Unlike the distance she had felt toward the Gao Ming she had met in reality, Xuan Wen moved straight to the man on the floor without a second thought. The man she had searched the entire city for lay collapsed in his father and mothers' Safe House.
"Who hurt you this badly?" Xuan Wen was horrified, but she kept her composure. Believing Gao Ming was hiding from danger, she first went back to erase the traces around the Safe House, then closed the door again.
Once she was certain no one would discover them, she crouched beside Gao Ming and gently cradled his head. "Gao Ming, can you hear me?"
He remained unconscious. The Blood City Lord, who ruled over the Dreamscape, had passed out inside a dream. Xuan Wen had no idea what had happened to him. Anxiety crept over her. His injuries were so severe that without immediate treatment, he might not survive the night.
After a moment's thought, Xuan Wen found some rope and tied Gao Ming to herself, then carried him on her back toward the tunnel exit.
Blood seeping through his scabs stained Xuan Wen's clothes red. This was not the first time she had carried Gao Ming, but this time felt different from all the others. The Gao Ming in the dream was far too light, like a feather the wind could whisk away at any moment.
She walked slowly through the darkness along that deeply familiar road. Compared with her memories, the only differences were that there was no torrential rain tonight, and the distant city was not shrouded in shadows.
Outside the tunnel, Xuan Wen found the electric scooter she had ridden there. She secured Gao Ming again and wrapped his arms around her waist. Everything came so naturally, as though she