The room was narrow, pitch black, and reeked of a chilling, stagnant mold. It looked like a cheap rental apartment.
A girl carrying a massive backpack crouched down, struggling to feel for the light switch mounted on the wall.
She didn’t find the switch’s location particularly strange, but the moment her fingertip brushed against the button, a sudden itch prickled her skin, as if something had slithered past her palm.
The light flickered on, glowing with an unstable, sputtering shimmer.
The girl gasped, straightened up, and jostled her heavy backpack. The moment she took a step forward, her breathing caught, as if a layer of sheer gauze had been pressed over her nose.
She hesitated for a split second, not yet reacting as she continued forward, but the sticky gauze tried to push into her nasal cavity, sealing her mouth and nose.
Buzz. The light flickered and died.
In an instant, she saw the true nature of what was right in front of her. It wasn’t window gauze or silk fabric at all, but a massive, tough spiderweb that spanned half the room!
Hiss-hiss-hiss.
She raised her head in sheer terror. Countless eight-legged spiders, each larger than a human face, were rotating their fluorescent green eyes, locking them all simultaneously onto her. In unison, they began rubbing their hands together, while thick, rapid, and razor-sharp threads shot straight toward her from their mouthparts.
AAAHHH!
The girl instinctively bolted backward. In her frantic struggle, she seemed to step on something, hearing the crisp crunch of shattering chitin. Having no time to look down and confirm what it was, she ripped off the half-man-sized backpack from her back and swung it wildly at the swarm of spiders in an attempt to fend off their encirclement.
The web shuddered continuously, but there was no way out behind her. Deeper in the gloom, more fluorescent green eyes popped open one after another. Spider silk wrapped tightly around her arms, and the swarm of eight-legged beasts closed in from all directions.
Screaming, she hurled the backpack away. The surroundings fell silent for a single beat; every giant spider lunged toward the backpack, as if too busy fighting over prey to collectively ignore the girl’s existence.
She gasped for breath, but before she could even relax, the sight before her drove her to the verge of a breakdown.
Rustle, rustle.
Swarming out of the backpack in dense, overwhelming numbers were hordes of cockroaches the size of palms. They were as swift as lightning; some spread their wings, buzzing as they took flight in the air, while others burrowed into the darkness, vanishing in a split second. Some engaged in brutal combat with the spider swarm, leaking yellowish-gray fluids.
Or perhaps the three merged into one, flying haphazardly through the air and underfoot in the unseen shadows, bursting open to reveal massive egg cases.
Connecting this to the touch of palms against the switch when the light turned on, the crisp crunch beneath her soles while running, and the heavy burden she had carried all the way, the girl’s willpower completely shattered. She wanted nothing more than to vomit on the spot and scream at the top of her lungs, but right now, she didn’t even have the courage to pass out cold.
How could this be… How could this be?! This must be a dream… This has to be a dream! Wake me up already! Let me out of here, please!
“Need some help?”
Amidst the extreme terror, she snapped around. Behind her, standing at some unknown moment, was a tall young man with a calm, steady voice.
The young man was dressed in ordinary casual sportswear, a gray-and-white long-sleeved shirt and long pants. Underneath the hood of his sweatshirt, he also wore a baseball cap, a thoroughly mainstream style.
With both hands shoved into his pockets, his posture was completely casual, as if he were just an ordinary college student who happened to be passing by.
Yet his face, concealed beneath the double brims of his hat and hood, was startling.
That face had no facial features.
Or rather, there were indentations where eyes should be, a protruding bridge where a nose belonged, and curved lines where lips sat, but it looked like an uncolored, unpainted clay figurine, possessing a blank, generic form devoid of individuality.
Yet the girl seemed completely oblivious to any difference between the young man’s appearance and a normal human being, crying tears of sheer joy instead: “Qiu Mian! Teacher Qiu Mian! That’s wonderful… Could I please trouble you for some help? In my room… there are so, so many bugs!”
“Yeah.”
The young man named Qiu Mian didn’t ask a single follow-up question, readily nodding to agree with her request. He even walked straight into the room and placed his hand on the door handle. “Just a second.”
Click. The door closed. The girl stood alone outside, entirely oblivious to the logical contradictions in her surroundings, why she had teleported from the depths of darkness into a bright, open clearing; why a door was standing out in the open ground; or why Qiu Mian, someone she wasn’t close with and who was always busy and hard to find, would appear near a rental apartment.
More bizarrely, even the concept of time was blurred here.
Yet mere seconds later, the door opened again. Qiu Mian pressed a hand down on the brim of his baseball cap, leaning his back against the door leaf and stepping sideways to make room. “Fixed.”
The interior of the room was no longer a narrow, dim single-person chamber, but a spacious and airy small villa. The color palette was warm, the lighting bright, and the wallpaper, furniture, and style were all of her favorite design. Sensing the master’s return, the smart home system automatically adjusted the ambient lighting strip, a ding echoed from the kitchen where cooking had finished at the precise optimal moment, and a cute little robotic vacuum cleaner spun around her feet as if welcoming her home.
Meanwhile, a middle-aged couple watching television in the living room stood up simultaneously at the sound of movement, smiling warmly as they looked at her. “Welcome home, darling. You must be tired from work.”
“Huh? Hehe, it’s alright… What’s for dinner?”
The girl quickly forgot the terror she had just experienced, as well as the young man who had passed her home, and began chatting cheerfully and harmoniously with her parents. After an unknown length of time, a sharp alarm bell rang out across the entire space outside the villa. In the blink of an eye, the villa, the parents, and the girl all vanished without a trace.
Only the faceless young man remained, gazing at the surrounding space, which had reverted to a boundless, pitch-black void yet seemed bound by transparent boundaries, and muttering to himself: “E-grade dream. Resolved.”
Qiu Mian woke up from his slumber, his eyes clear the moment they opened.
Beside the sofa, his assistant had been waiting for a long time and let out a sigh of relief. “We’re gathering at 7:20 today. Heading over for makeup and styling might be a bit tight, but it won’t be too far off. I’ve prepared breakfast for you.”
Qiu Mian glanced at the time, sped up his routine to wash and change, and the assistant worriedly asked, “You woke up late today. Did you run into a tricky dream?”
“Mm, sort of,” Qiu Mian spat out his mouthwash. “An E-grade dream.”
“E-grade?! I thought ‘a bit troublesome’ to you would at least be A-grade!”
“Dream grades aren’t classified by danger and difficulty, but by the degree of impact on the real world,” Qiu Mian nibbled off a small bite of egg white, leaving the yolk behind. “What I encountered last night wasn’t dangerous, nor was it hard to resolve. Even if it truly merged with reality, it wouldn’t cause a massive impact; at worst, it would just become someone’s individual nightmare.”
“Though I’m not particularly keen on running into it again.”
“There are dreams like that…” the assistant asked curiously, “What kind of dream was it?”
Qiu Mian recalled the memory. “Insectoid hegemony.”
“…”
He packed his belongings, putting on his cap and mask. “I’m heading out. You should catch up on some sleep.”
“Alright, if you run into any issues, remember to ping me anytime!”
The hotel had a separate dressing room. By the time Qiu Mian arrived, the styling for the morning’s lead actors was already complete; they all brought their own makeup artists, and a small number of supporting actors were also wrapping up soon, leaving only the extras and him.
The assistant director greeted him with a smile. “Xiao Qiu overslept? The assistant had to answer the phone.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Just pay attention next time. Director Mai places a lot of importance on efficiency, so let’s get down to business.”
The assistant director had a pretty good temper and spoke politely, which spared Qiu Mian the trouble of making unnecessary explanations. Just as he found an empty seat and sat down, a certain supporting actor spotted him and immediately adopted a sarcastic tone: “Where did Teacher Qiu go to play last night? Introduce it to me, too. Don’t go having all the fun by yourself and fail to get up.”
The bustling dressing room instantly fell silent. The onlookers pricked up their ears, curious to see how Qiu Mian would respond to such unmistakable malice.
Yet Qiu Mian happened to be the one person who simply didn’t pick up on it.
After carefully processing it for a moment, he asked, “Are you sure you want to play? I’m afraid you’ll get scared.”
“Scared… Ha! Teacher Qiu, you really went looking for fun?” The supporting actor raised his volume. “Not a good look, is it? Be careful; if you get caught, don’t drag this drama down and force it to be pulled offline before it even airs…”
Even Qiu Mian caught the belated implication of what the other was hinting at, though it only left him feeling even more baffled.
He turned to ask the makeup artist, “Who is he?”
The makeup artist blinked. “Teacher Mi Chun, the one playing the little Prince. You guys should have filmed a few scenes together?”
Ah, Mi Chun. His defining traits were standing 170cm tall, wearing a golden crown, and reading his lines by reciting numbers. Unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing his costume, hadn’t delivered his lines, and wasn’t standing up right now, which was why Qiu Mian hadn’t recognized him.
Still, Qiu Mian had no idea why the guy held such intense hostility toward him.
Intent on defusing the tension, Qiu Mian turned back to say, “I’ll invite you tonight. Hope you have fun.”
Mi Chun: “What do you mean by that?”
Just as the conflict was about to escalate, a young female hurriedly jogged into the room, offering profuse apologies: “I’m sorry, I’m late.”
The assistant director wasn’t nearly as kind to her: “Xiao Yang, how can a makeup assistant be the last one to arrive? So many people are waiting on you, and Sister Wang is already overwhelmed.”
The girl’s face was plastered with panic and anxiety as she offered repeated apologies once more. Seeing that she was a newcomer and it was her first time being late, the assistant director didn’t press further, merely instructing her to study hard under Sister Wang.
Lugging her makeup kit, she trotted over to Sister Wang’s station to prepare as an assistant. Upon catching sight of the celebrity sitting in front of the mirror, her eyes lit up, and she couldn’t help exclaiming, “Teacher Qiu!”
Qiu Mian shot her a sidelong glance, thought for a moment, but failed to recognize who she was, so he simply replied sluggishly, “Hm?”
“I’m Xiao Yang, learning makeup from Sister Wang.” She picked out various makeup brushes and handed them to her master for operation, but couldn’t help marveling as she watched, “Teacher Qiu, you’re way too handsome. You can go straight on camera bare-faced.”
The young man reflected in the mirror possessed clear-cut features, superior bone structure, and glowing skin. His entire face was striking and imposing, showing no flaws from either the front or profile. He looked like Apollo from mythology, his dark pupils deep and detached, adding an air of aloofness and mystery.
“Thanks.” Qiu Mian, however, didn’t take the compliment to heart. From his perspective, whether it was the reflection in the mirror or the people around him, their faces lacked any fundamental difference, they were all just initial clay-ball faces lumped together by Nuwa.
Xiao Yang continued laying on the flattery: “Seriously, you’re so eye-catching. The handsome just can’t be masked even when the styling holds you back.”
“Stop talking so much and study properly. You haven’t given me an explanation for being late yet,” Sister Wang reminded her, raising her hand to pause for a moment on Qiu Mian’s face before finding herself helpless to start and laughing instead, “You’re so handsome you’re going to put me out of a job.”
Xiao Yang pulled a tight face, but still couldn’t help pouring her grievances out to her master: “When I got back to my room yesterday, I found a spiderweb in the corner, and it had a cockroach this big trapped in it! It scared me out of my wits! Then I had a nightmare last night, I forgot the specifics, but I remember it was super gross!”
…Ah, so it was her.
Qiu Mian glanced sideways to observe Xiao Yang for a moment. Her figure did indeed match the girl from the dream.
What bad luck.
Noticing Qiu Mian looking at her, Xiao Yang blushed slightly, seemingly embarrassed to say certain things: “Luckily, the second half of the dream was quite warm and cozy, so I overslept and didn’t hear my alarm… Definitely won’t happen again!”
“Remember to buy medicine to deal with the bugs in your room,” Qiu Mian said.
Xiao Yang was flattered. “For sure! I’m going to do a deep clean as soon as work wraps up today!”
Sister Wang teased her, “Then you’d better get moving.”
What one thinks about by day, one dreams of by night. Sometimes, dreams are exaggerated manifestations of waking memories, potentially terrifying, thrilling, and chaotic, spiraling all the way toward distortion and despair.
While putting on a wig, Qiu Mian’s thoughts drifted into a daydream.
If he hadn’t rushed over in time yesterday, the subsequent development of that nightmare might well have been Alien.
Yet all it took was a catalyst and an atmosphere for an indefinite dream to potentially invert into a sweet, pleasant reverie.
He hadn’t interfered with the formation of the new dream; he had simply dialed down the gloomy elements to the bare minimum, casting bright light from outside the window. Everything else that followed stemmed from the dreamer’s own subconscious self-awareness.
That was the sweet dream of a young person wandering far from home and working hard to make a living, a pretty, spacious house and a harmonious, fulfilling family. Though hard-won, it remained brimming with hope.
Even if it lasted for only a single night, life was already difficult enough. Qiu Mian, walking long paths along the chaotic borders of dreams, wished everyone a good night’s sleep.