Chapter 11: The Dream of Darkness

Lin Xingjie returned to her own home.

The house was empty; her mother had probably gone out fooling around with her new lover. This allowed Xing Jie to breathe a sigh of relief.

She didn't plan to go out tonight. Lin Xingjie ate something at random, prepared her gear, and planned to visit the usual hangouts of those bastards the next day to check things out.

...

That night, alone at home, Lin Xingjie, wasn't awakened by her mother who always returned late at night. She wasn't disturbed by the sounds of intimacy coming from the next room that kept her awake all night. She didn't have to be frightened by the strange men her mother brought home. Nor did she need to tiptoe around, even just to use the bathroom, in fear of being noticed by them.

So, she had a rare good night's sleep and dreamt a deep dream.

She dreamt of a sea.

In front of her was a deep, lightless expanse, as silent as the abyss. There was no sun overhead, no stars or moon, not even the slightest light, so darkness enveloped everything around her. Lin Xingjie could only guess she might be on the shoreline, based on the murmuring sounds by her ear and the cold dampness underfoot.

Or perhaps, was it a mudhole in front of her? A swamp? An endless black lake?

Lin Xingjie hesitated for a moment, then took a step forward.

The sound of the surging tide grew louder.

She suddenly became afraid.

Would she fall into an abyss if she moved any further? Lin Xingjie looked down at her feet, but could see nothing.

Only the boundless... murky dark, flowing like living creatures.

Just then, from the other side of the sea, a calling voice came.

Faint and blurry, it sounded like someone was whispering secrets to her.

Lin Xingjie was somewhat surprised. Instinctively, she felt that the sea in front of her was vast and endless, a true ocean... no, perhaps even more expansive than any on Earth, stretching to the end of this world.

Who could speak to her across such a far and long distance, from the ends of the Earth to the sea's remote edge?

A longing suddenly emerged from deep within the girl.

In the nearly infinite darkness, being alone was just too lonely.

This ocean isn't big enough! Lin Xingjie thought. It could encompass, it could devour much more, even if all humanity were swallowed into its "belly" there would be no problems, it could even submerge the entire Earth!

While the girl was lost in wild thoughts, she took another step forward—

And indeed, she fell.

...

Lin Xingjie didn't feel any pain.

Before fear could take hold, she plunged into the sea.

In an instant, skin, muscles, meridians, and bones all separated, leaving behind only the bare soul, which didn't ascend to the skies but instead sank to the seabed.

But she wasn't sad at all, her heart was filled with joy.

Anything that fell into the dark sea would be instantly devoured, losing its fixed form and merging with the sea.

It was gentle like a mother's embrace, yet its corrosive effect was fiercer than aqua regia. Being human, she was no exception,

However, unlike the other consumed beings, Lin Xingjie effortlessly reversed the process, merging the sea with herself—

All the creatures within the sea were left with only chaotic consciousness, their selves gone without a trace, but she could manipulate the vast Dark Sea as easily as one would wield an arm.

This was a form of return, as if going back to the most primal state.

As Lin Xingjie, now one with the Sea of Darkness, commanded with her thoughts, her consciousness spanned thousands of miles in an instant, arriving at the source of the calling voice.

The caller was not human, but a hole.

The hole was like a pitch-black sun fallen from the sky to the Earth. It should have been quite large, but to Lin Xingjie, now the sea in her dreamscape, it seemed as insignificant and reachable as a toy.

In the center of the hole was a ring of white doors, radiating a hazy light; the calling voice emanated from within.

Without hesitation, Lin Xingjie plunged into the hole.

Roaring seawater formed a colossal tornado deviling together sky and earth, with the sound of rushing water in her ears.

And then, light and sound all returned—

Though it was still a pitch-black night outside the hole, compared to the world inside, everything was bright, filled with familiar, nostalgic sounds.

She could smell fresh air, feel the oncoming night breeze, see countless bugs swirling under the dim glow of street lamps, earthworms wriggling under the soil, the light leap of a stray cat on the wall, and hear the breathing of someone sleeping inside a house... life was abounding and beautiful everywhere.

The past Lin Xingjie had never realized how her world was continuously in motion, with countless beings always active on the "surface," never truly silent for a moment.

If she were still human, walking through such a dim alley would certainly have scared her—fearing the dark, fearing silence, these are the innate instincts of humans; but now, Lin Xingjie, having just fled from a world of true solitude, could view the world with a completely different perspective.

"It's a pity, that hole was too small, 'I' could only get out a little bit..."

Lin Xingjie looked back somewhat regretfully at "her" body.

The narrow hole allowed only a minuscule part of the dark sea to seep through, like a colossal monster hidden in a cave stretching out an inconsequential tentacle to the outside world, or as if the entire underground river was stuffed into a pipe, able to leak out only drop by drop from a faucet.