Chapter 1：A Dream

That strange and distorted sky looked extremely frightening at this point.

In this world, gray seemed to be the main color scheme. Gray tall buildings, gray alloyed road surfaces, gray traffic lights… gray skies. Three extremely gray, large spheres were suspended high in the skies as well.

This was a dead, metallic world.

Was this a wasteland?

Walking within the quiet, steel forest; I couldn't help but think. However, this place was different from how I imagined a wasteland would be. No signs of destruction could be seen. From a casual glance, the cold, steel surfaces here did not bear any scars. They seemed to have been abandoned not because of severe damage; in fact, this place seemed to have entered into a slumber, just like a huge beast deep in sleep. This was the more appropriate description that I could come up with.

This sleeping world was just so quiet; my footsteps became the only sounds I could hear. After walking for God-knows-how-long, I finally felt a little tired. I found some sort of take-off and landing platform and rested there.

As there was still some time before I left—being extremely bored, I started once again to size up the three extremely large metallic spheres in the sky. They were so huge and seemed to almost take up one-third of the entire sky. On their surfaces, I could vaguely see countless sharp protrusions and lines that seemed to form a grid. These spheres felt like huge planetary fortresses in science-fiction movies. To be honest, everything in this world was more science-fiction than any movie out there.

Just like that, I stared at the three huge planet-like metallic spheres until they made me feel so pressured that I had no choice but to avert my gaze.

It seemed as if they were a little closer to the surface than before.

In fact, they were indeed nearing the surface. The first time I had come to this place, they were but three small black dots suspending high in the skies. However, every subsequent time I entered this world, they would grow closer and closer. Sometimes, they would grow a little closer; other times, they would grow much closer in one shot. At times, their movements were so slow that if I didn't observe closely enough, I wouldn't even have noticed they had moved. However, I knew that they continued their descent; perhaps one day, they might come into contact with the surface. Who knew what changes there would be to this world if that happened? The thoroughly bored me was rather expectant of such an event.

"I haven't found it…" A voice suddenly rang out and filled the skies. After that, the entire world started to shake, and I knew that it was once again time for me to leave.

Ding-Ling-Ling…!

A sudden burst of sound from the alarm clock summoned me from the depths of my dream as I opened my eyes with much effort. I shook my mind furiously as my surroundings flashed and finally stabilized. After a while, I finally woke up completely from that strange and inexplicable dream.

What a strange dream it was…

Some time ago—I don't remember when—I had started to have this strange dream. Within it, I was always walking alone in a dead silent metallic world. Within this world, my surroundings seemed to mirror the future—an apocalyptic, bleak aura seemed to emanate throughout this world. However, regardless of how pressurizing and suffocating the surroundings were, I never felt fear in the dream. It seemed as if everything around me was what I was used to already. Every single time—when the dream ended, a voice would ring out. This voice was extremely disappointed and would always say, "I haven't found it…"

However, to date, this voice refused to tell me what it was looking for…

This voice… what was it looking for? Or perhaps… was it expecting me to find something?

Unfortunately, I had never found an answer to this question.

I had never mentioned this dream to anyone before. Although I didn't know what it entailed, my instincts told me that this dream was something special… and that if I told this secret rashly to others, I would bring much trouble to myself.

"Monday…" I grumbled as I dragged myself unwillingly out of bed. As it was early winter, I couldn't help it but shudder. However, I finally successfully managed to resist the temptation of my warm bed. If I didn't hurry, I would definitely be late for class. At the very least, I had to show up on time once before my form teacher forgot how I looked.

My name is Chen Jun. I am in my third year in high school; I'm an orphan without any parents or siblings. When I was younger, a merchant couple adopted me. After they had passed on, I was only left with a sister five years older than me to whom I didn't have a biological connection. Life was as bland and tasteless as a glass of plain water.

The only saving grace was that this plain water wasn't only tap water: my sister and I had inherited a considerable fortune that made our lives better-off than other orphans. My sister—who, from a young age, took up managing the household—also took rather good care of me; I still could feel the warmth of having kin at least.

While I was still thinking if last night's dream had been any different from normal, my sister's voice rang out from outside my door. "Ah Jun, are you awake? It's about time!"

"Oh, I'm coming!" I answered as I hurriedly tidied up my bed, got dressed, put my socks on—taking my left sock off and putting it on my right instead before abruptly realizing that socks could be worn on either side—and finally scrambled to open my room door. If I had woken up earlier, things wouldn't have been so exciting.

Outside the door was a long-haired beautiful girl. She wore a plain long dress and a slight smile on her face. She held onto a turner and a kitchen knife. Speaking of which, this dangerous habit of hers had still not been changed.

This was the sister of the couple that had adopted me, Chen Qing. She was five years older than me. Although she looked gentle and a little feeble—to be able to raise me back then and take care of the family finances all this while, her tenacity and strength were without question. Furthermore, in all aspects, I felt that my sister was probably the strongest person in this world—with no one to rival her. This was my impression from personal experiences.

"What is it, Ah Jun? Is there something on my face?" Perhaps she was a little embarrassed at how I was looking at her, my sister's face reddened as she asked with fluster.

"Ah, it's nothing; I was just thinking of something. I'll head to school now, then!"

"Eh—wait, wait. You haven't eaten yet…"

"There's no time; I'll leave first!"

…

Cang Lan Private High School was a true-blue school for the wealthy and elite. Besides its exorbitant school fees, its standard of education was very high and surpassed all ordinary public schools. This renowned institution had become a place where ordinary students wouldn't even dream of getting in. To be able to study here, students had to come from extremely wealthy families or influential ones.

The only alternative was to be a super genius that ranked among the top in the entire country. After all, for a school to progress and advance, money itself was insufficient. The school needed some talented students that they could harp on. To sum up, this was a school that from all aspects was suitable for even an idol talent show: Cinderella and Prince Charming could come to this place, the finest of the finest. This place could immediately be used for filming even without having to gather actors and actresses.

I had explained so much about this school because my school was… right opposite this school.

The District K Second Middle School, my middle school. Just from its name, it could be told how rustic and normal this school was; it couldn't be any more ordinary than it already was. Juxtaposing it to the royally and fancy Cang Lan Private High School right opposite it was just like comparing Paris with Chang Li. The students in District K Second Middle School were naturally ordinary; most of us couldn't even tell what the brands of the clothes of the students from Cang Lan Private High School were. Having two so vastly different schools just divided by a main road also resulted in this area becoming a famous sightseeing place.

I am one such student of this school. After all, although my Big Sister and I were not from a poor family, we were still far from the required standards to enter this private school. I was also not the type of genius that could enter this private school through my brains, having to guess and gamble my way through multiple-choice questions normally.

"Ah Jun!" A crisp voice rang out behind me. My head turned, and I saw a short-haired, petite girl running towards me. Her dress flayed and danced as she ran as if a flower blown by the wind; only the wind now was a little stronger than that.

This girl's name was Xu Qianqian. She was one of my best friends, and we have known each other since we were young. However, her family moved to another part of the city after entering junior middle school, and we met less frequently. However, that did not affect my relationship with Qianqian at all. Furthermore, after entering this school that had both a junior and middle school section, we realized that both of us were enrolling in the same school; and we seemed to have returned to the good old days of going to school together.

Under ordinary circumstances, such chummy buddies from young would most likely become attached; I thought so as well and that the rest of my life was settled already. In fact, both of us thought the same way. However, because of whatever reason, we ultimately did not develop to that stage and continued this relationship that was somewhat between best buddies and an attached couple. As for the reason for this… perhaps we were too familiar with each other?

That might really have been the problem. After all, Qianqian was someone that I even knew how many times had wet the bed; it might have been hard to develop affection for her.

"Ah Jun, what are you thinking about?" Qianqian walked briskly to me and asked slightly unhappily.

"Oh, I'm explaining to my readers the female lead…"

Qianqian, "…?"

Just at this moment, a bunch of people that had gathered not far from us caught our attention.