Cleaver?!

Bai Yuze felt as if he were suspended in a void, that eerie and familiar sensation washing over him once again.

"Am I having another nightmare? Or did I just drop dead?"

Bai Yuze's voice echoed in the surroundings; he was the only one in this space.

"Tch! What a pain! And honestly, isn't this dungeon of mine a bit too difficult? Isn't it a bit excessive to crank up the intensity the moment I arrive?"

This time, Bai Yuze's grumbling received a response.

Clang! Clang!

"What was that sound?"

Bai Yuze tried his best to focus all his attention on the source of the noise.

"It sounds like someone is knocking on a door. Could it be that the world outside the dream is under attack?"

The reason Bai Yuze thought something was happening outside was that he had realized things were occurring in the real world while dreaming before. For instance, during the Lunar New Year, he had been sleeping and dreaming that he was receiving red envelopes, only for someone outside to light a firecracker.

With a bang, all the red envelopes in his dream were blown away, and it was at that moment he realized he was dreaming and woke up.

"Logically speaking, if I've realized I'm in a dream, why haven't I woken up yet?"

Suddenly! Bai Yuze felt the world spinning. The scene before his eyes shifted, and now standing in front of him was a mature, beautiful woman holding a little girl in her arms. The girl was incredibly cute, having inherited practically all of her mother's fine genes.

"You... are you... Yukino?!"

Bai Yuze rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The woman before him was indeed Yukino, only she was a Yukino imbued with the "married woman" attribute.

Yukino looked at Bai Yuze with a smile.

"Ze, you're back."

"Daddy! Welcome home!"

Bai Yuze was stunned. He was completely lost. Where had this dream brought him? Had he slept all the way to the series finale?

He hadn't even finished the dungeon yet! He hadn't finished collecting the Zhenxie Guiqi! And Yamauchi Haruki was still asleep!

As if sensing the shift in Bai Yuze's mindset, a door appeared behind him. Bai Yuze turned around, and the moment he saw the door, he knew he had found the way back.

He had just taken a step when his hand was grabbed by someone else.

"Ze, where are you going?"

"Uh... I have a stomachache, I need to go use the restroom."

"But... the restroom is over there."

Bai Yuze was left speechless, and Yukino silently let go of his hand.

"Daddy, are you going to look for those aunties? But... today is my birthday! You promised me!"

The little girl's voice was laced with tears, and Yukino's expression had turned completely dark.

"Heh, are you going to go find those sluts again? For the sake of your unrealistic harem fantasy, are you going to abandon your family?!"

"Waaaah! Daddy, don't go!"

Yukino's accusations and the little girl's crying gave Bai Yuze a splitting headache; his brain felt like it was about to stop functioning.

"If that's the case, then go to hell to fulfill your ridiculous dreams!"

Yukino pulled a knife from somewhere and plunged it directly into Bai Yuze's chest. An incredibly realistic pain stimulated every nerve cell in his body.

"This... feels a bit like a yandere ending from an anime..."

At that moment, the door behind Bai Yuze erupted with a powerful suction, violently pulling him inside. As his consciousness blurred, Bai Yuze understood the lip-reading of Yukino.

[You will return here again to embrace your final destination.]

"Xiao Ze! Xiao Ze! Xiao Ze, are you okay?"

Amidst Tuanzi's repeated calls, Bai Yuze woke up in a cold sweat.

"What just happened?"

"You still have the nerve to ask! You scared me to death. First, you were mumbling and groaning, then you curled up into a ball, and your forehead was covered in sweat. No matter how much Xiaoxue and I called you, you wouldn't wake up."

"Yukino?! Where is she now?"

Bai Yuze asked in a panic, but a voice came from behind him, nearly scaring him half to death.

"I'm right here. Need something from me?"

Bai Yuze's body stiffened, his body went limp, and Bai Yuze fainted.

"Honestly, Xiaoxue, why did you have to scare him from behind like that? Look at how you frightened Xiao Ze."

"Who knew that he wouldn't even be afraid of eerie monsters, yet he's afraid of people standing behind him and talking."

Yukino's expression was one of suppressed laughter. Seeing Bai Yuze faint from her scare, she felt a bit of guilt, but not much.

"It's not Yukino... Yukinoshita's fault. It was just a nightmare I had."

Hearing Bai Yuze making excuses for her, Yukino leaned her face even closer to his.

"Oh? Having a nightmare? Yukinoshita? Since when did you become so polite? Could it be that you did something you're sorry for in your dream?"

"H-how could that be..."

Bai Yuze turned his head away, feeling guilty. Getting hacked to death for starting a harem in a dream... that was just too terrifying!

"Turn your head back and look into my eyes! Answer me! Look in my eyes!"

"Did you add English just in case I didn't understand? Hajiyuki, you really are something."

Bang!

Now it was Yukino's turn to knock Bai Yuze on the head.

"Don't change the subject. Confess honestly; leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist."

Seeing Yukino looking as if she had him cornered, Bai Yuze couldn't help but recall the sensation of being hacked, so he bowed to apologize.

"I am truly sorry. I did something irreparable to you in my dream, so I ask for your forgiveness in reality."

"Hmm! Not bad! Since you dared to admit it, I won't hold it against you. After all, I am just that adorable; it's unavoidable that I would become the dream ideal for some ape-like creature fantasizing about romance."

Yukino chuckled. She had finally scored a point against Bai Yuze, and now Yukinoshita Yukino was as happy as a Yukinoshita Nya-no.

"Uh... in all fairness, I don't know why I had such an absurd dream. After all, in reality, Tuanzi is my ideal type, so this dream is quite baffling to me. I mean, you lack personality, and as for your figure, you lack..."

Whoosh! Clack!

A cold glint flashed by. Bai Yuze swallowed hard; if he hadn't dodged in time, his skull would have been split open by a kitchen knife.

"Heh! Mr. Ape-like Creature with a brain full of lewd and filthy thoughts, could you please go die? Your existence is a bit of an eyesore. I suppose only bugs would like a creature like you, right? It's truly unimaginable how much your parents must have worried while raising you."

"Uh... I don't have parents. I grew up in an orphanage."

Yukino: ...

A single sentence ended the match! Bai Yuze wasn't lying; the version of him in this world truly had no parents. After all, he had transmigrated with his original body, so where would parents come from?

Yukino didn't say anything, simply taking Tuanzi's hand and saying.

"Let's go, to the next destination."