Chapter Three: Collapse

To rewind the clock slightly: while Gongsun Ce was stepping into the apartment building in his dream, his physical body in reality was far from idle.

"——!"

The air vibrated with an explosive boom. Invisible forces raged around the young man, threatening to smash every piece of furniture in the lobby to splinters. The gray-haired youth, deep in slumber, could never have imagined that his superpowers would flare up so violently after he entered the dream world.

Shiyu Lianyi understood the cause of this phenomenon.

The power of the Draconic Kind did not originate from within themselves. In their daily sleep, their consciousness merely drifted through the shallowest layers of dreams, never truly losing control over their bodies or minds. But when a Draconic being truly enters a dream, contracting their consciousness inward...

The abilities that were once as obedient as an extension of their own limbs begin to slip from their grasp.

Yan Qi wiped his mouth.

"Watch closely, Shiyu kid. You can handle a mild runaway like this with this technique..."

He took a pen and drew a symbol on his palm. It was neither the square nor the pentagram Yan Qi typically used, but a variant star emblem belonging to a certain knight. Yan Qi pressed his hand against Gongsun Ce’s chest and recited a fluent passage in the Common Tongue: "Creator of the world who seeks the truth, Morning Star that dispels the dark night. In the name of justice, righteousness, and morality, I call upon your inner light to guide this person from their confusion, to assist them in steering clear of the abyss of evil, and to grant them the protection of the righteous path!"

The rampaging superpower calmed instantly. Yan Qi slowly lifted his hand; the emblem on his palm had vanished.

Shiyu Lianyi, watching from the side, could not hide his astonishment. As an expert, he had too many questions he wanted to ask. But his mission now was not to probe into his friend's past. He suppressed his myriad thoughts and merely said, "I have noted it, Mr. Yan."

"At least you’re not an idiot," Yan Qi said, sitting down on the sofa. "Let’s see if he can get it right on the first try."

"After successfully entering the dream, finding the 'inner light' shouldn't be difficult."

Yan Qi said gloomily, "Nonsense. Finding it is the easy part; what comes after is the trouble."

·

It’s actually quite embarrassing to bring up this topic so suddenly...

Have any of you ever had the experience of being spied on while taking a bath?

Or perhaps, being walked in on while changing clothes?

These are common "fan service" tropes in certain comics. Readers smile knowingly, the characters shout with flushed faces, and that’s the end of it.

However...

What if these events were to happen in reality?

That would be disastrous.

The victim would likely be extremely displeased, perhaps even driven to a blind fury. In many regions, this is sufficient grounds to take the matter to court, file a lawsuit, and make the voyeur pay a heavy price. This is because the totality of one’s body is a private matter. To some, the violation of their privacy is even more barbaric, more excessive... more unbearable than physical violence.

Yet, even this body, so highly valued, is not the most private place of all. Humans possess another secret—a place completely sealed off from physical exploration, a place known only to oneself and touchable only by oneself.

The heart.

The heart is buried deep within the body, invisible and intangible. No matter how much others threaten with violence, they cannot touch this nonexistent realm. It contains everything that belongs to a human being, a side they would never display to the outside world...

Therefore, the depths of the heart are the true privacy.

If this place were to be peeked at by someone else, the emotions the person involved would feel might be ten, perhaps even a hundred times more intense than being spied on in the physical world...

"Get out!"

In the dream, the black-haired, black-clad Gongsun Ce roared hysterically: "Get out! You are not allowed to barge into the depths of my heart... You have no right to be here!"

His near-maniacal rage stemmed from unprecedented shame.

The depths of a person's heart are a place that even they themselves cannot truly understand.

Through communication and collision, others can walk into someone’s heart. But the deepest part is meant for oneself alone; it is a place where even parents and lovers are automatically barred from entry. It is an inviolable sanctuary that belongs solely to the self. This transcends any "privacy" in the physical sense; it is the most secret and private place a person can possess.

Entering a dream is a way to delve into the heart; the bottom layer of the dream is a manifestation of the heart's depths. Now, his deepest inner sanctum had been stepped upon; it had been occupied by an outsider who had nothing to do with him. It was as if a thug had invaded a childhood secret base, as if his most cherished diary had been pried open, as if every inch of his body had been laid bare to prying eyes... Fury, shock, and disbelief swept through the young man’s brain, causing him to lose his sanity in an instant.

"How dare you!"

The silver-haired woman said nothing, merely watching him quietly. Gongsun Ce’s voice turned hoarse. He reached out with a savage, clawing right hand, intending to grab the woman by the throat, but halfway there, his own left hand caught his wrist.

"You are just a figment of my imagination too," Gongsun Ce panted. "Just like Big Brother and the others, you are a hallucination born from my memories."

Elandia finally spoke. Her voice was calm and collected, devoid of any personal bias, stating only the facts she knew—standing at the absolute opposite extreme from Gongsun Ce.

"I am not a hallucination," the Dawn Knight said placidly. "I am the power gifted to you by Elandia."

A pure white substance manifested in the silver-haired woman’s hand. She closed her palm, and the white matter vanished instantly, just as Gongsun Ce had done so many times before.

Gongsun Ce was speechless. He wanted to tell himself that this was also a hallucination, a demon of his own heart, a symptom of mental illness, or an incarnation of negative emotions. But the friends he had conjured in his imagination all bore appearances vastly different from their real selves, colored by his own unique biases—even Mo Yuankai had kept his body hidden in the shadows.

But Elandia before him was different. She retained her original appearance, spoke in her original voice, and utilized the power that originally belonged to her.

Elandia was not his fantasy.

Elandia would not lie to him.

The black-haired Gongsun Ce sat on the small bed, dejected, as if all the strength had drained from his body.

"...Why are you here? You should be staying in the outer layers. Only I can enter this place."

The Dawn Knight sat back down at the desk.

"Ce, you are the one who placed me here," she pointed out the truth with surgical precision. "Because..."

"I don't want to hear it. Shut up."

Gongsun Ce responded crudely, disregarding the slightest shred of etiquette or sentiment. He had cast the search for the inner light to the back of his mind; there were more important matters for him to resolve. He had to make this woman quiet, preferably make her leave. Because the Dawn Knight could always ferret out every truth. Including the secrets he hid in the deepest recesses of his heart.

He had decided what to say and what to do.

He should first use etiquette as a pretext to have Elandia leave, then find the inner light in the shortest time possible, flee this place entirely, and never see her again. She was merely an incarnation of power, not the woman from his memories. He had no reason to respect a mass of pure power.

Gongsun Ce had his opening line ready: Please understand my rudeness, and please step out for a moment. He took a deep breath, looked up to meet the woman’s eyes, and said: "...I’m sorry."

Gongsun Ce was stunned. He couldn't utter the opening line he had prepared; instead, he found himself involuntarily speaking his true heart.

"I’m sorry, Miss Elandia. You understand how I feel..."

"I understand," the silver-haired woman nodded. "My apologies."

She apologized, which made Gongsun Ce feel even worse.

"No. It’s not your fault. I can't control my emotions; even now, it’s the same. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I... I have always been using your power, you have saved me many times, I..."

He clutched his head in agony: "...I miss you very much."

He tried to say something witty to lighten the mood, but just as before, he couldn't get the words out. Why was he like this? Where were his manners, his lies, his empty pleasantries? How could Gongsun Ce be so incompetent that he couldn't even control his own speech...

He suddenly realized the reason. This was the deepest part of his heart; he couldn't deceive himself here.

"Ce, I also miss the times we acted together," Elandia said succinctly. "And now, you should look for the secret in the depths of your heart."

The Dawn Knight didn't ask for the homeowner's opinion; she pulled open the desk drawer. She withdrew a book as tall as a person, its thickness far exceeding the capacity of the small drawer.

On the cover, written in pencil, were three large characters: *Gongsun Ce*.

Gongsun Ce opened the first page himself. Hidden inside the large book was another large book, and on its cover was written: *Help all super-powered individuals achieve freedom*.

He tremblingly opened the second book and found a slightly smaller volume, inscribed: *Protect everyone’s life*.

Gongsun Ce’s movements grew faster and faster. Behind every book was hidden a new one: *Prevent disasters from descending*, *Defend fairness and justice*, *Imitate Big Brother’s actions*, *Don't cause trouble for others*... until finally, he saw a book as small as could be.

It was a handmade, hardbound volume. The dark gray cover was wrapped in leather, with gold-stamped patterns on the corners, and the curve of the spine was perfect. Opening the cover, one could see marbled endpapers. But there was not a single character on the cover; no author, no title.

Gongsun Ce took out the small book. He flipped through the high-quality pages, but even on the very last one, he saw no text.

All the pages were blank. There was nothing written in the book; it was a beautifully decorated piece of trash.

It had no meaning.

Gongsun Ce’s hands began to tremble. He asked in a tone that was almost a plea: "I haven't reached the deepest part yet, right? This is... I guess... like those torch-like hallucinations?"

The Dawn Knight watched him quietly, saying nothing. Gongsun Ce became increasingly agitated; he didn't even know why he couldn't calm down: "Don't joke around at a time like this, Miss Elandia. I may have suggested you not be so serious, but this... this malicious joke doesn't suit you!"

Elandia finally responded to him with a brief conclusion.

"This is the deepest part."

Then how was this to be explained? The deepest part of the dream should contain the inner light, the true nature, but in this book... Gongsun Ce tapped the cover of the blank book frantically, shouting like a child: "There is nothing in this book! Nothing at all!"

He threw the blank book aside and meticulously checked the huge book shells wrapped around it, hoping to find the true contents inside. But he was disappointed; those things weren't even books—they were just gorgeous, empty shells.

Gongsun Ce pushed all the book shells to the ground and sat back down on the bed.

"...Ha."

He grabbed his head with both hands and laughed in a low voice.

He understood now. He had meticulously prepared so many layers of outer garments for himself, so many reasons. Whenever someone felt something was wrong, he only needed to take a different book from the "deeper" layers—each one looked very thick, enough to carry a person's entire life. His camouflage was so exquisite that no one would imagine that after stripping away so many layers and breaking through so many surfaces, the final result would be another fake book.

He had even deceived himself. Whenever he had self-doubting thoughts, he would immediately pull out the cover of one of those books to look at it, so he could feel at ease and spend his daily life with peace of mind...

Now, it couldn't be hidden. It couldn't be hidden at all. Even if he tried every way to deceive himself again, the Dawn Knight would not forget the truth.

"Hehehe."

His shoulders shook as he let out a shrill laugh.

"Hehehe, wuwuwu, hahahahahahahaha!"

Gongsun Ce’s laughter was extremely sharp, almost enough to pierce his own eardrums. He slapped his thighs, laughing until tears streamed down his face, rocking back and forth as he said:

"It seems I have no inner light, Miss Elandia! I have nothing at all, hahahaha!"

Gongsun Ce felt his emotions were exceptionally agitated, strangely exaggerated, far more intense than they were in the real world. Yet he felt this was normal—this was the reaction a human ought to have, the most authentic emotion in the human heart after abandoning all complex and superfluous restraints. So he felt even more justified, swinging his cloak and laughing out loud.

"Look at how beautiful this book looks on the outside, just like this outfit of mine. I really am a clown seeking attention... What am I living for?"

The laughter caused the building to vibrate, and everything in his field of vision began to shake. Outside the window, a violent gale blew, sand and dust filled the sky, and the black sun in the air grew ever brighter.

He seemed to have awakened something within his heart, something sharper than his laughter, as if a great fish lurking in the sea of sand had taken the bait, about to be hooked by the fisherman in the sky, revealing its full form from the depths of the yellow sand. That power of destruction was about to emerge, about to help him escape his predicament!

He was genuinely joyful. That was great; this was his true destination.

This was the ending most suited to him.

·

In reality, Yan Qi cursed loudly.

"Dammit, the Terminus Sword is resonating before he even found the inner light!"