"Whew..."
In the VIP section of the Aurora aria music hall, Caroline looked at Jing Liuli on the stage for a moment before slowly raising her head.
A single snowflake drifted down slowly from the ceiling of the music hall, landing precisely on her green cat ear.
She instinctively reached up to touch it. The snowflake melted on her fingertip, leaving behind a bit of cool moisture.
Before long, more snowflakes began to fall.
Some landed on the stage, some on the backs of the audience seats, and some even drifted onto the tips of Jing Liuli's hair.
And when a snowflake landed on Jing Liuli's face, she frowned slightly but didn't stop singing; everything continued as usual.
Seeing this, Caroline whispered, "It's snowing... Then it seems the Liuli in the dream is also reaching her critical moment, right?"
Thinking this, Caroline lowered her head again, focusing on her data tablet.
Although it was highly unlikely that any problems would occur with the current Aurora aria performance, the task Tendo had given her was to ensure that even the one-in-ten-thousand chance of a problem did not arise.
Therefore, even though she could completely enter the dream world at this moment and observe that unique childhood memory belonging exclusively to Jing Liuli, Caroline ultimately chose to restrain herself.
Because everyone else could relax, but she could not.
Even if what she was doing and her very existence might prove utterly meaningless in the end, she had to do it.
This was the 'meaning' of her existence.
[Jing Liuli's Dream - Old Residential Building Rooftop]
As it began to snow in the real-world Aurora aria maritime music hall, snowflakes also started to drift down over the city in the dream world.
The snow-covered fallen city was less noisy and bustling than in former times, replaced by a rare quiet and desolation.
Creak!
With a rusty, old-fashioned scraping sound, the iron door to the old residential building's rooftop was laboriously pushed open by little Liuli.
Holding a plump lunch box, she quickly ran up to Tendo.
"Here, Tendo Gege (Older brother), this is Grandma's scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and it has your favorite braised pork ribs inside!"
Hearing this, Tendo jumped down from the edge of the rooftop and came before Liuli.
As he took the lunch box from little Liuli, his fingertip brushed the back of Liuli's hand.
The icy cold touch made Tendo frown unconsciously.
"Why aren't you wearing gloves?"
"I forgot..."
Little Liuli stuck out her tongue, then tucked her reddened hands into the pockets of her padded coat, changing the subject: "Tendo Gege (Older brother), Grandma said you would be bored watching the scenery alone up here, so she asked me to come and eat with you."
"Is that so?"
Tendo nodded, then opened the lunch box in front of him.
The sweet and sour aroma of tomatoes mixed with the rich scent characteristic of the braised sauce wafted out, exceptionally appealing in the cold wind.
As Tendo ate, he looked out at the city ruins beyond the building.
The formerly tall buildings were half-collapsed, with reinforcing steel exposed.
Though the snow-covered streets showed no trace of star beasts, one could vaguely see the black mist emanating from the distant beast nest.
Everything felt very real, yet somehow not entirely real.
The reason was that the beast nest in reality was not as 'gentle' as it was now.
The underlying cause was that this was not reality at all, but Jing Liuli's 'dream.'
Tendo ate like this, watching the outside world.
But as he ate, Tendo suddenly spoke abruptly.
"When did you remember?"
Facing Tendo's question, little Liuli still maintained her characteristic innocence, but her eyes held a clarity that belied her age.
"Just a few days ago."
"I see..."
As the words fell, the rooftop of the residential building, and even the entire dreamscape, suddenly began to shake.
Neither Tendo nor Liuli panicked about this, as if they had known this would happen all along.
"It seems you've made up your mind."
"Yes, even the most beautiful dream eventually has a time to wake up, doesn't it?"
Little Liuli nodded, then looked up at the endless falling snow.
"Actually, the reason I like dreaming has never been because I enjoy being lazy, but because I'm worried about forgetting the most important people."
As Jing Liuli spoke, the residential building beneath Tendo and her shook even more violently.
At the same time, Tendo's figure began to grow translucent.
Because Jing Liuli, the master of this dream world, was about to 'wake up.'
But just before Tendo was about to leave this dream world, Jing Liuli suddenly spoke something that she had kept buried in her heart for a long time.
"Do you know, Tendo, although dreams are false, the beauty hidden within the dream is real."
"Therefore, I want to turn the world into one giant dream, so everyone can meet the people they want to see and have a beautiful ending with a reunion."
Looking at the serious-faced Jing Liuli, Tendo laughed, "Well, your dream won't be easy to achieve."
Hearing this, Jing Liuli turned to look at the continuously collapsing city, and the faint, looming phantom of the Frost God in the distant sky, and smiled, "But one must try, mustn't they?"
Jing Liuli's words were naive, and her tone was full of impractical fantasies.
But the 'ideal' contained in her words was frighteningly real.
Because what she wanted to do was, in a sense, control everyone.
Making everyone dream the 'beautiful' dreams she conceived, according to her own ideas, and then influencing them in reality through these dreams—this was no different from conquering the world.
It was only because the person saying this now was Jing Liuli.
Otherwise, this would be a classic 'villain speech.'
After saying all this, Jing Liuli suddenly inquired, "Tendo, do you think what I'm doing is right?"
Tendo pondered for a moment before giving his answer.
"As long as you think it's right, you don't need to ask me."
"Is that so..."
Hearing these words, Jing Liuli seemed to figure something out.
Then she looked up at the phantom of the Frost God, which was connecting with her dream.
"Then Tendo, if someone opposes me in the future, I'll tell them that you supported me, okay?"
Tendo was startled, seemingly not expecting Jing Liuli to say this.
Before Tendo could reply, he felt an intense wave of sleepiness.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the real-world VIP section.
Looking at Jing Liuli in the center of the stage, Tendo shook his head helplessly.
So... are you planning to have me take the blame if something goes wrong later?
Liuli, Liuli, why do you keep using your little cleverness on your good friend?
As he thought, Tendo couldn't help but smile.
Because compared to Liuli's 'controlling the world's dreams,' what he had to do was far more exaggerated.
So, who will really take the blame... it's really not certain yet.
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