Chen Xuan had the same dream again.
A dream he had dreamed since he was a child.
It was a small yet exquisitely decorated room in the dream, resembling a hotel front desk or perhaps some kind of shop. A coffee maker sat on the counter, and he could almost smell the rich aroma of coffee; on both sides were wooden shelves displaying some common snacks. Several glass display cases also stood in the center of the room, always holding the things he wanted most... in the past it was a four-wheel drive car and game console, and now it was money and time.
Yes, even dreams were this realistic.
He had dreamed the same dream so many times that it gave him the subconscious realization that "I am dreaming." He could wander around in the dream, clearly see the details of every corner, and even brew a cup of milky coffee with the coffee maker. Unfortunately, a dream was ultimately a dream; he had never tasted the coffee, nor had he been able to tear open the outer packaging of the snacks.
It was always just a step away from success.
Either he would wake up, or he would jump into a different dream.
The thing that left the deepest impression on him in the room was an iron box on the counter. Strange symbols and patterns were engraved on it, and the keyhole was shaped like a lifelike eye. Through that eye, he could seemingly see a string of constantly ticking numbers—it looked like a countdown. The box was naturally locked, and perhaps when the numbers ticked down to zero, it would automatically unlock.
Still... who cared what treasures were hidden in a dream box?
Even if it was a check for financial freedom, it was still just a dream.
He was twenty-six years old this year, and the countdown had finally reached its end.
Click.
The moment the numbers reset, Chen Xuan heard the box emit a crisp, mechanical spring-action sound.
Goodness, not only was the dream's content continuous, but its timing was also quite reliable. He walked up to the counter and opened the box with his own hands—
The dream ended, just as always.
Chen Xuan sat up in a daze, wanting to take a pee, but he realized that he was not in bed.
His sleepiness instantly faded, and he shivered, suddenly opening his eyes wide!
There was no unfamiliar ceiling—because he had already seen this ceiling with its wooden decorative beam style countless times: in his dream!
The lights were hidden within the light troughs, soft and warm, neither dazzling nor too dim for him to clearly see his surrounding environment. He seemed to have fallen asleep in front of the counter, and the furnishings all around were indicating to him without exception. This place was that very room from his dream.
He only felt his back go cold, and he hurriedly ran out the door, first confirming his location at the earliest possible moment.
At this glance, he immediately felt much more at ease—familiar residential buildings surrounded him, and he had not left the residential area, with Building Number 2 where he rented an apartment being at most a hundred meters away.
Chen Xuan mustered up a hundred-meter sprint speed and dashed home in one breath!
Closing the room door, his pounding heart finally calmed down a little bit.
What on earth was going on? Sleepwalking?
But how should the shop's interior decoration, which was exactly the same as the room in his dream, be explained?
And as luck would have it, it opened right in the residential area where he rented his apartment!
This feeling of reality and illusion blurring made Chen Xuan feel extremely eerie.
After pondering for a moment, he still decided to go back once more... to check out what the situation with that room actually was.
However, when he finished dressing and retraced his steps, he could no longer find the shop's doors—this was an old residential area with dozens of residential buildings close to each other, as well as many dead ends. He could only confirm the general direction of the route and had no way to lock onto a specific house number. Coupled with the fact that most of the ground-floor shops were run by the landlords themselves, with their opening days and hours being completely uncertain, it would be pitch black the moment they turned off the lights and closed for business, making it definitely no easy task to find it.
Perhaps... it really was just him sleepwalking?
Thinking that he still had to work early the next morning, Chen Xuan could only let the matter drop.
He hardly dared to close his eyes all night.
The next day, dragging his fatigued body to work part-time at the fast-food restaurant until the evening shift handover, Chen Xuan's eyelids were almost too heavy to stay open by the time he walked back to his quarters. Even so, he still glanced at the wall clock before completely collapsing: 6:15.
The moment he woke up, Chen Xuan knew that something big had happened.
This time he did not dream, but was instead woken up by the urge to pee. Yet the split second he opened his eyes, he discovered that he had returned to that damn place again!
That exquisite room he used to dream of so often!
The familiar ceiling, the soft lighting, the ticking wall clock—everything was as if it were yesterday.
And the hands on the wall clock were just passing 8:30.
Chen Xuan immediately discovered the first strange thing: he seemed to have slept for just over two hours, but right now his body was full of vitality without a shred of sleepiness, as if he had slept a full ten-plus hours!
This was no longer something sleepwalking could explain.
Chen Xuan sprang up from the ground with a carp carp-leap, and then checked his body all over—there were no obvious external injuries, and his kidneys looked like they were still there.
Should he run away before anyone noticed him?
Chen Xuan had just taken two steps when he stopped again.
Run where?
This dream could even grab people from reality; did it make any difference where he ran to? Even if he sneaked home now, what would he do if he got grabbed again tomorrow? He couldn't possibly undergo this kind of instant teleportation every single day, could he?
And... the environment here was simply even more familiar to him than his temporary home.
He had moved into Tianlu Residential Area for less than two years, but this dream had intermittently lasted for a dozen or twenty years.
If he had dreamed the very same dream from childhood to adulthood, then was it strongly foreshadowing something?
If he didn't figure this out, he was afraid he would never truly be able to leave this place.
Chen Xuan slowly turned his head to look at the clean and tidy bar behind him—this was definitely not a no-man's-land. The countertop was almost spotless, as if someone diligently wiped it every day.
He walked up to the counter and, on a whim, pressed the coffee machine button.
"Gurgle, gurgle."
The coffee machine whirred into action. A moment later, a stream of brown-and-white beverage flowed into the cup. He had performed this operation countless times in his dreams, to the point where he bought the exact same model of coffee machine in reality. It was just that the coffee in dreams always allowed one to smell the aroma, yet could never be drunk.
Chen Xuan picked up the cup and took a small sip.
The mellow coffee flavor... mixed with the creamy richness of milk, was no different from the one brewed by the machine at home.
...He was no longer in his dreams.
Oh well, let's look around first.
The very first thing Chen Xuan inspected was the display cabinet—he had run over too hurriedly yesterday and forgotten to check what was inside. As a result, these glass standing cabinets were completely empty, neither storing money nor storing time, once again verifying the gap between dreams and reality.
However, in terms of detail richness, the one in reality was far more intense. For instance, he noticed many photo frames hanging on the wall, which were things rarely paid attention to in dreams. Approaching them, he found houses... scenery... and some rather post-modern things, such as a close-up photograph of a stellar ring, a monster from a tokusatsu film, or a spaceship crashed into a primordial jungle.
He had to admit that these CGs were quite exquisite; the shopkeeper was a person with taste.
Things were also hanging on the wall behind the bar.
First were three certificates: namely, a business license, a food business license, and a fire safety certificate. Having these three certificates indicated that the shop was quite legitimate and registered with the Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Next to the certificates was an outstanding employee display board.
Below the employees, it was completely blank, with only the shopkeeper slot at the very top bearing a photo.
The moment he saw the photo, Chen Xuan was dumbfounded.
Wasn't that his own ID photo? And the exact same one from his identity card!
Me? Be the Store Manager?
He turned his head back again to examine the three certificates closely, only to be shocked to find that the "legal representative" column on the certificates was entirely filled with the two words Chen Xuan!
This was simply too absurd!
When had he ever gone to process these certificates?
Yet amidst this absurdness, he faintly and somewhat felt it was reasonable after all.
Because in dreams, this shop had always been patronized by him alone!
Chen Xuan feigned calm, held his phone and walked a circle inside the shop, not scanning any hidden surveillance cameras or similar things. He walked out of the shop door again and found that outside was indeed a residential compound building. There were no street lamps at the entrance of the storefront, making it look gloomy. As for the signboard hanging above the shop, it was a mismatch: one was the XX Department Store pasted on the wall, and the other was a light box pressed against foam boards reading "Chuan Chuan Mala Tang", though it was not lit at this moment. The entrance had a translucent door curtain to keep out wind and rain; one look at the plastic color showed it was quite old. Not only that, someone had even written "storefront for rent" on the curtain with an oil-based pen.
In other words, a small supermarket and a Mala Tang shop had operated here before, but they had simply gone out of business. The current shop had newly opened not long ago and only the interior was renovated; the storefront facade hadn't been decorated at all. If one rushed out at night without paying attention to the environment, it would indeed be quite difficult to find it again.
It was not a ghost shop either, because Chen Xuan had never heard of ghosts needing to process a business license first to open a shop.
An incredible yet seemingly sole truthful answer emerged more and more in his mind.
--Whether he accepted it or not, this shop was specially established for him.
This thought made his spine tingle as if lightly electrocuted.
In a sense, Chen Xuan yearned to possess an industry belonging to himself. After graduation, he had gone to a big tech company and also tried to start a business making games with colleagues, but that rat-race work atmosphere had exhausted him both physically and mentally, prompting him to resign and do odd jobs to recuperate.
His ideal job was best not being too tiring, yet sufficient to bring in an income to sustain life. A landlord holding a large bunch of keys and strolling through the morning market was the most perfect model, and a small supermarket opened in a residential compound was also a good choice. They all shared one common trait, which was not having to involution, with working or resting entirely decided by himself.
Even if the income was not high, it was still better than working part-time at a fast-food restaurant or delivering takeout.
Was he about to realize his dream now?
Controlling his fluctuating mood, Chen Xuan understood that he first had to resolve a most crucial question.
If this truly was a shop given to him by a dream, then what on earth did it sell?
Before you continue