Chapter 341

His voice gradually turned icy: "You really… are too blind."

Xing was about to step forward and argue with him, but Liuying reached out and grabbed her, her expression stern as she said: "... Be careful. Now I can be certain, your friend has a problem."

Sangbo instantly laughed: "Oh, looks like this brave miss wants to protect you, huh? Why? Are you two that close?"

"Cut the nonsense." Liuying coldly interrupted.

"I really like your personality, dear. I admit, you're not like that little gray fur; your nose is pretty sharp. But even so, you've fallen behind the main group. By now you still haven't noticed—the family is hiding the secret behind this beautiful dream."

"And as for you—the pioneer who saved the icy world…ah, just how much water did that Sangbo guy dilute his story in Yariro-VI with? Never mind, believing his words is my problem…"

Sangbo's smile faded like a retreating tide, each word squeezed out from between his teeth: "... I'm truly, truly disappointed in you."

The atmosphere suddenly changed, as if the air inhaled into the lungs had congealed into a caramel-like viscous texture, even the light became distorted.

Xing felt her eyelids heavy, and in a daze it seemed she saw a red goldfish swim past her and Liuying.

Sangbo—or rather the entity disguising itself as Sangbo—with each step, his male shell peeled away a bit. Gloves revealed slender fingers, and his long pants transformed into a skirt like flower petals, matching those jade-like, lustrous legs.

"Sorry…" the twin‑tailed girl's voice carried a candy‑like sweetness, alluring… yet dangerous, "Please stay in the true dream…"

A fingertip lightly flicked Xing's forehead; the gentle motion caused her consciousness to plunge into the depths, Pinokangni's golden dream turning into a dark vortex, everything spinning within it.

"——How about a little nap?"

In her final field of view, the red light in the girl's iris gradually faded. She leaned over to close Xing's eyes, the motion gentle as tucking a doll in with a blanket.

——

Chainsaw Person.

In the sky, the twin‑tailed girl's stunning beauty struck a direct hit on Denji's heart. His cola can went "pop" and fell to the ground, the brown liquid splashing onto his pants without him reacting.

"Wait! Wait! I want to take back my words!" Denji blushed, staring intently at Hanabi's big white legs, "Who said the Masked Fool isn't well‑liked? This Masked Fool is awesome!"

"I declare! The Masked Fool is the best organization in the universe!"

Watching Denji raise both hands and cheer, Pawa glared at him: "Hey hey, Denji, you're just plain hungry for her, aren't you? You don't even know her name."

"What does her name matter at all?" Denji shrugged, "She can transform anyway—who knows if she's using her real name or a fake one? Anyway, from now on I only like the twin‑tailed miss."

"... You switched sides in the heat of battle way too fast?! You just said you liked Liuying the most!"

"No way, because I thought it over……the twin‑tailed miss can transform into Sangbo, which means she can also become Liuying, Jizi, or Kafuka……liking her alone is like liking countless people at once! This simple math problem I can still do—it's totally awesome, right?"

——

Xing opened her eyes, finding herself back in the Daydream Hotel, but the scenery and atmosphere here were much like when she first fell asleep. She…was still dreaming.

What's even stranger is that she couldn't send a message to Jizi either.

Words kept floating on the table beside her, accompanied by a cautious inquiry from an unfamiliar boy's voice:

"Mikhail, are you in there?"

"Mikhail, where did you go?"

"It's so quiet, only the ticking of the clock…"

Xing approached the counter, only to see the dial on it begin to tremble, its hands spinning wildly, as if trying to pull her into some distant moment of the past…

Dial: "Calm…now it's just me…I must fulfill the charge he left behind, I must do it…"

"But…how am I supposed to do it? How could I possibly do it? sigh…Is there really no one who can lend me a hand?"

A talking dial, scenes that replay voices—everything is too eerie.

Xing pushed open the door, only to see Liuying standing before a dead meme. Seeing Xing, she let out a long breath, the stone in her heart finally settling: "Ah…Xing! You really are here too…"

"Are we already dead…"

"I…don't know." Liuying looked around, "No matter what, we're definitely still in the dream, not somewhere else, and certainly not in reality…there's a unique feel of memory substance in the air, I wouldn't mistake it."

——

DC Universe.

In the office of the Planet Daily, Clark Kent stopped typing on his notebook. He pushed up his slipping glasses, gazing out the window at the sky—the name "Mikhail" kept appearing frequently in his dreams.

"Lois, what do you think—" he hadn't finished speaking when Lois set a steaming cup of coffee beside his hand, the sound of the cup's base touching the desk perfectly interrupting his train of thought.

"Your special report on Pinokangni might need to be put on hold." Lois naturally leaned against the edge of his desk, fingers lightly twirling the curled lock of hair that stuck up from his head, "Information about Pinokangni is about to get a new development. The name 'Mikhail' has appeared before……but only once."

"When Xing first entered the dream, a voice once said, 'Come back, Mikhail.'" Clark's pen spun on his fingertip, "The voice sounds a lot like the boy's voice now, which might indicate……that this Mikhail is an extremely important figure for Pinokangni."

"Could he be the clockmaker?" Lois speculated further.

I can't rule that out; this room has many clock‑related elements……did you see that dial on the counter? That dial actually speaks, and what comes to mind is that Mikhail left behind some mission that urgently needs successors, and this talking dial……might be related to the clock‑boy.

It's possible, but the tone of that speaking dial is very heavy, nothing like the clock‑boy at all.

Looks like another mystery has been added to the Pinokangni puzzle…… Clark let out a soft sigh, reached for the pen in his pen holder, but accidentally knocked over the coffee cup. Just as the liquid was about to soak the documents, Lois snatched the papers away and, as an afterthought, patted a tissue onto the back of his hand.

Clark Kent. She raised an eyebrow at his flustered state, "You sure you don't need my help? Just one piece of Pinokangni information seems to be stretching your brain a bit thin."

Well… Clark had nothing to say, "Lois, as you wish."