A ray of morning light illuminated the slumbering city-state of Plande. The sun, locked by a double rune ring, slowly rose in the sky like a burning wheel. Under the powerful might of Vision 001, those unearthly things in the night finally began to fade away.

The shadows in the streets, the whispers in the deserted places, the murmurs in the waves along the coast, the empty sight in the depths of the alleys, and the dreams that entangle the hearts of the people.

Shirley opened her eyes.

She saw the unfamiliar ceiling and the sunlight shining through the window next to her, onto the low cabinet beside the bed and the nearby desk. This clean and tidy little room was simple, but still much better than where she lived.

She smelled the aroma of food and heard some noises from the direction of the kitchen. She saw Nina sleeping on her back. Today was a day off and the girl could sleep in as she pleased because she had an "uncle" to rely on and there would be a ready-made breakfast when she woke up.

Shirley sat up in a daze, and it took her a few seconds to fully recall why she was here and what happened in her dream.

Then she pushed Nina next to her: "Nina, get up...get up, wash up and have breakfast."

Nina replied dazedly: "I'm so sleepy... I'll sleep a little longer..."

Shirley was a little stunned for a moment. She didn't know what to do next.

Because she had been away from this kind of life for so long, so long that there was a gap of eleven years - but she still vaguely remembered that she had been like this and could be like this.

She slowly climbed out of bed and changed into her own clothes. While listening to the various noises coming from outside, she reminded herself in her heart that this was not a peaceful and comfortable nest - it was actually just a nest, which was decorated into this appearance by a Warp Shadow and his followers out of interest...

But this nest actually feels more like "home" than where she and Agou live.

Shirley was a little distracted, but at this moment, Nina's voice suddenly interrupted her wandering thoughts: "Wow! It's already this time?!"

Shirley turned around and saw Nina with messy hair sitting in the bed with her eyes wide open. Nina looked out the window and then noticed Shirley standing next to her. She shook her head and said, "Shirley? Why... oh, you slept at my house yesterday..."

Then she jumped down from the bed, yelling, "Ah, no more, no more, I have to make breakfast..."

She was halfway through her yelling when she heard some noise coming from the kitchen and smelled the aroma of food. She was stunned for a moment before she seemed to wake up and said, "Oh, uncle is making breakfast today... Yes, uncle has been in better health recently... Oh no! Go to school! I'm going to be late for school!"

Before she finished speaking, Nina rushed to her desk to pack up her things, but she suddenly reacted after just two steps and looked up at the calendar on the bedside table: "Oh, no, today seems to be a day off..."

Then she turned around and buried her head on the pillow again: "Then I'll sleep for another two minutes..."

Shirley watched the whole process in bewilderment, watching Nina jump up from the ** and perform a series of dazzling operations, and finally return to the starting point as if nothing had happened. She couldn't find a place to interrupt until Nina threw herself on the ** again. She hesitantly approached, but before she could say anything, she saw Nina suddenly bounce up again, and the latter stretched hard: "Ah, I woke up."

Shirley: “……?”

"Shirley, what's wrong with you?" Nina turned around and looked at Shirley with energy. "Why do you look like that?"

Shirley: "You... wake up like this every morning?"

Nina was confused: "Ah? What?"

“That’s it…” Shirley gestured, as if she didn’t know how to explain it to the other person, “You jump up first, then do this, then this, then this and this…”

"Oh, I tend to be groggy when I wake up in the morning," Nina actually understood the correct information from Shirley's magical and abstract body language. She nodded and went to change her clothes. "But I'm fully awake now! Oh, by the way, Shirley, did you sleep well last night? I didn't sleep well, did I affect you?"

"I..." Shirley was about to speak when a series of memories suddenly came to her mind. She recalled the closed cabin, that early morning, the sound of leaving footsteps, the locked door, and the Deep Hound that broke in... But behind all that was an incredible adventure, a daring exploration.

It's a little weird, a little scary, but... pretty cool.

"I sleep very well," she smiled. "Actually, I'm not very good when I sleep. Agou always says that sooner or later I'll tear my bed apart in my sleep."

"Uncle used to say that to me, too." Nina changed her clothes, yawned, walked over to Shirley, took her hand and walked towards the door, "Let's go, let's eat first, I'm a little hungry."

Shirley was dragged out of the door in a daze, and then saw Duncan walking out of the kitchen. He was wiping his hands on his apron, and it was obvious that he had just finished cooking.

"Mr. Duncan..." Shirley was a little nervous again. Although she saw it with her own eyes, she felt that it was strange for such a person to be cooking in the kitchen. However, she quickly suppressed this strange feeling and bowed her head to greet him. "Good morning."

Just like the boss ordered, treat this place as an ordinary place and be a guest here like a normal person.

Although she herself had no idea what it was like to visit someone's home normally, it was always right to say hello in the morning.

"What are you having for breakfast?" Nina was already walking towards the kitchen, looking behind Duncan as she walked. "It smells so good!"

"I fried some sausages. I bought them when I came back yesterday," Duncan said casually. Then he held Nina's head and forced her to turn towards the bathroom. "Go wash your hands first!"

Then he looked at Shirley again, put his hands on his hips and said, "You too, don't just stand there like an idiot, go wash your hands together, and wash your face while you're at it!"

Shirley was startled, and quickly followed Nina to wash her hands and face, then she was the first to finish washing and returned to Duncan, opening her hands: "...clean."

After she finished speaking, she felt embarrassed and suddenly felt a little silly: as a person who was almost an adult, she actually showed her hands to adults like this after washing them in the morning. She looked more like a seven-year-old child than a seventeen-year-old - she didn't know why she suddenly had a brain spasm.

But Duncan didn't care about this. He just nodded, turned and walked towards the kitchen, and asked casually, "How was your sleep?"

Shirley lowered her head: "Yeah, it's okay...better than before."

"Does the injury in the dream affect reality?" Duncan asked again.

Shirley was startled, and suddenly she remembered that she seemed to have been "whipped" by the strange attacker in her dream. She quickly raised her left arm, and saw a faint scar!

Due to the strong self-healing ability, the scar has almost healed now, and I don’t even feel it. But there is no doubt that when I was injured in the dream last night, my body in reality must have suffered the same injury!

She was trapped in a dream at the time, so even though her body was injured in the real world, she was unable to wake up.

Duncan saw the marks on Shirley's arm, his eyes froze for a moment, and then he nodded slightly.

It was an unreasonable phenomenon, but it was not beyond expectations.

That strange dream... couldn't have been just a simple dream.

"It seems that getting hurt in that dream will also affect reality at the same time," he said to Shirley very seriously, "In the future, if you don't have me with you, don't explore that dream on your own. Your fighting ability is very strong, but it is not very effective against that monster that can split."

Shirley nodded quickly: "Yeah, I know."

Duncan thought for a moment and added, "Also, if you are trapped in that nightmare again, you can just call me."

Shirley was stunned for a moment, as if she was a little unresponsive: "Calling you?"

"Call my name, the full name I told you in the dream," Duncan said calmly, "or call the Lost Homeland - it's best to call next to a medium with mirror properties such as glass or a mirror, so that I can hear it more clearly."

Shirley listened and suddenly realized something. At the same time, through the mental connection between her and Agou, she also heard a nervous emotion coming from Agou's side.

"Do you... want me to be your dependent?" She raised her eyelids and asked nervously and conflictedly.

"I don't know what a retainer is, and I don't ask you to give me anything. It's just that you are Nina's friend, and now you are working with me - I just want to take care of you a little bit."

Shirley took a breath, but didn't dare to answer rashly. At this moment, Nina's cheerful voice suddenly sounded from the kitchen door: "What are you talking about?"

"You don't have to answer me now," Duncan whispered to Shirley, then looked up at Nina, "Why does it take so long to wash your hands?"

"I can't clean the eye mucus in the corner of my eye," Nina rubbed her eyes, "it hurts a little bit after rubbing it..."

"Drink more water these two days," Duncan looked at the girl helplessly, and then asked casually, "By the way, did you have that dream again last night? The one where you were standing on a high place overlooking the fire scene?"

"No," Nina thought for a moment and shook her head. "I dreamed last night that a horse was pressing on my stomach, and then a cow was pressing on it. It was so heavy... Uncle, why are you asking this suddenly?"

"Nothing, I just remembered that the psychiatrist is coming to visit today," Duncan shook his head, putting away the thoughtful look for a moment, "Let's eat."