Today's night was exceptionally quiet.
Perhaps it was because the weather had turned cooler, the night market downstairs had quieted down early.
Lin Xian opened his eyes.
Staring at the ceiling.
He didn't get up for a long time.
He felt uncomfortable all over.
It was a kind of...
An inexplicable sense of shame.
To be of a certain age and still blurt out embarrassing tales from one's teenage years.
Lin Xian rubbed his feet, squirming in bed to let the quilt wrap him even more tightly.
Thank goodness it was just a dream, it would reset by tomorrow anyway, and no one would remember.
But he had never anticipated.
After all that effort, the safe's password was still incorrect! It seriously made Lin Xian doubt whether the safe was really his.
"Forget it, forget it,"
Lin Xian scratched his head, threw off the blanket, and sat up:
"Let's focus on the task at hand."
Dreams are, after all, fake, and it's more important to 'move bricks' in reality.
After putting on his pajamas, Lin Xian turned on the desk lamp and sat at the desk, beginning to draw the Keke Cat design on drafting paper from his dream.
The design for Keke Cat was simple and elegant, with not too many details, making it very easy to draw.
It took less than 20 minutes.
Lin Xian completed the frontal, side, and rear views of Keke Cat on the drafting paper.
Whether it was the details of the limbs, clothing, tail, or shoes... Lin Xian reproduced them all from his dream memory on a 1:1 scale.
"Perfect."
Lin Xian wiped his hands, brushing away the eraser shavings on the table:
"With such high completion, I can easily hand it over tomorrow."
Looking at the drawing of Keke Cat in front of him...
Lin Xian couldn't help but think of Big Face Cat again.
After these past two nights of dreaming, he had thoroughly understood the feud between Big Face Cat and the Code Expert CC.
Rustle.
Lin Xian took out another sheet of white paper and began to organize his thoughts:
[Story Process]
1. Big Face Cat's daughter was killed at the age of six, and he needed a lot of money to avenge her.
2. The Code Expert CC wanted to get into the bank vault with the intention of opening Lin Xian's safe and acquiring what was inside.
3. CC deceived Big Face Cat by claiming there was a large fortune in the bank. Thus, they agreed on a secret signal and planned to meet and rob the bank together.
4. Big Face Cat always planned to kill the others and keep the money for himself; meanwhile, CC intended to kill Big Face Cat after entering the vault, since there was no money and he certainly wouldn't spare her, so she had to strike first.
5. In the end, neither Big Face Cat nor CC achieved their goals; both failed.
Snap.
Lin Xian capped his pen.
Looking at the analysis he had written.
This was the story of Big Face Cat and CC, who, like NPCs in a game world, repeated this same scenario day after day, year after year.
Lin Xian was well aware...
Even though he had only played with them for two nights.
The vendetta between Big Face Cat and CC had been cycling countless times over the past twenty-plus years, unfolding punctually every night and concluding on time.
If he hadn't been involved, their ending would have been the same every day.
"But..."
Lin Xian tapped the white paper with the barrel of his pen:
"I am the only variable."
All along.
Lin Xian had treated his dreams like an RPG game, which was a very interesting experience.
Everyone in the dream was an NPC.
They each had their own storyline, their own tasks, and Lin Xian could fully immerse himself in them, understanding a story, participating in an event, or changing an outcome.
After all, in a dream, one can do whatever they wish, reload infinitely, and try countless times.
So Lin Xian seldom encountered a problem he couldn't solve or a task he couldn't complete.
But this time...
"It's pretty tough, there are too many things that I don't understand."
Whoosh.
Lin Xian took out another sheet of A4 paper and wrote on it:
[Unsolved Mysteries]
1. What exactly is hidden inside the safe?
2. What exactly is the combination to the safe?
3. Why did CC save me? Her attitude towards me is also quite subtle and strange.
"These are the issues for now."
Lin Xian looked at these three pressing questions.
He had no clues or breakthroughs for the first two.
As for the third question...
Why did CC save him, and why was her attitude towards him so subtle?
"It feels like she didn't meet me for the first time; at least she never thought about killing me."
"But that's not to say much, she doesn't know me at all."
"Actually, she seems to trust me quite a bit, willing to listen to me and try so many different codes."
"This is also hard to say, perhaps a drowning man clutching at straws?"
His thoughts became confused again, enough to compete for the "Mao Dun Literature Prize."
Lin Xian yawned.
"Let's sleep. You can't take things too seriously in dreams; there are too many irrational elements."
...
The next day.
The company conference room.
Everyone was staring at the design draft on the table, shocked into silence!
"This... wasn't it just a rough sketch yesterday? How did we get a detailed three-view drawing today, with such a high level of completion! We can start production and printing right away!"
"Are you an idiot? Lin Xian just casually sketched a draft yesterday, and that doesn't mean he started the design just yesterday! With the completeness of this design draft..., Lin Xian must have been busy for at least two months in private."
"Too cute, I've never seen such a pretty kitten! I told you yesterday, the cat designed by Lin Xian has huge potential! Just need to refine and color it..., it definitely won't be inferior to Kitty Cat!"
"From a professional standpoint, the design language of this kitten is very avant-garde. I can't even imagine... which girl could resist buying such an adorable kitten? Lin Xian has really outdone himself this time!"
...
When President Zhao Yingjun was present, everyone always behaved more reservedly, never daring to discuss so loudly.
But today, the results Lin Xian presented were so astonishing that their inner shock couldn't be suppressed.
One reason was the speed.
The other was the high quality.
If everyone didn't know the full story, they might have thought that Lin Xian had plagiarized the finished product from another company!
Today, Zhao Yingjun was dressed in black, looking particularly cool and commanding, exuding an aura that seemed to warn ordinary people to keep their distance.
But now, as she looked down at the design draft, there was also a face full of gratified smiles:
"This is truly an exceptionally excellent brand image, several times stronger than what I imagined or expected."
"It's apparent that Lin Xian put a lot of effort into designing this cat. Suddenly, I feel it would be a waste to just use this cat as a mascot or in print ads. Now I have a new idea."
"But, before that... we need to give this adorable cat a name first."
Zhao Yingjun looked up at Lin Xian, her eyes filled with affirmation and appreciation:
"Lin Xian, since you designed this cat, you should be the one to name her!"
Everyone was looking at Lin Xian.
Many colleagues from the design department gave Lin Xian a surreptitious thumbs up.
"The name of this cat..."
Lin Xian rested his chin in his hand, looking at the big screen displaying "Rhein Brand Image Design 7th Discussion Session" on the conference logo...
"Since the new brand name of the company is Rhein."
"Then the name of this cat shall be[Rhein Cat]."