[Dream Dregs]

Chen Miemie watched the [Dream Seller] disappear into the horizon.

Chen Miemie handed the string of the purple balloon to [Bridge Maiden].

“Really? You’re giving it to me? I only showed you the way. This is far too valuable.”

That was what [Bridge Maiden] said, but the hand taking the string clung to it tightly, with no intention of letting go.

“Take it, take it. But after you use it, stuff a dream inside yourself.”

“I know. I heard everything just now.”

“Okay, time to head home. Want me to take you?” Chen Miemie snapped his fingers, and a sedan chair appeared without a sound.

“Mm-hmm. Sure.”

The sedan chair carried [Bridge Maiden] away. Chen Miemie himself folded a piece of paper and teleported back to Fairy Tale Road.

Fairy Tale Road was quiet in the middle of the night, with nearly every shop closed.

“Nearly” meant that one establishment was still open: a barbecue stall that only did business late at night and never opened during the day.

Chen Miemie had dealt with the owner before, so they were more or less acquainted.

This was Boss Guan of Number 11, Fairy Tale Road.

“Oh, it’s Chen Miemie. That balloon behind you is pretty interesting,” Boss Guan called out.

Business at his stall was actually quite good that night, with two occupied tables.

Chen Miemie liked barbecue, but he had no habit of eating late-night snacks. After exchanging greetings, he left.

At Number 19, Fairy Tale Road.

“Black Hole, we’ve got the balloon that stores dreams. What now?”

Black Hole floated over. “Use up the dream inside the balloon. I only need the flattened balloon skin.”

Chen Miemie had a bad feeling. “If you ‘use up’ the balloon skin, what am I supposed to put the new dream in when I return it to the [Dream Seller]?”

Black Hole looked puzzled. “We just won’t return it. It’s not like it can do anything to us.”

“Now I understand why it grits its teeth whenever you come up.”

An hour later.

As it turned out, Black Hole wasn’t the only unreliable one. Birds of a feather flock together, and Chen Miemie was just as unreliable.

He had actually tied the balloon to the head of his bed that night.

Clearly, a mere dream-storage balloon could not contain Hengyue’s dream. In less than 0.000000... seconds, the instant Chen Miemie fell asleep, the balloon exploded.

The sound of the explosion woke Chen Miemie.

Black Hole, which had been standing guard nearby, floated over and picked up the scraps of balloon skin. “Now there’s no need to hesitate. I’ll just use it.”

Chen Miemie brought Black Hole along, while Black Hole carried the scraps of balloon skin. They left the shop and found a secluded corner.

The mysterious shop was mysterious precisely because it had no fixed spatial coordinates. Anything involving summoning could not be done inside.

Black Hole stuffed the balloon skin into its own vortex, as if swallowing it.

Not long afterward, tiny scraps of balloon skin were spat out from the other side of its vortex.

The scraps were minuscule, wrinkled, and crumpled.

Black Hole muttered something under its breath. Afterward, the scraps of balloon skin began moving on their own, squeezing and pressing against one another until they formed a ball.

In a matter of seconds, the scraps reassembled themselves into an eraser.

“Huh? Where is this? How did I get summoned into the real world?”

The eraser spoke in a groggy, half-awake voice.

“[Mengzha], look over here. It’s me, Black Hole.” Black Hole was extremely inconspicuous in the pitch-black alley.

“Oh, it’s you.” [Mengzha] sounded rather indifferent.

It had never been particularly close to Black Hole. Although Black Hole was connected to sleep, people generally did not dream during that brief period when they were lying in bed and refusing to get up.

Chen Miemie studied [Mengzha].

He recalled Black Hole’s introduction of [Mengzha].

[Mengzha] was not an individual life-form. Like the [Brain in a Vat], it was a collective-type strange entity. It usually dwelled at the edge of the deepest dreams of adults.

It was the remnant of dreams people had experienced in childhood but later forgotten.

Sometimes, after growing up, a person might suddenly smell a certain scent or hear a certain sound and briefly “remember that they had forgotten something.” That was [Mengzha] calling out.

Faced with [Mengzha]’s careless attitude, Black Hole grew somewhat angry. In the past, it naturally would have been powerless against [Mengzha], but now it was a strange entity with an organization behind it.

“Impudent [Mengzha]! Do you know that the great Chen Miemie stands before you? Bow your head and pay your respects!”

Chen Miemie cooperated fully and instantly transformed into [Huangyi].

[Mengzha], in the form of a little eraser, clearly knew its stuff. “Powerful yellow-light person, why have you come to see me?”

“Are you willing to join me?”

[Mengzha] thought for a long time. “Emotionally, I am willing. However, this part of me is only an extremely small fragment of the whole [Mengzha] collective, so I cannot make decisions on behalf of the whole. Besides, I can only remain in dreams for long periods of time. Coming to the real world is very painful.”

“Painful?”

“Yes. It’s like a fish leaving the water, or a human losing air.”

Chen Miemie nodded and temporarily abandoned the idea of recruiting it. Forcing someone into a place where they could not survive would be no different from murder.

“Then can I ask you for a favor?”

“What kind of favor?”

Chen Miemie explained Xia Chong’s situation.

[Mengzha] truly lived up to Black Hole’s description of it as an expert. It quickly came up with two solutions.

“For that nightmare, I can help him completely forget the basic materials that make up the dream, deconstructing it from the root.

“Or I can deeply investigate the cause of the nightmare, guide him in a positive direction, resolve the knot in his heart, and help him let go of his lingering attachment.

“As for the dream within a dream, I’ll have to enter his dream and examine the specific circumstances before I can give you an answer.”

“Fine. I’ll call you when the time comes.”

“Mm. Although there is no actual contract between us, as long as you use this eraser that currently houses me, I’ll know you’re calling for me and appear.”

“Since I’m asking you to help, I should give you something in return. Is there anything you need?”

“Hmm. I usually live in dreams. If I want something, I can simply create it, so there isn’t really anything I need.”

“Then doesn’t that make you invincible?”

“Not really. I am [Mengzha], not a dream. As the remnants of people’s memories are gradually forgotten, I will slowly sink to the deepest depths of the sea of consciousness. One day, I will become equivalent to extinction.”

“But new remnants will continue to appear, won’t they?”

“Yes. In general, we will exist forever. But as an individual fragment, ‘I’ will eventually disappear.”

Chen Miemie fell silent for a moment before speaking solemnly:

“Actually, I’ve encountered other strange entities like you before—groups and individuals existing as one. The previous one was called [Moonflower]. I’ve been thinking about how to separate entities like you and form contracts with them.

“I haven’t found a way yet, but I’ll keep searching. When I do, I’ll bring all of you into a new family.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll wait for that day.”

The eraser fell silent, and [Mengzha] departed from the real world.

Chen Miemie exited his [Huangyi] state and walked out of the alley.

He passed Number 11, Fairy Tale Road, once again.

This time, he did not leave immediately.

The two customers from earlier had already departed, and only one newly arrived customer remained.

Chen Miemie invited himself over and sat directly at the customer’s table.

His arrival left the two people engaged in a secret late-night meeting completely stunned.

Chen Miemie did not bother with formalities. He picked up a meat skewer from the table, ate it, and said:

“Don’t mind me. Carry on as if I don’t exist.”

Boss Guan, Lady Scab: ...

Lady Scab pushed the barbecue in front of her closer to Chen Miemie. “Mr. Chen, what brings you here at this hour?”

“I live on this street.”

Lady Scab shot Boss Guan a furious glare, clearly saying, “How could you not mention something this important? You’re setting me up to fail!”

Boss Guan was helpless. He knew Chen Miemie often wandered around this area, but he didn’t even have a proper address for him. What could he do? Besides, he had never run into him while setting up his stall before.

Now that the two of them had stopped talking, Chen Miemie was displeased.

“Go on. Don’t tell me you’re treating me like an outsider and trying to leave me out?”

Lady Scab was startled. “No, no, of course not. It’s just that the Mist Church has been preparing to make a move recently.”

Chen Miemie raised an eyebrow. “The Mist Church is making a move? How come I haven’t heard about it?”

“It’s the part of the church other than the witches that’s been making a move.”