Chapter Sixty-Two: Dreams and Reality

“What? In a dream?”

The two burst out laughing as soon as they heard this.

“Junior, do you mean you saw this spaceship in your dream?”

Zhang Mingyang nodded, confirming, “I really did see it in a dream. I even dreamed of a landing pod, just like that one, carrying two people down to an orange planet.”

“Haha…”

The more Zhang Mingyang explained, the more the two laughed, completely unrestrained.

“I’m not lying to you!”

Wang Gong calmed himself and asked, “Mingyang, when you saw the landing pod just now, did it suddenly feel familiar, as if you’d seen it in a dream before, and for a moment you felt like you could predict the future?”

Listening to Wang Gong, Zhang Mingyang thought for a moment and realized that was exactly how he’d felt. “Yes, yes, that’s right. The moment I saw the landing pod, it felt just like something from my dream—identical in every detail.”

“Peng, explain it to Mingyang.”

“Certainly, Wang Gong.”

Peng Dongli explained, “Actually, that’s the guiding effect of dreams—one could call it subconscious self-hypnosis.”

“Sometimes, things that happen by chance feel as if they’ve happened before. That’s because you dreamed about them, right? In a way, it’s a kind of predictive ability. When the real situation matches your dream, you unconsciously act the way you imagined.”

“It’s like being a director—at the right time, in the right circumstances, you’ll act according to your dream experience, without realizing it, because you’ve already been through it in your mind. That gives you a kind of instinct, as if the dream itself hypnotized you.”

“There are many people in real life who’ve had similar experiences. Once things happen, you’ll realize it feels as if you’ve already lived through them.”

Hearing Peng Dongli’s explanation, Zhang Mingyang felt it really did make sense.

“However,” Wang Gong added, “though this kind of thing can be explained like that, there are still some things science can’t account for. Our human knowledge is still too limited. Who knows, maybe in a few decades or a hundred years, there will be a perfect explanation for experiences like yours.”

“Yes, yes.” Zhang Mingyang nodded, feeling he’d learned something new.

“All right, Wang Gong, you go take care of your work. I’ll show my junior around for a bit.”

“Very well.”

Wang Gong shook hands with the two of them and left.

“Senior, where shall we go next?” Zhang Mingyang asked.

Peng Dongli opened his portable computer and checked the work log.

“Let’s go have a look at the spaceship’s control module and see if the electronics are installed yet.”

With that, the two of them began searching for the control module along the sides of the assembly hall.

“There it is, Senior.”

Peng Dongli followed Zhang Mingyang’s pointing finger.

At the northernmost end of Factory Number Two in Mobei, there was a separate, partitioned room—the most important place in the entire hall, where the equipment for the spaceship’s control room was being assembled.

Outside the door, two soldiers stood guard.

“Please show your identification.”

They handed over their badges, and one of the soldiers scanned them with a device.

“All clear, comrades. Once you go inside, please change your clothing.”

“Thank you.”

Zhang Mingyang pushed open the protective door and entered. Protective suits hung on both sides of the room; he and Peng Dongli took off their jackets and put on white coats.

Once dressed, they passed through another secure door into the control assembly center.

In the thousand-square-meter hall, a massive module sat in the center. On either side, a dozen technicians were either transporting or assembling equipment.

“Is Engineer Sun here?”

Peng Dongli called out, and a woman in a blue protective suit turned around.

“Peng Dongli?” she asked, walking over and pointing to herself. “It’s me, Wenwen!”

Peng Dongli peered at her through his mask. “Are you Wenwen?”

She nodded. “Yes, I’m Sun Wenwen!”

“But…” Peng Dongli hesitated, “Wenwen, why are you here? Where’s your grandfather?”

Sun Wenwen pointed toward the module. “My grandfather’s inside installing the electronics. He won’t be out for a while.”

Looking at Sun Wenwen, Peng Dongli suddenly grinned. “When did you come to the Mobei base? I thought you didn’t want to come?”

“Who said I didn’t want to come?”

“Senior, who is this?” Zhang Mingyang asked.

Peng Dongli realized he’d forgotten about his companion. “Wenwen, let me introduce you—this is Zhang Mingyang, our base’s energy engineer.”

“Hello,” Sun Wenwen said, extending her hand.

“Junior, this is Sun Wenwen, granddaughter of our chief engineer of the spaceship command and control division. She’s now working under her grandfather as well.”

“Hello,” Zhang Mingyang replied respectfully.

“Peng, are all your base’s engineers this young?” Wenwen asked.

Peng Dongli glanced at Zhang Mingyang with a smile. “Why, interested? My junior here went to school with me, and at just twenty, he’s already an engineer in the energy department.”

“Only twenty?”

Like Wang Gong before her, Sun Wenwen was astonished to learn Zhang Mingyang’s age.

She stepped closer, scrutinizing him, and with a cool air asked, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“I…” Zhang Mingyang was caught off guard, momentarily at a loss for words.

“Oh?” Peng Dongli added, “Junior, Wenwen is three years older than you and is a graduate student at Northeast Polytechnic. If you’re single, you might consider her—she’s a good person.”

“Peng, stop talking,” Wenwen interjected, turning back to Zhang Mingyang. “So, do you have a girlfriend?”

“N-no, I don’t.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Wenwen nodded, walked over to a table, wrote her phone number on a slip of paper, and handed it to Zhang Mingyang. “Here’s my contact information. You can reach out to me anytime.”

She then handed him the pen and paper, indicating he should write down his own contact information.

Bewildered, Zhang Mingyang took them, glancing at Peng Dongli, who was almost doubled over with laughter, and desperately signaled for help.

“Go on, write it,” Wenwen said, glaring at Peng Dongli to make him turn away.

With Peng Dongli’s back turned, Zhang Mingyang realized there was no escape and dutifully wrote down his number.

As soon as he finished, Wenwen snatched the slip, glanced at it coolly, and said, “All right. I’ll be in touch when I have time.”

With that, she returned to her work.

Peng Dongli was laughing so hard he could barely stand up, and Zhang Mingyang hurried over to help him straighten up.