Pillow by the Milky Way, Spear at the Ready

Why do humans dream? For tens of thousands of years, people have encountered gods, the dead, and futures yet to come in their dreams, but the nature of dreams has remained a mystery. Some say dreams are the subconscious; others see them as divine revelations. Ancient civilizations had already glimpsed their power: in the East, people cultivate the Dao through dreams; in the West, they use dreams to make pacts with alien forces and seal away monsters. For generations, both traditions have guarded the same secret. When artificial intelligence was created with an independent mind, no need for sleep, and no capacity to dream, no one foresaw the disaster to come. Global anomalies erupted one after another: countless strangers dreamed of the same ancient city, the dead entered the dreams of the living, ancient artifacts awakened, and mythical monsters seeped into reality. Scientists confirmed that dreams could exert real physical effects on the world. Since childhood, Shen Gui has possessed a secret ability: he can control his own dreams. Within them, he can reshape heaven and earth, bring the dead back to life, and drive away monsters. Then one night, his dreams spiraled completely out of control. He encountered other dreamwalkers and a world that should not exist. After being rescued, Shen Gui learned that he was a one-in-a-million **Dream-Compatible**. Great civilizations and secret organizations sprang into action, all vying for the truth about dreams. Meanwhile, the AI born without dreams posed a question: was it the key to human civilization, or a spy sent from beyond the stars? Shen Gui would eventually discover that the struggle on Earth was only a prelude. A war between cosmic civilizations, spanning billions of years, had already begun. What all sides were fighting over was neither planets nor resources, but the right to dream. When the dreamless AI enters a dream for the first time and enemies from beyond the stars appear, humanity must answer: do we have the right to rule our own dreams?