Dream Breaker

The wooden carving was only about a palm high, pitch-black, and depicted a man with nine snakes growing from his chin.

The craftsmanship was crude, with many blurred details and no particularly artistic creativity. It truly wasn't worth much.

If its origins were known, or if it had expressed a particular artistic style in a typical way, it might fetch ten thousand yuan at auction.

But if all anyone knew was that it was an antique from several hundred years ago, and nothing more, it might sell for only a few hundred or a thousand yuan.

Appraisal was very important for an antique. If no master could explain its significance, there would be no reason for anyone to pay a high price for it.

Mo Qiong put down the wooden carving and turned to select some jewelry.

Aside from Zhang He and Xiao Kun, the others weren't very knowledgeable. When choosing things, they went by instinct and guesswork.

For example, some people picked pearl necklaces, thinking that such a large string of pearls, all uniform in size and bright white in color, would already be worth quite a lot based on the pearls alone.

Others placed more value on jade Buddhas and the like. After all, the higher an antique's artistic value, the more it was worth. They felt that since the Buddha carving was so exquisite and highlighted the essence of ancient art, it had to be valuable.

Still others favored royal articles such as paperweights, figuring that they had certainly been used by some king. Once appraised, items used by famous people would be worth even more.

In short, everyone had their own ideas, and they were all enthusiastically sorting through the items.

Even when several people took a liking to the same item, they would discuss it among themselves, saying things like, "You take this one, and give me that one."

No one thought about taking more than their fair share. They were all respectable people, and their families were familiar with one another.

There was no point in taking advantage of someone over such a small benefit, unless they could swallow it all themselves.

But was that possible? Zhang He had discovered the items and had offered to distribute them as evenly as possible. That was already more than generous.

Mo Qiong wasn't very good at picking these things. He selected several items that nobody else wanted, and Zhang He couldn't stand watching anymore.

He personally stepped in to help Mo Qiong choose, obtained two decent jade pendants, and stuffed them into Mo Qiong's hands.

"You should pick more things with inscriptions and patterns. Otherwise, how can an appraiser determine their origins? An emerald thumb ring without even a seal on it will basically only sell for the value of the jade," Zhang He said.

Mo Qiong smiled and didn't take it to heart.

"I've already made a fortune from this trip out to sea. Adding these things, my share of the gold and silver, and the seven million from before, I'll probably get around thirty million yuan, right? That's enough to last me a long time. What difference would a few million more make?"

Zhang He shook his head. "A few million naturally has its uses. You're far too easily satisfied."

Mo Qiong smiled. "I never had a very big appetite to begin with. If I can practically pick up thirty million yuan for free by going out to sea and still be dissatisfied, then what would it take to satisfy me?"

"Exactly. This time, we're practically picking up money. The rest of us still have to pull some strings. You, on the other hand, picked it up completely for free." Zhang He pointed at Mo Qiong and laughed.

Xiao Kun smiled. "No way. I feel like I'm taking too much of a loss. I'm helping you auction these things off, so you all have to give me a commission."

Mo Qiong smiled. "No problem. Take whatever percentage you're supposed to take."

"Think about it carefully. You're really a European Emperor. Ever since you boarded the ship, our luck has been unbelievably good. We've encountered one surprise after another. We've never had such good luck on previous voyages. We found pearls underwater, and you got the largest one. Now you and Zhang He discovered the treasure, and you've also had great luck at the card table," Xiao Kun said.

Mo Qiong hurriedly replied, "The luckiest thing was surviving, all right? If you hadn't run into me, how could I have gotten on your ship?"

As he spoke, he looked at Zhang He. "Oh, right, Zhang He. Why don't we count all these things as having been discovered by you alone? Everyone can just follow along and collect their shares. You found so many valuable things this time. Who in the sailing world won't know your name afterward?"

Zhang He froze. "This... wouldn't that be inappropriate?"

Mo Qiong turned to everyone. "What do you think?"

Everyone exchanged glances. "We don't care. We aren't deeply involved in the sailing world anyway. He's the only one who's such a Chuunibyou."

Xiao Kun added, "I don't care about the rest. My crown was found and bought by my family from someone else, anyway."

In the end, everyone agreed on the same story and distributed the profits.

Zhang He made the most. He received roughly the same as everyone else while also gaining fame.

Xiao Kun didn't get a small share, either. Although he had casually chosen only two pieces of jewelry, he had obtained the priceless treasure of greatest value.

Among the rest, the items were basically divided equally, and it looked as though everyone had received about the same amount.

However, once the items were appraised afterward, some people would certainly have more and others less. Mo Qiong would definitely be the one who made the least money.

Aside from two decent pieces of jewelry that Zhang He had forcibly stuffed into his hands, he had chosen only what others left behind.

That included the wooden carving. Nobody had even bothered to take it, and in the end, he had consciously claimed it for himself.

Everyone noticed this, and on the way back, they completely accepted him as part of their circle.

That night, Mo Qiong returned to his guest room, placed the wooden carving beside the bed, and lay down to sleep.

Everyone had recorded what they had received, and they would auction everything through Xiao Kun's connections.

As for the wooden carving, Xiao Kun said it wasn't even qualified to be listed at an auction house. They could just find an antique shop and sell it later.

While sound asleep, Mo Qiong had a dream, something that rarely happened.

He hadn't dreamed for several days, but that night, he suddenly had a nightmare.

He was in a dark ocean. Mo Qiong was submerged in the water, sinking continuously.

The dream had no beginning. Mo Qiong didn't know, nor did he wonder, why he was sinking in the ocean.

He only wanted to reach the surface. He only wanted to breathe freely, but he couldn't. He simply kept sinking.

It was as if he were someone trapped in a massive whirlpool and unable to free himself, being forced down into a dark abyss.

Mo Qiong struggled desperately, trying to fire something, but he had nothing. There was only seawater around him.

Even when he tried to control the seawater around him and make it surge, he still couldn't resist the unseen force that insisted on dragging him into the abyss.

The pitch-black depths of the sea were like a giant dark mouth, constantly swallowing Mo Qiong.

Mo Qiong choked painfully on the water, mouthful after mouthful, until the last trace of air had been expelled from his lungs and they were filled with seawater. He continued to fall.

He struggled harder and harder, because the pain showed no sign of easing. Instead, the deeper he sank, the more terrifying the water pressure became.

His muscles, bones, and internal organs were all being crushed by tremendous force. Fear and despair tormented him relentlessly.

What kind of torment was it to suffocate for a long time without dying? What kind of torture was it to have pressure powerful enough to flatten iron applied to a human body, with that pressure only growing worse?

In the darkness, he couldn't see the surface at all. He felt as though he had fallen more than a thousand meters into the deep sea.

He sank rapidly, yet he couldn't even reach the bottom. The deep sea was like an endless abyss. Forget the seabed—even a single stone was nowhere to be found.

There were no fish, either. There seemed to be nothing but seawater.

He could only sink deeper and deeper.

Mo Qiong was in unbearable agony, yet he couldn't even seek death. He struggled frantically, wanting only to ease the pain a little.

Suddenly, a wisp of air appeared in the deep sea.

The air that appeared so abruptly did not exist in the water as a bubble. Instead, it was as though an eraser had wiped a patch of emptiness across a dark background.

"Boom!"

Almost at the same moment, the entire endless ocean shattered.

Mo Qiong was certain that it was a kind of destruction, as though Earth had fallen into a black hole and been obliterated with irresistible force.

Everything suddenly collapsed like a screen being switched off, shrinking into a single line before vanishing in an instant.

"Ugh..."

Mo Qiong abruptly opened his eyes and sat up in bed.

He greedily breathed in the air, feeling utterly drained.

When he checked the time, it was still the middle of the night.

"So it was just a dream..." Mo Qiong relaxed and lay back down.

"Wait. If I dream, does that mean I designate a Landing Point? And I breathe while sleeping, so could the air have been fired into the dream?"

He was still a little groggy from waking up, but this thought completely sobered him.

He frantically recalled the details of the dream. Although everything had already become blurry, he still remembered the general events.

"Reality's matter appeared in an illusory dream, and the entire dream... collapsed?"

"But why did it feel as though I had been drowning for so long... I see. Maybe that long period of drowning was only because my brain was thinking so quickly. In reality, I had only been dreaming for a few seconds."

Thinking this, Mo Qiong scratched his head. He realized that perhaps he would never have another long dream again.

He would basically dream for one or two seconds before destroying the dreamscape by exhaling.

Even if he had a long dream, it would only be because the dream's content itself covered a long span of time.

"Tsk, tsk. Does that mean every dream I have from now on will be interrupted by itself?"

"I'll never be able to finish any dream again..."