Tonight was unusually quiet. Perhaps due to the cooler weather, the street vendors downstairs had packed up early, leaving no trace of the usual nighttime noise.
Lin Xian opened his eyes.
Stared at the ceiling.
He lay still for a long time.
A strange discomfort lingered through his whole body.
It was…
A kind of inexplicable shame.
A grown man—yelling out his teenage crush's birthday like some middle schooler… how embarrassing.
Lin Xian wriggled around on the bed, pulling the blanket tighter around himself like a cocoon.
Thank god it was only a dream. It'd reset tomorrow anyway—no one would remember a thing.
And yet…
Even after laying himself bare like that, the safe still hadn't opened.It really made Lin Xian start doubting if that safe was even his.
"Whatever."
He scratched his head, threw off the blanket, and sat up.
"Time to get to real work."
A dream was still just a dream. What really mattered was the grind of reality.
Still in his pajamas, he turned on the desk lamp, sat down, and began sketching the cat from his dream—Coco Cat.
The design for Coco Cat was sleek and simple. There weren't too many details, so it was easy to draw.
In less than 20 minutes,
Lin Xian had completed front, side, and back views of Coco Cat on the drafting paper.
From limbs, clothing, tail, shoes—he reproduced every detail exactly as he remembered from the dream.
"Perfect."
He brushed off some eraser dust and smiled.
"Looks good enough to hand in tomorrow, no sweat."
As he looked at the completed drawing of Coco Cat…
Lin Xian couldn't help but think of Bigface Cat.
After two nights of dreaming, he had finally unraveled the tangled grudge between Bigface Cat and the code expert, CC.
Rustle.
Lin Xian pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and started organizing his thoughts:
[Story Flow]
Bigface Cat's daughter was murdered when she was six. To get revenge, he needed a lot of money.
The code expert CC wanted to break into the bank's vault. Her goal was to open Lin Xian's safe and retrieve whatever was inside.
CC lied to Bigface Cat, saying the bank was full of cash. They agreed on a secret code and planned to rob it together.
Bigface Cat planned to kill everyone and take all the money for himself. CC, on the other hand, intended to kill Bigface Cat once they got into the vault—since there was no money inside, and she knew Bigface Cat would never let her live if he found out.
In the end, Bigface Cat didn't get the money. CC didn't open the safe. Both lost.
Click.
Lin Xian capped his pen and looked down at the summary.
That was the story of Bigface Cat and CC.They were like NPCs in a video game, doomed to repeat the same sequence day after day, year after year.
And Lin Xian knew very well—
Even though he'd only joined the game for two nights,
Bigface Cat and CC's twisted drama had probably played out countless times over the past twenty years. Every night, like clockwork.
Without his involvement, the ending was always the same.
"But…"
Lin Xian tapped the paper with his pen:
"I'm the one and only variable."
All this time,
He had treated his dreams like an RPG. It was a fascinating experience.
Everyone in the dream was an NPC.
They each had their own storylines, their own quests. Lin Xian could jump in, learn their stories, take part in events, even change their fates.
After all, in dreams, anything was possible—save scumming, infinite retries, endless experimentation.So Lin Xian almost never encountered a challenge he couldn't solve, a mission he couldn't clear.
But this time…
"This one's tough. Way too many unknowns."
Rustle.
Lin Xian grabbed another sheet of A4 and began writing:
[Unsolved Mysteries]
What's actually inside the safe?
What is the correct code for the safe?
Why did CC save me? Her attitude is strange… oddly nuanced.
"That's all for now."
He stared at the three big questions on the page.
The first two had no leads. Total dead ends.
As for the third…
Why did CC save him? Why did she treat him with such strange familiarity?
"She didn't act like it was the first time meeting me. At the very least, she never tried to kill me."
"But who knows? Maybe she really doesn't know me at all."
"She did put some trust in me, though. Willing to try all those password guesses."
"Or maybe she was just desperate—grasping at straws?"
His thoughts spiraled again—he could probably win a literary prize with all this overthinking.
Lin Xian yawned.
"Time to sleep. Can't take dreams too seriously—too many plot holes anyway."
…
The Next Day
Company conference room.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the sketches on the table.
"This… wasn't it just a rough draft yesterday?How did it turn into full orthographic views overnight? The level of polish—it's ready for production!"
"Are you dumb? Just 'cause he doodled something yesterday doesn't mean he started designing yesterday.With how refined this is, Lin Xian must've been working on it privately for months!"
"It's too cute. I've never seen a cat design this good.I said it yesterday—this cat has real potential.Once it's cleaned up and colored, it could rival Hello Kitty!"
"From a professional standpoint, the design language is cutting-edge.I can't imagine any girl seeing this cat and not wanting to buy it.Lin Xian's come out of nowhere and absolutely crushed it!"
…
Normally, with CEO Zhao Yingjun present, everyone would be on their best behavior.But today's result was too shocking—they just couldn't hold it in.
High efficiency.Top-tier quality.
If they didn't know better, they'd swear Lin Xian had stolen this from another company.
Today, Zhao Yingjun was dressed head-to-toe in black, exuding a crisp, commanding aura—completely untouchable.
But even she now smiled as she looked at the sketch:
"This is truly an exceptional brand design—far beyond anything I imagined or expected."
"It's obvious that Lin Xian poured his heart into this cat.Honestly, just using her as a mascot or printing her on ads feels like a waste.I've got some new ideas now."
"But before that… we need to give this adorable cat a name."
She looked up at Lin Xian, her eyes full of approval.
"Since you designed her, Lin Xian, you should be the one to name her."
Everyone turned to look at him.
Several coworkers from the design department quietly gave him a thumbs-up.
"This cat's name…"
Lin Xian rested his chin on his hand and glanced at the big screen that read:
[Rhein Brand Identity Meeting – Session #7]
"Well…Since the company's new brand is called 'Rhein'—"
"Let's call her… Rhein Cat."