The cleaning tricycle rolled slowly but steadily down the empty streets.
The scrape of its wheels, the swish of the cleaners' brooms against the ground, and the occasional metallic clatter of a toppled trash can.
Like the bells at dawn, each sound rang out, rousing people from their sleep one by one.
And waking the city, too.
An hour had passed. Both the phone and the watch showed 6:30, and the restless Yuan Ling paced back and forth in front of the suite's sofa.
Zheng Wuyou sat on the sofa with her chin propped in her hands, watching Yuan Ling pace as she tried to calm her growing unease.
She was just as worried that Yunting, on her first dream, might run into someone like You Le.
After all, not everyone who entered a dream was a good person!
"Phew!"
Gu Yunting, who had been lying on the sofa beside them and breathing steadily, suddenly sat bolt upright. Her bloodshot eyes were wide as she greedily gulped down the fresh air of reality.
Wushen, beside her, woke up at the same time...
The two of them breathed in the air as greedily as if it were something precious they could never find in a dream.
At last seeing them awake, Yuan Ling let out a sigh of relief and stopped pacing. She quickly poured each of them a glass of water and offered it to them.
But both women shoved the glasses away at once, refusing her kindness outright.
"I almost drowned. Don't let me see water again today!" Gu Yunting's voice was hoarse, and she looked too distressed for words. She slumped back onto the sofa and tipped her head back, trying to steady her breathing and ease her lungs, which felt ready to burst.
Wushen nodded in agreement.