Candlelight flickered, shadows intertwined, a stable and rational mysterious ritual proceeded rhythmically.
Sophia felt as if she had fallen into a cloud of cotton, gradually sinking into an irresistible softness.
Her small feet created a wrinkle in the bedsheet.
Her consciousness drifted, her body driven by instinct, and she couldn't help but wrap her arms around Li Andy, biting into his shoulder.
The moment the taste of blood filled her mouth, a large amount of precious memories surged from the depths of her sea of consciousness.
The feeling was peculiar... a return of familiarity, but also a strong conflict due to the different identity of her personality.
It was as if she saw two different versions of herself being forcibly merged!
Chaos, fragmentation, fear, all kinds of negative emotions spread from her heart!
Like a malicious poisonous mist, it enveloped her.
Just then, the feeling of release from her body dispersed the poisonous mist.
"Mm—!"
She instinctively vocalized, and the fragmented memories in her mind reflected two familiar figures.
They were always together, always appearing at crucial junctures.
It was like an anchor line, connecting all her beautiful memories into one!
'Andy... Youxi...'
Sophia couldn't help but whimper, finally finding herself again.
But besides her emotion, a wave of toe-curling embarrassment and unspeakable shame washed over her.
These two!
Why didn't they wake her up sooner!
Did they have to tease her first?!
As she thought, she angrily looked up, licked the blood from the corner of her mouth, and suddenly exerted force, pressing Li Andy down.
"Remembered everything?"
Li Andy winced a bit from being twisted and looked at her in surprise.
"I remember!"
Sophia was so angry her teeth ached, and she cursed, "You scoundrel!"
Li Andy, still in a state of memory loss, couldn't help but feel a little flustered and quickly shifted the blame: "This was Youxi's idea!"
However....
"Sophia, welcome home~"
Sophia looked at her beaming best friend, and her heart suddenly softened; that phrase, "Welcome home," struck a chord deep within her.
Blame-shifting was ineffective.
Sophia never got angry at Youxi; she just had that much favoritism.
So, she decided to vent all her anger solely on Li Andy.
"It's all your fault!"
Sophia's little face flushed with anger, and she began her path of counter-conquest.
Li Andy secretly thought it was bad and tried to break free.
Unexpectedly, this seemingly powerful offensive, which looked so imposing, crumbled in less than half a minute, wasting all that strange strength.
"Hoo..."
Sophia lay there, recovering for a while, then looked at Youxi as if asking for help: "Help me..."
Youxi's breath hitched, her heart struck by Sophia's pitiful and charming appearance.
She smiled and agreed with a "Mm-hmm!" but couldn't help but join in teasing her.
"Wuwu...."
Sophia was on the verge of tears, once again caught in a pincer attack.
The perspective slowly rose; not far away, candlelight flickered.
The layered shadows on the wall swayed, like waves crashing onto the beach...
......
Thousands of miles away, at the same moment.
In the center of the ocean, waves also surged.
A mysterious reef archipelago, like a demonic realm, welcomed its late-night guests.
A steam-powered sailing ship, bearing a black jasmine flower emblem, slowly sailed through the reef clusters, pushing circles of waves to either side.
On the deck of molly, the octopus monster had his subordinates drag out the unconscious Irene and Eric.
His facial tentacles writhed, and suddenly, with a "Pfft—", he sprayed a large amount of murky green liquid onto the two of them.
"Hoo—!"
Irene suddenly woke up.
Before she could catch her second breath, she opened her eyes to see a group of non-human beings.
"Mon...monsters!"
Her face was pale, and she instinctively recoiled, only to bump into Eric, who was also recoiling.
"Irene?"
"Dad?!"
The two trembled and hugged each other, looking in horror at the monsters surrounding them.
After they calmed down, the octopus man made the tentacles beneath him writhe and slowly moved forward.
His facial tentacles swayed, and a hoarse human voice emerged from them: "Welcome to the Sea Nation, Lord of Dreams."
"Lord of Dreams?"
The two were stunned.
Eric took a deep breath, and spurred by fatherly love, he gathered his courage and stood in front of Irene: "What...what do you want?!"
"We want... you... to sleep."
The octopus man answered directly.
"Sleep?"
Eric was even more confused, but before he could ask again.
The monsters surrounding them suddenly raised their limbs and began to spin, murmur, and sing around the two... like some kind of bizarre ritual!
The next second, "Rumble—"
Three giant pillars made of writhing coral slowly rose in front of the ship.
At the center of each pillar, a translucent giant egg pulsed, as if something was hatching inside.
'Is this a monster hatching nest?'
Eric froze, his body trembling uncontrollably.
At this moment, the monsters suddenly paused, then shouted in unison: "IA—!"
"IA! IA! SHAGGORNYTH!"
The pillars vibrated in response to the call, and the giant egg's protective membrane gradually became transparent.
When they saw what was inside, Eric and Irene were completely stunned.
They discovered with immense horror that—the human bodies inside the giant eggs, two of them were identical to them!
And one was a sleeping girl with grayish-white hair, who was none other than the missing head of the molly family!
"IA! IA! SHAGGORNYTH!!"
The monsters' voices grew sharper, causing a severe headache.
Irene and Eric painfully clutched their heads, desperately trying to dispel the noise.
The next second, the sound really quieted down.
When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves no longer on the ship, but submerged in an egg!
What's going on?!
They looked up in horror, and through the transparent cover in front of them, they saw a steam-powered sailing ship with a black jasmine flower emblem in the distance.
And on that ship—their own selves, eyes vacant, slowly dissipating.
"IA! IA! SHAGGORNYTH!!"
The strange call echoed in his mind again.
But this time, the sound was no longer harsh; instead, it was like a pleasant lullaby.
So tired....
So sleepy.......
Eyelids, grew heavy;
Consciousness, gradually blurred;
Body, fell into a deep sleep.
Finally, that strange rhythm seeped into the dream, dominating everything within it.
【I... seem to have had a dream... a dream about the 'Sea God's Kingdom'....】
"Rumble—"
The pillars containing the giant eggs sank back into the seabed.
But at the same moment, coral islands, one after another, majestically rose.
A magnificent and magical kingdom of the sea, appeared suddenly like a miracle.
"IA! IA! SHAGGORNYTH!!"
"IA! IA! SHAGGORNYTH!!"
The octopus man led the monster horde in shouts of revelry.
They used the power of the Dream Lord to create a divine kingdom of their own!
If the sleepers remain eternally immersed, then the false will eventually become real!