Dream Ghost

When Lin Ye returned to his room, it was already past midnight. He didn't turn on the light, but lay down on the bed, pulled the pillow under his neck, and stared at the ceiling. The crack was still there, stretching two and a half meters from the light fixture to the corner of the wall, with eleven branches. He no longer needed to count; he could draw it with his eyes closed.

Deep within his consciousness, memories of his father slowly churned, like waves lapping against the shore after the tide has receded. It wasn't painful, but a faint, astringent taste, like stale tea. Lin Yuan's last words—"Tell Shen Ruo, I—"—were left unfinished. The words stuck there, like a fishbone, impossible to swallow or spit out. Shen Ruo was his mother; he had never met her. Lin Yuan said her consciousness was still in a cabinet in some processing plant, only thirty percent intact. Thirty percent. Better than nothing, but not much better.

Lin Ye rolled over, facing the wall. The wall was white, but there was a water stain shaped like a bird with its wings tucked in. He stared at that "bird" for a long time, then closed his eyes. In his consciousness, the World Tree's perception was still operating automatically, like a radar, continuously scanning the silvery-white trunk. The crack hadn't widened, but it hadn't shrunk either. That consciousness of unknown frequency was still inside the trunk, "talking" to the World Tree. The voice was very soft, like two people whispering in the dead of night. The content was indistinct, but the continuous, uninterrupted whispering could be felt.

He was asleep. He wasn't dreaming.

The next morning, when Su Wanning brought breakfast, she found that Lin Ye was no longer in the room. The bed was neatly made, the pillow was on the blanket, and the potted green plant on the windowsill had been watered, with water droplets still clinging to its leaves. She put down the tray, stood in the room for a while, and then turned and went to the training room.

Lin Ye was in the training room. He was wearing his black tracksuit, sitting cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, hands resting on his knees, palms up. The deep purple mark glowed softly in the morning light, flickering like breathing. Su Wanning didn't go in; he just stood at the door watching. His profile looked serene in the morning light, not like someone who had just inherited fragments of his father's consciousness the night before, but more like a college student waiting for a bus.

"How long have you been sitting here?" she asked.

"One hour." Lin Ye didn't open his eyes. "I'm practicing my World Tree perception."

"How's the training going?"

"I can sense the location of the crack, and I can also sense the frequency of that consciousness. But I still can't understand what it's saying." He opened his eyes, a deep purple light flashed in his pupils, and then went out. "It's like listening to someone talking through glass; I know someone is talking, but I don't know what they're saying."

Su Wanning walked into the training room, sat down opposite him, and also crossed his legs.

"Maybe it's not that I can't hear you, it's that I don't want to hear you," she said.

Lin Ye looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"You inherited fragments of your father's consciousness; your perception should be sufficient to hear that frequency clearly. But you didn't. It's probably because subconsciously you didn't want to hear it. Because if you heard it clearly, you would have to face it. If you face it, you would have to act. And if you act, you might not be able to come back." Su Wanning's tone was very calm, as if he were analyzing a math problem. "It's not that you can't hear it. It's that you're afraid to hear it."

Lin Ye fell silent. He looked at his palm, the deep purple mark flickering in the morning light.

"You're right," he said.

"I know."

How did you know?

"Because every time you encounter something you're truly afraid of, you become extremely quiet. You don't speak, you don't eat, you just sit alone, pretending to be practicing something." Su Wanning stood up, patting the dust off his pants. "You were like this before you went to the First Seal last time."

Lin Ye looked up at her. Morning light streamed in through the window, falling on her hair and turning a few stray strands golden. Her expression was calm, but there was a light in her eyes—not the light of tears, but a confident light, as if she had seen through everything long ago.

"Have you been observing me for a long time?" he asked.

"I've been watching you since your first day at the association." Su Wanning turned and walked towards the door. "Captain Chen told me to keep an eye on you, in case something happens to you."

"And now?"

"You don't need to keep an eye on him anymore." She stopped and glanced back at him. "Now you know what you're supposed to do."

She was gone. Lin Ye sat on the floor of the training room, looking at the patch of ground illuminated by the sunlight near the door. Dust motes drifted slowly in the light, like a swarm of tiny, slow-moving fireflies. He lowered his head and looked again at the mark on his palm.

He dared not listen. Su Wanning was right. He truly dared not. Because if that frequency truly meant "the World Tree is about to awaken," he would have to stop it. Stopping it meant entering the Dream Continent again, facing the Dream Weavers again, and possibly not returning. He wasn't afraid of death. But he was afraid of not returning. If he didn't return, he wouldn't see Su Wanning, Chen Xuan, Gu Yan, Lin Yuanzhou, or the people he had promised to bring back.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

This time, he did not resist. He sank his consciousness into the deepest recesses of the World Tree's perception, like a diver descending into the deep sea. The surrounding light grew dimmer, the pressure increased, and his eardrums buzzed under the pressure. But he did not stop. He continued to sink, passing through the shallow layers of the World Tree's perception—the surface of the trunk, the silvery bark, the luminous crystals, the slowly flowing sap. Then he entered the middle layer—the interior of the trunk, where the woody fibers flowed like giant blood vessels, and something was flowing within them—not sap, but consciousness. That consciousness was ancient, faint, like someone who had been asleep for a long time dreaming.

He continued to sink. He reached the deepest level.

There was a void. Circular, about two meters in diameter. In the center of the void, a ball of light floated. Not gold, not blue, but a color he had never seen before—somewhere between green and gray, like a lake about to freeze in winter. The shape of the light was not fixed; sometimes it resembled a person, sometimes a tree, sometimes a shapeless cloud of mist.

That frequency was emanating from here. It was speaking. Not with language, but with consciousness. Lin Ye moved his consciousness closer, not to listen, but to "touch." The instant his consciousness touched that ball of light, a sound exploded in his mind—not human language, but more direct than language, as if someone had directly inserted a memory into his brain.

He saw a person. No, not a person. It was an "existence." It had no fixed form; sometimes it resembled a wisp of mist, sometimes a tree, sometimes a face—but that face had no features, only an outline, like someone had cut out the shape of a face on white paper with scissors. It stood inside the trunk of the World Tree, reaching out its "hand" and pressing it against the woody fibers. Under its touch, those fibers began to slowly, little by little, change color—from silvery-white to grayish-green. Not withering, but "assimilation." It was transforming the woody fibers of the World Tree into a material like itself.

It is "eating" the World Tree.

No, it's not about eating. It's about "replacing." It transforms itself into a part of the World Tree, then alters the World Tree's structure from the inside. Once it has replaced enough parts, the World Tree will no longer be the World Tree, but rather its "shell." At that point, whatever it wants to do, the World Tree will do. Including "movement."

Lin Ye suddenly opened his eyes. His back was covered in cold sweat, his tracksuit clinging to his skin, cold and sticky. He gasped for breath, his heart pounding as if it would burst from his chest. The deep purple mark on his palm was flashing intensely, like a light bulb about to burn out.

[WARNING: A high-level consciousness has been detected inside the World Tree—its level cannot be determined, but it is suspected to exceed the Codex level.]

[Recommendation: Immediately cease depth sensing to prevent consciousness from being tracked in reverse.]

Lin Ye turned off the notification and stood up. His legs felt a little weak, but he didn't sit down. He walked to the window, opened it, and let the cold air in. The morning breeze carried the dampness of dew and the smell of cooking oil from the breakfast stalls in the distance. He took a deep breath, feeling the cool air in his lungs, which cleared his mind.

It surpasses the Codex level. That's an existence two major realms higher than the Scroll level. His current Scroll level of thirty-one percent is like an ant standing at the feet of an elephant in front of it. But that "elephant" is trapped inside the trunk of the World Tree and can't get out. It can only replace the fibers of the World Tree little by little, like a termite gnawing at a thousand-year-old tree from the inside.

It has plenty of time. It has waited three thousand years. It wouldn't mind waiting another three thousand years.

But Lin Ye is not three thousand years old. Nor is the World Tree.

He took out his phone and sent Chen Xuan a message: "Come to the training room. I've made an important discovery."

Chen Xuan arrived in less than three minutes. He was wearing an old T-shirt, his hair was messy, and he had clearly just been woken up by the news. But his eyes were clear; he stared at Lin Ye's face for two seconds as soon as he entered, then asked, "What did you see?"

"There is a consciousness within the World Tree. Its level surpasses the Codex level. It is replacing the World Tree's fibers from within, becoming a part of the World Tree itself." Lin Ye's voice was tight, but every word was clear. "Once it has replaced enough parts, it will be able to control the World Tree. At that time, it can make the World Tree move. When the World Tree moves, the boundary between reality and dreams will blur. The Dream Weaver Society is waiting for that moment."

Chen Xuan fell silent. He walked to the window and stood beside Lin Ye, looking at the sky outside. The sky was very blue, and a few white clouds drifted slowly by, like a flock of sheep taking a walk.

"A consciousness beyond the level of the Codex." He repeated, "When the first generation of Night's Watch sealed the World Tree three thousand years ago, is it possible that—that thing was already inside?"

"Yes. Lin Yuanzhou probably knows. But he didn't tell me. Maybe he didn't want me to face it too early, or maybe he felt that it wouldn't be of any use to me at my current level."

"He's in the medical room now. You can go ask him."

Lin Ye shook his head.

"He won't tell. If he wanted to, he would have done so last time." Lin Ye turned and leaned against the windowsill, his hands in his pockets. "He knows far more than I expected. But he tells me selectively. Some things he thinks I can handle, so he tells me. Some things he thinks I can't handle, so he keeps them from me."

How do you know he's hiding it from you?

"Because his eyes change every time he mentions the World Tree. It's not fear, it's—avoidance." Lin Ye thought for a moment and found a more accurate word, "guilt. When he looks at me, there's a kind of guilt in his eyes. It's as if the World Tree is a debt he owes, and now I have to repay it."

Chen Xuan didn't speak. He reached out and patted Lin Ye's shoulder. The hand was heavy, but steady.

"No matter what he's been hiding from you," Chen Xuan said, "you don't have to bear it all alone. The association is here, and so are we."

Lin Ye nodded.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor. Su Wanning walked over carrying a tray with two bowls of porridge and several steamed buns. She paused for a moment when she saw Chen Xuan there, then placed the tray on a bench in the corridor.

"I made enough for two people. It'll be enough for three." She divided the porridge between Lin Ye and Chen Xuan, then took a steamed bun for herself, took a bite, and asked, "What are you two talking about?"

"World Tree." Lin Ye took the porridge and took a sip. The white rice porridge was very hot, but it was comfortably hot, warming him from his throat all the way to his stomach.

Su Wanning chewed on his steamed bun, waiting for him to continue.

"There's something inside. Its level surpasses the Codex level. It's replacing the World Tree's fibers from the inside." Lin Ye stirred his porridge with a spoon, not drinking it. "I want to go in."

Su Wanning's steamed bun stopped at his mouth.

"Enter the World Tree?"

"Yes. Go in through the crack. Find that thing and see what it is. If you can eliminate it, eliminate it. If not, at least figure out its weakness."

"Your level is only 31% of the scroll level. The contents inside exceed the codex level." Su Wanning put down the steamed bun, his voice not loud, but each word was clearly enunciated, "Going in is suicide."

"I know. That's why I won't go in now. I'll wait until I become the Dream Realm Overlord."

"How long will that take?"

"I don't know." Lin Ye took a sip of porridge. "Maybe a few months, maybe a few years. But the World Tree can't wait that long. The cracks are widening, and the replacement is accelerating. It might take less than three months for that thing to control half of the World Tree."

Su Wanning looked at him, her lips pressed into a thin line. She didn't say, "Don't go," nor did she say, "I'll go with you." She simply picked up the steamed bun and continued eating. She ate very slowly, chewing each bite as if she were struggling with a difficult decision to swallow.

Chen Xuan stood to the side, holding a bowl of porridge but not drinking it. He looked at Lin Ye, then at Su Wanning, and said, "Three months. Starting now, training every day. I'll spar with you. Su Wanning will support you. Gu Yan will provide tactical guidance. Lin Yuanzhou will be the rules consultant. Within three months, raise your level from 31% of the Scroll level to Dream Domain Master. Even if you only reach the early stage of Dream Domain Master, you still have a chance."

"Is there a chance you'll come out alive?" Su Wanning asked.

"There's a chance we'll come out alive," Chen Xuan said.

Su Wanning glanced at him, then at Lin Ye. Then she stood up, threw the bun wrapper into the trash can, and clapped her hands.

"Then what are you standing there for?" she said. "To train."

She left, silver threads hanging from her fingertips, leaving two thin streaks of silver light on the corridor floor.

Lin Ye watched her retreating figure, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. It wasn't a smile, but a very faint expression, as if to say, "I knew you would say that." He finished his porridge, placed the bowl on the bench, stood up, and followed behind her. Chen Xuan followed as well.

The three people walked into the training room.

Morning light streamed through the window, spreading a golden glow across the floor. Lin Ye stood in the light, the deep purple mark on his palm standing out vividly in the sunlight. He looked at his hand, remembering his father's last words—"Tell Shen Ruo, I—"

He didn't finish speaking. But Lin Ye knew what he wanted to say.

He wanted to say "I'm sorry." He wanted to say "I love you." He wanted to say "Take care of our child." He wanted to say "I can't come back."

Lin Ye clenched his fist.

He will never let anyone say such things again.

"Let's begin," he said.