"Benefactor..."
Tingyun linked her arm with Wende's, her eyes shimmering with emotion.
"Don't worry, everything is alright now."
Wende gently stroked Tingyun's soft fox ears, his voice tender.
"Mmm..."
Tingyun simply leaned into Wende's embrace, staying there for several minutes.
Afterward, with a hint of reluctance, Tingyun主动 took a step back from his embrace. Though she didn't want to, Tingyun understood that this wasn't the time to linger. There were still others who needed Wende's help...
She had known from the beginning that this was an illusion, but the person before her was absolutely not a creation of this dreamscape. The sense of security he provided was unparalleled.
"Go on. You still need to help the others."
"Mmm..."
Wende nodded gently, then escorted Tingyun to the fissure in this space.
And now, for the last one...
Looking at the sleeping Jingliu, who resembled an ice fairy, Wende gently reached out his hand toward her...
---o---
"..."
Wende stared wordlessly at his own hands, unsure of what to say. Did every single dream have to throw him an unexpected surprise? Was this really appropriate? Turning into Little Wende again in Jingliu's dream... was this really okay?
What if Jingliu, like Himeko and Tingyun, could see him directly...?
In that case, was he here to save Jingliu... or would someone else have to come and save him?
"You seem quite perplexed."
Jingliu's voice suddenly sounded from behind Little Wende, instantly making the hair on his neck stand on end. He was just about to turn and look at her when he felt his body suddenly lift off the ground. Two small, cold hands slipped under his armpits and hoisted him up.
"You..."
"Shhh..."
Before Wende could ask, Jingliu's cold finger pressed against Little Wende's lips.
"Don't speak..." Jingliu whispered softly in his ear.
A cold breath tickled him from behind, causing a sense of foreboding to rise in Little Wende's heart...
But the Jingliu behind him didn't seem to have any intention of doing anything. Instead, she held Little Wende, as if reminiscing about something, just holding him quietly.
And so, Jingliu held Wende for several tens of minutes. During this time, Wende didn't dare say a single word. He was afraid that if he spoke, an angered Jingliu would press him to the ground, because right now, he was...
"Powerless to even truss a chicken."
Damn it, why did he have to turn small the moment he got here?
Little Wende's face was a mask of confusion.
"Because this is my dream."
Hearing Wende's inner thoughts, the corner of Jingliu's mouth curved into a smile. She placed Little Wende on the ground and gently stroked his soft black hair, her crimson eyes filled with reminiscence and nostalgia.
Even though this was a dream, the place from her memory hadn't changed at all... She had just been complaining that there was only an imposter here, and to think that the "genuine article" would arrive the very next second...
"You... you can hear my thoughts?"
Little Wende looked at the gentle-faced Jingliu in astonishment.
"Of course. In my dream, I naturally hold dominion over everything," Jingliu stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"But... why don't you just wake yourself up?"
Little Wende looked at Jingliu, his eyes full of confusion.
"Oh? Isn't the reason obvious? I was waiting for you, of course. After all..."
Jingliu's small hand gently pinched Little Wende's collagen-filled cheek, the smile on her face growing wider.
"This appearance of yours is quite a rare sight, isn't it?"
"Wait, what are you doing? No!!!"
Little Wende struggled with all his might, but he couldn't even summon his Chaos energy.
In the end, he was played with like a pet to Jingliu's complete satisfaction.
---o---
"Wuaah!"
March, who had been standing dazedly on the first floor of the Legendary Tower, suddenly jolted. Her longbow instantly appeared in her hand. Already in a state of high tension, she felt a sudden movement beside her. Her brain didn't have time to process it; her body moved a step ahead, swinging her longbow at Stelle, who had just regained consciousness!
"!"
Stelle, having just awoken from her dream, stared blankly at the approaching longbow. A sharp pain shot through her forehead, and she squatted down, clutching it. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at March, her gaze filled with grievance.
March, too, felt a sharp pain in the web of her thumb. The longbow had made a sound like clashing metal, as if it had struck something incredibly hard, followed by Stelle's cry of pain.
Only then did March realize she had hit a friendly. She quickly dispelled her bow and hurried to Stelle's side, blowing gently on her forehead, trying to make her feel a little better.
"It's okay, March, I think I'm better..."
Feeling March's breath so close, Stelle couldn't help but blush. She quickly waved her hands dismissively.
"..."
Dan Heng, who had also just regained consciousness, had subconsciously summoned Cloud-Piercer. But then he saw Stelle cowering on the ground, clutching her head, and a flustered March. The tense, serious expression on his face instantly melted into one of utter speechlessness.
"It seems the time we spent in the illusion was merely an instant in reality."
Himeko checked the timer in her toolbox, which hadn't changed much from when they arrived, and let out a sigh of relief.
It was good that nothing was affected. If they had really been delayed in that illusion for too long... she couldn't dare to imagine the consequences...
It was possible that by the time they woke up, the entire planet of Punklorde would have fallen to the Stellaron's corruption.
But...
Why hadn't the monsters in the Legendary Tower attacked them while they were trapped in the illusion?
Himeko was very puzzled by this point.
However, seeing that everyone else had woken up, especially the look of terror on Wende's face, a smile unconsciously appeared on her own.
Everyone was safe. That was the best possible outcome.
---o---
"They're all out. How much longer do we have to hold on here?"
"Mechanical Ascension" was pressed tightly against a steel plate. He turned his head and asked "Physical Ascension," who was leaning against a similar, but much larger, steel plate next to him.
"Once they come up, you little whelp can go back to hell with me."
"Physical Ascension," who was using all his strength to block the other "Legends" from exploiting a "loophole" in the Stellaron's base programming by physically barricading the gate to the first floor of the Legendary Tower, stated the facts.
Finding bugs in reality was his specialty. Especially the kind... that required manual labor.
"Sigh, I really don't want to go with you!"
"Stop your damn whining! Don't get any ideas about killing those things behind us. We're just being a wall here... Seriously, how did I end up with a useless grandson like you? You can't even block a door properly!"