The Bald Uncle Through Little Chubby Girl's Eyes

Around 1 a. m., Lao Xia started yawning and feeling sleepy, so he didn't stay up any longer. After washing up, he went to bed.

As for Xiang Kun, he sat on another bed, waiting for Lao Xia to fall asleep.

Tonight, they still have a plan to enter her dreams—to try to help her rebuild her individual connection with "Little Chubby Girl Egg Pie" by guiding her dreams.

Initially, Xiang Kun's idea was to use the fusion of Lao Xia's and Little Chubby Girl's dreams to allow Little Chubby Girl to support her own dreams. After all, unlike Lao Xia, she couldn't "wake up" in her dreams and actively call upon the "Super-Linked Object" to project her dreams for control; she could only perform this passive operation.

However, with the fusion of the two dreams, the Little Chubby Girl only occupied half of the dream and did not rely entirely on the "Super-Linked Object" under her control to support the dream, so the possibility of failure is still very high - after all, when the two dreams merged last time, Xiang Kun did not have any impression of "Egg Pie" appearing in the dream.

So after overhearing Lao Xia and Little Chubby Girl's conversation in the room, Xiang Kun had a new plan. Before leaving, he left Little Chubby Girl a "Black Circle Graffiti" that Lao Xia had established a connection with, and secretly told her that it was a "magic rune" that could connect her with "Roast Chicken Wing Sister" in her dreams.

Yes, his new plan is to connect Little Chubby Girl's dreams through Lao Xia's "Dream Within a Dream".

Generally, the "Dream Within a Dream" guided by Lao Xia is based on her "Super-Linked Object projection".

However, based on the connection between the Little Chubby Girl and the "Super-Sensing Item System," Xiang Kun speculated that if Lao Xia guided the Little Chubby Girl into a "Dream Within a Dream," it might produce other results.

As for the specifics, we'll have to wait and see in practice.

After confirming that Lao Xia had fallen asleep through his senses, Xiang Kun also closed his eyes and began to sense the chopsticks in the backpack on the bedside table, guiding Lao Xia into a dream.

Then, as planned, Lao Xia guided the Little Chubby Girl through her "Dream Within a Dream" within her dream.

In the Little Chubby Girl's "Dream Within a Dream," she was still wearing the same special hooded robe with cat ears as in her previous dreams, dressed as a "little magician."

However, the scene is no longer the majestic mountain peak that once stood above the surrounding mountains, but rather the interior of a palace.

Of course, the palace in the Little Chubby Girl's dream is definitely different from all palaces in reality.

The surrounding walls were pink and decorated with various Garfield items, creating a strong anime and girly atmosphere. The overall environment even had a 2.5-dimensional feel, which seemed unreal—although Xiang Kun and Lao Xia already knew it was a dream.

The furniture in the palace lacked any "aristocratic air." Many pieces looked like the furniture from when Xiang Kun lived in apartment 706 next door. Sofas, coffee tables, and even televisions appeared out of place.

The only thing that looked somewhat "palace-like" was the long dining table in the middle, but the food on it was anything but "palace-like" or "aristocratic." It included fries, shrimp chips, roast meat, roast chicken wings, spicy rabbit, dry pot rabbit, cumin ribs, and chopped chili fish—a mix of various snacks and main dishes. There was even a large hot pot, with more than a dozen kinds of Ice Cream next to it...

When the Little Chubby Girl's "Dream Within a Dream" was first triggered, it was no different from the "Dream Within a Dream" that Lao Xia had triggered for others before, but soon, the entire dream began to change drastically.

This dramatic change is not a change at the sensory level, in the dream environment, or in the theme, but rather originates from the underlying layers.

Xiang Kun clearly sensed that the dream was originally supported by the "Super-Linked Object" controlled by Lao Xia, but not long after they entered the dream, the underlying support of the dream was now "taken over" by the "Super-Linked Object" controlled by the Little Chubby Girl.

In terms of personality, the Little Chubby Girl is undoubtedly soft-hearted and even a bit absent-minded, unlike Lao Xia who is more opinionated and organized. However, judging from her ability to establish connections and control over Xiang Kun's "Super-Sensing Item System," this ability itself is quite powerful.

Currently, Lao Xia controls ten "Super-Linked Object" including nine Coin and one bead, Little Chubby Girl controls six "Super-Linked Object" including five Coin and one A4 sheet of paper.

In terms of quantity, Lao Xia obviously has the advantage, but Xiang Kun knows very well that the two of them have completely different ways of controlling "Super-Linked Object", the degree of control is very different, and their ability to dominate the dream is also very different. When the Little Chubby Girl only controlled two Coin, her pure dominance was much stronger than Lao Xia's control of ten "Super-Linked Object".

The only difference is that Lao Xia can consciously control it, while Little Chubby Girl has no idea how to control this ability, whether in dreams or in reality.

Therefore, within this subconscious-driven "Dream Within a Dream," without Xiang Kun's "interference," the Little Chubby Girl's "instinct" naturally took over the support of the "Super-Linked Object" at the bottom of the dream.

This was exactly the outcome that Xiang Kun had anticipated and calculated.

This is hegemony at the rule level.

In this way, although this "Dream Within a Dream" was not "spontaneously" created by the Little Chubby Girl, it was actually built and supported by the "Super-Linked Object" under her control. To some extent, it greatly "recreated" the dream in which the Little Chubby Girl established a connection with the "Egg Pie".

What Xiang Kun didn't expect was that after being "taken over" by the Little Chubby Girl's instincts at the bottom of the dream, Lao Xia actually "projected" and "materialized" it directly in the "Dream Within a Dream," and this was not her own will, but rather she was controlled by the Little Chubby Girl's dream.

In the Little Chubby Girl's "Dream Within a Dream," Lao Xia is even taller than in reality; judging by the proportions of her and the Little Chubby Girl, he's probably over 1.9 meters tall.

Lao Xia was also wearing a very special robe. Although the style was the same as the one worn by the Little Chubby Girl, he wasn't wearing a hood, and his signature ponytail still swayed slightly behind his head as he moved.

Moreover, it's clear that her robes are more ornate than the Little Chubby Girl's.

In terms of appearance, the eyes are slightly larger than in reality, like stars, and very bright. The skin seems to be so white that it glows with a soft light, giving off a sacred and noble aura. So much so that, like the palace itself, it looks a bit like a two-dimensional character and not quite like a real person.

Clearly, since the abilities themselves all originated from Xiang Kun, and Xiang Kun was also in the dream, through the connection of the "Super-Sensing Item System," the Little Chubby Girl's subconscious was able to determine that the "guest" in the dream was Lao Xia, and directly projected him into a concrete form according to her own understanding of Lao Xia.

Xiang Kun immediately understood why Lao Xia appeared as such in the Little Chubby Girl's dream.

For the Little Chubby Girl, Lao Xia's image was very "tall and imposing," a psychological one. Lao Xia was like a role model, even an idol.

Seeing Lao Xia suddenly appear in the palace, the Little Chubby Girl wasn't surprised at all. She seemed to take it for granted and greeted him naturally, "'Roast Chicken Wing Sister,' you're eating roasted chicken wings! These are especially delicious! And these too, they're delicious! And these are so fragrant..."

However, Xiang Kun knew that this was not because they had secretly told the Little Chubby Girl that they would meet in her dreams that night and had made preparations, but because the Little Chubby Girl was still in a dazed state dominated by her subconscious in her dream.

Compared to the projected image of Lao Xia, Xiang Kun still has a "full-view" perspective in his dream, and can decide the angle from which he observes the dream.

"Little Bell, where's the 'Egg Pie'?" Lao Xia didn't care that he looked a bit too tall and anime-like in the Little Chubby Girl's dream, and went straight to the point, asking seemingly casually.

"Sister, would you like Egg Pie? Let me see where it is..." The Little Chubby Girl lifted the hem of her robe, climbed up and stood on the chair, her eyes scanning the long table.

Lao Xia reminded him, "It's not food, it's the cat, your big orange cat's Egg Pie."

"Ah! Right, where's the Egg Pie?" The Little Chubby Girl paused for a moment, then turned around and shouted towards the door, "Chocolate! Ice Cream! Where's my Egg Pie?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the palace doors opened, and a soft light shone in. Then, two short, stout warriors wearing silver armor walked in first. The Arabic numeral "1" was engraved on the chest of their armor. They looked just like Baymax from Big Hero 6, both silly and cute.

Behind the two silver-armored warriors was a suspended "Magic Carpet," on which sat a cat with an exceptionally large head and exceptionally large ears—the very same "Egg Pie" dream projection that Xiang Kun had seen in the first dream of the Little Chubby Girl.

Behind that "Magic Carpet" were three short, stout silver-armored warriors, at least half the size of the first two, but looking exactly the same.

The moment Xiang Kun saw the big-headed cat, he sensed that "Egg Pie" had re-established a separate connection with the Little Chubby Girl.

The way this connection was established was truly very, very special.

In a sense, within the Little Chubby Girl's own "network," "Egg Pie" and "Chocolate"Ice Cream —these Super-Linked Object projections—hold the same status.

Of course, there are substantial differences in terms of capabilities.

"Egg Pie! Where have you been?! 'Roast Chicken Wing Sister' wants to play with you!"

The Little Chubby Girl jumped directly onto the "Magic Carpet," then controlled Magic Carpet to reach Lao Xia, picked up the big-headed cat, and handed it to her.

Lao Xia took the big-headed cat that looked nothing like a real-life "Egg Pie" and was completely anime-style, and observed it carefully for a while.

She knew that all the projections in her dreams represented Liu Shiling's subconscious cognition of various things or abilities. Analyzing and understanding these could help her better understand the Little Chubby Girl's ability development ideas and system construction methods.

So after observing the obedient-looking "Egg Pie," Lao Xia looked at the five short, stout warriors in silver armor—two large and three Little Five —and asked, while observing them, "Who are they?"

The Little Chubby Girl sat cross-legged on the "Magic Carpet," turned around to look at the five silver-armored warriors, and proudly pointed to the two larger ones, introducing them. "This is 'Chocolate,' and this is 'Ice Cream.' They've followed me the longest and are the strongest! The three behind are 'Lemon Tea,' 'Mung Bean Cake,' and 'Sachima.' They only arrived last week; they're still new warriors and need to practice!"

"How powerful are they?" Lao Xia asked, following up on the Little Chubby Girl's question.

"They can fly! They can charge! They can generate electricity! And... um... they can combine up! They can become 'Barbie Warrior'! But not real 'Barbie Warrior'..." The Little Chubby Girl scratched her chin, pondering as she replied.

"Where did they come from?" Lao Xia asked again.

"Just like 'Roast Chicken Wing Sister,' I came from 'Uncle Bald'!" the Little Chubby Girl said matter-of-factly.

"What does your 'Bald Uncle' look like?" Lao Xia asked immediately.

"Bald Uncle..." the Little Chubby Girl murmured to herself, beginning to think.

At this moment, a huge figure began to appear inside the palace, formed from a ball of light.

Xiang Kun immediately sensed that the condensed figure was a projection of the Little Chubby Girl's perception of him, and he could project a part of his own perception into it, just like Lao Xia, to materialize in the Little Chubby Girl's dream.

Xiang Kun quickly discovered that the ball of light had coalesced into a very handsome, tall, bald elf wearing beautiful leather armor and holding a bow and arrow as tall as himself.

He looked like an archer, but in addition to a quiver, he also carried a heavy shield as tall as himself on his back, and a magic staff was tucked into his waistband.

Yes, in the Little Chubby Girl's mind, in her constructed system of abilities, Xiang Kun was indeed an omnipotent all-around warrior and melee mage...

The palace grew brighter and brighter, the light condensing into the bald elf grew stronger and stronger, and the bald elf's figure grew larger and larger, exceeding two meters, four meters, and six meters, and soon reached the top of the palace.

But he didn't stop condensing; he directly pierced through the top of the palace.

Or rather, the entire top of the palace simply turned into points of light and vanished, while the bald elf continued to grow larger.

The rate of expansion accelerated dramatically, and soon the light that formed the bald elf changed from condensation to diffusion and then burst forth, filling the entire dream space, every corner, every place.

The bald elf, or rather Xiang Kun, has either completely vanished, or perhaps is omnipresent.

The dream then crumbled.

The next morning around 10 a. m., Xiang Kun and Lao Xia went to the airport to pick up Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er, who had arrived in Star City.

"Chef Xiang, how did you sneak around and bring my husband, Lao Xia, to Star City without even saying a word in the group chat!" Yang Zhen'er complained with considerable dissatisfaction as soon as they met.

"Lao Xia and I came here to visit the architectural design of a research institute in Star City, and also to see Liu Shiling and have a meal. We were originally going to go back last night. Since you guys were coming, I thought we might as well meet Liu Shiling together," Xiang Kun explained.

This isn't just made up. He and Lao Xia really did go to a research institute in Star City this morning. Although they weren't allowed to enter, they still managed to see everything they wanted to know and see through their "Hyper-Sensory State" combined with "Super-Linked Object" and "Emotion-Infused Object."

Yang Zhener asked in confusion, "Why are you looking at the architectural design of the institute?"

Xiang Kun said, "Didn't I mention before that I'm going to set up a breeding research center in Chongyun Village? Lao Xia has been helping me with this lately, you couldn't possibly not know that..."

"No... is this for real?" Yang Zhen'er looked at Tang Baona with a surprised expression. "Nana, are they serious?"

Tang Baona said helplessly, "Xiang Kun didn't say he was joking with you."

Yang Zhen'er then looked at her cousin. "You mentioned before that you wanted to resign to help Xiang Kun with this matter, and you've already... resigned? Does your third aunt know?"

Xia Libing simply said, "I haven't resigned yet, but my third aunt knows."

Yang Zhen'er scratched her head. "You, a doctor who studied psychology and psychiatry, how did you end up researching animal husbandry... Oh well, Nana and I, the two accountants, are both focused on game development and operation, so we're not much better off."

As she spoke, Yang Zhen'er looked at Xiang Kun with a "melancholy" expression. "Chef Xiang, when I dragged you to play Dou Dizhu (a card game) half a year ago, I never imagined that the three of us would actually quit our jobs because of you... Huh? I remember you had just lost your job back then? Is this... the contagion of unemployment?"

Tang Baona laughed and patted her bottom, pushing her towards the airport exit. "Unemployed my foot! Nobody forced you, you quit on your own, okay? If you regret it, go back and kneel down and beg your dad, you can definitely get your job back!"

"Go away, do you think I'm that shameless? I told my dad I'm not going back if I don't do well this time!"

"Didn't you sleep at home last night? You even said on WeChat that your mom's pork rib soup was much worse than Chef Xiang's..."

"My 'going back' isn't a physical return, it's a psychological one, you know! Hey, Nana, wait a minute, are you thinking of driving me away and then swallowing my shares? Tsk tsk, I didn't expect you to be poisoned by capitalism too, Nana..."

Where Yang Zhen'er is, there's never a dull moment. They laughed and joked all the way, hailed a car at the airport entrance, and headed straight to the kindergarten to meet up with the Little Chubby Girl and Shiling's Mother for a meal.

In any case, Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er each only carried a small backpack, so there was no need to go to the hotel to drop off their luggage first.