Peninsula: I'm being supported by a top idol.

"Shi An? Wake up, don't sleep~"

A gentle call, tinged with a slight hoarseness and a hint of laughter from the alcohol, pierced through the veil of dreams.

Cui Shi'an unconsciously hummed in response, his eyelashes fluttering as he slowly opened his eyes.

My vision was initially blurry, then it became focused.

Behind the gauze curtain in his dream, a pair of clear eyes now held a teasing smile, truly reflecting his bewildered face as he had just woken up.

At this moment, dreams and reality overlap and merge.

Cui Shi'an stared blankly at the girl in front of him, unable to distinguish whether he was Cui Shi'an from a thousand years ago or Cui Shi'an of today. He felt his heart filled with a soft yet surging emotion.

That face, flushed with the effects of alcohol, was so close to his, looking at him with a mocking expression.

"Haven't you had enough of the fight yet?"

"You…" Cui Shi'an asked in surprise, "Is that girl behind the curtain really you?"

"Yeah~"

"So we had the same dream..." Cui Shi'an shook his head, recalling all the information from the dream.

Born into the Cui clan of Qinghe, he served as a bodyguard for Emperor Gaozong of Tang, was a disciple of Xue Rengui, and was also the Sima of the Xiongjin Governor's Office.

"What kind of official position is Sima?" Liu Zhimin rested his chin on his hand, leaned closer, his eyes sparkling with a mix of smugness and pure curiosity, as if he had discovered a unique secret.

"In my dream just now, everyone was calling you 'Cui Sima,' 'Cui Sima'~"

"It refers to an official position that oversees military, administrative, and judicial affairs."

"Oh, I see." She nodded blankly, then added, "Oh right, my manager called, I have to go back to my dorm, I have a schedule tomorrow."

Cui Shi'an glanced out the window; it was already completely dark outside. He had no idea how long he had slept.

However, judging from her seemingly nonchalant attitude towards dreams, she's probably had quite a few dreams behind the scenes.

"Then you can go first." He glanced at the leftover food and bottles on the ground. "I'll stay and clean up."

"Okay, I'll call you again when I get back."

"Can I send a message?"

The girl paused, turned around unhappily, and asked, "Why?"

My roommate might be... today.

She immediately gave her a mocking look: "What? Shy? Afraid people will find out you're talking to a girl on the phone?"

"It's not that I'm shy..." Cui Shi'an recalled Tian Ming's hateful face: "That guy likes to ask me who I'm talking to on the phone, it's so annoying."

"Just say—it's my 'girlfriend,' isn't that enough?" She said lightly, even with a hint of joking, but immediately looked away after speaking, her fingers unconsciously twirling the zipper of her coat, her ears turning slightly red in the dim light.

This statement was partly a test, and partly a way to bolster his own courage.

Cui Shi'an was completely taken aback by this answer and froze: "...Um?"

Seeing his dazed expression, Liu Zhimin's initial shyness was instantly washed away by a sense of speechlessness.

She quickly stood up, brushed off non-existent dust from her clothes, and her tone regained some of its usual "arrogance," yet couldn't hide a hint of fleeing in panic:

"I'm leaving! Remember to pack your things!"

After saying that, she practically picked up her backpack and turned to walk quickly toward the door, leaving behind only a silhouette that appeared calm on the surface but somewhat flustered from behind.

The door clicked shut.

The private classroom fell completely silent, leaving only the scattered wine cans and food packaging on the floor, and the faint scent of her lingering fragrance in the air.

Cui Shi'an sat alone on the ground, staring at the closed door. After a long while, he raised his hand and gently pressed it against his chest.

There, my heartbeat was still somewhat erratic.

I don't know if it was because of the exhilarating dream I just had, or because of that earth-shattering question someone uttered after I woke up—"Girlfriend."

"girlfriend?"

Cui Shi'an unconsciously scratched his hair, his face full of confusion.

Was she... confessing her feelings?

"Hiss...it seems..."

"But it doesn't quite look like it..."

His tone was light and casual, almost joking, and he ran off without leaving a definite answer.

"Ugh..." he muttered under his breath, giving up on agonizing over it.

A girl's thoughts are even harder to understand than the obsession of a bound spirit.

Never mind, let's get this sorted out first.

Perhaps it was because he had just had a long dream, or perhaps the alcohol had been completely metabolized, but Cui Shi'an felt unusually energetic, clear-headed, and with a strange, warm power flowing through his body.

The school isn't far, so I decided to walk back.

Even at 11 p.m., the streets of Seoul are still bustling with people.

Under the bright lights of the convenience store, young people who stay up late gather, while the lights of the cubicles in the office building are lit up sporadically, and occasionally a car speeds by, bringing a brief breeze.

Several impeccably made-up girls strolled past, chatting and laughing, each carrying a disposable coffee cup bearing the logo of a chain store. One of them was still complaining:

"Unnie, I need to finish this proposal tonight; the executive director wants to see it tomorrow..."

"Aren't you really coming to the club with me? They say there are handsome guys there~"

"I'm not going anymore. My boyfriend almost caught me last time, so I'm too scared to stay out overnight again."

The night breeze carried the scents of perfume, caffeine, and a hint of weariness and anxiety from them.

Desire.

Suddenly, the words the bearded man had spoken on the mountaintop flashed through Cui Shi'an's mind.

These intangible things that drive people to stay up late, rush about, and furrow their brows may be the nutrients that constitute that "unhealthy ecosystem."

He stopped and subconsciously looked up at the night sky, which was tinged with dark purple by the city's light pollution.

At that very moment—

hum.

An indescribable tremor welled up from the depths of his eyes, as if some ancient switch had been quietly flipped.

The field of vision suddenly changed.

The world is not distorted, but it has been superimposed with a layer of... indescribable "reality".

In the night sky that was originally empty, countless enormous, distorted, and indescribable phantoms were suddenly looming.

They are not physical entities, but rather aggregates of countless viscous, dark thoughts, whose forms are constantly writhing and changing.

Sometimes it resembles a limbed tumor stretching out countless tentacles towards the buildings below; sometimes it resembles a giant cocoon formed by countless painful faces; and sometimes it is merely a piece of pure "malice" that keeps rolling and emitting silent screams.

Layer upon layer, they almost completely obscured the sky, shrouding the brightly lit city in a suffocating, invisible pollution.

A deep, resonant hum, seemingly emanating from the abyss and perceptible only to the soul, subtly oppressed the nerves.

Cui Shi'an's pupils contracted sharply, and his heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.

Standing below in person, the sight was even more terrifying than when I viewed it from afar last time.

He then closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his pair of dark gold vertical pupils disappeared, and his vision returned to normal.

The night sky remained unchanged, neon lights flickered, as if the hellish scene from just moments ago was merely an illusion.

Cui Shi'an broke out in a thin layer of sweat on his back, and the night breeze made it slightly cool.

But how exactly should these things be eliminated?

Should we just cut them all down?

The images from his dream flashed through his mind—holding a sword before the palace, defeating thirteen generals in succession, the cold touch of the ring-pommel sword, and the incredibly smooth trajectory of the blade as it cut through the wind…

Almost instinctively, he loosely clenched his right hand.

In an instant, it was as if a cold torrent of iron flowed from nothingness, surged through his blood vessels, and finally condensed in his right palm!

"This is…"

Cui Shi'an felt a chill run down his spine and hurriedly looked down at his right palm. Although it was empty, it felt heavy and familiar, as if he hadn't let go of it for a thousand years.

Subconsciously following the muscle memory from his dream, he made a "chopping" motion with a very slight flick of his wrist towards an empty spot a few meters away.

There was no sound of wind, no light or shadow.

but--

"Bang!!!"

A sharp, metallic clang suddenly rang out from the quiet street corner!

Suddenly, a dent appeared in the green public trash can by the roadside!

"What?!"

"What was that sound?!"

"Oh my god! What's wrong with the trash can...?!"

The few pedestrians nearby were startled by the sudden noise and strange sight. They stopped and looked around in fear, searching for the "culprit" or the reason.

Some people even subconsciously looked up at the building, wondering if something had fallen from above.

Cui Shi'an himself was also stunned.

He looked down at his empty right hand, then looked up at the trash on the ground, and finally met the surprised and uncertain gazes of several passersby.

...Damn it!

the fat is in the fire!

Before everyone's suspicious gaze focused on him, the only "suspicious person" standing still and "coincidentally" facing the direction of the trash can.

He made a quick decision and slipped away.

Cui Shi'an stopped running near the school, intending to wipe his sweat. When he reached into his pocket, he pulled out a small bra...