"That bastard left without saying anything. If he'd just spoken to us first, maybe there would have been a way."
Mona Ouyang said angrily, but Yvonne May just shook her head.
"There's nothing we can do. When something heads toward death, the instant is lost from the Old Willow. Even if I forcibly freeze time, in the end, it will only die because time corrects itself."
Yvonne May spoke. I looked at her.
"Is there really not a single way?"
Yvonne May shook her head. I walked over slowly, reaching out a hand. A trace of life force flowed out, but when it entered the Old Willow, there was no reaction at all, as if it had vanished into the void.
"Instinct... coexistence... rebirth..."
For a moment, I felt a sense of deathly stillness. The Old Willow before me was like a stone, completely unresponsive. No matter how much life force I poured in, there was never any reaction.
"It's useless, Rachel Lan. Don't waste your effort. Once something is dead, no matter how much you want it to live again, it's impossible. Plants aren't like people—death is death. There's no afterlife, no reincarnation."
I swallowed, my heart sour and uncertain what to do. I slapped the Old Willow, and fragments of its hard bark began to fall away.
"Now the only option left is the precognitive dream. It might be the only way to find out where Basil Bertram really is. Fortunately, we've pinpointed the exact location of your precognitive dream, so at least you'll be a bit safer."
I looked at Mona Ouyang in surprise.
"The tree is already dead. Why am I still having those precognitive dreams?"
I asked, and Mona Ouyang shook her head.
"What you saw is what's about to happen—the moment Basil Bertram died. The Old Willow we see now is dead, but that doesn't mean Basil Bertram is dead. Maybe it's not that he doesn't want to contact us or tell us anything, but that he simply can't."
I looked at Mona Ouyang in shock, and Yvonne May sighed.
"Trees have no thoughts, no words, and no vision. Maybe Basil Bertram isn't even a ghost anymore. Because of the Old Willow's death, the part of him that was a ghost has been dragged into death too. So his consciousness, perception, speech, and thinking are now just like the tree's. That's why we can't find him. It's like that sea of trees—can you pick out a single tree from it?"
I shook my head. After dark, we went down the mountain, planning to investigate here. Leah King also decided to stay with us for a few days, and Lynn Yuan arranged rooms for us.
Leah King and I were assigned to a room together. Tonight, Mona Ouyang said it was essential for me to enter the precognitive dream and locate Basil Bertram. Only then could they figure out what to do. The precognitive dream isn't just about the result—there's also the cause and the process. It's complete, but I can't see everything because of how long I sleep. The dream is whole, but people who feel it's incomplete after waking usually left the dream early because of their bodies, so they didn't see it all.
Luckily, my precognitive dream showed me the result of Basil Bertram's death. Otherwise, they wouldn't have known he was in serious trouble. If we'd been any slower, we wouldn't have had a chance at all.
The reason this is just a trial is to see how the precognitive dream actually begins. Only then can we know what Basil Bertram did and follow that trail to find out where he is. Now it's certain—after the ziyan flowers bloom, Basil Bertram will die here. And the ziyan flowers are set to bloom in less than a month.
This is our final deadline. If we can't find a way, Basil Bertram will definitely die. Mona Ouyang has made it clear—this is the precognitive dream, and what you dream really comes true.
"Are you hiding something from me?"
Leah King and I were assigned to a room. Just as we were about to sleep, she asked me. I shook my head.
"You look pale. You've been like this since we came back from the mountain, and when you saw the Old Willow, it was as if you saw something terrifying."
Watching Leah King wanting to know the truth, I refused her.
"Sorry, Leah King. I'll tell you everything when it's over. But the only thing I can say now is that I have to find your fan, and if I'm late, it'll be too late. This is important, so please don't ask anything, okay?"
In the end, Leah King nodded.
For some reason, I felt nervous after lying down. The more nervous I got, the harder it was to sleep. Leah King was already asleep. I looked at her soft expression—she hadn't been back in years, and suddenly returning made her so happy.
I was still thinking about how to fall asleep when, out of nowhere, a chill swept over me. I jumped in fright as Yvonne May entered the room.
"Hurry up and fall asleep."
I murmured in response. It was already midnight, and Mona Ouyang was still waiting for me to fall asleep and start dreaming, so he could pull me into the dream he created and send me into my previous precognitive dream.
But even after one o'clock, I still couldn't sleep. Helpless, I got up and took a shower. Lying down again, I still felt restless. I didn't know why—maybe it was just too much weighing on my mind.
Finally, after holding out until 2 a.m., I fell asleep.
In a daze, I opened my eyes. Mona Ouyang looked at me, clearly annoyed.
"Why did you only come now? There's not enough time. If you get woken up, it could be dangerous."
"Why?"
Mona Ouyang began to explain. The precognitive dream is different from ordinary dreams, because what you see in it really exists. So when you enter it, it's like your consciousness truly travels into the precognitive dream, and everything you see is something that has happened or is about to happen. Ordinary dreams are just products of imagination, but this is completely different.
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And the deeper you go into the precognitive dream, the more dangerous it gets. If something goes wrong, you might not be able to come back—that's what Mona Ouyang meant by 'dangerous.' So tonight, his earlier plan was to use his power to anchor me, and once I went in, if anything happened, he'd pull me back into the dream he created.
Most crucially, time in the dream and time outside are two completely different concepts. In the dream, only a short while might pass, but in reality, you could have been asleep for hours. When you wake up, the dream is just a few fragmented scenes, but in reality, hours—or even longer—have gone by.
This is the hardest part to control. When things are uncertain, Yvonne May has to keep a close watch nearby to make sure nothing wakes me up. But I might wake up on my own, so at that point Yvonne May has to freeze my time, then use the sleeping Leah King beside me to let me know I'm about to wake up. That way, Mona Ouyang can pull me out of the precognitive dream in time. The whole process is complicated and dangerous.
"Why don't you give me a good dream? At a critical moment, maybe I could use it to..."
Before I could finish, Mona Ouyang shook his head.
"It won't work. A good dream is just another kind of ordinary dream. The precognitive dream is like a completely different world, so it can't have any effect."
After a while, Mona Ouyang warned me about a lot of things—especially to treat everything as if it were happening in the real world. He even changed my clothes into a set of gray, unisex clothing. I was surprised—it was a gray hoodie, suitable for anyone.
"Remember, everything you do in the dream will affect what happens in reality. It's a bit like going back to the past, but even if you do, time will correct those mistakes. But in a precognitive dream, time can't fix them. You must remember—do nothing. Take this bell."
As he spoke, Mona Ouyang handed me a small black bell with a skull in the center.
"This will make ordinary people unable to see you. Remember—if anything happens, ring the bell. I'll come right away and pull you out."
I swallowed. Then, in an instant, the world around me changed. Mona Ouyang and I were floating in a red corridor—a passage in the dream. Ahead was a white door, my core dream. Beside it was a warm yellow light. I swallowed again. A purple current wrapped around me, and then I vanished.
"You can go in now."
I murmured in response, drifting to the warm yellow door and diving inside. Instantly, I felt the soft earth beneath my feet. I looked around—there were vast fields, and I stood on a ridge, surrounded by old, low houses. Not far away, on a small hill, things had changed, but I recognized it. I saw a farmhouse outside the paddy fields, with the laughter of children coming from inside. I tried to use my power and found I could. I walked over from the ridge, saw the courtyard door open, and saw Lynn Yuan—she looked only about thirty, scolding some mischievous kids.
By the gate, I saw the sign for XX Orphan Relief Home. The houses inside were all single-story bungalows, not very big.
It must have been dusk. On the hill not far away, the weeds were thick, and there was no Old Willow. Then I heard a car engine—a green, old-fashioned jeep. Weren't those Basil Bertram and Jing Yu inside?
I jumped in fright as an invisible force yanked me far away.