Chapter 255: 261. Chapter 261 Dream Theft Space?

"Hello."

As I was pondering what felt off, the serene and beautiful new transfer student, Iris, sat down beside me and softly greeted me.

"Hello."

Link snapped back to attention and gently shook the small hand Iris had extended.

"Nice to meet you; please take care of me."

Iris flashed a sweet smile, exchanged pleasantries, then focused on the lesson.

"Nice to meet you?"

Hearing those words, Link frowned involuntarily.

He felt something was off about that phrase.

It seemed like he had seen this girl before, and her personality didn't match this quiet demeanor.

She should be more lively, not so demure.

"Strange—why do I feel 'lively' isn't even enough to describe my sister?"

Link muttered to himself, shook his head, and felt increasingly dazed.

Ever since being jerked awake by that abstract-looking English teacher in the last class, he'd been like this.

Wait—what did that English teacher look like again?

Oh, I remember now.

He had thick brows and big eyes, just like Old Xu who'd say, "I want a wife, no thanks."

Too bad he doesn't have a stunning wife like Cong Shan—rumor has it he's been a lifelong bachelor.

The kind of guy who eats his fill and the whole family stays fed.

Sigh—why doesn't anyone ask me, "Do you want a wife or not?"

When the time comes, I'll proudly shout, "Yes!"

Hehehe...

Without realizing it, Link's thoughts drifted from his sister to fantasizing about the romantic troubles he might get into.

One language class passed in a haze of daydreams.

"Want to go out and play?"

Iris wasn't shy at all and actually initiated the invitation to Link.

"No, I'll just stay here a bit longer."

For some reason, Link actually wanted to agree, but the words changed on his way to his lips.

It felt like stepping out of the classroom would trigger something bad.

"Sigh..."

Iris sighed, a flicker of disappointment crossing her eyes, then turned confused.

She dropped the idea of going out, didn't leave herself, wrapped her arms around her head, and rested it on the desk for a brief nap.

"Sigh..."

Link felt listless, as if he'd done something wrong.

But he couldn't figure out what.

▲ttkΛn▲￠o

He stared blankly at Iris, slumped over the desk, her pupils violently trembling up and down.

It was as if two people were tug-of-war inside his head, and his pupils were the red thread tied to the rope.

The strain made his head ache.

Forget it—I'm not thinking anymore. Time to sleep.

Overwhelmed by the pain, Link slumped onto the desk; his pupils stilled, and the headache vanished.

"Want to go out and play?"

After waking, he heard Iris's invitation again.

Turns out another class had already ended.

Which class number was this again?

"No, I'll just stay seated a bit longer."

Link thought it over and still felt unrested, so he declined outright.

Hey, why does the mere thought of going out make me want to sleep?

I'm not Ah Q, with some weird habit of loudly yelling, "I want to sleep with you!"

Right—who is Ah Q?

Wasn't he a character from a text we studied in language class?

This question popped into Link's mind, and he began rifling through his language textbooks.

One, two, three, four, five...

His desk drawer was full of language books—seemed endless.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

Link frantically flipped through the books, searching for that Ah Q who loved spiritual victories—"finally got beaten by his son."

"What are you looking for?"

Iris asked gently from beside him.

"What am I looking for?"

Lin Ke repeated the rustling-flipping motion of the book, repeating Iris's question.

It seemed he was questioning Iris back, and also seemed to be asking himself.

What is he looking for?

Is he looking for Aq, or something else more important?

Lin Ke couldn't help but feel discouraged.

He stopped the motion in his hands, his face showing deep sorrow, facing Iris's puzzled gaze, he muttered: "I seem to have forgotten what I was looking for."

After saying that, Lin Ke suddenly felt his eyelids heavy.

He wrapped his arms around, bowed his head, and just fell asleep like that.

Iris watched Lin Ke emitting faint snoring sounds, her lips murmuring, silently asking herself:

Aq?

Who is Aq?

How come she has never heard of it!

After hesitating a moment, Iris extended her right index finger, lightly touching Lin Ke's cheek.

A strange thought suddenly arose in her heart, she seemed to have secretly kissed here.

She laughed and shook her head, Iris suppressed this absurd thought.

Clearly they had only just met not long ago, how could she have kissed Lin Ke, let alone secretly.

She clearly wasn't a love-brain, how could she possibly do such an embarrassing thing.

Fake, it's all fake!

Thinking this way, Iris withdrew her hand, sat up properly.

One day just passed like this.

The following dozen or so days were just like a replay of the first day after waking up.

Attend class, finish class, attend class, finish class, attend class, finish class.

It seemed that besides these two things, nothing else should be done.

For example, refusing to go out and play with Iris.

It seemed that doing this would bring great disaster afterward.

"Going out to play or not?"

Iris waved her hand in front of Lin Ke, who was dazed for the umpteenth time, seeing she had attracted his attention, she issued an invitation.

Without waiting for Lin Ke to refuse, Iris deliberately lowered her voice and said: "I'll take you to play something fun."

After saying that, she suddenly gripped Lin Ke's hand tightly, pulling him as they ran out of the classroom.

No room for refusal.

Wait.

Outside the classroom?

Have I left the classroom these past few days?

In the process of being dragged out of the classroom stumbling, Lin Ke had doubts arise in his heart.

While adjusting his running posture, he recalled the experiences of the past dozen or so days.

The result of recalling was a loneliness.

What the hell did these dozen or so days amount to, besides attending and finishing class, there was nothing else.

Among eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, and sleeping, only sleeping had occurred.

And he slept especially much.

Often he was chatting with Iris, and suddenly the two of them would fall asleep slumped over the desk together.

The scenes of attending and finishing class also appeared very blurred, like they had been mosaicked.

What was taught in class, which teachers taught it, all became distorted.

One moment it looked like a person, the next moment it didn't look like a person.

One moment it sounded like real voice, the next moment it sounded like a sizzling electric current.

Strange and weird, not knowing what they were doing.

Iris's running speed kept increasing, the wind whistling past Lin Ke's ears.

Lin Ke sensed something was wrong, lowered his head to look, and realized he was running in the sky.

What he was stepping on was no longer tiles, but light and fluffy white clouds.

No wonder it felt like stepping on cotton just now, without force.

"Aren't you surprised?"

Iris turned her head to look at Lin Ke, whose brows were tightly furrowed all along, first questioning, then sighing, "You really aren't surprised."

"Surprised?"

Lin Ke puzzled, "Surprised about what?"

"Surprised that I can fly." Iris raised her eyebrows and said.

"Oh."

Lin Ke blankly replied, not knowing how to respond.

He remembered, he seemed to also be able to fly before, and flew higher, flew faster.

Iris then spoke again: "I've been here these past few days, attended so many classes, contacted so many teachers and classmates, feeling the only one who seems like a person is you."

She paused, Iris emphasized: "Just you and me alike, always needing to sleep, while others don't sleep at all."

Lin Ke suddenly burst out laughing with a puff sound.

Laughing and laughing, tears unconsciously spilled out.

"Turns out you also think they don't seem like people. I thought it was just me who felt that way."

"Is that so?"

Iris squeezed out a word from her nasal cavity, then thoughtfully asked, "Do you ever feel like you're special? Like you don't belong in this world?"

"Do I?"

Lin Ke pondered deeply.

The more he thought, the more he felt Iris had a point.

These past ten days or so, he felt like Truman in *The Truman Show*—he was a real person, but his life was fake.

Wait, fake?

Once this thought surfaced, it was like a lightning bolt tearing through the night.

It was even more like the Big Bang of a singularity creating the universe.

The world in Lin Ke's eyes seemed as if a thick layer of water fog on glass had been wiped clean, instantly becoming clear.

Where was the sky? Where were the white clouds? Where was the school?

They were just strings of flowing 0 and 1 data streams.

Only Iris before him was truly real, the rainbow mark on her forehead flickering.

Five thick data stream chains tightly bound her wrists, ankles, and waist, restraining her.

Iris maintained her forward-running posture, yet was merely stepping in place.

Lin Ke didn't know when he had let go of Iris's hand.

His whole body was pulled by an unknown force toward infinite distance.

Until he was expelled from the world composed of countless strings of 0 and 1 data streams, becoming an "Observer" unrelated to the data world, able only to watch, not interfere.

This process gave Lin Ke the feeling that, like a bug that cannot be killed, he could only be kicked away.

Inspired by Iris, who had awakened Lin Ke from his dazed state, she remained trapped in the data world.

At this moment, gazing around in confusion, seemingly having forgotten Lin Ke's existence, forgotten why she came to the clouds, she lowered her head in dejection and walked back to the classroom, continuing to repeat the cycle of attending and leaving class.

Lin Ke inexplicably understood: he was a supporting character, a spectator.

Iris was the protagonist of this round.

When she awakens from her dazed state and breaks the five data stream chains binding her, this round will truly end.

Lin Ke was merely an intruding passerby.

Since this round did not belong to him, upon realizing he might have an unclear influence on the situation, he was directly kicked out.

"Master, Master, where are you?"

Flandre's voice echoed in Lin Ke's heart.

"What's wrong, Flandre?"

Lin Ke observed Iris's movements while responding to Flandre.

"Wuwu... Master, you finally paid attention to me. Flandre thought, thought that Master, like someone else, had abandoned Flandre and didn't want Flandre anymore."

Flandre burst into tears, accusing Lin Ke.

Uh...

Lin Ke quickly turned his attention to the "Small World," focused, gently patted Flandre's head, and soothed: "Master has always been here. Flandre, you're so adorable—how could Master bear to abandon you?"

"Master is lying!"

Flandre, tears streaming like pear blossoms in the rain, hands on hips, head raised, said angrily, "Master is a big liar! Flandre just couldn't find Master, and even trying to pull Master into the 'Small World' failed."

"Accident! This is an accident!"

Lin Ke repeatedly soothed and apologized, making a promise: "It won't happen again. Absolutely no next time!"

"Hmph!"

Flandre pouted, tilted her head, still angry.

Lin Ke patiently rubbed Flandre's head, feeling her anger subside, then asked: "Flandre, what just happened? Tell Master."

"Hmph!"

Flandre snorted angrily, then gave her answer,

"When the seven-colored halo of the Special Ruin World flashed, Flandre didn't know what happened then.

After regaining consciousness, she found Master and Master's disliked woman had arrived in a strange space.

This space resembled Master's Sea of Consciousness, existing between reality and illusion, both present and absent.

The rainbow mark that had appeared on Master's disliked woman's forehead flickered, emitting a strange fluctuation.

This space seemed to breathe, gradually adjusting its breath frequency, constantly approaching that fluctuation.

When they aligned, Master and Master's disliked woman—your souls—disappeared to who knows where.

Flandre couldn't sense Master's soul, and she was terrified.

She shouted desperately, screamed her lungs out, but Master ignored her.

Flandre wanted to go out and wake Master, but couldn't escape, and ended up bumping her head all over."

Saying this, Flandre, with her hands on her waist, placed them on her head and gently rubbed.

Upon hearing this, Lin Ke fell into thought.

No wonder he felt his current state still had something off.

Turns out he was still in a state of soul detachment!

He took a deep breath.

Indeed, only the motion of inhaling, with the corresponding sensation of soul-self generation, but without actually drawing in air.

Lin Ke closed his eyes, focused all his attention, and tried to activate the Brain Seal Technique, entering the Multi-threaded Thinking state.

The Brain Seal Technique operated as usual, while the Multi-threaded Thinking state was in cooldown.

However, this cooldown was exactly what Lin Ke needed.

By leveraging his connection with the system, Lin Ke linked to his own Sea of Consciousness, reversely "summoning" his soul into the Sea of Consciousness.

Then, through the Sea of Consciousness, he entered the Small World, and subsequently returned to his physical body.

The reason for taking such a roundabout path, rather than directly returning to his physical body, was that Lin Ke was uncertain whether his soul had been contaminated by something it should not have been.

Even a trace of it!

Utilizing his authority as the World Lord of the Small World, Lin Ke mobilized a large amount of Source Power at that moment, cleansing his soul.

After confirming his soul was unharmed and had not been left with any hidden dangers, he then returned to his physical body.

Without rushing to open his eyes and act, Lin Ke employed the mental inspection method of a True Spirit Wizard, as well as the medical inspection method specialized by Riverside Academy, conducting a full-body self-check from inside to outside.

Finding everything in order, he then opened his eyes and surveyed the surrounding environment.

This was a peculiar space that embodied contradictions in every aspect.

Vitality, death energy; reality, illusion; confinement, boundlessness...

All directions were a vast expanse of white, except for Iris beside him, with nothing else present.

The Ring Rope-shaped Wizard Artifact used to bind the two of them had vanished without a trace.

Iris floated in midair, lying horizontally, eyes tightly closed, breathing evenly, like a tranquil sleeping beauty.

The Rainbow Mark on her forehead flickered, resonating with this peculiar space.

Lin Ke stared directly at the Rainbow Mark on Iris's forehead, as if seeing a world composed of countless strings of 0 and 1 data.

Instantly, Lin Ke understood where their souls had previously gone.

Iris's dream!

Combining Iris's suspicion of being half a fellow townsman, the special nature of the Special Ruin World, the Wizard World's emphasis on the parallel universe behind the Special Ruin World, and other such information, along with his stored knowledge, Lin Ke made a bold guess:

As long as Iris can wake from her dream, she can become the master of this peculiar space, the GM of this Special Ruin World!

Of course, these are merely Lin Ke's guesses.

Everything must wait until Iris wakes up to yield concrete results.

"Is there any way to help Iris?"

Lin Ke has never been the type to rigidly follow rules.

He will not simply become a spectator just because he vaguely knows in his heart that Iris is the protagonist of this round.

He fixed his gaze on Iris's forehead Rainbow Mark, pondering.

The principle that the one who tied the bell must untie it seems applicable here.

Since this round is a dream, it should be possible to start from the dream, using dream to counter dream.

Lin Ke happens to have learned a Witchcraft of the True Spirit Wizard related to dreams, which can be useful at this moment.

However, this Witchcraft has a drawback.

Namely, the caster steals the target's dream, and during the process of interaction with the target in the dream, accidents are prone to occur.

For example……soul union.

Lin Ke hesitated.