Blinding neon lights replaced the wasteland's sunlight.
Skyscrapers cast from metal and glass shot up from the ground, their cold, hard lines piercing the clouds.
Bizarre billboards sprouted slender legs, sprinting along the sidewalks, spinning wildly around pedestrians, and flashing indecipherable text and patterns.
Strange, wheel-shaped vehicles wove an endless river of traffic on the ground and in the air, emitting only a faint hum.
The eerie hymns were gone.
In their place was a cacophony of human voices, blaring music, and the clamor of various machinery, all merging into a surreal urban symphony.
Lin Xiyue, Xia Lian, and Su Wan were all frozen in petrified shock.
Lin Xiyue subconsciously reached out, trying to touch a hovering "car" that glided silently past her.
Her fingertips passed through nothing but a shimmering, illusory light.
She whipped her head around, staring intently at a billboard that was distributing flyers with a comical gait.
Her worldview was shattering with an unbearable, cracking shriek.
"This... What the hell is this place? What kind of madman's Illusion could create... walking metal signs?!"
Xia Lian's face was deathly pale, and she clutched her shortbow tightly.
The world before her was completely beyond her comprehension, filling her with a profound fear of the unknown.
Su Wan reacted the fastest. Her sapphire eyes filled with astonishment and suspicion as her cold, rational mind rapidly analyzed their surroundings.
"This isn't a simple Illusion!"
"Everything here... its energy structure, its material forms... all follow a set of bizarre, self-consistent rules that we completely fail to understand!"
Even the Parade members who had cast the Illusion seemed stunned.
The Cat-girl Leader stared blankly at her own hands, then at the sci-fi streetscape around her, her eyes filled with confusion.
Something was wrong!
Normally, the "Blissful Dream" would read the target's deepest desires and construct a paradise to trap them.
With four people, it should have been a mixture of four intertwined desires.
But this one... its style was far too unified, too clear, and just too... absurd!
It was as if they had all been forcibly dragged into a completely strange and bizarre world.
Except for Lin Qingyue.
After an initial flash of shock, her expression became incredibly strange.
Her gaze swept over the familiar trash can on the street corner.
Over the iconic, gold-like, glittering grand hotel in the distance.
Over the emblems of different families floating in the air...
Holy crap... Penacony?!
She was completely stunned.
She knew this place!
Wait, does this cat-girl's Illusion build the Dreamscape by reading our surface consciousness?
Lin Qingyue's mind raced.
Xiyue and Su Wan were probably thinking of some lovey-dovey world for two, and Xia Lian might have imagined a paradise surrounded by handsome guys... but me...
My first thought when I hear "Dreamscape" is Penacony!
So... was my consciousness signal too strong, or my obsession too deep, that it completely overwrote the other three's dream blueprints?!
This Frankenstein-like plot twist left Lin Qingyue momentarily unsure where to even begin her complaints.
Before she could gather her thoughts, the Cat-girl Leader snapped out of her confusion.
She was the master of this Dreamscape!
With a fierce glare, she swung her hand toward a nearby skyscraper, intending to twist it into a monstrous beast of flesh and blood.
However, something bizarre happened!
The building did begin to distort, but not into flesh. Instead, amid blinding neon lights, it reshaped and reassembled into a giant, cartoonish... trash can with muscular arms and legs?!
It struck a muscle-flexing pose on the spot, then bowed politely in the Cat-girl Leader's direction.
Her control hadn't completely failed, but it had been severely interfered with and altered!
The terror she tried to create had been forcibly twisted into absurdity by the Dreamscape's underlying logic!
"This... this is impossible!"
A primal fear seized her heart, but it was immediately replaced by a more fervent faith.
It was the souls of these outsiders resisting
As long as I pollute them, control of this Dreamscape will return!
At this thought, a smile mixed with ferocity and fanaticism reappeared on the Cat-girl Leader's face:
"No matter who you are, in Mother's Dreamscape, your souls will ultimately surrender to the revelry!"
She swung her hand violently.
A vast surge of Mental Energy instantly transformed into countless invisible chains, descending upon Lin Qingyue and the others!
The power carried a potent desire-based pollution, aiming to forcibly twist their minds.
"Trying to pollute us with desire? Not a chance!"
Lin Qingyue advanced instead of retreating, lightly tapping the ground with her [Beloved] staff.
[Purification Art, Modified Version: Post-Nut Clarity!]
A gentle pink Holy Light radiated from her, enveloping Lin Xiyue, Su Wan, and Xia Lian.
The cloying, agitating aura of desire was instantly cleansed. The dazed and tense looks in her three teammates' eyes cleared in a flash, as if they'd been splashed with ice water, their minds immediately entering a state of absolute rationality.
All emotional fluctuations were temporarily suppressed, allowing them to calmly observe and analyze this surreal scene from an almost third-person perspective.
At the same moment, the System's "Ding!" notification sounded again in Lin Qingyue's mind.
A bright melody rang out, played by a clear-toned instrument, its simple, clean notes like the first rays of dawn.
[Melody Beyond the Strings triggered! BGM: "Hope Is the Thing With Feathers" (Honkai: Star Rail EP). Transformation Character: Robin.]
Again!
In the next instant, a splendid purple cocoon of starlight and musical notes completely enveloped her.
Above Lin Qingyue's head, a massive virtual projection screen appeared as expected!
On the screen, a line of neatly written large text slowly faded in:
[Hope Is the Thing With Feathers]
The Cat-girl Leader opposite stared, completely dumbfounded.
"Huh? What the hell is this? Some kind of movie-projecting magic?!"
She gaped at the Display and the images on it, her brain's CPU nearly overheating.
This wasn't anything like the combat she understood!
On the virtual Display, images flowed like an old film reel, the background yellowed, with a clock's hands spinning rapidly at the bottom.
Accompanied by the ethereal music, Lin Qingyue's attire began to quietly change.
Her original Priest's robes transformed into an elegantly tailored, short purple evening dress adorned with musical notes and star patterns.
A pair of small wings, made of pure, gentle light, gently unfurled behind her head, scattering specks of light and enveloping her entire being in a holy and soft aura.
Her long pink hair cascaded smoothly, with a few strands falling beside her face, adding a touch of compassionate tenderness to her already exquisite features.
When the light faded, she slowly opened her eyes.
Her pink pupils no longer held their usual languor, but a clarity and gentleness like a nightingale's first song.
She smiled gracefully at her enemy and softly spoke her line: "We meet again. This time, what song would you like to hear?"
[Additional Buff: Can use all of Robin's Skills.]
[First-time activation of Robin's transformation. Drawing additional reward...]
[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained Robin's Talent: Tonal Harmony. Talent Effect: Your vocal skills are greatly enhanced.]
Alright! Better than nothing! Maybe I can advance my Bard skills.
Her three teammates, now in Sage Mode, became the calmest and most objective live commentators.
Lin Xiyue spoke first, her voice devoid of emotion yet tinged with the relief of surviving a disaster:
"The BGM style is normal, and the cringe factor is significantly reduced. Mental Pollution risk neutralized. Good review."
Streams of data flickered in Su Wan's azure eyes as she calmly analyzed:
"The energy model leans toward Mental Synchronization and Area-of-Effect buffs, so it's a support class. The outfit... is very beautiful, but last time she dressed like a Sword Immortal and started hacking away with an ice sword. So, I'll reserve judgment on what heavy weapon she's hiding under this dress."
She paused, then added, "Still, it's much more elegant than her last outfit."
Xia Lian's small face remained tense, but her eyes now held the keenness of a Ranger:
"Don't be fooled by appearances. Look at the light wings behind her head. They seem decorative, but the luster and energy emission frequency of each feather are different. This could be a disguised attack matrix. Based on my experience with traps, the more beautiful and harmless something looks, the deadlier it usually is."
The Cat-girl Leader was momentarily stunned by this sudden shift in aura, but then the fury of being toyed with and her fanatical faith reclaimed her mind.
"Hmph, just putting on a show! In this Dreamscape, I am the Mother's representative! No matter what kind of bird-person you turn into, you will kneel before me!"
She roared, increasing her Mental Energy output.
However, the transformed Lin Qingyue simply raised her hand and, with a gentle wave, swept away the incoming mental chains.
The movement was as graceful as conducting a symphony.
On the screen above, the first line of the song began to play:
"We rise together as our destiny unfolds."
Her voice was the law of this Dreamscape!
The moment those mental chains, laden with vile desires, touched the gentle melody, the chains themselves began to tremble slightly, emitting a pleasant hum.
The chaotic Mental Energy was soothed by the melody.
The vile desires were cleansed by the song.
They disintegrated section by section in mid-air.
Transforming into countless pure golden musical notes that chimed along with the BGM's melody.
Finally, like a brilliant rain of light, they scattered harmlessly and vanished into nothingness.