Dream Ghost

On the second day of the countdown, Lin Ye didn't go to the training room. He stood in front of the vault on the fourth basement level of the association headquarters. Chen Xuan opened the door for him, then stepped back into the corridor, leaving him alone. The vault was quiet, the air cool, carrying the smell of metal and preservatives. The bottles on the shelves emitted a faint light in the darkness—blue, green, gold, white—like a miniature starry sky. Forty-two bottles, forty-two consciousnesses. Lin Yuan's bottle was on the top shelf, its pale golden light floating quietly in the darkness, as if asleep. Lin Ye stood in front of the shelf for a while, not reaching out. He hadn't come to see his father today.

He walked to the innermost shelf, squatted down, and looked at a bottle on the very bottom shelf. The bottle was small, only the size of a fist, and the light inside was faint, almost extinguished. The writing on the label was blurred, but still legible—"Shen Ruo, 10% consciousness intact." His mother. He had never seen her, didn't know her voice, didn't know her face, didn't know what color, what flower, or what food she liked. He was only seven days old when she left, and he didn't even have time to remember what she looked like. The faint light in the bottle drifted slowly in the darkness, like a candle about to burn out.

Lin Ye reached out and took the bottle from the shelf, holding it between his hands. The glass was cool, and the light filtering through it fell faintly into his palms, almost imperceptible in temperature. But he sensed something else—not consciousness, not memory, but something more primal, something deeper. Bloodline. The fragment of consciousness within the bottle was extracted from his mother's body; it contained her conscious code, fragments of her DNA, and the bloodline marker of her being a descendant of the Shen family. That marker resonated with the bloodline fragment within him. The light in the bottle flickered briefly upon touching his palm, very weak, gone in an instant. But it had shone. It recognized him.

Lin Ye put the bottle back on the shelf and stood up. He stood in front of his mother's bottle for a long time, so long that the vault's automatic light went out and came back on once. Then he turned around and walked out of the vault.

Chen Xuan was still waiting in the corridor, holding a cup of tea instead of a water glass. He handed the tea to Lin Ye, who took it and took a sip. It was hot, but comfortably so.

"Your mother's level of consciousness is only 10 percent," Chen Xuan said. "Below 15 percent, the success rate of implanting a new body is almost zero."

"I know."

"So what do you plan to do?"

"Don't implant it. Let her continue sleeping. I'll find a way to improve her overall health."

"Can the integrity of consciousness be improved?"

"Yes. There's a rule in Qiuye's rulebook: 'Fragments of consciousness will self-repair in a bloodline resonance environment.' My mother's bloodline is the same as mine. If I can create a bloodline resonance environment, her integrity might slowly recover."

Chen Xuan looked at him and remained silent for a few seconds.

What do you plan to use for the environment?

Lin Ye returned the teacup to Chen Xuan and took out the copper piece from his pocket. The front had a rule symbol, and the back had "Shen Ruo". He held it in his palm; the copper piece was slightly warmer than his body temperature.

"Me," he said.

Chen Xuan didn't ask any more questions. He took the teacup, turned around, and left. Lin Ye stood in the corridor, watching his figure disappear around the corner.

In the afternoon, Lin Ye went to Lin Yuanzhou's room. The old man was sitting by the window, without a book or tea in his hand, just sitting there. The sky outside the window was very blue, without any clouds, and a bird flew over the rooftop, its wings shimmering in the sunlight.

"I want to get the seeds," Lin Ye said.

Lin Yuanzhou turned his head to look at him.

"Now?"

"Now."

Lin Yuanzhou didn't ask why. He stood up, leaning on his cane, walked to Lin Ye, and placed his hand on Lin Ye's chest. His hand was cold, but steady.

"The seed is in your blood, not in mine. You can come in anytime you want. You don't need to ask me."

Lin Ye closed his eyes. His consciousness sank deep into his bloodline, finding that "point." The door was open, just like last time, and the time before that. He walked in and stood inside the seed. The space was still so small, and on the wall was carved the drawing of the first generation of Night Watchmen—the World Tree sprouting. Next to the drawing was the line of words he had written himself—"The seed will sprout." The color of the words had changed, from white to gold, like a wheat field baked by the sun.

Lin Ye reached out and pressed his hand on the words "The seed will sprout." His consciousness passed through the words, through the wall, through the seed's shell, and outside. Outside wasn't emptiness, but a golden grassland. The sky was deep blue, and the stars were large, like lamps hanging overhead. A person stood on the grassland. Wearing a white robe, with long black hair reaching his waist, his face was as white as paper. It was Qiu Ye. Standing in the center of the grassland, the wind blowing through its robe, the hem fluttering in the breeze. It looked at Lin Ye, a slight smile playing on its lips.

"You've come," Qiuye said. The voice didn't come from its mouth, but came from all directions, like the wind blowing across a distant valley.

"You're awake?"

No. I'm dreaming. You're in my dream.

Lin Ye walked up to Qiu Ye. The grass on the prairie rustled under his feet, like autumn leaves falling. Qiu Ye was about the same height as him, but thinner, with narrower shoulders, like a tree that had not yet grown.

"What did you dream about?" Lin Ye asked.

"I dreamt of when I was alive." Qiuye lowered her head, looking at her hands. Her hands were white, with distinct knuckles and pink nails. "Not three thousand years ago, but much earlier. So early that I hadn't even been separated from him. I was part of the first Night's Watch, the softest part of his consciousness. He separated me not because I wasn't important, but because he was too important. He needed to be a blade, and a blade can't have a soft part. A soft part will dull."

Lin Ye looked at it.

Do you hate him?

The autumn leaves fell silent for a few seconds. The wind blew across the grassland, and the grass bowed its head, as if in reverence.

"I don't hate him. He cried when he separated me from his body. He thought he wouldn't cry, but he did. His tears dripped onto me, and I remember that temperature. Not cold, but warm. Like the temperature of you holding the copper sheet."

Lin Ye took out a copper plate from his pocket. It was golden, with regular symbols on the front and "Shen Ruo" on the back. The copper plate gleamed under the deep blue starlight.

Do you recognize this?

Qiuye stared at the copper plate for a long time.

"I recognize it. This was carved by the first Night's Watchman. It wasn't for your mother, but for his daughter. His daughter's name was Shen Ruo, the same name as your mother. It's not a coincidence, it's reincarnation. Bloodlines can repeat, and names can repeat. The first generation's daughter was named Shen Ruo, and your mother was named Shen Ruo. The same drop of blood flowed for three thousand years, flowing into your mother's body. And your mother's blood flowed into your body."

Lin Ye's fingers moved slowly across the copper sheet.

What happened to the daughter of the first Night's Watchman?

"He died. His daughter died of illness before he entered the World Tree. He engraved her name on a bronze plate and carried it with him. When he entered the World Tree, the bronze plate went with him. I don't know how the bronze plate ended up in your grandfather's hands. But the warmth on the bronze plate is still there. The warmth of the first Night's Watchman, the warmth of his daughter, the warmth of your grandfather, the warmth of your mother, and your warmth. All the warmth is left on it. It's inseparable."

Lin Ye put the copper piece into his pocket and pressed it against his heart.

"Autumn Leaf, in seven days I will enter the rings of the World Tree. The door is in the 'future.' If you don't wake up, I can't enter. Every rule in your rule library I use is one less, and I can't solve the rules inside the door."

Qiuye looked at him, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"I will wake up."

"When?"

"When you need me."

The grassland begins to fade, not disappear, but "fade." Gold turns to gray, deep blue to light blue, and the stars go out one by one. The autumn leaves are fading, from solid to ethereal, from ethereal to nothing. But it keeps smiling, its corners slightly upturned, like a painting washed clean.

"Autumn leaves!"

"I'm here. I've always been here."

The grassland vanished. Lin Ye stood inside the seed, his hand still resting on the words "The seed will sprout." The words were still golden, unchanged. His palm pressed against the words, feeling their warmth—not his own, but Qiu Ye's. It had been here. It was still here.

Lin Ye opened his eyes. Lin Yuanzhou sat opposite him, his cane leaning against the side of the chair, his hands resting on his knees.

"Did you see Akiha?"

"I saw him."

"What did it say?"

"It says it will wake up when needed."

Lin Yuanzhou nodded, without asking, "Do you believe it?" He didn't need to ask. He had seen too many moments of waiting—waiting for his brother to return, waiting for his son to return, waiting for countless Night Watchmen to walk into the World Tree and never come back. Every time he waited, someone asked him, "Do you believe it?" He said, "I believe it." Not because he had evidence, but because if he didn't believe, he would have collapsed long ago.

Lin Ye stood up and walked to the window. It was already dark outside, the streetlights were on, and their orange glow cast a blurry halo on the glass. His shadow was reflected on the glass, overlapping with the city nightscape outside, like someone standing between two worlds. Su Wanning pushed open the door, carrying two cups of coffee, lattes, less sugar. She handed one to Lin Ye and placed the other on the table next to Lin Yuanzhou. The old man picked up his coffee and took a sip, his brow furrowing slightly. It wasn't bitter, it was sweet. Su Wanning added sugar, forgetting that the old man didn't like sweet drinks. She didn't apologize, and the old man didn't complain. There was an unspoken understanding between them—no questions asked, no words spoken, but both knew.

"Training?" Su Wanning asked Lin Ye.

"train."

The two walked out of Lin Yuanzhou's room, through the corridor, and into the training room. The lights in the training room were turned up to their brightest, simulating midday sunlight. Lin Ye stood in the center of the training room, and Su Wanning stood opposite him, about five meters apart.

"Today we're practicing teamwork," Su Wanning said. "You won't use rule writing, mind binding, or World Tree perception. Just your body. I'll use threads. You dodge, I'll attack. If you can't dodge, you'll get hit."

"Where should we hit?"

"We'll fight anywhere."

Su Wanning's silver threads flew from his fingertips, not as a net, but as a whip. The thread drew an arc in the air, lashing towards Lin Ye's shoulder. Lin Ye dodged to the side, the thread grazing his ear and whistling sharply through the air. A second thread followed, striking his knee. He leaped, the thread slicing past his feet, leaving a shallow mark on the floor. A third thread struck his waist, a fourth his back, and a fifth the back of his head. He moved swiftly between the threads, like a fish struggling in a net.

Su Wanning's hands didn't stop. One silk thread after another flew from her fingertips, each aiming at a specific part of Lin Ye's body—shoulders, knees, waist, back, back of the head, back of the hand, ankle, ribs. She struck for ten minutes, and Lin Ye dodged for ten minutes. Not a single thread hit him.

Su Wanning retracted the silk thread and looked at him.

"You've improved."

"It's not progress. It's a habit. I can feel the angle, speed, and force of your silk threads even with my eyes closed."

"Then try closing your eyes."

Lin Ye closed his eyes. Su Wanning's silk threads flew again, this time without a sound. She controlled the speed of the threads, making them so as not to make a sound as they cut through the air. But Lin Ye didn't need sound. His senses extended, locking onto the trajectory of each thread. His body moved between the threads, like a fish weaving through seaweed. A thread struck his left shoulder, he dodged to the right. A thread struck his right knee, he dodged to the left. A thread struck his forehead, he crouched. A thread struck his ankle, he leaped up.

Su Wanning stopped.

Lin Ye opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Finished?"

"All done. Not a single shot hit."

"Then why did you stop?"

"Because your eyes are closed, but your senses are extended. You've replaced your eyes with extended senses; this isn't 'using only the body.'"

Lin Ye remained silent for a few seconds.

"You're right. I cheated."

"It's not cheating. It's a habit. Your senses have become an extension of your body, inseparable from it. Just like autumn leaves are inseparable from you."

Lin Ye looked down at the gray lines on his wrist. The autumn leaves were still asleep, their color a little paler than yesterday, like a painting washed too many times. But they were still there. As long as they were there, he wasn't alone.

Su Wanning walked up to him, reached out, and smoothed out the wrinkles at the collar of his tracksuit. Her fingers were cool, and when they touched his skin, he flinched but didn't pull away.

"Seven days later, you will enter the tree rings. I will be waiting for you outside."

"What if I can't get out?"

"You can get out."

How did you know?

"Because you promised me. You never fail to keep your promises."

Lin Ye looked at her, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"it is good."

Chen Xuan peeked halfway into the training room from the doorway.

"Zhou Zhou detected a new fluctuation in consciousness. It's not the Dream Weavers Society, it's the association headquarters. Someone is using the teleportation array without authorization."

Lin Ye and Su Wanning exchanged a glance and rushed out of the training room at the same time.

The emergency lights in the corridor weren't on. It wasn't dark yet, and natural light streamed in through the windows, illuminating the entire corridor. They ran to the room containing the teleportation array. The door was open, and the rune array was glowing—not blue, but red. Something was wrong. Zhou Zhou stood in front of the control panel, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, but he didn't press any keys.

"Who went in?" Lin Ye asked.

"I don't know. The teleportation array activated automatically; there's no authorization record or operation log. It's like someone activated the teleportation array from the other side."

Lin Ye walked to the rune array, squatted down, and looked at the silver lines. Some lines were glowing red; this wasn't a malfunction, but a "rewrite." Someone had added a new rule to the teleportation array's structure—"Unconditional entry is allowed." This wasn't a hack, but an "authorization." The person who wrote this rule had the authority to modify the teleportation array. Few people had this authority: Chen Xuan, Zhou Zhou, Doctor Jiang, Qin Lan, Fang Yuan, Meng Xiaoqing, and Lin Ye himself.

Lin Ye stood up.

"It's Meng Xiaoqing."

Zhou Zhou typed a few times on the keyboard, bringing up the surveillance footage. In the video, Meng Xiaoqing stood in the center of the teleportation array, holding a laptop, her glasses reflecting the blue light of the runes. Her expression was calm, as if she were waiting for a bus. The blue light turned red, and she disappeared.

"Where did she go?" Su Wanning asked.

Zhou Zhou typed on the keyboard, and the data on the screen flipped through page after page.

"Coordinates locked...outer perimeter of the World Tree, near the First Seal. It's close to the coordinates publicly released by the Dream Weaver Society, but not the same one."

Lin Ye stared at the flickering dot on the screen.

"What is she going to do?"

No one answered. But Lin Ye knew the answer. She was looking for him. Not Lin Ye, but the "data." Her laptop contained all his consciousness fluctuation diagrams, but she wanted the "source." She was going to the interior of the World Tree to collect firsthand data. Not for headquarters, not for the Dream Weaver Society, but for herself. Meng Xiaoqing was only interested in data. Wherever the data was, that's where she would be.

Lin Ye turned and walked towards the teleportation array.

"I'll go and bring her back."

Su Wanning grabbed his sleeve.

"Go to the World Tree, and the Dream Weaver will find you. But now is not the time."

"What should we do then?"

"Have Zhou Zhou send her a message. Tell her that the data can be collected remotely, without needing to go in in person. She's a rational person; she'll listen."

Lin Ye looked at Su Wanning and remained silent for a few seconds.

"You're calmer than me."

"It's not that I'm calm. It's that I'm afraid something will happen to you."

Zhou Zhou typed a line of text on the keyboard and pressed the send button. A dialog box popped up on the screen—"Message sent, waiting for reply." Three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds. No reply. Thirty seconds. One minute. The cursor on the screen was flashing, like a heartbeat.

"She didn't reply," Zhou Zhou said.

Lin Ye walked to the teleportation array and stood at its edge. The red light was still there, and the rule "unconditional entry permitted" was still there. He reached out and pressed his hand on the red line, using rule deconstruction to separate the rule from the structure of the teleportation array. The red line turned back into a blue line, and the teleportation array returned to normal.

"She's not coming back," Lin Ye said. "Not because she doesn't want to, but because she doesn't know how. She can only unlock the door, not close it."

He turned and walked out of the room, Su Wanning following behind him. In the corridor, the emergency lights came on; darkness had fallen. Outside the window, the city's night view unfolded before them, a myriad of lights resembling an inverted starry sky reflected on the ground.

Meng Xiaoqing was inside the World Tree. She carried her laptop, Lin Ye's consciousness fluctuation diagram, and a mind solely interested in data. She wasn't afraid, because she didn't know she was afraid. She simply wanted to see where that data came from. Like someone walking upstream along a river, wanting to see its source. Upstream were snow-capped mountains, and nothing on those mountains. But she went.