The house was quiet, with only the soft purring of Big Face Cat's youngest son as he slept. There wasn't another sound.

Lin Xian carefully went downstairs, trying not to make any noise.

Big Face Cat was indeed hiding something from him.

He himself had admitted as much.

But he planned to take him to see the boss tomorrow, to let him join the plan... but tomorrow was really too far away.

When they were eating just now, he had checked the calendar in the house. Today was still August 28, 2624.

This meant that although he hadn't seen the white light that destroyed the world at 00:42 yesterday, the world had most likely still been destroyed by it.

The cycle was still going on.

The dream persisted.

Only the world had changed its appearance.

Da.

Da.

Da.

Lin Xian tiptoed through the living room.

Because Big Face Cat's youngest son was quite rambunctious, there were a lot of messy things in the house. Fortunately, Sister-in-law Lian was virtuous and capable, and had cleaned and tidied the room before going to bed.

It was just a pity... the house was just so small and cramped, and no matter how tidy it was, it couldn't change that.

Finally.

Lin Xian moved to the front door.

Squeak——

The door screamed as it was pushed open, the sound making Lin Xian tense up.

He turned his head to look...

Luckily, there was no movement inside; he hadn't woken Sister-in-law Lian and the children.

Lin Xian carefully locked the door. He wasn't planning on coming back, to avoid any thieves going inside.

Turning around, walking on the rugged, winding path, he had no idea which direction to go, or where to go.

The self-built houses here were so chaotic that it made him feel uncomfortable. Looking left and right, his view was completely blocked by the tall and short buildings... no wonder he hadn't seen New East Sea City a few kilometers away during the day, nor the towering black building.

"Living here for a long time, you'll really get depressed and sick."

Lin Xian couldn't tell which direction was which. He couldn't see the moon when he looked up, so he just randomly chose a direction and wandered around.

Gradually, he came to the small market where Big Face Cat had bought the roast chicken.

It was just as crowded, and not suitable for vehicles to pass through at all.

According to Big Face Cat's description, all the world's resources, even knowledge, history, and technology... were all controlled by those people in New East Sea City.

Lin Xian still didn't understand what kind of state the world was in, what the structure was, or what the rules were.

In any case, with his current way of thinking, he couldn't figure out how this kind of deformed development pattern had been created.

Even though the two places were only a few kilometers apart... in reality, the distance between New East Sea and Old East Sea was probably much greater than the distance from Earth to the moon.

According to Big Face Cat, they looked at each other like aliens, and there was no possibility of any material exchange.

"We can't even pick up the garbage they throw away!"

That's what Big Face Cat said. Lin Xian didn't know if it was an exaggeration to vent his anger, or a statement of fact.

After wandering around for a long time, he hadn't gained anything.

Lin Xian was a little ready to give up.

When he thought about it carefully, even if he turned this backward, poor little village upside down, what could he gain?

Big Face Cat said that not only were there no history books here, there wasn't even any history. The children couldn't learn any real knowledge, and they lived their lives in a daze, generation after generation.

Someone as strong as Big Face Cat's father, a "former Fields Medal mathematician," was only working as a primary school math teacher in this dream.

"Forget it, I'm not going to wander around anymore. I'm getting dizzy from getting lost."

Lin Xian felt that he shouldn't explore aimlessly... the two most direct routes at present were:

1. Enter the dream early tomorrow and find Big Face Cat's father to ask about *Introduction to the Cosmic Constant*, and figure out what the sentence he kept muttering was. Lin Xian had a feeling that... Cat Dad's research results were the reason why the Genius Club killed him, and perhaps also the secret that the club feared.

2. Find a chance to enter New East Sea City, with its towering walls, and find history books, historical records, and things like that inside, to figure out the reasons and processes for why the future world had developed into this. Although Big Face Cat had said that there was no way to enter New East Sea City... but who was he? In this endless loop of a dream, Lin Xian didn't think there was anywhere he couldn't go; at most, he would just die a few more times.

"Heave-ho."

Lin Xian grabbed the top of the wall, jumped up with his feet against the wall, and then kicked hard, jumping onto the higher stone wall on the other side. He grabbed the bricks with both hands, did a somersault——

Thud.

He landed safely on the second-floor platform of a house, then did a sprint and a long jump, jumping to the third-floor balcony of the next-door neighbor, tapped his toes, jumped again, grabbed, and flipped over to the roof of the third floor.

"That felt good."

Standing at a high place, the view was wide, and he didn't have to squeeze into the narrow alleyways below.

He looked up at the strange round moon hanging in the sky.

It had floated to directly above his head, and the black hand shadow with its straight index finger stretched out on the surface of the moon, with a great momentum of crushing the city, making people shudder.

Big Face Cat, Big Face Cat's children, and even everyone else in this world, wouldn't have this strange feeling when facing such a moon.

Because they were already used to it.

The moon had already looked like this when they were born.

Even when their grandfather's grandfather was born, it had already looked like this. Generation after generation, their perceptions were changed and then deeply rooted.

In their minds, the moon was supposed to look like this.

But Lin Xian came from 600 years ago. He had seen the real moon...

What exactly was that black hand shadow?

Was it a magnificent building running through the north and south poles of the moon?

Or was it a light-shielding, light-absorbing, and diffuse-reflecting material?

In any case, there was something on the moon that created this "work of art."

It was just a pity that if he wanted to completely understand this problem, he would have to go to New East Sea City to find history books and information.

"But... it really is art."

Standing from the perspective of an art student, evaluating the moon from the perspective of creation.

The only way to describe it was ingenious.

Because of the Earth and Moon's tidal locking...

[The moon will always face the Earth with its front side, and humans on Earth will never be able to observe the back of the moon.]

This also meant that the Genius Club's logo could rise on time every night, and always look at the mortal world of Earth from a positive angle.

Year after year, it went through phases of waxing and waning with the moon, but it was always present.

No other celestial body could do this. Only the tidally locked moon could.

Lin Xian turned his head again and looked at the brightly lit, giant sci-fi city.

"New East Sea City..."

Even though it was already midnight, New East Sea City was like a city that never sleeps, still so busy and bright.

Didn't the people there need to sleep?

Didn't the people there need to rest?

What kind of lives did the people there live? What kind of lives did they have?

Was it immortality?

Was it eternal youth?

Or, as described in games and movies, had they already replaced their bodies with mechanical prosthetics, or even become completely mechanized?

Lin Xian didn't know.

"I have to go in and see."

He raised his wrist and looked at his watch.

00:41:41

If all the rules here were the same as in the "First Dream," then in 19 seconds, this dream would end.

A white light that burned the world would appear on time, destroying everything, and he would open his eyes in bed.

But now...

Human technology had already developed to this level of science fiction.

Could it be that they were still unaware of this destructive blow, and had no prevention at all?

Lin Xian looked up at the infinitely prosperous New East Sea City. Everything was as before.

He looked down at his watch——

00:41:57

……

00:41:58

……

00:41:59

Suddenly.

The fragrance of camellias drifted into his nose with the night breeze.

Da.

A hand...

Was placed on Lin Xian's shoulder.