As the lively BGM rang out, Pei Guang's body began moving with simple steps.
In that instant, everyone's eyes turned toward him.
And as he started to dance, people felt he somehow became abstract: such simple movements, yet strangely captivating.
Seeing him move, Stelle's eyes lit up. A surprising brilliance flashed in her gaze.
She stepped up beside Pei Guang and moved along with the music.
March stayed expressionless, silent—not because she was speechless, but because she was carefully studying. After watching a couple of times, she picked it up.
Following Stelle, she joined in too.
But as the three danced, Dan Heng, organizing the databank, suddenly felt the power of a dragon.
Curious, he followed the sensation, but when he saw the three dancing in the hall, no matter how he looked, it had nothing to do with dragon power. Yet strangely, both his instincts and his strength told him—this really was dragon power.
He fell into thought, then, after some reflection, silently walked over.
And that's how Dan Heng joined the group.
Seeing that, Himeko and Welt were truly speechless.
Himeko: "Great, Dan Heng's been led astray too."
Though she said that, the smile never left her face.
Welt adjusted his glasses. "I believe we should follow the trend as well."
Himeko: "Hmm?"
She didn't say more, but truthfully, she also felt it was kind of fun. The simple moves with the energetic BGM, the joy of everyone joining in together… it made even her unconsciously drift closer.
But clearly, someone moved faster.
Before Himeko could step in, Welt had already joined.
It was fortunate Pom-Pom wasn't here: if Pom-Pom had seen the six of them like this, his brain would've short-circuited on the spot.
As the cheerful models danced, Pom-Pom's broadcast came over the speakers.
"Hello hello~ Passengers, please pay attention. The train is about to warp. Please sit tight, hold on—warp will begin in five, four…"
With Pom-Pom's countdown echoing, Himeko and Welt calmly stepped out of the group and sat down.
Like always, as seniors, they could play along with the juniors—but in some moments, they still had to preserve at least a little dignity as elders.
By the time the two had sat down, the countdown had reached one.
The train warped.
The warp didn't interrupt Pei Guang's swaying along to the music, but what he didn't notice was that, with the warp, he was no longer on the train.
In a dim yet lavishly decorated room, a young girl in an ornate gown stared at the person who appeared before her.
This was the world of memory. She hadn't expected to suddenly find herself in the same dream as a stranger.
Sharing the same dream wasn't common, but it wasn't unheard of either. What surprised her was that she ended up in the same dream with such a strange man.
Normally, she would have guided the other out. But looking at Pei Guang, she actually wanted to watch him a bit longer.
Because Pei Guang didn't realize his consciousness had left the train and entered this dream-world: he was still swaying with closed eyes, enjoying the movement of his body.
She even felt as if she were resonating with him.
Though they'd just met, though she knew nothing of his depths, as a follower of Harmony she naturally sensed the strange power within Pei Guang.
Different from the power of the Path of Harmony, his influence felt more pure, it wouldn't affect a person's body or mind, only leaving it up to one's will whether to join in.
Should she join?
She hesitated, but clearly, her body reacted faster than her thoughts. She moved with his music, imitating his motions.
After all, once she left this dream, she would forget everything that happened here. If she was going to forget anyway, then why not follow her instincts and embrace Harmony's call?
Wait: she was already on the Path of Harmony.
What kind of nonsense was "embracing Harmony's call"?
Forget it. Whatever it was, no one would ever know.
She closed her eyes and joined in.
But just as she did, Pei Guang opened his eyes. "Huh?"
He froze. He checked his minimap—and saw two markers for himself.
Opening them, well, one was his consciousness, the other his body.
Pei Guang: "Did I… just warp my consciousness out? Dancing during warp actually made me travel through worlds???"
Pei Guang also noticed that on the minimap only he and Stelle had crossed into the same map, while the other people's minimap markers showed no problems.
But consciousness-travel itself wasn't a big deal to Pei Guang: as a player, he was used to accepting all sorts of strange settings.
What really left him scratching his head was—why was there a white-haired girl in a gown dancing to his BGM here?
Pei Guang found this girl rather interesting.
She had a certain aura, and behind her head there was an ornament that looked like wings?
Wait, that wasn't the point. The point was that this girl's dancing was really good: graceful moves, smooth flow, clearly very professional.
At the same time, her dance carried a kind of magic.
Watching her, Pei Guang felt warmth fill his body, as if he was listening to a lullaby.
As for the sudden lullaby, Pei Guang found it a bit noisy, so he turned off the background music.
When he shut off the BGM, the girl known as Robin sensed something.
Her brow furrowed slightly, and she opened her eyes on reflex.
The moment she opened them, she saw the man who had been dancing to the music before, now looking straight at her.
For an instant, her body froze.
But facing the frozen girl, Pei Guang clapped his hands and said: "Don't mind me, keep going, it looks great."
Robin fell silent.
After a moment of silence, she smiled and introduced herself: "Singer, Robin."
Hearing her introduction, Pei Guang's expression grew serious. Not because he was impressed by the seemingly famous name "Robin," but because of the way she introduced herself.
That line stirred something deep, engraved in his DNA.
With a completely straight face, Pei Guang spouted nonsense: "A Trisolaran, Pei Guang. Singer! Why are you here? Do you harbor improper thoughts about me? To realize life: I'm not that kind of casual person, but if it's you, I could maybe be casual~"
Listening to Pei Guang's introduction, Robin's expression also turned serious. The name Pei Guang… it felt familiar to her, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't recall why.
Pei Guang: "?"
Sensing his doubt, Robin smiled gently at him: "Pei Guang… I feel like your name sounds so familiar. Have we met before?"
Pei Guang shook his head: "No. But I've read a book about you."
Robin frowned in confusion: "A… book about me?"
Pei Guang nodded: "Yeah. The book's called To Kill a Mockingbird."
(TL Note: In chinese the book contains the characters of her name)
Pei Guang was just making a joke, but when Robin heard it her heart began to pound faster. She didn't know why, but hearing the name of that book gave her a bad feeling. In the… she…
Linking it to her own experiences, Robin felt a creeping unease.
But just as she was sinking deep into thought, Pei Guang had already started doing things no normal person would.
Calmly touching the tables, chairs, and stools nearby, a strange scene unfolded—the furniture, though part of the dreamscape, was all absorbed into Pei Guang's storage space.
Pei Guang had expected this outcome. In many games, items obtained in dreams could still be used directly.
For a player, there was no distinction between dream and reality: if something could be obtained, it could be used.
In the past, Pei Guang would have only taken the obvious items. But now, with his special aura, he sat on the ground, scooted upward onto the ceiling, and started working on dismantling the light bulbs.
While Pei Guang was busy looting the room, somewhere else in this space where memory and reality intertwined, Stelle was looking at the woman before her, Acheron, when she suddenly felt something.
"This feeling is…"
Stelle sensed a familiar aura power.
She had originally been planning to ask this woman to help her leave the strange place, but when she realized the acceleration aura had activated, a radiant smile bloomed on her face.
Then Acheron saw something that made her brain short-circuit: Stelle was smacking herself in the face with her own hands? No… on closer look, she was sliding along the wall with her chest and stomach, and then scuttling along using her butt?
Although this was the dreamworld, and she had seen people walk on walls here before, she had never seen anyone sliding with their chest and running with their butt like this.
"Am I… dreaming???"
Acheron began doubting reality.
And she wasn't the only one: Robin, who had just come back to her senses, also started doubting reality.
Just moments ago, the room had seemed perfectly normal, but after a single blink, everything was gone?
On reflex she looked up, only to see Pei Guang with his head pressed against the ceiling, scrambling madly across it. That sight made her feel as if she had stumbled into a horror movie dream.
At this point, if a pair of twins suddenly appeared in the hallway just staring at her, she wouldn't even be surprised.