Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

Marked by the day I regained the ability to control my dreams, my life, as always, took another turn.

After falling asleep the next day, I woke up in the hotel room I had borrowed the night before. What I saw outside the window was already the morning scenery.

At the end of the dream last night, I remember it was still late at night. And now it's morning to come back here. This shows that while I was spending time in reality, the time in my dream did not stop passing.

It is different from the time when the war was dominated before.

I turned my gaze back to the room, and Su Erin turned her back to me, sleeping slightly curled up on the side near the door. I lightly sat up from the bed by the window, carefully moved to the foot of the bed and got out of bed.

There was little noise in the morning at the hotel, so I yawned and walked downstairs on the creaking wooden boards.

The first floor is the restaurant. I randomly found a place near the stairs and sat down, just in time to see the situation in the kitchen through the glass. Leah was busy preparing breakfast with the children she hadn't seen last night.

"All are placed in the order marked on the dining table. If I find out that you have misplaced them, don't blame me for being rude!"

The door of the restaurant was pushed open by someone. The slender boy, wearing a chef's uniform one size larger, gave stern instructions.

"clear!"

The children's responses were immature but surprisingly neat. They lined up in a decent manner, approached the few ceremony tables in front of the kitchen, and arranged various dishes according to the labels.

After five or six minutes of busy work, the lanky head chef announced his dismissal and entered the lounge putting on airs.

"Brother, you woke up so early... we weren't ready."

Leah happily ran to sit across from me, and looked at me with interest in her eyes. Although his gestures reveal his mischievous nature, the arms folded on the table look like a schoolboy who is listening carefully to the class.

"Maybe it's because I went to bed too early last night..."

I usually sleep well in class, but yesterday I don’t know if it was because I was too concerned about things here, I was out of my mind all day long but I didn’t fall asleep for a long time. Until the evening I went to bed early in the morning.

"If you go to bed early, you must wake up early?"

Lia raised her eyebrows puzzled. The attitude of being the first to deny when things happen unconsciously proves her childishness.

"No... What I said about going to bed early is a bit different from what you understand... I mean, I went to bed early over there."

"Where is that over there?"

Leah's questioning made it difficult for me to explain. Don't these children know that this is a dreamland?

"Uh, let's talk about this later... Speaking of which, I came here yesterday, right?"

"Otherwise. Brother, don't change the subject, which side is that!"

Sure enough, the time did not extend to the last second before I woke up in reality, but spent the time equivalent to reality.

To put it simply, dreams and reality seem to fill my time alternately—if I fall asleep on the dream side, I will return to reality, and on the contrary, if I fall asleep in reality, I will return to this side.

As much time as I spend in reality, I sleep as long as I sleep in the dream, and the time of the two is basically equal.

"Is that so?"

From then on, whenever I enter the dreamland, I will return to the town by the sea of ​​violets.

After a week, I got used to the life of both sides, and later, the status of reality and dream was gradually shaken. Over time, every night in reality, I would lie in bed early, waiting for the sleepiness.

After all - where is the boundary between dream and reality?

Why are the two worlds bounded by "asleep" given two different names?

Is the division based on conscious awareness, or on logical and realistic development?

If I can think clearly no matter where I am, if there is a real environment no matter where I am; time can run smoothly no matter where I am... Then can I redefine the distinction between dreams and reality?

The reality of being alone, and the noisy dreams that color my world all the time.

Since either side has a sense of reality with life and I can stay awake, why can't I choose the latter?

The azure blue sky is splashed into ink by the fast passing time. The sea, which had been haloed into dark purple by the moonlight, had already ebbed, and flames jumped out of the burning pyre by the sea, turning into fiery red shards of light and reflected in the air.

From time to time the tide rushed to the shore and doused the tiny flames. I sat down facing the sea facing the children's frolicking.

As if just staying here, you can spend a real time.

Stepping on the beach with light steps, there was a subtle but soothing sound.

Su Huilin walked to my side without a word, smoothed the hem of the pure white skirt, and sat down with her knees bent.

"Brother, you wake up early in the morning and go to bed late at night...is it really okay?"

I turned my head and looked at her puzzled. She tucked her slender hair behind her ears, and looked at me sideways.

"What... does it matter? Have you forgotten that you used to go to bed at two or three o'clock and get up at six o'clock when you were a sophomore in high school?"

"Oh! I don't mean this!" Su Huilin glanced at me with displeasure, and said weakly, "Brother, don't talk to me, I'm asking about the reality."

I froze for a moment, paused for a few seconds with the smile on my face, and then recovered.

"Reality? What happened over there?"

"Brother, pretending to be stupid won't work! Are you a senior in high school this year?" Su Huilin frowned and said with a serious tone, "Spend 12 hours here, and you should lose your peers over there. time, right?"

Su Huilin's pressing speech hit my chest, and I suddenly forgot how to bring this topic. I lowered my gaze and let out a long breath.

Obviously, I haven't mentioned a single word to her about reality.

Looking back, whenever—even if I looked only slightly abnormal, Su Erin would go to understand what happened to me without saying a word.

So, she became an insider before I knew it and appeared in front of me. But sometimes I would rather Su Huilin know nothing - for example, dominating the war, she will join in regardless of danger even if it is dangerous.

"Rin... Let me ask you, what is the basis for defining reality?"

I simply raised my gaze and met Su Huilin's earnest eyes. The color in Su Huilin's eyes was slightly shaken. After thinking for a moment, she replied:

"There's no absolute basis for that...it's not a dream, it's reality."

"If you define reality as 'a place that is not a dream', then you have to explain the definition of a dream, don't you?"

As soon as she finished her previous sentence, I couldn't help asking back with a voice that covered her.

After hearing my words, Su Erin's gaze turned diagonally downward, and she fell silent for a while. She hesitated to speak and parted her red lips, but her gaze began to avoid my eyes.

"That's true, but..."

"Since this is the case, we don't have the "tool" to distinguish between reality and dreams, so there is no evidence to prove that this is not reality. It was my wishful thinking before to regard the cruel fate as reality."

Time runs as usual in seaside towns. Su Erin is here, and so am I. There are no unrealistic scenes and developments, and my consciousness is as clear as reality. So, why can't I take this as reality?

"But bro..."

Su Huilin's eyebrows did not open for a long time, her slightly opened mouth closed slowly, her slightly exposed canine teeth pressed against her lower lip, as if something was stuck in her throat, and she hesitated whether to say it or not. She took a deep breath.

"It's impossible for you to dream for the rest of your life, right?"

Seeing the earnest look in Su Huilin's lavender pupils, I couldn't help but smile helplessly, and reached out and gently put my hand on her head.

"I also know this kind of thing. Rin, you may have misunderstood one thing. I won't completely ignore the matter over there, what I mean is—from now on, the dream and reality in my eyes will be interchanged. s position."

"I do not understand..."

Su Huilin let me stroke her long hair, she was as docile as a coquettish kitten, carefully raised her blinking eyes, and looked at me with slightly aggrieved eyes.

"I'm not telling you unfounded things, so I will try my best to protect the reality here. The way is to protect the status quo where dreams and reality alternate, and over there, it is enough for me to take care of our bodies."

Palms through the azure blue petals fluttering in the air. Suddenly, the familiar melody came into our ears through the distance of the sky, announcing the end of another day. Su Erin's eyes trembled slightly.

No time to go back to the hotel room. End your day at the beach today.

"Rin, good night." I paused for a second, then continued, "Good night to me from now on."

His sight was dimmed for a short while, and the children's hustle and bustle vanished into nothingness. The silence that struck again created annoying tinnitus, which made me feel at a loss for a long time.

Suddenly birds chirped outside the window, bringing the smell of rain wrapped in green grass. I patted my cheek hard and left the bed. It rained again probably in the middle of the night last night, and the porcelain window sills were soaked by the rain.

"In comparison, staying here feels unreal."

leave the room. Obviously, it has been nearly half a year to get used to the life without Su Huilin, but now I think that there will be Su Huilin who keeps smacking my lips and urging me to go out, and I am not used to it.

"Su Ruoyang, you haven't been to the hospital to see your sister for a long time, right?"

In the dining room, there was the sound of newspapers being flipped back and forth. Father's slightly hoarse voice reached his ears.

After careful calculation - I haven't been to the hospital for 3 weeks since I met Su Erin again in the dream.

"Hmm... yes. I'll drop by today."

The cumulonimbus clouds have dissipated, revealing the high and blue sky behind. The bottomless blue sky made me feel that I was standing at the same level as the sky, and the azure blue color was within reach, as if it would swallow me and assimilate me.

Just looking at the sky, you will feel a sense of loneliness. Perhaps it was the realization that I would be alone from now on, and the unsteady sense of wandering made me want to cry.

After arriving at school, there was no longer Xue Xueer who followed me wherever I went.

During class, I tried to force myself to pay attention to the content of this class, but even if I clenched my pen tightly, I couldn't take notes as immersedly as the students in the front row. Consciousness drifted back to the other side several times, waking up on the quiet beach in the middle of the night.

Beside her, Su Erin was lying on her back on the beach, her right arm raised upwards, covering her eyes. as usual.

It was like waking up from a nightmare long ago. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead, cheeks, and neck, and his heart was beating wildly. Although I was terrified, I decided it was just a nightmare. So he fell asleep again in a daze.

I turned my bewildered gaze to the starry sky. Before I knew it, I closed my eyes again, and followed the lunch break bell that I was already tired of hearing, and returned there. I raised my head and opened my eyes dimly, only to find someone standing at my desk.

"Su Ruoyang, do you have time? I would like to treat you to a meal."

The boy in front of me is Chen Zekai who hasn't spoken for a long time. I don't even know when he dyed his black hair into blonde. At this moment, Chen Zekai's eyes were looking down, looking at me who was looking up at him.

I don't want to do unnecessary things, but... Chen Zekai may not be an unnecessary person. At least when he was imprisoned in the Core Research Association, he was the one who tipped off Xia Yinci. I haven't had a chance to thank him for this yet.

So after a few seconds of hesitation, I stood up and accepted his invitation.

"Well, okay...but, you choose a place, I invite you."

Chen Zekai didn't mean to shirk with me, just nodded in agreement as usual, and walked out of the classroom in front of me with his trouser pockets in his pocket. I took a deep breath and quickly followed him.

No change. Even though he dyed his hair blond, he was still that sunny boy. The one who changes is me.

The last time I talked to Chen Zekai was when I was taking Su Huilin to the hospital. It was also at that time that he confessed to me that he liked Su Huilin. From the second year of high school until then, it has always been. Maybe now.

I'm surprised. But Chen Zekai's confession made me finally understand why he wanted to break into our small circle in the first place.

Later, his father allowed him to visit Su Huilin, but I never saw him. I don't know whether it's because Chen Zekai never visited her, or the time of our visits is always staggered.

The school gate will not be closed during the lunch break, because some students go home to eat. Chen Zekai chose a soup dumpling restaurant opposite the school, two bottles of Vitasoy, two cages of soup dumplings, and a bowl of braised beef noodles for each.

"I think...you probably don't want to just have a meal with me."

While waiting for the meal, seeing that Chen Zekai had been reluctant to speak for a long time, I simply opened my mouth first.

"Who says you can't have a meal if you have nothing to do? We have been friends for a long time, right?"

Chen Zekai's eye sockets were slightly squeezed into slits, and the curved arc was like a smile but not a smile, which seemed very friendly.

"Really? In the past four months, even if we meet, we won't talk. I don't believe that you will come to me if you have nothing to do."

As soon as the words fell, the waiter put two cages of soup dumplings on the table, briefly blocking my sight.

Chen Zekai turned his head and nodded to the waiter, and then turned his eyes back to me. He sighed softly, put his elbows on the table, and leaned forward a little closer to me.

"I'm asking you, Su Yeyang. If there was a way to wake up Su Erin, what would you do?"

Chen Zekai's tone did not fluctuate, but he seemed to be suppressing intense emotions. I couldn't help but tremble because of his words, but soon, I calmed down the ripples in my heart.

"I will ask her about her own wishes. Use this method on the premise that she would rather return to reality."

Chen Zekai didn't seem to have expected my response, or he had already expected it but still couldn't accept it.

"Aren't you going to find that method in the first place?"

Facing Chen Zekai's tone of confirmation, I nodded without hesitation, and the suspicious look in his eyes gradually turned into affirmation.

"Su Ruoyang... You sure enough, what happened?"

"What's the meaning?"

I picked up a pair of chopsticks as if nothing had happened, lowered my eyes and picked up a mouthful of noodles, blew on them and stuffed them into my mouth.

"Ever since Su Huilin was hospitalized, you have always had that gloomy look of being unmotivated. I don't know if you forgot that I invited you out for dinner before, and you rejected me without even thinking about it."

"Oh, so it was a mistake for me to promise you today?"

"That's not what I meant." Chen Zekai quickly responded to my words, sighing unhappily, "During this period of time, your temperament has suddenly changed, and you have become much more cheerful... Accepting my invitation today can prove this point. "

"You think too much. I just want to change my attitude towards the world, and I don't want to worry about too many difficult things."

Chen Zekai suddenly clenched his right hand into a half-fist. He looked directly at me who kept moving his chopsticks, and watched me answer his question lightly, while picking up the soup bag with chopsticks, moved to the side and bit down.

"Hey, are you... starting to have lucid dreams again?"

"Yeah, I was just about to tell you. Anyway, there is nothing to hide about this." I put down my chopsticks, and the half-finished soup dumpled out thick soup, "By the way, I saw it over there. Su Huilin is gone."

Chen Zekai didn't question my words, and the only remaining shock was for the incident itself, not as if he doubted the feasibility of seeing her in the dream, as if I had already understood the concept of lucid dreams before I knew it.

After realizing this, I simply didn't leave any room for it, and told Chen Zekai my thoughts openly.

"She is very satisfied with her life there, and so am I. Besides, she said that she wants to protect the present more than looking forward to the future. Don't you think it's unnecessary for you to try to find a way to wake her up without asking her permission? ?”

As soon as the words fell, the table trembled violently due to a strong impact. I couldn't help raising my gaze, only to see Chen Zekai stand up abruptly, jump over the dining table with his fist and hit my cheek, and ruthlessly threw me and the chair to the ground.

"Apologize to her! Apologize!"

Chen Zekai kicked off the chair, approached me aggressively, and grabbed my collar.

"What big talk about "protecting the present"? Su Erin is not the one who says such things. Protecting the present while looking forward to the future is what she does! Ask for advice? Are you forcing your will on her? !!"

The vinegar jar that was accidentally knocked overturned to the ground, and Chen Zekai held my chest tightly. The huge movement quickly attracted the attention of the clerk, and the clerk at the front desk picked up the phone to make a call, and several male waiters came over to hold Chen Zekai back.

"In these four months, I have never given up on finding a way to wake her up, and what about you? You are depressed all the time! Now you are playing house in a dream again... just nothing Haven’t been in a daze until now?!”

Chen Zekai, who was pulled away, roared at me, and stepped on me and stepped on the air. I stared blankly at Chen Zekai who was being pulled away, and stood up unsteadily propped up on the dining table next to me.

I have never seen Chen Zekai get angry. In my impression, he will always look like a fool, with a smile on the corner of his mouth all the time. I even think he's the type who doesn't get angry.

"In the same four months, I...never gave up on finding a way to wake her up! But, for now, whether or not I can find a way is no longer important..."

No matter in reality or dream, or between dreams, there is no absolute objectivity in the world. Since the domination war created by the Creator is a prank, isn't the so-called reality her toy?

My ears were only filled with the sound of police sirens, but at this moment it turned into an insurmountable city wall between me and Chen Zekai.

The farce was resolved as an ordinary civil dispute. The police left Chen Zekai, who took the initiative to cause trouble, and let me leave in advance. I went back to school alone, but didn't see him until after school.

It is impossible for the police to keep Chen Zekai until now, and they must have let him go shortly after me. The reason why he didn't show up until now may be that he didn't want to see me, or he asked for leave for other reasons.

Chen Zekai's words echoed repeatedly in my mind, drawing my thoughts like a spell.

I sighed softly and watched the students nearby leave the classroom together. Some were laughing and playing, not like high school students; some were frowning and chatting with each other.

When I was the only one around, I knew that Chen Zekai would not show up again today, so I had no choice but to stand up and gently push the chair under the table. I suddenly realized that I was the only lonely person here.

After leaving the classroom, as if someone was leading me, I went downstairs to Su Huilin's classroom by accident.

Looking in through the window, I saw that Su Erin's seat was regarded as the summer vacation of the surrounding students. Books were piled up in all four corners, and there was no room for even the seat. It seemed that no one would expect her to return to this classroom.

I couldn't help clenching my fists, but in the end I had no choice but to smile wryly.

"Yeah...waking up may not be a good thing. It's better to live freely over there."

Close the open back door of this classroom. I grabbed the straps on my shoulders, no longer miss here, turned and left.

On the way home, remembering what I promised my father in the morning, I deliberately took a detour to go to the hospital, but it started to rain suddenly on the way.

I left my schoolbag at the front desk as usual. While waiting for the elevator, I noticed that there were a lot of security personnel passing through the corridors, and there was a strange atmosphere in the lobby.

The elevator door opened slowly, I took the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. The middle-aged doctor who was traveling with him looked a little anxious. He hastily knocked the button to close the door a few times, and the expression on his face improved when he saw the elevator go up.

I straightened my rain-soaked hair and looked at the middle-aged doctor curiously. He and I also got off the elevator on the third floor, and then I walked in front of him and walked through the corridor connecting the emergency department and the inpatient department.

A vague sense of uneasiness crept in my heart. When I saw the first ward near the stairs, I immediately made a gesture to speed up my pace. Then I saw Chen Yong pacing back and forth, scratching his hair. His fat body happened to be blocking the door of the ward.

The middle-aged doctor at the back suddenly trotted past me, and was in front of Chen Yong first. The flustered mood rushed to the heart like thousands of ants, accompanied by the violent beating of the heart, the tinnitus began to ring in the ears.

"Ah... Su Ruoyang, you are here."

Chen Yong noticed my existence, and his eyes jumped over the doctor directly to my side. At the same time, he obviously frowned reluctantly and greeted me.

I froze for a few seconds, then went up to meet him. Chen Yong gently put his arms around my shoulders, his face was obviously hesitant to speak, and his embarrassment made me more anxious and anxious.

"Su Ruoyang? Are you Su Erin's family member?"

The middle-aged doctor also looked at me at this time, and there was a flash of panic in his eyes. I could no longer hold back the anxiety that kept rushing in my heart, so I pushed away Chen Yong's shoulder and rushed into the ward, forgetting the steps that followed.

Immediately afterwards—the mess in the ward came into view.

Broken window panes, torn sheets, shattered thermos cups and poured cold water were scattered on the ground. Cotton wadding was caught by static electricity on the TV screen with flickering snowflakes.

"Mr. Su Ruoyang, I have notified your father about this matter, we are very sorry!" The middle-aged doctor broke into the ward after me, and said to me like a cannonball, "I didn't notice that the intruder was Our negligence."

"Intruder? Aren't there surveillance cameras from the corridor to the ward?"

I turned around in a daze and anxiously, and within a second my eyes fell on the middle-aged doctor, and I was distracted by the monitor with only the bracket left diagonally above the ward. The broken glass and the monitor with protruding wires lay in the corner.

"I checked the video before you came. The video was interrupted shortly after Chen Xue left the ward last night, around 2:32 in the morning. The police have taken this as a clue—"

"What's the use of such clues?" I interrupted Chen Yong loudly. There's no reason why I couldn't hear this comforting excuse. "Didn't anyone see someone enter the ward? Did Chen follow her example?"

"Calm down, Su Ruoyang!" Chen Yong held my shoulder and said as calmly as possible, "The professor of the research institute has something to do with Chen Xue, so Chen Xue left with the professor in the morning, and will probably come back at night .”

Looking at Chen Yong looking straight into my eyes, my chest suddenly trembled, and a reasonable guess appeared in my mind involuntarily.

"Did you dream stealers do this?"

"I don't know, but I can't rule out the possibility that the prisoner is a dream stealer—"

"How come you don't know about the Dream Thief?"

I questioned Chen Yong loudly, and my chaotic thoughts seemed to be wrapped in glue.

"I'm not a member of Dream Thieves now, how do I know such a thing."

"Don't you think this kind of rhetoric is strange, Chen Yong? You obviously have nothing to do with Su Huilin's matter, but you care more than anyone else, and come to visit a patient you are not familiar with every now and then. "

Chen Yong looked straight at me and began to waver. He looked away as if he was suppressing a strong sense of guilt.

"I'm sorry, there is only one possibility I can think of. You haven't quit Dream Thief at all. Whether it's monitoring us or taking away Su Huilin is your task as Dream Thief, and you're pretending to be the discoverer now. !"

"not like this!"

"Then how do you make me believe that you only took the trouble to visit us out of that trivial shame?"

"I..."

"And this so-called shame is only because we were involved in the number or lack of incidents. It is your innate character to confess for such trivial things. Can you believe this kind of statement?"

As if being forced to the point where he could no longer retreat, Chen Yong suddenly took a step forward and approached with momentum.

"Yeah, I don't believe it myself! If I were you, you would definitely doubt yourself, because in your eyes, I don't have a good reason to feel guilty enough to visit you every now and then."

Chen Yong adjusted his heavy breathing, looked into my eyes very seriously, and took a deep breath again.

"Your doubts are justified, and my guilt is totally unreasonable as you said... But this is because I did hide the real reason for my guilt from you!"

He took another step forward, stretched out his right palm to his chest, the color in his eyes was almost crazy.

"Su Luoyang, everything I've done so far is for atonement."

Atonement. Countless words I repeat late at night.

"I don't understand, Chen Yong... What do you have to atone for?"

"Because in the clock dial stage of the war of domination, I did not withdraw from the war of domination! Both the ruler of clock number nine and I decided to cooperate with clock number one, wanting to put all our eggs in one basket. Our task is to deal with your number two clock!"

My heart suddenly twitched violently, and I couldn't help but grabbed Chen Yong's shoulders.

"What do you mean? Go on!"

"I was there before your stronghold - the Weeping Sakura Noodle House was destroyed by the explosion. I used my dominant ability "Shun Desire", the most useless but most annoying ability, to strengthen the No. 2 clock that originally belonged to you The rulers of Zach and Xu Xue's negative desires made them want to die with you."

My clenched fists began to tremble, and all my guesses gradually pointed in the other direction. I grabbed Chen Yong's collar fiercely. And he let me pull his body, his arms dangled down feebly.

Chen Yong's expression became more and more wandering, leaving only a little shame in those wandering eyes.

"Because sensuality produces indiscriminate effects, it is impossible to specify a single object. Everyone present will be affected by sensuality. Including Elus. Her desire swelled to the end, forming the idea of ​​​​sending death for you. "

My chest throbbed, and my vision was clouded with mist. The message left by Elus resounded over and over again in my mind, and the memories buried deep in my memory were torn out root by root, and the bottomless grief turned into resentment.

"In the final analysis, this explosion was caused by me, and all the deaths were indirectly caused by me—"

"Chen Yong, you bastard!"

I spared no effort to push Chen Yong to the wall behind him, and punched him hard in the face, the cracked glasses broke from the middle and fell to the ground.

The footsteps of the middle-aged doctor sounded behind me, but I could hear his persuasion had already been distorted, and all my perceptions turned into intense anger, and I punched Chen Yong in the face again as if to vent.

Bloodstains slid down Chen Yong's chin, his left hand was still pulled into his collar, the cracked glasses were crushed by the steps of the middle-aged doctor, and my arm was also pulled.

"What the hell is this...!"

——Would you defend the endless loop?