No rush, let’s chew some gum first

Despite it being a dream, his gaze towards Xi Xue was filled with utter terror.

That dream had been far too real!

Every cell in his body remembered the suffocating fear, and the pain from Xi Xue’s hand piercing his chest was recalled with piercing, phantom clarity.

The agony and absolute despair of his heart being crushed permeated his entire being.

Could the pain of injury or death in a simple illusion truly be so vivid?

Evidently, it could not.

Suddenly, a horrifying possibility struck him.

‘Could I have actually died once just now?’

A shiver of cold sweat instantly drenched his entire body.

An inexplicable wave of lingering fear washed over his soul, paralyzing his Tier 7 might.

Just then, the Princess, who had been watching him thrash from not far away, spoke.

“Bloodlust Sin King, you have quite the audacity, to dare attempt to instantly kill me in your little fantasy?”

No trace of anger could be seen on the Princess’s face; instead, she smiled a mocking, playful, terrifying smile.

That smile sent shivers down his spine, causing cold sweat to pour and fear to freeze him to the bone.

“P-Princess! This subordinate deserves death! This subordinate deserves death! Please, I beg you, don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

The Bloodlust Sin King couldn’t help but kowtow violently, slamming his head into the earth as he begged for mercy.

Any flicker of hope he harbored of a sneak attack vanished without a trace the moment the Princess spoke.

‘What kind of power is this?! What kind of monstrous ability?!’

The dream had been terrifyingly real. Everything that happened within it was clearly remembered by both the manipulator and the victim.

It was as if they had truly experienced a cycle of life and death, with time seamlessly rewound and replayed within his own consciousness!

The Bloodlust Sin King’s scalp tingled. His body trembled uncontrollably, his heart pounded, and large beads of sweat streamed down his face.

He could no longer think tactically, nor could he control the overwhelming, primal fear flooding his body.

He felt that even if the Princess didn’t kill him now, his body’s instinctive fear reaction alone would cause his heart to race until it ruptured!

“Hehehe, no, not yet. I haven’t had enough fun. Besides, how do you know this moment right now is real?”

Xi Xue chuckled, then deliberately shaped her tone to create a terrifying psychological atmosphere, enunciating each word slowly: “Perhaps… you’re still in the dream, hehehe.”

The Bloodlust Sin King’s eyes widened, and his heart rate suddenly accelerated to a lethal pace. He cried out in absolute terror, “No! Princess! I beg you! Don’t do this! This subordinate deserves ten thousand deaths! This subordinate’s sin deserves ten thousand deaths! Please, show mercy—”

“Hehehe, no, I can’t. When you truly feel that death is your only release, then I’ll release you from the dream.”

“No!!! Princess—Ah!!!”

The screams echoed once more, repeating in what felt like an endless cycle of psychological torture.

Captain Xianglan watched the Bloodlust Sin King writhing, kowtowing, and twitching on the ground, a deeply thoughtful expression on her face.

“Xi Xue… what exactly are you doing to him?”

Xi Xue glanced at her, a gentle smile returning to her lips. “Alright, you can stop acting now. We’re all on the same side; there’s no need for such dramatic performances.

And there’s no need to put on an act or tell tall tales. Your acting earlier wasn’t even good enough to fool him anyway!”

She didn’t mean to mock them, but from the moment she had appeared, everyone had been performing a play.

Captain Wind and Captain Xianglan were feigning elaborate worries for her, creating fictional backstories about being assigned by her parents, while the Bloodlust Sin King was acting out his own part of the loyal, wronged servant.

It wasn’t until she pierced his mind that she finally realized the basis of their entire performance rested on the assumption that she was only Tier 5, and therefore needed protecting or tricking.

And so, she couldn’t help but find it amusing.

How should she put it?

It was like a dragon watching a group of ants playing complex psychological games to protect it from a spider.

Noble, but ultimately unnecessary.

Because everything they did, everything they acted out, was futile before her true power.

Upon hearing Xi Xue’s words, Captain Xianglan’s face flushed with embarrassment.

Setting aside Xi Xue’s somewhat blunt way of speaking, the mere fact that their desperate acting had been seen through by the enemy was enough to break her composure.

Honestly, she had thought they managed to fool him for a little while, at least…

But truly, Xi Xue was formidable. She had been consistently dominant from beginning to end, appearing to be only Tier 5 but actually wielding unfathomably terrifying power.

“So, what happened to the Bloodlust Sin King?” Captain Xianglan asked curiously, looking at the groveling King.

“Have you ever heard of an infinite dreamscape?” Xi Xue said, casting a charming, deadly smile at the Bloodlust Sin King.

“He’s been pulled into my mental domain, where he’s cyclically experiencing his own death nightmare, over and over, based on his own treacherous intentions.”

Captain Xianglan was genuinely astonished. “You possess the abilities of a high-tier succubus on top of everything else?”

Xi Xue merely glanced at her with a hint of offense. “Is this something a mere succubus can compare to? That dream is abnormally real, a forced cycle of reality woven into his soul.”

There was a clear hint of pride in her voice.

Truthfully, this psychological ability was quite rare and potent. She had originally developed it for Ruobing to experience, intending to use it playfully when they were separated and couldn’t be physically close, so they could share hyper-realistic dreams.

Shock appeared in Captain Xianglan’s eyes. After a moment of daze, she couldn’t help but ask, “What Tier are you truly at now?”

Her gaze fixed directly on Xi Xue, her eyes filled with awe.

Without a doubt, in her eyes, Xi Xue was absolutely a King, perhaps even higher.

A King represented a qualitative change for all ability users at the current stage, making them monstrously strong in every aspect. She refused to believe a Tier 5 ability user could trap a Tier 7 King in his own mind so effortlessly.

Xi Xue smiled mysteriously and said, “It’s almost time. We should let him out and send him on his way permanently.”

Captain Xianglan lowered her gaze, muttering, “Still playing coy about your strength?”

“Of course.”

With that, Xi Xue snapped her fingers.

Snap!

The Bloodlust Sin King, who was still twitching and rolling, shuddered violently. He snapped back to reality and opened his bloodshot eyes.

A large, bright moon hung in the sky, as round and luminous as during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Realizing he was back on the physical ground, he rolled over, scrambled up, and then saw Xi Xue and Captain Xianglan staring at him.

“…”

After a moment of profound silence, his face went slack, his body went completely limp, and he collapsed back onto the dirt.

He didn’t even struggle anymore; his pleas for mercy were gone.

He lay on the ground, utterly broken, awaiting the next cycle of death.

“…”

Xi Xue and Captain Xianglan watched him speechlessly, unsure of what to make of this total surrender.

“What? The dream is over, and you’re still just lying there?” Xi Xue’s mocking voice drifted over.

Upon hearing this, the Bloodlust Sin King immediately sprang up like a dying fish, then frantically knelt down again.

“Is what you’re saying truly real this time!?”

“Real, truer than pearls.”

“You must have felt it, too; not everything in a dream can be entirely real.”

“Many things only seem real, and become real when you touch and perceive them within the illusion. But once you disengage from them, they are as illusory as any nightmare.”

“In short, anything you interact with becomes incredibly real to your brain, while anything you disregard remains a false existence.”

Xi Xue patiently explained, nonchalantly revealing the characteristics of her terrifying ability to the broken King.

The Bloodlust Sin King immediately sealed his five senses and used his core magic to perceive the surrounding world’s energy signatures. It was indeed the real world.

Without a single word of hesitation, he instantly triggered his Tier 7 teleportation, covering hundreds, even thousands of meters in the blink of an eye.

Even with his severe injuries, he disregarded them all, burning his remaining life force to fuel his insane, instantaneous escape.

Seeing this, Captain Xianglan thought, ‘This isn’t good,’ and quickly shouted, “Xi Xue, he’s getting away!”

A King’s teleportation was no joke; if he ran now, he would truly be gone. If Xi Xue didn’t teleport immediately to catch him, the Bloodlust Sin King would become a catastrophic lingering threat.

Captain Xianglan was deeply flustered. She believed Xi Xue was definitely a King, but the Bloodlust Sin King had teleported first. Could Xi Xue catch up?

Unexpectedly, Xi Xue calmly said, “No rush. Let’s have some gum first. Here, eat all of these.”

With that, she handed Captain Xianglan a familiar pink box, opened it, and poured out all the chewing gum inside.

Before Captain Xianglan could even ask questions, Xi Xue pinched her cheeks and forcefully stuffed all the gum into her mouth.