"What kind of plot was that? Such a mess..."Lin Xian rubbed his arms, chilled by the night wind, as he recalled the bizarre dream.
Bigface Cat,the Ultraman mask,that gorgeous female agent...It was laughable, really.
"Felt like I was filming a movie with a bunch of idiots… cough cough."
He let out two coughs—looked like he had caught a chill.Only then did he realize he'd forgotten to close the window before bed.
The early winter wind wasn't kidding around.
Clack—
With the old sliding window shut, the yelling and dice-slamming from the night market downstairs grew quieter. The room felt warmer without the gusts.
He poured himself a glass of hot water, took a few sips, and gazed at the full moon outside.
"That safe with my name on it… what exactly is inside?"
…
Since the day he was born, Lin Xian had the exact same dream every single night.
Day after day. Year after year.
It didn't matter how old he was, where he slept, or what he did during the day—the moment he entered sleep, he would find himself back in that same strange yet familiar plaza.
Strange, because he was sure he had never been to that place in the real world.Familiar, because after over twenty years, he had memorized every corner of it.Every child, every tree, every blade of grass—he knew them all.
As a child, Lin Xian had been terrified of the dream.
The same people, same city, same events, on loop every day.
To him, the dream was a prison he could never escape.
The friend he played with yesterday would be a stranger again today.Someone who died before his eyes would greet him cheerfully the next day.
No matter how much chaos he stirred up, the next day in the dream would always reset as if nothing had happened.
He was a prisoner trapped in time.Sentenced to relive the same day—forever.
…
He discovered early on that the dream always ended at exactly 00:42, and that he'd always wake up at that same time.
So, he figured out a hack:
If he stayed up past 00:42, he wouldn't dream at all.
And it worked.
So for much of his childhood, Lin Xian stayed up late every night, waiting for 00:42 to pass before sleeping—dreamless and free.
But once he entered middle school, his mindset shifted.
He not only accepted the "nightmare" that repeated every night,he learned to enjoy it.
In the real world, he had to obey rules and face consequences.But in the dream world, he could do whatever he wanted.
No laws, no consequences.He could go full throttle, unstoppable and fearless.
That endlessly looping dream became his personal playground during adolescence.
Once he embraced it, Lin Xian realized how deliciously reckless a world with no accountability could be.
While his classmates were still playing cutesy games like Crazy Arcade and MapleStory,he was living out his fantasies in Riders Republic, Sleeping Dogs, and Biko 3—in his dreams.
From then on...
Lin Xian stopped staying up late.
Every day after school, he'd rush home, finish homework in record time, wash up, and go straight to bed—his parents thought he'd turned over a new leaf.
It was around that time he discovered another rule of the dream:
If he died in the dream, he'd instantly wake up.
Back in middle school, most of his deaths were by the police.
Sniped in the head, gunned down by SWAT, sprayed with bullets during a chase…He'd experienced them all and gotten used to it.
And thanks to this high-stress dream training, Lin Xian went on to win the City Youth Parkour Championship three years in a row during high school.
The teachers even called him a prodigy—both brainy and brawny.
And now…
The dream remained his personal amusement park.
At 23, more mature and composed, he no longer committed crimes in his dreams.He preferred to wander, step into other people's stories, and taste all kinds of lives.
Though the day in the dream always reset, the world was vast.Even after two decades, he still discovered new things every night.
Just like last night's dream.
He'd robbed banks many times in his teenage dream years.But that vault room—filled with safes—he had never seen before.
He wasn't surprised to find his name on a safe.
It was his dream, after all. He was the protagonist.But what puzzled him was—
"Why didn't the password work?"
Lin Xian finished his water, his body finally warmed up.
He set the cup down on his desk, still puzzled.
By habit, nearly all of his passwords were his birthday. Easy to remember.
Almost every account he owned used 19990320 as the password.So of course he was confident in the dream.
But... why didn't it work?
A password with eight digits...He honestly couldn't think of a second possibility.
Ding-dong.
His phone lit up on the nightstand. A new message.
It was from his work WeChat group—
Li Juan (Design Team Lead):@everyone, there's a meeting at 9 AM tomorrow in the 3rd floor conference room.Manager Zhao will review all design drafts personally.No one is allowed to be late!Reply when seen!
Then—Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
A bunch of "Noted!" messages popped up.
"This is insane…"
Lin Xian sighed. It was almost 1 AM.Was everyone in this group a Super Saiyan? Didn't they sleep?
Still, complaints aside…
In the dream, he could rob banks, blow up buildings, laugh in the face of death.
But in real life, at one in the morning, he could only humbly reply:
Noted!
"Alright. Time to sleep. Big day tomorrow."
He slid back under the blanket, set his alarm, and tossed his phone onto the nightstand—
Thud!
…
SLAM!
Li Juan slammed a folder onto the table, fuming.
"I told you all last night! Manager Zhao is personally reviewing the designs today! And this—THIS—is what you bring me?!"
Silence fell over the third-floor conference room.
Everyone had their heads down.
Furious, Li Juan slapped a draft down on the table:
"Our new brand targets what demographic?! YOUTH! GIRLS!And you give me a fox in fishnet stockings?!Shaking its tail?! What even IS this?!"
"And YOU!"
She pulled out another draft, glaring at the girl next to Lin Xian like a lion ready to pounce.
"Do you even understand our brand? The bunny was okay...But what's with the floral scarf and puffy jacket?Even my grandma dresses trendier than that bunny!"
"Manager Zhao has said it so many times! In great detail!We're going for a 'Kitty Cat' vibe! You've heard of Hello Kitty, right?!"
"Hmph…"
The chubby guy next to Lin Xian muttered under his breath:
"For the crap they pay us, they want Hello Kitty…"
"What was that, chubster?!"
"No no no, Sis Juan! I said Hello Kitty is the best! Perfast!"He jolted upright in fear.
…
Li Juan's scolding echoed across the room.
Eyes closed, pen twirling, Lin Xian was still thinking about the vault from his dream.
Eight-digit password…
What could it be?What was inside?Kitty Cat?Cat?
As he listened to Li Juan's rant, Lin Xian's mind drifted to the cat mask on Bigface Cat's face.
That cartoon cat was really well-designed—just a few simple strokes, but full of charm and vitality.
Especially when perched on Bigface Cat's oversized head, it created a weirdly beautiful contrast.
He had to admit, that cat was adorable.
Simple yet refined. Clean and expressive.
Absentmindedly, Lin Xian sketched it out on his draft paper with just a few strokes…
"Huh?"
A female coworker leaned over."Lin Xian, what are you drawing?"
(End of Chapter)