The moment Axel finished speaking, both he and Piggy were dragged fully into the sack.
With a dull thud, Axel landed steadily at the bottom, while Little Wild Pig crashed beside him, dizzy and disoriented.
Not far away, Axel spotted a massive white dragon curled tightly into herself. Her body trembled as soft, broken sounds escaped her.
"Great Sage… no… you won't have a good ending…"
Her voice shifted wildly, filled with confusion and pain.
"You'd rather love someone else than even look at me… I came down to help you, and still you betray me… save me… no, get away…"
The words grew more chaotic, like fragments of a shattered mind.
Axel stared for a moment, then muttered under his breath,
"Yeah… she's completely lost in her own head."
Beside him, Piggy slowly sat up, squinting into the void.
"Wait… how is it you?"
He suddenly straightened, putting on an exaggeratedly respectful posture.
"I didn't expect to meet such a fairy here. At that banquet before, I didn't even dare drink much, I was afraid I'd embarrass myself watching your dance."
Piggy rambled on, completely absorbed in whatever illusion he was seeing.
"That performance stayed in my dreams. If the fairy is willing, give me something to remember you by…"
His tone quickly turned shameless.
"Wait, wait, I mean the hair on your head, not anything else… hey, don't misunderstand!"
Axel rubbed his forehead, already tired of it.
Piggy's voice grew louder and more unrestrained as he leaned against the inner wall of the sack, acting out his delusion.
Meanwhile, Axel looked up toward the opening, where Huang Mei's face loomed faintly above.
"Hey, Huang Mei," Axel called out, sounding annoyed. "What about me? You've got them both entertained. Where's my part?"
Huang Mei paused slightly.
"What composure…"
"Composure?" Axel scoffed. "I'm waiting for something interesting to happen, and you've got nothing for me? At least try to make it convincing."
He glanced again at the dragon, who was still trapped in her hallucination, her body shifting restlessly as if reacting to things that were not there.
Not far away, Piggy suddenly froze, then collapsed in disbelief.
"Wait… that's not right…"
He started rambling again, clearly shaken by his own illusion.
Axel exhaled slowly, losing interest.
"Ahem. If this is all your sack can do, I'm done here."
Huang Mei's voice echoed from above, calm and steady.
"You chose to enter. Now you wish to leave? Without understanding desire and frustration, how will you grasp anything deeper?"
As he spoke, the sack closed.
At that instant, Axel's vision shifted.
The world around him changed completely.
He stood in the wreckage of a destroyed bus, staring at a group of armed men in the distance.
They noticed him immediately.
"Where did this guy come from?"
"Doesn't matter. Kill him."
A gunshot rang out.
Axel dropped.
Pain spread through him, then vanished just as quickly.
He stood up again.
"What the hell… he's alive!"
Another shot.
He fell again.
And rose again.
Over and over, the cycle repeated.
Time blurred. Days, maybe longer.
He was dragged, beaten, shot, and eventually strapped to a table under harsh lights.
A man leaned over him, smiling with cold curiosity.
"I hear you can't die. Perfect."
Pain followed, relentless and precise. No matter how many times Axel died, he woke up again, still bound, still trapped in the same loop.
Then suddenly
Fire burst around him.
Axel shot upright, breathing hard.
The illusion shattered.
He stood now in a quiet, abandoned courtyard, covered in dust and cobwebs.
"What kind of place is this now…"
He stepped forward, but before he could leave, the gate creaked open.
A woman walked out slowly, dressed in elegant flowing robes, her presence soft but deliberate.
"Young Master," she said with a gentle smile. "What brings you here? Could it be you've come for the wedding?"
Axel barely glanced at her.
"Not now. I've got something to deal with first."
He moved past her without hesitation.
"Wait for me."
And just like that, he disappeared through the courtyard.
The woman blinked, confused.
"Wait… I'm not the one you meant."
She looked up toward the roof, where another woman sat quietly, watching everything.
The second woman smiled faintly.
"Seems like someone's interested in you."
The one on the roof remained silent, her expression distant.
"If he really intended anything," she said quietly, "he wouldn't have left so easily."
Her gaze lingered where Axel had vanished.
"I wonder… what kind of person actually leaves an impression like that."