Is the person you sculpt as cute as me?

She shook her head. "From the time I was born and gained self-awareness until now, I've endured a very long time just to know the answer. If you can give it to me, I certainly won't do such a thing."

"I hope so."

The countdown numbers are falling down bit by bit above your head.

There are still tens of seconds to wait.

The person in the mirror discovered something new and interesting.

"Your soul... is leaving this world, in a way that I can vaguely understand... but strangely, without the power to interfere... and... you are not going to the real world outside the mirror, but... stepping through a farther door, to the other side of it?"

"Yes." A single syllable, symbolizing affirmation, came out of her lips.

"Stranger..." The person in the mirror seemed to have thought of something, and exuded an unprecedented intensity. "I have no ill intentions. Please rest assured. I have something to do. It seems that there is still some time before your soul leaves..."

What is she going to do?

No, what can she do about the player's "offline" behavior? This was created by the gods who created the world.

The person in the mirror moved very nimbly. He pulled out a small bag from the fake garden reflected by the fake water droplets and then untied the leather rope.

A sound of collision, not quite crisp, came out of the bag gently as she moved, and fell into her palm.

Those are some small stones.

Or rather, it was the mysterious object on the surface of the pebble. Yu Man had never seen it before, but she could sense it.

That is the crystallization of "authenticity".

The reality stripped from the drowned and the cargo was stored in this way. They gathered into this extremely simple little stone, but it was the only reality in this world, apart from the feelings of the person in the mirror.

The person in the mirror selected a small one and gently crushed it between his fingers.

The powder of reality scattered in the air and was then blown away by the wishes of the person in the mirror.

They fluttered and landed on Yu Man's shoulders and clothes, then disappeared.

"No matter what, please promise me... When you get to your world, you'll take a water mirror. You must."

"……what?"

There was no need to ask, the system countdown had already disappeared.

That means - the soul returns to its place, back to the old world.

……

It feels a little more uncomfortable than usual, perhaps because there is one more door than usual when coming out of the small world.

But—it’s also a little more comfortable than before.

Because this is an incredibly real world, everything is alive. Even the dust, decay, spider webs, and bugs on the window are wrapped in an intense reality that is truly beautiful.

Oh right—where’s Cat-senpai?

Despite the promise made by the person in the mirror, it is hard to say how long Xiaolu and the others can remain in that confused world.

Yu Man didn't want any of them to get hurt - not even Xiang Xiang.

A quick decision was needed. The intelligence had to be dug out quickly, and the task was completed quickly. No matter what the outcome, more time always gave us a better chance.

"It's three in the morning...Senior Cat, please don't go out to look for food...Hmm? Soft."

Yu Man supported herself on the bed and looked at the clock on the bedside table.

But before I knew it, the place where my hand was pressing felt warm, soft, and elastic...obviously not the bed.

Oh, it’s Cat-senpai.

To be precise, it's its little belly.

There is less hair than in other places, but it is all very beautiful short hair, with patterns hidden in the white, and you can vaguely see some parts that cannot be shown after becoming a human.

Senior Cat was lying on his back on the bed, his limbs moving in an extremely wanton manner, his head and body twisted as if he were an enemy.

The sound of small breaths came out of its pink nose.

This means that it feels extremely safe and is resting in an extremely deep sleep.

"...It has a built-in sleep mode? That's all. Cat—"

Yu Man was about to wake it up, but suddenly remembered the instructions given by the person in the mirror before leaving.

Water mirror... Impossible? But it wouldn't hurt to try. She tiptoed out of bed, found a glass like a thief, poured water into it, and then returned with the glass. This time, she had kept her promise, and she hoped that she would keep her promise when she returned.

The glass was placed on the bedside table, gently lit by the table lamp, giving the whole room a view.

And Yu Man rubbed it awake.

"Meow..." Senior Cat wasn't too surprised, he just put on a helpless expression as if he was used to it. But after seeing who it was, "...it's Xiaoman?" he was surprised.

"problem occurs."

"...What's wrong? What's wrong?" Senior Cat's agility was lightning fast, and he immediately turned from his sleeping position to a hunting position.

"I played a strange dungeon, and the person at the end seemed to be your wife."

The cat rolled his eyes, as if scolding Yu Man for making such a joke. But Yu Man's expression was different, so he slowly became serious and tried to ask -

"Which...daughter-in-law?"

"Fuck, are there that many?"

"No, it's just that many people would call themselves my lover, sweetheart, beloved, wife, or something like that, or say they were abandoned by me. Most of them are probably dead and gone, but there are one or two who still exist, so it's not surprising, it's quite normal."

Is this normal?

Senior Cat spoke very honestly, without boasting at all, revealing only a hint of melancholy: "As long as he's not my enemy, it's fine. I only have one enemy."

""lie"?"

"No, another one of the Three Secrets."

Yu Man interrupted: "Was he one of the 'two secretaries'?"

Senior Cat was a little surprised, but soon became happy.

He lightly jumped onto Yu Man's shoulders, deliberately bent her back, and bullied her neck and head.

Yu Man threw it over her shoulder, but the light cat just enjoyed it, ran to her thighs, put its hands in her lap, and sat down.

"As expected of you, you even know this. Well, that story is too long, I'll tell you later. You must have encountered good things now, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have logged off to find me."

"Inside the water, there exists a small world, made entirely of lies. At the end of the level is a little girl who recognizes 'going against all things' but doesn't recognize 'lies'..."

Yu Man told the story as briefly and quickly as possible.

Senior Cat was quite confused at first, but the more he listened, the more serious he became.

She even lost her playful cat-like mind and simply lowered her head. "Xiao Man, you said the building over there is a reflection of the Holy Court of the 'Cathedral of Time'."

"Ah."

"I don't really know what the complex looks like—and you don't have to show me the video, I know what you're talking about."

Senior Cat blinked and looked at Yu Man.

"Where the Divine Court was built was once a beautiful lake, covered in pale blue flowers. I don't know how to describe it, but it was beautiful..."

"I see, your round hasn't got this building yet."

"This is the story of me and 'Lie'. If you're in a hurry... I might not be able to finish it, and it won't help you with your game strategy at all. But if I don't start from here... you won't understand the situation in this dungeon..."

Yu Man laughed and touched it gently.

This is the story of the "Three Secrets" and the people who pass the level. Or, in other words, it is the story that Yu Man, the only companion in this world who knows him well, tells to the only person who can understand him before the world may be reset.

Of course Yu Man wanted to listen.

"NPC who tells the hidden story, you whose soul is imprisoned in a cat, please tell me the story!"

Senior Cat also laughed, but there was a strong sense of nostalgia in his smile.

"First of all, the reason you entered this dungeon is because that big talker, 'Lie,' wanted to show off my story with you. He wanted to see if I still remembered it, and wanted me to tell it... That's all."

Starting with the same smile, it fulfilled Lie's little wish.

"Outside the main city island where I was born, there are ancient ruins. Inside, lives a ninth-level monster. Long ago, humans tricked the monster into taking its heart, blocking its path to advancement. Therefore, it has been cursing humans ever since, as revenge for that past hatred."

"curse?"

"Well, the curse is—"You can only lie forever." Unfortunately, a little NPC girl fell for it, and even more unfortunately, she asked me for help."

Yu Man was in high spirits and listened with bated breath.

"The server had just launched, and I'd just started playing. I got yelled at by some idiotic foreigner in the arena, so I went out to kill monsters. On the way, a little girl kept saying things like, 'You're so weak, you're so stupid, I really don't need you, can you please stay away from me?' ... Ha, it was a tortuous process, but that was how I met lies."

"She's asking you for help."

"Yeah." Senior Cat sighed, "When I'm offline, she'll just sit there where I was offline. As soon as I come back online, she'll immediately say to me cheerfully, 'You're not welcome. I hate seeing you.'"

"Haha."

"When I go to the mountains to collect whetstones, she'll follow me everywhere. When I go to a dungeon, she'll even follow me in. When I go out to sea, she hides in a wine barrel. Oh, it's so annoying. I can only help her, but I'm not Xiaoman, I can't defeat a ninth-level regional boss or a difficult outdoor dungeon..."

"But you still fought."

"Well, that was two months after the server opened. Every day I spent searching for a way to break the curse for her, playing with her, taking her on adventures, and improving myself... figuring out how to defeat that monster... Before I knew it, I was progressing much faster than all the other players, and I was stronger than them all."

"And then you became a professional?"

"I've said before that my debut was a small test tournament held by Yugi. But the real reason I realized my strength was when the curse took effect and nearly killed her. I bravely challenged the monster to a one-on-one fight... and it was a piece of cake."

Yu Man clapped his hands, worthy of being called "going against all things".

But Senior Cat's expression was gloomy. "But that hurt her. Before the monster died... it used its life and soul to cast another Deathrattle Curse. The situation was very bad."

"……That?"

"There's only one way to break the curse." Senior Cat's expression was somewhat proud, yet helpless. "That's to make her stop lying. Do you know what that means, Xiaoman?"

"…shut her up? Uh, wait, could it be—"

Senior Cat whispered, "I fulfilled all her lies, all her boasts, even her dreams... just to make them come true. In doing so, I wiped away the heavy curse for her."

"……What?!"

"She's a timid and clueless creature, with small thoughts and small things in mind, but the curse will turn her words into exaggerated and gorgeous boasts. I can only fulfill them one by one and make them real - Xiaoman, your current copy is a stroke of the past."

"Tell me more."

"That day I won my first crown, and the Creator promised me a reward. I happily took her on a trip... When we passed that lake, she saw her reflection in it. Even though her thoughts were pessimistic, when she spoke them out loud, they turned into—"

Cat Senior apologized a little——

"Even if humans drown, they will be happy, transforming into carefree, legendary fairies and living forever, without any conflicts caused by appearance or gender. They can just pick up the things that humans throw into the water that they don't need, and that's enough for them to survive."

"……this……"

"It's strange, isn't it? It's hard to imagine how pessimistic her original thoughts were. But what can I do? I can only find the Creator of the World and exchange the reward for something that can transform the lie into truth. And that world, that reflection, those fairies... are all the remnants of that time."

But Senior Cat shook his head.

"But, those things...that world, those fairies...shouldn't have stayed for so long, even to this day."

"The lie was left for you." Yu Man said.

"Yes, I even built a temple on that lake, preserving her reflection from the past... and the fairy world there. And, even to this day, I've deliberately told you all of that—and tormented you so much... and asked you to convey it to me—"

"She still remembers."

Yu Man said what it couldn't say.

It is even more of a lie that I want to tell it now.

Apparently—that's exactly what it wanted to hear.

173. Thank you for the silver treasure chest

"In short—this is why the dungeon you're in now looks like this."

Having said this, Senior Cat finally relaxed.