After watching Qin Luming leave, Che Yun, who had been dancing to "Grain in Ear," stopped and casually turned off the music. She could feel that all her friends' eyes were fixed on Qin Luming's retreating back, and they were all itching to make snide remarks.
"This guy's a real professional. I think if I partnered with him for livestreams, we could bluff people pretty well," Brother Paris analyzed with the keen eye of a streamer.
"This kid's kind of a loner. Doesn't seem like the type willing to partner up," one of Brother Paris's viewers said.
"Give me a break. This guy's probably gay. If you work with him, watch your ass," Yang Xiaoyan said, covering her mouth as she giggled.
"What I like is just pretty people. Whether they're men or women doesn't matter!" Brother Paris joked. "If this guy put on women's clothes, I'd make sure he couldn't come down the mountain tomorrow."
Yang Xiaoyan and the two girls Qin Luming had turned down both smiled knowingly, with a hint of anticipation. It would actually be pretty interesting if that happened.
"Alright, he helped us too. Stop talking about him behind his back." Che Yun chided her friends. "Come on, Xiaoyan, give everyone a little show."
"Sure." Yang Xiaoyan stood up readily. She was quite confident in the curves of her waist and hips, and snapped her fingers. "Music!"
Qin Luming swept the surrounding area with his flashlight, then switched on the surveillance system and officially began recording the activity around the dam. After confirming that it was recording properly, he returned to his tent, planning to write a little more while he was still in the mood.
What a diligent day. Having already written two thousand words, Qin Luming began typing with the satisfaction of a man who weighed at least two hundred pounds.
Before he knew it, it was late at night. Qin Luming shut off his computer and was about to go to sleep when the tent was lightly tapped a few times. Then he heard a girl's voice. "Handsome, are you asleep?"
Qin Luming crawled to the tent entrance, undid the inner clasp, and pulled down the zipper. Outside stood the girl named Che Yun.
She was also the only girl who had not come to ask Qin Luming for his WeChat.
"No. What is it?" Qin Luming asked. It seemed she had taken his earlier warning to heart and had not touched the alarm wire he had set up.
"I was originally sharing a tent with Yang Xiaoyan, but she went into Brother Paris's tent." Che Yun spoke hesitantly, carefully watching his expression with a somewhat timid look.
"Oh." Qin Luming nodded.
"They... they're pretty loud..." Che Yun blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering. Her fingers gently brushed through her hair as she lowered her head shyly. "And I don't know whether Yang Xiaoyan will come back. If I stay by myself, I'll definitely be scared tonight."
"Aren't there two other girls? Go squeeze in with them." Qin Luming patiently suggested it. After all, she was being rather foolish.
"They switched tents too... Everyone understood what these activities were about. They were probably benefits Brother Paris had prepared for those two viewers. Brother Paris had talked it over with them too—he'd take them along on future livestreams." Che Yun looked embarrassed and troubled. "I'm the only one left. Could... could you let me stay in your tent for a while? Once Yang Xiaoyan goes back to our tent, I'll return."
"What if she never comes back?" Qin Luming asked in return.
Che Yun froze. Why was this guy so hopelessly clueless?
"If she doesn't go back, are you going to stay in my tent all night? Sorry, I'm used to sleeping alone. I don't feel safe with someone beside me." After saying that, Qin Luming pulled the zipper shut.
Che Yun stared dumbfoundedly at the tightly closed tent, incredulously running her fingers over her scalp and long hair. This man really was... such a waste of that handsome face and body. He really was a dead gay!
Another shallow woman trying to get his body. Qin Luming had no interest whatsoever in this so-called romantic encounter.
Honestly, what kind of romantic encounter was this? His face and physique were both better than hers. If anything, she was the one who had come to him looking for a romantic encounter.
Qin Luming recalled a term often mentioned among certain groups of novel readers: "rejecting women." The thought made him laugh. Were men pigs? Did they have to take a bite out of every dish put before them? Rejecting these women was supposed to be the frustrating part of a novel?
Qin Luming thought of Gu Qing'an again. An outstanding woman like Zhou Nan—judging from how novels described such things, if Gu Qing'an met Zhou Nan, he would probably want to make a move. But what had happened in the end?
Thinking about all sorts of nonsense, Qin Luming took out his flashlight again, unzipped the tent, and shone it toward the dam for a few moments. The quiet dam seemed like an eternal sight, as ancient and enduring as the mountain ridges. Faintly, the sound of flowing water drifted over on the night wind. Qin Luming did not strain his ears to find out what sounds were coming from Brother Paris's tent. He turned around, bent over, crawled back into his own tent, and lay down.
"Ah!"
Qin Luming felt as though he had been lying in the tent for a very long time when he suddenly woke up. Looking at the abyss before him, he cried out in fright.
He was no longer on the mountaintop near Huangtuliang. Before him was no towering dam, but a bottomless abyss.
"The starry sky of every world is an abyss."
Qin Luming remembered. This abyss before him was exactly the one that had appeared in his dream last night.
It had originally been a Milky Way rushing for billions of miles. Beyond the snow-covered mountains that held up heaven and earth, it had formed an endless abyss, stretching all the way toward the center of a void that seemed capable of swallowing countless worlds.
Qin Luming was certain this was a dream. It had even continued seamlessly from last night's dream.
He was still standing before the abyss. Last night, at this very moment, a voice had tempted him into taking a step into it, and then he had jolted awake.
If he voluntarily took a step into this abyss now, would he wake up?
Even knowing that he was inside a dream, Qin Luming did not dare act rashly... Logically speaking, one's actions in a dream should not be controlled by one's reason, yet he seemed capable of staying rational.
Then was he truly awake now, or was he merely dreaming that he was rational?
Qin Luming could not figure it out, so he was even less willing to step into the abyss... He even thought once more of that unlucky bastard Gu Qing'an.
If he entered this abyss, would he end up like Gu Qing'an and transmigrate to another world? Would his body in the real world remain lying unconscious in the tent atop Huangtuliang Mountain, like a vegetable?
If he was lucky, Yang Xiaoyan and the others might notice something was wrong and call the police or something... If he was unlucky, they might not bother opening his tent to check before heading down the mountain. In that case, who knew when anyone would discover his body?
Without proper care, he would probably die there. Zuozuo and Caicai would vanish along with him.
It would be better if his entire body transmigrated, but he still had family and friends in reality whom he could not bear to leave behind.
He made those associations only because the abyss before him contained countless worlds. Qin Luming could see clusters of dazzling galaxies, their dense gaseous spiral arms containing tremendous explosive energy, with countless young stars being born within them.
As he stared, he could also make out worlds that were not necessarily composed of planetary environments, each inhabited by innumerable living creatures.
Standing there, he was like a god surveying countless worlds, casting his gaze upon the myriad beings within them. Some of those beings resembled humans on Earth. Others were gigantic, casually crossing mountains and rivers with every step, breathing out lightning and thunder. There were even races that seemed to possess miraculous innate gifts; after being born, they rushed into the starry sky, scattering across planets separated by light-years and beginning to draw energy from those planets.
Why was he dreaming of these things? Why had he had this kind of dream for two consecutive nights?
Why could the dreams continue without interruption? Was this really a dream, or a world called Dream?
Before you continue