Are you summoning me?

After the buffet, Qin Luming strolled through the streets with Zuozuo and Caicai. They had eaten a lot, but they were still lively and energetic, not bloated to the point of being unable to move or needing to be carried.

Passing by a figurine shop, Qin Luming took them inside. Zuozuo wanted the large Optimus Prime, and Caicai wanted the mk44 Iron Man Hulkbuster Armor so she could put her 7-inch mini Iron Man inside.

"Then you'll have to do chores when we get home," Qin Luming said. It was normal for children to like buying toys, but Zuozuo and Caicai not only liked dolls and plush toys, which girls typically preferred, but also models that boys were more drawn to.

Qin Luming set his condition, and Zuozuo and Caicai nodded vigorously.

The shop owner couldn't help but laugh when he saw the two little girls looking at Qin Luming with expectant eyes, then synchronously nodding and turning to watch him pay. With two such adorable sisters, what was wrong with giving them all the toys in the shop?

Once they got their toys, they each hugged their own and started arguing.

Their argument was about who was stronger, Optimus Prime or Iron Man. Since they weren't at home, they didn't get into a physical fight. Qin Luming ended the discussion by suggesting that Superman was stronger than both of them.

Qin Luming wasn't without his own gains. He spotted two uniquely designed adult toys and bought them. The shop owner was somewhat impressed, admiring Qin Luming's composure in buying such items while out with his younger sisters.

Back home, Qin Luming took two brushes and several cans of paint from the storage room and told them to remove the stair panels first and then go to the patio to paint to their heart's content.

Qin Luming took a laptop and sat at the other end of the patio. He lit the landscape fireplace covered with refractory bricks and began to conceive his plot, watching the flickering flames of various colors. Although it was already half-past ten, he felt he should write something. As for writing ten thousand words a day, that was just an ideal.

One shouldn't abandon their ideals just because they can't achieve them. Ideals are always worth having; whether they can be realized is another matter.

The QQ icon in the lower right corner of the screen kept flashing. Qin Luming clicked it, and a dialog box appeared, consolidating messages from many group chats. Qin Luming never understood this feature; he just wanted to click on one to see.

In one of the reader groups for Ma Shilong, someone was discussing how Ma Shilong's new book hadn't been updated for several days. Ma Shilong usually chatted and joked around in this group. It was in this group that Qin Luming got Ma Shilong's address.

Ma Shilong had published physical books. After publication, he gave away a few sets in the group. When sending out the packages, he left his own address. Later, Qin Luming posted in the group saying he wanted to send Ma Shilong "razor blades" and asked for his address, so someone sent Ma Shilong's address to Qin Luming.

Casually sending someone else's address to a stranger with unclear intentions... Is that unbelievable? It's normal. People hide all sorts of things in their hearts, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Qin Luming sent a red packet and left the group. Then, he tipped a few more times in Ma Shilong's new book as a form of tribute. At that time, Ma Shilong was hit by Zhou Nan's Emperor's Hammer and immediately lost his heartbeat and breathing. It was a divine technique that froze his state, or perhaps he was directly killed – Qin Luming wasn't sure.

Feeling a bit emotional and not in the mood to write, he decided to rest for the day.

Qin Luming told the two girls, who were playing with Optimus Prime fighting Iron Man, that they had to finish painting before they could go to sleep. Then, he went to take a shower and prepare for bed.

The night was silent, and the air in the room was warm. Qin Luming peacefully entered his dreams.

"Are you summoning me?"

Qin Luming heard a voice. The sound was like the beautiful music of vibrating strings, carrying an ethereal quality that seemed to pierce through time and space, as if whispering right by his ear. Yet, upon closer reflection, it felt distant, separated by layers of time.

The voice had a hint of youthfulness, somewhat like Zuozuo's or Caicai's, but it wasn't either of them. Neither Zuozuo nor Caicai would ask such an arrogant question with such rising and falling intonation.

It was a condescending gaze. Even just hearing the voice, one could imagine her aloof posture, like a deity in the clouds.

Qin Luming walked towards the direction of the voice. Under his feet, mountain springs murmured, and streams babbled. An endless, dark forest stretched before him, with towering trees blocking his path. It seemed that only by passing through this primeval forest could he meet the owner of the voice.

That emotionless, cold voice seemed to tempt him from the depths of his soul, urging him to push through the dense forest without hesitation.

Beyond the dense forest lay an even vaster, continuous grassland, so wide that a celestial horse could not cross it even if it ran until it bled.

At the far end of the grassland stood snow-capped mountains, like the edge of the earth supporting the height of space, majestically towering, connecting the land and the sky.

The voice still echoed in his ears, so Qin Luming continued to walk. His mind was hazy; he only knew to follow the sound. After what felt like countless years, Qin Luming finally stood on those snow-capped mountains. To his astonishment, the serene night sky he thought he saw while climbing was merely an eternal backdrop. Only when he reached the summit did he realize that the night sky was an abyss. The star rivers stretched for billions of miles, extending to the very edge of the void, becoming the final scenery beyond the snow-capped mountains.

The voice was at the edge of the void.

Qin Luming focused his gaze, and his vision was able to penetrate countless worlds that lay between them. He saw the owner of the voice in the void.

"Are you summoning me?"

The voice repeated. Qin Luming involuntarily lifted his leg and fell from the snow-capped mountain, leaving this world that he had run to its end.

Qin Luming woke up with a start, startled by the fear of falling into the void. He reached up and ran his hand through his hair, feeling it was damp. His fingers brushed against his scalp and then his forehead, which was also covered in sweat.

"What kind of dream was that?" Qin Luming tugged at his ear. Usually, dreams were very vague after waking up, but Qin Luming now clearly remembered many scenes from the dream. The scenery felt like a journey he had just taken, especially the feeling of reaching the end of the world while standing on the summit of the snow-capped mountains, which echoed vividly in his mind.

It even made him feel as though a sense of illusory fluctuation permeated reality, and only everything he had seen in his dream felt real.

The voice in the dream said Qin Luming was summoning her, but Qin Luming felt it was clearly she who was summoning him. How could the summoned object stand there motionless while the summoner went to great lengths to see her as if on a pilgrimage?

Qin Luming's body was soaked in sweat, his blood surging as if about to burst through his skin. Qin Luming went to the master bedroom's balcony, and the cold air washed over every hair on his body. The stimulation of being cold outside and hot inside made his skin feel as if it were burning. He turned on the rain shower on the balcony, and the strong stream of water poured down like a summer downpour, washing over him. Only then did the burning sensation gradually subside.

Qin Luming looked at his skin in disbelief, his emotions gradually calming, but he was still gasping for air. He could feel that his body had consumed a great deal of energy, as if he had just performed some kind of summoning ritual.

Another incomprehensible and peculiar experience had befallen him.