‘Where is this?’
Leinata slowly opened her eyes, and a familiar forest filled her view.
Before Leinata could snap back to reality, a petite white-haired loli stood before her.
She wore a red hooded cloak identical to Leinata’s, holding a small basket in her arms.
Inside the basket were two warm sandwiches neatly arranged, along with a spare healing potion. This loli was Nuo Ai’er.
“Nuo Ai’er…!”
Leinata almost instinctively stepped forward. All she wanted right now was to hold this loli tightly.
But the next second, something bizarre happened.
Her body passed right through Nuo Ai’er when she touched her.
‘…What’s going on?’
The Nuo Ai’er ahead continued staring down at the path, walking forward slowly with calm eyes, seemingly completely unaware of Leinata’s existence.
Leinata stopped in her tracks and finally registered the anomaly before her.
‘Is this Nuo Ai’er’s memory?’
It should be the memory fragments projected after Ka Fei forcibly released Nuo Ai’er’s soul crystal ball.
As an intruder, Leinata was merely a bystander. She couldn’t intervene in any past events that had already occurred, so she could only quietly watch everything replay.
‘This is the forest where I stayed before… Could this be the memory of the dungeon where Nuo Ai’er came to save me?’
According to Leinata’s memory, Nuo Ai’er should now follow the forest path deeper, pass the fork in the dense woods, turn left, and encounter herself trapped by a curse in the forest.
Leinata’s gaze locked tightly onto the small figure ahead.
The two of them eventually joined forces to take down Kui Mu and clear the Dungeon.
But the direction of the memory images completely deviated from the right track.
The Little Red Riding Hood girl walking alone completely failed to notice the hidden trap in the forest.
Nuo Ai’er: “Eek”
This clumsy loli stepped on a monster’s trap.
The next second, dense green vines burst out from underground, rapidly wrapping around Nuo Ai’er’s limbs and slender waist, binding her tightly without leaving any room to struggle.
“Help!”
Nuo Ai’er was violently dragged by the vines and yanked deep into the dense forest.
Waiting for her inside was the Flower Demon Monster.
“W-Wait!”
Leinata’s eyes widened.
How could someone as weak as Nuo Ai’er possibly deal with a monster like that!
She couldn’t help Nuo Ai’er.
She instinctively slashed out a red sword aura, but it passed right through the flower demon.
In just a few seconds, Nuo Ai’er was devoured by the Flower Demon Monster.
“…What is this?!”
Having witnessed this unfamiliar and tragic ending with her own eyes, Leinata was completely frozen in place.
That’s not how it was in her memory at all!
Why didn’t Leinata appear at all in this memory, and Nuo Ai’er was even directly devoured here?!
The scenes before her began to flash in black and white.
Then, the next second—
[Host death confirmed.]
[Innate talent “Time Rewind” has been triggered.]
[Loading save…]
Leinata: “…What was that sound?”
After that strange mechanical voice sounded, the scene reset. Everything returned to the initial moment when Nuo Ai’er had just stepped into the Dungeon entrance.
Nuo Ai’er was all teary-eyed.
Leinata: “…No way.”
Leinata seemed to understand something.
Nuo Ai’er’s hidden talent was the “Time Rewind” the System voice had just mentioned, right?
She possessed a fate-defying reincarnation ability that no one else knew about.
No wonder Ka Fei wanted this ability…
But that wasn’t the main point.
Leinata thought about all the traps she had prepared in the forest.
Leinata: “…How many times did she die here?!”
This was something Leinata didn’t even dare to think about.
If her traps had caused Nuo Ai’er’s death, Leinata felt she would go insane on the spot.
The memory images continued playing.
This time, the reset Nuo Ai’er had learned her lesson and didn’t step on the trap.
Then she walked alone to the fork in the middle of the forest.
Two completely different paths lay before her.
The left was a dim, deep path leading into the dense forest, and that was where Leinata was.
The right was a sunny, seemingly safe and gentle boulevard, but at the end of that road was where that loli-con Lie Ren was. A fresh little loli like Nuo Ai’er would definitely die going there.
Leinata instinctively held her breath, frantically chanting in her heart.
‘Turn left, turn left now…’
‘As long as she goes left, she’ll meet Leinata.’
‘With Leinata around, she’ll be safe.’
But the next second…
“Hehe, I’ll definitely go right”
This silly white-haired loli stepped toward the sunny, fatal boulevard on the right.
Leinata: “(O_O)”
Leinata felt chills running down her spine…
Nuo Ai’er…
Just how many times did you die before you finally met me…
***
Meanwhile, in another part of the Soul Space.
A warm, dim little room with a familiar yet oppressive home atmosphere.
This was the [Sister’s Room] Dungeon, the rule-based horror story Dungeon where Hui Mei was.
“Big Sister Nuo Ai’er…”
The pink-haired loli stood blankly in place. She had also been transported here to watch Nuo Ai’er’s memories.
But this memory was related to her.
Just moments ago, Hui Mei had already watched Nuo Ai’er rewind several times—all the things Nuo Ai’er had experienced in this Dungeon.
“How could this be… I killed her…”
Hui Mei was on the verge of tears now.
After the cycle in which Nuo Ai’er rushed out to open the refrigerator and perished together with the delivery guy and “Mom,” Hui Mei knew Nuo Ai’er had the power of time rewind.
Of course, she hoped Big Sister Nuo Ai’er wouldn’t get hurt too much.
After the Hui Mei in the Dungeon came home, Hui Mei originally thought Nuo Ai’er could finally breathe a little easier.
But unexpectedly, just by playing a game after dinner, Hui Mei killed Nuo Ai’er several times.
“No, no, I never did something like that. I wouldn’t do that…”
Hui Mei curled up.
But this sentence was her lying to herself.
During the time the world was transformed into a Dungeon, Hui Mei knew very well what kind of mindset she had.
The one craving companionship was Hui Mei’s main body.
But Hui Mei’s main body was in the room on the Second Floor. This “Hui Mei” was the product of Hui Mei’s own inner darkness.
Hui Mei’s inner darkness…
To say she wanted to die would be an understatement. She only wished for everything to be completely destroyed, and she wouldn’t care about this “Big Sister” who had just arrived at the Dungeon.
After Nuo Ai’er barely managed to deal with “Hui Mei,” the next scene was when Nuo Ai’er went to the Second Floor to look for the diary.
Nuo Ai’er: “It’s getting late. I should head down quickly. I can’t let her find me.”
“Oh? Who can’t you let find you?”
Nuo Ai’er was caught by “Hui Mei”~
“Big Sister is really disobedient, running around at bedtime.”
The “Hui Mei” in the Dungeon tied Nuo Ai’er up and brought her to her little room.
She was about to carry out punishment and discipline.
Hui Mei: “What are you going to do? Stop it!”
Hui Mei shouted loudly, but she couldn’t stop her past self at all.
“Why…”
This sentence was said by Hui Mei for Nuo Ai’er to hear.
Hui Mei: “Why, Big Sister Nuo Ai’er… Why did you still come to save me after I killed you so many times…”
She didn’t understand, so she could only keep watching.
***
Meanwhile, over at Emilia’s side.
Emm… the vibe here was completely different.
“Wow, this clumsy loli actually beat me using this kind of method?!”
Emilia didn’t have any deep grudges with Nuo Ai’er. What she saw was that time she and Nuo Ai’er had their revolver PVP.
After seeing Nuo Ai’er get her clothes blasted off by her several times, Nuo Ai’er suddenly pointed the gun at her.
Emilia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but her expression immediately turned serious.
‘If that’s the case…’
‘Then the reason she cried so devastatingly back then was also because…’
That time she was being chased by Camilla, she wept like pear blossoms in the rain when she saw her, as if she had died several times.
Emilia remembered that she had saved Nuo Ai’er once on Milk Tea Shop Street.
Emilia’s scalp tingled.
Just how many times had this girl died…
Leaving the chase aside, the fact that she could save Leinata and Hui Mei definitely meant she wasn’t simple.
‘Why didn’t she say it out loud…’
Emilia didn’t understand why Nuo Ai’er had to bear all of this alone.
Then, she saw the next scene.
It was when Nuo Ai’er had just saved Hui Mei and was chatting about talents with Emilia and Leinata on the sofa.
She was just about to talk about the time rewind when, the next second, time stopped.
A few pink tentacles appeared and bound Nuo Ai’er.
Emilia: “…?”
‘So that’s it…’
Emilia understood. Because of the punishment mechanism, Nuo Ai’er had never been able to tell them about her talent.
She had been silently bearing it all alone.
But Emilia also noticed a suspicious point…
Why did these tentacles look so much like the ones that had wrapped around the Milk Tea Shop?
Emilia: “…No way. Could it be that these tentacles are…”