Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

The empty hall makes people feel uneasy, as if they want to retreat when facing a lofty cliff. The girl blinking her bright eyes followed the arrow on the ground with careful steps, and the end of the arrow was a whitewashed wall.

Xue Xueer stopped at the last arrow mark and looked around, wondering if she was going in the wrong direction. At this time, the originally blank wall was sunken in, showing a regular rectangle, and then the rectangle disappeared, and there was a hole in the other side, which was a small conference room. In the room, the professor with vicissitudes of life but secretly excited was pacing and waiting for his arrival.

"You're here at last. Come on, sit down." The professor waved his right hand with jagged nails, beckoning Xue Xueer to sit down.

It doesn't matter. I've seen strangers than him in previous interviews, and it's no big deal at all. Xue Xueer clenched her fists and said to herself hypnotically, tears almost rolled in her eyes. Little by little, she leaned down and sat opposite the professor.

"Ah... this is only the second time we have met. Actually, I am a little nervous. After all, I don't know how to communicate with a girl like you who is in her prime. Hey, don't look at me like this. It seems that I am quite old and have experienced many vicissitudes. look, but the ones I come into contact with the most are those middle-aged scholars in the research institute with a lot of beards."

Xue Xueer patiently let the professor go on talking, as if the professor deliberately talked around circles. Gradually, Xue Xueer's consciousness became a little hazy, and the words he heard were muddy like muddy water.

"Speaking of which, I have to ask you a question, have we...have you met somewhere? I think you look familiar.

The professor's head kept shaking left and right, and his thoughts seemed to be extremely disordered. Xue Xueer was also awakened by this question, and her eyes widened nervously.

"Ah, please don't be nervous. I'm not sure... It's just a gut feeling. God will always give us some sudden inspirations, and they may not be correct. But I still want to insist on reminding you that we can't There is a chance that I passed by a coffee shop, or you happened to be in line behind me when I went to the bank to withdraw money, or... You accidentally entered a weird building on a whim, but was recorded by the surveillance camera at the door. down?"

Xue Xueer suddenly raised his head because of these words. Facing the professor's slightly squinted and thoughtful eyes, she hastily lowered her eyelids, as if biting her lower lip to relax.

＊＊＊

A few days ago.

The girl walked along the veranda looking out the window as usual, and came to the door of the news agency classroom. She took a deep breath to muster up her courage, and opened the classroom door.

"Morning...good morning!"

The clear and timid voice broke the original atmosphere in the classroom, creating a suffocating silence for an instant. Xue Xueer showed that she had done something wrong, and wanted to turn around and leave as quickly as possible, but she still resisted the urge, facing the hostile gaze of the female members, she pinched the hem of her skirt and walked to her seat Down.

The red bow tie on her chest was raised up in the way to block her view, and all the writing paper on the table happened to be used up. Everything was against him, clamoring for himself to disappear with arrogance. She deliberately stretched her frowning eyebrows, looked at the classmates in the classroom and wanted to borrow blank paper, but the girls who were staring at her just now turned their heads away quickly, as if it was a heavy punishment to look at her.

Xue Xueer has always been one of the most attention-getting members in this classroom. There seemed to be fuchsia petals fluttering beside her, which made others look eagerly on her. The other female members never understood why she appeared in this classroom. They blamed Xue Xueer for not being noticed. Although they had a pleasant chat in public, they seemed to be waiting for an "opportunity". Unexpectedly, this opportunity suddenly fell in front of them. One of them claimed to like the new junior student, another member who received the most attention in this classroom, but this junior confessed to Xue Xueer senior sister one evening. Although Xue Xueer rejected him, they both Comforting that girl while making trouble, seemed to have found an opportunity for them to exclude Xue Xueer.

Xue Xueer gave up the idea of ​​asking others to borrow writing paper, and sat back in her seat in frustration. This classroom only has this table and chair as my shelter. Thinking of this, she suddenly shook her head, because a girl with a distinctive aura came out of the inner room, looking at me He walked towards himself without looking aside.

For Xue Xueer, she is not only the president of the news agency, but also the guide who brought her into this classroom. Every time her excellent report is like a whisper, she encourages Xue Xueer, come and join the news agency, there is a place for you here! So Xue Xueer joined the news agency following in the footsteps of this senior. The president had left a different imprint on her life so far—a voice that was the exact opposite of those who told her to just be protected obediently. Xue Xueer felt that as long as the president waved the flag vigorously in front, he would not be confused.

I don’t know how many times Xue Xueer was put aside by others with the reason that “you are a girl, you don’t need to do such a thing”, and she felt how happy she would be if she were a boy, but the existence of the president clearly told her, You can do whatever you want regardless of your gender. Because gender itself does not impose any restrictions on people at all.

"It's up to you to follow up on this matter." The plain tone of the president made her feel the warmest temperature in this classroom. She looked at the back of the president leaving, and squeezed the file in her hand, as if she would never hear those strange comments again from now on. That's right, I came to this classroom originally to follow in the footsteps of my predecessors, and everything else should have nothing to do with me.

But the world always develops in an unpredictable direction, and fate is keen to break people's original plans. "The system of the abandoned factory was running in the middle of the night for no reason." Xue Xueer was going to prove that it was a complete rumor as soon as possible when she got this urban legend from the president. Secretly following him all day long, the president didn't know why he was absent-minded all day long, contrary to his usual appearance, and even left school early at noon. The next day, Xue Xueer endured the fear of being followed and came to the classroom of the school club, only to find that the president simply did not come to school today, and the club activities that day were therefore cancelled. When school was over, Xue Xueer uneasily asked the club's instructor about the situation of the president, but found out that she hadn't been seen since yesterday afternoon, and her house was full of smog, only a completely broken computer was placed in the risky room. out of the blazing iron barrel. Xue Xueer understands that everything is not as simple as a fabricated urban legend. Just about to leave, the teacher stopped her, "By the way, she seemed to tell me to give you this letter yesterday." The teacher opened the drawer and took out the folded writing paper and handed it to Xue Xueer.

Xue Xueer unfolded the letter paper, and there was only a line of scrawled blue pen writing in the center of the letter paper——

"Senior Xue Xueer, the south gate of the abandoned factory has the information I investigated. Please burn it after reading it. From now on, the task of "breaking the illusion and never compromise" will be entrusted to you! I hope you can replace me and continue to explore those people. I don’t know what I care about.” Senior’s simple message is suspected to be similar to a suicide note. She felt uneasy like never before.

In order to get rid of the sight that seemed to be sticking behind her all the time, she deliberately took a detour and changed several buses before arriving at the south gate of the abandoned factory. The meaning of the text in the information is vague and difficult to understand. She knew that it was a record written by the senior while thinking. I recorded these contents in my notebook, and then burned these materials as my predecessors said. Then she went to the address recorded in the information, and it was late at night when she found it. The building standing in front of Xue Xueer exudes the atmosphere that people born should not enter, but it opens the door to Xue Xueer without hesitation.

Although she understood that everything seemed to be hidden, Xue Xueer was still driven into this scientific research institution by the curiosity and lust of her predecessors. After passing through the hall filled with "white" and coming to the wall at the end, Xue Xueer reached out and touched it lightly, and the space extended to the distance in just a few blinks. In fact, it is just a "luxury" automatic door that can be called a visual feast. Xue Xueer approached the room cautiously, the lights from top to bottom were particularly dazzling, and the exquisite glass revealed twelve hospital beds arranged in disorder in the deeper room.

Scanning the bold words "Dream Image Recording System", Xue Xueer was dazzled by the strong and distorted sense of strangeness. She took a few steps back to leave, but was stopped by the soft touch behind her. Under the eyes of the pair of eyes behind her who were pulling the gaze of the person who was looking at her, a burst of pain enough to cause dizziness caused her to lose consciousness and fell down in a daze.

...

As if predicting the fate of who she would meet in advance, the girl opened her heavy eyes. When she stood up, even the weight of the clothes she was wearing and the long purple hair draped over her shoulders made her breathless. She stretched out her hand to stick to the cold sensing area, and the door popped open immediately. .

In this rusty room, only this sensor door was cleaned up exceptionally clean, and it couldn't blend in with the surroundings, instead creating a glaring and abrupt feeling.

The summer night wind is intoxicating, and I can't feel any coldness. Gently stroking the hair accessories hanging on the hair, the black cat walks through countless repeated scenery. The professor knew that she had been "cursed" that she could not escape from here, so he simply granted himself the right to leave the room. But I was also worried that she would wander around during the day, shortening the time of free movement in the facility to night. Only at night when no one would enter here, can her palm print unlock the lock of the induction door. But she doesn't care about the so-called free time, even if she loses these time, she will not feel regretful at all.

But she clearly saw a young girl break into the hall quietly, like a deer lost in a dense jungle. She was genuinely delighted, and the appearance of the girl was like a gift after waking up on Christmas night. The black cat thought that leaving the girl in the hall after being tortured to death would definitely attract the attention of the professor and others. In this way, she can take the opportunity to break the "curse" and escape from here.

The black cat approached the girl step by step with light and cheerful steps. Xue Xueer didn't realize that the dangerous atmosphere was hanging in the air behind him, but was attracted by the strange scene in front of him, and walked into the room with shaking eyes.

The black cat, which quickly followed the girl, walked into the room where the professor was doing the secret experiment. The girl backed up because of anxiety and bumped into her body, and turned around quickly with throbbing eyes. The black cat stunned the opponent without hesitation. As the girl fell limply to the ground, the bag she was holding tightly also fell to the ground, and the notebook inside was inadvertently left out.

"Huh? A strange notebook." The black cat squatted down in front of the notebook and gently picked it up. She opened it nonchalantly, never expecting to walk into the life described by the girl through this notebook. Black Cat has never seen such a "breath of life" text, and it may have been too long, and she has long forgotten whether she has seen it.

She closed the notebook with a snap, and the corners of her mouth raised involuntarily. She suddenly felt that the plan of killing the girl to attract the attention of those people did not seem to have a high degree of feasibility, so she simply gave up the idea of ​​killing the girl, and instead provocatively poked the girl's soft cheek.

"Come on, be my toy~It will be fun~"

...

It seems to have had a long and strange dream vaguely, as for the content of the dream, it seems that I only remember half of it. When Xue Xueer woke up, she was leaning against the wall at the entrance of the street. It was a middle-aged man wearing a bib who woke her up. Xue Xueer opened his eyes in a daze, and saw the man handing over hot pancakes.

"What's the matter, little girl? Did you run away from home because you were upset?"

"No... no! I didn't run away from home!"

"Then why do you sleep in this kind of place." The enthusiastic man asked persistently, Xue Xueer didn't know how to answer this time. I remember that I followed the alley to the address left by my predecessors, as if I was stunned by someone, and ended up in this kind of place.

"Your parents will be worried, right? Go home early."

Xue Xueer took the man's pancake hesitantly. Although she wanted to tell the other party that she was staying at her aunt's house and that her parents were no longer alive, all she could say in the end was thank you. The man didn't notice that something was wrong with Xue Xueer, so he replied bluntly that you're welcome, and then walked back to his small shop. Looking at the man's shop, Xue Xue'er stood up slowly, glanced at the deep alley, and finally left here with confusion. Xue Xueer still felt 120% exhausted when she got home, she dropped her bag and fell on the bed and fell asleep again.

However, what was waiting for her in her dream was the figure of a strange girl who unquestionably sent an invitation to herself, wanting to use her to "fill the gap", but her tone seemed as if the other party was the one who was begged hard Just as tough. "Also~ I hope you will like the gift I gave you." Xue Xueer suddenly woke up from the dream, and the pain of being severely broken by the girl in the dream spread to reality. She quickly sat up from the bed, opened the zipper of the bag and rummaged through it, and finally took out a stack of strange materials from the bag. She came to the table with the information, but the text in the center of the slightly crumpled letter paper on the table ran into her eyes arbitrarily-"I hope you can replace me and continue to explore those unknown unknowns."

This line of words seemed to be endowed with a voice, Xue Xueer was suddenly taken aback, her pupils paled for a while, and it took a long time before she secretly made up her mind. Although the girl in the dream had a vague appearance, she seemed to be the girl I had seen in that scientific research institution before. That being the case, agreeing to her invitation is one step closer to the missing senior.

"Oh. Are you willing to accept my invitation now? Although you are not very interested, what is your purpose in participating in the domination war?"

The girl sat on top with her legs crossed, with a lazy look as if she had asked something that she didn't want to interfere but was in a fixed format.

"What does it mean?"

"That is, if you got the power to control reality~ what would you use it for?

Speaking of this, the girl jumped in front of Xue Xueer, shook her index finger, and glanced at Xue Xueer with interest.

"I see that you have been paying attention to the appearance of a senior. You should use it to put all the clues in front of you."

Xue Xueer tilted his head, stared at the girl for a long time, then smiled, and shook his head left and right.

"No. It would be too boring to obtain clues with the help of this kind of power. In my opinion, I want to join the domination war you mentioned simply because I am interested."

...

Seeing Xue Xueer's at a loss, the professor showed a look of extreme enjoyment. He turned the laptop on the table to Xue Xueer. Xue Xueer raised her head, and the screen showed the blog she had seen in the information that the black cat stuffed into her bag, and it was also the blog she suspected to be run by her seniors.

"This is the blog we've been trying to shut down for a long time. Its blogger has been listed as a VIP by us, but it seems that someone else runs the blog. And, if I'm not mistaken, it should be one of ours. The nemesis, members of the religious organization "Mother'Anonymity", are helping it operate, which makes it operate well in various parallel real worlds."

Xue Xueer bit her lower lip tightly. At this moment, all she was thinking about was "Senior is really locked up by them", and she almost couldn't help asking "Where is Senior?" in a questioning tone. When Lu said earlier, "Don't piss that guy off. It won't do you any good to do it now", rationality finally overcame impulse.

"I don't have any other ideas. But whether it is the abandoned factory she mentioned in her blog or the precognitive dream of the explosion accident, they are all closely related to our core research association. I don't want this kind of negative information to spread, It's not good for anyone." The professor's tone was surprisingly calm, and Xue Xueer couldn't hear any madness in his voice at the moment.

"Okay. I think you're tired too, go back and rest first! We still have a lot of time to talk about this—a lot of time."

The voice just fell. The professor turned the swivel chair and turned his back to Xue Xueer. Xue Xueer observed his blurred back, just about to get up and leave, the professor suddenly thought of something, and pointed to the notebook on the table, "By the way, this is Mr. Lin Yu's notebook, please help me return it to him .”

Xue Xueer really didn't understand the professor's intentions. While staring at the professor's back, she picked up the notebook tremblingly, with mixed feelings in her heart.

but,

At least she now knows one thing...

——That senior is here.