My Exclusive Dream World Adventures

Chapter 10: An Unexpected Typhoon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Crack!

Thunder rumbled, accompanied by the sound of pounding rain and gushing winds. It was a little terrifying to listen to.

Chen Xu took shelter in a clothing store and watched the skies outside darken. He subconsciously frowned. He glanced at his phone. 13:45. The rain had been going on for more than three hours and showed no sign of stopping.

Such an enormous gale had to be at least a magnitude 10.

“But, why would there be a typhoon now?”

He thought something was off. It was September when he had entered the dream. Now that four months had gone by, it should have been January. He had never heard of a typhoon in January.

Eh?

That couldn’t be right either. January was one of the coldest months, but the current weather was the same as in September. It was very hot. He even had to turn on the air conditioning when he slept at night.

When he thought about it this way, he felt relieved. After all, anything that happened in a dream world shouldn’t be considered strange.

This could have also been an inconsistency deliberately set up to remind people in the dream that this wasn’t real.

“My stomach is rumbling.”

The hunger in his stomach made him realize that he couldn’t sit around and wait any longer. It seemed the storm wouldn’t be stopping any time soon, and he would be better off finding some food.

“I should’ve brought some snacks,” he thought dispiritedly.

There was food in the car, but it wasn’t realistic to go back now. The car was a far distance away. In such a severe storm, he dared not venture out onto the streets.

Earlier, he heard heavy objects falling to the ground several times, maybe from trunks that were blown off, or even billboards.

Anyway, it was dangerous out there.

Unfortunately, he had already scoured through the store and had found nothing to eat. He certainly couldn’t stay here for long. He would have to find something to eat somewhere else.

He remembered there was a convenient store a few lots away. There had to be food there.

He slid off his backpack and took out all the items that were not useful to him for the time being to reduce its weight. Then he pushed the door open.

Wooosh——

The moment he pulled on the door handle, strong winds thrust him backward and rain droplets violently buffeted his face. He quickly lowered his center of gravity, put his head down, and made his way outside.

When he got out the door, the winds intensified. Engulfed in the torrential downpour, he was drenched in seconds.

He took hold of the wall and pulled himself forward step by step. It took him several minutes to walk just ten meters.

At the convenience store, the door was wide open, unable to keep out the wind. The inside was a mess with goods blown all over the floor.

He didn’t stop. He went straight to the warehouse in the back, took shelter inside, and closed the door behind him with a struggle.

Following the thud of the door, the sound of wind and rain were shut out. The entire world became peaceful in an instant.

Now, he was soaked, and his drenched clothes stuck to his body, making him feel very uncomfortable. He took out spare clothes from his backpack.

“A brand name backpack indeed. Its waterproof feature is good quality,” he commended. Putting on a set of dry clothes, he felt his energy return to him. He grabbed a torchlight and began looking for food. The warehouse was not big, but there were plenty of goods, all of which were snacks and drinks.

He grabbed a packet of biscuits and a box of whole milk, sat on a carton of mineral water, and dug into his lunch while listening to the howling wind just beyond the door.

While he was eating, he suddenly thought of Luo Xiyun alone at the basecamp and worried a little, wondering how she was doing.

“What is there to worry about her. There’s food in the house, electricity, strong walls to keep out the storm – as long as she stays indoors…”

Then, he suddenly thought, “What day is it today? Wednesday?”

He remembered that she would go out every Wednesday.

He and Luo Xiyun lived next to each other. The two’s existence could be described as ‘well water not interfering with river water’. As each of them lived their own lives, an unspoken understanding had formed between them.

After being neighbors for three months, the number of times they crossed paths could be counted on one hand.

However, their living space was only separated by a wall. Even though they didn’t see each other, they could always felt the presence of one another.

Waking up in the morning, he could hear the sound of her watering the plants. When he went out, he could see the evidence left behind from the vegetation she harvested in front of his door. On the way to his garage, he saw the garbage that she had thrown out.

Even simple things like the sound of the door opening and closing, the fragrance that drifted over when she was cooking, the clothes that she would hang outside every day, and much more continually proved it. All these details made him constantly aware that Luo Xiyun was living next door.

After three months, without even deliberately paying attention, he had roughly grasped her routine. He knew that she left on a bicycle every Wednesday morning at nine and wouldn’t return until around eleven.

Today was Wednesday. With the great weather in the morning, she would have gone biking as usual. The rain started pouring down at some time after ten. She would have definitely gotten caught in it.

“That unfortunate woman, wouldn’t it be great if she stayed at home? Why does she have to go out? Especially on a bike,” he shook his head and said with sympathy. He grabbed another biscuit and stuffed it into his mouth.

This brand of biscuits tasted good but was a bit too sweet.

He finished the whole packet of biscuits in two to three bites and then opened another packet. After downing an additional two boxes of milk, his stomach was finally full.

“Why not watch some TV?”

He took out a tablet from his backpack that had several TV shows downloaded on it. He had specifically prepared the shows for if he needed to kill time.

One show was an urban romance drama with a rather idiotic plot. But he had no other options to pick from.

Now that the internet was so developed and fast, almost everyone watched movies and TV series online. Only some downloaded them to their computers. After searching through dozens of hard drives in the company building, he had only managed to find a few downloaded shows, most of them being Korean or American dramas.

Likewise, romantic action movies set on an island somewhere were in abundance.

The winds outside seemed to have further intensified.

The movie played for a few minutes, but Chen Xu couldn’t seem to concentrate at all. He was distracted by thoughts of Luo Xiyun.

“An adult should know to find shelter during a downpour. She’ll get a little wet from the rain at most.”

“Maybe she went home earlier than normal today.”

“Maybe…”

He turned off the video out of frustration and began walking in circles in the cramped little warehouse. At last, he stopped and let out a sigh, “Forget it, I’ll go back and have a look.”

If something were to happen to Luo Xiyun, he would really have to spend the remaining two months alone.

Determinedly, he put on his backpack, pulled the door open, and walked outside.

He braced himself against the wind, lowered his center of gravity, and advanced step by step. The dry clothes he had just changed into became soaked again in seconds.

Finally getting to his car, he got in, wiped his face, and immediately started the car and took off.

The rain, buffeted by the wind, tempestuously lashed against the windshield.

Despite having adjusted the windshield wipers’ speed to the fastest setting, his view was still extremely obscured by the water. He didn’t dare drive too fast because he also had to be careful of the obstacles on the road. If he crashed the car, he would waste even more time.

He only dared to speed up when he entered familiar territory.

Forty minutes later, he finally saw the outline of a familiar building. He slammed down on the gas and the car accelerated with a growl from the engine.