When Firefly was about to walk back along the road they'd taken, Pei Guang reached out to stop her.
"We're returning to reality through the hotel, right? If we walk all the way back, we'll just waste time going in circles."
Firefly looked down at the Golden Hour below them, her eyes lighting up. "You mean… we jump down?"
Pei Guang nodded. "Exactly! But if we just jump straight down, even in a dream, it wouldn't feel too pleasant, right? I've got a signature move for this—want to try it?"
"I do!"
Hearing her enthusiastic answer, Pei Guang revealed a mysterious grin. He pulled out a trash can, filled it with water, then gallantly extended his hand toward Firefly.
"My beautiful lady, please step into this can. Believe me: this will let you experience a kind of joy you've never felt before!"
"Ah?"
Firefly froze for a moment.
She'd already seen way too many trash cans today—but what was the deal with this water-filled one? Was he planning to cook her alive and make soup out of her?
Though confused, Firefly obediently climbed into the barrel. As soon as she did, Pei Guang jumped in right after her.
She widened her eyes as she looked at him, her tone both expectant and a little nervous. "You… came in too?"
Pei Guang: "This way, it'll be faster. Besides, I can't control the flight path. If we end up separated, it'll just waste time regrouping. Hm? Is it too cramped? If it's uncomfortable, I can grab another barrel."
Firefly lowered her head and mumbled softly, "No, it's fine. I was just asking. What should I do next?"
Cramped? How could she possibly mind? If anything, she wanted to stay like this a little longer! It was the first time in her life she'd felt a genuine desire to linger by someone's side.
Pei Guang: "No worries, we're not hiding inside it—we're just using the can for a quick descent. We'll just stand like this and we're good~"
That was how Pei Guang saw it. But as for the trash can… today it was enduring a burden far beyond its design limits.
It was just an ordinary trash can Pei Guang had picked up, not meant to carry even one person, let alone two full-sized adults.
Yet Pei Guang didn't sense the poor thing's protest at all. As soon as he climbed in, he summoned the Engine of Creation again, which promptly lifted the barrel.
Under Pei Guang's command, the Engine of Creation aimed straight toward the Reverie Hotel.
Once the coordinates were locked in, the engine hurled the water-filled trash can, with both of them inside, across the dreamscape. The moment it was thrown, Pei Guang dismissed the engine.
At that instant, the barrel became a streak of light cutting across Penacony's dreamlike night sky. Inside, Firefly's eyes widened as she instinctively clung to Pei Guang's arm.
It wasn't the fall that frightened her: it was the fact that she was plummeting inside an unstable, water-filled container for the first time in her life.
Pei Guang, on the other hand, was perfectly calm. He'd already done this more than once in reality, landing safely every time, so in a dream, what could possibly go wrong?
At worst, he figured, he'd just "die in the dream" and wake up back in reality.
As Firefly trembled in nervous anticipation and Pei Guang let his imagination run wild, the barrel shot toward the Reverie Hotel.
Just as he expected, the descent was incredibly efficient—and the sight of a flying trash can carrying two people drew the stares of countless passersby below.
From the street, people watched as a high-speed, water-filled trash can, with two passengers, came hurtling from the sky straight toward the Reverie Hotel.
Within seconds, the projectile was about to hit.
Seeing the hotel rapidly approach, Pei Guang nodded in satisfaction. Fast travel inside the map: this was absolutely his favorite way to move around.
In just a few seconds, they were about to "arrive."
But as the Reverie Hotel grew closer, Firefly's grip on his arm tightened.
The lack of control over their motion was terrifying, but strangely enough, with him beside her, that fear melted away, replaced by a kind of joy she couldn't put into words.
She was curious: what would happen when the can carrying her and Pei Guang actually hit the hotel?
Closer, and closer still!
Right before impact, Pei Guang grabbed Firefly and crouched down.
The barrel's space was cramped, but they managed to squeeze low together.
And just as they crouched, the can crashed into the Reverie Hotel's building. But instead of the explosive collision one might expect, the moment of impact caused the barrel to vanish entirely.
Pei Guang had no idea the trash can, and themselves, had just phased through. When he felt the world stabilize outside, he pulled Firefly up and said,
"Don't worry—we've arrived at the Reverie Hotel. See? Super efficient, right?"
He was just about to brag about his "fast travel" technique: after all, he'd once used the same trick back on the Xianzhou Luofu to move quickly through a domain.
But when he stepped out of the barrel this time, he froze in confusion.
"I'm pretty sure we were aiming for the hotel building, right? The rooms don't even have windows—so how did we end up inside one?"
At that moment, Pei Guang realized they hadn't landed outside the Reverie Hotel at all: they'd somehow arrived inside it.
And unlike the normal hotel interior, floating lines of text surrounded them, accompanied by matching voices echoing softly through the air.
Seeing the floating text and hearing the eerie voice, Pei Guang suddenly had a bad feeling. When he checked his mini-map, that uneasy hunch was confirmed.
The place he was standing in wasn't the Reverie Hotel, nor was it anywhere he'd explored before. It was an entirely new area.
"So… we traveled through using the trash can? This is… a deeper layer of the dream?"
As Pei Guang speculated, Firefly poked her head out of the barrel. "Did we… just go straight into the hotel?"
Pei Guang shook his head. "Nope. Here's some good news: we actually crossed over. We've arrived in a deeper layer of the dream."
"A deeper layer… You're right. It feels completely different from normal Dreamville. It's claustrophobic, silent, uneasy… and these floating words…"
Firefly could sense the difference in this area's "memory quality." Unlike the bright, cheerful atmosphere of Dreamville, this place felt utterly cold.
Her tone became cautious. "You can see these too, right? There's no way this kind of place exists under the Bloodhound Family's control. So where are we? A memory bubble?"
Pei Guang frowned in thought. "No idea. It's a brand-new area. But I think we might've entered a deeper layer of the world itself—which means we've found the key to going deeper into the dream. But what is the key? Could it be…"
His eyes drifted to the trash can they had used. Staring at it, Pei Guang recalled the words of the Clockie Boy.
According to Clockie Boy's description, the key to the deeper dream lay within Firefly and Sparkle. Since Firefly hadn't manifested any "key" before, Pei Guang had assumed Sparkle was the one who could.
But now… a bold idea struck him.
"Firefly, do you think it's possible that you're the key to the deepest part of the dream? That as long as you're here, and certain conditions are met, we automatically enter the deepest layer?"
"Ah? Me? I'm the key? Am I really that amazing?"
She sounded genuinely doubtful. If she could just waltz into the true Penacony like that, she'd be unbelievably powerful.
"It's fine either way. You were with me when we entered this deeper layer, so yeah, you're that amazing. Anyway, this isn't the time to get hung up on that…"
Pei Guang turned his attention to the room around them. The floating text and the voices in the air caught his interest.
"Mikhail…"