Chapter 19 The Tide's Proverb (Part 1) A strange symbol...

"Obviously no one's here!" Not getting any response other than an echo, Feng Feng was a little excited. "That's great! I can pick one I like! No one's going to take it from me!" As she spoke, she was about to shake a white wind chime nearby, but Feng Mian stopped her.

“You forgot, a white-level dream requires at least five people to enter together. This wind chime has a restriction on it, so you can’t ring it.”

Feng Feng was clearly disappointed that she couldn't challenge the more difficult dream. "Then the red one will do!" She took Xia Zhu's hand and chose the red wind chime that was closest to them.

A string of teardrop-shaped bell tongues hangs down from inside the wind chime, and Feng Feng gently pinches the very last one.

"Ready?" She turned to look at Xia Zhu, then gently shook the beaded string. The wind chimes did not make the expected sound, but the mercury-like liquid in the puddle began to ripple outwards in circles with a metallic sheen. "Time to jump."

She winked at Xia Zhu and then disappeared into the water. Even throwing a pebble into shallow water would cause some splash, but the surface of the water was too calm except for ripples, as if the whole place was a living thing. Feng Feng was not entering a dream, but being slowly swallowed by something.

“I’ll be right behind you.” Feng Mian gestured for her to jump first; his magic always made people feel at ease. To be honest, Xia Zhu’s mind went blank. She felt that she should have asked many questions, such as whether she could breathe after entering the water, how the three of them should regroup, etc., but before she could react, she had already jumped in.

She usually thinks rather slowly when it comes to these kinds of things.

There was no feeling of water enveloping my entire body as I had imagined; I felt weightless in all directions, as if floating in outer space. I couldn't hear any sound, not even my own heartbeat or breathing. This feeling was surprisingly calming, like returning to the very beginning of an embryo, where time stood still, everything was unknown, and the unknown represented hope.

Xia Zhu realized that she did not have a suffocating reaction and hesitantly opened her eyes.

Bubbles, shimmering with silver, rose rapidly, emerging from the raging storm and towering waves of the sea. Raindrops danced wildly like the drumbeats of a carnival, piercing the earth and scorching the skin. The world seemed upside down. Bubbles carrying ancient whispers descended from the sky and burst beside my ears. A huge silver moon, whether rising or falling, coldly pressed against the horizon right in front of my face.

Countless fragmented images flashed wildly through Xia Zhu's mind, like an overloaded computer, until Xia Zhu's vision finally settled on a blue field that had stopped responding.

After what seemed like a long time, or perhaps just a few seconds, she slowly regained all her senses. The salty, damp wind blew from her left ear, carrying strands of hair to her right, brushing against the tip of her nose and causing a slight itch. In a moment, every hair on her exposed skin was enveloped in cool, moist air.

Xia Zhu sat on a hard board bed, which was against one wall of the room, right next to the window. Opposite the bed, on the other side of the room, there was another window, so the draft swept through the rectangular, dark space without any mercy.

The smell in the environment was too novel, and she also noticed the sound of waves crashing against the rocks, so she looked out the window.

On a moonless night, the boundless sea resembles a giant ghost lying prostrate on the ground. Pale spots of light shimmer on the surface, their source unknown—perhaps a luminous object hidden beneath the sea.

Xia Zhu had never seen the sea before, and the effect of infinitely magnifying the world within her field of vision and physiological senses made her take a long breath.

This dream is the complete opposite of the toy factory; it is no longer oppressive and gloomy, but rather has an overwhelming sense of realism.

She peeked out slightly and found that the room she was in seemed to be three or four stories above the ground. The light was too dim to see the specific details, but she could see a square dark area directly in front of her downstairs.

It appears to be a pond.

Not far from the pond, the tide line is right there. There are no rocks or beaches to transition between them, and a small wave can easily reach the ground.

She pulled back, and within seconds felt sea salt crystals forming in her hair. Getting out of bed, she found the room much larger than the factory dormitory, a long, narrow rectangle. Besides the dampness, the air carried an indescribable, ancient scent.

It might be mold.

The window at the other end of the room also overlooks the boundless sea. From here, one can vaguely see that the building she is in is most likely built on a steep cliff of a small island, with the seawater below relentlessly eroding the solid dikes on which the island depends for survival.

There was also a small washroom in the room, but nothing else.

Feng Feng and Feng Mian are nowhere to be found.

The most important thing now was to make sure the other two were safe, so she walked to the door and quietly turned the lock.

Outside the door was a long corridor, with a row of dark rooms on the right that were completely shrouded in darkness, and a waist-high railing on the left that offered a wider view of the sea, where the wind rushed in and became chaotic.

Xia Zhu dared not make any rash moves. He carefully examined the rooms on the right. There were about six rooms. Counting from the first room next to his own, the second doorway was taller and larger, and he could vaguely see the stairs leading downstairs.

Everything else was the same, except that the room where I woke up was in a slightly different location from the others, being at the end of this corridor.

While still wondering how to contact Feng Feng and his sister, the door next to her creaked open. Xia Zhu instinctively took a step back and gripped the doorknob tightly.

Fortunately, it was Feng Feng who came out of the door.

Feng Feng gestured for her to be quiet, then carefully closed the door and slipped into Xia Zhu's room.

“Your room is much bigger than mine!” she said, trying to keep her voice down. “It’s not good to go out at night, and I don’t know what the rules or dangers of this dream are. I’ll use the blindfold to explore first and look for Fengmian.”

The two sat on the bed. Feng Feng closed his eyes and held up two fingers. A broad green leaf sprouted from the tips of his fingers with a "pop," and a golden vein extended from the stem to the tip of the leaf.

"open."

The golden threads on the leaf trembled a few times, splitting into an eye that blinked at Xia Zhu before wobbling and flying out of the open window.

"How strange, this place looks like an unfinished building." She kept her posture unchanged, but her brows furrowed more and more.

"There are three floors in total... six on the first, second, and third floors, nine on the second floor, so there seem to be 15 rooms... Wait, there's a corner in the corridor, and on the other side there's a huge room with lots of tables... and a blackboard... Could this be some kind of school? There's a classroom on each floor, right at the back of the corridor. Feng Mian... Where's Feng Mian... Found her!"

"The guy lives on the second floor and was standing by the window waving to me!"

The two agreed not to wake up together, so they used blindfolds to confirm their location.

"This place is surrounded by the sea on all sides, and there seems to be no way out..."

"That's enough, Xiaofeng. You don't need to look anymore. We don't know the situation of the other people in the dream right now. Let's wait until dawn to talk about it."

Feng Feng nodded and removed the blindfold.

"Let's hold our positions, just in case." She squeezed Xia Zhu's hand. "Be careful." Then they each went back to their rooms to sleep.

It's impossible to gather many clues on the first night. Unraveling the mystery takes time, and limited thinking is worse than sleeping.

The rising and falling waves are the best sleep aid, leading to a dreamless sleep.

The second day of the dream.

The chimes echoed throughout the island, and Xia Zhu opened her eyes at the first echo. The wind was still strong, the light inside the house was dim, and the horizon was a stagnant gray-blue, foreshadowing a storm in the near future. The gathering air pressure would pull the waves higher, making them crash against the island's foundations even louder.

The room was clearly very old; the walls were peeling and mottled to varying degrees, even showing signs of wind damage. A pitiful chandelier hung precariously from its string. Grayish-blue light was the standard here, spreading throughout the entire room. Xia Zhu was surprised to find that in addition to mold, the ceiling in the corners was also covered with algae.

This is a deep-sea plant.

It was as if a great transformation had been gradually unfolding in this room.

Xia Zhu squatted in the corner, observing these out-of-season species, watching them sway precariously in the sea breeze, imagining himself still in his underwater home 200 meters deep, waving with the current for a hundred years.

If the bell hadn't rung a few more times, Xia Zhu would have felt like she was about to turn into a red algae, just drifting along without having to think about anything.

She found her backpack, which she had left by her bedside, and changed into a light shirt that was suitable for the temperature here. Although the weather was gloomy, it wasn't cold.

It got noisy outside; it was time to go out.

Several people, both men and women, walked out of the corridor one after another, and they all looked to be around the same age as Xia Zhu. As soon as she opened the door, Feng Feng was leaning against the railing on the left waiting. When he saw her come out, he quickly went up to her and whispered, "This should be the school. When the bell rings, it's time to go to class."

Her expression wasn't too good. "I hate going to school the most!"

Xia Zhu recalled how she felt itchy all over while sitting in class and couldn't help but nod in understanding and agreement.

Me too.

"Nobody would believe that!"

The two murmured softly as they followed the girl who had just come out through the narrow corridor. Not only inside the rooms, but also on the exterior walls and in the corridor, were covered in patches of algae, and some unidentified vines climbed up the dilapidated building.

She had just confirmed that there was indeed a small pool downstairs from her room, filled with dark green water, with something seemingly floating on the surface.

Beside the pool stands a small, separate building with only a door and no windows visible; it stands square and dilapidated, guarding the pool.

Xia Zhu glanced at the edge of the sea again, the wind tangling her hair with the wind and maple leaves.

The classroom was located at the corner of the corridor, where some students were already seated, each sitting expressionlessly in their seats, some with their heads down and others looking up.

Feng Mian had come upstairs at some point and sat by the window. The sea in the background made him look somewhat pale. He smiled at the two of them, which was considered a way of making contact.

The classroom was so quiet that only the sound of the tide could be heard. The two of them stopped talking and sat down next to Feng Mian.

There are fifteen tables, which matches the number of rooms. They are placed separately, so there is no one sitting at the same table.

The tables, chairs, and benches were all made of the oldest kind of wood, their surfaces worn smooth as if coated with oil, and the smell of decay easily filled the nostrils.

The table was completely empty; it was unclear what subject was going to be taught later.

Xia Zhu felt around on the table and reached into the hollow part of it. She remembered the old wooden table at home, which she had carved with the character "早" (early). When she was in elementary school, the school had the same kind of tables and chairs, and the kids loved to use craft knives to carve and draw on them, such as "someone's heart" or "someone's name." She thought it was very interesting at the time, and she also wanted to have her own unique carving. However, she couldn't think of anything to add after "Xia Zhu" and "heart." So, after racking her brains, she finally carved a big "money."

Summer candles and money are forever locked together.

This was her beautiful wish.

This desk clearly hadn't suffered similar damage; the dreamer was probably a law-abiding student when they were in school.

Just as she was about to withdraw her hand, she clearly felt a rough texture on her fingertips, right on the inside of the side of the table.

Xia Zhu glanced around at her classmates. They were still in a daze, and their faces were not imprinted in her mind. She couldn't remember what they looked like.

She moved her chair back a little, bent down, and tilted the table slightly towards the window. In the gray-blue light, she could see what was engraved on the inside.

It is a symbol.

Three connected cuboids form a closed triangle, with what appears to be a serif letter "U" at the center.

Xia Zhu recognized the sign outside.

A note from the author:

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The second dream has begun, and coming up with a title is really difficult.