Chapter 34 People Outside the Dream and People Inside the Dream

In Chu Prefecture, sunlight gently penetrated the carved windows, casting mottled patches of light and shadow throughout Shen Qi's boudoir.

Shen Qi sat quietly by the window, her hands slowly stroking the Thunder Command Talisman that Yun Bai had gifted her.

At this moment, Shen Qi's eyes were vacant. She parted her lips slightly and whispered softly, "Just how dangerous will the battle on the Cang Plains be..."

A tremor unconsciously laced her voice.

During these days, Yun Bai was always rushing about outside and rarely returned home.

During this time, Yun Qian and Shen Qi became the closest of playmates. They were similar in age, shared compatible temperaments, and as they spent time together, their bond grew deeper, as close as sisters.

Now, in this spacious residence, only Shen Qi and her mother were left to depend on each other. For some reason, Shen Qi's heart always felt empty, as if a piece were missing. Originally, she had Yun Qian's company, but now, Yun Qian had also embarked on a new journey.

Relying on her extraordinary talent for Formation, Yun Qian followed her teacher, Du San, to Huangyang Town for training, constantly advancing toward a higher Realm.

In contrast, Shen Qi faced countless difficulties and struggled at every step on the path to Cultivate. No matter how hard she tried or gave her all, she could not even achieve the most basic task of absorbing Spiritual Qi.

Yun Qian had patiently comforted her, saying that her talent for perceiving Spiritual Qi had not yet undergone Awakening, and that once the spirit connection platform was built, the flow of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi would be smoother, giving her a chance to embark on the path to Cultivate.

Shen Qi was half-skeptical about this, yet whenever she thought of the countless people working day and night, sparing no effort for the completion of the spirit connection platform, her heart could not help but tighten.

Speaking of Yun Bai, Shen Qi herself could not clearly say when she had begun to develop feelings of love for him.

Perhaps it was when Yun Bai said the words "People-oriented," that his firm and profound gaze, as well as his extraordinary demeanor of caring for the world, had deeply touched her heart; perhaps it was the warm and delicate side of life he showed when helping in the kitchen that made her feel fond of him;

Or perhaps it was from the stories Yun Qian told that she felt Yun Bai's reliability and gentleness as an older brother; or perhaps it was the tall figure of Yun Bai standing up without hesitation to protect her when facing the Chen family's wicked servants that made her unable to forget him.

This fondness did not have a thrilling beginning; it was just like spring rain quietly nourishing all things, taking deep root in the bottom of Shen Qi's heart without her realizing it.

Shen Qi had also warned herself that perhaps it was because she and her mother had drifted outside for too long, and now, thanks to Yun Bai's help, they had this stable life, so she truly found it hard to let go of these feelings in her heart.

Yun Bai had always treated her with the courtesy of a gentleman and had never had any inappropriate thoughts.

But deep in her heart, there was always a sense of unwillingness—unwillingness to merely maintain such a plain relationship—and she secretly hoped for more possibilities with Yun Bai.

Just as she was immersed in her thoughts, the crisp and pleasant sound of a transmission bell came from outside the door.

Shen Qi felt puzzled, rose slowly, carefully put away the Talisman in her hand, and walked slowly toward the door.

She gently pushed open the door and saw Supervisor Zhou Shengtai, the managing Elder of the State Religion, standing outside. Supervisor Zhou Shengtai's expression was grave, and several people behind him were carrying a stretcher.

When Shen Qi's gaze fell upon the person on the stretcher, her face instantly turned as pale as paper.

"Big Brother Yun Bai!" Shen Qi shouted in her heart, feeling her heart suddenly contract with pain.

Subsequently, her mind went blank, buzzing, and everything around her became blurry.

She could not remember clearly what happened afterward, only that the world before her seemed to be shaking violently.

She also did not remember when Elder Zhou and the others had left. When she finally came to her senses, only Big Brother Yun Bai, who was lying quietly on the bed, remained before her eyes.

When would Big Brother Yun Bai wake up? This question circled in her mind at every moment.

Her mother would often come to Big Brother Yun Bai's room to carefully look after Big Brother Yun Bai with her.

And when Shen Qi was not paying attention, her mother, Yang Peilan, was quietly watching her with a worried gaze, inadvertently letting out a sigh so faint it was almost inaudible.

Actually, Yun Bai's situation was not that pessimistic.

Or rather, detonating the black hole and falling into a coma was intentional.

Before falling into a coma, he found time to put the "gods coffin" into his Storage Pouch.

The "gods coffin" mentioned by the Demon Race was actually modified from the wreckage of their spaceship.

Yun Bai's true purpose was to avoid inspection by the State Religion.

Before breaking into the Restriction, there were many onlooking State Religion Cultivators behind him.

Seeing Yun Bai venture deep alone, the State Religion Elders would definitely notice.

Traces of the Demon Race's experimental core would be hard for the State Religion to miss. For things like the "gods coffin," the State Religion would definitely demand it be handed over.

He evaporated all traces through the black hole; no one knew exactly what happened here except him.

The only thing he had to gamble on was whether the State Religion would check his Storage Pouch.

In fact, he won the bet.

Supervisor Zhou Shengtai and the others did not suspect anything, thinking only that Yun Bai was young and reckless and had fallen into the Demon Race's trap.

Inside Yun Bai's consciousness.

Everything was Chaos, only the System's data stream flickered like faint starlight.

"Warning! Unknown attack detected!"

"Warning! Unknown attack detected!"

"Warning! Unknown attack detected!"

The System's alarm sounded sharply.

Before Yun Bai could react, his Sea of Consciousness trembled violently, and a powerful force tore his consciousness to pieces.

When he regained consciousness, the sight before him made his pupils shrink—

Metallic cabin walls, flickering instrument panels, the roar of the spaceship engine in his ears; everything was so familiar and heart-stopping. He was actually on the spaceship "universe shuttle no. 1-117"!

Yun Bai stood frozen, his mind blank.

His fingers trembled as he touched the cold cabin wall, and memories flooded in like a tide.

The days and nights he had spent here, the times he fought side-by-side with his teammates, now seemed so illusory yet real.

"System? System!" He called out urgently in his Sea of Consciousness.

"I am here." The System was waiting for his call as always.

"What just happened?" Yun Bai asked quickly.

"Based on the analysis of brain signal waves, you just experienced a brief trance. The signal fluctuated violently, which may lead to hallucinations and other abnormalities. Based on past cases, it is likely a psychological issue caused by long-term sleep during deep space missions." The System responded calmly.

"Then what was I doing just now?"

"You are performing the 37th deep space exploration mission, and you were just conducting the final safety check before deep space exploration."

"Time!" Yun Bai's speech was rapid, his pale lips trembling.

"It is now the 468th stellar day of the New Universe Era, at the 8th hour, 49th minute."

"This is exactly one hour before the spaceship accident!" Yun Bai's pupils shrank.

He rushed out of the cabin; outside was a deep space corridor.

The fluorescent emergency lights on the metal cabin walls were flashing at an irregular frequency, cutting the corridor into cages of alternating light and shadow.

When his tactical boot soles crushed the ground, a slippery sensation came—that was condensate that had seeped out after the spaceship's life support System failed, accumulating into thin ice on the metal plates, reflecting his pale face.

A sense of unease welled up in his heart. Yun Bai suddenly remembered the terrible outcome of the impending spaceship accident—it was that time, for unknown reasons, the spaceship accident claimed the lives of all team members. He and his younger sister Yun Qian were forced to be Reincarnation through biological pods!

But the scene in front of him made Yun Bai doubt—could the spaceship accident, Reincarnation, and Cultivate fighting all be his own daylight hallucinations?

Could the eighteen years after Reincarnation be just a dream? Were the Demon Race, State Religion, Cultivators, and gods he encountered all his fantasies? But the battle with the Demon Race just now was so real; how could it be fake?

"The 37th deep space supply mission..."

Yun Bai stared at the mottled name tag hanging on his chest. When his fingertips brushed over his name, a real burning pain came from his fingertips.

The edge of this titanium alloy plate still had the word "Home" he had carved with a laser cutter last year, now glowing with a cold, hard light in the dim blue light.

"Bang!" A cracking sound.

Yun Bai knew very well what that was—the sound of the spaceship cabin hull colliding due to unstable cabin pressure.

He turned his head to look.

The observation window on the front right reflected distorted star trails, and the reinforced glass, which should have been transparent, was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, looking exactly like the soul body of the Black-robed Demon that had cracked before it died.

"Wrong!"

He turned around abruptly and ran wildly toward the source of the accident in his memory. The sound of his footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, and every step felt like it was stepping on his heart.