Luo Qing was baffled.
He hadn’t even done anything to Makoto—hadn’t kissed her, hadn’t touched her—yet here she was, interrogating him like a resentful wife about what he had done with Layla.
What could he possibly have done?
It was only their first meeting!
At most, he had touched her feet.
After explaining for what felt like forever, Luo Qing finally extricated himself and retreated to his room.
All he wanted was a good night’s sleep before heading to the Sanctuary of Surasthana the next day to see if he could communicate with Nahida.
As soon as he lay down, drowsiness swept over him. Closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep.
But whether he was entering a dream or waking from one, he couldn’t tell.
—
The sound of cicadas filled Luo Qing’s ears, breaking his sleep.
Feeling the sunlight streaming through the window, he had no choice but to get up.
“Does Sumeru even have cicadas?”
Rubbing his eyes, he sat up in bed.
He was about to ask Rosalyne what time it was when he noticed something shocking.
The room had completely changed.
It was no longer the wood-scented, domed structure of Sumeru, but a modern rectangular bedroom.
“What the…”
Luo Qing felt a wave of dizziness as fragmented, illogical memories flitted through his mind.
It was disorienting, yet felt inexplicably natural.
“Wasn’t I in Sumeru City? How did I end up back here?”
His gaze landed on the computer desk in the corner. The RGB-lit PC case cast a colorful glow, and three monitors displayed a familiar scene. The bottom-right corner of the screen showed the date and time.
“This is… that day…”
The fragmented memories pieced themselves together, and Luo Qing remembered: this was the day he transmigrated to Teyvat.
He had been an orphan, growing up in an orphanage until he struck out on his own at sixteen. Eventually, he became a small-time streamer.
Though his earnings were modest, they were enough to cover his expenses and even occasionally splurge on a game pack or two.
“Did I… come back?”
Luo Qing frowned, running his fingers over the wooden surface of the desk. He tapped the keyboard experimentally, and everything felt real.
“This… can’t be happening…”
He had just started establishing himself in Teyvat!
The harem wasn’t even halfway complete, and he hadn’t even reached first base with anyone!
How could he suddenly return now?!
“So… it was just a dream?”
Murmuring to himself, Luo Qing put on a casual summer outfit and checked the time.
At 9:01 AM, he left his apartment, following a route etched in his memory.
Descending the stairs, he exited his residential complex, turned left, and walked until he reached a crosswalk.
Across the street was a familiar breakfast shop, a place he always visited after pulling all-nighters before heading home to crash.
Except that fateful day, something had gone terribly wrong.
As he waited, Luo Qing glanced to the right and saw a truck behaving erratically, speeding toward the crosswalk without slowing down despite the pedestrians.
“Three… two… one…”
He mentally counted, imagining where he would have been if he had stepped onto the crosswalk.
Right on cue, the truck roared through the intersection, narrowly missing the pedestrians before slamming into a roadside tree.
“…This is…”
Luo Qing fell silent.
That day, he had been hit by the truck and reduced to nothing more than a smear on the pavement.
Sigh. Serves me right for checking my phone while crossing the street.
“Am I really back?”
A sense of loss gripped his chest.
If he had known this would happen, he would have prioritized making some moves back in Teyvat.
What a waste…
Hunger gnawed at his stomach, snapping him out of his thoughts. Shaking his head, Luo Qing started toward the breakfast shop.
But just as he stepped forward, a petite figure caught his eye on the opposite side of the street.
A girl with snow-white hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a dress adorned with green accents, stood barefoot, curiously peeking into a storefront.
“That’s…”
When trying to distinguish between a dream and reality, people often look for something illogical.
And there it was—none other than the Little Archon, Nahida, wandering curiously across the street.
Swallowing hard, Luo Qing ran across the crosswalk.
—
Meanwhile, Nahida had squeezed through the crowd gathered around the crash site, her curiosity piqued by the truck accident.
This dream wasn’t hers, and to the dreamer, she was invisible to everyone except the creator of the dream.
“This place…”
She murmured softly, staring at the truck.
Imprisoned in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, she occasionally wandered into the dreams of Sumeru’s citizens through the Akasha.
It was her way of exploring the world, learning, and satisfying her curiosity, all in the hopes of becoming a better god.
But since mastering this ability, this was the first time she had entered a dream so vivid, so lifelike.
Everything—every detail—was entirely unfamiliar to her.
This place…
It wasn’t Teyvat.
Just as she was about to wander elsewhere, a voice spoke behind her.
“Peeking into someone else’s dream without permission is quite rude, don’t you think, Little Archon?”
Nahida turned to see Luo Qing standing before her, holding a bag of breakfast.
Once someone recognized the dream as a dream, it became a lucid dream.
And in a lucid dream, the dreamer was effectively a god.
“You… can see me?”
Nahida was startled.
Most people struggled to recognize whether they were dreaming. With the Akasha, Sumeru’s citizens rarely even remembered their dreams.
Yet this man not only noticed her presence but maintained control over the dream after realizing he was in one.
It spoke of a mental fortitude far beyond ordinary.
“Sorry… I just found your dream intriguing and wanted to explore…”
Nahida looked away, embarrassed.
She didn’t know who Luo Qing was. She had simply stumbled upon this fascinating dream and decided to step inside, only to be caught red-handed by its creator.
“No need to apologize.”
Luo Qing walked over and handed her the bag of breakfast he’d just bought.
Inside was a fresh serving of soup dumplings, a crispy fried dough stick, and a cup of warm soy milk—his favorite breakfast combo.
“I heard dream food doesn’t have taste. Why not give it a try, Little Archon?”
Nahida hesitated before taking a dumpling from the bag with her small hands. She took a careful bite, her expression softening.
“Hmm… The taste is a bit strange, but it’s delicious…”
“Chive and pork. It’s supposed to be tasty.”
Luo Qing popped one into his own mouth, savoring the flavor.
To his surprise, it tasted exactly like the real thing.
“Food with flavor… This dream feels too real.”
Doubt flickered in his mind.
He had never experienced a dream so vivid before.
“So…”
Luo Qing glanced at Nahida, who was now twirling her hair with her fingers.
“Little Archon, care to explain why you decided to sneak into my dream?”
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