Chapter 38
When Jiang Lan got home from get off work, Xiao Ming was throwing the bed sheets that were supposed to be washed into the washing machine, and cleaning the ones that couldn't be washed with a bottle of no-wash spray.
Hearing the noise, Xiaoming looked up at Jiang Lan, pointed to the kitchen with his chin, and said, "The food is still hot, eat quickly. I went to the community hospital to get some qi-tonifying ingredients and made pigeon soup. Drink a couple more bowls."
Jiang Lan raised an eyebrow: "Have you had any?"
"I drank it."
After finishing her meal and cleaning up the kitchen, Jiang Lan turned on the washing machine and took out the bed sheets to hang them up to dry.
Xiao Ming stopped his hand, which was about to offer help: "It'll be fine soon." Looking at the faint dark circles under his eyes and his slightly pale lips, he felt a pang of guilt and asked him:
"Are you tired from work today? Do you feel unwell? Are you experiencing shortness of breath, dizziness, or blurred vision?"
Jiang Lan was puzzled: "I'm not tired, I feel fine, there's nothing wrong with me."
Thinking that Xiaoming was concerned about her work, Jiang Lan explained, "The company is deciding whether to go public, and many things are pending. I've been feeling a bit mentally exhausted at work these past two days."
"Disagreement?"
"Um."
"What about you? Do you want to go public?"
"In no mood."
"That's true. Once the company goes public, your equity will likely be diluted to a negligible level, and the future management and control of the company will be uncertain. Liu Zhen wants to go public?"
"Hmm." Jiang Lan pondered for a moment, then asked Xiao Ming, "If we go public, I'd like to sell my shares before the IPO. Do you agree?"
Xiao Ming looked up at him, a little confused. Jiang Lan explained:
"We're already engaged, so I need to ask you about the movement of any large assets in our household."
After thinking for a moment, Xiaoming nodded: "I have no objection."
That night, the two turned off the lights and went to bed early. Before going to sleep, Xiaoming told Jiang Lan, "I've bought the plane tickets to attend Wenhui's wedding. I'll send you a screenshot of the flight schedule tomorrow, and you can make arrangements accordingly."
Jiang Lan hummed in agreement and then asked, "My parents said they're planning to renovate the house. What style would you like?"
"Let's go for a warm and cozy style."
"good."
Neither of them slept enough last night, and tonight, they both drifted off to sleep shortly after closing their eyes.
Holding a ticket with illegible handwriting, Xiaoming stood on the platform, looking around anxiously, hoping to find his train quickly before it started moving.
White high-speed train carriages were parked on both sides of the platform, but several green and blue old-fashioned trains were parked on the middle track, not close to the platform. In a moment of panic, Xiaoming floated off the platform and floated toward the dark door of the blue old-fashioned train.
Standing at the train door, Xiaoming noticed that the carriage number on the side of the door was blurry, but he seemed to be able to see it clearly. He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly boarded the train.
Upon entering the carriage, it was surprisingly resembling a university dormitory, with four beds above and computers on the tables below, their screens glowing dimly.
Xiaoming didn't recognize any of the people sitting on the bed.
Xiao Ming peered out the window and saw that the train, which had just been on the platform, was now traveling through the mountains. Strangely, the tracks were built along the mountain ridge, and as the train climbed higher and higher, it seemed to be tilting upwards.
Wildflowers bloomed in the mountains, and branches adorned with flowers occasionally brushed past the car window.
The train traveled to an overpass between two high mountains and a mountain stream. Looking down, the water in the pool in the stream was a deep, almost blackish blue.
Xiao Ming took out his ticket and thought for a moment. Wait a minute, she hadn't managed to get a sleeper ticket since school started. How could she be in a sleeper car? She had to find her hard seat car.
After walking through carriage after carriage without finding a seat, Xiaoming saw an empty seat on the aisle side of the three-seater section and plopped down in it.
This viaduct is unusually long; the train has been traveling for so long and is still on it.
At that moment, a person in uniform walked up to her, stopped, and looked at her.
Xiao Ming looked at the person, then turned his head left and right to look around, scratched his head, stood up, and walked towards the train connection.
Looking out through the connecting doors, there was no scene of the train moving forward while the surrounding scenery receded.
Xiao Ming didn't think anything was wrong. Usually, when crossing bridges or tunnels, trains take a long time to travel.
However, the other passengers in the carriage did not find this normal. The rumble of the train wheels hitting the rails was normal, but the train was not moving, and there was still a bottomless abyss below. This had been going on for so long that everyone was panicking.
Jiang Lan sat down with Xiao Long, an official member of the Dream Cube team she knew, to exchange information: "The Dream Maker still hasn't shown up."
"No, she might have shown up, but we just didn't recognize her." Jiang Lan nodded her chin at the girl in the uniform: "Your colleague is quite courageous. She sat down in that eerie place without batting an eye."
Xiao Long smiled wryly: "A newcomer, pure of heart, and eager to save people." He then sighed: "You reported before that the dream makers at your Rubik's Cube could turn the supernatural into scene props, which everyone found unbelievable. Today we finally witnessed it. These things are actually quite human-like, dozing off, eating, and using their phones. If it weren't for the complete darkness, we really wouldn't be able to tell if they were people or ghosts."
Jiang Lan smiled and said, "You should call your team members back as soon as possible, in case the situation changes suddenly."
Xiao Long beckoned to the little girl, who hesitated for a moment, then quickly got up and walked back, leaning against the back of her chair in the aisle, and asked her question:
"Brother Long, the people in the carriage, as long as they are 'people,' have specific faces and can communicate with each other, right?"
"Yes." Xiaolong nodded in affirmation.
"But... the person I forced to give up her seat just now, at first glance she seemed to have a face, but when I looked closely I couldn't see her face clearly, it was all blurry, and she seemed to not be able to hear me."
"What?! Can you hear her speak?" Jiang Lan stood up instantly and stared at the newcomer.
"I don't know if she spoke; I couldn't see her mouth."
Jiang Lan and Xiao Long exchanged a glance and immediately headed in the direction the 'person' had left.
Xiao Long turned to the little girl and whispered, "Xiao Gu, keep up!"
There was no one at the connecting area between the carriages. The group walked through the carriages, carefully observing the people on both sides of the aisle. After passing one carriage, a passenger sitting by the window exclaimed, "Look, there's an overpass!"
Everyone looked out the window and saw an unfinished viaduct standing on one side, with an intelligent bridge-building machine laying the bridge surface at a crazy speed, as if it had been pressed on the accelerator.
Suddenly someone spoke up: "It will be joined together soon. It seems that this new bridge is to replace the old one."
Old bridge?
Jiang Lan and Xiao Long looked at each other, as if they had both thought of something. A layer of fine sweat appeared on Xiao Long's forehead.
"Search separately, and use chips to make contact."
Xiao Long grabbed Jiang Lan: "I'll share some of the chip's energy with you."
Jiang Lan nodded; his chip hadn't been charged for a while.
Xiao Long led Xiao Gu back to the front of the car, while Jiang Lan went to the back.
Everyone needed to look carefully, and it took some time to walk through two carriages. At this moment, a voice asked for a phone call. After answering, Xiaolong's voice came through: "Come to the front of the train quickly."
Jiang Lan quickly turned around and walked towards the front of the car.
When there were still two carriages left from the front of the train, the people in the carriages suddenly became agitated and then all rushed towards the rear of the train.
Panic screams filled the air. Jiang Lan clung to the wall and gripped the handrail tightly to avoid being pulled back.
An elderly woman with a limp was walking at the back of the crowd. When she saw Jiang Lan, she grabbed him and pulled him forward, saying, "Hurry up! The bridge ahead is broken. If we can't stop in time, we'll fall off."
Jiang Lan was both amused and exasperated. She pulled the old woman's hand away and said, "Auntie, I'll go see if there's anything I can do to help. You go ahead."
After saying that, he ran forward and when he arrived at the carriage where the locomotive was located, he found that the regular locomotive had been transformed into the locomotive of a sightseeing train like those in an amusement park. The locomotive was surrounded by metal railings, and there was only a steering wheel in the driver's seat. A person with a "Train Conductor" armband was sitting on the wheel and talking to Xiaolong.
When Xiaolong saw Jiang Lan coming over, he introduced himself and the train conductor to each other.
Jiang Lan asked the train conductor, "Why are you sitting in the driver's seat?"
The train conductor was also baffled by the question: "I don't know either. I've been sitting in this seat since the beginning."
Xiao Long guessed, "Perhaps this is the only flight attendant who entered the dream."
The train conductor looked at the broken bridge in the distance and said, "The break is no more than fifty meters away from the train. At the normal starting speed, it will take the train about twenty seconds to reach the crack."
Those familiar with the Dream Cube smiled wryly: "There are no rules here. Do you have brakes on your feet?"
"No. A train driver's seat that doesn't need a steering wheel only has a steering wheel, isn't that ridiculous?" The train conductor, both amused and exasperated, raised his left hand and pulled on a rope hanging beside him. [Clang clang] The sound of an old-fashioned tram warning pedestrians to make way echoed in his ears.
"......"
Xiao Long couldn't help but complain: "Our imagination is still a bit lacking. Even the train tracks are shaped like roller coasters. This is leaving no way for people to survive."
Xiao Gu frowned deeply: "What do we do? We can't get off the train, so we just wait and see when it restarts and then plunge off the broken bridge?"
Everyone looked at Jiang Lan, who shrugged: "This version is beyond human capability. Let's find the Dream Maker first. Or, Captain, why don't you give up the driver's seat? Perhaps this vehicle should wait for the Dream Maker to drive it?"
The two official team members' eyes lit up upon hearing this, and Xiaolong agreed, "That's right, how come I didn't think of that? We can't open it, but the Dream Makers can."
The train conductor, looking completely bewildered, left the driver's seat and sat down in one of the back seats, just like the others.
The group sat in their seats with nothing to do, growing increasingly anxious. Their attention gradually shifted to the bridge-building machine not far away. After watching for what seemed like an eternity, they realized that the bridge was about to be joined together with only one last section remaining.
The youngest member, Xiao Gu, couldn't sit still any longer: "The bridge is about to be completed, and I think that's a critical point. The dream makers are nowhere to be seen. Are we just going to sit here doing nothing?"
“We don’t have a timer. Does anyone have an estimate of how long it will take for the bridge across the way to be completed? I think it will take about ten minutes,” Jiang Lan asked them.
Xiao Long stopped tapping his foot: "I estimate it to be nine minutes and twenty seconds."
The train conductor also announced the time: "Nine minutes and thirty-eight seconds."
Jiang Lan organized her thoughts and said, "Dreams are a reflection of the real world, I won't emphasize that. As far as I know, apart from the major accident that shocked the nation more than ten years ago, there haven't been any train accidents where the entire train derailed. Moreover, the train control center and safety measures now are incomparable to those of back then, so I guess this time it might just be a few carriages derailing. What do you think, conductor?"
“You’re right. We’ll wait a few more minutes. If the dream weaver you’re talking about still hasn’t arrived, we’ll head to the back of the car right away.”
"Okay, let's wait five more minutes." Xiao Long made the decision, and the others nodded in agreement.
The waiting time seemed incredibly long, and everyone was mentally counting down the minutes. Xiao Gu unconsciously started shaking his leg, and sweat beaded on his nose.
As the bridge on the other side was nearing completion, everyone looked around, hoping the dream maker would appear soon.
The driver's vision distorted for a moment, and a gray figure suddenly appeared. The train conductor exclaimed in surprise and then quickly covered his mouth.
The gray figure sat in her seat, looking around for a while, then suddenly stared at Jiang Lan and stopped. The others couldn't see the Dream Weaver's expression, but they guessed why she kept looking at Jiang Lan.
The Dream Weaver tilted her head, pinching her chin as if wondering about something. Just as she was about to step up and walk towards Jiang Lan, a huge friction sound came from the other side of the bridge as it slowly closed. The gray figure turned her head to look at the bridge next door, then immediately turned back to sit down, raised her left hand and pulled the rope twice. A huge clanging sound echoed throughout the train, and then the train started moving.
Xiao Gu exclaimed in surprise, and the train conductor couldn't help but exclaim, "It's moving!"
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