Cheng Luo stood still, feeling as if she were in the midst of endless yellow sands, unable to see anything.
Her heart, at this moment, hurt so much she could hardly breathe.
Why, why did they have to suffer all this?
Why go through such despairing things?
Cheng Luo’s tears kept falling.
She suddenly awoke, only to see that Tianmiao’s figure was absent from the sleeping bag next to her.
She got up and walked out of the tent.
She saw Tianmiao standing next to Zhou Qiang, who was on night watch.
The two seemed to be talking about something.
But she couldn’t hear anything clearly.
In the end, she only saw Zhou Qiang sitting down with a shocked expression, remaining silent.
Meanwhile, Tianmiao turned to look at Cheng Luo and gestured for her to come over.
Cheng Luo walked up to her, "Tianmiao, you’re awake?"
"Yes." Tianmiao slightly turned her head to look at the tents behind Cheng Luo, "It seems it’s not just us, everyone’s awake."
Cheng Luo turned her head and indeed saw everyone standing behind them with serious expressions.
"I had a dream and couldn’t sleep." Professor Wu was the first to speak.
"I dreamed too, and the content was too distressing." Another assistant said.
"Could it be, that you dreamed of returning to the Imperial City a thousand years ago?" Cheng Luo blurted out.
After Cheng Luo said this, everyone’s faces changed.
"Could it be, all of you did too?" an assistant asked in shock.
Que Qiu was also somewhat astonished because he had also dreamt about it. He dreamt of walking the streets of the Imperial City a thousand years ago. The captivating exotic charm left him dazzled.
Now, everyone sat down and began to discuss loudly, marveling at the wonder.
Zhou Qiang remained silent all the while, watching the flames of the campfire dance.
Tianmiao suddenly whispered in Zhou Qiang’s ear, "Honestly, the taste of grilled skewers is very unique. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have the chance to taste it again."
Zhou Qiang clenched his fist, closed his eyes, hiding the pain in them.
After discussing for a long time, it was Professor Wu who spoke up and told everyone to catch some sleep again, or it would affect the tasks of the next day. Only then did everyone yawn and return to sleep.
Early the next morning, after everyone got up, the first assistant to wake up let out a scream.
"What happened?" the others crawled out of the tent, asking nervously.
"Where’s the broken wall from yesterday? The site? Why are there only a few rooftops?" Assistant Wang asked, utterly horrified, completely puzzled as to what had happened.
Que Qiu stood there, gazing into the distance, seeing that the pyramid-like structure they had seen earlier only had the tip exposed.
His mind, at this moment, was incredibly clear.
He opened his mouth with difficulty, slowly saying, "What we saw yesterday was all an illusion. The real ancient city is beneath our feet..."
"What?!" Everyone looked towards Que Qiu in astonishment.
Que Qiu’s face looked somewhat grim, "Yes, the real Imperial City should be buried underneath the sands below us. The ruins we saw yesterday were all illusions."
Everyone felt a chill running down their spines.
"It was when we crossed the Black Death Road yesterday, I looked back..." Que Qiu spoke with difficulty, "What we see now is the reality."
"Actually, in a certain sense, it’s all real." Tianmiao suddenly spoke up, "The dreams were the reality of a thousand years ago, what we saw yesterday was the reality of a thousand years later, and what we see today is the reality in front of us."
"So, the Imperial City wasn’t relocated, but swallowed by the sands?!" Professor Wu said painfully.