The bodies of the three girls clinging to Alex suddenly went tense.
After a while, Xiao Kou turned her head over and asked confusedly, "Dream? What dream?"
Alex looked at her, his eyes filled with sorrow, "This dream is actually not real at all, yet it is full of temptations everywhere, just like a delicious cake. Even knowing that the cake might have problems, out of hunger, one can't help but get close and taste it."
As he spoke, he pulled his arm out of Xiao Kou's embrace.
"What are you talking about, Brother Xiao Ke? Xiao Kou doesn't understand."
Xiao Kou asked, still confused, her pure eyes filled with innocence.
Alex no longer looked at her, his cold eyes staring at Freya and An Suling, "The playing around is enough. It's time to end this absurd dream."
Xiao Kou seemed to finally notice the coldness revealed in his attitude. She looked a bit panicked as she hugged his arm, "No! Did Xiao Kou do something wrong? I'm sorry, Brother Xiao Ke, please forgive me, okay?"
She pleaded bitterly.
Alex's mood became increasingly painful. He didn't pay attention to this person of unknown origin; he had never actually found Xiao Kou. After realizing this, a sadness that overflowed from the depths of his heart made him almost unable to control himself, because this was the strongest obsession hidden deep within his body and memories.
Xiao Kou looked at him in disappointment, her face blank. Suddenly, a dazzling light radiated from her body, and she slowly dissipated.
Alex was stunned.
Freya and An Suling were silent for a moment, then stood up from Alex's side and took a few steps back.
They looked at Alex with focused gazes, as if they wanted to deeply engrave his appearance into their minds. The frivolity on their faces at this moment had vanished completely, leaving only incomparable seriousness.
"When did you find out?"
Freya sighed and asked softly.
"The feeling of being hit by the whip at the beginning was wrong," Alex said.
"The feeling was wrong?"
Freya was startled, her eyes showing a hint of confusion. She had read the scene of the whip game from Alex's shallow consciousness, where both Alex and Miao Meiyuan felt comfortable after being whipped. How could it be wrong?
The matter of the treasure chest was Alex's deepest secret, almost impossible to be read.
"Freya," however, did not know this, which caused this dream to reveal its greatest flaw.
But after Alex realized this, he instinctively ignored it, turning a blind eye to the flaw because the appearance of Xiao Kou made him feel that this "reality" was also quite good, and the realization of a harem reunion made him even more addicted.
However, these temptations in the dream world were almost all created specifically for him, wanting him to completely believe that this dream was reality. The overflowing malice finally made Alex realize that if he didn't make a decision, he would be trapped in the dream world forever. Therefore, he hesitated no longer and personally pierced this excessively beautiful lie.
Looking at the faces of Freya and An Suling, Alex's eyes were complex, "So I was wrong all along. You all actually exist. Was this dream prepared by you to keep me?"
His expression became somewhat strange as he focused on the two women, trying to see something in their faces. However, he was destined for disappointment; their expressions remained utterly indifferent.
At that moment, the faces of Freya and An Suling shifted and changed, transforming into the appearances of Chen Yuqian and Chen Ruyun.
Subsequently, Miao Meiyuan, Yan Bianman, Yu Xinyao, Kiara, and the others appeared one after another, transforming in front of Alex into the likes of Chen Nuo, Chen Yan, Chen Ruyan, and Chen Liping.
It had all been a play. These women had read Alex's memories and played the roles of the girls who appeared in his real life, granting him an adult fairy tale world.
But what is fake is ultimately fake; the dream had to end.
Chen Liping gazed at Alex for a long while and sighed. "Why are you unwilling to stay? In the dream, any wish can be fulfilled. Every single one of us belongs to you."
Alex said solemnly, "There are things in reality that I cannot give up."
Chen Liping stopped speaking and showed a sorrowful expression. The other women also looked melancholic, and Chen Nuo's eyes even turned red.
A few of the women, such as Chen Yuqian and Chen Ruyun, still showed no reaction, simply watching Alex quietly.
Alex's gaze swept over each of them as scenes of being with them flashed through his mind. With a heavy heart, he asked, "Are you all, in fact, the same person?"
The women did not speak, but Alex believed this hypothesis; some of their past behaviors also confirmed this suspicion.
"Your real name is Chen Luoqiu, isn't it?"
Alex added, remembering that time in the hotel when Chen Nuo had called Chen Liping by that name.
"Does it matter?" Chen Yuqian asked.
Alex nodded. "It matters. I want to find you in reality."
"It doesn't matter." Chen Yuqian's gaze was deep and distant. "Reality is too heavy. Only in dreams can I have the life I want."
Alex vaguely understood something. He said in a low voice, "There are many beautiful things in reality, and people one cannot give up. Don't you have any?"
"I do. My mother needs me to take care of her," Chen Yuqian nodded, but then added, "But I can have that in the dream as well."
Alex looked at her in shock and kept shaking his head. "No, a dream is ultimately a dream. Everything in it is fake."
"To me, everything is real," Chen Yuqian said calmly.
Alex's heart continued to sink. He noticed the expressions of the women before him and found that although their personalities differed slightly, at this moment, every one of them wore the same determined expression as Chen Yuqian.
It seemed that certain pressures in reality had caused Chen Luoqiu to develop a sense of world-weariness. After discovering she could live so happily in a dream, she had developed the idea of living in it forever.
Alex's emotions were in a bit of a mess. He hadn't expected that the movie tickets could pull outsiders in, let alone become the direct culprit causing someone to escape reality.
Since the mistake had already been made, worrying was useless; he could only try his best to make amends.
Alex took a deep breath to steady himself. He looked at the women before him and said gently, "You've probably misunderstood. This dream world exists because of me. After I leave here, you will also be pulled out."
This was a world constructed by the movie tickets; as long as he woke up, it would end.
Chen Yuqian, however, said, "This is my dream. You are the one who intruded into it."
She snapped her fingers, and the villa suddenly vanished. Alex found himself in the middle of a starry sky, with chains extending from the depths to wrap around his body.
A moist touch brushed against his cheek, and he heard a woman's gentle voice whisper in his ear, "Stay and accompany us..."
Suddenly, the woman's voice went hoarse as Alex's figure slowly began to fade. He was heard saying with a sigh, "Perhaps this really is your dream, but entering this world requires an entry ticket. Now that my entry tickets are used up, it's time to leave."
Gazing at Chen Luoqiu for a long moment, Alex said softly, "I will find you in reality."
Leaving behind those final, firm words, he vanished into the starry sky.
Looking at the empty starry sky around her, Chen Luoqiu was dazed for a moment. After a while, she sat down, hugged her knees, and whispered, "It's okay. I have everything in the dream."
-------------------------------
Hope you enjoy this fanfiction if you do and would like to read the next 50 chapters in advance, pls do check out my Patreon:
patreon.com/MariaLight
Also don't forget to give me a Power Stone if you do like this fiction. Your support really motivates me to continue doing my best in translating, Thanks!!
