茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

The purpose of their experiment was to see if merging dreams with other people had any direct relation to the emotionally imbued object that induced the original dream.

Due to the emotional infusion capabilities of the “eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving,” Xiang Kun typically would not use it to guide others into dreams. However, following Old Xia’s request and knowing her ability to “wake up” within dreams to exert control through the projection of super-connected objects, he let the wood carving induce Old Xia’s dream.

As it turned out, Old Xia indeed successfully managed to control her dreams. Despite being affected by fear, she was able to counteract and dissolve it by leveraging the emotions projected onto the chopsticks introduced by Xiang Kun.

In the past, when Old Xia successfully fused her dreams with Little Fatty Girl’s, they “met” and “had dinner” within their dreams. Xiang Kun gathered from Little Fatty Girl’s dream perceptions that she was hardly affected by Old Xia’s dream emotions—her dreaming emotions were still primarily induced by the chopsticks.

Consequently, even if Little Fatty Girl sees the projection of the “eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving” in Old Xia’s dream, she may not be affected by the fear associated with it. At most, all she would see is an eight-armed monster, and the projection’s appearance in Old Xia’s dream was not particularly horrifying.

The outcome of the trial became apparent. Within a dream triggered exclusively by the “eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving,” once Old Xia was in a “lucid dream” state, Xiang Kun could sense Little Fatty Girl’s chopsticks and bring her into the dream as well. However, both dreams proceeded in parallel, without overlap, and Xiang Kun could switch directly between the two dreams.

To maintain Little Fatty Girl’s dream, Xiang Kun would be unable to sense other “emotion infused objects,” unless Little Fatty Girl could also maintain her own dreams like Old Xia. Initially, the dream Xiang Kun sensed on the train was of this nature, but clearly, this wasn’t the norm. She couldn’t take the initiative in her dreams like Old Xia.

They thought that they wouldn’t be able to “pull” Little Fatty Girl into this dream; they would have to wait until the next dream attempt. Old Xia would have to let Little Fatty Girl down.

Unexpectedly, it seemed that Old Xia sensed the issues Xiang Kun was facing and used the “dreamland projection of super-connected objects” under her control to manifest a plump little girl in the dream—that was the emotional projection of Little Fatty Girl from the chopsticks.

Of course, Old Xia’s emotional projection was merely a “shell,” not truly connected to the chopsticks.

But for Xiang Kun, this had already solved his biggest difficulty. He just needed to lock onto that emotional projection and then sense the chopsticks he gave Old Xia. He could then successfully establish an emotional projection between the chopsticks and the dream, which didn’t necessitate his consistent sensing—Old Xia had already done the support work for him. Once sensed, the emotional projections could continue without requiring Xiang Kun’s constant attention.

This situation further proved that “super-connected objects” and “emotion infused objects” fundamentally communicate with each other.

And when the “Little Fatty Girl” manifested in Old Xia’s dream was “activated” by Xiang Kun and successfully connected with the “emotion infused object,” Little Fatty Girl’s dreams began to merge with Old Xia’s dreams as well.

Just like last time, Little Fatty Girl directly replaced the emotional projection of the “emotion infused object” and appeared in Old Xia’s dream.

Meanwhile, Old Xia’s dream environment also underwent significant changes. Initially a pitch-black void with merely a door, it transformed into a valley located within the void.

Wearing a wizard’s robe with a hood that had cat ears, the “great wizard” Liu Shiling in the dream walked sleepily to Old Xia’s side. She reached out with a piece of chocolate and said, “Chocolate sister, have a chicken drumstick.”

Old Xia looked at the chocolate in the little girl’s hand, received it without a word, and was preparing to manifest a grilled drumstick to give her in return when Little Fatty Girl suddenly saw the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster guarding a large gate in the distant void.

From a distance, the monster was shrouded in a thick fog, only barely revealing its form, except for the eight eyes on its head. It was clear and shining like eight stars.

Little Fatty Girl was initially startled, then let out a cry of “Ah!” Soon, the dream collapsed.

Now Little Fatty Girl’s dream and Old Xia’s had merged into one. Thus, when Little Fatty Girl’s dream disappeared, so did Old Xia’s.

Consequently, Xiang Kun also lost his perception of the dream.

Noticing Little Fatty Girl’s reaction, Xiang Kun’s initial reaction was anxiety, worrying that she had been frightened.

But by quickly sensing the “emotion infused” chopsticks near Little Fatty Girl, he found out she didn’t feel too much fear, but rather was overwhelmed by surprise and…excitement?

Upon further reflection of the situation in the dream, Xiang Kun realized the sudden collapse and disappearance of the dream was not the result of Little Fatty Girl being scared awake, but rather a problem that arose from the fusion of Little Fatty Girl and Old Xia’s dreamscapes. In simple terms, they became “incompatible” or “bugged out”.

Moreover, just before the dream collapsed, Xiang Kun had a feeling that Little Fatty Girl seemed to have had a moment of “lucid dreaming”.

This short-lived dream affirmed several facts for Xiang Kun:

For the dreamscapes of others to merge with Old Xia’s dreamscape, the “emotion-infused object” leading Old Xia’s dream must be related to another person, even the projected image of the dreamer must bear a resemblance;

Incompatible emotional projections in the dream could possibly trigger the dream to collapse, and might also cause the dreamer to become “lucid” within the dream.

Given this, if appropriate individuals were found in the future, they could harness “emotion-infused objects” to collect and transmute emotions, just like he transformed the emotions of Little Fatty Girl eating into the pair of chopsticks given to Old Xia, creating “emotional-infused objects” that can facilitate Old Xia to merge with specific person’s dreamscapes.

As for what use this would have? Xiang Kun hadn’t thought much about it for now…

While he was contemplating, his phone lying on the computer desk buzzed. Lifting it up, he saw that it was a voice message from Liu Shiling.

Had Little Fatty Girl woken up just after the dream collapsed?

Xiang Kun looked over to Old Xia who was still snoring away on his bed, showing no signs of waking. It seemed she really hadn’t had enough sleep this afternoon, and was still likely quite exhausted now.

He opened the message; it was from Little Fatty Girl with an irritated, deliberately low voice, “Uncle Bald, Sister Grilled Chicken Wing, are you there? Are you there? Are you there?”

“Little Lingdang, I’m here.” Xiang Kun stood up and walked to the balcony to reply to Liu Shiling’s voice message.

“Uncle Bald, I just saw a monster in my dream but, that’s not right, I saw a monster with many eyes in Sister Grilled Chicken Wing’s dream… A Great Demon King, and it’s not just Sister Grilled Chicken Wing’s dream, but also mine… seems like it’s not just a dream, anyway there’s a Great Demon King, and just when I was about to help Sister Grilled Chicken Wing fight it, I woke up…”

As expected, judging by Liu Shiling’s voice, the fear induced by the “Eight-armed eight-eyed wood carving” under normal circumstances was completely different. There was a faint trace of fear, but it was mainly excitement, as well as regret and unwillingness for not having been able to fight the monster.

Despite her somewhat incoherent and chaotic explanation, Xiang Kun could fully grasp what she meant.

However, before Xiang Kun could reply, Liu Shiling sent another message: “Uncle Bald, was that dream not fake but real? Did I really go with Sister Grilled Chicken Wing to another world to fight monsters? Does the place I go to when I fall asleep every night truly exist, and is it a real Magic World?”

After listening to the voice message, Xiang Kun smiled. Just when he was about to reply, another voice message came: “Uncle Bald, you must quickly go save Sister Grilled Chicken Wing. If she can’t beat the Great Demon King on her own, she’s doomed! That Great Demon King looks so powerful!”

In the past, when Liu Shiling fainted and dreamt because she excessively controlled “super-connected objects”, or when her dreams were influenced by “emotion-infused objects”, she did not have “lucid dreams”. When she woke, everything seemed normal, and she had assumed it was just a regular dream.

After she discovered that the dream where she had dinner with Old Xia was not an ordinary dream, but something that genuinely “happened”, she started to perceive her past dreams in a more imaginative way, and the little ‘chūnibyō’ spirit hidden within her heart couldn’t help but burst into flames.

So, in the dream just now, upon seeing the image of the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster, her first reaction was — I have to fight alongside Sister Grilled Chicken Wing! My practiced magic needs to be put into use!

Xiang Kun didn’t explain too much about the dream, still wanting to keep the imaginative space for Little Fatty Girl. He simply sent a voice message saying: “The eight-armed, eight-eyed thing you saw… is not a Great Demon King or a monster, but my pet.”

In a residential area of Star City, inside Liu Shiling’s room.

Little Fatty Girl, lying in her bed, was momentarily stunned after listening to Xiang Kun’s voice message on her tablet.

“Pet?”

Little Fatty Girl poked her head out from under her blanket, looking over at the “Custard Pie” curled up in sleep on the couch cushion in the corner of the room, and couldn’t help admiring:

Uncle Bald is really amazing. Even his “pets” are so impressive.

In her heart now, the world where she could “enjoy delicious food”, where “chocolates” and “ice creams” took human form, where a “majestically” robed version of herself could command wind and rain, must truly exist!

The monsters Uncle Bald has to eliminate must have come from that world too, right?

After ending her chat with Xiang Kun, Liu Shiling tossed and turned for a long time in bed without being able to fall asleep. Finally, she got up, sat down at her desk, pulled out her watercolor pens, and started to draw.

Basing on her impressions from her dreams, she drew a long-legged girl with a ponytail. Although her drawing was still crude and simple, Old Xia’s features were clearly recognizable.

After she finished drawing Old Xia, Liu Shiling held it up for a closer look. Then she added a greatsword to Old Xia’s left hand that was twice as long as her body, and drew a chicken leg in her right hand–although the chicken leg looked more like a large hammer.

Clearly, the self-proclaimed “Great Wizard” Little Fatty Girl had designated Xiang Kun as the “Archer”, and now she’d designated Old Xia as the “Great Swordsman”.

Then Liu Shiling drew the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster. Since Xiang Kun had told her that it was not a Great Demon King but a pet, under her pen, the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster looked considerably more “cute” and was clothed in armor drawn with an assortment of colored pens.

At first glance, it looked like a heavily patchwork robe…

Nevertheless, Liu Shiling was rather pleased with her drawing, looking left and right. Feeling the eight arms looked empty, she then added different tableware like a soup ladle, chopsticks, a fork, a spatula, a kitchen knife, etc. to each hand. However, the chopsticks were drawn a little coarsely and seemed more like a victory sign.

Liu Shiling squatted next to “Custard Pie” with her drawing, compared Uncle Bald’s “majestic” “pet” in the drawing with the real “Custard Pie”.

It would be great if “Custard Pie” could become as impressive as it was in the drawing.

Propping her chin in her hand, Liu Shiling unconsciously daydreamed about “Custard Pie” turning into a large tiger, sprouting two large wings, its four legs becoming eight, eight eyes sprouting on its head and another eight on its backside. Then her, in her splendid wizard’s robe, straddling “Custard Pie”, careening around the sky, wielding her magic wand with a boom boom boom.

As she got wrapped up in her imagination, Liu Shiling couldn’t help but giggle.

When she snapped back to reality, she found that “Custard Pie” had woken up at some point and was staring at her with wide, round cat eyes.

Liu Shiling sighed, petting its head: “‘Custard Pie’, you’ve got to try harder too!”

Placing her drawing back on the desk, Liu Shiling was about to lie back on the bed when she noticed “Custard Pie” suddenly dart to the window, leap on the windowsill and peer outside through the window.

She followed it, curious, pulled aside the curtain, and looked outside along with “Custard Pie”. By the light of the streetlamp, she noticed several wild dogs fighting each other.

It occurred to her that the first time she saw “Custard Pie”, it was being chased by several wild dogs. Could they be the same ones?

She looked at “Custard Pie” next to her, its round face unblinkingly staring outside, completely still.

Was “Custard Pie” feeling frustrated?

Liu Shiling’s peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the drawing on her desk that she had just done, her eyes focusing on the eight-armed and eight-eyed monster, and a thought suddenly crossed her mind.

No sooner had the thought occurred than Liu Shiling took out the “Ice Cream” and “Chocolate” coins, opened the window, and throw them out.

The two coins, as they were about to hit the ground, levitated and began an “extremely low altitude” flight, spiraling in a way that seemed drunken, occasionally rising and falling, hovering over the ground and around the flowerbeds.

Because the distance was somewhat far, Liu Shiling had a bit of difficulty controlling them. Her eyes wide open, her lips bitten hard, her little face beet red, sweating profusely, her little fists clenched tightly.

However, since last night when she and “Da Lu” started making paper planes, she felt her “magic power” had dramatically increased. Her scalp seemed to connect with all electrified objects as if her hair transformed into countless antennas that could control and influence them.

It wasn’t just electrified objects; she could control many, many more things around her through the “Ice Cream” and “Chocolate” coins.

Outside the window, the two coins hovered for a bit, attracting some faint, tiny particles around. As they continued to gather, they began to resemble a swarm of mosquitoes on a summer’s day.

These were metallic dust mixed in the sand and soil, along with some smaller mineral particles, drawn together under the influence of the coins, aggregating and gradually forming a shape.

At first glance, it looked like a cactus or a bare tree with many branches, over two meters high, with traces of electric arcs running through it.

But if Xiang Kun were here, knowing that Little Fatty Girl was the one behind this, he would understand that these were the beginnings of the “Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Monster”.

Even he would be stunned, then grab Little Fatty Girl by the shoulders, shaking her and asking how on earth she managed to do it.

The dust and sand particles were unassuming when they first started coming together. But as they grew in number, forming the outline of the “Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Monster”, and under the guidance of the coins, awkwardly took step after step forward, the pack of wild dogs finally took note.

The streetlights along the outer wall of the residential area were affected, starting to flicker.

As the monster’s internal arcs began to surge at an increased frequency, its body started to swell and crackle, all the wild dogs were scared off and ran away whimpering.

Before Liu Shiling could feel victorious, she heard a loud yell, “Holy cow! What the hell is that!?”

Startled, she realized the voice came from the apartment block they lived in, from a flat upstairs.

Damn! I’ve been seen!

It’s past four in the morning, why is someone still awake?

Caught off guard, Liu Shiling lost control of the tiny particles. They instantly collapsed, the two coins covertly scampered back against the ground, then “climbed” up the side of the window, until they reached her hands.

The little hand holding the “Chocolate” and “Ice Cream” coins was trembling slightly — not from fear, but exhaustion. Despite the early morning temperature of only three to four degrees, she was sweating heavily, her entire body drenched.

“I avenged you!” Liu Shiling shook her little fist, holding the coins in front of “Custard Pie”, proudly proclaiming.

“Custard Pie” didn’t seem to understand, simply shrinking its neck and giving a “meow”.

Liu Shiling wiped the sweat from her forehead with a tissue, changed her pajamas, and climbed back into bed.

“I was seen just now, will they find out about my magic… Should I tell Uncle Bald? I hope I didn’t get into trouble…” With these thoughts in her mind, Liu Shiling fell back asleep.