Wei Sheng Jin?
Hearing that name sent a jolt through Lin Xian’s mind. Memories came flooding back. This name—he could never forget it.
The first time he encountered it was in his very first dream, the first time he met Big Cat Face, the first time he was roped into robbing a bank. That moment marked the beginning of everything...
After using Big Cat Face’s C4 explosive and cracking the security door’s password, Lin Xian found himself in a warehouse filled with safes embedded in the walls. He vividly remembered one safe in particular: it was on the right, next to his own, and it was engraved with the name Wei Sheng Jin. That name had stuck with him ever since.
Now, nearly two years had passed. He had forgotten the name on the safe to the left of his, but Wei Sheng Jin’s name was still fresh in his mind.
During that first dream, in the final moments, Lin Xian, Big Cat Face, and CC decided to use an industrial acetylene torch to cut open the safes. CC was worried that the heat might damage the contents inside, so she suggested they try cutting open Wei Sheng Jin’s safe first before attempting Lin Xian’s. Although their plan ultimately failed because of an unexpected reaction with the special aluminum alloy, Big Cat Face did manage to heat Wei Sheng Jin’s safe until it was red-hot.
In the second dream, when Time Bank went bankrupt, the safes were discarded like trash and transported to a junkyard. Lin Xian spotted Wei Sheng Jin’s aluminum alloy safe immediately—it was in the first batch to arrive.
He never imagined that this legendary figure, who had occupied his thoughts for so long, would appear now, in the fifth dream, in a primeval forest 600 years into the future!
Lin Xian couldn’t resist stepping forward and shaking the old man’s hand. “It’s an honor to meet you!”
The white-haired old man tilted his head, studying Lin Xian carefully. “Young man, do we know each other? Have we met before?”
Lin Xian nodded. “To be honest, Mr. Wei, I also had an aluminum alloy safe at Time Bank. Our safes were right next to each other—we were neighbors for hundreds of years.”
Wei Sheng Jin frowned. “That can’t be right. What’s your name, young man?”
“Lin Xian,” he replied. “Lin, as in the forest, and Xian, as in the strings of a zither. Do you remember, sir? My safe was engraved long before yours, back when Time Bank was first established—maybe even before that.”
“Lin Xian... Xian...” Wei Sheng Jin shook his head. “That’s impossible. Even though I’ve lost some memories and can’t remember much about the aluminum alloy safe, I planned for this. When I set up the password at Time Bank, I took pictures of the password dial and stored them in my memory journal to remind myself after I woke up from hibernation.”
“The photos clearly show that the safes on either side of mine had foreign names. The one on the left was in English, and the one on the right looked like Russian... I’m quite certain the safes on either side of mine couldn’t have been yours.”
Now it was Lin Xian’s turn to be stunned.
He was sure their safes had been next to each other in the first dream. But in the second dream, it was hard to say. By the time Lin Xian had entered the Time Bank warehouse, the safes had already been removed from the cement walls, and their original arrangement was unknown.
In the third and fourth dreams, he hadn’t even entered Time Bank, so he had no idea what was inside.
Could it be that a slight butterfly effect in space-time had separated their safes?
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
He recalled a detail: in both the first and second dreams, the safes didn’t have numbers. Each safe had a nameplate with only a name—no numerical identifier.
But in the Time Bank warehouse, re-established by Brother Wang in 2024 after receiving his investment, the safes were engraved with numbers for some reason. On the first day the aluminum alloy safes were delivered, Brother Wang had generously given Lin Xian safe number 66, hoping for luck and prosperity.
Lin Xian rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Could it be... The reason the safes in the first and second dreams didn’t have numbers was because there were fewer of them? Brother Wang had said he didn’t have grand ambitions when he first founded Time Bank. It was just a hobby, a childhood dream, and he didn’t plan to expand too much. He only intended to make a few dozen, maybe a hundred safes—so there was no need for numbering.
But after receiving his investment and support, and expanding into a range of financial services, Brother Wang had custom-made over 200 aluminum alloy safes in the first batch. Maybe... as the number of customers at Time Bank increased, he would order a second batch and a third batch of aluminum alloy safes?
“What’s your safe number?” Wei Sheng Jin asked directly.
“My number is 724. What’s yours?”
Lin Xian realized he had guessed correctly and replied, “Mine is 66.”
“Oh~~” Wei Sheng Jin nodded in understanding. “Then our safes definitely weren’t next to each other... With such a low number, you must have lived in the early days of Time Bank. Judging by your young appearance... you must have gone into hibernation not long after buying the safe, right?”
“Actually, based on our birth years, I should be the one calling you ‘sir.’ You’re at least several hundred years older than me... But the hibernation law states that the time spent in hibernation doesn’t count toward actual age, so age is calculated based on active time.”
I see, Lin Xian thought. He made a mental note of this fact. It seemed that in this era, birth year and actual age didn’t correspond to each other at all.
Even though Wei Sheng Jin was born several hundred years after Lin Xian, he was still Lin Xian’s elder.
Lin Xian had already noticed that Wei Sheng Jin probably had a gun hidden at his waist. He had almost pulled it on Lin Xian earlier. But after just a few words, Wei Sheng Jin seemed to trust him, his demeanor relaxed.
Now that he had gained Wei Sheng Jin’s trust, it was time to gather some information about what had happened in this future world, this fifth dream.
“Mr. Wei, I have a few questions for you.” Lin Xian gestured to the dense forest around them. “Since you’re here looking for the aluminum alloy safe from Time Bank, you must know that this place was once Donghai City in X Country, right? It was a bustling international metropolis... So why is it like this now? Where are the buildings? Where are the people?”
Wei Sheng Jin chuckled, unsurprised by Lin Xian’s question. “Judging by your reaction, you didn’t receive any [Historical Education] after waking up, did you? Or maybe you received it but didn’t believe it? Normally, after waking from hibernation, we’re given our memory journals, memory recordings... and we’re supposed to undergo official [Historical Education] to understand the history of these years.”Thê source of this conte/nt n/o/v/(el)bi((n))
Lin Xian didn’t answer Wei Sheng Jin’s question. He was deep in thought.
He understood why there was only one Earth-Mars shuttle every two years.
Because Earth and Mars have different orbital periods, even though they both revolve around the sun, their relative positions constantly change. When Earth is farthest from Mars, the distance is about 400 million kilometers; when they are closest, it’s only 55 million kilometers—a difference of eight times.
And the point where Earth and Mars are closest occurs only once every two years, which is why the “Earth-Mars shuttle” only runs every two years.
The limited schedule made it clear... Mars’ technological level, especially its space technology, wasn’t very advanced. It was likely still in the early stages of development, with no significant new technologies emerging.
This meant that humanity hadn’t yet ventured beyond the solar system, although there had been some progress compared to the previous dreams. At least they had reached Mars.
Lin Xian could understand why Wei Sheng Jin said that people on Mars didn’t want to return to Earth. It was similar to how, in 2024, if you asked people who wanted to live on Mars... few would agree, as everyone considered Earth their home and subconsciously preferred it.
The same principle applied. People on Mars would naturally prefer Mars. Even if Earth was better, it was primitive and backward—no electricity, no internet, no advanced transportation... How could it compare to the comfort of living on Mars?
“Is Elon Musk still alive?” Lin Xian asked a question that concerned him.
Wei Sheng Jin shook his head. “He passed away long ago, decades ago. Although he went through several rounds of hibernation, he lived a long life. His actual age was over a hundred, which was covered in the [Historical Education]... I can see you didn’t pay attention to it at all.”
“But his SpaceX company still exists and is the central organization that controls all activities on Mars. We Martians have great respect and admiration for Elon Musk and SpaceX.”
“So...” Lin Xian spread his hands, taking a deep breath of the fresh, natural air, feeling that no amount of money could make him leave Earth. “Does that mean there are no humans living on Earth anymore?”
“There are still quite a few,” Wei Sheng Jin replied. “But Earth and Mars have been isolated for so long, and there’s no accurate count of how many people live on Earth... However, experts estimate that it’s no more than 20 million. And those people are scattered all over the planet, unable to unite, and productivity is low.”
“Some say that the living standards on Earth now are similar to those of the Middle Ages, around the 5th to 15th centuries. But I have no concept of that—we’re completely unfamiliar with such ancient history. Detailed historical records only start from the year 2400.”
Historical records. Lin Xian picked up on this keyword.
In the first dream, the second dream, and even the third dream, history was very vague, and it was nearly impossible to find detailed historical records before the 2300s. That was one of the few commonalities among these different future worlds.
How did history become so fragmented?
Lin Xian hadn’t figured it out in the previous dreams. But in this fifth dream, Wei Sheng Jin made it clear that there were two main reasons:
The global super disaster that nearly wiped out human civilization.
The memory loss from hibernation, leaving old Earth humans who crossed time with blank minds.
Suddenly, Lin Xian realized something deeply unsettling.
Was the history Wei Sheng Jin recounted really true?
According to him, the people living on Mars fall into two categories. One group is the native-born Martians, who naturally receive Mars’ local historical education. The other group is like Wei Sheng Jin, old Earth humans who woke up from hibernation with blank minds. They, too, have to receive historical education... Like a blank sheet of paper, whatever is written on it is believed.
So...
“Mr. Wei.” Lin Xian looked into Wei Sheng Jin’s eyes. “Do you truly believe the historical education you received is accurate?”
“Of course I believe it!” Wei Sheng Jin answered without hesitation. “Otherwise, how could I have survived those hundreds of years in hibernation?”
Lin Xian didn’t respond.
He realized that Wei Sheng Jin was still trapped in a spiral of logic, his perception completely shaped by the so-called [Historical Education], his thoughts unable to break free from that circle.
But Lin Xian couldn’t shake the feeling that the events of the past few centuries were far more complicated than Wei Sheng Jin’s account.
There had to be more to the story!
He looked up, gazing through the gaps in the dense branches at the blazing sun in the sky.
What secrets does this fifth dream hold?
“It seems... I need to find a local Earthling to get some answers!”