Chapter 22 Dream Request (1) Goodnight, my dear. ...

I didn't come here to catch up on sleep.

Xia Ying really wanted to say that to him in a righteous and stern manner.

But in fact, every detail here made her feel incredibly comfortable, as if everything existed solely to allow her a moment of peaceful sleep. Xia Ying's drowsiness slowly crept in, and her eyelids grew heavier and heavier...

No, we can't waste this opportunity!

Just as Xia Ying was about to be swallowed by drowsiness, she suddenly raised her hand and used her fingers to pry open her eyelids, employing a physical method to relieve sleepiness.

Her (forced) wide-open eyes accidentally met Jormungandr's gaze.

The serpent demon gazed at her and sighed gently and helplessly.

"I know, you want to hear a bedtime story, right?"

Jormungandr didn't hear Xia Ying's thoughts. He frowned slightly, looking somewhat troubled, but Xia Ying could sense his joy from the unconscious swaying of his tail tip and the smile at the corner of his mouth.

Let's discuss other matters in the long run.

Thinking this way, Xia Ying nodded in despair.

"I've never told a bedtime story to anyone before, I don't know if I can do it well," Jormungandr coughed lightly, and said shyly, "What kind of story would you like to hear? The prehistoric mass extinction, the history of political changes in the Abyss, or ancient myths of the Abyss?"

The first one is a bit too exciting, and the second one is a bit too serious. It seems like the third one would be better.

Xia Ying blinked obediently: "Ancient Abyss Myths."

"good."

Jormungandr nodded, lightly touching the water's surface with his fingertips. Ripples spread out, and clusters of large lotus leaves enveloped the two of them as they rose to the surface. In a moment, flower stems emerged, and deep red, pale yellow, or pinkish-white double-petaled flowers bloomed one after another, revealing books held atop the lotus hearts.

Jormungandr told her, "This is my library."

His gaze wandered among the layers of lotus flowers, finally settling on one in particular, where a book lay quietly within the flower, looking exceptionally old.

Jormungandr stretched out his hand, and the ancient book that recorded the myths of the Abyss flew into his hand and automatically opened its title page.

"Long, long ago, the world was a chaotic whole."

Jormungandr began the legend with a calm and gentle voice.

"Until one day, the first god was born from chaos. He divided the world into two sides, light and dark, and time and space began to have meaning. The light side of the world later became the dwelling place of humankind, while the dark side became the demon realm."

Xia Ying asked curiously, "Why is the human world mentioned in the myths of the abyss creatures?"

"The demon world and the human world are separate from each other, yet they are also attracted to each other. As the story says, they are like light and shadow, and they have been vaguely aware of each other's existence for a long time."

"Jörmungandr said."

"Just as the myths of the abyss mention the human world, the myths of humans may also contain traces of the demon realm and abyssal creatures."

“It seems that’s true.” Xia Ying thought for a moment and admitted, “Please continue.”

Jormungandr smiled slightly and continued his story.

"After completing the mission of creation, the first god freed his soul from his body, which was the first death in the world."

"His body fragments fell into the darkness, and thus the demon realm became a place where death was accepted and blessed. The souls of gods drifted freely in the form of demonic essence, bones became mountains and rivers, flesh and blood differentiated into different new gods, and His tears formed the River Styx."

Xia Ying couldn't help but ask, "Did He cry?"

“Yes, but He did not weep for His own death,” Jormungandr said. “He rejoiced in the new life of His incarnations, but also wept for it…because He foresaw the long and turbulent hardships of life.”

Xia Ying listened quietly.

"Indeed, just as the creator god foresaw, after His death, the newly born gods fought each other endlessly, eventually starting a bloody war known as the 'War of the Gods'."

"This war lasted a long time, and all the non-divine species that grew on the earth were slaughtered. But a new kind of creature was born from the depths of the River Styx. They were the later 'Abyssal Creatures'."

“The creatures of the abyss are inherently cruel, lacking order and reason. Their birth accelerated the course of the war. At the end of the war of the gods, the god who first made an alliance with the creatures of the abyss won the victory, but He did not become the final winner.”

"Because the creatures of the abyss have broken their covenant with Him."

"The creatures of the abyss killed the last god and stole His victory. On His deathbed, the god unleashed His final divine power in grief and rage, causing the once-complete demon realm to crumble into numerous fragments."

“These spatial fragments float in the bottomless void, and they are now collectively known as the ‘Abyss’.”

“Abyssal creatures that break their oaths are also cursed.”

"The last god said to them, 'The fire of your desires will never cease, until it consumes what you cherish most, until death grants you forgiveness.'"

Jormungandr stopped narrating, his gaze leaving the pages of the book and landing on Xia Ying's face.

Seeing that the other person had stopped, she even urged, "Jormungandr, and then what?"

It seems that the bedtime story did not work to lull the other person to sleep at all; instead, it made them even more awake.

He sighed softly and closed the ancient book: "You need to rest well, Xia Ying."

Xia Ying was about to speak when she saw Jormungandr's hand approaching and gently covering her eyes.

An irresistible wave of weariness washed over her, and Xia Ying unconsciously relaxed slowly, drifting into a peaceful sleep.

Jormungandr withdrew his hand, but his gaze remained fixed on her face.

The snake demon noticed a glimmer of golden light in her hair and reached out to brush it aside.

Then he discovered that it was a small and beautiful feather earring.

Jormungandr's fingertips touched the cool gold ornament, then he pinched the earlobe of the ornament's owner with his fingertips and gently kneaded it.

Who gave it to you?

He leaned down slightly, as if speaking to Xia Ying, but she was clearly lost in sleep, and no one else could hear his voice except for this beautiful lake.

Who put it on you?

What kind of crisis are you facing? And how do you intend to overcome it?

"Has this unknown world ever made you uneasy? How are you facing the possibility of bloodshed and death at any moment?"

Have you ever felt the same pain of being consumed by desire, yet also the fear of losing what you cherish to ashes?

Amidst the slowly shifting light and shadows of the sky and clouds, Jormungandr sighed softly.

"Xia Ying, I really want to know."

####

As the runes of teleportation magic shone brightly in the dragon's lair, Fafnir instinctively sat up from his golden bed and turned his gaze toward the location where the magic had appeared.

Just as he expected, the girl stepped out of the white light in the next second.

Xia Ying yawned, tossed her schoolbag aside, and with practiced ease, leaped onto the mountain of gold coins, climbed onto the golden bed, and declared to the dragon with an air of self-righteousness:

"I'm sleepy, so I should go to bed early tonight!"

The dragon remained noncommittal, staring at her for a moment with its golden vertical pupils.

Xia Ying felt a little uneasy under his gaze: "What are you doing? What's wrong with you?"

Fafnir withdrew his gaze and said reservedly, "I have something for you."

Before Xia Ying could finish her question, a huge spatial array appeared above the dragon's nest.

Wait a minute, this scene seems familiar. The last time something like this happened was when Fafnir summoned a rain of gold coins that could kill people.

Xia Ying instinctively tried to crawl under the bed, but the first drop of "rain" had already fallen.

Something soft hit Xia Ying's head and then bounced into her arms. Xia Ying looked down and saw that what had landed in her arms was a teddy bear wearing a bow tie.

"Wow!" Xia Ying's eyes sparkled as she held the teddy bear high in the air. "This is so cute!"

As soon as she finished speaking, all sorts of dolls of different sizes fell down like a sudden rain, quickly burying most of Xia Ying.

Xia Ying happily emerged from the sea of ​​toys, hugging a teddy bear in one arm and a puppy in the other, with a little dragon tucked under her arm.

Fafnir said smugly, "How about that?"

“Fafnir, you do good deeds sometimes!” Xia Ying exclaimed excitedly. “Where did you get that from?”

“These are all human goods sold by the ‘Cocytus Mall’.” The dragon clicked its tongue. “Tsk, the Demon Lord’s tastes.”

This was the first time Xia Ying had learned that there were channels in Cocytus where one could purchase human goods.

“I really like it.” Xia Ying hugged the doll, raised her upper body, and kissed the dragon’s beautiful horns. “Thank you, Fafnir.”

As a powerful dragon, Fafnir had magnificent and enormous horns.

In fact, the stronger the dragon, the larger its horns tend to be. When two male dragons fight for territory or treasure, they usually break off each other's horns as the most powerful declaration of victory.

But after it was kissed by the succubus, Fafnir felt a strange sensation, as if a subtle electric current was running from its horn to its root.

Fafnir fell into a brief moment of contemplation, while the culprit himself thought he was simply daydreaming.

She collapsed onto the soft bed made of dolls, hugged the little dragon, and peacefully closed her eyes.

Goodnight, Fafnir.

Seeing the smile on her lips, Fafnir extinguished the light in the dragon's lair without a second thought. Because he was distracted at the moment, Fafnir did not realize that the territory that should have been absolutely under his control was changing more and more frequently according to the succubus's preferences.

Of course, at this moment he was even less able to realize that this was only the beginning.

####

Xia Ying fell asleep quickly.

In the darkness, she skillfully created a dream cocoon filled with white mist, and made it expand until it filled the entire dream.

Before long, a gap was torn open at the boundary of the dream, and a black hooded creature flew in like a bat, swaying precariously.

Xia Ying watched as the hood fell in front of her, gradually swelling into the shape of a human, transforming from a tattered cloth into a mysterious monster called the Su Zhe.

Good evening, darling.

The diner greeted her as usual. But unlike usual, this time he didn't pester Xia Ying with jokes and banter; instead, he quickly got to the point.

"So, are you ready to carry out your first dream-related request?"

"Yes."

Xia Ying nodded and answered.

Let's begin now.

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Author's Note: The thought of a giant dragon buying a huge bunch of plush toys online makes me chuckle. It feels like in a while, the dragon's lair will turn into a princess's room.