Chapter 125: I Came, I Saw, I Conquered

Qin Mo felt a slight pang in her heart. How many lonely nights must he have endured to be able to count every single star?

It was a quiet night. Qin Mo and little Ji Ning sat on either side of the Throne of Wheat, taking turns counting the stars. With each star they counted, they would share their own fantasies about it: perhaps this brighter star was made of cotton candy, and the slightly dimmer one next to it was surely made of chocolate. Although Qin Mo was already nineteen, she was surprised to find that she and little Ji Ning got along quite well. She decided not to view this as being childish, but rather as holding onto a sense of innocence. After settling on this explanation, she happily continued to chat with the little one about the stories of the stars, losing track of time until the morning light arrived without them having finished counting.

"Shall we count more tomorrow?" Qin Mo reached out to ruffle little Ji Ning’s hair. Had he not shown such resistance earlier, she would have preferred to give him a hug.

"Tomorrow?" Little Ji Ning paused.

Qin Mo grew curious at his questioning tone. "What is it?"

"Will you still be here to count stars with me tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"But don't you want to leave this place? You want to enter that vortex, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then why would you still count stars with me?"

"Are the two things contradictory?"

"No one has ever wanted to stay here. They only think of leaving or killing me. Those who couldn't defeat me would vanish into thin air before long, and those who were too powerful didn't even bother with me before walking straight into that vortex. Only you—only you are willing to count stars with me, and only you say you will do it again tomorrow." Little Ji Ning sounded somewhat incoherent. He felt something strange emerging in his heart, yet he could not describe it.

Eventually, he looked up and asked his most pressing question: "Why?"

Knowing the answer but having to ask it aloud—how annoying. Even in his miniature form, he was still so good at making things awkward.

"Because I like you." Qin Mo lifted little Ji Ning, and this time, he did not resist.

After Qin Mo set him down, he spoke softly, "Actually, you only need to give a hug to know if someone is a bad person. But if you were a bad person, we wouldn't be able to play together like this."

Little Ji Ning looked hesitant. Without waiting for Qin Mo to say anything, he stepped forward and hugged her. Being in his miniature form, he only reached her waist. His breath tickled her stomach, but she fought to keep from laughing, for little Ji Ning was being incredibly earnest.

When his forehead touched hers, he connected their spiritual worlds. This was no longer just his personal domain; it was the world of the Mind-Image. Here, their souls were no longer hindered by words or vision, and their intentions were laid bare to one another.

After a long while, little Ji Ning looked up, his eyes sparkling with joy. "I like you too."

As he acknowledged her, a tiny crown appeared on Qin Mo’s head, identical to the one little Ji Ning wore.

"When you see me again, you must demand to know why I forgot you. Sincerity is so rare in this world; you deserve to be remembered by me forever." Little Ji Ning sat on the throne, waving at Qin Mo.

Qin Mo nodded heavily, feeling a lingering sense of reluctance. She truly wanted to take the little one with her; the miniature Ji Ning was far too adorable.

As she stepped into the vortex and opened her eyes once more, the endless wheat field had vanished, replaced by a city of steel and concrete.

She reached up to touch her head, but the little crown was gone. If her intuition was correct, that must have been the key to Ji Ning’s dream world.

Qin Mo stood on the sidewalk. The Chinese characters on the billboards confirmed she was in China. After asking a passerby, she verified her specific location: Anqing, Ji Ning’s hometown.

Wandering around, Qin Mo confirmed not only where she was but also a crucial detail: the people in this dream were no different from those in the real world; they possessed independent consciousness.

While waiting at a traffic light, a young man handing out flyers shoved one into her hand, mentioning a new gym that had opened a hundred meters to the left. Not far away, a couple was arguing, and a driver cursed loudly at a scooter that cut him off. Everything was exactly as it would be in reality.

Qin Mo had initially worried that the people in the dream might be like robots, and she had even prepared herself for the uncanny valley effect. But after an hour of wandering, she was left with only one question: How could a man like Adonis create a world so realistic? Was this the power of a god?

Qin Mo found a dessert shop, ordered a milk tea and a small cake, and began to ponder as she sipped her drink.

This was Ji Ning’s dream, yet it appeared completely ordinary. There were no excesses or debauchery as she had expected, which satisfied her, but it also puzzled her. Adonis’s dreamscapes were crafted based on the deepest needs of the dreamer. Why was Ji Ning’s dream so mundane? Qin Mo did not believe that guy was the type to be content with a mediocre life. She decided she would soon find an internet cafe to search for any news regarding "superheroes."

Once she found Ji Ning, the dream would likely collapse, right? If the choice to leave the dream was controlled by either Ji Ning or herself, they might not be in such a rush to leave. Spending some time vacationing in this peaceful world—perhaps even dating—would be wonderful.

At this thought, Qin Mo bit into a piece of taro ball in her drink. They were truly a strange couple. Unlike others, the time they spent on romance was incredibly scarce. There was no time to squander at the Lu Academy; even for auxiliary-track students, the schedule was grueling in the name of survival.

Qin Mo checked her phone, which predictably had no signal. No carrier could support cross-dream roaming. Fortunately, her chat history didn't need to be re-downloaded. She scrolled through her messages with Ji Ning, then covered her face with her hands.

Aside from the leisure time during missions and the few days Ji Ning spent recovering after returning from Tokyo, their typical chats were limited to short greetings in the early hours of the morning. She could imagine it: Ji Ning, after finishing his daily training, taking a brief moment to check if his partner was still alive. No wonder little Ji Ning didn't remember her. "Jerk," she thought, "and you want to be my official boyfriend with this effort?"

Their conversations could be summarized in a few "goodnights." Although Qin Mo had never been in a relationship, she had read plenty of romance novels. Could this even be called dating? Her resentment deepened.

"Damn it," she thought. "Although the ancients said that if two hearts are joined, it matters not that they are apart, I still want to talk more every day."

"If I don't reach out, can't you come to me? I have my maidenly reserve, you know!"

In a passionate romance, both sides always hope for more time together. Qin Mo, from her perspective, agreed wholeheartedly, but she wasn't sure if Ji Ning felt the same. If it weren't for the intimacy he showed when they met in person, she might have doubted if he even considered her his girlfriend.

"Forget it. Let's just find him first."

Qin Mo finished the last bite of her cake and stood up to pay, but suddenly hit upon a fatal problem.

Even if this was a dream, she still had to pay for food, and she only had British pounds on her.

Qin Mo sat back down, staring at her phone in a feigned attempt at thought.

This dream had its own logic. If she tried to dine and dash, the dream world's internet news might feature a headline the next day: "Shocking! A young girl attempts to skip out on paying for milk tea."

She would have to make up a story for the police to explain her identity. This brought up more questions: were the characters in this dream randomly generated, or were they one-to-one counterparts from the real world? If the latter, did that mean there was another version of her somewhere in this world?

Perhaps because Qin Mo had been staring blankly for too long, the shop girl came over to ask if she needed a refill. Qin Mo smiled awkwardly and pulled several pounds from her pocket.

"I just returned from the UK and forgot to bring any RMB. I only have pounds. Can I pay with this, or should I leave my phone here while I go to the bank to exchange it?"

"It's okay, you can pay next time," the shop owner smiled gently.

Such pure trust. As Qin Mo walked out of the shop, she felt a pang of shame for ever having considered skipping the bill.

She glanced back at the name of the milk tea shop and recorded the address on her phone. She would definitely return before leaving the dream.

The streetlights had turned on, and the evening breeze caught her hair. She tucked a stray lock behind her ear and stepped forward with a light pace.

"Ji Ning, I’m coming."

Qin Mo vaguely remembered the landmarks she had seen when she visited with Ji Ning during the last Lunar New Year. Following the path she had walked before, she arrived at the familiar apartment complex. Standing in the elevator, she rehearsed what she would say when she saw him—just as she had spent a long time preparing before meeting his mother the last time.

Driven by an unspoken thought, Qin Mo had firmly memorized Ji Ning’s address. The elevator reached its destination quickly, but as she stepped out, everything she saw shattered her plans.

Exposed concrete, piles of sand, and construction debris were everywhere. Seeing the workers sweating as they laid tiles, Qin Mo fell silent for a moment before turning back into the elevator.

Standing at the entrance of the complex, her mind was in chaos. Only then did she realize something vital.

The flow of time in the dream was not only different from the outside world, but the specific time period was determined by the dreamer himself.

Qin Mo had assumed the discrepancy would be no more than a few days, but the room under renovation made it clear: the gap could be measured in years.

Leaving the complex, she saw the young man handing out flyers again. She walked over, carefully examined the advertisement, and determined the current year based on the promotional dates.

She was three years in the past. The version of herself in this world should have just started her third year of middle school, and Ji Ning would only be in his first year of high school.

She panicked. She knew nothing about the Ji Ning from three years ago. From the night they first met and he took her away from the mall, Ji Ning had already been a student at the Lu Academy. His life before they met was a blank slate to her.

Qin Mo calmed herself. Finding someone in a strange city was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but she had to find him regardless.

She decided to search online for any news about Ji Ning or supernatural events. Since he was the protagonist of this dream city, he shouldn't be entirely unknown.

But Qin Mo was penniless, and using the internet cost money. She sighed and poked her stomach, wondering why she even felt hungry in a dream.

If only Catherine were here. If Catherine could touch a computer connected to the internet, she could easily obtain information on every registered person in the city and wouldn't have to worry about the cost of her next meal.

Qin Mo rubbed her stomach. She had no ID, so she couldn't get most jobs. But her goal was simple: she just needed enough money for internet access and food. She walked toward the commercial district, muttering to herself that she sounded like an internet addict.

Though she was broke, the gift God had bestowed upon her was still striking. Thanks to her exceptional appearance, she finished handing out the flyers that usually took an entire afternoon in just one hour. With her wages in hand, Qin Mo bought a few loaves of bread and headed toward an internet cafe.

She specifically chose one near a school, as it was easier to get online there without an ID if you had cash and a confident demeanor.

Qin Mo had only been to an internet cafe once, back when she was in her early teens. The reason was childish: the internet at home had been cut off, and it was her QQ Pet’s birthday. She had spent her entire day's worth of breakfast money just so she wouldn't miss it.

Among the myriad game launchers, she finally found the browser. After a moment of thought, she typed Ji Ning’s name into the search bar.

After filtering through irrelevant results, one headline caught her eye:

"Our school wins big at this year's Camphor Math Cup. The champion of this competition is our school's second-year high school student, Ji Ning..."

Although the photo was not very clear, Qin Mo recognized him instantly.

She chewed on her bread while reading information about the school. After finishing the bread, she stood up to leave, but sat back down a moment later. After checking her internet usage, she walked to the front desk. She had spent twenty yuan for only a few minutes of use, so she insisted on a refund. Even if it was a dream, she still had to be thrifty.

Walking out of the cafe, she didn't walk this time. Firstly, she had enough money left for a ride, and secondly, she was perhaps a little eager to see Ji Ning—though she would never admit the latter aloud.

It was still class time, so Qin Mo did not break into the school. She stood quietly under the shade of a street tree, waiting for school to end.