The luxurious sofa sat atop a thick fur carpet, and not far away, the fireplace gaped darkly, containing what appeared to be ashes from burnt wood.
Night had taken over the world, and they shouldn't have been able to see so clearly, but the crystal chandelier overhead remained lit, its refracted light fragmenting the visitors into pieces.
This villa still had power.
"Let's look around," the burly man shifted his gaze from the chandelier, "stay together, don't split up."
They soon discovered large quantities of food in the kitchen refrigerator, including vegetables, grains, meat, and even some snacks, with a basket of eggs tucked away at the back.
Everything looked fresh, as if it had been placed there just an hour ago.
But judging by the dust on the floor, that was impossible.
Yet everyone's attention clearly lay elsewhere. The burly man looked at the food without surprise and after a while simply said, "At least we won't starve to death."
The sound of running water came from behind. When Jiang Cheng turned around, he saw the woman with the mole by her lip had turned on the faucet, and clean water flowed out.
After turning off the tap, she faced the others and said leisurely, "Well, it seems we won't die of thirst either."
Next, they found large quantities of firewood in a remote storage-like room.
The firewood was stacked neatly in piles.
The second floor contained living quarters, with a master bedroom, a study, and two smaller bedrooms, plus a locked room at the end of the hall.
It was obvious that both the burly man and the woman were interested in the locked room, but neither suggested breaking in to investigate.
A black iron door locked the stairs leading to the third floor. The burly man shook it, but it didn't budge.
The group returned to the first-floor living room.
Everyone had spent most of the day in this world, especially after experiencing the car accident and long journey, and were now cold and hungry.
The burly man suggested that he and the middle-aged man fetch firewood, while the woman, Jiang Cheng, and the fat man would cook. The innocent-looking girl and the male clerk would clean the house.
Jiang Cheng stared at the ingredients on the table in confusion, while the woman gave a cold laugh and ignored him.
Fortunately, the fat man knew how to cook, skilled in both knife work and culinary arts. Soon, fragrant dishes were served, and he thoughtfully fried an egg for everyone.
The area near the living room sofa had been cleaned, and everyone sat around the cabinet, eating from their bowls.
The fire in the cabinet burned brightly, crackling.
After dinner, everyone gathered to discuss their mission.
However, the discussion nearly turned into an argument between the burly man and the woman - unavoidable, given that the mission had just begun with few clues, and these two clearly had the most experience.
Judging by their familiarity with the situation, they had clearly completed several missions successfully before.
Night deepened.
The burly man insisted everyone sleep in the living room, but the woman maintained they should sleep in the second-floor bedrooms, reasoning there might be clues there.
Finally, they parted ways unhappily. The innocent-looking girl chose to go with the woman, and as they walked toward the stairs, the male clerk suddenly ran after them.
Jiang Cheng guessed the burly man's two slaps had left psychological trauma.
Thus, the burly man, middle-aged balding man, Jiang Cheng, and the fat man stayed overnight in the living room, while the other three went upstairs.
"Fools!" the burly man muttered, watching their retreating figures.
Sleeping arrangements in the living room were simple - all men anyway, with three long sofas, one per person, leaving one person to keep watch.
The burly man said he'd take first watch, pulling out a pocket watch and placing it on the center table.
"It's about 10 PM now, sunrise is at 6, so eight hours total. With four people here, each can take two hours, giving everyone plenty of rest time."
The burly man was about to continue when he noticed the fat man staring strangely at the pocket watch.
"Don't bother looking at it, the time isn't accurate," he paused, explaining, "All timepieces brought into the Dream Realm have their times scrambled. Its only use now is as a timer."
The watch showed 4:18, clearly inconsistent with reality.
Since Jiang Cheng and the fat man were newcomers, the burly man added that in the Dream Realm, anything defying scientific logic was normal.
Their task was to use these anomalies to find hidden clues, solve the mission, and escape the Dream Realm.
Jiang Cheng raised his hand, and the burly man looked at him, asking, "Do you have something to say?"
"If you've already escaped the Dream Realm, why did you return?"
"Because with the Dream Realm, it's either zero times or countless times. Once you've opened that door, it will stay with you until death. Oh, and," the burly man seemed to remember something, "the full name is Nightmare Barrier."
"Barrier?"
"Yes, it's like a barrier wall separating reality from illusion. No matter how severely you're injured in the Dream Realm, as long as you're still breathing when the mission ends, you'll return to reality unharmed," he gave a bitter laugh, "Fitting name, isn't it?"
"Then how can one completely break free from this Nightmare Barrier?" asked the balding middle-aged man in his uncomfortable, hoarse voice.
The burly man glanced at him and said, "Don't ask such foolish questions. You're not new here - you should know this question is as unsolvable as determining what time period this world is in right now."
The middle-aged man's face darkened, and he fell silent.
Jiang Cheng raised his hand again.
The burly man looked at him somewhat wearily, "Just ask directly, no need to raise your hand."
"It should be sometime between late March and mid-September 2006," Jiang Cheng said seriously.
The burly man paused, as did the middle-aged man who had lowered his head. The fat man also stared at Jiang Cheng suspiciously, wondering what he was getting at.
"How do you know?" asked the burly man.
Jiang Cheng calmly pulled a small bag from his pocket and held it where the others could see - it was a bag of Dazhin Garden mini bread.
He turned the bag over and pointed to a line of small text: Production date March 18, 2006. Shelf life 6 months.
Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, he tore open the bag, stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth, chewed for a while, swallowed, and after some thought said, "Tastes good, still very soft, not damp. Considering it was stored in the refrigerator environment, I think we might be able to narrow down the timeframe even further."