A Light in the Long Night

Twenty years ago, everyone in the world fell asleep at the same time for eleven minutes.

When they woke up, they had all had the same dream. In it was a city called Night City.

In Night City, land cost more than it did in the real world, advertisements were written directly into people's minds, and even sleeping hours could be sold.

In Night City, no one was allowed to lie.

Yan Zhou was Night City's biggest developer. He spent six hundred million to buy a clock that had been stopped for fifty years.

Shen Mian had never dreamed in his life. He made a medicine called Morning Bell. Take it, and you wouldn't dream all night.

One wanted people to stay in Night City; the other wanted to give the night back to people. By day, they were the best-known sworn enemies in all of Minggang.

At night, at the end of an old street, there was a little lamp shop. The shopkeeper held up a lamp and opened the door to let a faceless stranger come in out of the rain.

They talked for eleven minutes, and neither could tell a single lie.

After that, every day they undermined each other, and every night they waited for the other to push open that door.

Much later, they finally learned who had lit the first lamp for whom on that pitch-black night twenty years ago.

In a dream, you can only tell the truth.

Then tell me, do you hate him?

Theme: Night should be a choice, not a cage. Only those with light in their hearts can light the way for others.