'Hm?'
'mory's forr rank-two, current rank-one on the Ladder—Like A Dream?'
'Qin Xin is him?!'
Cheng Shi froze. The caution born of opposing faiths urged him to step back—but rembering that this man was a Torchbearer, its founder no less, he held his ground. Though his expression grew increasingly peculiar.
'Brilliant. I'm a follower of the Fun God, and I keep ending up with the mory rank-one. If the god finds out, he'll definitely throw more shade my way.'
'Wait—if Qin Xin really is Like A Dream, why hasn't the Fun God targeted him? Li Jingming had zero connection to Deceit and still got drafted into the Void camp. This Mirror Person is literally under the god's protection as a Torchbearer. There's no reason to leave him "suffering" under Existence.'
He studied the mirror again—that gem-faceted surface swirling with crystalline blue light. 'Hiss—'
'Doesn't look like much suffering, actually.'
"An SSS-grade Servant God relic—the Dreamless Mirror! A mory mirror that can overlay dreams onto Existence to reproduce past mories!" Wang Mou announced.
These words obviously hadn't co from Cheng Shi—he knew nothing about any dream-this or mirror-that. They ca from the well-inford Truth follower.
Wang Mou seed to deeply understand these matters—and Cheng Shi was more than happy to listen. He sent the man an encouraging look that plainly said: 'Keep talking. The more erudite you sound now, the more face you recover from that clown-like evacuation earlier.'
Wang Mou's eyelid twitched. Perhaps reading the implication, he cleared his throat and continued without a hint of embarrassnt:
"Reportedly, this is mory's only Servant God-tier creation: the Mirror of Delusion. After shattering, it beca two SSS-grade Servant God relics.
One half beca the Dreamless Mirror. The other beca another SSS-relic—That Dream My Nightmare.
The latter vanished into the depths of history long ago—no trace remaining.
But I knew the Dreamless Mirror had to be in 'Like A Dream's' possession. Qin Xin—I never imagined you were him. Even more surprising: Like A Dream is a Mirror Person. I always assud you were a Dream Peeping Ranger, given the na..."
Qin Xin just smiled, saying nothing. Cheng Shi, however, grew more curious.
"Doctor—since you've never actually seen 'Like A Dream,' how did you know he had this mirror?"
"Simple: intelligence.
Wei Mu once critiqued this mirror, calling it 'nothing more than a dream of delusion.' I've been matched against Wei Mu, so naturally I learned of it."
"Who's Wei Mu?" Cheng Shi blinked.
Qin Xin's smile faded. His expression turned complex: "The one from Folly."
Cheng Shi's eyes widened: "The Folly Chosen?"
"Yes. The highest known score on the Road to Ascension. The uncontested first on the Ladder. Folly's absolute devotée. A mind so brilliant it borders on madness—a Behind-the-Scenes Puppeteer no one can read."
'Behind-the-Scenes Puppeteer!'
Cheng Shi's gaze sharpened. 'So the Folly Chosen is also a mage?'
'The mage class is eating well—so many Chosen among them.'
While the group was exchanging quiet words, Li Wufang approached. His expression was sour—after all, the target had gone rogue under his watch. Regardless of the cause, he'd fumbled his own assignnt, and that stung.
But his gaze, while embarrassed, wasn't defeated. That sunny disposition hadn't dimd from the incident.
He scratched his head sheepishly, then addressed Qin Xin with genuine sobriety:
"Sir Qin—my apologies. Don't think
useless; I truly misjudged today. Wu Cun's emotional eruption ca out of nowhere. I never saw it coming.
But I'm not always this blind. When you all arrived, I was already watching you. You...
Actually—let
just say it. I initially thought you didn't care about this trial. But the mont you pulled out that mirror, I knew you weren't indifferent—you'd already planted contingencies here. Right?"
Qin Xin smiled without speaking. But Cheng Shi's brow rose. He recalled what the Blind One had told him about the diocre Person Society—the staged dreamscape.
If Qin Xin had used this mirror to build that setup at the diocre Person Society... was it possible that the annihilated wasteland they now stood on was also his doing?
'!!??'
'This mory follower had already safeguarded against this accident?'
A gleam shot through Cheng Shi's eyes. He stared straight at Qin Xin. Sensing the attention, Qin Xin smiled and nodded:
"Correct. Plan for defeat before seeking victory—prepare for rain while skies are clear.
I did lay groundwork in advance. Separating from the Doctor wasn't solely to find you and Ming Yu. But this ti, the credit isn't mine—it belongs to the Investigator for keeping the Extinguisher occupied long enough that her outburst ca after my preparations were complete."
With that, he waved his hand and dismissed the mirror into his inventory. As it vanished, the onlookers felt an invisible barrier dissolve. The gray-white ruins ravaged by Oblivion began coming alive again.
Devastation receded. Color bled back into reality. Erased Existence reappeared piece by piece. The dead district was reborn—pedestrians weaving through streets, buildings standing tall in neat rows. Standing atop a rooftop, the group watched this miraculous restoration unfold and felt as though everything that had just happened was rely... a dream.
This wasn't Return of the Past—yet it was more breathtaking.
Who could have imagined that the entire catastrophe had genuinely occurred inside a mory dream?
But it wasn't a pure dream. It was an Existence disguise running parallel to reality!
Look—Falling Gate before them was exactly as it had always been, as if no Oblivion disaster had ever struck.
Cheng Shi's jaw hung open. After collecting himself, he didn't look at the calm Qin Xin. Instead, his gaze fell on Ad Ric's corpse still dangling from the man's grip:
"So... is this NPC in your hand also fake?"
"No—he's real." Qin Xin smiled patiently. "I rely used the mirror's power to restore this section of Existence. And that's what makes the Dreamless Mirror so useful.
I know you're wondering how I morized an entire town in three hours. You're wrong, Cheng Shi. Falling Gate's mories didn't co from —they were already here.
mory doesn't belong exclusively to individuals. It's the combined tapestry of all things intertwined. Even if I'd never set foot here, this place's mory already Existed.
The Dreamless Mirror bears the na 'Dreamless' precisely because its collection of mory is flawless—without omission. Through it, I can tap directly into a region's mories, transform them into dreamscapes, and overlay them completely onto reality—temporarily altering Existence. Or rather, distorting it.
And once that Existence has been changed, I can collapse the dream and restore the damaged area to its original state.
This is the wonder of mory. It's also why I never fear Oblivion followers.
So rest easy. The miner you found is real. The woman the Doctor found is real too.
mory is never false. You could say the ground beneath our feet—just now restored—is equally real. It was only annihilated inside a dream.
And when the nightmare fades... the world is still beautiful."
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