"Wow!?"
Seeing the Infinity Gauntlet in the other's hand, Fang Mo was also stunned.
"You see, I told you this is a dream, right?"
Probably amused by Fang Mo's reaction, the girl also smiled: "You are quite stubborn. This is the first time in a dream that I've met someone as hard headed as you, insisting on telling me this isn't a dream..."
"I should be the one saying that, right?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Mo also rubbed his temples: "I, for one, have never met someone as stubborn as you, insisting that all of this is a dream."
"But this is indeed a dream."
Hearing this, the girl directly snapped her fingers.
With a "snap," a bright light shone, and the environment changed once again. The golden sandy beach had disappeared, replaced by a block world incredibly familiar to Fang Mo.
"If this isn't a dream, then how do you explain all of this?"
The girl pointed to the surrounding block world and shook the Infinity Gauntlet in her hand: "It's precisely because all of this is my lucid dream, so I can control everything here... Even the so-called Infinity Gauntlet is just a product of my thoughts."
"If you insist on being stubborn with me today, then don't blame me for getting serious."
Hearing this, Fang Mo was honestly a bit amused.
The opponent conjuring an Infinity Gauntlet out of thin air did startle him, but once Fang Mo calmed down, he quickly realized that the opponent's gauntlet was actually just a shell.
Yes, this Infinity Gauntlet was actually just a high-quality replica.
After all, this is a dream world, where everything is constructed by mental power.
The opponent had simply fantasized a model of the Infinity Gauntlet. In reality, fantasizing about a coconut wouldn't be any different. This Infinity Gauntlet was just an empty shell with appearances only, not possessing the ability to snap fingers or the like. Even if she snapped her fingers, the actual principle was just her using mental power to influence the dream.
This is indeed her dream.
Without Fang Mo's interference, the opponent could indeed control this world to some extent.
But as mentioned before, all of this is based on the premise that Fang Mo does not interfere. If he truly wanted to change something here, their mental powers are not on the same level.
The opponent was, after all, his former partner.
Fang Mo didn't want to do this.
But this little rascal was really too stubborn, and Fang Mo's patience was limited. Since merely talking couldn't convince the opponent, then she shouldn't blame him for taking action.
"So you say this is your dream, right?"
Fang Mo's eyes shifted, and he quickly revealed a mischievous smile: "Alright then, today I will duel with you."
"...Huh?"
Hearing Fang Mo's statement, the girl was clearly stunned.
But Fang Mo didn't give her a chance to speak, and with a wave of his hand, the surrounding block world suddenly began to shake, the ground's soil wriggling, and then a scarecrow made of cilantro suddenly emerged, immediately filling the air with a strong scent of cilantro.
"Yuck!"
Seeing this, the girl immediately frowned deeply and stepped back.
"Hahaha."
Seeing this scene, Fang Mo couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Yes, as his partner, Fang Mo was very clear about her preferences. This little crazy one seemed fearless, but she had quite a few food aversions, especially hating cilantro, to the point of vomiting if she accidentally ate it.
"...Don't come any closer!"
Just as Fang Mo had expected, the girl covered her nose and stepped back several steps, then suddenly snapped her fingers: "Disappear quickly!"
With a "snap."
A bright light shone.
Fang Mo clearly felt the dream world changing, a mental force attempting to erase the cilantro person, but with a thought, his overwhelming mental force instantly negated it.
However, the mental power confrontation behind the scenes is invisible.
At this moment, the apparent effect was... not only did the cilantro person not disappear, but it also gradually grew a face resembling the notorious celebrity Xiong Fengshan.
"I am the wild cilantro spirit from the depths of the Qinling Mountains!"
Suddenly, a person with a strong cilantro odor blurted out a bizarre catchphrase and rushed towards the young girl.
"…Huh?"
The girl was clearly stunned by this scene. Glancing at the Infinity Gauntlet in her hand with a bit of astonishment, she was momentarily distracted. In that brief moment, the cilantro person had already charged up to her, the overpowering smell of cilantro causing her to step back in revulsion.
"Ugh!"
It was evident that she couldn't stand it, and she instinctively covered her mouth.
Despite this, the girl defiantly snapped her fingers, attempting to erase the cilantro spirit before her, but to no avail.
"…"
Seeing this, the expression on her face began to change.
"Ha, bet you didn't see that coming?"
Fang Mo, watching from a distance, couldn't help but speak up, "My Infinity Gauntlet is male, and yours is female, so your gauntlet becomes ineffective in front of mine."
"You lie… Ugh!"
The girl immediately tried to retort, but ended up with a mouthful of cilantro.
Swallowing the cilantro turned her entire face green; she couldn't hold it in any longer and knelt on the ground to vomit.
"Um…"
Fang Mo, realizing he might have gone too far, quickly waved his hand to disperse the cilantro figure and went over to pat her on the shoulder.
"Now you believe this isn't a dream, right?"
He patted her back and then conjured a cup of water as if by magic and handed it to her.
However, the girl fiercely swatted Fang Mo's hand away and looked up at him with eyes possibly tear-stained from vomiting, her anger palpable as she gritted her teeth, "I get it now, this must be a nightmare!"
"Your mouth is harder than bedrock…"
Hearing this, Fang Mo could hardly keep his composure, "Forget it, I can't argue with you, this ancestor of stubbornness. If it's a nightmare, then you might as well wake up."
"Tch, boring."
The girl turned her head away, ignoring Fang Mo.
Having already been kneeling from the vomiting, she simply sat down on the grass, hugged her knees, and stared off into the distance, lost in thought about this blocky world.
"Ah… This is distressing."
Fang Mo sighed helplessly at the scene, "Well, we'll talk about it later."
He indeed had much he wanted to discuss with her, but since she wouldn't believe him, Fang Mo lost the motivation to continue and thought about leaving the dream.
Just as Fang Mo was about to leave, the girl seemed to sense something.
"Are you leaving?"
She asked.
"Yeah." Fang Mo responded gloomily, "Staying here doesn't make much sense anymore, we'll talk next time."
"Um…"
Hearing this, the girl fell silent for a moment, then in a very soft voice, she said, "Could you not go?"
"What did you say?"
Fang Mo appeared to be taken aback.
"You fool…" After hearing Fang Mo's words, the girl seemed to sigh, tightly clutching her knees as she spoke in an uncertain tone, "I said…I don't want you to go…"
"So you don't believe what I say, then."
Fang Mo spread his hands.
"Do you think I don't want to believe these things?" The girl, with her back to Fang Mo, hid her facial expressions, but her voice noticeably lowered.
"Of course, I want to believe you more than anyone else, that you're still alive."
"But how could that possibly be true? I've grown up… I'm no longer a child, it's time to distinguish dreams from reality."
With that, the girl tightened her grip on her knees again.
The delicate and fair fingers turned slightly bluish at the joints due to excessive exertion.
"Look around at these squares. I love this game just as much as you do, even if it's just a virtual world," she said.
The girl lifted her head, gazing into the distance and slowly spoke, "Actually, this isn't the first time I've dreamt of you. I feel so sad every time I wake up. If you dared to really stand in front of me and stuff cilantro into my mouth, I would beat you until you begged for mercy. But now... I just hope this dream can last a little longer because I can't bear to leave you."
"I..."
Hearing this, Fang Mo was momentarily at a loss for words.
Honestly, he hadn't anticipated her feelings. Now, having heard them, he felt genuinely overwhelmed.
For a moment, Fang Mo wanted to take her away, just as he had always wanted, without caring about the consequences, acting impulsively without looking back. But when it came time to speak, he didn't know what to say, and all that was left was an awkward silence.
"Stay with me a little longer," she said again.
"Oh, okay."
Fang Mo nodded blankly. At this moment, he really didn't know what else to say. The jester of yesteryears seemed to have turned into a complete fool at this moment.
Without a word, Fang Mo simply sat down next to her.
In the distance, at the end of the blocky world, a square sun was slowly sinking below the horizon.
To be honest, this scene might seem utterly foolish to outsiders, a scene Fang Mo himself would have likely ridiculed under normal circumstances. Yet now, he felt an unprecedented calmness.
The words he had always kept to himself seemed to have completely melted away.
Fang Mo sat with her on the ground for a long time.
Until the sun rose again from the horizon.
And it was at this moment that the girl beside Fang Mo once again began to speak, looking up at the distant sun, her figure seemed to be draped in a layer of orange gauze.
"This lucid dream is really special. I hope all of this is real," she said calmly, but Fang Mo could hear a faint hope in her voice.
"If you believe what I say, then all of this is real," Fang Mo looked at the girl's gentle profile. "I can find a way to prove all of this."
"Really?"
The girl smiled noncommittally and then suddenly asked, "By the way... can I borrow the Infinity Gauntlet to play with for a bit?"
"What for?"
Fang Mo asked, puzzled.
"You said yours is real, right?" The girl rested her chin on one hand and spoke casually, "I just want to see the difference between the real and the fake. Why is mine fake?"
"Here."
After thinking, Fang Mo ultimately took off the glove and handed it to her.
"It looks no different."
The girl took the glove and put it on her hand, "Well... if I have to say, it's just a bit larger than mine."
"That's not the same, I told you mine is male, so inside the fingers, there's a..."
Fang Mo began to laugh, intending to joke, but as he was speaking, the girl suddenly snapped her fingers.
A dazzling white light enveloped the entire dream world.
"Hey!"
Fang Mo was shocked; he hadn't expected her to really snap her fingers. The Infinity Gauntlet was real, and if there was backlash, she could have been in real trouble.
However, when the light dissipated, she appeared unharmed.
This relieved Fang Mo somewhat.
But soon, Fang Mo noticed a strange glow in the girl's hands, and she seemed a bit weak, her shoulders shaking slightly.
"What did you do?"
Fang Mo quickly supported her shoulders.
"This feeling... is indeed very strange," the girl looked somewhat wilted but her eyes shone brightly: "I feel like I can't hold on anymore, it's so real."
As she spoke, the world of the dream began to collapse around them.
Fang Mo sensed that the mental energy constructing the dream world had diminished significantly, so she could no longer sustain the dream.
"What the hell did you do..."
Feeling this, Fang Mo became somewhat anxious.
"Oh, it's just a dream," the girl looked up and smiled, then handed something to Fang Mo, "But even though it's just a dream, I still hope it's real. What do you think, am I being capricious?"
"What's this?"
Fang Mo took the light orb she handed over, also a bit bewildered.
"My everything."
The girl smiled at Fang Mo, but soon she couldn't help but turn her head and cover her face, "No, I can't take it, even in a dream, it's too cheesy."
"...Huh?"
Fang Mo really didn't understand, "What did you say?"
Unfortunately, this time, the girl couldn't respond to Fang Mo's words anymore. The world around them shattered like glass, and the girl disappeared, plunging everything into pure darkness.
"..."
Fang Mo stood in the void, looking at the Infinity Gauntlet floating in front of him.