"Trust me."

Henry Clark took a step forward, face serious:

"This password can't possibly be wrong!"

……

The woman looked at Henry Clark without saying a word.

But clearly, she was convinced by Henry Clark's confident demeanor.

"You... say it again."

"19990320."

Click, click...

The woman set the eight-digit code on the dials, glanced back at Henry Clark, and pressed the lock—

Click!

It didn't open.

"Huh?"

Henry Clark was stunned—the password was actually wrong!

The woman's eyebrow twitched, and she took a deep breath:

"I really should have let your Cat Bro beat you to death just now!"

"He insisted on calling himself Face Bro..."

"Enough!!!"

The woman couldn't take it anymore and pulled out her gun, pointing it at Henry Clark!

Word by word, through gritted teeth:

"Say one more word! I'll kill you!"

Henry Clark raised his hands and obediently took two steps back.

He wasn't afraid of dying.

But he was even more curious about what was hidden inside that safe.

……

Click, click, clack...

The woman kept trying to crack the code, but made no progress.

Henry Clark squatted on the ground, resting his chin in his hand, thinking, but had no clue either.

Click!

With a crisp sound of the circuit connecting, a piercing alarm blared all around.

It seemed the main power line had been restored, triggering the automatic alarm.

The woman punched the safe and sighed.

Henry Clark lifted his watch and glanced at the time:

【00:41:53】

He stood up and stretched:

"No time left, let's come back tomorrow."

"Heh! Tomorrow?"

The woman laughed scornfully, as if she'd heard the biggest joke in the world:

"You blew this place up like this! You think you'll have another chance to get in tomorrow?!"

"You really won't have another chance..."

Henry Clark smiled slightly:

"But I can. I can do it every single day."

He waved at the woman:

"Bye-bye~"

BOOM!!!!!!!

BOOM!!!!!!!

BOOM!!!!!!!

A sudden burst of white light! The whole world was flooded with brightness!

No time to feel any pain, no time to react!

The scorching white light instantly swallowed everything!

Evaporating this world completely!

……

……

Whoosh...

The night wind lifted the window curtain, making it dance in the shadows.

Moonlight streamed through the glass, sprinkling a layer of frost.

From downstairs came the shouts of men at the night market stalls, drinking and playing finger-guessing games.

From the bathroom next door came the sound of rushing water through the pipes.

The manuscript paper on the desk fluttered in the wind, and the notebook opened and closed like a clam.

On the bed in the corner of the bedroom.

Henry Clark opened his eyes...

He sniffed and sat up, looking at the digital clock on the nightstand—

【December 7, 2022】

【00:42:01】

……

【00:42:02】

……

【00:42:03】

……

【00:42:04】

……

Chapter 2 Cat

"What kind of plot was that tonight, such a mess..."

Henry Clark rubbed his arms, chilled by the night wind, recalling the dream he'd just had.

Big-faced cat.

Ultraman mask.

Beautiful secret agent.

It was truly laughable and exasperating.

"Like filming a movie with a bunch of idiots... cough, cough."

Henry Clark coughed twice, feeling a bit under the weather.

Only then did he realize he'd forgotten to close the window before going to bed last night.

Early winter's night wind was no joke.

Whoosh—

After closing the old sliding window, the sounds of finger-guessing from the night market below quieted considerably. Without the night wind's intrusion, the room seemed to warm up.

Henry Clark poured himself a cup of hot water, took a couple of sips, and looked at the full moon outside the window:

"What exactly is hidden in that safe with my name on it...?"

……

Since birth, Henry Clark had repeated the exact same dream every single night.

Day after day, year after year.

No matter how old Henry Clark was, no matter where he slept, no matter what he'd done during the day, as soon as he fell asleep, he would inevitably appear in that strange yet familiar plaza.

Strange, because Henry Clark was certain he had never been to that plaza in real life.

Familiar, because over these twenty-some years, Henry Clark had already explored every inch of it. He knew every child, every tree, even every blade of grass there.

As a child, Henry Clark was very afraid of this dream.

Every day it was the same people, the same city, the same events.

To Henry Clark, the dream was like a cage he could never escape.

Friends who played together yesterday would become strangers today.

People who died before his eyes yesterday would greet him with a smile today.

No matter what chaos he caused, the next day the dream would be as calm as ever.

He was like a prisoner trapped in time.

Sentenced to life imprisonment, repeating the same day over and over.

……

He discovered early on that the world in his dream would always be destroyed at exactly 00:42, and he would wake up at exactly 00:42 as well.

So he learned to exploit the bug—

[As long as he stayed up past 00:42 every night before sleeping, he would definitely not dream!]