A Dream?

"Is that her?" Jiang Gexing, beside them, sounded somewhat surprised.

He seemed taken aback by the girl's beauty.

The group hurried over.

"Um, are you Ye Qian's younger sister?" Xiao Lin asked awkwardly.

Seeing the eager looks on her three brother's roommates' faces, Ye Xin helplessly nodded. "That's me."

"Come, sit down. We already ordered the food."

"Mm."

Ye Xin followed them into the restaurant and sat down at their table.

She looked out the window.

Although technology had rapidly advanced to a new level, the world's architectural style had largely retained the characteristics of the steam age. Most buildings leaned toward classical Western designs, and very few residential buildings exceeded sixty meters. Coupled with the influence of the Light Prayer Church, religious-style buildings with spires could often be seen along the streets.

Ye Qian actually liked this style, but in quite a few cities, towering modern buildings were rapidly increasing, and more and more structures with glass curtain walls had appeared.

Of course, most of the glass was dark-toned. At night, lighting mainly shone out from within, and such buildings were used only in a few commercial districts.

As for education, because of the era, most people attended schools funded by the local Church. More than ninety percent of people could only study for six years, including three years of elementary school and three years of basic middle school.

Ye Qian was currently in the third year of basic middle school, the end of civilian education.

Sitting in her chair and looking at the three familiar faces, Ye Xin felt that she was the most awkward one here.

Her former good brothers were now staring at her lecherously. It gave her the distinct feeling of, I treated you guys like roommates, but you want to screw me.

"Um, what should we call you again?" Xiao Lin asked.

"Ye Xin."

"Ye Xin? Is there really no news about your brother at all? How long has he been missing?"

"Since after he parted with you last time," Ye Xin answered. "We already reported it to the police, but they found no trace of him."

"This is troublesome. We were just discussing whether to go look for him. But after so long, the chances of finding him are probably low."

Jiang Gexing sighed as well. "Missing-person cases have always had the lowest resolution rates, but we can't give up hope. We'll definitely bring him back."

For the rest of the time, they seriously discussed how to search for Ye Qian.

The food was delivered quickly.

It was obvious that the brothers had no appetite. They were genuinely worried, which moved Ye Xin a little.

"Were you and my brother close?" Ye Xin asked tentatively, wanting to see how these guys would answer.

"Of course. Ridiculously close." Xiao Lin snorted and lifted his chin. "Ye Qian even told me back then that he wanted to entrust his little sister to his good brother—me. Hahaha..."

"Ha my ass!" Ye Xin's mouth twitched.

"Get lost, you shameless bastard!" The other two immediately started roughhousing with him.

Unfortunately, halfway through their horseplay, the smiles vanished from everyone's faces, and a sorrowful atmosphere spread through the room. Su Longjie took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a drag.

Ye Xin silently watched the three of them.

At around eight-thirty that night, it was about time to wrap up.

"I should go. No matter what, thank you," she said.

"It's nothing. If you run into any trouble in the future, come find us. That guy disappeared without a word... honestly, it hurts." Su Longjie lit a second cigarette.

"Smoke less." Xiao Lin shoved him from the side.

"I'm quitting, I'm quitting. I've been quitting for ages. Cough, cough cough." After choking several times in a row, he said, "Anyway, goodbye. We'll try to find him."

"Thank you." Ye Xin stood and bowed.

The group said their goodbyes.

After leaving, Ye Xin looked at her phone and suddenly felt a little melancholy.

It was as though she had completely cut herself off from the past.

She released several Spirit Threads, scanning her surroundings as she prepared to head home. While walking, Ye Xin suddenly caught something faint and indistinct.

"This is... a thin thread?"

Beyond the Spirit Threads, something actually extended from her head, connecting all the way into the distance.

Calling it a thread wasn't quite right. It didn't truly exist. It was more like some unseen force.

"What is this?"

She tried hard to grasp it, only to discover that the connection was too weak. The slightest lapse in attention made it impossible to sense.

It wasn't until several minutes later that her expression changed slightly as she realized what it was.

"It's connected to the original body."

It was more like a conceptual connection.

Between her body and the original body was a faint, mysterious "thread." It was this thread that kept the clone connected to the original body regardless of distance.

Life Energy freely moved between different bodies through this method.

Just like now, the "thread" between the original body and the clone passed through a vast stretch of space, even through passing pedestrians.

Every passerby had a special frequency. One person's frequency was exceptionally close to her own, as though with the slightest adjustment, she could transmit something to him.

"Hello!"

Ye Xin gave it a try, sending the greeting along the thread.

Thirty meters away, the man's steps suddenly froze, and he lifted his head in confusion.

What's going on? Why does it feel like a voice appeared in my ear? He was bewildered, but eventually shifted his attention away and continued walking.

Through the connection of the "thread," Ye Xin sensed his thoughts.

"This is... long-distance mind reading?"

She seemed to have sensed a peculiar state.

Her frequency was close to that person's, so naturally, information could be transmitted through the thread passing through him.

"What if I change the frequency?"

It seemed possible too.

Likewise, energy communication and consciousness communication between the clone and the original body both crossed such space.

For example, Life Energy was transmitted to the original body this way. If she wished, could she directly give that energy to other people along the thread's path who were on the same frequency?

She felt it was feasible.

But absorbing other people's power seemed impossible, because energy only traveled back and forth between her clone and original body. At most, she could grant it to others along the way and read their thoughts.

Most importantly, the thread was more conceptual in nature. It might be extremely mystical, with no possibility of being severed.

Dream?

"Perhaps it has other uses too."

Ye Xin realized that energy and matter were actually one and the same, or rather, their only difference lay in how they manifested. If she could transmit Life Energy, could she also send tangible objects over? 8

Thinking of this, she touched her pocket and took out a small item.

Explosion Ring

"I've had this thing for a while and never used it. Perfect for an experiment."

She ran to an empty area, tried connecting to the thin thread, and poured in a small amount of Life Energy.

The ring instantly vanished from before her.

Almost at the same time, an iron ring appeared out of thin air in the original body's palm.

"Mm."

She looked at the sight in delight.

"It worked."

This ability was ridiculously overpowered.

It could interfere with consciousness to a certain extent, and it could affect matter as well.

The only troublesome part was that this thin thread could only transmit things between the two bodies.

She gave it a try, making the conceptual thread veer off. To her surprise, after investing a little Life Energy, it truly shifted a hundred meters to one side.

"That worked too." Her idea had succeeded, and she couldn't help feeling excited.

This counted as an accidental discovery.

Seeing that it was about time to go back, Ye Xin glanced around, noticed quite a few passersby looking back at her, and silently yawned.

"Home."

The clock hand reached twelve, and the city had already quieted down.

By the time she returned home, the original body and Alice were already sound asleep.

Perhaps because she was bored, she began fiddling with the Mystic Thread and unexpectedly discovered something interesting:

When the original body was dreaming, the clone's waking consciousness could connect with the sleeping original body, allowing her to observe both places while awake.

"Let's go play in the original body's dream."

Ye Xin gave it a try. It was somewhat difficult, but her consciousness slowly descended nonetheless.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a vast grassland.

Without a doubt, she was currently in a lucid dream.

Ye Qian looked at her own hands. She noticed that without the clone's will serving as an anchor, the original body could easily lose itself in the dream and return to an ordinary dream state.

"Since it's a dream, doesn't that mean I can do whatever I want?"

Seeing the original body's delicate appearance, Ye Xin swallowed.

"Doing some evil things in a dream isn't illegal, right?"

Ye Xin wiped away her drool and began trying to alter the dream. Unfortunately, she soon realized that only the original body could do that. And every change was incredibly difficult. Even the slightest distortion of the scenery would immediately cause the original body to lose herself. Fortunately, she could instantly synchronize the clone's memories, remember that she was dreaming, and return to a lucid state.

"Come to think of it, does this dream world have boundaries?"

With a trace of curiosity, Ye Xin kicked off with both legs and flew straight into the sky.

"This feels amazing."

She could clearly feel the distance between herself and the original body growing wider.

The outline of the land gradually came into view: an endless grassland and rolling mountains in the distance.

The distance between them grew greater and greater, until the original body was completely out of sight.

She raised her head, only to find that the sky above had unexpectedly darkened. After passing through the heavens, the scene overhead suddenly became a vast river of stars.

"No way, is the sun just a texture? Does this dream have no end? It really is a virtual dream. Since it's fictional, then anything is possible."

Ye Xin was somewhat disappointed and was considering whether to return when she suddenly touched a strange membrane.

"This is..."

She poked it with a finger, and a gap appeared in the membrane. She accelerated slightly and flew directly through it, arriving outside the membrane. 7

Looking down, she saw a tiny black-and-white bubble enclosing the world she had just left. All around her, countless bubbles stretched endlessly into the distance like scattered points in a galaxy.

"This is..."

She tried approaching one of the bubbles.

The closer she got, the more enormous that bubble felt.

Most remarkable of all, the bubble was colored.

"Most of the bubbles are colored, while black and white ones are rarer. Mine is actually black and white?"