xiao Luoluo angrily.

"As for me, I have a reason to participate. So I will stay here too." Xiao Luoluo rested her head on her right hand and looked at me with her eyebrows bent. This guy really makes people feel inexplicable no matter where he is!

"...I also want to stay. Well, I must stay." Elus murmured softly, rather than saying that she was announcing her decision, it would be better to say that she was looking for reasons to convince herself.

"Since my sister has decided...then I'll stay too..." Xiao Lulu stroked the white cat's hairpin. After noticing my gaze, she looked back at me with displeasure, "What are you looking at me for? Are you sick?"

"It's just that you suddenly found that your attitude towards your sister is unbelievably good. It's completely different from usual, you dead sister." I told the truth plainly, and Xiao Lulu blushed, with a smile on his face. He snorted angrily.

"I, I care very much. I care about everything in the dream world... So, now I only care about this one thing, so... My answer is the same." Xue Xueer said here, thinking to himself Nodding my head. I don't know why there is a strange charm in every gesture. Of course, this kind of charm is naturally only effective for women. The problem is that Xue Xueer is a girl, right? ! ? She is really a girl! I really have a desire to see what she looks like in real life.

Beside Xue Xueer, Su Ruoyang was watching Su Huilin who was leaning on the side, as if hesitating for an answer. Su Huilin narrowed her eyes lazily, and the golden threads fell to one side scatteredly, she was unable to make any reply. After noticing the gazes of the crowd, Su Ruoyang reluctantly turned his head to meet the gazes of the crowd. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed his mouth again. Only a meaningless moan came from the throat.

"Hey, if Su Luoyang participates, I will participate~" Suddenly, a clear voice attracted the attention of all of us, "If he doesn't participate, then there is no point for me to participate either."

Sitting there, Xia Yinci quietly lowered her eyes, looking at her reflection in the wine glass. That look...it seemed that he would not change his mind no matter what.