Chapter Thirty-One

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Nightmare Space—

When the door opened, a place she had never seen before appeared: a stretch of golden beach filled her vision, the sound of waves overlapping in the air, and the cries of seagulls… Xian Xiaoya had never been to the seaside, not even once; why would such a scene appear in her dream? Wasn’t it said that only what one had experienced could appear in dreams? Stranger still, when she closed the door and opened it again, the sunlit beach had turned into a moonlit shore beneath a dark sky. Was such magic possible? Now that the system no longer needed to hide the truth that she was in a dream, did it alter the scenery this bizarrely? Upon opening the door once more, the daylight returned…

After some thought, Xian Xiaoya stepped through. She felt the gentle stir of the sea breeze, accompanied by the soft rustle of the waves, seagulls circling overhead—sometimes diving to snatch fish from the water, then rising with a flurry of wings. The vividness of sight and sound, the breeze brushing her skin, were so real—more real than any dream, entirely unlike her previous cycles of dreaming. She kicked at the fine sand beneath her feet, discovering shells hidden within, and now and then a tiny crab scuttled out. She could not tell if it was sunrise or sunset, but the yolk-yellow light spread over the sea’s surface, making it sparkle with crystal clarity.

Toward the right, about two hundred meters away, stood a small wooden cabin. Her curiosity was piqued, and she decided to approach. Why would there be a cabin here? Perhaps… perhaps there would be some hint from Aiwen inside? It was only a guess, but she ran toward the cabin.

The door pushed open with barely a touch, revealing a space clean and bright, with a small window to the side draped in fluttering white gauze. Soft light poured in through the lace, casting a romantic, tranquil mood inside. She felt certain she had never been here before. Was this scene deliberately fabricated by the space? At the far end stood a small table, with two high-backed chairs placed on either side. On the table sat a thick book with a blue cover, no title or illustration—just a pure blue hardback. Its uniqueness drew her in, and she could not resist opening it—

Suddenly, a point of light emerged from the book, then slowly spread out, like a sheet of paper or a piece of cloth unfolding. As it expanded to life-size, the paper transformed into a three-dimensional figure of light, which, as it took form, revealed itself as a holographic image of Aiwen.

It turned out that Aiwen had split off a sliver of her consciousness into the quantum state of a single particle, using this to tap open a hair-fine gap in the “H-code” system. In this upgraded Nightmare Space, she could insert an image of her consciousness without Holen’s system detecting it—a feat only possible with quantum-level particle consciousness.

Having prepared the plan, Aiwen immediately input the code sequence, locking onto the target location. The visual mode she designed was created through the fusion of AI and quantum computing, enhancing tactile sensations and making it nearly impossible for the eye to distinguish truth from illusion. The combination of quantum and AI was the most sought-after simulation technology for three-dimensional immersive environments. Aiwen, however, had brought this technology into the system, allowing a consciousness to experience it, not a physical body. Yet, even if only the consciousness experienced the scene, the transfer through neural connections created the same sense of real, lived experience—like stepping into a three-dimensional film.

The inspiration for the scene came from a beach in a foreign movie—an image buried deep in Xian Xiaoya’s subconscious, not from her own life, but from a film she had once seen. This flash of insight led Aiwen to construct a sensory image through quantum and AI, a necessary step for breaking through the system’s gap.

She split off the smallest possible quantum unit of her consciousness—a particle-sized entity. The gap’s location was within the blue book in the cabin.

“At last you appear! I thought I’d have to find my way out alone…” Xian Xiaoya exclaimed with delight upon seeing Aiwen.

“For now, I can only contact you as a projection of myself,” Aiwen quickly explained.

“And this…? Why is your body transparent?” Xiaoya asked.

“Because this is only an image—a faint, separated consciousness.”

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“Then where are you now? How can I find you?” Xiaoya pressed urgently.

“I’m still in the code space. This is only a consciousness projection made from a quantum state.”

“That’s amazing! I don’t really understand what you’re saying, but seeing you puts me at ease.” Xiaoya was grateful for Aiwen’s appearance—otherwise, she truly wouldn’t know how to go on.

Aiwen’s expression grew serious. “I’ll be brief. Xiaoya, you are now in the ‘Nightmare Space,’ a place within Holen’s ‘H-code System’ designed to lock down a consciousness. Here, you’re trapped in a loop of dreams, endlessly repeating the same scenario. The purpose is to drown your consciousness in this space, preventing your escape!”

Xiaoya suddenly understood. “So that’s why I kept repeating the same dream—and I lost my memory each time!”

“Exactly. The loop erases your memories, like shuffling a deck of cards. I sensed this with my consciousness, so I used the necklace to give you hints.”

“So it really was you helping me! Otherwise, I would never have remembered. Now the dream isn’t looping, but instead…”

“You mean the maze, right?”

“Yes! The maze.”

“You must return to the ‘Corridor Maze’—that tangled hallway with many branches. All you need to do is find door number 1307.”

“You mean the seventh suite on the thirteenth floor?”

“That’s right, that’s the one! Once inside, the innermost room is where I’ve hidden a secret port.”

“Then I must have missed the exit so many times before.” In earlier cycles, Xiaoya had nearly reached the port, but her amnesia and the interference of dream figures always kept her from entering.

“You’ve missed it, but there’s still a chance. The loop has ended, but Holen knows I’ve been helping you regain your memory. So he’s upgraded the system, turning it into a maze now.”

“He really doesn’t want me to escape?” Xiaoya felt a chill in her heart.

Aiwen understood her feelings and said, “Of course not. If your consciousness doesn’t sink here, he can’t complete his experiment with the replacement program.” Her words were blunt—perhaps painfully so—but only by awakening Xiaoya’s will to survive could she create a chance for herself.

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Xiaoya pondered deeply, now fully realizing that being alive was more important than anything. “I understand—you don’t want him to succeed, nor do you wish to see me lost forever. And I, myself, will never give up on me.”

“That’s exactly right. I cannot live for you, for I have my own world to go to.”

“I understand…” Xiaoya nodded. “You mentioned before—although I didn’t really get it—your world can continue your life. I used to only seek death, but now I see that everything happened because I was too weak, too unwilling to face reality. I was running away. Now, I’ve decided to return and truly live!”

“I’m glad you’ve come to your senses. Time is short, and I’m only able to speak with you as a particle consciousness, so I appear as a transparent image. I’ll store this particle in your pendant. When you leave here, follow the pendant’s guidance to find door 1307.”

Xiaoya immediately asked, “What kind of guidance?”

“When you’re far from door 1307, the pendant will emit a red light—the farther you are, the brighter the red. As you draw closer, the light will shift to blue, and the closer you are, the more vivid the blue will become.”

“Alright, I understand.” Xiaoya nodded again.

“If you reach door 1307 and see no markings, my particle consciousness will appear to guide you through. But until then, the particle must hide within the pendant to avoid Holen’s detection. Unless absolutely necessary, from this moment on, the particle will remain hidden. You must not call for me again. Only when you find door 1307 will I reveal myself. That’s all—I hope you can remember this.” Aiwen’s voice was earnest.

“I will remember—I won’t forget, I promise.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting for you outside the Nightmare Space!”

As Aiwen finished, her image collapsed instantly, shrinking to an invisible particle, which slipped into the pendant. Xiaoya could not see where it had gone; she only saw the image vanish, with no trace of the particle left behind. After all, particles belonged to the microscopic world—the smallest units of quantum existence—beyond the perception even of microscopes, let alone Xiaoya’s naked eye.

She hesitated for a moment, uncertain whether Aiwen’s particle consciousness had truly been stored in the pendant. But this was no time for doubt. She trusted Aiwen’s abilities; whatever Aiwen said she would do, she would accomplish. With that, Xiaoya left the cabin, the beach, and the scene’s doorway.

Returning to the Corridor Maze, she followed the guidance of the pendant’s light, determined to find door 1307—