November.
The approaching winter had already stripped most of the color from the surface world, yet the Neon Veil buried at the deepest layer of the dream world remained unchanged as ever.
“This place is really huge. How am I supposed to find that person…?”
Su Mu hugged her chest as she walked through the absurdly styled streets and alleys.
Surreal graffiti appeared sporadically underfoot, though she had already grown accustomed to ignoring it.
When she leaned in close to look, she could even hear faint, muffled voices.
Anyone who didn’t know better might think they were listening to the whispers of outer gods…
In any case, best not to pay it any mind.
It had already been an hour since she passed through the dream world’s barrier and truly set foot in the third layer for the first time.
Although buildings stretched endlessly on either side, she had not spotted even half a human figure.
Had she come to the wrong place?
Tang Nai had said to head for the tallest, most conspicuous spot in the entire dream world—probably that pillar up ahead.
She had already walked at least ten kilometers or so, yet the distance didn’t seem to have shrunk at all.
Come to think of it, Su Mu did not feel the slightest bit tired.
Here in this place, those concrete sensations from the surface world seemed greatly restricted.
Touch and pain in particular were sharply dulled—perhaps because concepts were so diluted here.
Magic power, on the other hand, was abundant, filling the surroundings just like oxygen.
Unfortunately it was far too mixed and chaotic to be of any practical use.
Su Mu had also gone inside some of the surrounding buildings.
They were not the empty, unfinished shells she had expected.
Instead they resembled reality—except their layout followed no logic whatsoever.
One room might be a library, the next a bedroom.
Chairs might sit normally around a table or else hang upside down where a chandelier should be.
Although no trace of light could be found anywhere, the field of vision was still flooded with the gorgeous neon hues, creating an utterly surreal impression.
It was a pity that while the facilities were ready and waiting, there were hardly any people around.
Probably impossible to organize any illicit activities that would be illegal in reality.
For one thing, anyone who could reach this place was already free to do whatever they wanted in the real world.
For another, the resources here did not need to be fought over.
As long as they desire them, they simply lay there quietly, waiting to be claimed.
The scenery was novel at first, but it grew tiresome after a while.
What Su Mu felt as her greatest enemy here was loneliness.
From start to finish she had been talking to herself with no one to respond.
If a person stayed here too long, they would surely go mad.
Su Mu had already reached the limit of her patience.
She was now desperate to reach that landmark as quickly as possible.
She did not want to waste another second here.
‘Even meeting any random person would do—someone to ask for directions, at least?’
Su Mu broke into a run.
Her speed increased steadily until everything in her vision began to blur, giving the sensation of lightning-fast movement.
Several more minutes passed like this.
She did not get tired, but the distance still showed no sign of shortening.
She should have asked about the precautions before coming in.
Su Mu sat down listlessly.
Idly she pulled a magazine from what appeared to be a newsstand.
Before she could even open it, she was stunned.
The text on the cover looked plausible at a glance, but it was utter nonsense—like an AI randomly combining Chinese radicals and components.
It was whatever the dream felt like making.
No logic.
Absolutely no logic.
Realization dawned on Su Mu.
In a region where logic itself was in disarray, trying to reach a destination by trusting your eyes was doomed from the start.
No amount of running according to real-world experience would get her anywhere.
So she closed her eyes and walked straight forward purely by feel, completely ignoring everything she had seen before.
If there had been an observer, they would have been shocked to see that after only a short distance, Su Mu plunged headfirst into a wall.
Yet instead of smashing into it and seeing stars, she passed straight through without the slightest hindrance.
Having unraveled this truth, she smoothly left the chaotic, infinite-themed edge of the third layer and entered the bustling heart of the dream world.
Not long after, Su Mu collided with something solid—but it was not a cold, hard wall.
It was something soft and yielding.
It did not hurt at all.
In fact it was quite elastic, startling her so much that she immediately leaped back and opened her eyes.
One look and she was given a violent start.
Standing before Su Mu was a mature white-haired woman in a flowing white dress that accentuated snowy peaks.
Her mature allure surpassed even Su Ya’s, featuring the exaggerated curves one only saw in manga.
Compared to the still-developing fifteen-year-old Su Mu, she was utterly overwhelming.
Moreover, even standing on tiptoe, Su Mu’s head only just reached the woman’s shoulders.
Although the still-growing Su Mu was barely over five feet tall, this was still enough to show how statuesque the woman was.
But none of that was what truly terrified Su Mu.
Feeling the woman’s pink eyes gazing down at her, Su Mu instantly lost her composure.
She knew exactly who stood before her.
The woman who had once whipped Irina’s backside with a teaching pointer.
Motes!
Encountering her here in such an absurd manner was something Su Mu had never anticipated.
But the most troublesome part was that she was currently in her strange person form.
If Motes discovered her, she was finished.
Back then Motes had whipped Edma into complete submission without the slightest resistance.
Dealing with Su Mu would be child’s play.
Given her personality, the chances of being tied up in some private location for a certain kind of “education” were not merely possible—they were frighteningly close to one hundred percent!
“S-sorry, sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
Su Mu’s speech stumbled awkwardly as she buried her head deeply, terrified of being recognized.
Yet what awaited her was not a storm of fury, but rather a surprisingly gentle reassurance.
A pair of warm, soft hands rested on her head and began slowly, soothingly smoothing down her messy hair.
The sensation reminded Su Mu of Luo Jialan, and bit by bit her wariness melted away.
Motes’s silky white hair brushed teasingly against the tip of Su Mu’s nose.
It tickled, but not unpleasantly.
When Su Mu opened her eyes again, what met her gaze was a gentle expression from Shen Moling that she had never seen before.
Setting aside other factors, she was, after all, an elementary school teacher.
Her earlier harshness toward Su Mu had been understandable.
As for what she did to Edma… well, that belonged to a domain involving magic power and authority.
A somewhat extreme approach was perhaps not entirely unjustified…
“You’re the interesting child little Gray mentioned, aren’t you? You really are exactly like Senior Ya.”
‘Little Gray? Senior Ya?’
Su Mu froze for a moment.
The former must be Tang Nai.
The latter—Senior Ya—combined with the “exactly like” comment, made the answer fairly obvious.
‘So Mom used to be some kind of senior figure among the magical girls?’
“Come with me. I’ll take you to little Gray. She knew you’d definitely get lost, so she’s been playing games in the surface world the whole time. Even if you reached the landmark, you wouldn’t see her.”
Hearing this, Su Mu was so angry her nose practically twisted sideways.
That was exactly the kind of thing she would expect from the Tang Nai she knew.