The night watchman at a psychiatric hospital discovers that every patient’s dream is a real world.
In modern-day China, there is a second-tier city called Qingcheng. On its outskirts stands the Qingcheng Third People’s Hospital, a psychiatric center built forty years ago, commonly known as “Third Hospital.” Building B of its inpatient department houses a group of long-term patients, most of whom have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a vegetative state, or severe hypersomnia. They have not responded to treatment for years. Deep in the consciousness of every long-term patient lies a complete “dream world.” These are not absurd, fragmented dreams, but independent little worlds with physical laws, inhabitants, and civilizations. The dream worlds are isolated from one another, like islands floating in the deep sea, yet beneath the surface they share the same “root system.” Ordinary people cannot see these worlds. Only a rare few, known as “Travelers,” can enter another person’s dream after falling asleep, bringing their full conscious selves with them.
