# 2035
Chapter 2035: Knocking on the Starry Sky
The Dream World.
As the pixel vehicle returned to Great Xia, the hatch弹开 popped open, and Jinian, carrying the half-unconscious Lin Qiye on her back, rushed toward Night Watch headquarters!
"Hey, Lin Qiye! Hold on a little longer... we're almost there!"
"You can't die! You haven't sent me home yet!"
Jinian's figure blazed forward like lightning, her silver-white hair dancing in the wind. Sensing that Lin Qiye's painful struggles were weakening, she anxiously called out.
"Put me... down..." Lin Qiye's voice came out hoarse.
"Down? We're almost at the medical department!"
"Put me down... my condition... they can't treat it."
Seeing Lin Qiye's insistence, Jinian hesitated for a moment before setting him on the ground.
Lin Qiye leaned against the wall,勉强 managing to stand upright, his breathing heavy and ragged... He felt that the backlash from Azathoth in his mind seemed to have weakened slightly, giving him a moment of respite.
"Damn it, they actually ambushed me..."
Lin Qiye's gaze seemed to pierce through the barriers of this universe, looking toward a higher dimension.
Azathoth's instinctive backlash had directly awakened His consciousness from the "incitement," and using His own power, He had trapped Lin Qiye's consciousness in this dying dream universe...
If he couldn't leave here quickly and return to the Higher-Dimensional World, his consciousness would eventually disappear completely as this dream world perished.
But now, the "Lin Qiye" consciousness he had left in the Higher-Dimensional World—the little boy—was completely suppressed, making it nearly impossible for him to escape this dream world...
"What else can I do... what else can I do??"
As Lin Qiye desperately searched for a way to leave, he tried to forcibly break through this dream world with his consciousness, and the intense pain in his mind surged again!
Watching Lin Qiye drenched in sweat, his face contorted, Jinian wanted to help but didn't know where to start, only able to grit her teeth in frustration.
Ding ling ling—
Just then, a crisp phone ringtone sounded.
"A phone... whose phone?" Jinian froze. The sound seemed to come from her own body.
But she clearly hadn't brought a phone!
She felt her pockets, confirming it wasn't her phone ringing, so her gaze fell on the pixel brooch on her chest...
Jinian stood frozen for a long moment, an absurd thought flashing through her mind. A wisp of pixel particles drifted from the brooch and assembled into a toy pixel phone in her palm.
Ding ling ling—!
That toy phone, without batteries or a SIM card, actually lit up and emitted the same ringtone as before?!
"You're kidding me! This is too ridiculous?!" Jinian's eyes went wide.
The toy phone she had casually created not only received a message, but the ringtone had traveled back through time five seconds, ringing before the phone even existed?!!
This scene before her completely exceeded Jinian's understanding. The next moment, the phone in her palm inexplicably slipped and precisely fell at Lin Qiye's feet.
On the pixel phone's screen, a line of text was clearly visible.
—We're here.
Seeing these four words, Lin Qiye froze in place.
Boom—!!
A dull, thunderous sound suddenly echoed from above, reverberating through every corner of the Earth.
The people in the shelters, the Night Watch members in the city, the confused Jinian, and Lin Qiye struggling in pain all looked up simultaneously, only to see that the stars, previously devoured by endless red light, were rapidly reappearing!
Boom—!!!
A second rumble sounded, and the stars across the entire universe flickered in unison, blinding light filling the cosmos!
"This sound... why does it feel like someone's knocking on a door??" Jinian murmured in bewilderment.
Knocking on a door.
Yes, knocking on a door.
This sound from the depths of the stars was a knock on a door!
Boom—!!!
The third knock sounded, and the entire universe flickered once more, as if...
Someone, outside that world, was knocking on the starry sky, one knock after another!!
Boom— boom— boom— boom—!!
As the knocking grew more frequent, the countless stars in the heavens above began flickering at high frequency, vaguely weaving together into a mysterious symbol... It was a massive circle composed of countless stars, with two straight beams of light crossing through it, like two blades of light cleaving through the dark universe!
Seeing this symbol, Lin Qiye's body couldn't help but tremble...
That was the emblem of [Nightfall]!
Above that void, a massive gate materialized from nothing,
It was a grand, towering stone gate. With its appearance, endless gray mist surged forth!
The ancient gate slowly opened amid the gray mist, and four crimson figures stepped out... They did not belong here. Like Lin Qiye, they too were "shadows" projected from the Higher-Dimensional World into this dream world.
Four crimson cloaks billowed in the raging wind as they crossed this shattered world, arriving before the pain-stricken Lin Qiye...
The figure at the front slightly crouched down, extended his palm toward Lin Qiye, and spoke gently:
"I told you... we would find you, Captain."
Lin Qiye gazed upon that familiar face, and the loneliness and suffering suppressed deepest in his heart finally burst forth uncontrollably. He opened his mouth, but ultimately only managed a few words...
"Long time no see... Qingyu."
An Qingyu, Deputy Captain of Nightfall Squad.
"You and Deputy An certainly can't call this a long time apart... I'm the one who should say that, right?" Cao Yuan shrugged,苦笑苦笑着 said, "I was the first one An Qingyu sent to the Higher-Dimensional World."
Ghost Jiang Er floated in the air, sticking out her tongue, "If we're counting, I'm the first one who died!"
Shen Qingzhu gazed at the weather-beaten Lin Qiye before her, silently contemplating for a moment before taking a cigarette from his chest and offering it over.
"Want one, Captain?"
Lin Qiye's gaze swept across everyone present. This time, he didn't refuse,苦笑着 biting down on the cigarette. Shen Qingzhu flicked his fingertips, and it lit up...
"Cough cough cough..." Lin Qiye bent over, coughing.
The cigarette was strong, causing Lin Qiye's eyes to fill with tears.
"How did you—"
"[Key to the Gate] was originally created using Higher-Dimensional World energy. Behind the Gate of Truth, it actually connects directly to the Higher-Dimensional World." An Qingyu patiently explained, "In the original universe, I completely mastered the Gate of Truth, became the new [Key to the Gate] and ascended, then carried this gate wandering through the Higher-Dimensional World...
The Higher-Dimensional World is vast. I traveled alone through the Higher-Dimensional World for countless eons, researching various forms of high-dimensional energy. During those long years, Cao Yuan and the others completed their ascensions one after another, so we followed traces through the Higher-Dimensional World searching for you.
I observed the celestial phenomena of the Higher-Dimensional World, detected the dimension storm stirred up by Azathoth, and followed the direction to find this place..."