3 Chapter 3 - Dream sequence

"Yun…."

Lin Yunfeng felt a soft voice whisper close to his ear. A wisp of soft hair caressed his face, poking his cheeks.

He felt his body. His arms and legs were numb and his head was throbbing.

Groaning loudly, he held his head and rolled over. The soft duvet comfortably covered his face.

"Come on, if you don't wake up I will fart in your duvet," that familiar voice of his sister whispered into his ear.

Lin Yunfeng groaned loudly.

The last he remembered was those men cutting into his stomach. He clearly felt his whole body cool down as the warm blood drained from his body.

Just thinking about that memory his body started to shake with fury.

'fuckkkk!!!! the government actually kidnap me

'Never in my wildest dreams did he think his whole imagination they would do that!

'They didn't want to impregnate me, oh no…..they actually cut into me and stole some organs!!! Fuck my luck!!! Why did I get caught by organ traffickers!!! Being pregnant might have been much better.'

He felt his heart clench in pain.

Whimpering, he placed a hand on his stomach. 'my womb was not even that developed. Why did they have to do that? why?! I didn't want to die... I didn't want to die.' silent tears dripped down his face, wetting the duvet under his face.

Suddenly a hand yanked the duvet away from his face. Bright light assaulted his barely open eyes.

"Wow what an ugly face."

Yunfeng opened his eyes. Through his tears-filled eyes, he spotted a blurry figure standing by his bedside.

"Are you here to take me to heaven? I thought angels are beautiful...." He said, pointing to the sloppily uncombed hair of that woman.

"You!" a soft weight jumped on him.

Grunting, he shot up pushing the weight off him.

"ow, you asshat! Mum, he pushed me down!" a familiar whining voice came from below his bed.

Lin Yunfeng was stunned for a second. he hurriedly gazed at his slender fingertips. The palm of his hand was slightly bigger and slenderer than they used to be. He even had a bit of arm hair.

"what's taking you so long? I just asked you to wake him up. what so hard abort it."

"you're asking me to awaken a freaking dead log!" his sister stood up, rubbing her butt. "I'll get you for that,"

Lin Yunfeng froze. "How did you get here?"

"Drunkard, this is my home.," she scoffed and walked out.

"…... I'm not old enough to drink…..." Yunfeng scratched his head. Long strands of hair fell on his face, hiding his eyes. Frowning he pushed it away.

'What is this?'

He pulled his shirt up, exposing his pale, toned stomach. He patted it once. His skin was taunt and intact, not even a small blemish in sight. "w-was that all just a dream? God!! it was a freaky dream! Oh, thank God!!"

With a grin, he laid back down. "My paranoia is turning into hallucination for sure."

"Yunfeng you better not be in bed when I come up there!" his mum's familiar voice came from downstairs. But weirdly so she sounded hoarse.

"coming~" he jumped out of bed and wiped the tears off his face. But the weird carpet under his feet stopped him in his way. Eyes wide open, he looked around.

The room was painted completely white with a few patches of paint peeling off from the ceiling. Just behind his bed there was a small window with a few pots of plants. most of the pots were repurposed plastic bottles.

A strange sense of disarray hit him. Everything in his room was unfamiliar to him.

"This… this is not my room…"

The door slammed open and his mum stomped in like a raging beast. "you! Hana, get me that wooden spoon!"

"m-mum?" Lin Yunfeng questionably gazed at her. her familiar figure looked so unfamiliar to him. His mother had deep wrinkles and tanned skin. "why do you look old?" he blurted out the thought running through his mind.

"What did you say?" she froze in her step.

As soon as she said this, he realized his mistake.

Eyes wide open, he watched his small mother dash over to him.

"Oh no…."

"Old? I look old?" she slapped his ass. "Wash your eyes with soap you little brat!"

"Ow I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! It's just your skin! You have wrinkles." The ass-whooping continued. "OW mum!" he batted his lashes at her with a pitiful pout. "It hurts~"

Only his cuteness attack stopped her smacks. Grunting, she touched her face delicately. "I still look good…"

"its fine, dad will love you regardless," he stood up from the ground massaging his butt. Even though Lin Jinju was old, she really packed a punch. His butt was aching so badly.

"w-what did you say?"

"I said dad will love you, regardless." He cautiously gazed at her. Seeing her stunned reaction, he confusedly blinked at her. "What is it?"

"y-yeah, he would have loved me even if I looked like trash," her voice cracked slightly. "Get ready, you'll be late for school," with her head lowered she pushed him into the bathroom.

Lin Yunfeng halted right by the doorway. The bathroom was small. It was not even the size of his closet. he was pretty sure he would not be able to stretch his arms.

Dazedly he walked in and gazed back at his mum, who was wiping her face. "What happened to our mansion? did we move or something? did we forget to pay our taxes!"

She gave him a weird look. "Hana come smack your brother awake. He's still drunk."

"On it~" a cheerful shout was heard followed by the sound of rushing footsteps.

Before his sister could really come and hit him, he closed the door and locked it from the inside.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down. "let me summarize everything, I was on the way to school. then someone knocked me out. I then woke up on an operation table. I'm pretty sure that pain was real. But I woke up here with no injury. …..."

"Fuck!" he placed a hand on his chest. A strong heart beat pounded in his chest. "I'm clearly not dead… nor am I injured or stitched up in any way," he removed his shirt completely and gazed at his toned abbs. "Then what is going on?"

Turning to the side, he met his own reflection.

"w-what?"

It was his face… but it was also not his own face. he looked slightly taller, standing at five foot six. His long black hair was hiding most of his face.

"I look old too...." he touched his cheeks.

The reflection did so as well. He then made faces at the mirror.

The reflection did everything as he did.

A weird conjunction came to his mind.

"I died....'

'And I'm in a dream world?!…'

Yunfeng felt his heart rate spike. His eyes blurred slightly as he staggered at the spot.

His father had mentioned that there was a new technology that is being developed by the embassy. It was s futuristic technology that injects a dead person's consciousness into a dream-like sequence where the family member can finally say goodbye.

It was an intriguing concept but the creators were not able to keep the soul longer.

"Then how am I able to touch myself? …. Is this really a dream…..."

"Yunfeng come out! I need to pee!"

His sister's loud boisterous voice pulled him out of his despaired state. With a hand on the walls, he steadied himself.

he silently sobbed. "Even after death she haunts me with her ugly voice." He was full-on sobbing by then.

"Come out!!!!" she kept banging hard. "Are you crying?"

"n-no." He slapped water on his pale face.

Hana pounced on the door loudly. "you bonehead what is wrong with you? Hurry up or else ill lock you in there,"

Lin Yunfeng frowned with tears in his eyes. "Why are we so poor in his dream sequence?"

"YUN FENG!"

"Gods, stop it, you banshee." The shirt he dropped in the sink had gotten wet. Looking around, he found a neatly ironed uniform hanging on the side. he hurriedly changed into it.

'I'm dead…. But at least I get to meet my family before I move on to the afterlife

Taking a deep breath, he threw open the door and held out his arms. "h-Hana…give your brother a goodbye hug. Even though I don't like you, I will miss you,"

"Get out of the way, weirdo," She hurriedly pushed him out of the way and rushed into the bathroom, and banged the door close.

'She is still the same rude brat even in my final dream … tsk.' he ran down the stairs.

Seeing his mother's busy back, he froze on the steps.

Tears started to stream down his face as he realized that this might be the last time he would see them all.

Sobbing, he ran up to her. "Mum…." When he went for a hug, she held up a wooden spoon to his face.

"don't you think about skipping school?"

Yunfeng gazed at the gravy-covered spoon and at his mother's fierce face. "you're still the same, always whining about school."

"Do you want me to hit you again until you're clear-headed? Stop talking nonsense and sit down." She pulled him to an old wooden table and served him some toasted bread and jam. "Eat, you need your energy for our mock test,"

The serving plate was chipped and the blue ceramic painted work on them was faint.

While chewing the bread, he also took a clean look around his dream house.

The whole house was as big as his closet from back in that world. The white paint was peeling in a few places. Behind him was a small kitchen with an antique-looking stove.

He frowned deeply while sobbing. 'We can't afford even a proper automatic chef? Oh god, why is this dream sequence so sad…. We have to sue them!….'

He was so used to seeing the automatic chef, a robot cooks everything they wanted. But now seeing his mum hurry around in the small kitchen, he felt… heartbroken.

Lin Yunfeng stood up and hugged her from behind. "I love you… I love you so much…"

The tears he had been holding back streamed down his face. "I…. I can't believe this is the last moment," he said with the bread still in his mouth.

His mum gave a small smile and patted his head. "Good boy, we still have more bread. If you pass the college entrance exam without a hiccup, ill buy you those jiggly cakes. Yes?"

"I would like that," he mumbled, wiping his face secretly.

"oh, my boy, are you crying?" she turned over and hugged him tightly. Her short frame made it so that her head only came to his neck.

He could feel her warm breath warming his collar.

Yunfeng hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry I did not take you seriously. I'm sorry... I should have been careful. I should have...."

"it's okay. it's just a mock test. I know that you will do well in the real exam. I have complete confidence in you, my son. Don't give up just yet okay,"

"Okay?" he had a feeling that both their conversations were not in sync. But since this was their last meeting, he did not wish to contradict her. He simply hugged he tightly and cried his heart out.

that was until Hana came down. "Ew. What is wrong with you today?" She pushed past them and took the bread packet from the shelf. "You look ugly when you cry,"

Even though her words were harsh, she gently patted his cheeks as if to console him.

This made him cry even more.

"Cry baby." She chuckled and walked out. "I'm leaving,"

"Your lunch," Lin Jinyu shouted with a glare.

"I'll have it at the cafeteria."

His mum let go of him and patted his shoulders. "You shouldn't be late. Get going, my boy. I know you can beat this mock test."

Yunfeng nodded and looked around. "where's dad?"

His mum's whole body stiffened. She placed a hand on his forehead softly. "Baby do you feel dizzy?"

"no…" he gently took her hand in his. "I want to say my goodbyes to dad."

His mum's frowning forehead eased up a little. "Then go say goodbye." She said with a soft smile.

"Where is he?" Yunfeng anxiously looked around.

"In there," his mum pointed to a small door at the end of the stairwell with an unknown look on her face.

Lin Yunfeng ran to the door and threw it open. "Dad I love…." Seeing only a framed photo inside, he froze. "mum…."

His mum came up behind him and hugged him softly. "honey... our son has grown up so big. Wish him well on his mock exam." She took a small slip of paper from next to the framed photo and handed it to him. "Good luck. now go, catch up with your sister."

Yunfeng was super confused.

But before he could ask any questions he was pushed out of the house by his mother.

Hana was waiting out the door for him. "Come on dumbo don't be late," she grabbed his sleeve and stars to drag him.

Twenty minutes of walking and they were standing in front of a small antique building. It was similar to the style of architecture he had read about in the 25th century.

Lin Yunfeng confusedly peered at his sister. "This is the school?"

The school he studied was hundreds of stories with so many classes on every floor. Each individual student even had a room where they can do self-study.

But this place… looked as big as his mansion. And only his family of four lived in that place.

Standing by the gate he watched so many boys and girls dressed just like him, entered the school gates in a hurry.

"Can so many people fit in there?"

Hana gave him another glare. "Wait a bit," she pulled off her shoulder bag and started to search for something. She pulled out a piece of tape and stuck it on his lips. "don't you dare take that off? Or else people might relay put you in the loony bin."

"What is the loony bin," he said through the tape.

"godsssss..." grumbling she dragged him in.

A very loud bell rang, and all of a sudden, every single student started to rush into the school premise.

"Fuck I'm late because of you," Hana let go of him and ran off.

"Hey why am I even here?" he shouted after her but she was already out of earshot.

Dazedly, he watched the students around him.

"Yun! God, I knew you would be late," a hand grabbed him from behind and pushed him into one of the classes.

Inside, the students were rowdily playing around but a few of them were busy mumbling as they read their wide-opened books.

The person behind him pushed him to an empty seat.

The seats were made up of wood and it was quite uncomfortable to sit in. he awkwardly adjusted his butt, trying to find a sweet spot.

"These are the important formulas. Just glance at it, you might get a passing grade."

A small book appeared on his desk. Only then did Yunfeng gaze to his side at the person busily chatting with him.

It was jai!

"Jai!" Yunfeng threw himself into his arms and hugged him tightly. "Gods thank you for giving me a chance to see him again…"

"Eh?" jai pushed him off and adjusted his glasses. "The test is in ten minutes." He pinched his ears and made him look at the book of equations.

Yunfeng could not hold back his smile. Even in his dream sequence, his best friend was still s worrisome person.

Jai silently pushed his head toward the book and started to work out problems in his workbook.

Yunfeng peered at him curiously. "The dream sequence works…...."

"Huh?" jai confusedly gazed at him, revealing his slightly brown eyes.

"weren't you curious about it? it works. We have a chance to say our last goodbyes… its… it's nice to be able to meet everyone I love for one last time."

Jai rolled his eyes and continued working out the easy problems in his book.

Ten minutes passed and a teacher dressed in 20's style clothing walked in. it was just a simple t-shirt and a blue jean.

Jeans were banned so long ago. He had only seen them in museums. Seeing on in his dream sequence he was quite interested.

"Silence. Put down all your books. If I see anyone copying, I will send them out. As per usual you have only an hour to finish all secretions." The man said in a boring tone and started to unbind a stack of paper.

The student started to pack their stuff up and they placed it in front of the class.

Yunfeng followed their actions and did the same with curiosity.

The teacher passed them each two sheets of paper. One was a stack of four pieces stuck together and another was a weird paper with four dots. He flipped it front to back.

Paper books had gone out of style a long time ago to preserve their plant life matter. After that, only their personal tablets worked as their notebook.

"How do you work this?" he whispered to himself.

But soon he got to know the answer.

Everyone started to draw on the dots after they read the other sheet of paper.

Curiously, Yunfeng opened the small booklet. Inside were familiar questions he had read in third grade.

he gazed around the class. 'Why are we doing third-grade math?'

Scratching his head, he simply marked down the answers in his booklet.

"Do not ruin the question paper. Mark your answers in the answer sheet," the teacher said all of a sudden.

Yunfeng waved the small sheet of paper with a questionable frown.

The teacher frowned. "Stop waving your answer sheet or else I'll send you out of the class Yunfeng,"

Grimacing, Yunfeng gazed at the small paper. 'How do you mark in this?'

Gazing around, he got the answer to his questions. He followed along and started to mark down the corresponding options for each question.

in ten minutes, he was done.

"I'm done." he said startling the whole class.

Everyone gazed at him like they were looking at an alien species.

Lin Yunfeng slowly lowered himself and hid his face with the question booklet. "is it too fast?"

The teacher frowned deeply. "If you are finished submit your papers and leave,"

Yunfeng shot up and walked up to him. He did not wish to waste time in school when he had to go meet his dad and say his last goodbyes.

The teacher handed it back to him. "Write the date,'

Yunfeng got it back and gazed at the empty spot for a second. "what's today's date?"

"20th Jan,"

Nodding to himself he wrote it down, but the year section was still empty. "Year?"

The teacher stared at him. "2021,"

"hmm... twenty what now?"

"Silence!"

Lin Yunfeng dazedly gazed up at him. "What year did you say it was?" the teacher glared in response. "Sir?"

"2021." The teacher repeated impatiently. "Leave."

He hurriedly scribbled down the date and walked out of the classroom into the empty hallway.

"2021... that explains a lot of antique buildings styles," he gazed around the corridor's structure. "Maybe they are trying that ancient nostalgia type of settings…"

In the 35th century, their buildings were quite different. Everything was built by special robots and with a special polymer of recycled plastic from the oceans. Unlike the brick building that would crumble in age, their new building was sustainable and would last a long time.

He simply walked around for an hour until the students started to step out of their classes.

Hana found him. "You are done? How did you do?"

"The exam? Was that a joke? Why was it so easy?" he whispered casually.

Hana all of a sudden threw her head back and laughed out loud. "oh my god you flunked it again, didn't you? Mum Is going to kill you bugger," she dragged him out behind her.

As soon as they exited the school gate, Yunfeng started to look around frantically.

when he was young his dad would pick him up. he was just hoping that even in this dream realm his dad would come find him.

"Where is dad? I miss him….... I want to talk to him. Weirdly mum made me talk to a photo."

His sister gave him a weirdly sad look. "What is going on with you?"

Yunfeng frowned deeply. His mum and sister were repeatedly evading his question which gave him a sense of panic.

He hastened his steps and caught up to her as she waited by the crosswalk. "Hana I'm very serious. Where's dad, I might not have much time left."

Hana glared at him all of a sudden. "don't play around Yunfeng."

"Why am I playing around? I just wanted to say goodbye to him. Where is he?"

"He is dead!"

Hana faced him completely. "Yes." She took a deep breath. "let's go home, mum promised to make pancakes for you." She gave a strained smile and started to drag him.

Yunfeng struggled out of her hold. "w-what... what do you mean dead? How can he be dead?"

Hana threw off his hand. "Stop shouting…. Just stop Yun. I know you liked dad but you can't keep hurting us. Mum has already been through so much. D-don't make her cry again. Let's... let's stop talking about his." Wiping her teary eyes, she started walking briskly leaving him behind.

Yunfeng stood at the crossroad staring blankly at the ground. 'My dad…... dad is gone...'

His dad was the commander of the first fleet. How could he die?

'Did… did he try to find justice for me? What happened? No… it can't be. He can't be dead…'

"nooo…. no…."

Black lights floated in his vision and the next second he was down on the ground.

Loud horns and honks were the last things he heard before he completely blacked out.