Seizing Dreams

Chapter 18 - Goodbyes

Seizing Dreams

Ch18 – Goodbyes

Translated by: DMlations/Zryuu

Edited by: FistFullOfDollars

At the same time, the sea water level outside the lighthouse was constantly rising. All the lamprey-like sea monsters had gathered around and were entwining the lighthouse with their tentacles as they began climbing up.

The books on the shelves were getting more and more restless; they had jumped out on several occasions to attack the three of them. General quickened his pace and leaped off the banister. Yu Hao began to run as he chased after them from behind.

“Will there be a gatekeeper?” Yu Hao remembered that the gatekeeper of his palace was the person he had a secret crush on. A character who would guard one’s inner darkness and fear…for Shi Ni, her gatekeeper might be her mother?

When they arrived at the top floor, General put Shi Ni down and said, “It’s best if you don’t……”

The top floor was a loft. All around them were blurred, flashing images that floated in mid-air, and they looked like photos from a memory as they revolved around them.

“What are these?” Yu Hao wondered.

General and Yu Hao both held their weapons at the ready, prepared for battle, but the attic was empty. The two of them looked around before General suddenly reacted, “Take this chance now and go!”

Within an instant, black flames began to swirl around them. A huge open platform appeared at the top of the lighthouse, and in the centre of the platform laid a single office swivel chair. Shi Ni’s father, Shi Liang, was sitting on it, and he was holding a tattered bear doll in his hands. The black flames that surrounded him transformed into an energy that rose into the air to form a giant demonic eye.

The demonic eye drooped slightly and looked at the three of them. There was a symbol enshrouded in a mass of black air in the middle of the demonic eye.

Totem!

General waved his Jingubang while Yu Hao pulled his hands apart and his staff split into two knives.

“Nini, you’re here.” Shi Liang’s hair fell and he had an obscene smile on his face, “Let Daddy take a look? Why are you always hiding at the back?”

Shi Ni stood behind Yu Hao and General as she wheezed harshly.

The sea monsters rose up from around the lighthouse and waved their tentacles. The demonic eye turned around and emitted a ray of light that enveloped the entire platform.

Yu Hao and General pointed their weapons at Shi Liang simultaneously as they shouted, “You’re finished now!”

General, “We’ve already called the police!”

Yu Hao, “It’ll be tomorrow at the latest! Then you’ll be going to jail!”

Shi Ni’s eyes suddenly widened as she remembered. And the instant she remembered, the dark sky burst forth with millions of thunderstorms that whirled towards the lighthouse and struck it head-on!

“You’re finished——!” Shi Ni released all of the anger that she had been suppressing in her dreamscape as she shouted, “You can’t hurt me anymore! You beast——!”

The lightning of judgement exploded towards them and instantly electrocuted all of the sea monsters that were entrenched on the lighthouse, causing them to fall off!

Shi Liang’s eyes suddenly widened and he roared, “Impossible!”

Yu Hao never could have expected that after Shi Ni realised that her father was about to be brought to justice in her dreamscape, she would unleash such power. He heard General shout, “Let’s go!”

The two of them rushed forward at the same time. Shi Liang raised his hand and the demonic eye released a beam of light that swept towards the two of them. Yu Hao’s wings fluttered open, he suddenly grabbed General from behind and with one turn, he had flown high up into the sky. The thunderstorm that Shi Ni had released suddenly disappeared.

Shi Liang’s demonic eye aimed its glaring light at Shi Ni, and the sound of its sneers shook the sky.

“I know everything you do; your each and every move is under Daddy’s watchful eye.”

Shi Ni suddenly screamed; the thunderstorm that had filled the sky vanished without a trace. Shi Liang once again regained control of the conscious world.

Yu Hao, “Shi Ni!”

General, “She can hold on! She has an amulet! Avoid the beam and throw me down!”

Under the illumination of the demonic eye, Shi Ni’s body was beginning to freeze, but just as the ice was about to spread throughout her body, a red halo suddenly appeared around her wrist. Immediately afterwards, the halo released a sound wave that shattered the ice into pieces!

“He’s afraid of fire!” Yu Hao suddenly remembered their conversation that day.

General chuckled and swept his Jingubang; the tip of his rod burst into blazing flames and he shouted, “Encircle him!”

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“Go!”

Yu Hao let go of General. While he was in midair, General swung his Jingubang down like he was splitting a mountain and the fiery blaze that it had set off pierced straight through Shi Liang with a loud explosion, setting him on fire.

Yu Hao and General landed on the ground. The two men rolled over on the ground before they stood up, positioning themselves to protect Shi Ni who was standing in the middle as they formed a circle around her. Within the circle of fire, Shi Liang struggled and released a reluctant roar.

“It’s over.” Yu Hao observed Shi Liang who was surrounded by the flames. Shi Liang tumbled around on the ground and climbed up. The demonic eye above suddenly emitted a mass of black smoke that began to converge towards Shi Liang. The demonic eye disappeared, and the totem took its place!

“Seize the totem!” General shouted, “I’ll deal with him!”

Within the circle of fire, a giant mutant sea monster sprang up into the sky.All of its tentacles swung toward Shi Ni and wrapped around her. Shi Ni let out a loud cry; General turned around and waved his Jingubang, then he rushed forward to attract its attention.

Yu Hao took this opportunity to fly up into the sky. He swung both of his knives outwards as he circled in the air and ruthlessly hacked down with all his strength — he cut off all the tentacles that were entangled around Shi Ni with this one move!

The totem gradually descended. Yu Hao rolled over on the ground; more tentacles curled toward them. Yu Hao pushed Shi Ni away and pointed at the totem in the air as he shouted, “Grab it!”

Shi Ni staggered to her feet. But it was as if the totem had recognised the true owner of this dreamscape as it began to disintegrate into light particles that flowed toward Shi Ni — these particles gradually began building a bridge in the air. Yu Hao darted towards one side as he swept his two knives apart. A bright light burst forth from his body which attracted the attention of the mutant sea monster.

It had tens of millions of tentacles; within an instant they had all curled toward Yu Hao and formed a huge cage that blotted out the sky — but right at this moment, a loud whistle could be heard not too far away.

The huge monkey bit the pinched fingers between his lips in a whistling gesture and swept past Yu Hao to once again draw all the tentacles away. Next, he stepped onto a tentacle that had swung over and with two jumps, he leaped into the sky. Yu Hao suddenly fluttered his wings open and was about to fly forward to support him when the huge monkey shouted loudly in the air.

“Drop, dead——!”

The bright red flame released from the Jingubang instantly illuminated the entire conscious world that was enshrouded in darkness — like a fiery Milky Way that surged through the sky, it let out a huge roar within the darkness to light up the stars in this vast and boundless universe!

Oh God, he’s so handsome……Yu Hao was flying in the sky as he looked at that figure holding up his heavenly fire. The fire was akin to a meteorite that could set all the evil in this world on fire; in that instant, he felt like all his reason had been smashed into smithereens along with that fall!

General swung his first rod out; and the rod emitted a glaring light that ignited the sea monster.

The second rod! The earth trembled, and the mutant sea monster that looked like a mountain was flung up into the air.

The third rod!

General spun once in the air, then exerted a tremendous force to transfer the Jingubang onto his shoulder. The Jingubang suddenly turned into a gigantic iron pillar that General used to sweep the sea monster off the lighthouse’s platform!

The mutant sea monster had been burnt to a crisp in the air and its remains scattered everywhere. Its tentacles waved about and forcefully yanked General downwards.

“General——!”

General was gasping for breath after he got caught up in the tentacles, then he fell into the raging sea below the lighthouse. Yu Hao immediately bent forward and flew towards General.

General was panting with a triumphant smile on his face; his back faced the sea while his ankles were entwined by tentacles.

“Don’t……” General hadn’t even finished speaking when Yu Hao had already rushed into his arms and grabbed him forcefully; he flung his wings backwards at full speed, but the fall of the mutant sea monster was really too great — Yu Hao couldn’t resist its momentum as it dragged both of them into the deep, dark sea together!

Yu Hao felt a coldness envelop his entire body, yet he had no strength left to struggle. His wings disappeared and he couldn’t stop himself from falling into the darkness along with General. The bone-chilling cold overwhelmed him, and it began to blur his consciousness.

So this is the subconscious……it was as if all of Yu Hao’s thoughts had been forcibly taken away. His mind was in a state of chaos, and all he could see was General shouting at him anxiously as bubbles emerged from his mouth.

In that moment, the only thing he could feel was the heartbeat in General’s chest, as if there was still a blazing sun deep in his heart that was currently thumping nonstop to wake him up so that he wouldn’t completely lose consciousness.

Yu Hao and General were locked in an embrace as they continued to fall, yet the darkness that surrounded them suddenly turned clear. It changed from a pitch-black colour to a navy blue one, then light blue, dark green, and then the sea turned completely transparent.

A ray of light shot over from a distance.

Shi Ni stood on the lighthouse platform and raised her hand towards the totem; the totem miraculously transformed into silver light particles that looked like they could be interwoven into a Milky Way. They wrapped all around her body before turning into a glittering, gorgeous snow white princess dress.

Shi Ni, “……”

The gauze on her dress fluttered in the wind. The moment the totem returned onto Shi Ni’s body, a light wave was released from the top of the lighthouse which formed a shock wave that dispersed throughout the entire world of her consciousness.

With a loud bang, the huge monsters deep in the sea shattered and disappeared; the sea level that was a couple hundreds of meters high collapsed like an avalanche and vanished without a trace. Yu Hao regained consciousness. He was still locked in an embrace with General as they fell toward the sea once again!

“Yu Hao!”

His consciousness had returned. General suddenly hugged him tightly. All the strength in Yu Hao had disappeared, and the world around them was spinning. For the second time, they fell from a height of a hundred metres and yelled in tandem.

“Aaaaahhhhhh——”

The two of them fell toward the sea like shooting stars, but right before they fell in, a whistle sounded. General held Yu Hao around his waist and turned a somersault in the air. Brilliant rays of light shot out of the golden chainmail he was clad in; he stepped onto his jindouyun and pulled both of them up from the surface of the sea, then flew into the air and spiralled away!

“Yahoo——”

Yu Hao, “……”

General turned around and shouted at Yu Hao, “Aren’t you afraid of dying?!”

Yu Hao stood on the jindouyun and hugged General’s waist from his back, then he began to laugh.

The sky was as white as a fish’s belly; General stepped on his jindouyun and brought Yu Hao along as he circled around the lighthouse. Shi Ni was standing in the middle of the lighthouse. Yu Hao looked back. Shi Ni lifted up her princess dress and performed a curtsy underneath the light of Venus.

“Thank you.” Shi Ni’s eyes had welled up with tears.

Yu Hao thought that he would still have to go down to say a few words, but General wielded his Jingubang in one hand while he pinched his index and middle finger together on the other, then waved at the dreamscape’s owner before he took Yu Hao and flew away without any further explanation.

At the peak of the lofty mountains, Yu Hao and General sat on a platform as they faced the East. The protruding rock platform was very small. General leaned against the rock wall while Yu Hao sat in his embrace; the two of them looked out into the distance and waited for that first ray of dawn to come.

“If you had the jindouyun you should have used it a lot sooner ba!” Yu Hao didn’t know if he should cry or laugh as he said, “Why did you summon it only at the very end?”

“I really didn’t know about it!” General said innocently, “I don’t know why I had both the golden chainmail and jindouyun at the very last moment.”

“Now I feel like I’m incredibly strong.” General continued, “I can kill a whole bunch of monsters with one sweep of my rod, but unfortunately there aren’t any left for me to fight.”

Yu Hao began to laugh, his back was pressed tightly against the huge monkey’s chest and he could feel his strong and warm heartbeat through his back.

“The sun is coming out.” Yu Hao said.

“Un.” General said, “It’s daybreak, so it’s time to say good night.”

The sun rose; it illuminated the dream world and the sea took on a transparent jelly-like colour under its light. The tides swept over corals and colourful shells before receding rapidly with a swish, and its waters glistened in the sunlight.

Broken pieces of wood floated onto the surface of the sea one after another, then flew towards the bay as they began to reassemble themselves into villages.

The sun rose; walls and roofs looked brightly-coloured under its illumination. One house after another spontaneously constructed itself like they were made out of building blocks. The construction rapidly spread along the harbour adjacent to the mountains that faced the sea and extended all the way to the top of the mountain.

All the vegetation outside the harbour was revived in an instant, and like a magic carpet that unfurled itself in a flash, fresh flowers burst into beautiful blooms.

The sun rose; the mountain ranges turned into snow. A clear river streamed down and passed the green fields before flowing into the sea.

A gentle breeze blew across the forest; the birds that soared overhead chirped and thousands of leaves could be heard rustling. The NPCs began to wake up in succession, and shouts could be heard travelling over from far away.

The blackness of the lighthouse faded and its external walls turned pure white. The “dang, dang” sound of bells rang in the city. Fishing boats bobbed up and down in the waters; when their sails were hoisted, they sailed towards the sea amidst gentle breezes under the sunshine.

The sun has risen, its light shone upon Yu Hao and General.

“Will we meet again?” As Yu Hao watched the blazing sun that was bursting with golden rays of light. General lifted his palm up to Yu Hao’s forehead to shield his eyes from the glare.

“We really won’t meet again this time.”

The two of them fell into a moment of silence. Yu Hao looked sideways at this fairytale-like harbour and said, “I have so many things I want to ask you, but I know you won’t say anything. General, I don’t want to say goodbye to you like this.”

General said, “To tell you the truth, I have always yearned for someone who would still stand before me after countless sunrises and find me once again. On the day you gave me your totem, I……forget it, Yu Hao……”

When he heard this, Yu Hao immediately felt disconcerted.

Yu Hao turned around and questioned, “Where are you? I’ll find you! General! I will come to you!”

“Unfortunately, dreams are just dreams, and they can only stay as dreams. When the sun rises, we have to say goodbye.”

“From today onwards, live a good life. You’ll gradually come to forget me.”

Yu Hao said, “No! I will never forget you!”

“Many years later, your memory will become more and more fuzzy, and you’ll begin to convince yourself that everything was just a dream.”

“Wait!” Yu Hao said, “I still have a lot of things I want to say!”

The hand that General had placed on Yu Hao’s forehead released a golden light; he wanted to press it against Yu Hao, but Yu Hao had raised his own hand and resisted his palm, then intertwined his fingers with General’s.

Yu Hao shouted, “I don’t want to bid farewell to you forever like this! Let me say my goodbyes properly! General!”

Yu Hao turned his body, but General had already covered his forehead with one hand and pressed against it.

“I exist in the sunlight, the winds, between the heavens and the earth, and also in dreams; I’ve always been around, and have never been apart from you. Good night.”

Yu Hao’s whole body disintegrated into particles of light and abruptly scattered in General’s arms; he had been ejected from Shi Ni’s dream.

At daybreak, the sunlight streamed in through the living room’s french windows and shone on Yu Hao’s face. He struggled to open his eyes under the glaring sunlight, and when he remembered the last moment he shared with General in the dreamscape, his heart began to thump wildly like someone was beating a drum in it — it made him a little out of breath.

He looked at his phone, 7.30. Shi Ni should still be asleep. Let her enjoy her dreamscape after the sunrise for a little longer ba.

Chen Yekai still hadn’t replied him. Soon after, Zhou Sheng sent him a message.

【Are you awake? I’m going over now, after I wash up.】

He replied to Zhou Sheng’s message, then stood up to wash up himself while he recalled every detail about General since they had first met. The most difficult thing for people to do was to recognise their own feelings. Yu Hao has always been reluctant to think too much about it before, but even if he didn’t examine it carefully, it would still be there.

Just like how he had actually fallen in love with someone from a dream.

Yu Hao decided to keep a diary and record what he knew about General in it. In reality, after he woke up from the dream, he could barely recall General’s monkey appearance and his voice anymore. Every time he wakes up from these dreams, its details, occurrences and even the conversations he had would gradually fade away like ice cubes in running water, before completely disappearing from his memories.

Only that one moment from his dream — that violent surge of emotions and the impression it had left behind — was still flowing throughout the veins in his body.

Yu Hao tried to type a few lines, yet he could never accurately describe his dreams. So he could only delete them, type it out again, then delete them again; he stubbornly thought that he must write them down, these will become some of the most important memories in his life.

Shi Ni sent him a message, 【Laoshi, are you awake?】

Yu Hao replied to Shi Ni, then Shi Ni said, 【I want to eat McDonald’s breakfast.】

Thus Yu Hao went down to buy breakfast and brought it up to Shi Ni. Shi Ni was wearing her pajamas and looked tired out as she opened the door for him. She said, “Is Zhou Sheng coming over to eat too?”

“He’s coming.” Yu Hao was a little absentminded, his mind was still full of his dreams and General. He answered, “He’ll arrive soon.”

Shi Ni went into her room to change. Yu Hao sat on the sofa and took his phone out to send Zhou Sheng a message.

Suddenly, an audible click from the door lock sounded. He looked up.

Didn’t they say that the nanny won’t be coming today?

Yu Hao quickly smoothed his hair out. He was thinking about how to explain himself when the door opened, and a middle-aged man entered. He closed the door, inserted a key and locked the door again — Shi Liang who was dressed in a down coat had returned.

—