Chapter 2925: The Sea at the Edge of the Dream

No wonder people always looked to utility-pole flyers to cure intractable diseases; the Old Doctor hadn't lied.

He had only passed through a thin veil of mist, yet it brought a sudden sense of dark willows giving way to bright flowers.

Following that ethereal voice, a distinctly different scene appeared in Fu Qian's vision for the first time.

Even though visibility was poor, he could still make out a smear of black in the distance, far darker and deeper than the ground beneath his feet.

Looking closely, he could even discern the surging motion of a tide.

The only strange thing was seeing its form without hearing a sound; even now, he couldn't detect the slightest noise.

There really was a sea. His direction hadn't been wrong after all.

Paying no mind to that minor oddity, Fu Qian felt thoroughly satisfied. This was a victory for believing in himself.

As for why he had been so certain about his chosen direction?

The answer was actually quite simple.

Quickly crossing the final stretch of distance, Fu Qian ran his fingers over the bluish-black stones—they had pointed the way.

There was an inherent order within the ruins. Long before the Old Doctor mentioned a sea, Fu Qian had keenly sensed a hidden consistency in these endless, shattered traces.

To be specific, they all shared a uniform "orientation."

More precisely, they felt as if they had been blasted outward, layer by layer, from a specific direction.

Indeed, while wondering how all these things had come to be, a sudden association had flashed through Fu Qian's mind—the distinct impression of an alluvial plain formed by a massive impact.

Because of this very association, he had easily maintained his bearings the entire way here, never doubting his path for a moment.

And now, that confidence was rewarded.

As he rapidly approached that distinct blackness, Fu Qian could clearly see it was exactly that: a profoundly dark sea.

Various pieces of wreckage trailed all the way into the silent tide.

Despite being heavy, shattered rocks, they truly looked as if they had been swept in by the waves. In that moment, Fu Qian felt as though he were witnessing the growth of the ruins.

Of course, what stood out even more was the suddenly brightened night sky.

Indeed, even though this was the "Nightmare Borderland" the Old Doctor had spoken of, it was much brighter than anywhere else.

Just like in the Full Moon Garden, that massive, round moon had appeared overhead once again...

Was the difference in treatment really this severe? Shouldn't there be a reason for it?

Thinking back on his journey through the dark, Fu Qian landed weightlessly on a slanted stone pillar, watching the seawater surge through the cracks beneath his feet.

Speaking of which, why did the water quality seem a bit poor?

He quickly let out a sigh of realization as he stared at the tide—dark as ink, yet completely devoid of any strange odor.

This scene was seemingly familiar... the sea of mind?

His imagination sparked once more. Something he had sought but failed to obtain numerous times during his experiments now surfaced in Fu Qian's mind.

That was right. It was the exact forbidden ground that firmly rejected any outsider.

The very place where Excellency Father's Amnion had exhausted great effort just to barely establish a stronghold.

He wasn't making this connection based solely on the black seawater, either. One shouldn't forget that Excellency Annalise had a prior record.

Inside "Demon Mountain," the inner "dark sides" of those patients had once been referred to by the Warehouse as the dregs of the sea of mind.

This meant that the True Word Notebook, which Annalise had used to converse with the Primordial Moon, likely shared an unusually close connection to the sea of mind. He had even speculated before that Annalise—as the only known candidate to transition from a human into an Ancient Higher Being—probably possessed a higher affinity with the sea of mind than her peers.

All things considered, had the Bottom Layer of the Dream been constantly subjected to the washing of the sea of mind?

He had to admit, putting these two concepts together didn't feel out of place at all.

And now, with Excellency Annalise's help, could he finally go surfing in the sea of mind?

At that moment, Fu Qian opened his hand and precisely caught a splashing droplet of water.

The good news was that there didn't seem to be any signs of him being kicked out this time.

The bad news was that this drop of seawater seemed to treat his hand like a lotus leaf, strongly repelling any further absorption.

...

Was he still being treated like an outsider after all?

He had to admit, the sensation was quite unique. Fu Qian moved his palm, letting the pearl-like liquid roll back and forth.

The water droplet's behavior was somewhat impolite, and it seemed impossible to test it any further.

But he had to look on the bright side: at least the level of discrimination was slightly lower now. Moreover, the probability that the scene before him truly contained elements of the sea of mind was now even higher.

And once he took that into account, many things became incredibly interesting.

The wreckage of these shattered buildings, this vast dumping ground... had they all been swept in by the sea of mind?

That would truly be a magnificent spectacle. After all, even the Full Moon Garden was surrounded by these things.

The very nature of the entire Bottom Layer of the Dream would undergo a subtle change because of this.

Coupled with the room full of items the Old Man had collected, was this the legendary abundance of marine resources?

Furthermore, he had just mentioned the dregs of the sea of mind from Demon Mountain. Could these also be considered a manifestation of those dregs?

If so, wasn't there a bit too much debris in the sea of mind?

A series of questions flashed through his mind. At that moment, Fu Qian bent over and reached his hand directly into the water, seemingly wanting to see if he could fish anything out.

Oh?

Following this act of Finding a Needle in the Ocean, the black tide beneath his feet rapidly retreated, as if trying to avoid him at all costs.

Such blatant discrimination was simply provoking the wrath of gods and men.

Was the tide going out?

Although for Fu Qian, he simply came to a more practical conclusion in that moment.

Indeed, with such a massive moon hanging in the sky, what was wrong with the tides being a bit exaggerated?

He shouldn't be so quick to look for the cause within himself; it might just be the laws of nature at work.

The retreating tide even seemed like a good thing. After all, according to what the Old Doctor had requested of him, he was here to comb the beach—wait, what? Had someone already beaten him to it?

On the mudflats left behind by the receding tide, a figure quickly emerged.

A human figure, at that.

Although her extraordinary bone structure gave her a posture resembling noodles that had soaked for too long, Fu Qian could still recognize that the person facing away from him was likely a woman—matching the voice that had been singing the lullaby.

Yes, in that moment, he figured he had made his first find.

Not only had this singer originally been soaking in the seawater, but judging by her current demeanor, she was actually chasing the receding tide, crawling after it step by step.

Unfortunately, it seemed completely futile; she simply couldn't keep up with the speed of the retreating water. Without a doubt, this scene was rather bizarre.

However, that wasn't all. If he remembered correctly, the lullaby with the completely incomprehensible lyrics from earlier had been sung in "harmony."

Fu Qian continued to look in other directions, and sure enough, he easily spotted more figures among the ruins.

Amidst their synchronized movements of crawling toward the sea, one of their faces was suddenly illuminated by the cast moonlight—

Annalise?