On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

This is precisely the decisive evidence for the "dream" that Liao Ji was looking for.

It was at this very moment that time seemed to stand still, everything around became frozen, and all the "real" scenes within sight seemed to turn into glass, then cracks began to creep up on it, and finally...

Click. Click!

The dream shattered, and the "surfacing feeling" after a deep dive finally reappeared. However, in the collapsed "illusion," the only thing that remained unchanged and in its original form was the maid.

The last thing Liao Ji saw when he left "Dream" was the maid's eyes, which were also looking at him. Those eyes were calm and indifferent, making one feel at a glance that they were the kind of eyes a tool should have.

Soon after Liao Ji regained consciousness and his vision cleared, he found himself in a fairly familiar scene.

The ideal scenario of returning directly to reality is indeed not so easy.

Clearly, the pitch-black space surrounding him was not the city hall of the sealed capital.

The reason for saying "somewhat familiar" is that Liao Jin could sense the dense turbidity within this space; this was no longer a dream, but rather a semi-reality.

This wasn't Liao Ji's first time in this "turbid and perilous space." The last time was in the altar pool, where the elves took the opportunity to pull his soul and consciousness in.

And this time

So, she was seizing this opportunity to find him again through "dreaming"?

Ok.

At least now we know who the mastermind is?

At the very top of the Turbid Space, a dark-skinned elf sat on... uh, a cross? Upon seeing Liao Ji's appearance, the tentacles wrapped around the cross behind him seemed to cheer with joy, waving wildly like tails.

The elf licked his lips, looking down at Liao Ji with the eyes of someone watching prey fall into a trap.

Following closely behind, with a flippant and smug tone, the elf addressed the young man, word by word:

"I told you, we'll see each other again soon."

"ash!"

Chapter 158 Slurp...

Having inherited all the memories of the previous "Mother of Calamity," Polika felt that she was getting closer and closer to spreading the will of Calamity across the land again and restoring the glory of the past.

The reason she failed in the first generation was that, under the guidance of that despicable emperor, more and more beings were able to steal her power and become scourges, ultimately causing her to die from her own power.

So this time, Polica learned from the experience of the first generation that if you want to defeat an enemy, you must first become an enemy yourself.

Therefore, she was not reborn in the original form of "Mother of Turbid Calamity," but instead chose to bewitch one of the "them" around the Emperor, and ultimately succeeded in taking over the body of an elf, resurrecting as the elf "Anno."

After her resurrection, she was still young and weak, and was in a vulnerable position. Therefore, she imitated the Emperor's original thinking. The Emperor used the Turbid Calamity to defeat the Turbid Calamity, so she had to use living beings to defeat living beings. That's why she continued to use Anno's identity to build the Old Alliance and gather those Calamity-Transformed Ones who had been abandoned, forgotten, and used like tools by the Emperor.

After that, she operated for five hundred years and finally ushered in her first battle against the Ashes in the Turbid Space. Although it ended in a humiliating defeat, it also allowed her to discover two important pieces of information.

Firstly, Anno, whom she believed to have possessed and who was the original spirit she thought had "dissipated," seems to be not as simple as she imagined, and still exists in some form.

Furthermore, since her true identity had already been exposed to the Ashes, there was no need to impersonate Anno anymore. Therefore, the name "Polika" came about from this. It was a name she recently gave herself, imitating a human.

The second important piece of information that Polica obtained was naturally about the mysterious secrets of her "Anno" body.

It was precisely because of a series of unexpected events that the true potential and talent of this "body" were discovered that Polica now possesses the same confidence as at the beginning, leading to the current situation.

The swaying tentacles behind her showed Polica's anticipation and excitement. After reviewing her next plan in her mind, she quickly began to say the lines she had already prepared to Liao Ji.

"To be honest, I was quite surprised that you were able to wake up from the 'dream' so quickly and come before me. I have to say a few words of praise to you, Ash."

If Ash breaks through the "Dream," then she will use such words, which humans would call "sarcasm," to disgust Ash.

The dark-skinned elf spoke words of praise, but his eyes were full of contempt, perfectly embodying the haughty and superior attitude of someone who toys with their prey.

The prototype of this passage, Polika, is taken from the popular story of the Demon King and the Hero among humans. The hero, who has gone through many hardships to reach the Demon King, feels extremely humiliated when he is told that he has to praise him for coming to me. Then, he will go to kill the Demon King with this angry will.

But for her, the more successfully she angers Ash, the more ruthless Ash will be in their subsequent battles, severing more of her tentacles! And the more she can use Ash to enhance her own power!

While Polica was still feeling proud of her design

however.

“Indeed, praise me.” Liao Ji nodded in agreement with the dark-skinned elf.

Polika: "."

???

In the stories she researched, the hero's lines didn't seem to be from the script, did they?

Seeing the dark-skinned elf opposite him seemingly choked by his words, his chest heaving, Liao Ji easily regained control of the conversation and naturally changed the subject.

"Actually, I'm quite curious too. What would happen if I didn't unravel the 'Dream'?"

"Heh, don't worry." The dark-skinned elf, sitting high on the cross, regained his initial imposing manner.

While seemingly manicuring her nails, she casually remarked, "If you only look at the ending, there won't be any difference. After all, Kong Kai has altered the path of the dream, adding a door for you. If you want to return to reality from the dream, you must come here and open this door."

"The difference in the process might be that if you don't get out on your own, you can only wait until you are imprisoned by that goddess, tortured to the point of madness, and your mental will can't hold on any longer, and your dream will shatter in this way."

Speaking of this, Polica felt a pang of regret, as this was her ideal scenario.

She could see Ash in a sorry state, and just imagine how Ash would unleash his most terrifying fury on her, the mastermind, after learning the truth. She could also successfully destroy Ash's relationship with the goddess in reality. Perhaps, influenced by the aftereffects of the dream, Ash could even "cut off his own arm" to abolish the goddess's power. She would be laughing in her sleep.

such a pity.

Polica shook her head, then held up the hand she had just deliberately used to trim her nails in front of Liao Ji, turning it from side to side as if admiring herself. Looking at her long, beautiful nails, she showed a satisfied expression. This action was something Polica had learned from human behavior and used specifically for this occasion.

Unfortunately, Liao Ji's thoughts were still focused on her previous sentence.

Did the path of the dream get altered?

door?

There's also an empty armor?

"Kong Kai, do you mean the maid from my dream?" Liao Ji asked, frowning.

Actually, this wasn't the first time Liao Ji had heard the name "Sky Armor." He quickly recalled that before he entered "Dreamscape," Irene had mentioned the ID "Sky Armor Master" to him when introducing "Dreamscape," saying that it was very famous in the Mechanical Alliance and was Irene's favorite Dreamscape creator.

On the other side, seeing Liao Ji deep in thought, Polica curled her lips. She had deliberately said so much earlier in order to reveal some information to Liao Ji, so as to arouse Liao Ji's desire for the truth.

And then it was the turn of...

"Tsk, it seems you do have a lot of problems. Well then, consider it a reward for getting to me. I'll give you a chance."

The main event is finally here. She's done all this for this moment.

Polica jumped off the cross, but the tentacles on her back continued to wrap around it, making it look as if the dark-skinned elf was carrying the cross on her back.

She landed slowly from the air and walked step by step toward Liao Ji, saying softly:

"Everything you want to know, whether it's about Kong Kai, your fantasy, or anything more interesting, I can tell you everything."

"And the only prerequisite for all of this is simply combat!"

With the final word "battle," Polica's suppressed aura of turmoil was fully unleashed.

She opened her arms to Liao Ji opposite her. Apart from the tentacles wrapped around the cross, the other tentacles behind the black elf also formed a huge shadow like a small mountain behind her, just by looking at them, which gave people an incredibly terrifying sense of dread.

"Let me see if you still have the fearlessness and bravery you had five hundred years from now!"

"Come on. Defeat me again! Hmph, as long as you can still do it, you can take everything you want from me—fame, status, wealth—and become the savior you all talk about once more!"

"So, Ashes! Come! Let's fight!"

Although Polica harbored hatred and hostility towards Emperor Ash, it did not prevent her from verbally condemning him as despicable. In her heart, she still respected this powerful enemy who had managed to end her seemingly hopeless situation.

Such a human leader, a savior emperor, could not have his unwavering qualities eroded in a mere five hundred years. After being so rude to him, his fearlessness and bravery had eliminated any possibility of him refusing him. What followed would surely be a life-or-death battle between them, a fight to the death between them.

And then, Ash lived up to his name. After five hundred years, perhaps his power had been lost, but his superb combat skills had not diminished at all. In fact, they had become even more refined, making it difficult for her to defend herself. Every move he made was aimed at her vital parts from extremely tricky angles.

Despite her "trying her best" to dodge, she was quickly covered in wounds by the Ashes. The Ashes, pressing their advantage, seemed intent on humiliating her, deliberately targeting her clothes with their attacks. Pieces of fabric were shredded and cut, leaving only a few unsightly scraps of cloth to barely cover her body.

Exhausted and on the verge of death, she finally collapsed to her knees with a thud, watching helplessly as the victorious Ashes approached her, grabbed her chin, and lifted her up.

It turned out that Ash, seeing the cross he had deliberately prepared behind her, had indeed developed a different interest and came up with a new way to humiliate her.

Completely ignoring her hateful words, "Gulp, kill me!", Ash reversed his tentacles, using them as ropes to bind her limbs to the cross! Then Ash took out the Sword of the Savior and, facing his powerless self on the cross, and his evil self, delivered righteous punishment.

嘶溜

Chapter 159 Serious Possibilities

As Polica mentally rehearsed the next scene, her salivary glands were frantically secreting mucus.

Liao Ji, who was opposite the dark-skinned elf, was also quickly analyzing the current situation.

First, he did have many questions he wanted to ask the dark-skinned elf; the elf's offer was tempting. But he wasn't stupid; what was this talk of fearlessness and bravery?

Liao Ji remained completely unmoved by the dark-skinned elf's provocation.

In a game, even if it's a behind-the-scenes boss or something, if anyone dares to taunt a player like that, Liao Ji will definitely fight them first, regardless of whether he can win or not. If he wins, he'll vent his anger; if he dies, he can just restart. Perhaps this is the origin of the dark-skinned elf's perception of Liao Ji's "fearlessness" and "heroism" as the Ash Emperor.

Now, Liao Ji knows that the more passive one is, the less one should be led by the nose by others or follow their ideas, otherwise one will only become more and more passive.

The dark-skinned elf on the other side is so eager to fight me, he definitely doesn't have good intentions, and is very likely brewing some bigger conspiracy.

The cross that was always hanging behind the other person is perhaps the best proof of this.

Liao Ji had noticed the cross from the very beginning and had been secretly observing it for a long time. He had to be even more careful about things he couldn't understand, because the cross might be a powerful weapon that some dark-skinned elf had used against him.

Having thought this through, Liao Ji had already decided on the general strategy: this unprepared battle should not be fought, nor was it necessary.

indeed.

Judging from what the dark-skinned elf just said, this "turbid space" is the last door. If he wants to return to reality, he must open the door, that is, break through this turbid space.

If we were to say that before, the only way to break through the Turbid Calamity Space was to defeat the dark-skinned elf who was the master of the space, then...

But it's different now.

Having absorbed the cursed jade in the altar pool last time, he was now considered half a master of the "Turbid Calamity Space".

etc.

But there is a "door key"!