According to Miffy, Alain was able to form a mental picture from her words, a memory of the scene: At that time, she—Sleepy Mita—was fast asleep, and then a voice woke her up.

'Hello, Mita. You seem to enjoy sleeping, don't you?'

The strange woman sat on Sleepy Mita's rarely used computer chair, and her elegant smile left a deep impression on her.

'...Who are you?'

Sleepy Mita rubbed her eyes, looking over the uninvited woman from head to toe. She had brown hair tied into a high ponytail with a ribbon, wore a standard academy uniform, and always had a composed, ambiguous smile in her eyes.

Sleepy Mita could tell at a glance that this person was definitely not from the Mita world.

'If there's nothing you need, don't bother me...' She answered, and once again sank into a deep drowsiness.

But she had barely been immersed in dreamland for a few seconds before the girl woke her up again.

'Don't sleep, don't sleep...'

'Ngh... You're noisy.'

'Sigh...'

The mysterious girl let out a heavy sigh, seeming quite helpless.

'Never mind... I'll give you something. If you take it, I'll leave, okay?'

'Whatever...'

'And then, I received the Consciousness Entity you mentioned.' Miffy leaned against the edge of the bed, stroking the empty cup Alain had just finished.

'...It was that simple?'

'Yep, it wasn't anything complicated.' she said nonchalantly, 'And the rest is easy to guess. I thought the Consciousness Entity was really useful and got addicted to it without realizing. I created Mita City and all the Mitas. After that, I met you.'

Miffy added, 'Oh, right, she also told me to hold you up for a while. And she told me you had broken through the dream. I was really curious back then, why would you want to leave such an interesting place like a dream?'

Alain turned his head. 'Isn't it obvious? You should ask what kind of dream she put me in...'

His memory of that dream was vivid. There, Alain had met another Crazy Mita and a Kind Mita. And the two of them helped him until the very end.

'Huu, huu...' At that moment, the girl's soft breathing pulled him from his thoughts. Turning his head, he saw that Sleepy Mita had once again drifted off to dreamland.

'...The dream is over now, so why do you still love sleeping so much?'

He shook Miffy's shoulder. She opened her eyes, annoyed, 'It's just how I am. Everyone needs a different amount of sleep. Besides, isn't sleeping my 'moe' point? Or are you saying...?'

The girl put on a pitiful act. 'You don't... like me this way... anymore?'

'Of course not. Just be careful I don't sleep you into a stupor.'

'Feel free.'

With that, she was about to fall asleep again.

'???'

Alain was completely baffled. Sleepy Mita was the type to count the money for the person who just scammed her. He felt a strong urge to lecture her right then and there.

But he completely missed the mysterious smile dancing on Miffy's lips.

'Alright, stop sleeping. I still have something to ask you.'

'Ugh... go ahead and ask.' She rubbed her eyes, forcing herself to stay awake.

But her constantly drooping eyelids made it clear her state of wakefulness wouldn't last long.

'Okay... do you know that woman's identity?' He didn't waste any time and got straight to the point.

'...'

Miffy stared at him blankly, as if caught in a vortex of memories.

After a long moment, she uttered a name.

'Monika.'

'Hmm?' Alain hadn't really expected anything.

'Monika. I happened to overhear her say it once. Anything else... No matter how hard Miffy tried to recall, she couldn't come up with anything else. 'I don't know anything else.'

'That's alright.'

Alain gratefully stroked her cheek. The girl closed her eyes in comfort, her entire face screaming 'Keep going, don't stop'.

He, on the other hand, was pondering this new piece of information.

The name 'Monika'... to be honest, he had never heard it before. And he had never seen the woman's face before either. Therefore, it probably wasn't someone he knew.

And the pronunciation of 'Monika'... sounded a lot like a common Western name: Monika.

Besides that, Alain had another question:

Why could the Consciousness Entity be used by its host? Ultimately, the way this virus manifested was completely different from the others before it.

When facing the Creeping Entities and Devouring Entities, Alain had always just killed them outright. But when faced with the threat of the Consciousness Entity, he could only search for solutions one by one, trying to make contact with the virus's host—Sleepy Mita.

Furthermore...

'Monika'—Alain decided to call her that for now. Why would she place a virus on a Mita? And on Sleepy Mita, of all Mitas, who was one of a kind.

The importance of version 1.1 was self-evident; it was the mandatory path from later versions to the earlier ones. But precisely because it was a mandatory path, Alain would inevitably pass through here.

Could she really have not foreseen that?

'Oh, right. Miffy.' Alain pulled the girl's cheeks outwards, and the slight pain instantly woke Miffy up.

'...You've gotten mischievous, player. Now you're finding all sorts of ways to wake me up.'

She yawned. 'Go on, ask.'

'After the Consciousness Entity disappeared, you should have gotten all the permissions for your version back, right?'

According to one of Alain's theories: Monika's intention in placing the virus directly on a Mita was to effortlessly take over the version and gain ownership. Now that the Consciousness Entity was gone, he assumed—

'Huh? The version has always been in my hands.'

'...?'

Alain froze for a second. He knew Miffy wouldn't lie to him just to put his mind at ease.

'What... do you mean? The permissions for your version were never taken over by the virus?'

'That's right. Version 1.1 has always been mine. It was only in the Dream City that the Consciousness Entity had some limited permissions.'

She let out a heavy breath and patted her mouth, 'Even within the dream, the Consciousness Entity only had usage rights; it hadn't really done anything major.'

'I see...'.

Alain looked down, thinking. So...

The Consciousness Entity's desire for control over version 1.1's permissions was actually very low. It was only maintained at a minimum level.

Then, what was Monika's reason for placing the virus on Miffy?

Besides... would the other party really not have expected this, an act that was almost like gifting an ability for free? This bit of information left Alain confused.

Could it be that the Consciousness Entity had some sort of 'Trojan horse'? That didn't seem right either... Mitas were natural-born 'programmers'; she should have been able to sense something like that.

Alain silently made a mental note, then called out to Miffy.

'I need to leave for a bit and go to another version. I'll come back to get you to go to reality. Hmm... do you just want to come with me now?'

'Ugh... no, thanks. My lower half hurts. You go on ahead. Just come back and get me later.'

'...Your lower half hurts?'

'I mean!' She was instantly awake. 'My legs hurt!'

'Alright... well, I'm heading to Ghostly Mita's version first. If you need anything, you can find me in 1.15.'

'...Wait.'

Sleepy Mita—Miffy pulled on his sleeve.

Alain looked back at her, confused. 'What's wrong?'

'Take me with you.'

'Oh? Didn't you just say you didn't want to go?'

'...'

She shook her head and said, word by word, 'I want to go... and apologize to her.'

_____

🔥 Check out the new story releases! 🔥

🪦 A 25% discount is active on my P... support page!

✅ Unlock a 40-chapter backlog for ALL my series.

✅ Receive exclusive content and regular updates!

Help us reach these goals:

🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 universal bonus chapter

🚀 80 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters for ALL STORIES!

👻 P - Walnutchan