This Text Adventure Game is Absolutely Toxic Chapter 704

 The edge of the Dream Forest is covered with 'dream grass' and 'dream flowers' of various colors. This is an illusory product formed by the long-term accumulation of dream elements around them because the surrounding dream elements are too strong.

At this moment, the pink dream-eating tapir was lying on the grass in front of the forest, its long nose resting on the surrounding flowers and plants, breathing heavily, with an intoxicated look on its face, and a satisfied hum from its mouth, as if it had taken a drug.

On the back of the dream-eating tapir, Mianmian lay motionless on the soft fur, sleeping without knowing anyone else, with his mouth slightly open and a rhythmic snoring sound coming from his mouth.

"What's going on with this girl?" Mu You walked up to Dream Eater Tapir, pinched the little girl's face, and tried to wake her up.

It's a pity that the little girl showed no sign of waking up. Instead, she frowned slightly, a look of pain appeared on her face, and muttered incomprehensibly: “…No, don't…I really don't want to do any more questions…vomit…”

They all woke up immediately after walking out of the forest. Only Mian Mian walked out of the forest, but she fell asleep completely and couldn't be woken up.

"She should still be in a dream." Vivian flew to Mu You's shoulder and glanced at the girl: "But it doesn't look like a dangerous dream."

 Mu You looked at the dream-eating tapir and roughly guessed the cause and effect: the dream forest's sleeping mechanism was obviously ineffective against the dream-eating tapir.

And the little girl followed the dream-eating tapir into the forest. With the dream-eating tapir around, she had no chance of encountering nightmares, but she was unable to fulfill the dream owner's wish, so she was trapped in the dream.

 The reason she was able to come out was all because the Dream Eater Tapir took her to sleep.

“Don't worry, she will wake up naturally when the dream is over.”

Vivian turned back and looked at the thick fog on the other side of the grassland: "It's better if she stays here, it can save a lot of trouble."

Mu You understood what Vivian meant. Next, they were going to the Heart of Time. That place was obviously dangerous.

“Just take her to stay here and wait for us.” Mu You patted Mengshi's head and told her.

The little mirage raised its nose to show that it heard it, and continued to lie down in front of the grass, sucking the grass happily.

 “Let's go.”

 The four of them did not stop any longer and continued on their way.

Following Vivian through a white mist on the grassland in front of them, behind the mist, what appeared in front of their eyes was a huge "clock" city.

 The reason why it is called the City of Clocks is because all the elements in the city in front are composed of various clocks.

 The city walls and all the buildings in the city, as well as the bricks and stones on the ground, are all inlaid with clocks of different sizes, including retro wall clocks, pocket watches, modern style watches, alarm clocks, electronic watches...

Even the white clouds in the sky are made up of elongated and distorted time displays.

Mu You looked up and took a closer look, and found that even the sun in the sky was actually a large pocket watch shining with golden light.

Mu You and the three of them were all in a daze. Before they came, they had never thought that the so-called Heart of Time would be such a city that subverted imagination.

Vivian from the front had already walked out first, and the three of them hurriedly followed.

However, the moment Mu You stepped out of the fog and entered the outskirts of the city, he suddenly felt a heaviness in his body.

 Looking down, he realized that his body had solidified rapidly, and all the equipment and props he carried with him had also become entities, and he no longer needed to use his spirit to manifest them.

"Isn't this a dream?" Mu You looked at Vivian strangely. He could feel that he was now in a real body.

"The Heart of Time is only hidden in the dream world for self-protection. It does not mean that it is also a product of dreams. As long as it steps into the range of the Heart of Time, the dream body will transform back into its true form." Vivian said: "Of course, the Heart of Time There is no direct exit to the outside world, so you still have to leave the dream world when you go back."

After listening to this, Mu You thought for a while and tried to retreat into the fog.

Sure enough, his body quickly became insubstantial again and returned to the dream state. When he stepped out of the fog, he returned to his physical form.

This circle of fog outside the city is like a dividing line between reality and dreams. One step away, they are two completely opposite states.

“I see…” Mu You nodded.

There seems to be no difference between the entity and the dream body, but in fact there is a big difference. If the dream body encounters danger, there is no need to worry. At most, it will wake up in reality, and the real body will not be at any risk.

 Transforming back into a physical body means that you will be injured and die, so you can't just wander around.

The four of them walked towards the Clock City in front of them. All kinds of flowers, plants and trees were growing along the road. What made them wonder was that the fruits on all the trees and the flowers blooming in the bushes were actually one by one or two. Big or small clock.

Everything in this city seems to display the core element of this city: time.

"These watches... all seem to be broken..." Xiaoya looked curiously at the clocks hanging above a big tree on the roadside.

It is indeed as she said, the hands of all the clocks on the tree, and even all the clocks in sight, seem to be fixed and will not beat like normal clocks at all.

 “No, it's not broken.”

Vivian shook her head, spread her wings and flew to the tree. She took off a few clocks from the tree and threw them to the three of them. Then she took off another watch and put it on her neck.

Mu You glanced at the several watches Vivian had taken off and found that the times on them were all different. His was 3:40, Xiaoya's was 8:11, Lin Xue's was 7:05, and Vivian's was 10:02. .

“What do you mean it's not broken?” Mu You asked. Even if these clocks were taken off, they would still be stationary.

"These clocks are running normally. The reason why you can't see them moving is because time in this city does not flow linearly, but jumps out of order. Every once in a while, everyone will randomly jump to other times. Of course, the jump will not be too big, it will definitely be within 5 hours."

After Vivian finished speaking, she glanced at the watches in the hands of several people: "So, keep in mind the time in your hands. Once you find that other people have suddenly disappeared, and only you are still where you are, that is yours." Time has jumped, and what you need to do now is to immediately set the clocks in your hands back to the current time, so that you can go back."

"oh?"

Mu You raised his eyebrows. The clock he held directly determined the timeline they were in. This mechanism was quite interesting.

“What would happen if I had two watches on me and dialed them to different timelines?” Lin Xue asked.

Vivian shook her head: "No matter how many watches you bring, only the first watch you get in the city represents your time. Before this watch is lost, the other watches will not count."

“I understand.” Lin Xue nodded.

 “Let's go.” Vivian continued to lead the way.

 The three of them silently recorded the moments in their hands and followed behind.

 Soon, the four of them arrived in front of the city.

 There were no guards in front of the city gate as expected, and the gate was open.

 The three of them followed Vivian directly into the city gate.

The buildings in the city were dense and messy. What the three of them didn't expect was that there were actually many "people" living in this city.

　　It's just that they are not normal humans, but "clock people": their bodies are human bodies, men, women, and children, but they all have a clock on their necks, replacing the original human heads.

The time displayed above each clockman's head is different. The four people swaggered in. Everyone around them was doing their own work mechanically, such as moving, repairing, painting walls, etc. No one looked at them, as if they were just mentioning things one by one. String puppets.

In addition to these clock men, some smoke beasts with human upper bodies and smoke lower bodies can also be vaguely seen on the nearby streets.

Mu You has seen these creatures before. They are called time administrators, a type of smoke beast. They once hunted down Zuoqiu and Hongxiu. Now it is normal for them to appear in this city of time.

At this moment, these time smoke beasts are transforming into overseers, holding giant axes and whips, floating around the city, supervising the work of other clockworkers.

 Once they find that someone is slacking off, they will immediately rush forward and beat the other person hard until the slacking cow and horse return to their posts again.

"These are..." Mu You looked at Vivian with a strange expression.

“These watchmakers are actually people who accidentally entered here for various reasons.”

"Oh?"    Creatures that stray into this place, without someone to guide them, can easily get lost in the time rules here. If they cannot get out for a long time, they will gradually lose themselves, and their heads will turn into clocks, until they are completely forgotten. My identity has become a slave of the City of Time, and I have been working endlessly for this city since then..." Vivian said with some emotion.

"How do you know this..." Mu You was a little strange.

Vivian said that she had been here before and it was enough to understand the mechanism here. She even knew the origins of these clock people...

Combined with the fact that she said that she herself seemed to have entered the heart of time by mistake, could it be...

Vivian shook her head and sighed: "Because I have become such a clockmaker before."

 “Ah…” The three of them looked a little surprised.

“Then how did you change back?” Mu You asked.

Vivian just said that once she becomes a clockworker, she will need to stay here and work forever, but her soul is still alive, which means she must have escaped here in some way.

"Not all clockworkers have to stay here. Some people with a strong obsession with survival will get a chance to enter the 'time cage'. If they can complete the test of the heart of time and come out alive, they can recover. It's the original appearance, and it can also gain some special abilities." Vivian said.

 “Time cage?”

“The core of this city is also the place I will take you to today. If you want to fuse the Divine Bone of Time, that will be the place you must enter.” Vivian looked at Mu You.

Mu You nodded. Vivian obviously successfully passed this test, and the ability she gained was her ability to passively respond to time.

Of course, Mu You also knows that this test must be very difficult and cannot be passed casually. Otherwise, time responders like Vivian will be ruined.

 “Let's go.”

Vivian led the three of them towards the city. Before leaving, she gave them one more note.

“Remember, if these watchmen talk to you, no matter what they say or ask you to do, just ignore them, pretend not to see them, and walk away silently.”

 The three of them didn't ask why, they nodded silently and followed Vivian.

As soon as Mu You took a few steps, he felt the light and shadow around him change.

Looking up, he was still standing where he was, but Vivian and the others had disappeared without a trace, and the positions of the clockmakers around him had also changed slightly.

Mu You subconsciously glanced at the clock in his hand.

Sure enough, his time jumped from 3:40 to 3:10, jumping to half an hour ago.

 He quickly turned the minute hand back.

The scene in front of him changed again, and Lin Xue and the other three reappeared, all looking at him, obviously aware of what had happened.

"That's pretty much it. Don't be nervous. As long as you don't forget the original time, there will be no danger of getting lost." Vivian said.

As expected, several people suddenly disappeared every few minutes. Fortunately, with Vivian's guidance, there was no confusion. The clock was immediately set back as soon as the jump occurred, and the four of them always acted together.

 The problem of time jump is solved so simply.

As for the precautions Vivian mentioned just now... As they walked along, they had been alert to the clockmen around them, but as a result, no one dared to approach them. Instead, wherever they passed, all the clockmen would stay away.

"Why do these people seem to be afraid of us?" Xiaoya looked around strangely at the clockmakers who all showed fear.

“It's not that we are afraid, but that of Mu You.” Vivian pointed out.

 “Are you afraid of me?” Mu You was startled.

“You have forgotten that you are also an 'administrator'. In the eyes of the clock people, you, like those smoke beasts, exude the aura of a 'regulator'. Of course they dare not approach you.”

"I see."

Mu You didn't expect that being an administrator would have this effect. No wonder Vivian wanted them to stay together all the time. With him as an administrator, he could naturally reduce a lot of trouble.

The two major troubles were solved easily, and the rest of the way was smooth. During this period, some smoke beasts floated over to observe a few people, but they only looked at them from a distance. It should be seen that they were led by someone and were not pedestrians who entered by mistake. , so he didn't come forward to look for trouble.

  Among the four people, Vivian was leading the way, Mu You and Xiaoya were walking in the middle, and Lin Xueluo was a little behind.

This was nothing at first, but as Mu You walked along, he could always feel the gaze from behind.

He turned back to look at Lin Xue strangely, but Lin Xue turned away early. When Mu You turned around, she was looking in another direction in the distance, concentrating on the scenery.

Mu You had no choice but to turn around and continue walking.

But just as he turned his head, the line of sight from behind him was once again cast towards him.

"Uh..." Mu You looked a little strange. Even if he didn't look back, he could still feel that Lin Xue had been secretly watching him.

 But whenever he wanted to turn his head and look back, Lin Xue would immediately look away.

Mu You felt strange and simply walked a little slower, waiting for Lin Xue to approach.

As a result, when he slowed down, Lin Xue also slowed down, but she didn't move away. She always kept a few meters away from him. Her movements were very synchronized, as if she could read minds... Oh no, she really could read minds!

Mu You couldn't bear it anymore, so he turned back and walked towards Lin Xue, ready to ask her what happened.

 “What's wrong, little...uh...”

As a result, before Mu You could finish speaking, Lin Xue suddenly disappeared.

 It is a coincidence that time jumped at this time.

Mu You was not in a hurry and waited for a few seconds.

 Soon, Lin Xue appeared again.

 But he did not appear at his original location, but appeared in front, next to Xiaoya.

 Obviously, she did not adjust the clock immediately after the time jump, but deliberately took a few steps forward before returning.

Now Mu You could be sure that Lin Xue was indeed avoiding him on purpose.

Why?

Mu You was at a loss when he wanted to catch up and ask.

Lin Xue came close to Xiaoya's ear like a prophet, and the two of them chatted about the girls' whispers. Now Mu You couldn't step forward to interrupt.

Vivian flapped her wings and landed on Mu You's shoulders. She looked at Lin Xue in front of her, and then at Mu You.

 “You two, had a quarrel?”

 Obviously, not only Mu You can feel it, but also Vivian can see the change in Lin Xue. Xiaoya is simple-minded and has not noticed anything strange so far.

 “No…should be…”

 Mu You spread his hands. He wanted to say definitely no, but Lin Xue's weird behavior made him a little unsure.

"I generally don't interfere with the affairs of you young people. No matter who you provoke outside, I will support you unconditionally. But if you bully Xiaoxue, I will not agree." Vivian said.

 “I was wronged…”

Mu You couldn't laugh or cry for a moment, he obviously didn't do anything... (End of this chapter)

Chapter end