seizing dreams
Gundam, celestial horse, and the Feathered Serpent God hovered in the air as they gathered at the periphery of root area.
Yu Hao said, “Everyone’s here, listen to my explanation ba.”
Yu Hao started explaining to them what the Golden Crow Wheel had told him, while the rest listened quietly. During which, tens of thousands of rotten monsters climbed down the trunk and hurriedly plunged into the fog. Under the cover of this fog, they formed a troupe as they passed through the fog area to attack the Great Wall.
A loud noise suddenly rang out from the Great Wall far behind them; a dark titan giant rose from within the fog, wielding a giant hammer that it then used to smash the city wall with.
“…So, I have to find Zhou Sheng.” Yu Hao said at last.
“Where are all these monsters coming from?” Fu Liqun asked with a frown.
Chen Yekai said, “Every dreamscape’s boss, the darkness in ordinary people’s hearts.”
In the area controlled by the world tree, billions of dreamscapes had already withered away.The gatekeepers and the bosses of those dreams, all of them had already been drawn away, and were madly laying siege to the Great Wall.
“Let’s set out ba.” Ou Qihang said.
Yu Hao raised the scepter in his hand, illuminating the subconscious world, and expelling the fog. At the moment the moonlight burst out, Ren Chong, who was at the top of the tree, instantly discovered them. He roared madly, “Still going to put up a desperate struggle?!”
Within a split second, tens of thousands of monsters under the huge tree rushed toward Yu Hao. Chen Yekai shouted, “Cover him!”
Yu Hao didn’t hesitate any longer; he spread his wings out and flew to the cave at the tree roots. Ou Qihang, Chen Yekai, Huang Ting, and Fu Liqun followed behind as they protected Yu Hao.
“Guard this place!” Yu Hao shouted, then stabbed the scepter right into the ground at the entrance to the cave at the tree roots. With a ‘buzz‘, the scepter released a bright light that cleared the surrounding fog, while the other four immediately guarded the entrance of the cave. Yu Hao tucked his wings in and instantly shot into the darkness like an artillery shell, flying towards that little bit of light in the bottom most depths under the tree.
Right after he entered the dark passage, sounds and light all instantly disappeared.
A boundless expanse of darkness was just like the deepest part of the sea of subconscious. Yu Hao’s wings shattered, turning into luminous feathers that dissipated all over the air. After losing the scepter, the power of the moonlight rapidly drained away from him, and his consciousness gradually blurred. Between heaven and earth, a tranquil and gentle marine snow fell, but right at the deepest part of the sea, there was a faint, flickering light that always guided his way forward.
“Zhou Sheng.” Yu Hao muttered, “Quick, wake up, I’m waiting for you…”
The sea was both ice cold and dead silent. Heat was dissipating rapidly from his body, he had difficulty breathing, and it was hard for him to keep going. He saw that the light was still very far away, very far away…
“Zhou Sheng—!” Yu Hao cried out in pain.
Along with that cry, countless scenes flickering with a golden lustre erupted all around Yu Hao, revolving around him and warding off the chill of this whole ice cold world!
In the conference room, a red-haired Zhou Sheng pulled Yu Hao to one side and swung out to strike with an earth-shattering punch. Yu Hao hid behind Zhou Sheng, looking a little flabbergasted.
Yu Hao kept falling towards the light in the sea.
On that day, Zhou Sheng carried Yu Hao’s PP bags on his back, dragged Yu Hao’s luggage, and even carried a cardboard box on his shoulder as he took Yu Hao away from his dormitory and into another building. Yu Hao watched silently from behind.
At the top of Mt. Tianqing, Zhou Sheng stormed across the suspension bridge while Yu Hao gazed at his back.
“What I saw the most, and what left the deepest impression on me, was your back…” Yu Hao whispered sadly in the light.
Riding a bicycle as he rushed through the finish line in the sunset; the chilly feeling of being sprayed with water; the stifling hot dormitory in the summer, and Zhou Sheng standing on the ladder, touching his forehead carefully, Yu Hao turned around to face the wall while feeling sour…
Until that day, they sat quietly opposite each other with the radiance of twilight streaming into the ferris wheel…ding ding dong dong, the jingle rang out at the deepest part of his mind—
“Zhou Sheng!” Yu Hao heard the music coming from the bottom of the sea and shouted desperately.
Zhou Sheng stood in the middle of the ocean floor, holding the heart-shaped music box in his hand. He looked up with a blank and bewildered expression, like a child who had experienced a very long wait and didn’t know where the future lay.
“Zhou Sheng—!” Yu Hao’s tears spilled out, drawing an arc and disappearing in the sky.
“I was so fortunate to have met you, but I’ve already lost all rights to cry for you…”
The kiss on the ferris wheel, accompanied by the millions of fireworks exploding in the background; in a summer night, Yu Hao skateboarded through the open space in the park. When he looked back, he saw Zhou Sheng following him appearing very careful.
“I’m wearing a helmet, don’t worry…”
“Look ahead, don’t look back!” Zhou Sheng bellowed immediately.
“To see that you were always the one standing right in front of me...”
In their rented apartment, Zhou Sheng removed his hands that were covering Yu Hao’s eyes; on the dining table, there was a huge bouquet of blooming roses and lit Valentine’s Day candles. Surprise filled Yu Hao’s eyes.
Amidst the snow swirling through the sky, Zhou Sheng held Yu Hao’s hand, and in the warm private room, he turned his head sideways to kiss Yu Hao on the cheek in front of his parents. Yu Hao blushed unconsciously.
“Are you the one or were we not meant to be…”
“Yu Hao! Yu Hao! Fuck this god damn rail!”
Yu Hao stood in the carriage and abruptly looked back, only to see Zhou Sheng’s suit fluttering in the wind as he dashed across the platform, all the way to the end before he had no choice but to stop.
When he saw him again, Zhou Sheng was holding an iron rod as he faced the pursuers amidst the cold winds and snow. Yu Hao still thought he was dreaming as he staggered out of the bushes. Zhou Sheng raised his hand angrily, the pursuers dispersed in an uproar, and only then did he turn around furiously and hugged Yu Hao.
“I hope we get another chance someday…”
At home, Zhou Sheng hugged Yu Hao as they danced under the warm lamp light.
“All I can do is pray…“
“Yu Hao?” Zhou Sheng murmured, raised his head and looked up at Yu Hao, who was falling obliquely from the sky. He muttered to himself, “Yu Hao…This is for you.”
He faced the dark sky, holding up the ball of faint light that illuminated the subconscious world with both hands.
“Zhou Sheng.” Yu Hao choked back a sob.
In an instant, Yu Hao touched the light with one hand. Within the music of the music box, the totem changed its form, then a flare spread out and enveloped the whole place; the colour of the world changed as well, and boiling golden flames flooded the heavens and earth!
Yu Hao opened his eyes wide in the intense glare; within the flames, the memory fragments that were lost were being reconstructed at a rapid rate!
“Had another nightmare?” Zhou Sheng turned his head sideways and asked.
Yu Hao lay on the sofa in Zhou Sheng’s home, his eyes wide open as he kept gasping for breath.
“What did you dream of?” Zhou Sheng frowned.
“That room…” Yu Hao gasped for a moment, then calmed down. He said, “I don’t know why, but I’ll dream of it now and then.”
“General?”
In the dream world of the Great Wall, Yu Hao stared in disbelief at the General clad in armour who had appeared once again. General snapped his fingers in front of Yu Hao, and the scene of the cement room in the back mountains appeared, then it was burned until nothing was left by golden flames.
“Since it’s all in the past, don’t think about it anymore.” General murmured.
“Why do you know I was having nightmares…You’re Zhou Sheng! Did I guess right?” Yu Hao asked in a hurry.
Just as General was about to leave, he suddenly turned around. Yu Hao murmured, “It’s you! Only you would know what I dreamt about…Wait, what did you burn? Is it my memory? I’m confused…”
“You shouldn’t have said that.” General said in a low voice inside his helmet, “Now I have to erase this portion of your memories as well.”
“I’ll still feel it!” Yu Hao said anxiously, “You admit it? Zhou Sheng! It’s you!”
Yu Hao rushed forward and hugged Zhou Sheng tightly. Zhou Sheng said a bit angrily, “Stop it!”
“Let me see…” Yu Hao pressed, “I just knew it was you!”
Yu Hao’s hands were trembling. He looked up, reached out and took off Zhou Sheng’s helmet, revealing Zhou Sheng’s familiar face. His brows were slightly furrowed as he looked down and gazed at Yu Hao, inexplicable anxiety and unease evident in his eyes.
“Good bye.” Zhou Sheng said calmly. He wrapped one arm around Yu Hao and snapped his fingers with his other, erased another portion of his memories, put on his helmet, then said, “Goodnight.” After that, he forcibly ejected Yu Hao from the dream world.
Night fell on the Great Wall; fireworks exploded brilliantly one after another.
Two chairs were placed on a terrace. Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng sat side by side, quietly watching the fireworks that were rising from the Great Wall.
“Ai.” Zhou Sheng suddenly said, “You really like Gege?”
“Gege?” Yu Hao was baffled. “I don’t ah, why do you ask that?”
Zhou Sheng held his forehead with one hand and said helplessly, “I’m talking about me!”
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao’s face instantly flushed red, but he didn’t want to deny it either. This sort of conversation was really too embarrassing.
“You…don’t talk about it anymore.” Yu Hao said sadly, “It’s all your fault that my feelings were transferred!’
Zhou Sheng draped an arm around Yu Hao’s shoulders, saying, “It’ll transfer away. You’ll meet the right person for you. Setting aside the question of whether I’m straight or not, you definitely wouldn’t want to date me.”
“Why?” Yu Hao’s embarrassment was slightly alleviated. He asked, “You’re really good ah.”
Zhou Sheng didn’t say anything. Yu Hao said, “You’re the best, you’re practically…a sun that shines with a brilliant radiance.”
Zhou Sheng laughed. Yu Hao said, “I…I don’t know how to describe it, I…”
“Okay, don’t be so corny.” Zhou Sheng was actually blushing a little now. He said, “Stop, watch the fireworks ba.”
“I know you don’t have any feelings for me.” Yu Hao said, “But I still feel very blessed to be your friend. Don’t think too much about it, I won’t…”
Zhou Sheng snapped his fingers, Yu Hao’s memories scattered out and burned up in the golden flames.
Yu Hao, “???”
Zhou Sheng said, “I said, the fireworks are really beautiful!”
Yu Hao said in a daze, “Oh…”
Zhou Sheng, “Take you out to buy clothes tomorrow?”
Yu Hao had wanted Zhou Sheng to stop spending money, but after thinking about it, he said with a smile, “Okay.”