DREAM WORLD
The first man the villagers voted to eat was still begging for mercy when I realized I had already watched him die once.It began with a haunting song in my dream: "In the village of Lanhua, Je is so beautiful that whoever sees her can never look away."I never heard the final verse.Following the melody, I discovered a beautiful young woman clearing muddy farmland with dozens of villagers. Everyone who passed turned to stare at her.Then someone unearthed something strange.A mosquito landed on Je's neck. She collapsed instantly. Thousands more descended, attacking everyone until the entire village lay motionless.Their bodies vanished.The insects formed a spinning black circle and flew toward the distant desert.I followed them, somehow existing without a body, unable to speak or touch anything.Deep in the wasteland stood an ancient temple, where the mosquitoes disappeared and the dead villagers suddenly awakened.Its floor tiles were edible, and a mysterious faucet eventually provided water. But nobody could find a way home.As food dwindled, Je became pregnant. The villagers worshiped her unborn child as their last hope.Then they created a terrifying law.Every few days, they would vote for someone to sacrifice so the others could survive.Je received the largest portions while the chosen villagers vanished into the cooking fires.Only the elderly village chief refused to celebrate. Instead, he silently carved everything that happened into the temple walls.Eventually, only Je and the old man remained.Then Je died.The old man spent his final days carving alone until starvation claimed him.Suddenly, the visions stopped.I stood inside the empty temple beside a lonely human skeleton.Every horrifying event I had witnessed was engraved upon the walls.But beneath the skeleton's hand lay one final carving, almost completely buried in sand.I brushed it clean.It depicted a sleeping man surrounded by mosquitoes, while a beautiful woman s…
