Get in?
Xu Lin stared at the bathtub.
The board had already been slid away, fully revealing what lay inside.
It didn’t look any different; still pitch-black.
But soon he noticed a faint shimmer dancing on the surface, the gloss of liquid.
The water inside was pure black!
Was this even water?
Unease rose in his heart.
That wasn’t all.
Above it floated translucent system text that made him want to turn and run.
‘？？？’: ■■■■■■■■
The name was three question marks, and the description was nothing but scrambled blocks.
An unknown name; he’d never seen that before, but a blocked description; he had encountered it once, on the 【Heavy Girl’s Love】 that Lin Shen Xue gave him.
Now it appeared again with Li Zhi Ran, and in an even stranger state.
Anyone could tell just by thinking that this probably wasn’t anything good.
“Um… Lady Witch, what exactly… is inside here?”
Xu Lin looked at Li Zhi Ran, his voice trembling slightly.
At this moment, his fear of the bathtub far surpassed the joy of admiring her exquisite figure.
“This is a magic potion.”
Magic potion again?
“It’s a special potion designed to connect our minds, allowing me to communicate with you while you’re inside the dream.”
“I told you earlier; you cannot bring Noxis’s avatar into the dream, so communication through it is impossible. This is its upgraded version.”
“Connecting minds… doesn’t that mean…”
Xu Lin thought of something ominous.
“Young Hero, there is no need to worry. The usage is similar to Noxis’s avatar; communication only activates when you trigger it. It will not leak your thoughts at all times. Moreover, this connection is bidirectional.”
Should he trust her or not?
If it really was bidirectional, then she should also be worried about him knowing her thoughts at any moment.
That is, assuming she was telling the truth…
“Also, this potion has another function.”
Ignoring Xu Lin’s concerns, Li Zhi Ran continued explaining.
“What function?”
There’s more?
“It will allow Young Hero to safely withdraw from the dream. Of course, this requires cooperation with other tools. It is the result of research on the Gravity Witch’s influence over dreams.”
“In simple terms, it will create a beacon for you inside the dream. You can then follow the beacon’s guidance and escape the dream.”
So that’s the function.
He had thought it might have some mind-control effect…
Still…
Xu Lin looked again at the pitch-black liquid in the tub.
The floating system text remained exactly the same; her explanation hadn’t changed it at all.
Still completely unreadable.
“May I ask what it’s made from?”
He wanted to hear what she had put in it, hoping to find some clue.
Li Zhi Ran nodded readily.
“Of course. The base is pure magical water created by water spirits, and then…”
Li Zhi Ran rattled off a long list of ingredients.
Only the very first “pure magical water” sounded somewhat familiar to Xu Lin; everything else sounded like “dong-dong-dong-sahura”, completely incomprehensible.
In the end she summarized: most of them were magical herbs with mental and spiritual effects.
Where on earth did she get so many bizarre things?
After hearing her explanation, Xu Lin felt deeply puzzled.
But then he remembered the cola; probably all these were real things that existed in reality, and she had simply wrapped them in magical terminology.
That made things troublesome; he couldn’t detect any clues at all.
“Young Hero, time is short. We must hurry and complete the mind link. Please enter the potion.”
Having explained everything she could, Li Zhi Ran stared at Xu Lin with utmost seriousness.
Can I… not get in?
“This is very important!”
As if seeing his hesitation, she stressed the words, looking ready to push him in if he refused.
There was no escaping this.
“Lady Witch, may I first test it with just one hand?”
His brain worked at full speed and finally came up with this idea.
“Remember what happened when I tried to enter your magic room before? If I go straight in now and something unexpected happens again, it’ll be bad.”
Yes; if he only put in one hand and felt anything wrong, she wouldn’t be able to keep forcing him, and the risk would be manageable.
“This potion was made with Young Hero’s tolerance in mind.”
Yet his words didn’t even make her pause to think.
She answered instantly without the slightest hesitation.
She had completely cut off his retreat.
The next moment, her expression turned solemn.
“However, Young Hero makes a valid point. Your power must have sensed something; testing it first is fine.”
Her words instantly relaxed his tense heart.
“Thank you, Lady Witch.”
“Then Young Hero, no time to waste; please test it quickly.”
Xu Lin’s face stiffened slightly, but in the end he turned toward the tub of black liquid.
Crouching by the bathtub, he faced the liquid up close.
No suspicious odor wafted out, nor did he sense any power surging from it.
Aside from being black, the whole tub seemed perfectly ordinary.
“Here I go.”
He spoke aloud; partly to warn Li Zhi Ran, partly to steel himself.
He plunged his hand into the liquid.
His movement was swift; his entire palm submerged in one go.
Since it had to happen eventually, better to rip the bandage off quickly than prolong the agony.
The moment his hand entered the liquid, his tightly wound expression slowly eased.
Warm fluid completely enveloped his palm.
The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold; just right, like touching another person’s body.
Very comfortable.
He felt a subtle power slowly seeping into his palm.
Yet that power was extremely gentle; there was no terrifying impact.
Only a faint trace of Li Zhi Ran’s presence lingered within it.
…
Xu Lin’s heart settled.
It seemed that most things Li Zhi Ran gave him truly carried no harm.
Even the negative-status 【Delusion Wave】 had only made him slightly more receptive to delusions.
“There’s no problem.”
Xu Lin withdrew his hand, looked up at Li Zhi Ran; then immediately lowered his gaze.
From this angle, he was seeing something extraordinary.
Truly “mountains rising to the heavens.”
If he kept looking, something inside him would probably swell uncontrollably.
“Since that is the case, Young Hero, please get in.”
…
“Then… I’m getting in.”
Realizing there was no issue, Xu Lin no longer hesitated.
He stepped over the edge and submerged his lower body completely in the black liquid.
Warmth wrapped around his lower half; the sensation of power seeping in became even clearer.
His muscles relaxed on their own; he let out a comfortable breath.
“Young Hero, just stay like this for now. There is no need to immerse your entire body in the potion yet.”
He had been about to sink deeper when Li Zhi Ran’s instructions came from the side.
“Alright.”
Xu Lin nodded.
He tensed his body and sat on a raised part inside the tub, keeping only his lower half submerged.
Being watched by a beautiful girl while bathing was already embarrassing enough.
But right now the black potion and its sensations completely overwhelmed him; he had no attention left for a racing heart.
Honestly, this liquid really was far more comfortable than ordinary water; his mind relaxed considerably.
Could there really be something like “pure magical water” in it?
As he soaked, his eyelids gradually began to droop.
Splash.
Just before they fully closed, the sound of water came from the opposite side; his spirit jolted, and his heavy eyelids snapped open again.
He looked toward the sound.
A smooth, snow-white leg stepped into the liquid; half of it already submerged. Immediately after, the other leg followed.
Inside the potion, Xu Lin felt his own leg brush against the one entering.
The person opposite sat down, submerging her entire lower body as well.
“Lady Witch, you… this is…”
The one who entered the bathtub was none other than Li Zhi Ran.
In a tub that barely fit two people, it instantly became cramped.
Her upper body, clad only in a swimsuit, was now right before his eyes.
He could clearly see the depth of the valley, the texture between the peaks.
Beneath the liquid, their legs inevitably overlapped.
Even if Xu Lin tried to shift now, it would only increase skin contact. In the end he could only stay perfectly still.
So in the end… this is still a mandarin duck bath, isn’t it?