Chapter 107

【"To Keep a Heart from Sorrow," by that Robin Young Lady.】

【With the Harmony Grand Ceremony approaching, her music occasionally echoes in the dreamscape.】

Liuying led Xiang Xing to the fence,

gazing toward the distant sky.

At this moment, her expression was more serene than ever before.

Like a delicate flower waiting to bloom.

Xiang Xing simply watched her silently, and felt her own heart grow calm.

【This is the closest place to the sky within the dreamscape, far from the city's clamor and without dreamweavers quarreling.】

【Here, you can be undisturbed by anyone, savoring the present—the scenery, the people, the dream...】

【How beautiful... May time forever pause in this golden moment, a golden dream.】

【The Fool of the tavern, the Rememberer of Yiting, the wandering knight-errant, the company's envoy, the nameless passenger of the Stellar Express... and me.】

The distant sky shimmered like a painted scroll,

the brightly lit city reflected in Liuying's eyes.

Meteors slid across the heavens, trailing splendid, dreamlike tails of fire,

rendering the scroll ethereal and illusory...

Gentle music flowed and rippled along.

Liuying turned her head to look at Xiang Xing, her expression peaceful and happy.

At this moment, time seemed to halt—a golden, beautiful dream, quietly budding, belonging only to the two of them...

【Everyone here sleeps equally, regardless of reason, though we indeed each carry our own purposes...】

【Huh...】

【.... I'm sorry, Xiang Xing. I am indeed a stowaway.】

Liuying suddenly spoke,

brimming with regret...

【I know...】

Xiang Xing had long suspected it,

so she was not surprised.

【I knew you'd see through me...】

Liuying's face wore an expression of "as expected."

【My homeland was destroyed long, long ago—perhaps by the Legion, or maybe the Swarm...】

【I'm an interstellar refugee, just like many locals of Pinoconny.】

【Harmony embraces all people, including the 2.7 percent of wanderers who came from afar.】

【My family accepted them, but they... ultimately do not belong here...】

【In this gilded metropolis, some people's dream is called Pinoconny, while others' dream... is no different from reality, though... every ordinary person who arrives here initially shares the same goal.】

【I am no different. In reality, I have a wish I can never fulfill—it is too strong, so I turned to the dreamscape...】

Liuying stood with her back to Xiang Xing,

gazing at the countless meteors,

moved to speak,

confiding everything to Xiang Xing.

【What wish?】 Xiang Xing asked softly.

【.... Entropy Loss Syndrome. Have you heard of this term?】

【It's a strange phenomenon. Those afflicted suffer irreversible, chronic dissociation of their physical structure.】

【It means you are slowly vanishing, and this disappearance is nearly imperceptible to others...】

【You can still run, jump, and communicate with others.】

【Everything appears perfectly normal, except you're always just a little slower than everyone else...】

【.... Then slower and slower, until your outline and the world's blur together.】

【You can't tell reality from the dreamscape, because both have become equally fragmented.】

【So how could I refuse... Can you imagine?】

【In this dream, I can... I can avoid lying in that cold medical pod...】

【I can ignore the doctors' words, use my own body, freely listen, see, touch, think, and comprehend.】

【Though this world isn't real, the feeling is incredibly precious...】

【Like... right now...】

A glimmer shone in Liuying's eyes, stirring Xiang Xing's heart deeply.