Not a System story. Not wish fulfillment. Not an invincible-protagonist story. Readers looking for those, stay away. The protagonist, Chen Tan, is an ordinary urban archivist, trapped in a rigid, stifling routine. For years, he's been plagued by recurring "lucid dreams": in them, people dressed in ancient robes keep telling him, "It's time to wake up." In reality, he occasionally sees floating words and twisted shadows, but everyone around him acts as though nothing is there. He secretly takes antipsychotic medication, convinced that something is wrong with his mind.
