Dream

(This chapter is free)

The strange and twisted sky looked particularly terrifying at this moment.

Gray was the dominant color of this world. Gray tall buildings, gray alloy ground, gray vehicles, gray sky, and the three incredibly huge gray spheres hanging in the sky.

A dead metal world.

This must be a ruin, right?

Walking through the silent steel jungle, I couldn't help but think this. But unlike the ruins in my imagination, everything here showed no signs of damage. At least from the outside, the surface of these cold steel structures was completely unmarked. It seemed they weren't abandoned due to severe destruction, but rather had entered a state of dormancy, like sleeping giants – that's the name I came up with that suited it better.

This sleeping world was so silent that footsteps were the only sound in my ears. After walking for an unknown amount of time, I finally felt a bit tired, so I found a place that looked like a landing platform for some kind of flying vehicle and sat down.

There was still some time before I had to leave this place. Bored, I started looking at the three incredibly huge metal spheres in the sky again. They were so massive that they almost occupied a third of the entire sky. On their surface, countless sharp protrusions and grid-like textures could be faintly seen, giving the feeling of a giant planetary fortress from a sci-fi movie – to be honest, everything in this world was more sci-fi than any sci-fi movie.

Out of boredom, I just stared at the three planet-sized metal spheres in the sky until the oppressive feeling they brought forced me to look away.

It feels like they've gotten closer to the ground.

In fact, they were indeed constantly approaching the ground. The first time I came here, they were just three small black dots hanging high in the sky, but every time I entered this world, they would get a little closer to the ground. Sometimes they would get much closer at once, sometimes it was just a subtle change that you couldn't tell if they had moved without looking carefully. But I knew they were always descending. Maybe one day they would even touch the ground. I wonder if this world would change then? Bored, I was quite looking forward to it.

"Still haven't found it..." A voice suddenly echoed throughout the sky, and then the entire world began to shake violently. It was time to leave.

"Ding-a-ling-a-ling..." A frantic alarm clock woke me from my deep dream. I struggled to open my eyes, then vigorously shook my groggy head. The things in my vision swayed for a while before finally stabilizing. Then, after a long time, I finally woke up from that inexplicable strange dream I had all night.

A strange dream...

I don't know when it started, but I've been having this strange dream. In the dream, I walk alone in a dead metal world, surrounded by scenes like a future world. A desolate, apocalyptic atmosphere is the main theme of this world, but despite how oppressive the surroundings are, I don't feel the slightest panic in the dream, as if everything is a familiar sight. Every time the dream ends, a voice always sounds, saying in a seemingly disappointed tone: "Still haven't found it..."

The whole process is like a poorly made infinite loop. You can't analyze any useful plot from those nonsensical fragments. Anyway, I still don't understand what the things in this dream mean.

What is this voice looking for? Or is it hoping I will look for something?

Unfortunately, I never found the answer in the dream.

I've never mentioned this dream to anyone. Although I don't know what it means, I intuitively feel that this dream has an unusual significance, and rashly telling this secret to others will bring me great trouble.

"Monday..." I mumbled, reluctantly crawling out of bed. The early winter weather made me shiver, but I finally managed to resist the allure of the warm quilt, because if I didn't hurry, I would be late for class.

I am Chen Jun, a third-year high school student. I've been an orphan since childhood, with no parents or siblings. I was adopted by a pair of merchant couple when I was young. Since my adoptive parents passed away, I've only had a non-biological sister five years older than me to rely on. Life is as bland as plain water. The only thing to be thankful for is that my sister and I inherited a considerable inheritance from our adoptive parents, which made our lives not as difficult as other orphans. My sister, who has been managing the family business alone since she was very young, is also good to me. At least I can still feel the warmth of home.

While I was still thinking about whether last night's dream was different from usual, my sister's voice sounded outside the door: "Ah Jun, are you up? It's getting late!"

"Oh, I'm coming out now!" I replied, quickly putting on my clothes and opening the door. Outside the door was a beautiful girl with long hair – this was my adoptive sister, Chen Qian, a girl who looked weak but was actually very strong. Although she was only five years older, I could always find a warm feeling by her side.

"What's wrong, Ah Jun? Is there something on my face?" Perhaps feeling a little embarrassed by my gaze, my sister's face turned red, and then she asked somewhat flustered.

"Ah, nothing, I was thinking... I'm going to school now!"

"Eh - wait, you haven't eaten yet..."

"No time, I'm leaving now!"

Canglan Private High School, this is a veritable aristocratic school. In addition to its high cost, its teaching quality is also far superior to ordinary public schools. This has made this well-known aristocratic school a place that ordinary civilian students dare not even think about. Students who can study here are at least the children of billionaires with assets over a hundred million or the children of the powerful, or super geniuses who can rank among the best in the country – after all, a school needs more than just money to develop, some excellent students who are enough to enhance its reputation are also essential. In short, this school is a sacred place that perfectly fits the standard plot of princes and Cinderella appearing in various youth idol dramas in every aspect.

The reason I'm introducing this school so much is because I attend school right across from this school...

K City Second High School, this is the school I actually attend.

From any perspective, it is an ordinary school that couldn't be more ordinary. Compared to Canglan Private High School across the street, which is like a royal garden, it's simply a city versus a village. The students who study here are also quite ordinary students. Most of us can't even name the clothes the students across the street wear every day. These two schools, separated by only one street and with such a stark contrast, have also become one of the famous sights here.

I am one of the students here. After all, although my sister and I are quite wealthy, we are still too far behind the young masters of Canglan.

"Ah Jun!" A clear voice sounded behind me. I turned around and saw a short-haired, petite girl running towards me.

Xu Qianqian, she is one of my best friends, the kind of childhood sweetheart who grew up together and even bathed together when we were little, as the legend goes. However, after entering junior high school, she moved to another part of the city, and we had fewer opportunities to meet. But that didn't affect my relationship with Qianqian. After coming to this school, which has both junior high and high school departments, we were suddenly surprised to find that the other person had also chosen this school in the city, so it seemed we had returned to the time when we went to school together. According to the development of a typical plot, there is about an eighty percent chance that a childhood sweetheart who grew up together like this will become my lover, and in fact, we ourselves thought so too, but for some reason, we have never been able to develop further, just maintaining a relationship between best friends and lovers. As for the reason – is it because we are too familiar?

There is indeed a reason for this. After all, when the other person is a girl whose childhood bedwetting incidents you know, it's hard to see them as a potential romantic partner.

"Ah Jun, what are you thinking about?" Xu Qianqian walked over quickly, waving her small hand vigorously in front of me, and then said dissatisfiedly.

"Oh, I'm introducing your situation to the readers..."

...You can ignore the sentence above...

Just then, the crowd that suddenly gathered not far away attracted my attention.