"Idiot, Pervert, Shut Up!"

As Qin Luming carefully recalled the voice from his dream, it seemed somewhat familiar. Listening to the "piapiapiapiapia" of raindrops by his ears, the female voice etched into his memory grew clearer and clearer.

"Dian Niang, play some audio of Rie Kugimiya." Qin Luming activated his smart home system.

Like well-known AIs such as Siri and Xiao Na, Dian Niang had the same functions. Qin Luming did not use her often, but when his hands were occupied or it was inconvenient to use his phone—such as while showering or cooking—she was quite useful for searching things.

Dian Niang had not originally been called Dian Niang. It was merely a name Qin Luming had given her as a substitute. After all, the website where he posted his novels was also called Dian Niang, and it would not even sign a contract with him.

"Idiot, pervert, shut up!"

"Idiot, pervert, shut up!"

"Idiot, pervert, shut up!"

"Stop." Hearing Dian Niang seemingly about to endlessly play Rie Kugimiya's three-hit barrage of insults, Qin Luming hurriedly stopped her.

It really did sound a little similar... Qin Luming recalled it again and confirmed that it had been a young girl's voice somewhat like one voiced by Rie Kugimiya. The difference was that it carried a lofty arrogance in its cadence, something difficult for a voice actress to convey. The sensation of it echoing through Qin Luming's mind felt as though its very method of pronunciation was completely unlike that of ordinary humans.

It had originally been just a dream. It was only because it had been so vivid, and had even caused actual physical sensations and reactions in Qin Luming's body, that he had begun considering the matter... Besides, he was naturally more eager than most to investigate abnormal events.

For example, if an ordinary person saw a white shadow drifting past at night, they might jump in fright, think they had seen a ghost, and soon stop dwelling on it. But Qin Luming was different. He would chase after it to see whether it really was a ghost, because he felt it was entirely possible to encounter something like a ghost with supernatural abilities.

After showering, Qin Luming felt no further abnormalities. He put on the gloves made from Super Mysterious Metal again, worked out in the gym for a while, and only relaxed after confirming that his body was fine and that there were no lingering symptoms.

When Qin Luming came out of the gym and put away the gloves, he saw that Zuozuo and Caicai had gotten up as well.

"Brother Qin, you just finished working out? Caicai and I felt all warm, so we got up." Zuozuo said with a yawn.

"You just can't get out of bed on winter mornings." Caicai leaned over, hugged Qin Luming, rested her cheek against his chest, and closed her eyes. "I want to sleep some more."

"It's spring now! Spring mornings are when you can't get out of bed." Seeing Caicai act cute, Zuozuo refused to be outdone. She lowered her head and wriggled her way into Qin Luming's arms.

Qin Luming held one girl on each side, but he did not feel anything romantic. Whenever he saw their mischievous antics, they seemed like little sisters to him—or perhaps it felt like raising two daughters? It was probably still different... After all, Qin Luming had neither sisters nor daughters and had never experienced those feelings.

Seeing that Zuozuo had already bitten Caicai's nose while Caicai reached into Zuozuo's arms and pinched hard, Qin Luming hurriedly separated them. He still had something to ask them.

Qin Luming led the two of them to the kitchen, where he made breakfast and told them about the dream he had had that morning.

Though the two little girls often seemed unreliable, they were the people Qin Luming trusted most and the only ones he could consult.

"I had a dream last night too. My Optimus Prime toy turned into a mech, and I piloted it to a world full of spinach. There were spinach people, a spinach palace, a spinach forest, spinach pigs... I got really angry when I saw it, so I used my mech to destroy the whole world. All the spinach turned into meat." Zuozuo said happily. "If I fall asleep again, I wonder if the dream will continue."

Caicai stared at Zuozuo with her mouth open, too angry to say a word. How could Zuozuo destroy all the spinach? But Caicai had no way to fight back against Zuozuo, because things that happened in dreams could only be fought back against in dreams. Caicai had slept soundly last night and had not been able to dream.

"Do you think I just had a dream... or, like you two, I might have crossed over into another world? Was my dream some kind of summons?" Qin Luming said worriedly... If he could freely choose to go to another world and freely return, that would naturally be best. But under such unclear circumstances, suddenly going to a completely unknown world was not something Qin Luming had the nerve to casually accept.

"Then you have to take us with you!" Zuozuo said urgently.

"We never want to be separated again!" Caicai's nose twitched.

"We were scared every day after being separated from you!"

"We have to stay together forever!"

Seeing the two little girls' anxious, nervous expressions, Qin Luming could not help smiling, even though his question still had not been answered.

Qin Luming kissed their foreheads and placed breakfast before them. Only after receiving his promise that he would definitely take them with him if he crossed over into another world did Zuozuo and Caicai finally start eating in relief.

Looking at them, Qin Luming thought that when the two little girls had survived in another world, even if they had possessed great power to protect themselves, they had probably still endured many moments of loneliness, unease, and terror.

If he went to another world alone, it would probably be the same... Even as an adult, with a much more mature and resolute mind, he would inevitably be putting on a brave front inside. If he were with the two of them, the three of them would still have to cautiously explore and test that strange world, but having one another nearby would surely make them feel far more at ease.

"But... weren't you the one summoning someone?" Zuozuo read more fantasy novels and was better at grasping the key elements of a story.

"Yeah, didn't that person say, 'Are you summoning my mom?'" Caicai looked at Qin Luming curiously. "Why were you summoning his mom?"

Whenever Caicai joined a conversation, Qin Luming felt that the topic could no longer continue.

"Eat your food." Qin Luming glared at Caicai.

"Oh."

Only after seeing Caicai's mouth stuffed full of food did Qin Luming continue speaking to Zuozuo, who was chugging cola. "Zuozuo, in my dream, I saw the starry sky overhead become an unfathomably deep abyss at the end of the world. There were countless worlds inside that abyss... I remember that the world you crossed into, the temple where you were, was also beside an abyss. Could it have been the same abyss?"

Zuozuo let out a full belch and blew a puff of carbon dioxide at Caicai before shaking her head. "They say the starry sky in every world is an abyss, so I don't know whether it was the same one."

"The starry sky in every world is an abyss." Qin Luming raised his head and looked overhead.