Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

The gears of the world mesh in pairs. When running, they drive each other, and rotate along a fixed track one week after another, repeating the cycle.

It seems that there is a lack of cohesive parts, and there is always only that set of gears in operation, which is monotonous and boring. What changes in the eternal rotation is time, but only time.

Later, either because of an encounter, or because of a love, another set of gears turned.

Instantly. Like the world of Clock City, there are clocks without hands everywhere. Only the odd teeth and many odd teeth of the gear are closely matched, so that the whole gear moves forward and rotates in a harmonious and soothing rhythm.

In Lin Yu's world, the encounter with the tea cat was probably what made his whole world work.

Day after day, the practice of the so-called as always. Hundreds of thousands of sets of gears turn to make the huge machine of the world work normally. Going forward, turning, going forward again, turning again... It seems that his world will always exist forever.

But the bigger the machine, the more difficult it is to count the error-prone links. One gear stuck and couldn't turn, causing a lot of squeaking gears around it to complain, jostling and jamming each other.

Suddenly, a corner of the world stopped functioning.

No one noticed the original bug, let alone fixed it. One corner of the world affects the other, and what started as a localized chaos escalated into a worldwide catastrophe without knowing it. In this way, Lin Yu's world gradually came to a complete strike.

According to Xiao Lulu, Lin Yu has never seen a tea cat since the day when the war of domination led us to kill each other.

It has been forty years for him now. Xiao Lulu said that if she hadn't come forward to persuade him to meet the tea cat before entering the final stage, he might not even have time to say goodbye to the tea cat.

"What about lucid dream? If Lin Yu goes to the dream world, he can find the tea cat, right?"

The reason why I ask this is because I have been wanting to go back to the dreamland to confirm Su Erin's situation these days. Although I don't know why I can't enter the lucid dream state at all. I later attributed this to the dream I had before coming here.

"No one here can dream normally, let alone lucid dreams. I don't know how they do it."

"No wonder I can't enter the lucid dream state..."

I sighed suddenly. It seems that this time it is not the creator who took away my lucid dreaming ability. If there is a way to get rid of the restrictions on dreaming here, maybe I can go back there.

The light reflected from the mirror was a bit dazzling, and I instinctively lowered my eyes to stare at the toes of my shoes on the other side of the mirror.

Since I agreed to Xiao Lulu's request, I have met her several times back and forth, and talked a lot about Lin Yu and this prison, but I still feel that some key information is still missing. It seems that it is one step away from formal action.

Xiao Lulu didn't personally participate in Lin Yu's plan back then, so he didn't know anything about what he did. He just witnessed this massive rebellion as a bystander. Of course Xiao Lulu wanted to get involved, but Lin Yu deliberately kept her out of the matter, as if although he was determined to win, he still considered how much Xiao Lulu would be implicated if they failed. As a result, Lin Yu was reduced to life imprisonment in that restricted zone, and Xiao Lulu worked hard to revive Lin Yu.

If there is a so-called fate in this world, even if fate is unfair to the world, it must be cruel to everyone, the difference is only in the degree of cruelty. Instead of being envious of the difference in the situation, it is better to be stubborn about your own shortcomings.

"Speaking of which, Lin Yu has succeeded in what you said."

When I was meditating, Xiao Lulu suddenly stared sideways at me, and said word by word, "I mean, having a lucid dream."

"Should I say that it is indeed the Lin Yu I know...how did he do it?"

"I don't know... I'm sorry, although I was the one who asked you, I didn't help you much in the end."

Xiao Lulu bit her lower lip lightly, her eyes drifted down and settled down unconsciously, even though there was only her bare feet reflected in the mirror.

"There is no such thing. Everything you told me is very useful. If it weren't for you, I might not know how to face Lin Yu now."

Although I am not good at comforting others, at least what I say comes from the heart. I don't know if my words really had an effect, or Xiao Lulu didn't want to waste time on these things, the shame on her face was absorbed into that pure smile in a blink of an eye.

"The words are clumsy... But thank you for your comfort~"

I breathed a sigh of relief. Getting along with Xiao Lulu is more relaxed, and I don't feel much pressure. Maybe I should be thankful that the person I met again here was Xiao Lulu. She is so sensible, but this adjective doesn't seem to be very suitable for an adult.

"By the way, did you just say that Lin Yu had a lucid dream? Didn't he see the tea cat in the dream?"

"Not as far as I know. What did you think of?"

Xiao Lulu knew that there must be a reason for my abrupt questioning, so there was some interest in his eyes. Speaking of tea cats, I did suddenly think of an incident that was brought up by the dream robbers when they invaded my dream before.

【The desperate princess chased after us and killed us all. Only now that she disappeared, we were able to start a new plan. 】

The desperate princess mentioned by the dream thief, if nothing else, refers to the tea cat. In other words, the tea cat has not disappeared in the six months since the end of the domination war. She disappeared shortly before the day the Dream Thief invaded my dreams.

With the power that Tea Mao possesses to control reality, I don't believe she hasn't thought about meeting Lin Yu during this period of time. No matter how heavily guarded the prison is, it is not difficult for her to resolve these obstacles.

Everything seems to lead more and more to the only possibility. I raised my eyes hesitantly, and looked at Xiao Lulu who was beside me who was confused.

"It's nothing... just an unrealistic guess."

Xiao Lulu obviously didn't believe that I could only hold back such a sentence after being silent for a long time. But before she could ask, there was a strange noise in the vicinity. The eyes of Xiao Lulu and I were attracted by the noise at the same time, and we saw the two of them wrestling together, and the surrounding crowd immediately distanced themselves from it, as if they didn't want to be involved, but they didn't completely disperse, but just watched from the sidelines .

"Shall we go?"

Xiao Lulu next to me was obviously not interested in this, maybe he asked this question because he saw me staring over there in a daze. Of course I don't want to get involved in these troubles, but the numbers on the chests of the two of them cannot be ignored by me.

"Those two... are Lin Yu's followers."

"You mean, that note someone gave you earlier had their number on it?"

I immediately nodded in response to Xiao Lulu, and she couldn't help but care about it, and frowned slightly habitually.

I told Xiao Lulu about the note before, because we are preparing to win over Lin Yu's followers, and we will go along with it when we meet Lin Yu. Therefore, seeing two people who are also his followers fight with our own eyes is of course not a good situation for us.

Just as he was hesitating how to deal with this sudden situation, he saw a few prison guards roughly pushing aside the crowd in the distance. While ordering the others to disperse, they approached the two people who were still entangled with electric batons. This is also the first time I have seen the prison guards working here.

"Back off. Do you hear me?"

Stern warnings didn't help. One of them grabbed the other's hair fiercely, still shouting angrily; the other slammed his knee into the former's chest, his hair was pulled until his eyes were red with pain, but he still couldn't let go of the other's hand.

It may be that they know that words alone cannot resolve their disputes, or it may be that they only intended to warn them once, so the prison guards trotted over with electric batons, and the sound of electric current rushing along the way scared many of them back. People who gather and don't leave.

Gunshots erupted in the crowd. Dazzling sparks bloom, igniting panic in the gray and white space.

"Did the prison guard hold a gun just now?"

Xiao Lulu stared at me blankly. The figure hit by the bullet flew several meters away and landed not far from us. We hurriedly backed away to both sides, and the corpse dragged the ground and hit the mirror wall outside the maple forest, reflecting a piece of blood onto the other side of the mirror.

And the person who fell in a pool of blood was not the prisoner who caused trouble before, but one of the prison guards.

I suddenly realized that the gunshots did not come from those prison guards, so I quickly turned my gaze back, only to be shot into the body of another prison guard.

Gunshots followed. The crowd who had been unwilling to disperse for a long time finally fled in all directions this time.

I have done a lot of investigations before. There are many prisoners here who have not committed the crime of murder and arson, and some have never even witnessed death. Of course they will panic. What's more, although there is no personal freedom here, it has been peaceful for at least three years.

"Area C8, a level 3 alert event is taking place in C8, please send personnel to the scene as soon as possible, please..."

The hasty words were immediately interrupted by gunshots. The prison guards who had just arrived had all fallen under the bullets. However, the two who had been wrestling for a minute before turned their backs on each other as if nothing had happened, and their guns raised high swept across the panic-stricken prisoners.

"Let me tell you, you are really willing to drown in the long river of time. Is it just to pray for this vulnerable fake peace?"

As soon as the words fell, I suddenly realized that their target might not be those prison guards, so I quickly grabbed Xiao Lulu's arm beside me, turned around and led her to the entrance of Fenglin.

"Hey! Compared with the people who want to restrict your lifelong freedom, what are we worthy of your fear? We are only responsible for waking up those who pretend to be asleep. Let me say, are you afraid of us, or are you afraid of facing reality?"

As expected, the next gunshot blared almost right next to my ear, and I saw the mirror wall bounce the bullet to our feet. Obviously the other party is aiming at us. I swallowed the turbulent fear, and rushed into the entrance of Fenglin with Xiao Lulu's shoulders pressed. The gunshots were isolated.

Xiao Lulu adjusted his heavy breathing and gave me a thankful look. Only then did I let go of her arm, and turned to lean against the wall in the maple forest. Xiao Lulu also kept the same movements as me, peering out cautiously with jewel-like eyes.

"You are all numb to this false peace. You have completely forgotten your past life, and you only know that nothing happened. Don't you all think that such a life is better than being locked in that forbidden zone? Hey, the resistance that started three years ago The gun has no inspiration for you!"

The panicked crowd did not choose their way, only the two fell into a strange excitement, and they reprimanded the numb prisoners endlessly, as if they wanted to use gunshots and death to awaken people's sleeping fear and anger, and awaken their desire for freedom.

At the same time, someone seemed to have remembered the incredible bulletproof properties of the mirror wall, and many people hurriedly fled in the direction of Fenglin.

"Answer me! Has any of you committed a heinous crime that will take a lifetime to pay for?"

The gunshots came unexpectedly. I instinctively closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I saw a young man who was shot in the calf among the people who fled to Fenglin. He fell to the ground in embarrassment and broke his front teeth. In the next second, the cold muzzle of the gun hit the back of his head.

"It's up to you. You answer this question for everyone."

The man who regarded himself as the "awakener" was condescending, stroking the trigger back and forth with his finger, waiting for the young man to answer his question.

"Mute? Answer him!"

Another man impatiently fired another shot at the young man's calf. The young man screamed in pain and pressed his nails to the ground, but he was forced to answer his question under the threat of death.

"I hacked into the server of an authoritative organization and dug up a lot of dark backgrounds. This organization is related to many countries. They sentenced me to endanger national security. The death sentence was originally executed, but in the end it was changed to life imprisonment."

The voice trembled uncontrollably. Tears of fear or sorrow rushed out of his eyes, but the young man had no time to wipe away the tears, so he had to let it draw wet marks on the ground.

"Are you guilty?"

For some reason, the man's tone softened. He slowly bent down and stroked the young man's hair.

"Even if you are really guilty...do you think you have fallen to this point?"

"Of course, not! How much do you think I hate this outrageous and unreasonable thing?"

The world was silent for a few seconds, and the muzzle of the gun soundlessly moved away from the back of the young man's head. The man stood up in the quiet air, and the scene in front of him had changed drastically in just a few tens of seconds. Many people stopped in place and no longer ran away in a hurry.

"Very good. All of us have committed mistakes to one degree or another, but there are not many who are unforgivable and have no reason to lose their freedom for a lifetime. What's more, our time here has been multiplied, and the punishment It has already surpassed the so-called lifetime."

As soon as the words fell, I couldn't help but froze in place. It dawned on me that I wasn't the only one who was aware that time was passing at an unusual rate, and that these people clearly knew it much better than I did.

No wonder Lin Yu still looks the same after 40 years. The so-called life is actually eternal life.

My eyes wandered in a daze, as if to avoid the rebels standing under the spotlight. But there was an abnormality in the field of vision that pierced my eyes, making me involuntarily focus on that spot, and a bone-piercing chill came over my heart.

Above the prison guard who died from being shot in the chest, a beam of azure blue light fluttered.

In an instant, the horizon shakes violently as if leaping into nothingness. Xiao Lulu beside him obviously saw it too, his unfocused eyes flicked from side to side, and it took a long time before they fell back on me.

It is impossible for me to forget the significance of this shard of light. How many people have bloomed crystal chips in front of me and disappeared without a trace? And in my absence, Kazuhiko Sato, William, and Elus all died like this.

But I was shaken not only because of the unpleasant memories brought up, but also because I further confirmed that my guess was correct.

What could have been an unrealistic conjecture just now has become an undoubted fact.

- dream. This prison was undoubtedly built in a dream.

All the weirdness experienced here becomes unsurprising, because all this is an endless dream that replaces reality.

The moment a person realizes that he is dreaming, his heart is always full of fear, and his soul, which feels nowhere to rest, immediately cries and cries to wake up. And now I am experiencing this fear.

Although I have had countless lucid dreams, those dreams happened naturally and without my knowledge. I remembered when I fell asleep and predicted when I would wake up. But this time I don't know anything, whether I can wake up has become a puzzle.

I resisted the turbulent and uneasy cognition, and my vision was fragmented due to the shaking of consciousness. The waking up caused by the extreme shake never happened, as if someone blocked the door linking dream and reality, imprisoning me in this dream of eternal life.

Can't wake up. Can't get back to reality. This situation, which was once called "the arena of imprisonment" by the rulers, has become a natural cage, imprisoning all criminals in dreams. Yes, this is the true face of this prison.

I hear heavy steps. Seeing Lin Yu's followers preparing to leave.

They have long been prepared to resist fate, but they may not know that they are in a dream, and they may not know that it is not a perfect defense system that prevents all escape plans from being realized, but a dream from which they cannot wake up.

I hastily pieced together the scene that turned into a jigsaw puzzle in the fragmented field of vision, left Xiao Lulu who was still distracted, and rushed towards the exit of Fenglin.

I tried to get close to the departing rebels, but the things in front of me seemed to be getting farther and farther away from me, as if my body was expanding.

Obviously I was dreaming, but I obviously felt that my breathing was getting heavier.

I don't seem to be in control of my body, my legs are as heavy as lead, and it's extremely difficult to even speak.

However, the seriousness of the matter must be told to them.

"Wait for me... This will only increase the number of failures!"

The words are drowned in this ups and downs. Fortunately, the other party heard my voice, stopped and turned around.

"You're going to stop us for your precious fake peace, aren't you?"

"No...!" I just wanted to tell the other party that I also want to escape here, but found that the reinforcement prison guards had already surrounded Fenglin. It will repeat the results of three years ago...."

Before he could finish speaking, the prison guard's heavy footsteps stopped not far behind him. Then the sound of equipping firearms sounded neatly.

"Unfortunately, your good show is over! Put down your weapons!"

I don't have to go back to the capital to know they've targeted these guys in front of me. Maybe even me was included.

It is definitely not a good thing to be implicated in this kind of incident now. If I am imprisoned in the restricted area because of this, even if I succeed in making friends with Lin Yu in the future, it will not help. Out of consideration for future plans, I had no choice but to raise my hands in surrender and at the same time turn around slowly.

I hope others can understand what I mean. But those rebels didn't do what they said at all, and the two who were the instigators even raised their guns directly. I was sandwiched between two groups of opposing forces, and I fell into a brief stalemate.

A few isolated birdsong broke into this scene abruptly. The bell announcing the end of the lunch break loses its original effectiveness at this moment, and the melodious melody sounds a little lonely at the moment, which is also a bit ironic to me.

"It seems that you really want to experience Lin Yu's situation. Congratulations, you are about to lose the only remaining freedom."

The deadlock was finally broken. It was the prison guards who took the lead in destroying the safe distance between the two parties. After all, their armed forces had an absolute advantage. There was really no need to be intimidated by the rebels who only had two pistols and a few electric batons.

In the face of enemies with disparity in strength, many people inevitably have the intention to retreat. But even so. The two instigators still didn't panic at all, neither retreating nor surrendering, seeing the armed men approaching step by step, the corners of their mouths curled up.

"Once the arrow of rebellion is fired, it can never be taken back."

As soon as the voice fell, the speaker was thrown to the ground by the armed personnel, and the pistol was thrown several meters away. And I was handcuffed as I watched all this happen. It didn't take long for everyone around him to be controlled.

"It's a bluff. You still don't understand your situation? Whether it's Lin Yu or you, in the end, you're just a few turtles in the jar! Just spend eternity in nothingness with peace of mind!"

Malicious provocations flashed past our ears, wantonly mocking our unchanging destiny in the future.

The air after that was eerily quiet. All were driven in unknown directions, but no one refuted those provocations.

Only the unexplained smiles of the two people still did not fade away.

"I said... do you really think we were stupid enough to arrange a farce and it would end badly?"

"It's useless to bluff."

The leading prison guard sneered indifferently, and then grabbed the man's hand fiercely, as if deliberately declaring his powerlessness to him. In fact, he really has no room to resist, and can only be at the mercy of the other party.

From time to time, the passing cells cast their gazes. Is there sympathy for the rebels hidden in it, or does it just feel that they deserve it?

"Look at what other people think of you. They can't thank you for coming forward, but instead scold you for breaking their peace...and you, could have enjoyed the same peace."

Not far away is the secret path leading to the restricted area. The prison guards stopped and ordered us to stand in a line, and led us into a narrow, secret passage.

"Before the official execution is issued, enjoy everything that Lin Yu, whom you admire, has experienced."

The voice just fell. A sneer couldn't stop squeezing out of the rebel's throat. As if pulling the arrow of rebellion and about to draw the bow.

"I told you! Once the arrow of rebellion is fired, it cannot be recovered!"

Almost repeated words.

But this time. The prison guard in the lead couldn't hear him over and over again.

Because Lin Yu, who was supposed to be locked behind numerous obstacles, was no longer in the restricted area where he should be.

There are only a few cordons, still flickering with strange lights alone.