Finally, time arrived at 'today'—the recollections ended. At this point, the Traveler had actually already brought back information from outside the city.
Outside the city were one 'dream bubble' after another, each containing different spaces.
The Traveler had entered them—each dream bubble was a different scene, with the common point being no human presence inside.
Beyond that, in the 'sky' outside the spaces hung a massive 'sun,' constantly devouring the dream bubbles.
And after the "beep—" sound, the last space vanished too.
[The Traveler: "…Behind me, many more spaces suddenly appeared out of nowhere… I understand now! Those 'spaces' are actually—"]
It cut off abruptly—the engrossed readers nearly choked from holding their breath.
Why stop here!? What exactly are those spaces!?
The mysterious, unknown content had only just revealed its tail—how could it cut off? Are you a lizard?
Or Yae Miko? How can you still hide the tail!
Wireless really isn't reliable—maybe switch to wired? More stable connection!
Just have Nahida tie a rope to Lumine—pull her back after she goes out. I refuse to believe it can still break!
Don't misunderstand—it's not a pet leash, but the kind of safety rope used when walking together in deserts or snowy mountains.
Ordinary ropes couldn't leave the city, because ropes are part of the dream—outside the city, they would disappear.
But Nahida could break the rules, so she could make a rule-breaking rope to tether the Traveler.
The reason for this idea was simply that the cutoff point was too infuriating.
The long-awaited answer was finally about to surface, yet you threw a stone into the water and the truth sank again—who could endure this?
Everyone was annoyed by this 'cliffhanger,' but the good news was the story wasn't over yet—they could keep reading.
Though the 'Traveler' in the memory hadn't finished, the Traveler now gave the answer.
This sounds convoluted—it means the Traveler in the memory cut off mid-sentence, so the current Traveler was deducing.
The answer the Traveler deduced was that 'those spaces are yesterday's spaces.'
Yesterday's spaces disappear, then today's spaces reappear—and the people and things inside revert to their initial state.
This brings us to Nahida—she's outside the rules; her memories don't disappear or reset, and new spaces don't create her.
So how does she appear? She actually sneaks in secretly herself.
In other words, every cycle Nahida stealthily slips into the space like a cat, then lures the Traveler to this place.
Thinking about it this way—she's really cute, isn't she?
As for whether the Traveler's deduction was correct—Nahida gave a slight hint.
[Nahida: "No matter how brutal the Archon War was back then, it was merely a game where a group of gods fought over seven seats in the hall."]
["No matter how bizarre the scene before your eyes, perhaps it's only revealing a small 'secret.'"]
The Archon War was brutal, but its essence was truly just a 'musical chairs' game—those who grabbed a seat advanced, those who didn't were eliminated.
The current situation was the same—seemingly complex and incomprehensible, with bizarre spaces even making one doubt their own existence, but its essence was just a dream.
Since it's a dream, there's a dreamer—and there's a way to wake them.
This was what Nahida wanted to hint to the Traveler, but the Traveler didn't realize it right away.
As for Nahida's 'sharp commentary,' Zhongli and Venti both saw it and quite approved.
In fact, regarding the Archon War as a game, they initially didn't want to participate—but since it was a 'game,' it had rules, and they had no choice but to join.
Nahida's peculiar metaphor was finished—its meaning was the same as what Nahida said at the very beginning.
'Too focused on the 'feeling' while ignoring its 'essence.''
Not mentioning the other cycles—for just these few deduction-heavy cycles Lucian explicitly wrote, Nahida gave hints each time, and the core was always this point.
First was the little white mouse and the experiment table, second was the Pyro Crystalfly and the firefly, third was the Archon War.
And after Nahida's three hints, the Traveler sat on the bench of fate lost in thought—this thinking lasted until sunset, yet she still hadn't figured it out.
Probably because she wasn't used to using her brain, making it too smooth.
Despair—deep despair. After cycling so many times, she was still like a bewildered little white mouse, unable to see the full picture of the experiment table.
After Lumine sat for a long while, AI Dunyarzad arrived—she told the Traveler it was almost time for the Dance of the Flower God.
Paimon said they were busy and had no time to watch—AI Dunyarzad coldly said 'Alright, see you later' and turned to leave.
This was terrifying—everyone had grown familiar with Dunyarzad and knew that if it were the real her, she would enthusiastically drag the Traveler to watch the Dance of the Flower God.
So facing this indifferent AI, everyone deeply felt fear—the reason being that the readers realized everything in this 'world' seemed utterly unfamiliar.
Everyone was immersed in the 'false,' with the Traveler as the only 'real'—in this situation, the Traveler was extremely lonely.
She had no one to confide in, no one to communicate with—repeating the same words every day with familiar strangers.
During this time, the Traveler was Nahida's everything—and vice versa. Fortunately, at this moment, they had each other.
But Lumine was still exploring the truth alone—what she gained was only fear and despair.
No wonder Nahida always comforted the Traveler and never discouraged her.
Over a hundred repetitions in this setting—without mental collapse spoke to the Traveler's firm will.
One couldn't help but feel grateful that Paimon had always been with the Traveler—if this story had no Paimon, how lonely it would be. Truly the best companion!
Though Nahida was also accompanying, she was ultimately outside the rules—there was still a subtle barrier with the Traveler inside the rules.
And after long contemplation, the Traveler seemed to have figured something out—she had the answer.
The trigger was this year's Sabbath of the King of Flowers—the Traveler was confident for the final deduction and went straight to verify with Nahida.
[Nahida: "The 'graduation exam' for the Sabbath of the King of Flowers can begin, right?"]
Yes—the Traveler had figured it out. Lumine's analysis was long and detailed; let's summarize simply.
In fact, those spaces seen outside were individual dreams.
The reason there was no human presence inside was because the dreamers had been transferred—everyone was now in this dream, having the same dream!
This was the 'essence'—and the key to the problem was how to find and wake the owner of this dream space!
Nahida was very happy—you've gotten smarter~!