"Not simple at all!"
Fu Qian let out a long sigh. In the darkness, everything became clearer.
Ever since he had appeared in this world, all the information he'd encountered had been consistent. The situation seemed quite clear—
Under the Celestial Cult's protection, countless people had been drawn into a shared dream through the medium of a painting, caught up in a nightmare unlike any before. After enduring long years within it, they awoke.
Unlike other nightmares, this cold dream hadn't continued to torment them. It had vanished completely as soon as the last person awoke.
The victims had each gone on to live happy lives, unwilling to mention that experience again.
This was a completely different story from what he'd heard before: the world had fallen apart, and people had fled disaster by taking refuge in the World Within the Painting.
It was also a story that made his rescue mission seem hopeless—the World Within the Painting had been nothing more than a nightmare, and it had already ended long ago.
But now, the existence of this Pocket Watch had added a discordant note to that story.
First of all, as a discovery the Celestial Cult had treated with great solemnity, it was bound to have some connection to the World Within the Painting. The chance of a mistaken judgment was slim.
If it was simply an object from the real world, it was hard to imagine how it could have been affected by the nightmare just like the Leisens.
A broken Pocket Watch enters a nightmare, realizes it's actually a lady... After enduring long years, it returns, reaches enlightenment, and turns back into its original form, with only a few words left on it to record its legendary journey?
Wasn't that a little too much like *Dream of