Chapter One: A Loving Family

“Pair of twos.”
“No.”
“Joker.”
“Pass.”
“A straight! I’m down to my last card!”
“Want... I can’t beat it.”
“Bam! Spring! I win!”
...
Du Fang threw his final card onto the table, and a chorus of playful groans erupted around him.
“You’re impossible! Can’t you let Auntie win just once?”
“Little Du, you play cards too well!”
Across from Du Fang sat two elegantly dressed women, both with curled hair and an air of grace, looking to be in their forties or fifties. They exchanged a few good-natured complaints, then slid several chips across the table to him.
Du Fang accepted the chips with delight and began to shuffle the deck again.
“It’s pure luck, really—every hand I get the jokers. There’s nothing I can do.”
“In this game, it’s all about luck. With luck like yours, not only do you win the land, you could flip the whole world.”
Du Fang chuckled, his hands moving quickly and skillfully over the cards, which flowed and fanned through his fingers with a sound like running water.
The two aunties propped their chins in their hands, gazing at him with eager eyes.
“How old are you, Little Du?”
“Twenty.”
“Do you have a girlfriend? Auntie knows a wonderful girl, very pretty—want to meet her?”
“No, please don’t. Let’s just play cards, Auntie, don’t get into all that. I’m not going to go easy on you.”
“Oh, look at him, he’s shy!”
“It’s not that—I have a five-year-old daughter. If you introduce me to a girl, she’ll end up as an instant mom, isn’t that unfair to her?”
“But you’re only twenty. How do you have a five-year-old? She’s not your real daughter, is she?”
“Not by blood.”
“Hmm... more like I adopted her.”
Their conversation drifted lightly over the card table as they played.
Finally, the shuffling was done.
Du Fang excitedly interlaced his fingers and rubbed his hands together.
“Come on, Aunties, let’s keep going—one last game. After this, I have to go home and cook for my daughter. She gets cranky when she’s hungry.”
He looked at the two enthusiastic aunties, a little embarrassed.
They could only mutter a protest, not quite ready to be done.
The three began to draw cards.
Du Fang fanned his cards out—again, both jokers in hand. His eyes brightened.
“I’ll be the landlord!”
“Your luck tonight is unbelievable.”
“Sorry, Aunties, but here I go.”
Du Fang grinned and began to play.
He opened with a pair of twos, followed with a four-card bomb, tossed out the joker bomb, then unleashed a relentless barrage, ending the game in a sweeping victory.
“Aunties, another spring!”
The elegant ladies fell silent.
Du Fang unceremoniously gathered the last of their chips, pocketed them, and stood up with a cheerful smile.
“I’ve had a lovely time with you both today. Let’s do this again sometime.”
He beamed at the two women.
They stood as well, hands gracefully at their sides, lips curved in polite crescent smiles, eyes fixed on him.
“Little Du, are you sure you don’t want to meet the girl Auntie wanted to introduce?”
One of them smiled invitingly.
Du Fang waved his hands.
“Don’t tease me, Auntie!”
“Fate will bring us together again. Next time, let me cook for you both!”
With those words, Du Fang turned and left the card table, humming a little tune, and departed the opulent mansion accompanied by the aunties’ farewells.
Warm sunlight spilled from the sky. Cicadas sang endlessly in the trees. Emerald leaves swayed gently in the breeze, sunlight filtering through like scattered gold.
The world rang with cheerful songs.
Everything was serene, peaceful, and full of warmth.
Du Fang stretched, a gentle, radiant smile on his face.
As long as one faces the world with love and sincerity,
Beauty and happiness intertwine,
And everywhere the eye falls,
There is nothing but warmth.
The two aunties walked Du Fang to the mansion gates, standing quietly—
Like the kindest of elders—
Eyes locked on his vanishing figure.
They raised their hands, waving stiffly from side to side.
Sensing their gaze, Du Fang turned back with a smile and waved in return.
The scene around him began to ripple softly, as if a stone had been dropped into still water,
The ripples spreading,
Until all dissolved into mist and cloud.
...
...
Jiangling University.
Study room.
Du Fang rubbed his head and sat up from his desk, yawning and stretching.
What a restful sleep.
Another dream.
But this one, too, was full of warmth and humor.
Every hand in the dream was a joker bomb, every round a sweeping victory—
Exhilarating!
And the aunties in the dream—beautiful, kind, sweet-voiced, always eager to introduce him to gentle girls.
If not for his daughter,
He might have been tempted.
Suddenly, a sharp, fresh scent of blood drifted through the air, stabbing at his nostrils.
Du Fang frowned.
He glanced around. Many students were slumped over their desks, lifeless, their deaths gruesome. The stench of blood came from them.
Some had their hearts gouged out, the organs chewed upon.
Some had their skulls split open, brains churned into a ruin.
The scene was horrific—
Du Fang felt a twinge of discomfort.
Who knew what horrors these classmates had faced in their dreams?
Unfortunately, Du Fang could not empathize with the dead.
Because his dreams were different from everyone else's.
All his dreams were suffused with—
Damnable gentleness and intoxicating warmth.
Not only were his dreamscapes gentle,
But everyone in them spoke kindly, treated him as a guest, and always tried to introduce him to gentle, virtuous girls.
Why was this?
Du Fang could not understand.
Was it simply because he was handsome, and thus doomed to the loneliness of unshared joys and sorrows?
Or perhaps...
Because he was a transmigrator?
Or maybe, it was that his heart was so full of sincerity and love that, in this era, he alone could dream such things.
Du Fang sighed. Others who survived dream calamities awakened special abilities, became professional dreamwalkers, commanded high salaries, and stood at the summit of life.
But not him.
Twice he’d survived dream calamities, and not once had he awakened any special power.
From head to toe, he was utterly and hopelessly ordinary.
Perhaps, this was the price to pay for dreams so heartwarming and pleasant.
He rose to leave the study room.
But as he stood, something fell from his body—
This had never happened before.
Du Fang looked down and bent to pick it up.
A brand-new box of playing cards!
On the cover were two voluptuous, smiling women, elegant and alluring.
“Huh? Did they give me cards too?”
“Those aunties really are enthusiastic… I did give them so many springs.”
“How can I accept this…”
He smiled to himself and quickly pocketed the cards.
No sooner had he done so,
His vision became unfocused.
At that moment,
On his retina, a faintly glowing subtitle appeared:
...
A Family Bound by Love
Head of the Family: Du Fang
Age: 20
Dream Essence: 10
Item: Auntie’s Photo Playing Cards
Members: Luluo (Daughter), (Missing), (Missing)…
Task: For the sake of family reunion and happiness, strive to reunite with all missing family members.
...
His gaze focused on the member entry: [Luluo (Daughter)].
Ripples spread out.
Another panel of subtitles popped up:
...
Daughter: Luluo
Age: 5
Dream Essence: ???
Affection: 56/100 (↓)
Item: Luluo’s Little Piggy Plush “Qiqi”
[Luluo’s Little Wishes: 1. Hopes Daddy will cook delicious food for her every day;
2. Hopes Daddy will buy a big house and play hide-and-seek with her;
3. Hopes Daddy will find Mommy, Grandpa, Grandma, Brother, Uncle, and all the family soon, so everyone can be together and happy.]
...
Du Fang beamed.
Auntie’s photo cards turned out to be an item—what a pleasant surprise.
He stared at the subtitle panel in his vision—something he’d awakened a month ago, after his first dream calamity.
As a transmigrator, he was no stranger to this kind of panel.
A golden finger!
A system!
But, really, was the system ever so perfunctory?
A Family Bound by Love?
What is this, a family group chat?
How could a system bear to call itself that?
Worse yet… after all his study, Du Fang had found no actual benefit from this system.
Except that he could see, with perfect clarity, his exact affection value with his daughter Luluo.
So, was this a raising sim?
Legitimate or not, who could say…
Raising a family in a world plagued by dream disasters—what a bizarre twist!
“Affection is dropping… it was 60 before!”
Through the daughter panel, Du Fang saw his bond with her declining—
Which meant…
His daughter was hungry!
She was having a mood!
This was the consequence of not getting home in time to cook for her.
Du Fang grew more anxious.
To get home and cook for his daughter as soon as possible, he didn’t linger another moment in the study room.
He got up, left his seat, and pushed open the door into the blood-scented corridor.
...
...
Outside the study room.
The atmosphere was tense. Countless eyes were fixed on the door.
As Du Fang stepped out,
A dozen gun barrels snapped up, all aimed at him.
The air seemed thick with gunpowder.
Compared to the warmth and love of his dreams,
Reality…
Was far colder and more merciless.
Du Fang obediently raised his hands, clasped them behind his head, turned to face the wall,
Lifted his hips slightly, and slowly squatted down.
His movements were precise, practiced—
So practiced, it was almost heartbreaking.