Warning

May 19, just past 7:00 PM. With at most twenty-eight hours remaining until the release of the second ranking list, Yaxiu was contemplating a grave issue—he had been stood up. Over the past few days, Yaxiu had finally put together an extreme raid team in his role as raid commander. Cutting a swath through the trials, they had made it all the way to Phase 3 of the Extreme Carp-Slaying Sovereign. A clear was practically within sight tonight, only for the group's damage-absorbing sorcerer to suddenly have an emergency, claiming he had work in real life and couldn't make it. Now Yaxiu had two options: give the whole team the night off, or recruit a random pug player to keep raiding. Since extreme raid guides were largely the same, as long as a pug had experience reaching Phase 3, he could quickly adapt to the group and push for a clear tonight. However, there was no way in-game to verify whether a player was telling the truth. If the pug lied about their progression, Yaxiu's team would be stuck spending the entire evening wiping on "Dragon-Slaying Dance" (the raid-wiping AOE in Extreme Carp Phase 1 that most tested team coordination). Yaxiu had done this exact thing himself. The moment he laid eyes on Phase 2, he had dared to hop right into a "[1% Clear Tonight Party]." Otherwise, how could he have accumulated enough raiding experience to act as commander in just a few short days? Moreover, compared to not clearing, actually clearing the raid was even more troublesome. If they cleared tonight, would they have to run it again tomorrow night for the member on leave? What if someone refused? Besides, that teammate had wiped with them for several nights; wouldn't it be wrong to just ditch him? Over the past few days, what grew wasn't just Yaxiu's experience in commanding and decision-making, but a great deal of management experience as well: When someone made a mistake, should he whisper them privately or chew them out publicly? If someone was always late, should he replace them outright or issue a warning? When teammates began bickering, how should the leader placate and balance them? Originally, Yaxiu had hoped to pull a few more powerful operators, but after experiencing the difficulty of team management, he felt having the Witch on his left and the Sword Princess on his right was already quite nice. Operators could be added slowly over time. And compared to forcing a raid run, taking a day off carried zero risk. A day off wouldn't push progression, wouldn't enrage, wouldn't bother you—taking a break was the absolute best. But if he took tonight off, what should he do? Yaxiu pondered for a moment and looked at the Sennheiser crest on the back of his hand. If they had to relocate after the second ranking list was published, he had at most two chances left to experience the Sennheiser Dreamscape. Having been here for so many days, everyone else had freely roamed the dreamscape multiple times, while Yaxiu alone spent every day raiding, leaving all Dreamscape Expeditions to his Substitute. He had never once experienced what the dreamscape felt like. It felt like everyone traveling together to a scenic resort, but you stayed cooped up in the hotel the whole time. In the end, everyone else's travel stories were about what looked beautiful and what tasted delicious, while yours was about how soft the hotel bed was. If he didn't visit the dreamscape at least once, it felt like coming to Fanmula for nothing. With that in mind, Yaxiu opened Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook, navigated to "Void Realm Exploration" - "Dreamscape Expedition," and canceled today's Substitute expedition. Tonight, he was going to head into the dreamscape to play for himself! [Warning: Operator's soul has not yet recovered. Embarking on an expedition in person will yield no dream fragments!] Even without dream fragments, I'm still going! [Warning: Canceling this expedition will drastically reduce tomorrow's yield!] I might already be gone tomorrow! [Warning: Are you certain you want to cancel the expedition?] Just as Yaxiu was about to confirm, a devil noble Yaxiu suddenly popped up in his mind: [The system has warned you this much already. I advise you not to be ungrateful—obediently do as you're told!] Then a holy seraph Yaxiu popped up: [He just wants to go play in the dreamscape. What did he do wrong?] Devil Noble: [What point is there in having fun? The cost is losing dream fragments, and something bad might even happen! Don't you think this is a pointless impulse? What if his soul gets damaged in there, extending his recovery time so he misses the Spider Tower round—will you take responsibility for that?] Holy Seraph: [You make a lot of sense. Yaxiu, let's not go this time after all.] Angel, you surrendered way too fast, didn't you?! And wow, is my imagination really this vivid, dreaming up two whole characters having a debate? Yaxiu scratched his head. Still, since this was a conclusion he had reached himself, he subconsciously complied. Although the group he formed was short a member today and couldn't run, Yaxiu could still join a pug party. Granted, pug players were a mixed bag, and someone might lie about their progression. Then again, Yaxiu had committed progression fraud himself before; he could just treat this as doing charity to pay off his karmic debt. ...... ... Inside the Sennheiser Dreamscape, the Witch arrived at the Starting Ground and let out a long breath. "Close one. Good thing we reacted quickly, or Yaxiu would've barged right in." Another Witch wearing pajamas said hesitantly, "Still, isn't doing this a bit improper? Disguising ourselves as voices in his head to plant suggestions... The End Watcher doesn't know, but the Sword Princess will definitely be angry. She hates it most when we interfere with Yaxiu." "Who cares about that crazy woman? Though I actually wanted to see what would happen if Yaxiu entered the dreamscape, yo-ho-ho~" "Nothing would happen. Knowing Yaxiu's personality, he'd probably just jump into that Legendary Sorcerer Arena bubble the moment he arrived and fight all night." "To be honest, what shocked me most was that Yaxiu actually believed the inner voices... Sister White, you must have seen a younger End Watcher. Was he this pure and innocent back then too?" "A younger End Watcher?" The White Witch pondered. "I can't recall at all. But I can guarantee the purest, cleanest organ in his entire body was his large intestine. Everything else was heavy-metal pollutants—buried, he'd poison the soil; cremated, he'd pollute the air... Black, do you remember?" The Black Witch was twirling around: "La-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la-la~ Watcher~ Watcher~ Watcher~ Blergh—" She threw up on the spot, vomiting a huge pool of black ink. The other sisters recoiled instantly. The Witch clapped her hands. "All right, the pre-work break ends here. Go meet your lovers." "Everyone!" the White Witch called out loudly. "Today is our very last day in the dreamscape!" The eyes of every sister lit up brightly. They retreated immediately, slipping into the white mist and vanishing, not even excluding the Black Witch, who was still vomiting. The Witch twitched the corner of her mouth and reached out, hooking back the Pajama Witch, who had fled the slowest. The Pajama Witch was bewildered. "I didn't do anything bad, why are you grabbing me? Go grab Sister White! She's the ringleader!" "Now that you know tonight is the final night, you were planning to do bad things." "Everyone's the same! Don't tell me you don't want to, Big Sis? Stirring up trouble now comes with zero consequences!" The Witch grabbed the Pajama Witch's head and slammed it violently against the ground, punctuating each word with a strike that made the ground boom: "You! Lot! Naturally! Don't! Bear! The! Consequences! When the time comes, the one who gets double-teamed by the End Watcher and the Sword Princess is me! The one who gets scolded is me! They're so annoying!" The Pajama Witch was battered until her head bled. Crimson blood trailed down from her forehead and split across the bridge of her nose into two bloody rivers, instantly turning her cute, innocent face terrifying. Yet she offered no resistance whatsoever, letting her sister manhandle her entirely as she grinned playfully. "What does that have to do with me? I'm not the one getting yelled at! Hurry up and let me go!" The Witch sighed. "Forget it. The End Watcher probably factored this margin of error in anyway... Tonight, we switch. You go to Diya, and I'll go to the Red Apostle." "Why?" "Because I want to see the Red Apostle one last time." The Witch curled her lips in a cruel smile. "If I remember correctly..." "Tonight is the night she dies."