True

"Self-Disciplined Old Dog, you've missed another update!"

In a spacious and bright study, the handsome young man Ning Qiandu stared at the screen on his phone, which hadn't been updated in 24 hours. After repeatedly urging for an update, he slowly raised his middle finger.

after.

He picked up the basketball next to him.

So I had to get together with a few friends and go to the basketball court to work up a sweat.

'I resisted the pressure to update by using my thick skin.'

'I've decided to take three friends to [the Secret of the World].'

The middle-aged man calmly typed on the keyboard.

Snap!

The Enter key makes a crisp sound.

The surrounding scenery changed rapidly once again.

When Qin Yiguan and his two companions came to their senses, they found themselves in an extremely strange place.

Some insights arise out of nowhere, sweeping through my heart like ocean waves.

--Sacred, vast, and mysterious.

All around him was an endless expanse of white ground, smooth, clean, and spotless.

Directly in front, a huge metal cocoon lay horizontally in mid-air.

It is 100 meters long, comparable to a 30-story skyscraper. Its appearance is a rounded oval shape, similar to a silkworm cocoon, but it is made of white alloy, and you can see the metal seams and delicate rivets.

Looking up at it gives you a peculiar feeling.

It carries a sense of technology, but also an indescribable sense of mystery.

It also resembles some kind of extraterrestrial life form, containing advanced technology and unique life origins, which is brewing and incubating.

But then, the usually unruly and lewd middle-aged man showed a hint of awe in his eyes.

"Three friends."

"It's called [The Secret of the World]."

The middle-aged man spoke calmly, with a respectful air, making sure every word was enunciated clearly, "'World' refers to the world beneath our feet, the world I imagined and wrote about. 'Secret' is exactly what it sounds like, the greatest secret within this world."

Qin Yiguan and the other two also subconsciously showed expressions of awe.

"The origin of this world, the principles of this world, everything is hidden within the [Secret of the World] before you."

"It is the truth that people most yearn to seek."

"The ultimate goal of every top expert."

The sleazy middle-aged man's eyes gleamed. "It possesses a fatal attraction, and it's what I've pursued my entire life."

Qin Yiguan also flickered. "Uncle, this world originated from your writings, so don't you know what's hidden within it?"

But the uncle shook his head.

Qin Yiguan looked at him, "Why?"

The man said, word by word, "Because I haven't figured out how to fill this hole yet."

"..."

Qin Yiguan was speechless for a moment. "So, this mysterious metal cocoon was created by you, and the readers know about it. Everyone is looking forward to it, but you've been hesitant to reveal it because you haven't thought it through."

You don't understand.

The middle-aged man looked up and said, "Great works are never without a touch of mystery. There's a technique in movies called 'montage,' which roughly means subtle hints, hazy creations, and endless mystery, stirring up a tsunami of thoughts in the reader. This ultimate secret, I personally hand it over to the readers to ponder. A thousand readers will have a thousand Hamlet in their eyes, and in my hands, this secret will have a thousand forms."

"Pah!"

But the Underworld spat, "You almost made me believe you. If you can't figure it out, just say you can't. You're digging a hole and not filling it in; you won't make it through the year."

The man's eye twitched violently.

Qin Yiguan slowly stepped forward, frowning, and said, "Why do I feel a strange sense of familiarity with this metal cocoon?"

The middle-aged man chuckled. "You're not thinking of going up to the metal cocoon, resonating with it, and then easily opening it, are you? This is my Minecraft... there's no such plot."

The Underworld retorted again, "Because the old man only wanted to make an outer shell."

The uncle's eye twitched again.

"No..."

It's more than just a shell.

But then Qin Yiguan slowly stepped forward, came to the outside of the huge metal cocoon, closed his eyes, and gently touched it.

laugh...

Suddenly, a hissing sound was heard.

Suddenly, a metal door appeared in front of Qin Yiguan, slowly rising and then opening automatically!

But a blinding white light shone from inside the door, obscuring the view inside!

The middle-aged man's expression froze. "Yamete? Oh no... how is this possible!"

But Qin Yiguan showed no fear, his face calm, and stepped into the bright metal cocoon!

The utterly shocked, lewd-looking middle-aged man immediately rushed forward, wanting to follow closely behind, but unexpectedly, his flip-flops got caught on his heels, causing him to stumble. By the time he regained his balance, the cabin door had already closed!

The man was completely shocked and stood there dumbfounded!

Qin Yiguan walked amidst endless white light.

The white light filled every corner, but it wasn't dazzling; instead, it was exceptionally soft.

Gradually, the scenery ahead became clearer.

Qin Yiguan saw a gigantic figure dressed in white pajamas... himself.

He lay quietly at the bottom of the metal cocoon, curled up, lost in a dream.

On one side of his head was a clock with a black hand but no markings. The only large character printed on the clock face was "Sleep".

In other words, no matter where the pointer rotates to, it is 'sleeping'.

"Dream General..."

Qin Yiguan's Pupil contracted slightly. "But he's not Dream General. Dream General's watch face has 'awakening,' but his doesn't."

All of this...

What exactly happened?

At that very moment.

The enormous sleeping being's eyelashes trembled slightly. Qin Yiguan held his breath and focused intently, but the sleeping being did not awaken.

at the same time.

Behind Qin Yiguan, a figure dressed in white cotton pajamas slowly walked out.

Qin Yiguan suddenly turned around and saw that this was also 'himself', only with a slightly immature face, about fifteen or sixteen years old.

The boy in pajamas approached, suddenly sat cross-legged, and straightened his pajamas.

He looked up, a slight smile on his face. "Hello, Qin Yiguan. I am also Qin Yiguan."

Qin Yiguan looked at him in surprise, without saying a word.

The boy in pajamas looked at the enormous sleeping figure ahead and said, "I am him. I came out specifically to speak with you. During my childhood, I was forced to undergo numerous drug experiments, which caused my brain nerves to remain in a state of constant hyperactivity. When I fall asleep, this becomes a power—[Lucid Dream], Brain Dark Zone R09, dreams become reality."

"The Multiverse No. 999 you just visited does not exist."

"Because this is a dream of mine."

Qin Yiguan's mind went blank.

The boy in pajamas tried to assume a comfortable position, looking somewhat tired. "I also have my own physical form, and I live in a true Metaverse. But four years ago, my [Lucid Dream] erupted, dragging 60 million innocent sleeping people into an endless nightmare. They fell into abyssal rifts, their souls scattered. Even those who successfully Awakening suffered severe brain damage, and some went completely insane as a result."

Qin Yiguan slightly opened his eyes.

The boy in pajamas in front of me is my counterpart!

The story that unfolds in his Metaverse is another version of Lu Zun's conspiracy, and the Leviathan Rift!

"The reason I had that dream."

"It's because I live there; what you see during the day, you dream about at night."

The boy in pajamas calmly said, "The way to avoid harming that world is to stop looking at it. So, I built myself a machine that continuously injects me with sleeping pills to ensure I never wake up again."

"I had a completely new dream."

I want to spend the rest of my life here.

"To make this look like a real world."

"I dreamt of a novelist."

"Let him write down a whole new world, word by word."

"And I am the reader of this world, whiling away endless time as Bystander."

At this point, the boy in pajamas suddenly turned around, "You've already seen him, haven't you?"

Qin Yiguan nodded silently.

The boy in his pajamas smiled. "He was happily immersed in the world he had created, but this world was also my dream. That saying, though not quite right here, is true in meaning—he was admiring the scenery by the bridge, unaware that he, too, was scenery in someone else's eyes."

Qin Yiguan's eyes widened slightly. "This world is fake."

"My dream is already perfect enough, almost real."

"It even obscures the true Metaverse."

"Therefore, when you arrived, you unknowingly landed in the wrong place."

The boy in pajamas looked at Qin Yiguan, "You're right, this world is fake."

"This world is real, of course!"

The middle-aged man picked at his toes, "In the author's heart, the world he creates is absolutely real, full of flesh and blood, love and hate. I can burst into laughter at certain scenes, and feel suffocated by the death of certain people!"

now.

The uncle, along with the Underworld and Caregiver, had nowhere to go but to sit outside the metal cocoon, quietly waiting for Qin Yiguan to return.

The Underworld were still somewhat confused. "This is clearly all your imagination."

"Wrong!"

The older man looked at the Underworld very seriously. "How can you be so sure that the stories I write didn't actually happen? Creation originates from life! Perhaps these stories didn't take place in the present, but they certainly happened in another time, another space-time!"

"Since you come from other parallel universes..."

"Now that you have witnessed the face of the Matrix Universe..."

The man looked up and said, "Then let me ask you, why did so Metaverse form? The world of the Gemini Metaverse is based on human consciousness. Some say that consciousness is the origin of the universe. Didn't you ever think that the story I created might, with enough sincerity, move even the most obdurate heart, and transform into an independent parallel universe?"

The Caregiver scratched his head. "Something just doesn't feel right."

"It will definitely match!"

The older man insisted, "My story is also a real world for the readers. They will be excited by the protagonist's rise and heartbroken by his sorrow. They believe it's a real world, so it must be!"

"Although I often make up excuses to skip updates and ask for leave."

"I'm using this handsome face to fend off the pressure to update."

"But I persisted day after day, conceiving ideas and typing away, using my heart to create True·World!"

"This is because there is an indomitable driving force within me."

That is it.

"We must not let our expectations down."

On the basketball court.

Ning Qiandu greeted each of his friends who had arrived earlier.

"Ganggang!"

The handsome guy's reader ID is '-________-', which is abbreviated as "Ganggang".

Mi Kai Lang Ji Luo!

"Panda Eleven!"

"Funny Guy!"

"Great Emperor Shark!"

"Welded Door Emperor!"

"Mulberry Mistletoe!"

"And there's also Mu Han, the fan group leader!"

"Oh!"

"That Kawaii Qiqi is here too!"

"Self-Disciplined Old Dog isn't updating again today, let's have a game!"

Just as Ning Qiandu was about to enter, he saw a new face standing in the distance.

The guy was eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a black jacket and black pants, with a somewhat cold face. A breeze blew by, revealing the spiderweb-like scars on his forehead.

Ning Qiandu was stunned for a moment, "This guy looks a bit like..."

But then the young man in black walked over with a smile. "Hello, my Qin Yiguan, Yiguan' Yiguan'."

"Wow, are you an isotope...?"

Ning Qiandu froze.

The boy in black smiled inexplicably. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just an ordinary high school student. Could you let me join you in this basketball game?"