115: Chapter 115: Strangers Don't Appear in Dreams, Ask the Republic of China

"B-Brother!" Xiao Yu looked at the solemn Jiang Zhe. "This 'Wen Gu' thing... isn't it a bit too much?"

"You want to say it's feudal superstition?" He smiled slightly and asked in return, "Xiao Yu, when you've entered a dream, have you ever dreamt of a stranger speaking to you?"

Xiao Yu was stunned by the question and nodded subconsciously. "Yes, but not often. Sometimes it's an old man, sometimes an old lady, and sometimes a Taoist priest or a monk. Isn't that normal? It's just a dream; all sorts of strange things happen!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the viewers in the stream began to chime in.

"Right, right, right! I often dream of strangers!"

"I've dreamt of a general in armor. Based on the suit, it was the Black Armor Army of the Tang Dynasty!"

"I've dreamt of a future city. It was incredibly sci-fi and nine parts beautiful!"

"An old man taught me math problems in a dream, and I actually remembered them after I woke up!"

"To the person above, an immortal was teaching you knowledge in a dream, and you only asked about math? Ask for a damn cultivation method!"

"..."

Jiang Zhe looked at Xiao Yu, his lips curling slightly. "That is exactly what's not normal!"

"A healthy, ordinary person will only dream of things they think about, want, regret, or feel happy about—people from movies, TV shows, or scenes they've seen. They will absolutely not encounter a stranger in a dream!"

"Once one appears, it means that dream is abnormal!"

He paused for a long time. Seeing that Xiao Yu hadn't grasped the answer herself, he spoke plainly: "Xiao Yu, have you ever considered that the strangers in your dreams might be people from... other space-times? People from months ago, years ago, centuries ago, or even the future?"

"Wait, what?"

Xiao Yu's beautiful eyes widened as she took a sharp breath.

For a moment, she couldn't come up with a rebuttal—when ordinary people dream, they fundamentally cannot meet someone they've never seen before?

Xiao Yu shook her head repeatedly. "That feeling... it's just too ethereal!"

Jiang Zhe smiled slightly. "Your brother is here to remind you that all things are in a state of vibration. Even consciousness is a vibration!"

"I've said before: all things are waves!"

He raised both hands in front of Xiao Yu and slowly brought them together. *Clap!* They shut.

"When your consciousness undergoes a brief spiritual communion with someone from another space-time, you simply dismiss it as an ordinary dream!"

"This!!!"

...

Kyoto, the faculty housing of the University of History.

Four old professors stared at the large screen with curiosity.

Professor Liu Guangyi looked bewildered. "Wen Gu? What does that mean? Is it chatting with the ancients?"

"Yes," Professor Chen Runzhi nodded gently. "The fangshi Zuo Ci of the late Eastern Han Dynasty had the ability to enter dreams and communicate with the netherworld. According to records, he could discuss the Dao with the great sages of the Pre-Qin era in his dreams. There are also folk traditions like Fuji and spirit-channeling; these are all special states used to communicate with information sources from different space-times."

"Though not recorded in official histories, such instances are common in unofficial records."

Beside them, Professor Wang, the philosophy professor, had his eyes light up. "This sounds somewhat similar to divination. It's very interesting; consciousness breaking through the limitations of space and time!"

Old Qian rubbed his chubby hands vigorously, looking very expectant and even nine parts eager to try it himself.

...

Gusu First High School, inside the Principal's office.

Hearing Jiang Zhe say this, Principal Fu clapped excitedly. "That's it, that's the vibe! I knew autumn outings were boring. Wen Gu—I know about this. I asked a high monk about it when I visited a temple before. The monk said it's one of the methods to communicate between [Yin and Yang]."

"But as Jiang Zhe said, there are only [past modern people], [present modern people], and [future modern people]."

"Like the reincarnation of Living Buddhas in Tibet—"

"When they are on the verge of death, they instruct their disciples to seek out their reincarnation."

"And Wen Gu is precisely a way of linking the past with the present."

"Let's just not organize the spring outing next year either. We'll just have all the teachers and students in the school watch the livestream together!"

Xiao Wang couldn't help but joke, "Principal, be careful, or the parents will complain that we're spreading feudal superstition!"

"This is superstition?" Principal Fu rolled his eyes at Xiao Wang. "This is clearly a discussion on cutting-edge consciousness, a heavyweight piece of interdisciplinary content!"

The other teachers in the office all burst out laughing.

...

At this time, in the outskirts of Kyoto, at Qingfeng Temple.

After watching several livestreams in a row, the sharpness and arrogance on Zheng Ming's face had diminished significantly. He had to admit that Xiaoyu's brother's knowledge reserve and depth of thought were truly astonishing.

As Jiang Zhe's voice saying "I can do it too" came through...

Zheng Ming couldn't help but shake his head with a cold laugh. "This time he's not even talking about science anymore; he's started spouting nonsense without evidence!"

"It's not necessarily nonsense!" Wang Chongyang, who had been invited by Zheng Ming, said thoughtfully. "Wen Gu... the Zhuangzi says that the 'Perfect Man' has no dreams, yet there is also the saying that the 'True Man' sleeps without dreaming and wakes without worry."

"If Wen Gu can truly connect to the past, perhaps it's not a delusion but an application of consciousness. It's like science; everyone uses it, but no one can state the essence of science—just like why those quanta become synchronously entangled, yet humans can already use it for [quantum communication technology] ahead of time."

Celestial Master Zhang said with half-closed eyes, "This is almost identical to the technique of Traveling the Great Void to communicate with past sages in my Taoism. Even I often fail to reach such a realm. It's a mix of void and reality, hard to distinguish truth from falsehood!"

Zhou Ming shook his head gently; at the very least, he couldn't accept this kind of idealistic knowledge. "From a medical perspective, Wen Gu does not exist. Everything is just the brain reorganizing and splicing fragments of past memory information during deep sleep; it might even combine with subconscious information to form a conversational dream."

On the screen.

On the sofa, Xiao Yu felt the air grow a bit cold. "Brother, for real—the strangers in dreams are people from other space-times?"

"I can't explain if it's true or false," Jiang Zhe said calmly. "How about I demonstrate Wen Gu for you a few times now? If I can inquire of a famous official, perhaps you'll be able to find ancient records of what I ask in old texts."

Hearing this, Xiao Yu's eyes immediately lit up, and she became interested.

"I'll give you a task: find a string of numbers from a past space-time. It must be numbers!"

"Wait for it!" Xiao Yu excitedly opened the student group for the Steel Rain Fan Club on her phone. "Brothers, give me a string of numbers."

At this moment, the viewers in the livestream suddenly became frenzied.

"Holy crap, you're actually doing it?"

"Screen recording started! The highest energy moment in history: he's going to lead us in contacting the ancients live!"

"My materialist heart can't handle this!"

"Selling fake Nine-Revolution Golden Elixirs, Peaches of Immortality, and Innate Spiritual Fruits in the front row to help with the viewing! Keep your pulse pounding!"

"..."

Principal Fu suddenly stood up from his chair. "A demonstration? A live demonstration?"

Zheng Ming pointed at the large screen in shock. "Has he gone mad?"

Taoist Wang Chongyang and Celestial Master Zhang looked at each other, both seeing the gravity in the other's eyes.

They hadn't expected Jiang Zhe to be serious.

Doctor Zhou Ming opened his mouth, wanting to argue "impossible" from a medical standpoint, but when someone was performing a live demonstration, what else could be called impossible?

On the other side, the four old professors—Old Chen, Old Liu, Old Qian, and Old Wang—almost simultaneously leaned closer to the large screen.

Old Chen said solemnly, "Either we are witnessing history, or we are witnessing a reputation being ruined. But I still hope his reputation remains intact!"

In the living room.

Xiao Yu had already obtained the dates provided by the viewers from the Steel Rain student group.

[December 13, the 26th year of the Republic of China, Jinling...]

[July 20, the 26th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, the night before the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Kyoto!]

[March 19, the 17th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the night before Li Zicheng broke into Kyoto!]

[The first year of Jingkang in the Northern Song Dynasty, the 25th day of the leap 11th month, the night before Bianjing fell!]

[...]

Looking at the various heavy dates scrolling across the screen, Xiao Yu felt as if her heart was being gripped, making it hard to breathe.

She pursed her lips and pointed her phone at Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe scanned the screen, and four dates were marked. "We'll start with Jinling. The date might not be exact, but it will definitely be just before or after!"

After giving his instructions, Jiang Zhe took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His breathing gradually became long and slow, and his hands lightly rested on the numerical hexagrams of the I Ching.

Xiao Yu held her breath, staring intently at her brother.

In the livestream, over five million viewers also held their breath in anticipation.

At Qingfeng Temple, the faculty housing, the Principal's office... everyone subconsciously leaned forward.

Jiang Zhe closed his eyes.

The originally quiet living room gradually began to fill with sounds.

The sounds were faint: people running, screaming, accompanied by the occasional sound of bullets being fired.

As time passed, colors began to appear in the darkness before his eyes, and the sounds grew louder and louder!

Jinling, a certain day in December, the 26th year of the Republic of China.

Even though he was in the living room, what Jiang Zhe saw were gray alleys and the ruins of a war-torn city.

A flickering figure of a university student, wearing a blood-stained black student uniform, was repeatedly striking passing Neon soldiers with his fists.

Even though his fists kept passing through the bodies of the Neon soldiers, the student continued to curse angrily: "Beasts! Get out! Get out! Get out!"

Jiang Zhe slowly materialized and looked down. He saw the university student's body lying on the ground with weak breathing—his abdomen had been pierced by a bayonet, and blood was flowing uncontrollably.

Evidently, this was what the consciousness of a dying university student was dreaming of as it began to dissipate.

Jiang Zhe walked slowly forward along the street. What met his eyes was the center of Jinling in ruins. The student on the road suddenly turned his head; his pupils constricted upon seeing Jiang Zhe. He took half a step back and asked warily, "Who are you?"

Jiang Zhe didn't speak, just looked at him.

The student looked Jiang Zhe up and down. His face showed no traces of the war's effects; he had short hair, a black trench coat, and stylish jeans. He was clean and tidy, completely out of place in the war-torn ruins of Jinling.

Confusion and suspicion flashed in his eyes, followed by a sudden light. "You... you aren't from here. Those clothes—I've seen Westerners wear them in newspapers. You're a West... no, you're Chinese!"

Perhaps because the student had received a modern education and didn't believe in superstitions, he stared fixedly at Jiang Zhe. "Are you... are you from the future?"

Hearing this, Jiang Zhe was somewhat surprised. "Why do you ask that?"

"In textbooks and newspapers, it said that in the world of the future, clothes would become more and more fashionable, and styles would change." As the student spoke, his form dimmed slightly, but his eyes lit up. "I know who you are. You're from after we won, aren't you?"

Jiang Zhe was a bit astonished, but he still nodded. "Yes."

The student's whole body swayed. He took a step forward, trying to grab Jiang Zhe, his gaze trembling. "We won... we won! Haha, we really won! I knew we would win! Later on... what did the country become like?"

"As you wished, we won. No one dares to step onto our territory like this anymore, nor will they start a war over a pathetic excuse like a missing soldier!"

The student's mouth hung open as he gasped for air. He looked like he was experiencing a narrow escape, and he seemed to be both crying and laughing; his expression was impossible to decipher.

After a long time, he slowly crouched down and looked at his own "corpse" that still had a breath of life left.

After a while, he looked up and asked with determination, "The soldiers from the North and South are almost all dead. What about Jinling? So many people died. Will the people of the future still remember today? Will they still remember us?"

"They remember," Jiang Zhe's expression gradually became solemn. "They remember every year. Every year, many people from all over the country come here to experience this day."

The student let out a deep breath. After hearing the answer he wanted, he began to let go, and his figure gradually faded.

Finally, the student looked up, wanting to say his name so the person before him would remember him, but then he thought of how he was just one small pawn among the masses.

In the end, this brave university student changed his words: "Never forget the national humiliation; our generation must strengthen ourselves. Thank you!"

As his voice fell, the dying student's dream shattered like dust in the wind and scattered.

The images before Jiang Zhe's eyes vanished instantly; the Wen Gu was forcibly interrupted.