Waking Up

"Hua Xu!"

In the physical world, inside the Ring Research Institute, Qin Yiguan, reclining on a chair, suddenly opened his eyes and shouted, "The Lu Zhoulang has stolen a split personality from Mouse Pup, making it its ' Higher Self,' possessing the ability to create dreams. Do you have any ideas...?"

As he spoke.

Qin Yiguan also stood up at the same time and looked to the other side of the room.

But then they saw Hua Xu and Dr. House sitting in chairs, with a huge window behind them, their entire bodies bathed in golden sunlight, so that only their outlines could be seen.

They remained calm and did not speak.

Qin Yiguan suddenly narrowed his eyes, "Why is the sunset so bright today?"

immediately.

Qin Yiguan walked a few steps to the window and looked outside.

His body froze instantly.

The sky outside had turned orange because the sun was setting at an angle.

The enormous, orange-red fireball was less than a hundred meters from the ground, its body tilting precariously.

Qin Yiguan frowned again, having found the reason why the sun had set.

It was hit by an arrow.

A blackened arrow, burned into the sun, is embedded in its surface.

At this moment, from Qin Yiguan's perspective, the position where the sun set coincided perfectly with the mottled railing of the Ring Research Institute. There was a gap in the railing because the iron bars had been broken off and used elsewhere.

Boom!

The earth trembled, and the violent shaking instantly reached Qin Yiguan's feet, lasting for more than ten seconds. Dust settled on the ceiling of the room.

The sun, like a giant fireball, crashed onto the distant ground, half of its body embedded in the soil. The surrounding trees were also baked and burned, and the overall ambient temperature was rising sharply.

Staring at the scene before him, Qin Yiguan's body remained motionless, like a clay or wooden sculpture.

The sun's volume is 1.3 million times that of Earth, and its mass is 330,000 times that of Earth.

How could it possibly crash to Earth?

The term "fireball" comes from a narrow human definition; it is a star, the center of the Solar System.

Even if it does crash, Earth will only be reduced to a speck of dust, instantly melted and crushed.

so...

Qin Yiguan's eyes widened slightly, his expression one of horror, and he turned his head inch by inch.

Meanwhile, Hua Xu, sitting in the chair, chuckled and said, "I told you long ago, this is a dream! What I mean is, this is a dream! What logic is there to speak of?"

Multiple images flashed through Qin Yiguan's mind like lightning.

Previously, when he and Dr. House arrived at this Ring Research Institute, Hua Xu's first words upon her arrival were straightforward and direct—"This is a dream!"

At the time, Qin Yiguan didn't take it seriously, because Dr. House had said that this guy's ailment was that he couldn't distinguish between dreams and reality.

Afterwards, Hua Xu drew her bow and shot an arrow, intending to shoot down the sun, saying that the sun was an outpost for the alien invaders.

At that time, the Qin Yiguan thought that the arrow made of iron railings would fall into some patch of mud...

Qin Yiguan recalled the scene of Hua Xu eating dirt, and he had emphasized before, "This is a dream, there's no logic to it!"

Qin Yiguan suddenly realized that when he returned here for the second time, he found that the midday sun had turned into a sunset, even though he hadn't been away for that long.

Now, Qin Yiguan put everything together and suddenly understood that the sun at that time had already been 'shot' and had begun to fall.

"Holy crap."

Qin Yiguan clutched his forehead, his Pupil shrinking. "How could this be a dream? Whose dream is this? And why am I seeing all this..."

It was at this time.

Qin Yiguan suddenly noticed that Hua Xu had hidden a metal badge under the collar of her tattered white coat.

At this moment, Hua Xu straightened his chest, and the nameplate was finally revealed.

On the left side of the nameplate is the logo of the Ring Research Institute, while on the right side is the inscription. "Logistics Team Level 2 Staff Member - 0255".

Hua Xu is indeed a Level 2 staff member in the logistics team; that title is correct.

But this 0255...

Qin Yiguan tried his best to remain rational amidst his shock, and struggled to recall, "Why does this 0255 seem so familiar?!"

suddenly.

A glint flashed in Qin Yiguan's eyes, followed by a thunderclap in his mind.

At that moment, a scene flashed through his mind.

When he and Dr. House first entered the office of the Ring Research Institute, they found the first skeleton by the window—a skeleton that had been dead for more than ten years and showed no signs of external injury.

After pulling back the curtains, light streamed in.

He found a name tag on the skeleton.

--Logistics Team Level 2 Staff Member--0255'

Qin Yiguan stared in astonishment at Hua Xu before him, "You are the first skeleton, you... you've been dead for over ten years?!"

But Hua Xu stared intently at Qin Yiguan. "I don't understand what you're saying. I'm just dreaming!"

The next moment.

Hua Xu suddenly stood up, staring grimly out the window. "There's no time to explain. Those alien invaders have broken in. I must activate all my technological means to protect Earth!"

But then I looked out the window.

From the shattered sun, countless tall figures suddenly emerged, clad in writhing green armor, roaring as they charged toward the Ring Research Institute!

At the same time, countless green spaceships appeared in the sky, like dark clouds pressing down on the city.

But Hua Xu, full of vigor, shouted loudly, "Virtual Machine activated! Grand Unified Hua Force! Zero-Point Energy, activated! Particle Light Spear, activated! All units, pay attention! Fire focused particle beams, ignoring scale limitations, and ensure massive damage to the enemy!"

Hua Xu kept calling out the names of new technologies that Qin Yiguan had never heard of or seen before.

Gradually, Hua Xu's angry shouts faded into the distance, as if they were right in front of her, yet also as if they were worlds apart.

Hua Xu and this world are the same, becoming increasingly unreal.

It was during this moment of stunned silence that...

A ferocious alien invader rushed to Qin Yiguan's side, and a mechanical hand suddenly pierced through Qin Yiguan's chest, grabbing his heart. Thud! Qin Yiguan's heart was crushed into a pulp.

Call!

Qin Yiguan clutched his chest with both hands and sat up abruptly!

He looked around and found himself lying shirtless on the second floor of an apartment in Rust City.

He touched his chest and found it completely unharmed, without any damage whatsoever.

He got up and drew back the heavy curtains.

The morning sunlight streams in; without even looking up, you can see the sun floating in the sky.

This is the real physical world.

There is no Ring Research Institute at all...

There is no such thing as Hua Xu...

Sweat slowly trickled down Qin Yiguan's forehead.

Before.

I've never woken up!