Before the selection competition ended, Dylan had once remarked, "I wonder, after dying in the Illusory Dream Realm, would we keep sleeping in reality, or be startled awake?"
Zheng Qing felt that he could answer that question now.
Of course, it was a little later than expected.
The young publicly funded student's last impression of the selection competition was Puppet's lazy, "Sweet dreams, everyone," followed by the world plunging into darkness. When he came to again, sparrows outside the window had begun chirping away in the treetops. Dawn had not yet broken, and the dormitory was very quiet, save for two snores of different depths rising and falling.
One snore was rather heavy, belonging to Fatty Xin; the other was very light, belonging to Fat Cat Tuantuan.
Zheng Qing stared at the dark bed curtains overhead, trying hard to recall the events of last night—the competition, ghouls, wave after wave of ghouls, exhaustion, then a huge thing arriving, and then the competition ending. The young wizard's eyes gradually widened. After leaving the Illusory Dream Realm, he had neither "slept well" as Puppet had said nor been startled awake as Dylan had guessed.
He had felt nothing at all.
Then morning came.
It was as though he had quietly passed some unconscious stretch of time in a dark place. But he had to admit that this kind of deep sleep was an excellent restorative after mental exhaustion. Like now, he felt absolutely wonderful.
The young publicly funded student slipped out of bed, washed up with the little elves' help, then went off to do his morning exercises alone without waking Xiao Xiao, who was still fast asleep.
The sight of Xiao Xiao being swallowed by that dark vortex yesterday remained vivid in his mind. Though he did not know what effect