Chapter Two: Entering the Dream

"Gongsun has been asleep for twelve hours."

Shigure Reiichi checked the wall clock in the main hall and made his report.

It was noon. He was diligently observing his friend's condition. Gongsun Ce lay motionless on a large sheet of Xuan paper covered in intricate diagrams, occasionally emitting a soft snort, sleeping as soundly as a piglet.

Yan Qi, holding a plate of shark fin stir-fried with sea cucumber, shoveled food into his mouth at the dining table and said without looking over, "He’s been asleep for twelve hours and is still in the shallow dream layer? Is he a pig?!"

The young man in the suit defended his friend, "He turns twenty in the second half of the year..."

The practice of the Void Law usually begins in childhood. Children have simple minds and uncomplicated dream structures, allowing them to reach deep layers quickly under the guidance of a mentor, who can then use secret techniques to enter the dream and help the child find their inner light.

However, Gongsun Ce had more twists and turns in his heart than the wrinkles on a walnut, and Yan Qi, his mentor, was merely watching from the sidelines without offering any assistance. This made the dream-entry process far longer than usual. To Shigure Reiichi, the prolonged inability to reach the deeper layers of the dream was perfectly normal for him.

"You think you know better than me?"

The young man in the suit fell silent. Yan Qi set down his chopsticks. "Keep waiting!"

***

"Quack—! Yeah—! Wahahaha—!"

The bio-kangaroo let out a crow-like cry, bouncing through the sand dunes with increasing cheerfulness.

Gongsun Ce felt a bit nauseous from the jolting. He thought and thought, but he couldn't figure out where he was or what he was doing. Why was the sun black? What was that thing in the sky that looked like a ship? And why were there bio-kangaroos in the desert? Everything seemed absurd, yet the experience felt entirely logical. He had just complained about his whereabouts, but his mind naturally felt that he belonged right here.

Right here, experiencing a damn desert wild kangaroo rally.

The sense of displacement and familiarity made him feel as if he were having a mental breakdown. Gongsun Ce subconsciously wanted to close his eyes and merge into the hot desert wind to enjoy the race. But faintly, he heard a voice speaking in his ear, its tone particularly annoying.

"Go deeper, kid."

Go deeper. He muttered the phrase. Deep in the desert was an old apartment building; he had to go there, go there...

He had been walking for so long; it was about time he arrived. Thinking this, a sudden idea struck him.

"Giddy-up!"

He tugged at the reins—though he shouldn't have had any a moment ago, they were there now—and the bio-kangaroo responded loudly, "Quack!"

The kangaroo threw a few punches, lowered its body, and charged forward. They smashed straight through towering sand dunes, creating straight tunnels from the front, causing the mountains of yellow sand to collapse behind them and sending massive clouds of dust swirling into the sky. Before long, the rampage of the bio-kangaroo had stirred up a sandstorm in the desert.

As the wind and sand obscured the entire sky, they finally arrived at their destination, standing before that old apartment building.

Gongsun Ce climbed off the kangaroo's back, patted his partner's face, and said solemnly, "Well done, friend. A great adventure. I promise you, I have never eaten a bio-kangaroo burger."

The bio-kangaroo spoke in human language, "You’re lying. When the new product was first launched, you and Caldesia both bought one to join in the hype."

"I haven't eaten one since then. It was truly terrible." Gongsun Ce waved his hand. "Farewell for now, good friend. Next time, remember not to play boxing hurdles on the main road; that will only make everyone want to beat you up."

"Ah, goodbye friend, goodbye~!"

The bio-kangaroo sang a final song, its body dissolving into yellow sand and returning to the desert. Gongsun Ce wept sorrowfully, his emotions running deep, his face covered in tears.

He sat sobbing in the dust for a while before wiping his eyes and stepping into the apartment building.

The moment he stepped through the door, all feelings of vagueness vanished. The unnatural sense of harmony faded instantly, and calm and reason returned to his mind. He clearly remembered the purpose of his journey: he was practicing in his own dream, attempting to find the light within his heart.

"—Wow."

He also remembered his recent nonsensical actions with perfect clarity. The gray-haired young man opened his mouth and said dryly, "People really do get stupid when they dream."

***

There didn't seem to be an elevator in the building. Quite bizarrely, as soon as he realized this, a spiral staircase appeared abruptly before him.

"How thoughtful. Thank you, my psyche."

Gongsun Ce muttered to himself, climbing the stairs one step at a time. He confirmed he had reached the second floor, but the sign in the corridor read "0".

"If I go up further, will it be floor negative one? Honestly, this looks like a haunted apartment building," the gray-haired youth said casually. "Am I going up or down?"

0.1 seconds later, he received the answer. The moment the words left his lips, the ground beneath Gongsun Ce's feet vanished. The floor was replaced by endless, deep darkness, and gravity pulled at his body, sending him plummeting into the bottomless depths.

"This trap mechanism is too old-fashioned. Do I have such nostalgic taste?"

He sighed and said without expectation, "Let me show you my superpowered levitation..."

His telekinesis wouldn't work, and neither would his White Matter. The sense of powerlessness belonging to an ordinary person reminded him of Xu Junyi’s *Inch-Time Duel*. The wind whistled, the young man fell, and only a dry mumble remained in the empty corridor.

"I knew it."

***

Gongsun Ce felt his thoughts bound firmly by some force. The thoughts that usually drifted in his mind were now squeezed into a tiny range, as thin as a steel needle.

He was falling through darkness without light, heading toward an unknown yet familiar region. His needle-like thoughts twitched, the stinging sensation awakening a recent memory. He had experienced this feeling before, back in mid-February, when he drove Yan Qi’s ink sword into his heart...

He was heading deep into his own heart, falling toward the place where the Final Sword was sealed.

Unlike last time, this time Gongsun Ce only experienced a very short moment before he felt solid ground beneath his feet. His vision blurred, and he found himself standing before a familiar door. The iron door bore the number 707; it was his residence in the City of the Firmament.

In the darkness, only that single door stood alone, like a misplaced scene asset in a game. He scanned the area and found some illusory specks of light not far away, colorful and brilliant. The light danced as soon as he focused on it, reflecting all sorts of strange objects that drew him in, making him subconsciously want to walk over...

Gongsun Ce hurriedly withdrew his gaze and looked back at the door. He still remembered the precautions for dream entry that Yan Qi had taught him.

*To seek the true spirit, one must enter the dream; the lightless heart-sea becomes a deep abyss. All miracles are illusions; the plain and unchanging is the true reality...* This was the mantra the black-clad painter had taught him, but what he remembered more clearly was the layman’s explanation: *A mind that hasn't lit its inner light is as dark as an abyss, filled with all sorts of chaotic junk. Stay away from anything that looks extraordinary and find the symbol you are most familiar with.*

A key appeared out of thin air in Gongsun Ce’s hand. As he unlocked the door, he wondered, what would happen if he really encountered those specks of light? Would he become insane, or a true lunatic... The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed, and he couldn't help but shiver, hurriedly stepping through the dream door.

The dizzying sensation struck again, but this time Gongsun Ce was slightly more adapted. He realized that his living room had no lights on, yet it was incredibly lively. Four people were huddled around a square table in the dark, wondering what they were doing. Seeing Gongsun Ce arrive, they said in unison, "You finally arrived, Gongsun Ce. Everyone has been waiting for you!"

The esper’s expression remained unchanged as he smiled and said, "Sorry to keep everyone waiting. Let me turn on the light."

As soon as he spoke, the light turned on automatically. The room was bright, allowing him to see the appearances of the four guests.

Directly facing him was a blurry mess of pixels. The thing’s form kept twitching, like an old television screen losing its signal, or like a corrupted video file from a computer brought into reality. The pixelated monster made a girl-like sound: "Yay, so bright!"

The contrast made Gongsun Ce shudder. He hurriedly looked at the other three, only to find that there wasn't a single human-looking thing sitting in his house!

"Awoo!" Sitting to the left of the pixelated monster was a beast-shaped flame. The thing scorched his beloved furniture, roaring, yet unable to speak a single human word.

To his right floated a large white robe, stained with filthy blood. There was no flesh beneath the robe, and where a face should have been, a beautiful half-gold, half-gray mask was attached.

The white-robed monster looked at him through the mask, asking with a smile: "Having a nightmare again, Gongsun?"

It was hard to say this wasn't a nightmare. A child would likely wake up crying if they saw their home like this.

Gongsun Ce laughed dryly, "Hahahaha, how could that be? Mr. Gongsun has been sleeping quite well lately... Thanks for your concern, Shigure-kun."

The white-robed monster accepted the title nonchalantly and began to talk to him about board games. The guests seemed to be playing a card game in his house, exactly one person short. "Gongsun Ce, we’re just waiting for you~" "Won't you play a round, Gongsun?" "Awoo awoo!" The three monsters enthusiastically invited him, but the thing that had been facing away from him remained silent.

Gongsun Ce examined the last monster. This one looked particularly special: it wasn't even a living creature.

It was a piece of wood as tall as a person, densely pierced by countless cold weapons, pointing their sharp tips at everything but itself, while also driving the ends of the weapons into its own body.

Taped to the top of the wood was a crude crayon drawing of a childish smiley face.

Gongsun Ce felt increasingly cold. He forced a smile and said, "Everyone is dressed quite uniquely today, eh?"

"Don't you look different than usual too!" the pixelated monster said happily. "I have a mirror here, do you want to see?"

He refused firmly, in a tone that was almost rude. The monsters weren't angry; they just issued the "come play a round" invitation over and over again.

Gongsun Ce almost agreed. He genuinely felt it was a good suggestion and even took two steps forward unconsciously, but he still remembered his purpose.

"Just a moment, I'm going to get something from the room."

After brushing them off with a casual remark, he headed toward the bedroom door—

"A-Ce, are you going in there?"

A familiar voice came from behind him. Unsurprisingly, it was Qin Qianbai’s voice.

"If you go further in, you will see unpleasant things," the young lady’s voice said. "You might be sad."

Gongsun Ce was silent for a few seconds.

"Thanks, Miss. I'll just go in and take a look, then I'll be right back."

He resisted the urge to look back, pushed open the bedroom door, and stepped inside without turning his head. In an instant, the disorientation of shifting scenes appeared again.

This time, Gongsun Ce found himself standing in a deep tunnel, illuminated by countless flaming torches on both sides. He tried to reach for a torch, finding he could easily take it down.

Inside the torch he held, scenes of past memories appeared—images of him babbling endlessly in front of others. Gongsun Ce was a chatterbox, no doubt about it. The torch was bright enough; if he brought this along, it should illuminate a large area of darkness.

He observed his surroundings by the torchlight and found a small sign under each torch: "Esper," "Helpful," "Kind," "Otaku," "Strong"...

"Fake, it's all fake. It's all an illusion..."

Gongsun Ce muttered, hanging the torch back. He walked toward the depths of the tunnel, and with every step he took, a flame extinguished. When he reached the end, all the flames were gone. Relying on his eyes, which were gradually adapting to the darkness, he vaguely made out another door at the end of the tunnel, a door carved into the stone wall.

Sitting in front of the door on a small stool was someone he was incredibly familiar with. He couldn't see his face in the darkness, but Gongsun Ce immediately knew who it was.

"Big Brother, guarding the door?"

The big brother in the darkness replied leisurely, "Yeah, isn't this helping you guard the door? There’s such a precious treasure inside; I can't let just anyone in."

"Wow, thank you very much. Big Brother, could you answer a few questions while you're at it? Why didn't I see Orianna and the others in my heart, but Qiluo, whom I’ve only known for a few days, is there?"

"Because you haven't seen them in a long time. Dreams are related to memories. No matter how deep the friendship was three years ago, it can't compare to friends you see every day. Just like you rode a bio-kangaroo here—why would you ride that thing?"

Gongsun Ce last saw bio-kangaroos in January of this year. A lab attempting to mass-produce bio-animals had a small accident, causing three thousand bio-kangaroos to leap onto the streets of the City of the Firmament, engaging in enthusiastic boxing matches with the esper citizens celebrating the New Year, giving the city in the sky a unique festive atmosphere. He had to admit that the leg strength of these animals left a deep impression on him, second only to their disgusting meat.

"I understand." He walked toward the stone door. "I'm off, thanks, Big Brother..."

The young man in the darkness reached out and stopped him.

"A-Ce, this door is for the real you. Someone who doesn't even want to look at their own reflection cannot enter."

Gongsun Ce frowned, "Big Brother, make an exception..."

"There’s nothing to talk about here. Go back, look in the mirror, and choose for yourself."

Gongsun Ce took off his glasses and wiped them carefully for a full half-minute before putting them back on.

"Fine."

In an instant, the once-extinguished torches flared to life simultaneously, illuminating Mo Yuankai’s face and the stone door at the end of the tunnel. The stone door was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the torchlight and allowing him to see his current appearance.

In the mirror, he smiled wantonly, his eyes filled with arrogance. The Gongsun Ce in the mirror wore a flamboyant black outfit embroidered with gold patterns, a cape with a red lining and black exterior draped behind him, his deliberately lengthened hair tied into a single ponytail, his face much more youthful than it was now.

This image was undoubtedly completely different from who he was now, and the biggest difference was the hair color: the current Gongsun Ce had his signature gray hair, while the man in the mirror had hair as black as the night sky.

Gongsun Ce reached back and touched the ponytail and the cape. He evaluated them expressionlessly: "Looks just like a ridiculous clown."

Everything in the tunnel was illuminated, except for Mo Yuankai, who remained sitting in the dark corner, not revealing his true face. He smiled and said, "Don't be like that, A-Ce. I think it’s actually quite handsome."

"I know this is just my own thought, but thanks anyway."

Gongsun Ce reached out toward the mirror door. The moment he touched the surface, a dazzling light struck his eyes—

***

When the light dissipated, he found himself back in the original old building. This time he had reached the seventh floor and was in front of Room 7, but what he saw was no longer the door of his home in the City of the Firmament.

Before him was a bronze-colored security door with a safety screen between the iron bars, looking like it had been in use for many years. Through the safety screen, he could see another grayish-white door behind it, with an upside-down "Fu" character posted on it, along with a few cartoon stickers stuck on by a child.

There was a faint smell of cooking oil in the hallway, and the piercing sound of cicadas came from outside the building. There was also the faint, unpleasant sound of a piano—it must have been the neighbor's child upstairs practicing again... These indelible, yet deeply familiar impressions gradually awakened the memories hidden deep in his heart. Gongsun Ce realized with a start why this building was in the depths of the desert.

This was the place he had lived the longest from birth until he grew up, the old residential building he hadn't seen for nine years.

This was the home Gongsun Ce had lived in for ten years.

"...Makes sense."

The esper felt a bit sad as he took out an old key and returned to his true home. He tentatively called out, "Dad, Mom, I’m home!"

No one answered.

Gongsun Ce took out his pocket watch; the time was five o'clock in the afternoon. He remembered that his parents were both out at work at this hour and wouldn't be back for a while.

Everything in the house was exactly as it was before he left: the new sofa, the old TV that had been used for years, the peony painting hanging on the wall, the small square table piled with remote controls and books... He looked at them one by one, almost wanting to sit there and wait for his parents to return. But the esper hadn't lost his memory; he hadn't forgotten the purpose of his dream. Gongsun Ce reluctantly shifted his gaze and gripped the handle of his bedroom door.

Intuition told him that this was the deepest place he could reach in this dream.

"Hoo..."

He took a deep breath and pushed open the final door.

There was a small bed against the wall, a bookshelf above it filled with fairy tales, his desk by the bed, and on it were the various toys he loved as a child... His room was indeed exactly as it was when he left, only with one more thing.

There was one more person.

A mature woman was sitting at the desk with her back to him.

She wore a deerstalker hat, a dark blue top, black trousers, and a brown trench coat. Her long silver hair was draped behind her, as pure and beautiful as fresh snow in winter, firmly attracting his gaze.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the woman turned her head and looked into Gongsun Ce’s eyes. Their gazes met and immediately broke, as Gongsun Ce subconsciously lowered his head.

She looked exactly the same as in the past, those gray eyes perfectly matching his memory, nearly causing Gongsun Ce to suffocate.

The silver-haired woman rose from her seat and said calmly,

"Long time no see, Ce."

Gongsun Ce stammered, at a loss.

"It’s been a long time, Miss Alandia. I, I’m surprised, really, I never thought I’d see you here."

His speech accelerated, injecting more emotional color into his words. It was an emotion distinct from surprise and joy.

"I, I’m sorry, I’m a bit nervous, I don't know what to do. I really, I don't know what to say. I mean..."

Gongsun Ce clenched his fists little by little, glaring fiercely at the woman before him, shouting with unprecedented fury.

"—Get out of my heart, Dawn Knight!"