The "author" had left, so there was no need for Shi Ming to maintain his child-like appearance. He quickly reverted to his true form and began to probe the fully-formed dream realm. The power of the Borer also started seeping into the walls of this realm, searching for a loophole to escape.
Finally, he turned his gaze to the box of tin soldiers on the table.
The toy set did indeed remind him of his childhood—a time that was brief, yet happy.
...
He opened the box.
As soon as the tin soldiers came out, they clamored to play war. But with the Colorful Insect gone, the game couldn’t continue. Shi Ming thought for a moment, then picked up a piece of paper, folded an airplane for them, and placed it on the sand table for them to play with.
The little soldiers played very happily.
The one-legged tin soldier looked around.
Then he quietly asked Shi Ming, "We haven’t seen our commander in a very, very long time. You’re so powerful, can you help us find him? Our commander is just as powerful as you! With him leading us, we were victorious in every battle!"
Shi Ming hadn’t expected the tin soldier to make such a request.
He paused for a moment, then said, "He’s not coming back."
His voice wasn’t loud.
But all 21 tin soldiers heard him loud and clear. The once-raucous sand table fell silent as if someone had hit a pause button. Just a few seconds later, the little toy soldiers in their red-painted uniforms all burst into tears.
"Was our commander killed in action?"
Shi Ming paused, taken aback.
"No..."
"..."
"He just grew up."
...
...
...
The story had reached its end. Without Shi Ming needing to use the loophole, the room’s confinement dissolved on its own.
His consciousness quickly returned.
He stood on the deck of the Dayun, gazing at the bubble-filled Radiant Dream Realm before him, and a new prompt appeared from the Eye of Destiny.
[Like a fairy tale, the story’s ending has escaped its twisted destiny. Everything has become beautiful, leaving behind just a small touch of regret.]
[...]
[The Colorful Insect has returned to the Banded Dream Realm and escaped, but it doesn’t know it has been marked by the borer. The most seasoned of predators never gives up until its target is acquired.]
[You already have a plan, don’t you?]
The borer had been gnawing inside the Colorful Insect for so long that Shi Ming had gained a deep understanding of this unique, Celestial Calamity-class creature. It resided on the Wishing Star, and as long as its corruption persisted, its spirit was immortal. Moreover, its corruption was of the most aberrant, tangled, and chaotic kind; with his current abilities, Shi Ming couldn’t purify it.
If there weren’t anything at stake, Shi Ming wouldn’t have bothered to deal with it.
But it had stolen his prize.
Naturally, Shi Ming couldn’t possibly let it go.
’If I can’t kill it, then I’ll suppress it, seal it, and slowly squeeze it dry. A caged insect can still work off its debt. At the very least, I must get the [Wishing Star of All Worlds] back and let my Right Arm Red Pattern have a feast!’
Seeing Shi Ming’s consciousness return, Xiaobai, who was beside him, asked:
"You were in a daze for a few seconds there. Did you enter another dream realm?"
A few seconds earlier, she had noticed his consciousness begin to drift, even though he hadn’t touched any of the corrupted bubbles. But since Shi Ming had snapped out of it after only a few seconds, the Star Spirit hadn’t thought much of it.
"Yes. I just had a little spar with the most powerful Colorful Insect."
"Huh?"
The Dayun slightly altered its course.
"Now, it’s our turn!"
...
...
...
「Deep within the ancestral land.」
The Colorful Insect, which had taken the form of a Wishing Star, was licking its wounds like a small, injured animal in the most dazzling part of the bubble-filled space.
’That human was the first real, physical human I had met since my birth, and he was so hateful!’
’He even twisted the very first story I so carefully wrote until it was completely unrecognizable!’
’How ungrateful!’
’I can’t accept this!’
Resentment was its overwhelming emotion, but it truly couldn’t defeat him. During their exchange, it had covertly used its skill, [Bicolored Celestial Calamity], only for its opponent to exploit an opening first. It had fallen right into his trap, allowing an invisible insect to take advantage of its vulnerability and slip inside.
’Damn it!’
It rested for a while.
The more it thought, the more indignant it became. Like a petulant child dead set on getting even, it activated the power of the Wishing Star and began to make its wish.
[My wish is:]
[I want that human to regret his crude actions! I want him to suppress his hostility, have a change of heart, and actively seek me out, begging me to grant his wish!]
’Hmph!’
’Today, you give me the cold shoulder; tomorrow, I’ll be way out of your league!’
’And that’s not all. I’m going to use you for all you’re worth, use you to escape this place, and then bleed you dry. And just when you need me most, I’ll kill you!’
’That’s what all the powerful heroines and avengers in the Star Spirit Race’s stories do!’
’I’ve been deeply influenced by those stories!’
...
...
...
"Can we really find it like this?"
"Absolutely."
As Shi Ming sensed the borer’s location, the Dayun navigated through the space of colorful bubbles. The verdant Bodhi Tree of Suffering and the ever-vigilant Ah Jian isolated them from all external corruption.
"We’re close. It’s just ahead."
The Star Spirit, Xiaobai, was about to use her powers, but Shi Ming stopped her.
"It can corrupt and twist Wish Power," Shi Ming warned. "You’re no match for it. Your abilities will only end up aiding the enemy. From this moment on, do not make any wishes."
"Alright."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a viscous, colorful corruption, so dense it was nearly liquid, rushed toward them like a tidal wave. Multicolored bubbles frothed within the waves, creating the distant image of a rainbow stretched across a starry sky.
"HEE HEE HEE, so you came looking for me after all! Are you here to have me grant your wish?"
"Yes!"
Shi Ming’s reply was concise.
The Colorful Insect sounded as if it had expected this all along. "I knew it! No one can refuse a wish! Especially when it only costs such a tiny, insignificant price. Tell me, mortal, what is your wish?"
"My wish is—"
’I can’t believe this is going so smoothly,’ Shi Ming thought.
"My wish is to take back what is mine—the treasure promised to me by the Star Spirit Race’s ancestors, the Wishing Star of All Worlds."
At his side, Xiaobai instantly grew tense.
’Such a direct wish!’
’It’ll definitely be twisted!’
’And the price of that twist will be impossibly high!’
She had already resolved that if anything went wrong, she would use the faint connection she’d established with the Star Spirit Race’s ancestral land to try and fight the Colorful Insect.
The Colorful Insect’s laughter echoed.
"HEE HEE HEE."
"Your wish can be granted!"
"The Wishing Star is my home, so in principle, I can’t give it to you. But I have now found a more suitable home. The inside of your body must be so much warmer. Now, the Wishing Star is yours, and you—"
"—are mine!"
Xiaobai’s heart sank.
’This is bad!’
Shi Ming’s expression, however, remained calm. He watched as the palm-sized Wishing Star began to spin rapidly. The colorful corruption separated from it and drifted straight toward his head, forming a brilliant, rainbow-like bridge between the star and his mind.
"Whoa~"
"I have a body!"
"I’m free!"
The Wishing Star completely shed its garish colors, becoming purely radiant.
Just as Xiaobai was about to draw on her connection to the ancestral land and do everything in her power to stop this, Shi Ming grabbed her hand, silently telling her not to.
’Don’t ruin this!’
In its abstract form, the Colorful Insect drilled into Shi Ming’s Sea of Spirit.
The sea within was calm and peaceful.
Warm and harmonious.
’What a wonderful place! It’s huge! So much bigger than that tiny little Wishing Star!’
The Colorful Insect was extremely pleased with its new home.
It sped up.
The last wisp of colorful light bored into Shi Ming’s mind.
Perfect! / Perfect!
With the speed of a thunderclap, Shi Ming stored his prize, the "Wishing Star of All Worlds," in his personal inventory. Once an item entered his inventory, no one could ever retrieve it, not even with world-shattering power.
What came next was the tactic Shi Ming had formulated over his seven or eight encounters with the Colorful Insect—a tactic that had also been approved by the Eye of Destiny:
Shut the door! Beat the dog!
...
Having completely entered Shi Ming’s Sea of Spirit, the Colorful Insect zipped about joyfully, preparing to usurp the realm’s primary consciousness and become its true master.
But it soon discovered that the once-peaceful Sea of Spirit—
The very sky had changed...