1st March
Pruning [Special Theme: Longtaitou Festival]
🖋️ Haishan

“Forget it. I’m not going through with it.” I stormed out of the pruning chamber and walked next door.

Momo was lying on a recliner chair, her head encased in a soft metallic helmet. Nearly a hundred billion neurons flickered across the screen. Nanobots, following their preprogrammed paths, swam to the precise synaptic junctions, severing tiny neural links like a pair of scissors snipping invisible threads.

Moments later, the operation light dimmed. Momo rose and stepped out, brushing past me without a word.

The sunlight outside was beautiful, and the crowds kept flowing in.

It seemed like more people than ever were coming to have their memories pruned this year. Everyone brimmed with anticipation, as if they could already see a brand-new version of themselves emerging from the other side of the door—lighter, freer, ready to start anew. But it’s okay, I thought. Some of us still want to hold on to something, even if it means carrying a heavier load.

1st March (International Day of the Seal)
In Search of the Seal
🖋️ Cao Zheng

Twenty thousand years ago, the last seal was stolen. From that moment on, seals vanished from the earth.

Time agents A and B were dispatched to that point in history, tasked with collecting the biological data needed to bring the species back.

They stood inside an aquarium, watching the seal twist and turn in the water, exhaustion clouding their eyes.

“It doesn’t belong in here.”

“Let’s send it home.”

They exchanged a knowing smile.

At the shore, they watched the seal leap into the waves, its figure growing smaller with every splash.

Back in the future, the coast remained quiet and still.

“Do you think they’ll find out what we did?”

“Who cares?” From the deep sea came a long, low cry, as if telling the story of a fate that had just been rewritten.

2nd March
Reliving an Old Dream
🖋️ Lefty

The walk from school to home was only a few hundred metres, and today I was in such a rush that I did not notice the fig on the branch stretching over the courtyard wall had already turned red. Nor did I have the heart to tease the plump cat dozing on the stone post at the alley’s entrance.

It was Saturday—on this day every week, Dad would buy a yellow-covered pulp novel from a roadside stall. But this time, I was disappointed. He searched high and low but could not find the final volume of The Five Younger Gallants. Frustrated, he bought all twelve volumes of The Legend of the Condor Heroes instead. The print was crude, but from that day on, I had my very first real taste of the world of wuxia. Thanks to the latest technology—Dream Revisit—we can now relive many of life’s ‘first times’ in our sleep.

3rd March
Custom Weather
🖋️ Zhou Wu

“I want to see a rainbow on my birthday!” the child wished.

Sure enough, on her birthday, a magnificent rainbow stretched across the sky outside the balcony, arching gracefully over several buildings.

The child was overjoyed. After the family took photos in front of the rainbow, the father quietly transferred the payment to the Custom Weather Company. “Get ready to switch weather!” the company manager barked to the technician. “In half an hour, in the same neighbourhood, another client—just went through a breakup—wants a snow scene. June snow, twenty square metres, lasting ten minutes. Make sure the flakes don’t drift into anyone else’s yard! Last time, our customised rain messed up someone’s laundry, and we got a complaint … ”

4th March
Jingzhe [Special Theme: Jingzhe]
🖋️ Arumik

When the first thunderclap of spring shook the sky, the keratin layer on the back of my neck began to grow abnormally. I did not tell Mom. But if she looked closely, she might have noticed that the American cockroaches in the lab had grown unusually restless—just like me. The thunder’s resonant frequency was 30 Hz, overlapping perfectly with the courtship frequency of cockroaches.

My sister was the first to notice something was off—she had a severe insect allergy. That triggered a full-scale extermination at home. It was a rough time. I hid inside the wardrobe, my bluish-black carapace scraping against the composite material, making a teeth-gritting squeak. In the damp breath of spring rain, the antennae sprouting behind my ears gently soothed me—
38,200 times gentler than the mother I remembered.

5th March
Thunder Symphony
🖋️ Haishan

Thunder. The scent of flowers. Birds singing. This is the final program I was tasked to execute.

A sound—grand as a symphony—echoes through the three hundred neural links connected to the cryo-pods, seeping into every consciousness and rousing them from their long slumber.

The composition was chosen by humanity before hibernation. I cannot grasp its meaning, yet it seems perfectly in tune with the new world outside the porthole.

The atmosphere is rich with moisture. Coloured lightning slices through the thin clouds, casting reflections across a kaleidoscope of lakes and seas.

I still remember that blue planet. But this new star teems with its own vibrant life.

I wonder—were the other ships just as fortunate? “Diagnostics complete. Mission JZ0305 concluded. Shutting down in 5, 4, 3…”

6th March
Voyager No. 1
🖋️ Curiosity

On Earth:
“Any updates from Voyager No. 1?”
“Same as always—nothing new.”

On Delta Planet:
“Any updates from Fartraveler No. 1?”
“Same as always—nothing new.” At that very moment, the two probes passed each other in the cosmos, brushing past in the dark—sending out a faint burst of static on a low-frequency band, like a sigh from two primitive civilisations.

7th March
Self-Destruct
🖋️ Long Yin

“I want to die.” She looked into his eyes.

“You can’t die,” he replied calmly.

“I’ve found a way … I just came to say goodbye.” She turned her gaze away.

“You can’t die,” he repeated, just as calm.

“I’m sorry. Goodbye.” The light in her eyes went out.

He sat in silence, staring at her. How many times had it been now?

Sunlight shifted from bright to golden dusk. At last, he spoke.

“Tina, download backup file ‘X’ from the server.” “Understood. The task will be completed in one hour.” Her eyes shimmered with the light of the setting sun.

8th March (International Women’s Day)
The Women
🖋️ Cao Zheng

In the future, Earth’s energy runs dry.

Hundreds of colony ships are launched in all directions, seeking hope among the stars.

“No need to fall where you came from—take root where you land.” That was the directive echoing through the cosmos.

Ship No. 1 suffered a coup. Ship No. 7 crashed in a Martian storm. Ship No.23 was torn apart by Jupiter’s gravity. Ship No.38 lost all but its women to a cryo-chamber failure. Ship No. 11 vanished in the Kuiper Belt.
…

“And that, children, is the story of our foremothers.” A century later, in a junkyard graveyard, an old woman speaks to a group of wide-eyed kids.

9th March
The Immigrant’s Dilemma
🖋️ He Qiusheng

“The teacher called again today—you ate the ornamental flowers! And you ate half the fruits and vegetables in the school bio-garden!”

“Mom, it’s because the dietary inhibition chip the Earthlings implanted in me is failing … My natural Tianyangian instinct to feed on greenery has awakened again … We thrive on plants, and Mom, they were so delicious … You have no idea … ” A sigh.“If Earthlings weren’t so fond of civil wars and if nuclear fallout hadn’t poisoned so much of their land, they wouldn’t have made veggies and plants so rare that everyone needs a chip just to stop eating them. The fine is not too bad, but one more violation and that’s it—we’ll be rejected, deported, and back to drifting through space. You have to control yourself, my child!”

10th March
Off Work
🖋️ LostAbaddon

Off work.

Out of the subway, into the night.

The streets were empty, save for the cold wind and rows of silent bicycles.

Blue ones, yellow ones, green ones, white ones.

I walked to a bike. Beep.

“Hello, this is XX Bike, your companion for the final kilometre home,” it chirped awake. “Would you like to order a midnight snack? Grilled kidneys go great with a splash of Niulanshan liquor!”

I swung onto the seat.

“Your activity levels have been a little low. I’ve plotted a scenic night ride—up for a challenge?”

I started pedalling.

“You’re moving slower than usual—tired? The Polar Bear Massage Parlour is trending well. Shall I book you a session?” I got off and went home.

11th March
So It Was You [Special Theme: Server]
🖋️ Lefty

Why did they give the server two legs?

I never quite figured it out.

Not until twenty years later, when it showed up in front of me—wrapped in a rubber shell, wearing a latex face.

“So it was you, Old Wang!” I gave him a punch on the shoulder. “Where the hell have you been all these years? Couldn’t even drop by for a chat?”

“Patient exhibits moderate dementia. Short-term memory loss. Long-term memory fading. Familiar conversations may slow deterioration,” Old Wang muttered as he turned his back. When he turned around again, I punched his shoulder once more.“So it was you, Old Wang … ”

12th March
Plastic-Planting Day
🖋️ Lu Hai

Today is 12 March—International Plastic-Planting Day.

You plant a plastic seedling in the soil. You water it, and its plastic roots slowly grow downward, breaking down microplastics in the earth, absorbing and re-polymerising them in its tissues.

These plastic trees draw energy from sunlight to power the process, stretching and growing taller and stronger over time. Fellow humans, this is the last piece of land untouched by microplastic invasion. We are the last people not yet polymerised. Plastic-Planting Day is not about symbolic gestures. It exists to remind us always: extinction is only a forest of white plastic trees away.

13th March
Planting the Tech Tree
🖋️ Cao Zheng

On the eve of Earth’s destruction, humanity launched the ‘Tree Planting Project’: using quantum computers to create simulated universes, they locked part of tech trees to force the evolution of unknown scientific paths.

Some of the ‘pruned’ civilisations remained: in the steam era, where difference engines replaced electronic chips; others never discovered nuclear energy, but cultivated sentient bio-computers. In worlds without physics, divination could actually predict the future.

“It’s all futile. These civilisations still lag behind us,” the chief engineer sighed at the final moment before the end.

Suddenly, time froze. A voice rang out: “Universe No. 312, you’ve done well.”

“Who are you?”

“Your creators.”

“I should’ve known … So, what did you limit in us?” “Your perception of the fourth dimension.”

14th March (Pi Day)
Source Pi
🖋️ Cao Zheng

In the future, Earth received a transmission from Universe No.2. The two civilisations began a cultural exchange—and discovered they shared the same roots and the same origin story.

Until a thousand years ago, when a minor quantum fluctuation split them into divergent timelines.

Quantum computers revealed: their π differed at the 765.2 sextillionth digit—a discrepancy perhaps tied to the branching of the multiverse.

Then came the final message from Civilisation No. 2:

“No. 1, this will be our last transmission. Our meeting was a blessing. But please … cease your research on parallel universes.

…

π is history, a set of coordinates and the source code of the cosmos.

We’ve found something—monsters. Their π is… 42. We’ve been exposed. They’re coming. Remember—do not reveal your π.”

15th March
No-Questions-Asked Returns
🖋️ Guan Deshen

Call One.
K: Hi dear, we’ve received your feedback, and we’re so sorry!
C: I’ve had it with you people. That last batch of pets you sent was enormous. They ate too much, farted constantly, and turned my garden into a biohazard zone. Even after they died, they left their giant fossils behind! And this time—don’t get me started …

K: So sorry again, dear. As before, we’ll activate our No-Questions-Asked Return policy right away.

Call Two.
C: Hello? We’ve got a situation. The pets this time … evolved intelligence. They discovered your return-sweeper drone and have named it 2024 YR4. (Note: 2024 YR4 is a real asteroid. In 2025, NASA calculated its probability of striking Earth at 3.1%.)

16th March
The Kite Ban [Special Theme: Kite]
🖋️ Lu Hai

I was hospitalised because I got cut in half.

A friend came to visit me at the station infirmary. Back when the sun swung around to this side of the Yumen Spaceport, we always went kite flying—just the two of us, piloting ships, using a massive silicon solar sail tethered by alloy nanofibre threads. We’d loop through the solar wind, watching the sail dance in space.

Not this year.

“No need to be bummed,” my friend said. “They’ve banned kite flying at Yumen Station this year.”

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“A couple of days ago … someone’s kite line sliced through the station.” “Oh … ” I nodded solemnly. “Guess how I got cleaved in half?”

17th March
Kite Chaser
🖋️ Cao Zheng

Runaway kites always fly to the stars. That’s what Grandpa used to say.

I watched the kite soar higher and smaller until a thought took hold—I’m going after it.

I chased it past the clouds, out into space.

But the air here was too thin. I could not breathe.

“Oxygen levels at 5%. Please stop piloting.”

The kite drifted farther and farther. My body felt heavier.

“Gravity exceeds 900%. Please cease all piloting … ”

In a daze, I dreamed I was at the helm of a great ship, drifting across the starlit sea. The childhood kite fluttered past my window. I reached out and caught the string, and as the kite soared, the ship caught the wind and lifted, rising like a bird into the universe. “Colony vessel has escaped black hole gravity. Pilot exhibiting hallucinations. Vital signs unstable.”

18th March
Dream Deleted
🖋️ He Qiusheng

He was an aspiring sci-fi writer, desperately longing for a brilliant idea, often racking his brain in vain.

Then one night, he had a strange and marvellous dream. In it, he travelled across the Milky Way, journeyed through the stars with aliens, unlocked the mysteries of solar energy, completed a lunar replication project, and created an entirely new, grand solar system.

He awoke from the dream, thrilled beyond words. Leaping from bed, he rushed to his computer, eager to capture the dream’s vivid glory.

His fingers hovered, ready to unleash a storm of words. But suddenly, as if a switch had flipped, his mind went blank.

On the screen, a single line of text appeared: “Your dream has been deleted.”

19th March
Springtime Messenger
🖋️ Eleblue

Though humanity had colonised the galaxy far and wide, spring still belonged only to Earth.

Every morning, she gathered data—wind, sunlight, floral fragrance—and encoded them in perfect proportions, like brewing a pot of spring tea. Then she infused these signals into tiny mechanical insects, sending them out among the stars.

One day, she received a special request:

[A spring butterfly that never fades, to be delivered to my lover at the edge of the nebula, where only endless winter reigns. Please be sure to include the attached file.]

She wove spring into its wings—and memories, too: a meeting beneath the crabapple tree, warmth held in a palm, a vow beneath the shared stars … She released the butterfly, sending it towards the farthest reaches of space, like springtime flying home to Earth.

20th March
Chunfen [Special Theme: Chunfen]
🖋️ LostAbaddon

The sun once again crossed the ecliptic from south to north.

But few paid attention, because today, Blue Whale released its latest miracle device.

The Sky Tamer, built from 1.2 million intelligent modules spread across the globe, used a comprehensive world model to extract collective human desires. Then, through ultra-Lyapunov constraint algorithms, it performed beyond-horizon forecasts, enabling precise micro-adjustments to local atmospheric structures.

Thus, humanity no longer needed weather forecasts—only weather bookings.

So, when the wishes were made and heads lifted skywards, people saw rows of fluffy white clouds drifting across the sky—sunshine on one side, grey skies on the other. Spring had been divided in half.

21st March
Dreaming
🖋️ Yu Gui

Night fell, and traffic formed mottled patterns outside the window.

He pulled the curtains shut, detached his right hand, and placed it on the charging dock beside the bed. These days, brain-computer interfaces and bionic limbs were commonplace, serving not just the needs of the disabled, but also allowing wild dreams like ‘Iron Fists in Flight’ to come true.

The room was dark. Only the charging hand blinked softly—green and red. His breath quickened. Suddenly, the right hand lifted, floated into the air and flailed wildly.
With a crack of thunder, it dropped, landing squarely on his chest. Fumbling through the dark, he found the disconnection switch, powered it down, and placed the hand back on the dock.

22nd March
Dream Talk
🖋️ Paul

“C-can you … forgive me?” The old woman repeated this sentence every day.

She did not know—I had already forgiven her in our dream.

Today, we linked our dreams again. I used our shared memories to help her piece together the fragments of her mind.

In the dream, she often appeared as a frail little girl, overwhelmed by emotions. I was always there to comfort her.

Alzheimer’s patients lose the ability to dream, and without dreams, memories cannot be restored. Inspired by this, I created a dream-linking device for my mother, an Alzheimer’s patient.

Without her, I never would’ve finished the invention. But forgiving her? That’s something I will never—never—say out loud.

23rd March (National Puppy Day)
Wait
🖋️ Eleblue

“Why approach them? They are fragile beings.”
“I can protect him.”
“They often misread kindness.”
“Then I’ll wag my tail more.”
“They don’t understand you.”
“I can learn their language.”
“They will abandon you, forget you, even betray you.”
“Then I’ll wait, right here.”

God shook His head and gave silent permission. The first puppy stepped towards the flickering firelight of humanity.

“Why haven’t you left?”
“He said he’d come back.”
“You no longer have to keep watch.”
“But he doesn’t like an empty house.”
“They’ve long gone extinct.”
“I still remember his scent.” The patrol AI turned away, leaving the last puppy lying at the doorway of the ruins.

24th March
The Lie-Flat Planet
🖋️ Stockard

On the Legendary planet, everyone was young, and everyone lay perfectly still, occasionally rolling over, maybe crawling a little.

“Why is everyone stuck at around twenty-something?”
“I’ll know when I turn thirty-five,” the protagonist said. “Just wait.”

At last, the thirty-fifth birthday came.
The protagonist shouted and stood up.

Zing! A silent plasma cannon fired a beam of light, striking the protagonist squarely in the head. “Target exceeding the cruising altitude has been eliminated,” announced the planetary management system.

25th March
Paradise [Special Theme: Dreamcore]
🖋️ Long Yin

“This place is so boring,” grumbled A. “You’re the one who insisted on choosing a niche dream,” said B, eyeing an ugly spring rocker. “We need to go, or we’ll get penalised again.” A tugged at him. “Okay, okay.” B set down his bubble tea and got off the swing.

“Please don’t go! I’m begging you!” The dreamer suddenly appeared. “I haven’t had any visitors in so long. Just stay a little longer!” “Sorry, your dream sucks.” Whoosh. The two boys vanished. The dreamer fell to her knees. “I can’t help it. I can’t control the dream … ” She looked at her watch. Her dream revenue could only support the maintenance of her physical body for three more days.

26th March
Blind Men and an Elephant
🖋️ He Qiusheng

“That asteroid in the solar system? We already investigated it. The whole surface was crawling with massive four-legged carnivores. They eat everything, even each other, savage and terrifying. No colonisation value.”

“When we went, the planet was nothing but ice and snow, completely lifeless. A dead rock. No colonisation value.”

“We found it submerged in massive floods. Absolutely uninhabitable. No colonisation value.”

“Listen, we got a close look—there’s just a bunch of pitiful monkeys living there. They’re frozen in the winter and roasted in the summer. There’s no reason for us to suffer like that!”

“Rejection approved. Proceed to the next candidate planet for review.”

27th March
The Survivor
🖋️ Cao Zheng

When The Survivor returned to Earth, the press swarmed him.

“Sir! Interstellar jumps have only a one-in-ten-thousand success rate, yet you’ve come back safely every time. What’s your secret?”

He stared off into the distance, eyes deep and determined. “Charge forward. Leave the rest to fate.”

As night fell, the astronaut walked to the graveyard.
The breeze stirred. The headstones stood silent. He removed the medal from his chest and offered it to the other 9,999 versions of himself.

28th March
The Hillside
🖋️ Harry

Lingzi climbed to the top of the hillside. Calling it a “hillside” was generous. It was really just a pile of collapsed skyscrapers. But their high-strength materials had kept their rectangular shapes intact even after falling, forming a jagged incline that sloped upwards. Lingzi loved this place. She named it Himalaya. Whenever she had time, she’d fly here on her glider, take off her protective suit, and climb the rubble-strewn slope to the very top. Just like its name, within the range of her glider’s reach, this hillside was the tallest peak in her world.

29th March
Hospice Ward
🖋️ Zhou Wu

The old man looked around—it was the home he had yearned for all these decades: the Qing-era stone bridge at the village entrance, winding paths through fields, the ancient banyan tree heavy with leaves, Pallas’s leaf warblers darting from the underbrush, and smoke curling from the tiled rooftops …

“Come home!” His mother’s voice called from afar.

“I’m finally home!” Tears of joy streamed down his face as he walked towards the old house.

Behind the one-way glass of the hospice ward, doctors and family watched in silence as the man’s vitals slowly approached zero.

“Thank you,” his family whispered with a trembling nod. The doctor powered down the immersive simulation. The man’s body was still warm. Tears lingered on his cheeks, alongside a faint smile.

30th March
The Last Hope
🖋️ Long Yin

The man opened the door. “Sorry, Daddy’s late.” “It’s okay, Daddy. I’m reading,” said the girl, sitting on the bed, holding up a book. “What are you reading?” he asked, eyes full of love. “The Last Leaf,” she replied. “But I don’t really get it.” “Why?” “Well … couldn’t the old painter just use a hologram to project the leaf? What made him go through all the trouble of painting it by hand?”

The man glanced around. They were surrounded by a spring meadow in full bloom.

“Sweetheart, back then, technology wasn’t as advanced as today.” “Oh … okay. Daddy, you haven’t hugged me today.” He opened his arms with a smile. His tears passed through her image, and her image passed through his body.

31st March
Dream Server Overload
🖋️ Cao Zheng

“Try the latest neural interface programme—it forces you into deep sleep. Best rest you’ll ever have.”

“Really?” the man asked sceptically.

“Try it and see.”

That night, all was quiet. The man lay in bed, his mind slowly emptying. A long-lost sense of peace washed over him. Just as he was about to drift into slumber, a voice exploded in his head: “Dream server overloaded…Please try again later … ”