Chapter 704: The Hub of the Clockwork

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 a look of intoxication 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 anything about anyone else, with her mouth slightly open and a rhythmic snore coming from her mouth.

"What's going on with this girl?" Mu You walked up to the 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 the questions anymore... ugh... …”

After they walked out of the forest just now, they all woke up immediately. Only Mianmian walked out of the forest, but he fell asleep completely and couldn't be woken up.

"She should still be in her dream." Vivian flew to Mu You's shoulder and glanced at the girl: "However, 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.

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 why she was able to come out was all because of the dream-eating tapir that led her to lie down and win.

"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 the Dream-eating Tapir on the 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 continued on their way without stopping.

Following Vivian through the 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 ahead are composed of various clocks.

The city walls and all the buildings in the city, as well as the masonry paved 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 high in the sky was actually a large pocket watch shining with golden light.

The three of them, Mu You, 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 in 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 quickly solidified, 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 hearing this, Mu You thought for a while and tried to retreat into the fog.

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

The 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 is in danger, there is no need to worry. At most, if you wake up in reality, there will be no risk to the real body.

And turning 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.

Indeed, as she said, the hands of all the clocks on the tree, and even all the clocks in sight, seemed to be fixed and would not beat like normal clocks at all.

"No, it's not broken."

Vivian shook her head, spread her wings and flew to the tree, picked off several clocks from the tree, and threw them to the three of them respectively. 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 by not broken?" Mu You asked. Even if these clocks were taken off, they were still in a static state.

"These clocks are running normally. The reason why you can't see them moving is that the time in this city does not flow linearly, but jumps in a disorderly order. Every once in a while, everyone will randomly jump to another time point. Of course, the jump will not be too large, and it must be within 5 hours before and after."

After Vivian finished speaking, she glanced at the watches in the hands of several people: "So, remember the time in your hands at this time. Once you find that other people suddenly disappeared and only you are still there, it means that your time has jumped. What you need to do at this time is to immediately turn the clock in your hand back to the current time, so that you can come back."

"Oh?"

Mu You raised his eyebrows. The clock in his hand directly determined the timeline they were in. This mechanism is very interesting.

"What if you carry two watches and turn 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, other watches will not count."

"I understand." Lin Xue nodded.

"Let's go." Vivian continued to lead the way.

The three of them silently wrote down the time in their hands and followed behind.

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

There was no guard in front of the city gate as imagined, and the gate was open.

The three of them followed Vivian and stepped straight 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 many "people" living in this city.

However, they were not normal humans, but "clock people": their bodies were human bodies, men, women, young and old, but they all had a clock on their necks, replacing the original human heads.

The time displayed on the top of each clock person's head was different. The four of them swaggered in. Everyone around them was doing their own work mechanically, carrying, repairing, painting walls, etc. No one looked at them, as if they were just puppets.

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

Mu You has seen these creatures before. They are called time managers, a type of smoke beast. They once hunted Zuo Qiu and Hong Xiu. It is normal for them to appear in this city of time now.

At this moment, these time smoke beasts are turning into supervisors, holding giant axes and whips, floating in the city, supervising the work of other clock people.

Once they find someone slacking off, they will immediately rush forward and whip the other person violently until the slacking cattle and horses return to their posts again.

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

"These clock people are actually people who strayed here for various reasons."

"Oh?"

"If a creature strays into this place, it is easy to get lost in the time rules here without anyone leading it. If it can't get out for a long time, it will gradually lose itself, and its head will become a clock, until it completely forgets its identity and becomes a slave to the city of time, and from then on, it will work for this city without stopping..." Vivian's tone was a little emotional.

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

Vivian said that she had been here before, and it was fine that she understood the mechanism here, but she even knew the origins of these clock people so well...

Combined with what she said that she seemed to have mistakenly entered the Heart of Time, could it be...

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

"Ah..." The three of them looked a little surprised.

"Then how did you change back?" Mu You asked.

Vivian just said that once you become a clock person, you need to stay here forever to work, but her soul is still alive now, which means that she must have escaped from here in some way at that time.

"Not all clock people have to stay here. Some people who have 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 return to their original appearance and gain some special abilities." Vivian said.

"Time Cage?"

"The core of this city is also where I will take you today. If you want to merge the Time God Bone, that will be the place you must enter." Vivian looked at Mu You.

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

Of course, Mu You also knew that this test must be very difficult and could not be passed casually, otherwise time responders like Vivian would be everywhere.

"Let's go."

Vivian led the three people into the city, and before leaving, she reminded them of a note.

"Remember, if these clock people talk to you, no matter what they say or what they ask you to do, ignore them, pretend not to see them, and just walk away quietly."

The three did not ask why, nodded silently, and followed Vivian.

Mu You had just walked a few steps when he felt the light and shadow around him change.

Looking up, he was still standing in the same place, but Vivian and the others disappeared without a trace, and the positions of the clock people around him 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 hurriedly adjusted the minute hand back.

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

"That's about 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.

Then the few people would suddenly disappear every few minutes. Fortunately, with Vivian's guidance, they didn't make any mistakes. They immediately turned the clock back after a jump, and always kept the four of them together.

The problem of time jump was solved so easily.

As for the precautions Vivian just mentioned... the few people had been alert to the clock people around them all the way, but no one dared to approach them. Instead, all the clock people would stay away from them wherever they passed.

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

"They are not afraid of us, but of Mu You." Vivian corrected.

"Afraid of me?" Mu You was startled.

"You forgot that you are also an 'administrator'. In the eyes of the clock people, you and those smoke beasts are all emitting the breath of 'supervisors'. Of course, they dare not approach you."

"I see."

Mu You did not expect that the identity of an administrator also had this function. No wonder Vivian wanted them to always walk together. With his heavy administrator's deterrence, a lot of troubles can be naturally reduced.

Easily solved the two major troubles, and the rest of the journey was smooth. During the period, some smoke beasts floated over to observe a few people, but they only looked at them from a distance. They should have seen that they were led by someone and were not pedestrians who strayed in, so they did not come forward to cause trouble.

The position of the four people was Vivian leading the way, Mu You and Xiaoya walked in the middle, and Lin Xue fell a little behind.

This was nothing, but Mu You always felt the sight from behind him as he walked along.

He looked back at Lin Xue in a strange way, but Lin Xue turned her face away in advance. When Mu You looked back, she was looking in another direction in the distance, concentrating on looking at the scenery.

Mu You had to turn his head and continue walking.

But just as he turned back, the sight behind him came again.

"Uh..." Mu You's face looked a little strange. Even if he didn't turn back, he could still feel that Lin Xue was secretly watching him.

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

Mu You felt strange, so he simply walked slower and waited for Lin Xue to get closer.

As a result, when he slowed down, Lin Xue also slowed down, but she didn't go far away, and always kept a distance of several meters from him, and her movements were very synchronized, as if she could read his mind... Oh no, she really could read his mind!

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

"What's wrong, Xiao... uh..."

As a result, before Mu You finished speaking, he saw Lin Xue suddenly disappear from the spot.

Time happened to jump at this time by coincidence.

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

Soon, Lin Xue appeared again.

But she didn't appear in the original position, but appeared in front, next to Xiaoya.

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

Now Mu You can be sure that Lin Xue is indeed deliberately avoiding him.

Why?

Mu You was very confused, and when he wanted to catch up and ask.

Lin Xue seemed to have foreseen the future and leaned close to Xiaoya's ear. The two chattered about the girls' private conversations, and now Mu You couldn't step forward to interrupt.

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

"You two, did you quarrel?"

Obviously, not only Mu You could feel it, but even Vivian could see the changes in Lin Xue. Only Xiaoya was simple-minded and had not noticed anything unusual so far.

"No... should be..."

Mu You spread his hands. He wanted to say no with certainty, but Lin Xue's strange behavior made him a little uncertain.

"I usually don't ask about the affairs of you young people. No matter who you provoke outside, I will support you unconditionally, but if you bully Xiaoxue, I won't agree." Vivian said.

"I am wronged..."

Mu You didn't know whether to laugh or cry for a while, he obviously didn't do anything... (End of this chapter)