Chapter 1 A Dream Within a Dream For 18 years prior, Xia Zhu had never dreamed. ...

For the first 18 years of his life, Xia Zhu never dreamed.

But if she wasn't in a dream world at this moment, she couldn't think of any other explanation.

Because everything seemed so illogical, absurd, and bizarre.

Beneath her feet lay endless still water, yet she could stand on its surface as if walking on flat ground. The surroundings were so quiet that she even wondered if there was something wrong with her ears, as walking on the water did not create any ripples.

The deathly silence brewed a nameless loneliness that slowly crept up to her feet. It felt as if she had been alone here for thousands of years, so long that she didn't have the courage to open her mouth and make a sound of her own. Even though she couldn't feel the temperature of the environment, the emptiness made her blood freeze and spread coldly throughout her body.

Just as I was thinking of doing something, perhaps I should start running, the mirror-like edges of the ground began to blur, like melting ice and snow, revealing the green that had been dormant beneath all winter.

The area of ​​melting grew larger and larger, and the exposed parts deepened in color, gradually turning into a dark green before slowly and smoothly rising into the clouds, forming a mountain range that meandered and eventually connected heaven and earth. Xia Zhu watched the changes before her, holding her breath.

Suddenly, a streak of meteor streaked out from above the mountains, moving so fast that it almost collided with her in the blink of an eye.

Before she could react and dodge, Xia Zhu could only instinctively raise her arm to shield her face. After the sound of fireworks exploding, everything returned to calm, and she did not experience the pain she expected.

When I opened my eyes again, the newly constructed green mountains were gone, disappearing once more into a vast expanse of white, and the entire space returned to its perfectly round and complete state.

The shooting star disappeared without a trace.

Xia Zhu couldn't remember where she was, nor did she have any knowledge of herself. A judgment rising from the bottom of her heart told her that she was in a dream.

Why?

That was the only question she could ask.

Why is she here?

That's all; her brain is no longer able to function.

In a flash, a distant booming sound rang out, like the rumbling thunder before a summer downpour, or the drumbeats of a performance about to begin.

Her heartbeat seemed to synchronize with the drumbeats, her chest heaving. She strained her ears, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. But the sounds were chaotic and disorganized, their direction indiscernible, or rather, they came from all directions.

The roaring sounds quickly converged and focused, accompanied by the sounds of drums and horns clashing and deafening battle cries.

The scene shifted in an instant from a meteor shower to an ancient battlefield, a change that seemed completely illogical. Xia Zhu realized that she was trapped in Luofu Jiaolu.

The sound grew louder and louder, so close it was terrifying; the soldiers' shouts and exhaled breath seemed to be blowing right next to their ears, yet there was still nothing around. Suddenly, a blood-stained spear pierced through his chest, and hundreds of soldiers in rattan armor and animal hides appeared around him, roaring and running past. Dust rose from the water, and banners fluttered in the stench of the wind overhead.

Everything vanished like a mirage, disappearing with the wind, along with the spear that pierced the summer candle.

There were no wounds on his chest, yet he still felt a dull, lingering pain.

The changing scenes were baseless and unpredictable, and Xia Zhu was shrouded in mystery, but she didn't want to bother guessing. Perhaps it was just a flashback of memory and had no real meaning.

Her overloaded ears were still ringing in the silence; she could only hunch over slightly, panting, her temples throbbing.

Just as she thought the dream was over, a small hand tugged at her clothes.

Xia Zhu stared blankly at the child who had suddenly appeared beside her.

He has very beautiful eyes and looks like a well-behaved and cute child.

"What's wrong?" the child asked with concern, his voice still childish but clear and pleasant, soothing her ears slightly.

"Are you alright?" He frowned when he saw that Xia Zhu didn't react and looked sluggish and blank, looking like a little adult.

However, this inquiry sounded somewhat stiff, as if she didn't want her concern to appear too deliberate or eager.

Xia Zhu subconsciously wanted to raise her hand to smooth the child's furrowed brow, to tell him that she was fine and that he shouldn't always frown, as it made him look old.

But she froze as soon as she reached out; she didn't know where this "always" came from.

"Number 2, come here."

A voice came from not far away, interrupting Xia Zhu's doubts.

Looking up at the source of the sound, a strange man in a white robe stood about ten steps away, but his face was indistinct for some reason.

He waved to the child.

"Okay." The boy was a little dissatisfied, but he still let go of Xia Zhu's clothes.

"I'm leaving," he said. The child called Number 2 hesitated for a moment, then pinched Xia Zhu's hand, which was hanging by her side, so hard that it made her wonder if there had been some past conflict between them, and the child was taking advantage of her momentary lapse in judgment to seek revenge.

"goodbye."

Number 2 walked a few steps toward the man in the white robe, then stopped and turned back to say goodbye. His expression looked somewhat sad, even resentful.

His appearance was so pitiful that Xia Zhu also felt sad.

"Don't forget to come back."

The child said again.

Come back? Go back where?

The way he looked at Xia Zhu was as if she had cruelly abandoned him.

That's really strange.

Strange dream, strange people.

She clutched her chest again; the vague and bizarre dream was making it hard for her to breathe.

When I looked up, the man and the child were gone.

It happened again. Xia Zhu squatted down dejectedly. Why wasn't this dream over yet?

She buried her head between her knees, watching as the water beneath her feet turned a vibrant orange again. Helplessly, she looked up, only to find the scene before her had changed once more.

A huge red sun was slowly setting in the distance, bathing the entire space in crimson light.

Moving forward from Xia Zhu's feet, the water gradually recedes, revealing yellow earth, and on top of that, a field of golden wheat ears slowly grows, baked by the setting sun, and you can even smell the aroma of wheat.

In the middle of a wheat field, under the red sun, an old man stood with his back to her.

The old man's blue cloth robe was somewhat faded, its open front billowing in the wind, revealing dry, mottled skin, like an old tree that no longer sprouts, deeply rooted in the yellow earth.

He held a pipe in his hands behind his back, and was now tilting his head slightly, quietly watching the setting sun in the wheat breeze.

The scorching sun beat down on Xia Zhu's skin and eyes, and she inappropriately recalled the line, "Heaven and earth are worlds apart, let us answer the heavens with our sighs."

She remembered who she was, and everything about herself.

"grandfather."

She took a deep breath, clenched her fists to gather her strength, and shouted loudly at the old man's back.

"grandfather!"

Then Xia Zhu started running, towards the wheat field and the setting sun.

It was a short distance, but it seemed impossible to reach her no matter how hard she tried. The old man was always not far away, standing in the swaying wheat, gently shaking his head, tapping his thigh with his pipe again and again.

Xia Zhu heard his somewhat hoarse voice drifting from the horizon.

Hearing him sing, "The green hills and clear waters—"

"How beautiful!"

"The sorghum is so red—"

"The aroma of tofu pudding—"

She kept running, her throat dry and choking on the smell of rust, but she kept running. Watching the old man's back, she could only pray in her heart that he would wait a little longer.

Don't go.

Wait for her a little longer.

Don't leave her alone.

But the yellow earth beneath her feet was like a conveyor belt detached from a machine, and Xia Zhu began to struggle in place. The old man, as if he had not noticed her presence at all, still had his back turned, stroking the wheat tips with his withered hands. The warm sunset shone on him and on Xia Zhu.

"That load of millet is full!"

"The warehouse is overflowing!"

"grandfather!"

The ground collapsed and crumbled, and the flowing water behind her caught up with her. She lost her footing, slipped, and fell into the boundless pool of water.

Just as the water was about to reach his head, Xia Zhu saw his grandfather finally turn around. A smile of immense happiness bloomed on his face, which was covered with layers of wrinkles like waves of wheat, and his cracked lips opened and closed.

"Little candle."

That's her name.

The red sun melted and flowed into the water, and Xia Zhu felt warmth all over her body, like a wild goose flying by, or a wisp of smoke rising from a chimney on an afternoon.

"The probability of a normal distribution with three standard deviations must be memorized as a conditioned reflex."

I opened my eyes to find a string of crooked notes on the draft paper in front of me, the broken pen still in my hand, and the math teacher's repeated emphasis in my ears.

Xia Zhu could hardly believe that she had actually fallen asleep and was having a dream for the first time in her life, especially since it was during a cram school class where every second counted.

I forget everything from my dream as soon as I open my eyes.

The teacher was still talking about how a certain easy question type had a hidden danger in last year's college entrance examination, resulting in an average score rate of only 43% across the province. Xia Zhu's fingers trembled slightly. She took off her glasses, rubbed the bridge of her nose, and her hand, which was holding the pen again, still couldn't stop spasming.

Fortunately, the bell rang at the right time, and the last class of the morning would definitely not run overtime.

She packed her things, took her smartphone from the empty space on the desk, put it in her coat pocket, put it back on, and left the classroom.

Today was a rare beautiful day; the sun shone warmly on us, and the corridors were a bit crowded as students hurried to the cafeteria for lunch. Three hot meals a day are all they have to sustain them through the winter days of campus life.

The place was noisy and crowded. Xia Zhu looked down at the cafeteria from the corridor and saw it was completely packed. She decided to eat at off-peak times and took out her phone from her pocket.

This hard, straight phone, capable of cracking walnuts and receiving text message notifications about phone bills, was a free gift from the town's mobile company during a recharge promotion. Its calling function was practically useless, as no one ever contacted it; it was mainly used to set alarms and check the time.

I turned on my phone, and the screen showed 12:03.

Since it was still early, she planned to wander around the green area downstairs for a while, which would be a way to connect with nature.

She was slowly pushed down the stairs through the gaps in the crowd, and groups of young men and women squeezed past her. A gasp came from ahead; someone's thermos had spilled, leaving a small puddle on the ground.

The crowd paused briefly for a few seconds before quickly moving on. Xia Zhu walked through the puddles, jostling and pushing around her. A sudden feeling of unease flashed through her mind, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Xia Zhu had a habit of spacing out in crowded places, letting her mind wander and only doing things subconsciously, like repeatedly taking out her phone when she didn't actually need to check anything. So, she subconsciously turned on the screen again.

12:06.

Three seconds later, her stunned face appeared on the screen that had gone dark. She suddenly remembered what was wrong.

Press the screen again to turn it on, and in addition to the time, even a candybar phone will tell you today's date.

"October 32, 2025."

Number 32?

As Xia Zhu stopped, the surrounding crowd seemed to slow down; all the noise and laughter were stretched and distorted, and the sun, blindingly white, lost its warmth, hanging overhead like an ornament.

She was still dreaming.

I woke up in class but entered another dream.

A dream within a dream—this kind of experience is too bizarre for someone who has never dreamed since they can remember. How could a dream be so real?

While Xia Zhu was deep in thought, everything around her continued to unfold slowly. She lifted her foot and took a step forward. As the sole of her shoe pressed firmly against the concrete, the whole world began to spin, like the effect of a long exposure on a camera lens, until it finally merged into darkness.

Unable to discern directions or discern her surroundings in the darkness, she dared not make any rash moves, slowing her breathing and trying to catch any slight sound.

If it's a dream, can it end on its own?

Everything that is happening now seems to have an endless cycle, which makes Xia Zhu somewhat uneasy.

As her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, she noticed something flashing next to her head. She stiffly turned her neck and discovered that the flashing light was from a green stone suspended in mid-air, which looked like a piece of jade.

However, jade does not emit light, nor does it float in mid-air.

The green stone emitted a soft, eerie light, filled with a mysterious aura that drew people closer to examine it. Xia Zhu's eyes were filled with the eerie green light, and she felt her consciousness begin to wane. A sharp pain shot through the back of her neck, a sign that she was about to faint.

Before she completely lost consciousness, she realized that there were two other people in this space, not far from her.

They were two people who seemed very strange no matter how you looked at them.

Dressed like a savage from a primeval jungle, with a green body and a brown, glittering bead hanging from each of his right ears, he was particularly conspicuous in the dark.

Even from a distance and in a daze, Xia Zhu could see their expressions. Their mouths were wide open like penguins', their jaws almost dropping to the ground, showing utter shock at her appearance.

It was as if she were an uninvited guest who had suddenly intruded into someone else's territory.

Xia Zhu wanted to put on a friendly expression that said, "I'm just as confused as you are," but she was too exhausted. Before she closed her eyes, she saw the two of them running towards her with exaggerated expressions.

A note from the author:

----------------------