These bubbles looked like they had been blown with soap, drifting through the room, colorful and vibrant.
Li Miao raised her finger and tapped one.
The bubble instantly enlarged, and a screen resembling a television appeared before them—
[In the scene, a young mother and father were gently pushing a cradle, whispering to each other with faces full of happiness.
“Let’s name our daughter Miaomiao,” the father said, a name he had thought long and hard about.
“Shh.” The mother put a finger to her lips, signaling him to keep his voice down. “You’ll wake the baby.”
The father hurriedly lowered his voice to a whisper. “Sorry, baby, Daddy was too loud. Wifey, let’s name our daughter Li Miao, okay?”
“Li Miao?” The mother repeated it, then nodded. “It sounds nice. Little Miaomiao it is.”]
“Mom, Dad.”
Li Miao squatted on the ground, tears streaming down her face.
“Boohoo.” Nie Xiaoqian started crying too, coming over to hug Li Miao. “Master Sister, don’t cry. You’re the Haunted House Owner now; maybe you can find your mom and dad and bring them here.”
Li Miao looked up sharply, teardrops still hanging on the tip of her nose, staring blankly at Nie Xiaoqian. “Xiaoqian, what did you just say? Say it again.”
Nie Xiaoqian didn’t speak; it was Ruhua who answered. “Master, Xiaoqian makes sense. As long as they are souls, they can survive in the haunted house.
“However, we must first determine if your parents have reincarnated.”
Li Miao wiped away her tears and stood up. “Right, you’re right. I can find Mom and Dad and bring them to the haunted house.”
“Dream Tapir, put these dreams away.”
Li Miao sniffled. She couldn’t watch anymore; if she continued watching, she wouldn’t be able to control her emotions.
The Dream Tapir looked sycophantic. “Master, I can connect these dreams into one piece, turning it into a huge dreamscape, and then make it real. You can walk inside and talk to the people in the dream.”
Sounds a lot like the dungeon reward [Scenario Materialization].
Thinking of this, an idea suddenly flashed through Li Miao’s mind.
She wanted to experiment.
“Dream Tapir, are these dreams real? How long can they exist?” Li Miao asked.
“They can only exist for six hours. I need to swallow them back, digest them, and spit them out again next time,” the Dream Tapir said.
The dreams it spat out were dreams—illusory, not truly existing, and couldn’t persist in the real world indefinitely.
Li Miao nodded. She thought of the dungeon.
Can I use the [Scenario Materialization] from the dungeon to make the dream a reality?
Previously, she had only used cheap materials to simply build the Painted Skin dungeon.
The rewarded [Scenario Materialization] had turned those crude structures into reality.
If simple materials could become real through [Scenario Materialization]…
Then what about dreams? Could they work too?
If so, the Dream Tapir would be incredibly useful!
Li Miao turned to Ruhua. “Ruhua, can you dream?”
Ruhua wasn’t sure. “I’m a ghost; I don’t need to sleep, and I’ve never dreamed.”
Li Miao looked at the Dream Tapir again. “Have you ever swallowed Ruhua’s dreams?”
The Dream Tapir shook its trunk. “Dreamy doesn’t know. Dreamy eats lots and lots of dreams every day. Too many to remember.”
It deliberately referred to itself as “Dreamy” and used a baby voice, trying to be cute so Li Miao would like it.
Nie Xiaoqian turned and glared at the Dream Tapir.
Hmph, manipulative beast. Clearly old as dirt, yet pretending to be young.
She wouldn’t pretend. She would be the warm little angel by Master Sister’s side.
Obedient, understanding, and helpful with ideas.
“Master Sister,” Nie Xiaoqian said. “Do you want to build a place for Ruhua to live? You can find some photos of Shek Tong Tsui in Hong Kong from the 1920s and 30s, show them to the Dream Tapir, and have it spit out those dreams.”
“Smart.” Li Miao praised her, taking out her phone to search for old photos.
Praised by Master Sister!
Nie Xiaoqian was very happy, lifting her chin triumphantly at the Dream Tapir.
The Dream Tapir grunted.
What’s there to be proud of?
In the end, isn’t it me, Pink Dreamy, who spits out the dreams?
I’m the most useful one.
Seeing their interaction, Ruhua shook her head helplessly. So childish.
Nie Xiaoqian died in her teens, and the Dream Tapir rarely communicated with humans, so although these two had lived a long time, they were psychologically immature.
Ruhua grew up in a brothel, saw all kinds of people, and was the top courtesan. Her emotional intelligence was top-notch.
In front of them, she had a big-sister mindset.
Li Miao found several photos of Shek Tong Tsui from the 20s and 30s, showed them to the Dream Tapir, and asked it to find similar dreams.
Soon, the Dream Tapir spat out a string of bubbles.
Li Miao pieced these bubbles together, finally forming one giant bubble.
Done!
This was Ruhua’s dwelling scenario. Let’s take it to the third floor and try.
Just as she was about to call Ruhua to go with her, she turned around and saw Ruhua staring at the dream bubble in a daze. Her expression was a mix of sadness and joy, as if lost in memories.
Sensing Li Miao looking at her, Ruhua snapped back to reality, dabbed the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, and said, “Exactly the same. It really is exactly the same. I feel like I’ve returned to the past.”
“Don’t be sad,” Li Miao comforted her. “I’ll build your dwelling scenario right away.”
Saying this, she took Ruhua up the elevator to the third floor.
She decided to put Ruhua’s scenario on the third floor.
Arriving at the location, Li Miao asked the Dream Tapir to release the dream and enlarge it to match real buildings.
Soon, the dream bubble covered the entire third floor.
Wow!
So shocking!
Seeing the scene before her, Li Miao felt as if she were in 1930s Hong Kong. She was surrounded by distinctive retro Hong Kong architecture.
It looked exactly like reality, like walking into a movie.
Li Miao opened the app to see if this counted as building Ruhua’s dwelling scenario.
[My Missions] was flashing. Clicking in, she found that the side mission to build Ruhua’s dwelling scenario was complete.
Great, it works!
Li Miao claimed the mission reward, materializing the dream scenario in the dungeon.
A soft white light flashed, and the scene before them slowly changed from illusion to reality.
The dream bubble that would have popped with a poke had now become a completely real world.
It’s amazing.
Just as Li Miao was about to marvel at the awesomeness of [Scenario Materialization], her eyes suddenly widened.
Why are there people?
Because the Dream Tapir had spat out dreams—a combination of dreams from many people—there were people inside.
Li Miao thought these people would disappear after [Scenario Materialization], but they were still here.
Looking at the bustling crowd in front of her, Li Miao covered her mouth—
Are these people real or fake?
Are they ghosts too?
There was a shop selling rice noodle rolls in front of her.
The owner was making rolls.
Li Miao walked over. “Hello, Boss. How much for a rice noodle roll?”
The owner ignored her, continuing to make rolls as if he hadn’t seen Li Miao.
Li Miao got closer and waved her hand in front of the owner’s eyes. Still no reaction.
Like a programmed robot.
Or an NPC in a game.
They weren’t real people, nor were they ghosts. They had no consciousness of their own.