Dream Ghost

The roots were growing. Every day they grew, spreading from the center of the mark to the edges, like an invisible tree taking root beneath the skin. On the first day, the roots were as thin as hair, silvery-white, following the direction of the blood vessels, climbing from the palm to the base of the index finger. On the second day, a branch split off, extending along the wrist, paralleling the translucent veins of autumn leaves, like two rivers of different colors flowing into the same sea. On the third day, the branch branched off again, climbing from the wrist to the forearm, and from the forearm to the elbow. No pain, no itching, no sensation whatsoever. Lin Ye only glanced down at it each day while showering, noticing that another silvery-white line had appeared, or that it had grown longer.

Su Wanning looked at his arm every day. Not intentionally, but unable to resist. The silvery-white root meandered between the deep purple markings and translucent autumn leaf veins, like a delicate silver ornament embedded beneath the skin. It didn't seem to grow out of the skin, but rather as if it had been inlaid by the finest silver wire by the most skilled craftsman. She reached out and gently touched the longest branch near her elbow with her fingertips. Her fingertips were cool, the root was cool. Coolness touched coolness; there was no exchange of temperature, but she felt it—not temperature, but a "pulsation." The root was throbbing, very slowly, very steadily, at the same frequency as a heartbeat.

"It beats in sync with your heartbeat," Su Wanning said.

Lin Ye looked down at his arm. Silvery lines undulated gently beneath his skin, like a sleeping snake breathing. He hadn't noticed the pulse before, because his hands were always warm, while his arm was cool; the temperature difference masked the pulsation. Su Wanning's fingertips were cool; when cool things touched, the pulse became visible.

"It's learning," Lin Ye said. "Learning my rhythm. My heartbeat, my breathing, my frequency of consciousness. It needs to be in sync with me. Only when it's in sync can it take root."

"And then what happens after you've settled down?"

"After that, I became the World Tree. Not that I became a tree, but that the roots of the World Tree were inside my body. As long as the roots are there, the World Tree will not die. As long as I don't die, the World Tree will not die."

Su Wanning withdrew her hand, releasing the silver threads from her fingertips and wrapping them around Lin Ye's wrist. Not the previous method of wrapping them one by one, but "weaving." She wove the threads into a thin, silvery-white wristband, clinging to his skin, perfectly covering the translucent veins of the autumn leaves and the silvery-white roots of the World Tree. Three threads, three colors, three origins—autumn leaves, the World Tree, and Su Wanning. They lay side by side on Lin Ye's wrist, none vying for the other's attention.

"That way I won't be unable to feel you," Su Wanning said. "The thread is attached to the root, and the root is attached to your pulse. I can feel every heartbeat of yours."

Lin Ye looked at her, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. It wasn't a smile, but an expression that said, "You always find a way."

Chen Xuan walked down the corridor, carrying a document instead of a water glass. The document was thin, only two pages long, with the headquarters' red seal on the cover. He handed the document to Lin Ye, his expression more serious than usual.

"It came from headquarters. Qin Lan signed it."

Lin Ye opened the file. The first page was a list of twenty-three names, each followed by their rank, ability, and affiliated branch. The second page was a map showing the entire Dream Continent, with the location of the World Tree circled in red.

"Headquarters has decided to send people into the Dream Continent," Chen Xuan said. "Not for investigation, but for 'garrisoning.' To establish a defensive line around the World Tree to prevent the Dream Weavers from getting any closer. There will be twenty-three people, all of them Dream Weavers or higher. Qin Lan will lead the team, and they will depart in three days."

Lin Ye closed the file and handed it back to Chen Xuan.

"They don't know that the root is in me."

"I don't know. Qin Lan only knows that the door is closed, and that Dream Weaver will be besiege the World Tree, so someone needs to guard it. She doesn't know what's behind the door, what you got, or that the root is in your hands."

Should we tell her?

Chen Xuan remained silent for a few seconds.

"No. The fewer people who know, the safer the root is. Qin Lan can be trusted, but the people around her are not. Although Fang Yuan has been dismissed, the radicals are still there. If they know the root is with you, they won't come to help you; they'll come to take you away."

Lin Ye nodded. He raised his right hand, looking at the single, transparent tear in his palm. A silvery-white root within the tear had grown to his wrist, intertwining with the veins of the autumn leaf, making it impossible to distinguish which was whose. The root was within him; this was his secret. Only Chen Xuan, Su Wanning, Lin Yuanzhou, Shen Heting, Zhou Zhou, and Meng Xiaoqing knew this secret. Six people. All people he trusted. That was enough.

Meng Xiaoqing peeked out from the technical analysis room, holding a laptop in her hands, her glasses reflecting the blue light of the screen.

"Lin Ye, come here."

Lin Ye entered the technical analysis room, Su Wanning following behind. On the screen was a 3D image—not the World Tree, but Lin Ye's arm. Meng Xiaoqing had reconstructed the internal structure of his right arm—skin, blood vessels, muscles, and bones—using the association's medical scanner. Beneath the skin was a thin, silvery-white substance, not attached to the blood vessels, but "replacing" them. The roots weren't growing inside the blood vessels; they were "becoming" the blood vessels. The silvery-white rootlets replaced the original vessel walls; blood was still flowing, but it was flowing inside the roots.

"The blood vessels in your right arm are being replaced by the roots of the World Tree." Meng Xiaoqing zoomed in on the image, pointing to the silvery-white lines on the screen. "It's not a disease, it's 'evolution.' The roots are transforming your blood vessels into their own structure. Once the transformation is complete, your right arm will no longer be 'the right arm of a human,' but 'part of the World Tree.'"

Lin Ye stared at the image on the screen. Silvery-white lines spread beneath his skin, like a net being woven. The net was dense, each line connected to another, without end or beginning.

Will it spread throughout the body?

"I don't know. The root's goal is to find the soil. It looks for the soil in your blood. The soil in your blood isn't the soil itself, it's the 'rules.' The rules left behind by the first generation of Night's Watch. When the root finds that rule, it stops. If it doesn't find it, it will keep growing, growing all over the body, growing into every single cell."

Lin Ye was silent for a few seconds. He looked at his right hand; the silvery-white roots lay quietly beneath his skin, not like intruders, but rather something that should have always been there. He suddenly thought of a question—when the first Night's Watch left behind that rule, did they foresee this day? Did they know that three thousand years later, someone would carry his tears, his regrets, his roots, and walk the path he hadn't finished?

Lin Ye had no answer. But he knew that as the roots grew, so did he. When the roots found the rules, he would know. Thinking about it now was useless.

Three days later, Qin Lan set off with twenty-three people. The blue light of the teleportation array illuminated at four in the morning, and the twenty-four figures stood in three rows in the center of the rune array. Qin Lan stood at the very front, her short hair a mix of silver and white, her lips thin and pursed into a line. She saw Lin Ye standing at the end of the corridor, but didn't come over; she simply nodded. Lin Ye nodded back. The two said their goodbyes, separated by several dozen meters.

The blue light engulfed them. All twenty-three people vanished. The light from the teleportation array slowly dimmed, and the temperature of the rune array dropped from scorching to lukewarm. Zhou Zhou sat at the control panel, his fingers hovering above the keyboard. The screen displayed the consciousness identifiers of the twenty-three people, each one glowing green.

Lin Ye stood at the end of the corridor, looking at the empty teleportation array. Su Wanning stood beside him, silver threads wrapped around his wrist, close to his pulse. The root was throbbing, the threads were throbbing, and his heart was throbbing. Three different rhythms were slowly approaching.

Chen Xuan walked out of the corridor, holding a tablet in his hand.

"Qin Lan sent back the first message. They have reached the outer perimeter of the World Tree and are establishing a defensive line. They haven't encountered any members of the Dream Weaver Society."

Lin Ye took the tablet and looked at the brief text on the screen. Qin Lan's words were restrained, devoid of unnecessary emotion, only stating the facts. But Lin Ye could sense something beneath her calm surface—not nervousness, but rather, "preparation." She had brought twenty-three people, twenty-three Dream Weavers or higher-level Dream Enterers, to guard an invisible defensive line around the World Tree. If the Dream Weavers came, they would fight. If the Dream Weavers didn't come, they would keep guarding. They didn't know how long they would have to guard, but they would.

Lin Ye returned the tablet to Chen Xuan and turned to walk towards the training room. Su Wanning followed behind him, her footsteps echoing in the corridor, each beat like a heartbeat.

The training room lights were turned up to their brightest, simulating midday sunlight. Lin Ye stood in the center of the training room, raising his right hand and looking at the transparent teardrop in his palm. The silvery-white root within the teardrop had grown to the middle of his forearm, densely branching from the elbow to the wrist. His right arm gleamed faintly silver under the fluorescent lights, not the color of his skin, but the color of the root.

He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his right arm. He wasn't using his senses to "see," but rather his roots to "feel." The roots were alive; they had their own consciousness—not human consciousness, but the "consciousness of the tree." Slow and deep, like an underground river flowing for millennia. The tree's consciousness didn't think; it did only two things—grow and search. Growing was instinct; searching was its mission. It needed to find the rule left by the first Night's Watch; once found, its mission would be complete.

Lin Ye's consciousness touched the tree's consciousness. It wasn't a dialogue, but a "fusion." His consciousness was like a drop of water, falling into the tree's consciousness. The tree's consciousness was like a lake, still and deep, its surface without ripples. The drop of water fell in, creating ripples on the surface. The ripples spread to the edge of the lake, then bounced back, coinciding with the spot where the drop had fallen. In that instant, an image appeared in Lin Ye's consciousness—the seed of the World Tree, suspended in the void. The seed was tiny, smaller than a sesame seed, but it contained light. The light was bright, like a supernova exploding. The seed split open in the light, and a thin, silvery-white root emerged from the crack, piercing into the void. The void wasn't empty; it contained "rules." The rules were like soil; the root took hold, absorbed the rules, and grew a trunk, branches, and a crown. This is how the World Tree grew.

Lin Ye opened his eyes. The dark blue light of the training room lingered in his pupils for a second before slowly dissipating. Su Wanning sat in the corner of the training room, silver threads weaving a fine net around her. Her eyes were bright, not with tears, but with a light that seemed to ask, "What do you see?"

"I saw how the World Tree grew," Lin Ye said. "It started with a seed. The seed split open, roots stretched out, and took hold of the rules. The rules are the soil, the roots absorb the rules, and it grows into a tree."

Su Wanning looked at him.

"Your roots are also searching for rules. Have they found them?"

"No. It is searching. But the rules are not in my arms, not in my blood. They are in—the tear shed by the first Night's Watchman. The tear is the shell of the rules, and the roots must burrow into the tear to find the rules."

Lin Ye looked down at the single, transparent tear in his palm. The tear was tiny, smaller than a drop of dew, yet it was deep. His consciousness pierced through it, like falling into a well. The well had no bottom, only downwards, downwards, downwards. The well walls were etched with symbols of rules—circles, vertical lines, dots. Each symbol glowed, silvery-white, like lamps embedded in the well walls. The lamps guided the way, downwards. The root also descended, ahead of Lin Ye's consciousness, like a silvery-white snake, rapidly crawling along the well walls. It was searching for the rules; once it found them, it would stop. Lin Ye followed the root, his consciousness chasing the root, the root chasing the light.

After an unknown amount of time, the root stopped. It stopped at the bottom of the well, and the bottom of the well wasn't stone, nor soil, but "rules." The rule left by the first generation of the Night's Watch wasn't carved on the well wall; it "grew" at the bottom. Rules have no shape, no color, no temperature. It is a "relationship." One end of the relationship is the first generation of the Night's Watch, and the other end is the "door." Between the first generation of the Night's Watch and the door, there is an invisible line. That line is the rule.

The root touched that line.

The rules at the bottom of the well shone. Not a silvery-white light, but a golden one, like the first rays of sunlight on the sea at sunrise. The light surged up from the bottom of the well, passing through the roots, through Lin Ye's consciousness, through his tears, through the mark on his right hand, through his arms, shoulders, and heart. His entire body was illuminated by the golden light; it wasn't his skin that glowed, but the "rules" themselves. The rules left behind by the first generation of Night Watchmen found the roots, and the roots found the soil. The soil is the rules, and the rules are relationships. The first generation of Night Watchmen who established relationships are gone, but the other end of relationships remains—the door. The door may be closed, but it hasn't disappeared. It's in the tears, in the roots, in the rules. As long as the rules remain, the door will not truly disappear. It has merely changed form.

The golden light slowly dimmed. Lin Ye's body returned to normal, but he knew something had changed. It wasn't his abilities that had changed, but his "relationships." A line had formed between him and the first generation of Night Watchmen. The line was thin, invisible, and intangible, but it existed. It was the rule. The rule would not disappear.

Lin Ye opened his eyes. The training room lights were still a dim blue, and Su Wanning was still sitting in the corner, the silver thread still wrapped around his wrist. Nothing had changed, but he knew that everything had changed.

"The root has found the rules," Lin Ye said.

Su Wanning stood up, walked to him, and looked at the silvery-white roots on his right arm. The color of the roots had changed from silvery-white to a pale gold, like forsythia in early spring.

"Will it stop?" Su Wanning asked.

"Yes. Once it finds soil, it won't grow anymore."

Lin Ye raised his right hand, looking at the single, transparent tear in his palm. The tear's color had changed, from transparent to pale gold, like a drop of dew pierced by sunlight. The silvery-white root within the tear had ceased growing; it coiled at the center of the mark, like a sleeping snake, having completed its mission.

The translucent veins of the autumn leaves shone quietly beside the tears. Su Wanning's silver thread was wrapped around her wrist. Three things, three sources, three threads. They lay side by side on Lin Ye's right hand, none vying for the light of the others.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor. Chen Xuan walked to the training room door but didn't come in; he stood by the doorframe.

"Qin Lan sent a second message. The Dream Weaver has appeared. It's not an attack, it's a 'standoff.' More than twenty people are standing on the outer perimeter of the World Tree, less than a kilometer away from Qin Lan's defensive line. Neither side has moved."

Lin Ye walked out of the training room, Su Wanning following behind. The two walked through the corridor and into the technical analysis room. Zhou Zhou sat at the control panel, the screen displaying real-time data from the periphery of the World Tree. Twenty-three green dots represented Qin Lan's people. Twenty-one red dots represented the Dream Weaver Society. An invisible line separated the green and red dots.

"What are they waiting for?" Su Wanning asked.

Lin Ye stared at the still dots of light on the screen.

"They're waiting for me. They know the door opened and closed. They don't know the root is in me, but they know someone entered. They're waiting for that person to appear."

Will you go?

Lin Ye remained silent for a few seconds.

"Yes. But not now. If we go now, they'll know the root is in me. They'll try to take it. I can't defeat twenty-one Dream Realm Overlords. Qin Lan won't help me take it either. Her mission is to defend, not to steal."

"When are we going?"

"Wait until the roots are firmly established. Wait until the autumn leaves fully awaken. Wait until my level breaks through to the Dream Domain Overlord realm." Lin Ye looked down at his right hand, the pale golden roots lying quietly beneath his skin, the translucent veins of the autumn leaves flickering like breathing. "One month. Maybe two months. Maybe longer. But not too long."

Su Wanning reached out and grasped Lin Ye's hand. Her hand was cool, his was warm. In the blue light of the technical analysis room, the two temperatures clashed, inseparable.

Chen Xuan stood at the door, watching them without saying a word. He turned and left, his footsteps echoing lightly in the corridor before disappearing.

Outside the window, darkness was falling. The streetlights came on, their orange glow casting a blurry halo on the glass. The distant city skyline unfolded before him, a myriad of lights resembling an inverted starry sky reflected on the ground. Lin Ye gazed at those lights for a long time. Then he turned, walked out of the technical analysis room, and into the corridor. Su Wanning followed behind him, silver threads dangling from her fingertips, leaving two thin streaks of silver light on the ground.

The roots stopped growing. It found the soil. The soil is the rules, and the rules are relationships. Relationships connect the first generation of Night's Watch, the gates, and the forest night. Three thousand years later, the connection was finally made.