Meng Yan's Transformation

Chapter 612 Becoming a Military Strategist in a Dream

There was a certain certainty about the future in Zhan Yue's voice that Zhan Mengyan had never heard before.

Zhan Mengyan confided her trepidation and vague anticipation about the new science to Zhan Yue. The complex formulas and theories became concrete and tangible in Zhan Mengyan's narration. The two sisters' conversations shuttled between upcoming courses, school poetry club activities, and even distant and somewhat vague career imaginations.

In this cramped berth, the future no longer seems so vast and daunting, but rather transformed into concrete steps that can be broken down and discussed side by side.

As night deepened, the rustling sounds in the dormitory were gradually replaced by even breathing. Zhan Yue's words slowed down, eventually turning into short, drowsy responses. Zhan Mengyan and Zhan Yue stopped talking, but a peaceful sense of fulfillment settled in the narrow space they shared. They could feel the warmth emanating from the sleeping other students on the communal bed, and the reassuring solidity of the wooden planks beneath them. In this crowded yet strangely safe environment, all sorts of aspirations and plans for studying no longer floated in their minds, but slowly sank with the growing drowsiness, merging into a dreamless slumber. The last vestiges of consciousness were the soft rustling of fabric and Zhan Yue's steady breathing, before everything disappeared into the deep, satisfying darkness.

Amidst the collective slumber of breaths, Zhan Mengyan entered a completely different world.

In her dream, Zhan Mengyan seemed to escape the cramped dormitory room and find herself in a spacious and bright study. The walls were lined with bookshelves reaching to the ceiling, densely packed with heavy books, their titles vaguely resembling "On War," "The Art of War," and various war chronicles and biographies. A large desk was spread out, displaying yellowed maps and manuscripts filled with annotations. She saw her adult self, intently comparing battle models from different eras, her pen moving rapidly across a notebook, recording analyses of a military strategist's strategic thought. It was a steadfast tranquility, immersed in grand narratives and meticulous thought, a stark contrast to the sweaty, dusty reality of her dormitory. Zhan Mengyan could even feel her fingertips gliding across the pages and the intense thirst for knowledge she felt, a thirst for understanding the context of a historical decision. A short while later, she found herself standing in what resembled a university lecture hall, with students listening attentively below. She was explaining with clear logic the subtle relationship between troop deployment and terrain utilization in a classic battle, with simple diagrams drawn on the blackboard. The sense of knowledge and historical mission she felt in her dream was so real that when Zhan Mengyan woke up in the morning, she could still hear the voice of her dream, while all she could see were the sleeping backs of her classmates on the bunk and the faint light coming in from the window.

The morning exercise bell always rang "dong dong" before dawn, crisply breaking the silence of the campus. Teacher Zhu, the dormitory supervisor, would immediately knock on the door to urge them on. Zhan Mengyan and her classmates would struggle out of their sleep, whether they were soundly asleep, exhausted, or still dreaming. They would quickly fold their blankets into a line and neatly arrange the basins of water under their beds. The students would then merge into the dimly lit playground and rush to the classroom to continue their hard work under the lights, striving to change their fate. No one knew what each other dreamed of while they were deep asleep. That dream about military research was like a deeply buried seed, left on that crowded dormitory bed filled with the blood, sweat, and desire of youth. It became a quiet and vast spiritual map belonging to a beautiful girl during a difficult period of time.