“Is this the inside of that collective dream?” Leticia whispered as she tiptoed and gazed at the flickering, colossal city in the distance.
She had chosen a safe spot in the real world to enter the dream. Upon opening her eyes, she found herself in this place.
This was an extraordinarily tall mountain, and Leticia was currently standing on its summit. Looking down, she could see almost the entire world laid out before her.
What was going on? How could she get down? Two questions surfaced in Leticia’s mind. The mountaintop was merely a small platform that could only accommodate one person. As for a way down? Sorry, there was none.
If Leticia still possessed her original strength, she could have flown down. Unfortunately, she regrettably found herself back in the powerless state she experienced when entering ordinary dreams.
To climb down this mountain, as steep as a blade’s edge, using her own strength, Leticia felt it might be more convenient to simply jump.
“What should I do?” Leticia looked down at the white clouds beneath her feet, gritted her teeth, and decided to take a risk. After all, she couldn’t die in a dream.
Bai, who was waiting for her to rescue him, was below.
No matter what, she jumped!
Taking a deep breath, Leticia spread her arms and leaped.
Her body suddenly felt light, and the intense sense of weightlessness almost caused Leticia to wake up in reality. However, Leticia managed to suppress her instinctive reaction and forced herself to remain within the dream.
She didn’t know how long this freefall lasted. Leticia felt as if she had been in the sky for an entire day and night. But the mountain’s height was clearly insufficient for such a duration. Logically, she should have had a close encounter with Mother Earth by now.
Yet, she continued to fall, as if trapped in a vicious cycle.
“What should I do?” Leticia adjusted her posture in mid-air. Her current combat power was practically zero, and she couldn’t think of any solution in such a situation.
Just as she was about to leave the dream and re-enter, a familiar aura suddenly appeared beside her.
The white-haired, red-eyed girl appeared beside Leticia as if teleporting. She put her arm around Leticia’s waist and then brought her to the real ground.
“You…” Leticia looked at the white-haired girl holding her with surprise. This should be Bai Ling, right?
She reached out and pinched the girl’s cheek. It felt soft and wonderful, almost identical to Bai Ling’s face.
“Just a wandering knight.” The white-haired girl placed Leticia on the ground, then took a step back and gave Leticia a gentlemanly knight’s salute. “If Miss has no other matters, I shall take my leave.”
“Wait, why did you help me?” Leticia quickly called out to stop her. The white-haired girl in front of her should be Bai Ling, but it seemed she didn’t remember anything from the real world.
The white-haired girl showed a confused expression. “Isn’t it normal to lend a helping hand to a lovely lady in distress?”
Hiss, that made a strange amount of sense.
If Bai Ling was truly playing the role of a wandering knight here, then stepping in when seeing injustice wasn’t really that unusual.
However, Leticia’s intuition told her that this white-haired girl was lying.
Although the white-haired girl’s expression showed no signs of deception, according to Leticia’s judgment, the girl was simply spouting nonsense. She definitely didn’t save herself out of a sense of justice.
However, now wasn’t a good time to press the issue. Since she explained it that way, it was better for Leticia to reluctantly accept it.
There must be a difference between Bai Ling in the dream and Bai Ling in the real world. Leticia was worried that this difference might lie in some crucial areas. Therefore, here, she, a damsel in distress, should remain a bit low-key.
After a brief chat, the white-haired girl left on her own. Leticia watched the girl leave and then turned in the opposite direction.
Something was attracting her in that direction.
Unbeknownst to her, the white-haired girl didn’t go far. The moment she turned around, the white-haired girl immediately stopped and turned into the nearby woods.
In this not-so-large forest, more than a dozen people in armor knelt in a row, not daring to look up at the white-haired girl. Only the man kneeling at the forefront dared to speak, “Your Majesty.”
The white-haired girl nodded with a detached expression. “Do we have any news of my incompetent sister?”
“According to the scouts, the last sighting of Your Highness was at… that place.” The man kneeling at the front spoke with a trembling voice. “We suspect Your Highness has entered that forbidden area.”
That place, the country cursed by the witch? The white-haired girl narrowed her eyes. Her sister truly caused her no end of trouble. Going there meant it would take a lot of effort to retrieve her.
“Then let’s go. Since we know where she went, let’s capture her,” the white-haired girl said coldly. “Or are you afraid?”
The people kneeling on the ground immediately showed expressions of fear. Afraid, of course, they were afraid. They had long heard the stories of that country, and the witch’s power was beyond the reach of mortals.
Such a vast empire, annihilated overnight, all its citizens plunged into slumber, and even the wise and heroic empress couldn’t escape. Was this something mortals could achieve?
No, this was something deities could do!
“I never believe in those ethereal stories,” the girl said, with her hands behind her back, her tone indifferent. “Moreover, adventurers who explored that place returned completely intact. Are you people worse than those adventurers?”
The armored men showed shame. After a period of uncomfortable silence, the man kneeling at the front suddenly stood up and shouted, “Your command is my will! Your subordinate will surely bring Her Highness back intact!”
Seeing the man’s decision, the others also stood up and made their own resolutions.
“In that case, hurry up and search. Perhaps we can still intercept the brat before she recklessly enters the forbidden zone,” the white-haired girl waved her hand, signaling her subordinates to leave.
She was still thinking about the black-haired girl. Whether it was an illusion or not, she felt a sense of familiarity with that girl.
However, for now, she should focus her attention on more important matters, such as Leticia, who was walking on a deserted road.
“Strange, such a wide road, and not a single pedestrian?” Leticia had been walking on the avenue for a long time and hadn’t encountered any creature she could communicate with. This was too odd.
Logically, even on such a spacious avenue, no matter how remote, she shouldn’t go half a day without seeing a single pedestrian.
Moreover, she didn’t know if it was her imagination, but as she walked further along this road, Leticia could smell a hint of danger, as if something terrifyingly abnormal awaited her in the distance.
This should not be an illusion. That place contained what she needed to find, and also something very dangerous.
That dangerous thing might be the guardian of what she needed. As everyone knows, treasures are always guarded by powerful protectors, aren’t they?
So, no matter what danger awaited her ahead, Leticia could only move forward, and keep moving forward. She absolutely could not retreat.
Clearly, a girl walking alone on this road was extremely conspicuous, and now, someone was quietly approaching this girl.
“Please stop, Miss. You cannot go further.”
The familiar voice from behind caused Leticia to stop her advance. She turned her head and looked behind her, and as expected, saw a familiar person.
Our “Blondie” friend had changed into a light green uniform, looking like an adventurer from a story.
The one who had called out to stop Leticia was precisely this old friend of Leticia’s.
“Who are you? Why can’t I go forward?” Leticia threw out two questions.
Blondie’s expression instantly turned strange, as if he was surprised that Leticia didn’t know where she was going. “I am an SSS-rank adventurer from the Adventurer’s Guild. As for why you should stop… you should know that yourself, shouldn’t you?”
Is this guy obsessed with SSS? Leticia’s eye twitched. The previous dream featured an SSS-rank hero, and now it had become an SSS-rank adventurer. How fitting.
And what did he mean by “you should know that yourself”? I don’t know! I absolutely don’t know!
Although she wanted to answer like that, it was clearly wiser to answer differently at this moment. At least she should get Blondie to reveal the information Leticia wanted to know.
“So? Is there something wrong with me going there?” Leticia asked, tilting her head.
“That is a cursed place. Even the most seasoned adventurers dare not venture there carelessly.” Blondie thought he had encountered another reckless novice and began to explain. “I don’t know if you’ve heard any rumors, but I can tell you responsibly that there is nothing of value there. Even if there were, it would have long been stolen by those audacious thieves.”
So, the place ahead was actually similar to a dungeon? Leticia thought thoughtfully.
This information was not enough. She needed to extract more from this Blondie.
“I’m not here for treasure. I just want to see what that place looks like. Isn’t it enough to satisfy my curiosity just by taking a glance from afar?”
“… If you truly just want to take a glance from afar, it’s not impossible. But I must warn you beforehand, the jackals gathered around the Sleeping Empire will not care about the newcomer’s intentions. They will only tear the newcomer apart together, lest their cake be taken by others.” Blondie frowned and said to Leticia, “If you change your mind now, I can escort you back within the Starfall Empire’s borders. That place is safe.”
The Sleeping Empire and the Starfall Empire? These two names made Leticia narrow her eyes. From Blondie’s words, she could ascertain that her target was the so-called Sleeping Empire, and her background was the Starfall Empire.
Was this road a passage connecting these two empires?
“It’s strange to find an adventurer here. It truly is peculiar,” a voice came from not far away as Leticia was about to ask more questions.
Leticia knew this voice even better. Wasn’t this the girl who had rescued her from the hell of endless falling not long ago?
What? Did she come here too?
“Good afternoon. Speaking of which, I still don’t know your name.” Leticia raised her hand and greeted the white-haired girl.
Unlike when they parted, the girl was now wearing clothes suitable for action, and a gorgeous long sword hung at her waist, making her look more like the wandering knight she claimed to be.
“Bai Ling.” The girl spoke two words indifferently.
“Oh, oh, Bai Ling, right? That’s a really nice name.” Leticia said with great affectation. Now she was completely certain that this person was Bai Ling, but Miss Bai was currently in a dream and couldn’t recognize Leticia.
“You flatter me. If I’m not mistaken, Miss also intends to go to that place?” Bai Ling tilted her chin forward. “As for this adventurer gentleman, it seems you are not on the same path as us.”
Blondie sized up Bai Ling and then touched his nose uncomfortably. For some reason, he felt a bit redundant here.
Since he was redundant, he should leave. He still had to report back to the guild. If these two girls wanted to go to their deaths, he couldn’t stop them.
That place, an ordinary person like this black-haired girl would never come out if they entered.
Shaking his head, Blondie slipped back into the woods. He had seen Leticia walking alone on the road from the woods and had come out of the woods to remind her out of a desire to dissuade her.
“The annoying guy is finally gone,” Leticia showed a look of relief. She smiled and looked at Bai Ling, saying to the cold-faced girl, “My name is Su Qianqian. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Fake name.” Bai Ling’s expression didn’t change, and she said indifferently.
Leticia’s expression changed. Being exposed like this was somewhat beyond her expectations. “How did you figure that out?”
“Intuition.” The girl shook her head. “But reporting your real name to a stranger you’ve only met twice is something a fool would do. You’re not a fool, that’s good.”
“In that case, the name you just gave is also not real, is it?” Leticia asked, tilting her head.
The white-haired girl was silent for a moment, then slightly parted her lips and spoke two words, “Guess.”
