The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

Wu Jing froze slightly as the scenes from her dream reappeared before her eyes.

Those images surged up from the depths of my memory, as if they had been suddenly pulled out of the water by something, carrying splashes of water, a chill, and a sense of oppression and tension that made it hard to breathe.

She doesn't remember when she started having this dream, but many of the details are so clear they seem etched in her mind.

In her dream, she was at Lanhe No.1 Middle School.

She sat by the window in the classroom, the setting sun shining through the window and falling on her textbook; everything seemed peaceful and harmonious.

Then, it seems some kind of disaster has occurred.

Wu Jing had no recollection of what kind of disaster it was.

There's a gap in her dream here, like a puzzle piece that's been dug out by something, leaving only a blurry gap.

In her dream, when she walked out of the classroom, all she could see was the dilapidated state of Lanhe No.1 Middle School and various buildings in the nearby city.

The walls of the teaching building have many huge cracks, like torn wounds.

The running track on the playground was overturned, and red plastic fragments were scattered all over the ground.

Thick smoke rose from the distant city, like vertical black rivers piercing the sky.

Oh right, the sky looks wrong too; it looks like it's turned black.

At the same time, she could vaguely recall that some kind of monster was chasing them.

The monster's outline was blurry in her dream; she could only see some distorted, unrecognizable patches of color and shadows.

That's why they came out of the teaching building and wanted to hide in the air-raid shelter next to Lanhe No.1 Middle School.

Everything in her dream was very clear; she could still remember that she and Lin Xinmai were stumbling and running away together.

She even remembered the details of Lin Xinmai's scraped elbow from a fall while running: the sleeve of her school uniform was torn, revealing a scrape on her elbow, the skin was broken, and blood was seeping out, mixed with dust, turning into a dark red color.

She still remembers the sound of Lin Xinmai falling down, a loud thud, followed by rapid breathing.

She remembers reaching out, grabbing Lin Xinmai's arm, and pulling her up, and the two of them continued running.

But she couldn't remember anything about the monsters, or the people who seemed to be fighting them and protecting them!

When she first had this dream, even though she saw the Lanhe No. 1 Middle School under renovation and the damaged areas nearby, she didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just a nightmare she had imagined.

After all, her memory told her that a relatively strong earthquake had indeed occurred in Lanhe before, and that Lanhe No.1 Middle School and the buildings in the surrounding area were damaged at that time.

The cracked walls, the collapsed houses, and the overturned roads certainly looked like they were caused by an earthquake.

Her dream was nothing more than a combination of terrifying, illogical, and nightmarish illusions added to the fact of the earthquake.

But she was stunned when she had that dream on the third day, and when she happened to see the same wound on Lin Xinmai's right elbow that was exactly the same as in her dream.

The shape, length, and location of that wound were exactly the same as in my dream!

She had seen the wound in her dream, when it was still fresh and oozing blood.

In her memory, she did run away with Ruby Lin when the earthquake struck.

They came out of the school building and ran into the shelter, but there were no obstacles along the way! No falls! No accidents!

In my memory, Ruby Lin's elbow was perfectly intact, without any wounds at all!

But if his memories are real, then where did Lin Xin's wounds come from?

Could it be from a fall? The wound, in shape and length, is exactly the same as the one in my dream?

Could such a coincidence really happen? Wu Jing didn't believe it.

Only in dreams.

In the dream, when they were being chased by some kind of monster, Lin Xinmai fell down, hitting her elbow on the ground, scraping her skin and drawing blood. That's how she got that wound on her elbow.

That exact same, real wound.

So, her memories are fake? And the dreams she's had these past few days are the real ones?

The moment the thought popped into her mind, Wu Jing felt a chill run down her spine, and even her breathing became lighter.

She forced herself to calm down and asked Lin Xinmai about the source of her elbow wound.

She tried her best to make her voice sound normal so that Lin Xinmai wouldn't notice anything unusual about her.

Lin Xinmai simply looked down at her elbow, then looked up and said in a nonchalant tone, "It was during the last earthquake, we were running to the shelter together, and I tripped and fell, hitting my elbow. You even helped me up, don't you remember?"

She spoke so naturally, so confidently, so matter-of-factly, as if it had really happened.

They even asked Wu Jing why she didn't remember.

Hearing this, Wu Jing's throat went dry.

She wanted to say she remembered, but what she remembered was that you didn't fall, but she couldn't say it.

Because she was unsure.

She wasn't sure if her own memories were real, or if Lin Xinmai's memories were real, or if the dream was real.

Three different versions, three incompatible facts, coexist in her perception.

In Wu Jing's memory: an earthquake occurred in Lanhe, but Lin Xinmai did not fall.

In the dream: a monster appeared in Lanhe River, and Lin Xinmai tripped and fell.

Lin Xinmai's version of events: An earthquake occurred in Lanhe, and she tripped and fell.

Lin Xinmai's account doesn't match Wu Jing's memories or dreams; rather, it seems to be a combination of Wu Jing's memories and dreams.

It was as if someone had taken a part of her memories and a part of her dreams, pieced them together to form a new memory, and then placed it in Lin Xinmai's mind.

Although Wu Jing told Lin Xinmai that "she might have misremembered," she had actually planted a seed of doubt deep in her heart.

For the next period of time, Wu Jing continued to search for clues related to the scenes in her dream.

It wasn't until a few days later, when the news confirmed that she had "disappeared," that she began to feel dejected and stopped thinking about the dream.

But this dream appears every night without fail.

No matter what time she goes to sleep, no matter how tired she is, no matter what she thinks about before she falls asleep, that dream will always come on time.

After so many days, Wu Jing had begun to accept the idea that the truth about the earthquake was in her dream.

Then, she looked down at the wooden box and the bound book, "Basic Martial Arts Swordplay (Part 1)".

The wooden box looked warm and quiet in the sunlight streaming in from the room window, and the white of the stack of A4 papers next to it looked clean and dignified.

Her fingers gently traced the edge of the wooden box, her fingertips touching the smooth wax and the cool metal corners.

She thought of the words Hua Linlin and the other woman had just used to persuade her to take the martial arts exam.

"The monsters in my dreams... and those people I can't see clearly... what do they have to do with you...?"

"And martial arts..."

"What, then, is reality...?"

Her murmured voice was very soft.

Then, she opened her phone, looked at the martial arts registration link in the class group, and remained silent for a long time.

. . . . . .