Yes, I did all of this!

"No matter what," the man said after a moment of silence, "I can't give up my job here."

He stood up, his attitude resolute and firm: "You can go back to the countryside to live if you want, but I'm not leaving. I'll just transfer money to you every month."

With that, he turned and left.

Then the woman called out to the man and stormed off the office.

Watching the two engage in this endless argument, Duanmu Mo silently sipped his tea, his expression calm.

This isn't the first case. If this family can bring their argument to the law firm, then there must be many more families discussing this matter privately.

The two of them coming here is like leaving Duanmu Mo one end of a thread, allowing him to pull it out and see how long it can go.

Now, Duanmu Mo not only saw the length of the line, but also what was strung on it.

Even if you were to search for these things, you wouldn't be able to find them, since not many people would expose their family scandals online for others to laugh at.

He drank the tea in one gulp and watched the two people leave through the window.

The people in this world are indeed very obedient and won't cause trouble for magical girls. History books show the fates of those who were uneducated, ignored magical girls, and chose to side with monsters instead. Not to mention there's a recent real-life example.

Even so, while people are on guard against the spread of negative emotions and constantly suppress their own emotions, they are also worried that some strange person might bewitch their minds in the future. They feel that they can't withstand so much torment anymore.

"If I tell them, it will put pressure on them; if I don't tell them, things will get messy because they're unprepared. Protecting the world is such a tough job. Luckily, this job is left to magical girls."

Setting the cup aside, Duanmu Mo took out the necklace from under his clothes and stared at the gemstones for a while, lost in thought.

"You've been through something like this too, haven't you, Cangyuan..."

He stood up, turned the sign around, changing it from "Open for Business" to "Temporarily Closed," and then lay down on the bed.

Although only a few days had passed since his last dream, and Cangyi had warned him not to enter Cangyuan's dream too often, he was now very curious about what was happening in the dream.

Not only were they curious about Cangyuan's experiences, but they also wanted to know what the sea monster had done to turn Cangyuan into a withdrawn girl.

He drew the bed curtains, placed his hands on his head, closed his eyes, and rested.

. . . . . .

call--

That was the sound of waves crashing on the beach. A strand of hair brushed against Duanmu Mo's nose, making him frown uncomfortably.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the girl's pure blue eyes—Cang Yuan was pinching her own hair and playing with Duanmu Mo's nose.

"......What are you doing?"

Not too surprised, he found himself still lying on the beach in the same position as when he was dreaming, so he stood up and patted the sand off his body.

"I was just calling you." Cang Yuan remained squatting on the beach, looking up at Duanmu Mo, who was much taller than him, from this angle.

"Um......"

Duanmu Mo rubbed his head and looked around.

The sky was clear, but there was no one around.

"Judging by the time, you seem to have arrived earlier than usual." She looked at Duanmu Mo, her eyes as clear as the sea.

"I just wanted to see you, and I'm also curious about the changes here."

"I've been trying my best to forget about this." Cang Yuan shook his head, then sat down and looked at the sea beside him.

"Does my arrival mean I'll bother you?"

Duanmu Mo asked, and sat down next to her.

“No…” she said softly, “The development here is something that originated from the depths of my soul, and even I find it difficult to change.”

"So, it's your subconscious?"

"subconscious?"

She didn't understand what the word meant, but as the owner of the dream, she still sensed the meaning behind Duanmu Mo's words.

"The subconscious... that's not wrong." She looked at the azure sky and nodded faintly. "This is the space of my subconscious, the self I can't escape."

"Self? Does that mean you'll wake up after this part of the story is over?"

Looking at her, Duanmu Mo raised an eyebrow and asked.

Upon hearing this, Cang Yuan chuckled lightly: "How could it be so easy? It was my subconscious that developed all of this, but closing myself off was also my choice."

She turned her head and looked into Duanmu Mo's eyes: "As long as I don't want to go out, no one can wake me up."

. . . . . .

Chapter 322: False Moonlight

"..."

On the beach, the two stared at each other in silence. Not long after, a sound of footsteps suddenly came. Duanmu Mo turned his head and saw a thin man dressed in plain clothes, dressed in the typical attire of a fisherman, running towards him.

"Hey, Duanmu Mo! What are you still doing here?"

"What..." Duanmu Mo frowned, turned his head to look to the side, only to find that Cang Yuan had already disappeared.

"What are you daydreaming about? Hurry up and get to the assembly point!"

Hearing the fisherman's words, Duanmu Mo also sat up: "A rendezvous? I haven't received any news about it."

"The village chief's arrangements were communicated to everyone in the village, how could you not know?"

The man said somewhat urgently, "Never mind, just come with me."

Duanmu Mo also wanted to know what was going on, so he nodded and followed him away.

Soon, the two arrived at the center of the fishing village, where other villagers were already there. Upon seeing Duanmu Mo's arrival, the villagers only showed a slight displeasure but did not say anything, and their attention quickly turned to the center of the crowd.

"Let me confirm again, is everything you're saying true?"

"It's true! Not only me, but everyone on the ship with me heard it too!"

Duanmu Mo's presence stood out from the crowd, even attracting the attention of the villagers in the dream.

"You've arrived."

After pushing through the crowd, the figure surrounded by people finally revealed his appearance—smaller than average, with withered bones, a face full of wrinkles, and white hair, looking quite old, like the person in charge here. However, his eyes were somewhat sharp, with a hint of cunning.

Looking at the old man, Duanmu Mo immediately "remembered" his identity.

"...Village chief, what's wrong?"

Duanmu Mo should know this information, just like the tutorial in the game.

However, in the past dreams, Duanmu Mo was unaware of this person's existence... To be precise, he did not see the position of village chief in the previous beautiful dream where a group of villagers lived in harmony. It was only now, when the dream became more real, that he appeared.

"Didn't you see? A whirlpool appeared in the distant sea! That's the trace of Leviathan!" Before the village chief could speak, others spoke with unease.

"Leviathan? That sea monster..."

Duanmu Mo opened his mouth, but before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by others:

"Shut up! How could you..."

"—What did I do now?" Duanmu Mo interrupted him the next moment, staring at the man and asking in return:

"Don't we worship the sea goddess now? She's the one who freed our village from child sacrifices, and now we only need to gather here and have fun every year to express our gratitude to her. Why are you all so panicked now that that sea monster is coming?"

Duanmu Mo's gaze swept over everyone, even lingering on the village chief for a moment: "Oh, I understand. You're unhappy living your lives and want to abandon the sea god who saved you, and instead worship the sea monster that will harm you!"

"Alright!" Upon hearing Duanmu Mo's words, the village chief's face darkened, and he shouted, "Don't bring this up again! How to decide about Leviathan is everyone's business; don't make a choice on your own."

"I don't care."

Duanmu Mo crossed his arms and looked at the swaying people, saying, "In short, the catch of fish in the past ten years has been a gift from the Sea God. I swear to stand with the Sea God to the death."

"...The great gods have protected us for ten years; of course we haven't forgotten this kindness." The village chief paused for a moment before saying:

"But didn't the sea goddess say ten years ago that she had already killed Leviathan? How do you explain that?"

"Resurrection from the dead isn't that difficult. If that sea monster can be resurrected, then the sea god can too. It's not surprising, is it?"

"..."

The village chief fell silent, seemingly speechless after Duanmu Mo's words. After a long while, he waved his hand and said, "Alright, that's how it is. We should stay away from the vortex for now, or the Sea God and Leviathan will probably start fighting again."

"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now."

Duanmu Mo nodded, pushed the crowd aside, and left.

. . . . . .

—If we were to make a rough calculation of the passage of time in a dream, it would be one day outside and one month inside. And right now, Duanmu Mo estimated that he could only stay here for a few more days.

Time was short, but Duanmu Mo didn't care much. He would occasionally go out to sea to fish or wander aimlessly around the village. It was that simple.

Now, however, he could feel the atmosphere growing increasingly oppressive as he approached Duanmu Mo.

—A sense of foreboding spread through the fishing village.

Late at night, Duanmu Mo lay on the beach, gazing at the stars in the sky.

Although he sensed the pervasive atmosphere, he remained completely at ease, gazing leisurely at the sky.

"What are you doing?"

Cang Yuan's calm voice suddenly rang out. Duanmu Mo turned his head and found that she had been lying next to him at some point, her long hair draped over the beach, her azure eyes meeting his gaze.

“Let’s look at the stars,” Duanmu Mo said.

"Star......"

Duanmu Mo nodded and continued, "Have you ever flown into space? Or even at your level, magical girls still need to breathe?"

“The universe…” Cang Yuan was silent for a while before saying, “I tried this not long after I gained the ability, but when I flew up to the clouds and the village became blurry, I started to feel afraid.”

"What are you afraid of?"

“Loneliness. No matter how deep the sea is, there will always be fish swimming with me. But there are none in the sky, not even birds.” Cang Yuan’s tone was ethereal, devoid of any emotion.

"I see. So even you don't know where your limits are, huh?"

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Mo understood. He raised his hand and pointed to the sky: "The starry sky in your dream is too unreal. In the future era of navigation, there will be sailors... You can think of this profession as high-level fishermen. Sailors will be able to determine their direction by looking at the stars in the sky."

"Using stars to determine direction...?"

Upon hearing this, Cang Yuan was somewhat surprised, gazing at the twinkling stars in the sky.