It was like having a long, long dream.
Old Quan had thought he had fallen asleep forever. There would have been no regrets in that. But at some point, he suddenly woke again.
Perhaps because of a jolt of fright, or perhaps he had simply slept enough.
When he opened his eyes, Old Huang and Nier were both looking at him, one on either side, with strangely complicated expressions in their eyes—
Old Quan decided that was concern.
How wonderful. There were people in this world who cared about him.
Mm... and a dog, too.
"I slept so well!" he said lightly.
His head did hurt a little, but his spirits were fine. He no longer felt as weak as before he had fallen asleep—perhaps he had simply been too tired in the past.
All of a sudden, he wanted to laugh, so he burst out laughing.
"Ahahahahaha..."
He laughed wildly.
He laughed like a fish flopping onto shore, laughing so hard that he rolled about on the ground.
His stomach hurt from laughing, and he nearly ran out of breath!
He reached out to grab Nier or the old dog, but his whole body was convulsing with laughter, and he could not stretch out his hand.
Through his shaking, laughter-filled eyes, through the glimmering tears he laughed out, Nier and Old Huang seemed to remain fixed there, quietly watching him.
Like the moon in water. No matter how the ripples were stirred, no matter how the light shimmered on the waves, you knew it was there—it would not truly shatter in the water.
Reality seemed false, while the dream was incomparably real.
Of course, right now, all he could do was laugh.
So laughter could make a person suffer this much.
He tried to think of something sad, but