4 weird dream

The ground wasn't hard mud but a wooden surface; he seemed not to be on the ground.

Zhou Fan confirmed this fact, maintaining relative calmness, not recklessly moving around in the thick fog but instead looking up into the sky.

The stars could guide a person.

Yet, Zhou Fan's pupils suddenly contracted; high in the grayish sky hung a huge blood-red sphere, its surface covered in densely packed leaden-gray pits.

The blood-red sphere occupying half of the sky seemed like it could fall at any moment, giving Zhou Fan a suffocating feeling.

Zhou Fan took a deep breath, staring fixedly at the blood-red sphere until his neck felt sore; the sphere showed no signs of falling, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

If that sphere were to fall like a comet, he would have had nowhere to escape.

Suddenly.

The drifting gray mist rushed upward, the complex mist forming a tornado shape as it was sucked into the blood sphere.

Zhou Fan could only stare in astonishment; everything around him was too bizarre, and he couldn't do anything about it.

The time it took for the mist to be sucked in was very short; in just a few seconds, the blood-red sphere stopped absorbing the mist.

The mist still drifted around, but it had become thin. Zhou Fan's vision suddenly cleared, and he looked around, only to realize he was standing on… a boat?

He wasn't entirely sure if it was a boat because this large wooden vessel had nothing.

No canvas, no mast, no ship's control room, only a vast empty deck with half-height wooden railings around the edges.

Apart from that, there was nothing; looking further into the distance, he saw gray water.

The gray water surrounded the wooden boat, calm and waveless, like the gray mist.

To see more clearly, Zhou Fan approached the edge of the railing and looked down.

The smooth gray water was like a mirror, sending shivers down Zhou Fan's spine. Sweat dripped from his back, soaking his clothes.

In the mirrored gray river below, a pale-white skull was reflected.

Zhou Fan sat up straight in bed, drenched in sweat, realizing he had woken up.

But his face remained pale, his pupils contracted.

Zhou Fan slapped his face, feeling the flesh on his face intact, and began to slowly calm his breathing, but his face was slightly blue.

It wasn't that he hadn't seen dead people's skulls before, but what terrified him was the last skull he saw, which he felt was his own.

He looked at the familiar room layout outside the curtain, shook his head; it was just a more realistic dream.

But people think during the day and dream at night; why would he have such a dream?

He hadn't seen anything about boats recently.

The skylight in the roof let in a faint blue light, and there was the crowing of a rooster outside.

It was already bright outside.

Soon, footsteps sounded outside the room.

It was Zhou Fan's mother, Gui Feng, who walked in and called out, "A Fan, get up quickly. We have to go to the village for the hair-binding ceremony."

Zhou Fan responded and quickly got out of bed.

After that, under Gui Feng's arrangement, Zhou Fan washed up, had breakfast, and put on the new clothes Gui Feng gave him.

They were called new clothes, but they were relatively new compared to what he had worn before; these new clothes also had several inconspicuous patches.

After Zhou Fan put on the new clothes, Zhou Yi Mu and Gui Feng were obviously ready too.

Zhou Yi Mu looked at Zhou Fan, who was already dressed, and nodded slightly. "Let's go."

The three of them went out together, casually closing the door without locking it.

After all, their home was poor, and there was nothing valuable to steal.

The cool morning breeze blew on their faces. This was Zhou Fan's first time leaving the mud house since he crossed over. He followed Zhou Yi Mu and his wife, observing everything around him with curiosity, the crude and primitive environment.

People from the village were also heading in the same direction, obviously going to participate in the hair-binding ceremony.

Along the way, villagers greeted Zhou Yi Mu and his family, usually responded to by Zhou Yi Mu.

Occasionally, a teenager about the same age as Zhou Fan would call out to him, and Zhou Fan could only smile and respond. He didn't know the names or surnames of these people and couldn't say much.

After walking for a considerable distance, they finally stopped.

They were in the center of the village, in a spacious open space. There were no typical mud houses around; only a circular altar made of gray stone.

The altar wasn't large, only about thirty to forty square meters. A dense crowd had gathered around the altar, all from Sanqiu Village.

Zhou Fan didn't know how big Sanqiu Village was, but there were about a thousand people here, and Zhou Fan just stood aside while Zhou Yi Mu and Gui Feng were talking to people, discussing trivial matters.

Zhou Fan didn't listen carefully. Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

Zhou Fan turned his head, and standing in front of him was a skinny teenager, who smiled, accentuating his protruding cheekbones.

Zhou Fan sighed; it was the first time he had seen someone so thin.

The teenager smiled and said, "A Fan, are you okay? I've been wanting to see you, but Aunt Gui Feng wouldn't let me."

Gui Feng turned around and looked at Zhou Fan's confused face, knowing her son had forgotten this teenager. She quickly said, "A Fan, this is Zhang Quanfu. You usually call him Skinny Monkey. Have you forgotten?"

Zhou Fan sighed helplessly, "Skinny Monkey, I'm sorry, I forgot about you."

Skinny Monkey was taken aback for a moment and said, "Aunt Gui Feng, why did A Fan forget about me?"

Gui Feng shook her head, "He hurt his head, and he doesn't remember a lot of things from before."

Skinny Monkey suddenly realized, he touched the back of his head and smiled, "Oh, that's how it is. It's okay; I'll slowly tell A Fan. A Fan, let's go play over there. It's not fun sticking with your parents all the time."

Gui Feng waved her hand, "Go ahead, but both of you need to bind your hair today. Don't go too far; you'll have to come back later."

Zhou Fan hadn't agreed yet when Skinny Monkey dragged him away and ran off. Soon, they were far from Zhou Yi Mu and the others.

Skinny Monkey dragged Zhou Fan to a secluded corner and then let go of his hand. He spun around and looked at Zhou Fan, "A Fan, did you really lose your memory? Or are you pretending to forget everything just because you're afraid of being scolded by Uncle Yi Mu?"

Zhou Fan was intentionally probing, unaware of this era's intricacies. He harbored reservations towards Zhou Yimu and Gui Feng, but didn't have as many concerns about the young lad called Skinny Monkey. After all, someone of Skinny Monkey's age shouldn't possess much cunning.