In the dream.
After learning about their current situation from Inoue, Toge had an idea.
"Mustard leaf."
Toge stopped Maki, who was about to follow Inoue's suggestion and try to wake herself up by getting injured.
Then he pulled down his collar.
"You have another way?"
Maki looked at Toge.
She remembered that "mustard leaf" was his way of telling her something.
Toge nodded.
"Then let's do it."
Maki did not ask any further and simply waited for Toge's next move.
Toge walked over to Maki's side and spoke softly.
"Wake up."
Toge's voice was not loud. On one hand, they were close, so he did not need to speak loudly.
On the other hand, he did not want to disturb Inoue, who was not far away.
As soon as Toge finished using Cursed Speech, it felt as though his throat had been slashed by a blade.
"Cough, cough."
Toge instantly doubled over in pain, one hand clutching his throat while the other instinctively searched for a lozenge.
However, the pocket where he usually kept his lozenges was empty.
Toge did not dwell on that and instead looked up at Maki in front of him.
Under his gaze, Maki's eyes were vacant, and her body slowly began to dissipate.
Even though his throat hurt terribly, Toge still let out a laugh.
He knew his method had worked. Inoue's guess had been correct, they were indeed inside a dream.
Otherwise, he would not have suffered backlash from using the Cursed Speech, "Wake up."
And Maki would not have disappeared just now.
In reality.
Maki's consciousness gradually returned.
The first thing she noticed was the unceasing gunfire outside the warehouse.
Maki immediately entered combat mode.
Her previously hazy consciousness cleared in an instant.
She instinctively reached out and gripped the Thousand Machine Umbrella.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself inside the warehouse.
Toge was right beside her.
Outside the warehouse, the sounds of battle were intense.
"Panda, huh."
Panda was still as thoughtful as ever. Not only had he moved both of them to a safer location, he had also placed the Thousand Machine Umbrella by her side, just the way she liked.
Maki smiled, picked up the Thousand Machine Umbrella, and pushed open the warehouse door.
What greeted her was Panda desperately holding off the Octopus People as they tried to get close.
Maki was instantly enraged. She pressed the button at the bottom of the Thousand Machine Umbrella, drew out her katana, and sliced the disgusting thing in half.
"You're awake, Maki."
Panda quickly brushed the tentacles off his body.
I really need to take a shower when I get back. I really did not want to get soaked.
Panda felt aggrieved inside, but he did not say anything.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Maki rotated the umbrella disc, transforming the Thousand Machine Umbrella into its scythe form, then began harvesting the lives of the enemies in front of her.
Seeing this, Panda immediately reloaded his rifle and opened fire on the enemies in another direction.
These weak Octopus People did not last long under their combined assault.
"Didn't you say you wanted to be Kung Fu Panda and become a grandmaster? Why are you using a gun now?"
After killing the last enemy, Maki walked toward Panda with her scythe in hand.
"If I have a gun and still choose to use martial arts, then how am I supposed to become a grandmaster?"
Panda was completely unfazed by Maki's teasing.
"Alright, I still need to sleep, so I'll leave the outside to you."
Maki smiled and waved her hand.
"Beauty sleep? Shouldn't you wait until we get out of here before sleeping?"
Panda looked at Maki strangely, unable to understand why she wanted to sleep when they had not even escaped the danger zone yet.
"No."
Maki immediately denied it.
"If I sleep here, I'll be dragged into the enemy's dream by its Technique. Inumaki just woke me up with Cursed Speech.
Now I need to go back into the dream one more time to tell him the result."
After saying that, Maki walked straight back into the warehouse.
"I'll leave the outside to you."
Without turning back, she waved a hand behind her.
"Oh. Leave it to me."
Panda gave a thumbs-up behind her, then continued standing guard.
About ten minutes later, Maki and Toge walked out of the warehouse together.
"How was your sleep?"
Panda asked with a smile.
"Salmon roe."
Toge shook his head, indicating that the sleep had been extremely dangerous.
Then he pulled a lozenge out of his pocket.
"So what now? Do we keep investigating, or retreat first and come back during the day?"
Panda looked at Maki.
From Toge's voice just now, he could tell that Toge was not in good condition.
That was why the caring Panda suggested retreating for the time being.
"First, let's find that Assistant Supervisor named Inoue, then continue exorcising the Cursed Spirits."
"Inoue? The Assistant Supervisor who lost contact?"
"Yes, we saw him in the dream. He knows a lot about this Cursed Spirit. We'll meet up with him first, find the Cursed Spirit's main body, and exorcise it."
Maki nodded, then said with a grave expression,
"This Cursed Spirit is very dangerous. We have to deal with it as soon as possible."
"Understood."
Panda sensed the seriousness in Maki's tone.
In a ruined area on the outskirts of the village.
Inoue was struggling to avoid the Octopus People's search.
His mind was in complete chaos right now, making him want to do something crazy just to relieve the discomfort.
But he knew he could not do that. If he really did, he would end up like the villagers who had turned into Octopus People.
Because of that, Inoue could only keep suppressing the thoughts that surfaced in his mind.
He carefully avoided the enraged Octopus People outside.
The Octopus People in the village were furious.
They had been swimming through a beautiful dream, feeling the greatness of the "Lord," and indulging in all kinds of insane and blissful things within it.
Then, all of a sudden, they discovered a stranger who had stumbled into the "Lord's" domain.
When they saw this, they enthusiastically invited this young woman to embrace the "Lord" and enjoy this blessing together.
Then they all exploded.
In the literal sense.
The Octopus People who had died in the dream and woken up in shock in reality were incomparably enraged.
They wanted to capture this hateful stranger who had prevented them from enjoying the "Lord's" blessing and drag him before the "Lord" for judgment.
This was also the reason for the Octopus People's earlier riot.
They had scattered in all directions, trying to capture every outsider in the village.
These outsiders would either join them or be destroyed.
Just then, several beams of white light shone on a group of Octopus People.
The Octopus People instantly rushed toward the source of the flashlight beams.
Da da da.
However, before they could even reach those outsiders, they all collapsed midway through the charge.
If their twisted crawling motions could even be called charging.
The last thing reflected in the Octopus People's eyes was three hateful outsiders holding firearms.
Hearing the gunshots, Inoue quietly poked half his head out from the ruins.
Then he saw Maki and the others.
"You... is this how you exorcise Cursed Spirits now?"
Inoue stared blankly at the three people before him.
"What's wrong?"
Maki asked as though it were only natural.
"Um, are you still recruiting?"
Inoue was tempted.
As a passionate young man who loved adventure, he really could not resist the allure of firepower.
At this moment, he no longer wanted to be a Window. He wanted to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer.
The important thing was that becoming a Jujutsu Sorcerer not only meant getting guns, it also meant getting a Panda.
Inoue stared fixedly at Panda, who was carrying something on his back behind the other two.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)