Chapter 325: Pinokangni Chapter (Fourteen)

Waiting for the star to open its eyes again, she found herself still in the hotel guest room.

Perhaps the only differences were the teapot floating on the table, the blinding red light outside the door…… and the eerie-looking oil painting on the sofa.

Moreover, she discovered a note on the table, an admonition about the watchmaker: In dreams, there are also impossible things; find it, and you may meet.

"Over here, can you see me? Please come this way."

Suddenly, Misha's voice came from the oil painting beside her; Xing followed his voice and touched the painting, easily passing through to arrive on a dim corridor, all around floating remnants of thought, looking dreamy and unreal.

Misha explained that due to maintenance of the daydream hotel in the dream, currently only this corridor leads to 【Golden Moment】, one of Pinokangni's twelve dreams, where everyone can enjoy endless revelry.

But time in the dream does not stagnate; it stays consistent with reality.

After Misha finished his introduction, Xing handed him the note she had picked up in the hotel; he guessed it was trash left by the previous guest, because she hadn't cleaned up properly.

Following Misha's guidance, as Xing passed through the painting at the end of the corridor, she suddenly stepped into empty space.

Cold air instantly filled her lungs; before her lay Pinokangni's dizzying panorama—skyscrapers glittering with gilded light in the night, neon tubes spelling out shifting advertisements, gilded airships slowly gliding across the skyline. Jazz drifted from an open-air café up high, mingling with the bell sounds of speeding vehicles on the street.

Her body flipped in midair, and she suddenly saw her own falling reflection in the glass curtain wall.

"Ugh—"

Xing was frantically trying to struggle, but the next second—

"Bang!"

The ground instantly kicked up rolling dust and smoke; as the onlookers gasped and drew near, they saw Xing lying there with a calm expression.

——

Naruto.

In the dark cavern, water droplets seeping from the rock walls fell, producing hollow echoes.

Uchiha Madara sat cross‑seated on a protruding boulder, his Rinnegan gazing at the sky; Pinokangni's flashing neon seemed to ignite his long‑dormant ambition, making his whole body tremble involuntarily.

"Obito, do you see it? This is the… true peace we have been seeking." Madara's voice was low, yet carried a barely detectable fervor, "A land of eternal peace without war, death, or pain. Indeed, such a world can only be realized in dreams."

Obito leaned against the cave wall, having removed his mask to reveal a withered half‑face. He saw people in the sky raising glasses and dancing by the fountain, saw children with furry balls on their heads playing and chasing—although he had accepted Madara's ideal and practiced it to this day, only when the ideal world truly appeared before him did he feel how shocking all this was.

"In the dream……" Obito's voice hoarse, unlike himself, "Rin… can she come back to life?"

Madara's mouth twitched upward, "Of course, in the dream world, everyone can obtain the happiness they desire. Here…… there will certainly be no false peace like that of Hashirama."

Thinking of Hashirama's nearly childish notion, Madara couldn't help but laugh. Too bad Hashirama can't see Pinokangni; otherwise, would his ridiculous ideal waver a little?

"There are still the Eight‑Tails and Nine‑Tails…… that day will come soon."

——

"Xing rubbed her head, got up from the ground, and opened her eyes to see Zhigengniao looking at her with concern: 'Xing! Are you alright?'"

"Is this heaven…?"

"It seems this guest isn't yet used to the shift from reality to dreams. Don't worry, this weightlessness is common among newcomers to dreams." Xingqiri looked at his sister: "Zhigengniao, please help our friend adapt better to this beautiful dream."

"Alright, I'll take care of it."

Zhigengniao nodded slightly to her brother, then turned her emerald eyes toward Xing. She smiled; only her lake‑green eyes rippled, and a huge vortex rose from the deep water.

Xing felt her vision dimming, felt her body beginning to dissolve and merge with the fluid. They resonated, trembled, mixing at a soothing frequency. Xing felt her heart beating, leading a concerto.

"It's fine, relax, it'll pass soon."

The melody slowed and weakened, like a lullaby. A seven‑colored phantom gently stroked Xing's head, closing her eyes softly, full of pity. Xing unconsciously fell into a deep sleep.

When Xing opened her eyes again, everything she had just experienced was compressed into an instant. Her thoughts could no longer catch it, but her body was energized by that brief rest—this vitality was simply unprecedented.

——

Marvel Universe.

"What kind of ability is this? Is it some kind of calming magic? Or does this little girl have some superpower?"

Tony Stark held a mug, shifting his gaze from the skylight: "Friday, extract the image of the seven‑colored light that just surrounded Xing, and run a spectral analysis comparison." He tapped the cup rim, "I keep feeling like I've seen this somewhere…"

The holographic screen instantly unfolded the spectral analysis; she pulled up the close‑up and audio clip of Zhigengniao soothing Xing, the seven‑colored halo decomposed into seven undulating curves, "This frequency band matches that of 【Harmony】 Hope when it appears, with a similarity of 99.6%."

Tony's coffee cup hovered in midair: "Wait, you mean Zhigengniao is using the power of the Star God? Could she be an emissary?"

"Correction, BOSS." Friday suddenly pulled up the earlier simulated universe universal locust disaster footage, "The Star God is the embodiment of concentrated path energy and also the leader. Zhigengniao's ability has a 44.6% chance of being a manifestation of the 【Harmony】 Pathwalker's power."

"What about the remaining 55.4%?" Tony asked.

"Only a 0.16% chance Zhigengniao is a 【Harmony】 emissary, a 25.24% chance it's a special ability of the Zhigengniao species, and a 30% chance it comes from the inheritance of the 【Harmony】 family."

Tony mused: "So, what exactly is 【Harmony】? Can it be deduced from past intelligence?"

"Currently lacking key intel, BOSS. However, based on Xing's recent bodily experience and the description in the simulated universe, we can reach a rather vague conclusion."

"What conclusion?"