Chapter 714: Is This Right?

Qingque placed one foot on the fish's head, her mind shifting.

The blue fish sensed her will, its tail fin flicked violently, and the whole body arced a full 180 degrees in the air, aiming at the towering Golden Giant Tree in the distance.

Charge!

The closer she got, the clearer the tree's true scale became; when she was far away she could dismiss it as "spectacular," but as the distance shrank, what she saw could no longer be called a tree.

This is a living horizon.

Every face on the trunk bore its own expression; some lips moved, some eyelids twitched.

Moreover, a portion of the crimson eyes on the tree had stopped scanning indiscriminately and turned toward her in unison.

Probably tens of thousands of blood‑red pupils locked onto the same tiny point: the small fish silhouette of her rapidly approaching.

Qingque shivered.

Reason String screamed, telling her to turn around, run, go back and lie down to keep watching the moon, but her will choked Reason String's neck and pressed it onto the fish's back.

Meanwhile, something began to grow wildly on the fish's back.

Golden branches pierced out from the gaps between the fish scales, vines crawled along the fins, and several thick trunks sprouted at her feet, branching into finer twigs that coiled around her ankles.

She glanced down at the boot nearly engulfed by vines, lifted her foot, and stomped down.

The moment the boot sole pressed the fish's back, a streak of azure‑gold light burst explosively from the fish's core, radiating from her point of contact across the entire body.

All the trunks and vines evaporated in an instant, leaving no ash, vaporizing directly into strands of golden fine smoke that twisted twice in the air before dissipating.

The binding on her ankle vanished instantly.

"As expected of my dream, that's impressive!"

Qingque curled the corner of her mouth. The pep talk she gave herself was half‑bravado, but never mind—she'd even fight for a backup in death.

The fish drew nearer to the trunk, and she could already see the eyelashes of the few faces closest to her (?).

She closed her eyes.

After all, this is essentially a death‑run; facing death isn't scary, what's terrifying is staring at something you don't want to see and being so frightened that even as a ghost you can't forget.

A piercing whoosh rang in her ears, sharp enough to pierce her closed eyelids and stab straight into her mind.

Immediately, a massive force slammed into the fish beneath her and her body; she was hurled away, the world spinning, turning countless times, like a rag doll tossed into a tumble dryer, tumbling and colliding repeatedly in endless darkness before finally stopping.

Then Qingque sat up abruptly, gasping, waved both hands in front of her, and opened her eyes.

She looked around.

The blue moon still hung in the sky, and in the distance the Golden Giant Tree remained.

She returned to her original spot.

"What! Why?!"

She widened her eyes, slapped the icy fish scales beneath her with both hands; they felt solid and smooth, exactly as before she rushed forward.

She charged to meet death, only to die and come back.

Is this right?

Logically, she should have woken up in reality and seen those Cloud Cavalry brothers holding back, unable to speak—right?

Why am I still here?

A chilling thought suddenly sprang in her mind: Could the earlier hypothesis be wrong? Could this be reality?

The thought lingered in her cortex for only a fraction of a second before she slapped it away.

She shook her head vigorously, her ash‑gray long hair flailing about her shoulders.

Impossible, impossible, impossible—this must be a dream.

White‑haired general's uniform, a flying transparent blue fish beneath her feet, and in the distance a colossal Abundance envoy with a thousand faces and a thousand eyes.

In real Luofu she had never seen any of these, especially Shuhuo; if Shuhuo really looked like this, the file cabinets would already be filled with gold‑lettered dossiers.

But that means—the awakening condition of this dream isn't death. Or at least not being killed by Shuhuo.

She decided to verify again.

First trial: close her eyes, control the fish, charge forward.

Whoosh, impact, tumble, then sit up abruptly.

Still on the fish, still back to the original spot.

Second trial: this time she changed posture, standing to charge, arms spread in a suicide‑rush stance.

The impact hit, and darkness fell before her eyes.

Then she sat up again, back to the original spot.

Qingque sat cross‑legged on the fish's back, hands clasped to her chest, expression solemn.

It can now be repeatedly verified: dying doesn't exit, this dream's death won't trigger the awakening mechanism.

That raises the question—if death can't wake you, how can you awaken?

From current observations within the dream, its boundaries are vast; one can move freely, steer the fish's flight, and even enter deeper nested dreams by staring at the moon.

Within the nested dream lie Luofu and Grand Diviner.

Could it be that something with Grand Diviner is the true awakening condition?

Yes, that's it.

Qingque raised her hand to cover her mouth, fingers and palm pressing tightly to stifle any incoherent noise that might escape, her earlobes already flushed red.

But the problem is, Grand Diviner isn't here.

Ah…

Then Qingque, with a reluctant realization, shifted her gaze toward the moon above.

The "-O-" on the moon was still sleeping, utterly unaware it would soon be used by someone for some extreme experiment.

She recalled that staring at the moon previously would plunge her into that dream where Shuhuo invaded Luofu.

Entering that dream gets you to Luofu; reaching Luofu lets you find the Grand Diviner; finding the Grand Diviner lets you—cough.

After running the full logic chain of that plan in their mind, Qingque felt they were probably going crazy.

The more they thought, the more they felt like they were plotting some huge criminal operation.

What is this, breaking in to kiss?

And they're still asleep?

No no no, that's a dream; the Grand Diviner in the dream is also part of the dream, not a real person.

She gritted her teeth.

Who cares.

Let's try it first and see.

After all, she'd already had over ten consecutive Shuhuo nightmares, her patience drained to negative, her sanity worn to the critical point, and all she wanted was to wake from this damn dream.

Be decisive.

Qingque finally glanced at the still-swelling giant tree, their eyes holding a calm that came from being driven to desperation and then becoming fearless.

Then they took a deep breath, lay flat back on the fish's back, hands crossed over their abdomen, found a standard sleeping pose, and then stared wide-eyed at the blue moon overhead.

The little emoticon face on the moon remained closed-eyed, hanging peacefully, its pale blue halo rippling outward in soft, hypnotic waves, exactly the same as each time before that had dragged her into the nested dream.

No one knew how much time had passed.

Qingque shot up again, clutching their head, and let out a heart-rending scream from deep in their throat: "No way——!"

She clutched her head and rocked side to side on the fish's back, her whole being exuding an aura of despair after weathering countless vicissitudes.

She'd kissed over a dozen times, each time finally finding the Grand Diviner—

"They always end up getting kicked to death by Shuhuo!"

Each time follows the same pattern: find Fu Xuan, successfully kiss them, and before she can recover from that soft touch, Shuhuo's golden branches crash down from the sky and kick her out of the nested dream.

Every time, without exception.

That damned Abomination of Abundance seemed to have installed a monitor in her brain, picking the most crucial moments to strike with precision, even more timely than when the Grand Diviner checks on her slacking.

"Why is my life so miserable!"

Qingque went limp as if her bones had been pulled out, falling flat backward on the fish's back, arms spread, her ash-white hair splayed at her sides, her jade-green eyes hollowly gazing at the blue moon above, still asleep in its ignorant oblivion.

Her expression had turned completely ashen, Burned Out.