The color of the sky remained unchanged—though it had grown darker, it was still gray. I heard footsteps and turned around. Susie approached, her expression tense. I smiled at her.
"It's so late—you're still awake?"
"We exist in a world like this, Ethan Zhang."
I nodded.
There's still hope.
Suddenly, I stood up.
Susie looked at me, and finally, she nodded.
"It's you who gave us hope. Nolan said you’d find a way."
I laughed, then looked at Susie and nodded seriously.
"I keep my word—there will be a way." With that, I flew toward the East Quarter. What I needed now were weapons. I had to enter the Dream Realm and get them.
The only way to make this possible is to send another dream to Hugh Thompson. With the weapons we have now, there's simply no chance of defeating so many Dream Wraiths. John Chou reminded me of this—I'm a modern man.
I entered the building where John Chou lived. Inside the palace, the lights were still blazing. At the entrance, I saw Nathan Ouyang, looking restless as he discussed something with several others.
"Brother, have you thought of anything?" Nathan Ouyang asked, his voice tense.
I smiled at John Chou and nodded.
"As long as we can retrieve weapons from the dream, we can take on those Dream Wraiths, right?" I said.
"That's right, brother. But getting that many weapons isn't easy. And remember, the dream has to be real enough. If you want to find guns for these people, they can't just be paper cutouts. Bows, arrows, knives, swords—even those are tricky. Guns? Even more so." John Chou shook his head.
"Hugh Thompson can do it," I said firmly.
As I spoke, memories surfaced—when I entered Hugh Thompson's dream, everything was so vivid. Every object around him was crystal clear. Even the glass of red wine he handed me that night—the color of the wine, the style of the glass—everything was sharply defined. Only in Hugh Thompson's dream could I see the faces of everyone involved so clearly.
At that moment, I remembered: in Hugh Thompson's dream, anyone connected to him appeared with perfect clarity. That dream felt more real than anything else, especially when Hugh Thompson changed the dreamscape. Everything I saw was nearly identical to reality.
I told all this to John Chou. He let out a thoughtful 'oh' and looked at me.