The mysterious man I’d met in the misty dreamscape was staring at me intently now, an undercurrent of menace faintly radiating from him. I’d just refused his trade offer—maybe he was weighing whether to resort to violence and forcibly take the black jade from me.

  It was a novel experience. Under his gaze, I genuinely felt my life hanging under some invisible threat.

  That said, the black jade wasn’t actually on me right now. This was a dream; physical objects should still be with my real body back in reality. And unless something unexpected had happened, he was probably just like me—unable to wield any supernatural power in this fog.

  He was almost certainly a real person in the waking world, and likely an extraordinarily powerful one. Here, though, he was no different from an ordinary man.

  The mysterious sense of danger I felt wasn’t because he could actually use any occult force right now. It came from the sheer “scale” of his existence. Even reduced to human-like form, he didn’t become truly human. The pressure he exuded remained overwhelming.

  “Are you planning to make a move here?” I asked.

  After our brief exchange earlier, I’d actually developed a certain fondness for this mysterious stranger.

  It wasn’t just because he’d shared crucial information. It was also the apparent contradiction in his behavior. He clearly valued the black jade highly and wanted to collect as many fragments as possible. In that situation, the smartest play would have been to downplay its importance—maybe even trick me into thinking it was a dangerous object I should get rid of immediately. Instead, he chose the opposite path.

  That couldn’t be because he was stupid. When I’d hesitated over whether to admit I didn’t know what the God Seal was, he’d seen right through my act. He possessed sharp insight and the ability to read people’s minds.

  He seemed deeply worldly yet untouched by cynicism, carrying an air of uprightness—even something transcendent.

  “…Unbelievable,” he said. The pressure vanished from his gaze, replaced by calm composure. “You’re strong. Really strong. Someone on your level, and yet I have no impression of you at all. Is this what they mean by ‘there’s always someone stronger, somewhere beyond the sky’…?”

  He shook his head, then looked deeper into the mist. “I plan to keep exploring this place. Want to come along?”

  “Sure,” I replied. Why not?

  Together, we advanced deeper into the misty dreamscape.

  I didn’t ask who he was. Of course I was curious—but the thrill of exploring an unknown realm alongside someone whose identity was still a mystery felt fresh and exhilarating. He seemed to feel the same; he didn’t press me for my identity either. A strange, unspoken understanding formed between us.

  Maybe my earlier bad luck was why I’d wandered so long without seeing anything change. Now, traveling with someone else, it didn’t take long before something new appeared.

  We’d only walked for a few minutes when vague shapes began to emerge ahead. As we drew closer, I recognized them immediately.

  Eight enormous stone chairs.

  The seven nearer ones were identical in size, arranged in a neat row. The eighth—and by far the largest—stood apart at a distance, facing the others in clear opposition.

  Three figures had already arrived before us.

  Or perhaps “two” was more accurate, because one of them clearly wasn’t human. That one sat motionless on the especially massive chair, its body towering at least four meters tall—like a gigantic statue of a deity.

  The other two occupied the leftmost chairs in the row. Their heights were far more normal. Like us, they appeared as black shadowy silhouettes. The farthest left was a tall, lanky figure; right beside it sat a much smaller one, child-sized.

  The scene felt eerily familiar.

  When I first touched the black jade, my mind had been pulled into this misty dreamscape. Back then I’d seen these same stone chairs and the three shadowy figures seated on them. But at that time my mental state had been far from normal—I hadn’t been able to interact with them at all.

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  Perhaps hearing our footsteps, the two normal-sized figures immediately turned toward us.

  “Who’s there?” the tall, thin one demanded sharply.

  The child-sized one asked more cautiously: “Are you new companions?”

  The first voice was clearly male.

  The second… though it had the high pitch of a child who hadn’t yet hit puberty, it was too young to tell gender by voice alone. If I had to guess, it sounded like a little girl. I could faintly make out longer hair on her silhouette.

  I glanced at the man beside me—Four, as he’d soon be called. I’d expected him to speak first, but ever since we arrived, he’d been staring fixedly at the giant statue-like figure, completely frozen.

  I studied the giant more closely too. Even after our arrival, it hadn’t moved an inch—making it hard not to wonder if it really was just an inanimate sculpture. Yet like the rest of us, it too was formed of black shadow, as though at any moment it might stir and speak normally.

  Honestly, I still lacked any real sense of grounding in this misty dreamscape. Even if it was tied to anomalies, it remained a dream.

  The two were still watching us. I decided to speak up first.

  “I got pulled in here after coming into contact with what you call a ‘God Seal fragment.’ As for this guy, we’re not together—we just ran into each other on the way. You can ask him yourself later.” I continued, “Were you two brought here the same way—by touching a God Seal fragment?”

  “God Seal fragment? So that’s what it’s called…” The tall, thin one seemed to frown. “Yes, we’re both fragment bearers too. I’m ‘Number One.’ She’s ‘Number Two.’”

  He gestured toward the child beside him. She spoke softly: “Hello, big brother. I’m Number Two.”

  “No need to exchange real names here. Code numbers are enough,” Number One said bluntly. “You’re Number Three. He’s Number Four.”

  Number Four—my companion.

  “Fine. I’m Number Three, then…” I turned toward the silent giant. “And him? What’s his number?”

  “He doesn’t have one. If you have to call him something, just say Zero,” Number One snorted coldly. “Curious about who he is?”

  “Of course. Care to enlighten me?” I asked.

  Though his tone was unfriendly, Number One answered readily: “Nothing to hide. Actually, neither I nor Number Two know exactly what he is. But one thing’s clear: he’s the one who dragged us into this bizarre misty dreamscape.”

  “So it was him…” I studied Zero again.

  At that moment, Number Four—my companion—finally moved.

  He strode forward with long, determined steps until he stood directly in front of the giant. Then, in a voice thick with barely restrained fury, he demanded: “—Was it you? Are you the one who brought the world to the brink of destruction like this?! Answer me!!”

  The refined image I’d built of Number Four shattered in an instant. Now he was erupting like a volcano, confronting the giant with raw aggression.

  Yet Zero remained utterly still.

  From the side, Number One spoke coolly: “Don’t bother talking to Zero. He’s asleep right now. If you have questions, wait until he wakes up.”

  Number Four whipped his head toward Number One. “You’ve spoken with the Master of the God Seal?”

  “Master of the God Seal… Hmph. So this guy really was the original owner of the God Seal. No wonder he could use the fragments to pull us in…” Number One mused, then answered: “Yes. When Number Two and I first arrived here, he was awake. But after saying what he needed to say, he fell asleep.

  “According to him, he’ll wake again once every seat is filled. Then he’ll explain why he summoned us here.”

  I glanced at the remaining empty chairs. Five were still vacant.

  If two of them were for me and Number Four, that left three more to fill.

  Then I asked the question that mattered most to me right now: “If not everyone arrives, are we stuck here forever?”

  “No,” Number One replied. “Our minds are just bound to the God Seal fragments now. Occasionally we’ll be pulled back here. In a little while, we should wake up from this dream anyway.”

  That was a relief. As fascinating as this place was, I still had to return to reality and search for Alice.

  As for this “Master of the God Seal” they mentioned… if I understood correctly, the giant was the original owner of the artifact that could grant any wish? What did he want from summoning us?

  And what did Number Four mean by “the world brought to the brink of destruction”? From his tone, it sounded like the giant had made some wish using the God Seal that caused it. Could it be connected to the apocalypse Alice spoke of?

  The scale of the conversation was staggering—too vast for my mind to fully grasp. I hadn’t even completely accepted the idea of a “wish-granting machine” yet.

  I turned to Number Four with my questions, but he seemed lost in his rage, glaring fixedly at the giant.

  “Probably has something to do with that doomsday prophecy circulating in Luo Shan,” Number One said dismissively. “I’ve heard there’s some unknown prophet in Luo Shan who claims the apocalypse will arrive soon. The sharp increase in anomalous events is supposedly a sign it’s coming.”

  “Luo Shan… apocalypse…” I repeated the words under my breath.

  The fact that someone in this misty dreamscape had casually mentioned “Luo Shan” made me feel certain he was a real person in the waking world—just like me.

  From his tone, though, he didn’t seem to be part of Luo Shan itself.

  And hearing him mention “apocalypse” stirred a strange feeling inside me.

  Until now, both “apocalypse” and “God Seal” had been terms Alice threw out unilaterally—words that existed only in her narrative.

  But now there were others who knew about the God Seal. There was even talk of a “doomsday prophecy.” Suddenly, the apocalypse felt like something with real weight in reality.

  “What, you believe in the apocalypse too?” Number One continued in that same nonchalant tone, clearly skeptical himself. “Even in Luo Shan, only a tiny minority buy into that stuff. If so, you and Number Two might get along well.”

  “Number Two?” I looked toward the quiet child.

  “Yeah. This little girl claims she comes from a future where the apocalypse has already happened,” Number One said.