North Shore Wasteland, within the ruins of a small town.
Genava stood by the bonfire, beginning to inquire about the circumstances surrounding Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo when they first awoke from their dreams, in order to determine why the attackers spared them.
As an intelligent robot, he had stored various environmental information collected during that period, allowing for comparative analysis.
-- Genava periodically compresses large amounts of useless data, storing it separately or deleting it directly, leaving only the relatively important information, as storage space is limited.
And this time, because it had been less than 24 hours, the data was very complete.
"When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a faint mist, but there was no rain, and then I smelled a bit of blood..." Zeng Duo recalled, "I have some experience in this area, and I guessed that there should be a battle between distorted creatures or 'Heartless Ones' in the distance, and it was likely to spread here."
"Did those distorted creatures scare the attackers away?" Han Wanghuo guessed.
Don't think they easily solved the dangerous creatures that were transferred over, it was more reliant on the special abilities of Genava, this intelligent robot. Relying solely on Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo, it would be questionable whether they could escape smoothly.
If the attackers were not at the "Mind Corridor" level, lacked robot guards, and sufficient firepower, they wouldn't be able to handle those distorted creatures and would be forced to retreat, which is completely reasonable.
Genava moved his metal-cast neck up and down:
"That possibility cannot be ruled out.
"But I discovered something from the established Awakened database:
"Awakened individuals who can influence dreams are likely in the 'Dawn' domain, and not all influences on dreams can achieve the effect of 'Real Dream,' which may not be able to cause death. Sorry, I was too rash just now and jumped to a conclusion. You may not have been affected by 'Real Dream.'
"Besides this, there is another point: Awakened individuals in the 'Dawn' domain may be allergic to or afraid of certain smells. There are cases of this."
"The smell of blood at the time?" Zeng Duo instantly made a connection.
Her impression of this was quite profound.
. . . . . .
After Shang Jianyao quickly completed a new round of "Reasoning Clown," Jiang Baimian's expression became a bit strange.
"What are you thinking about?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.
Jiang Baimian replied at an unhurried pace:
"I'm wondering if there's a way to wake up completely and escape this illusory dream, so that we can see a new world."
"It shouldn't work. Shang Jianyao tried it before, and it's impossible to escape 'Real Dream' using normal methods. You can only deepen your awareness and strengthen your consciousness of dreaming to barely wake up. And the current enemy is much stronger than the Nightmare Horse at the time, they're not even on the same level," Long Yuehong recalled the past.
Then, he added a sentence:
"Even if you wake up from 'Real Dream,' what's the point? Aren't you still in the huge illusory dream of the graylands?"
The effect of "Reasoning Clown" is slightly different on each person. What Long Yuehong showed was a bit of self-abandonment, and Shang Jianyao's was, why bother being serious.
"That can't be said," Shang Jianyao said with a smile. "At least we can still enjoy the illusory dream. Why bother being so serious?"
Jiang Baimian listened quietly, and suddenly raised her left hand.
A series of electric arcs immediately emerged from her palm, and the silver-white light caused Bai Chen, who was driving, to subconsciously close her eyes.
Those electric arcs intertwined and quickly formed a ball of violent lightning.
"Team Leader, Team Leader, what are you going to do?" Long Yuehong asked stutteringly.
He was quite afraid that Jiang Baimian would use him as an experimental subject.
Although Jiang Baimian would almost never do that, it didn't stop Shang Jianyao from being a counterexample.
"Give myself an electric shock," Jiang Baimian's ponytail behind her head moved slightly, and a meaningful smile appeared on her face.
As she spoke, she slapped the ball of lightning towards herself!
Team Leader... what exactly does she want to do? Long Yuehong was both surprised and confused.
Not just him, Bai Chen and Giuseppe's expressions were similar, not quite understanding Jiang Baimian's intentions.
Who would hurt themselves for no reason?
Besides, Shang Jianyao had already proven that there was no way to wake up by hurting oneself in a dream.
Shang Jianyao glanced at Jiang Baimian's left hand and muttered to himself:
"She didn't even use me for the experiment..."
Bang!
The ball of lightning landed on Jiang Baimian's body, turning into countless electric snakes that scurried in all directions.
Jiang Baimian's clothes and skin showed obvious charring, and her entire body became paralyzed, and her breathing was obstructed.
At this moment, only a few similar thoughts echoed in her mind:
If I am currently in "Real Dream," then the damage I am suffering and the state my body is exhibiting will be faithfully reflected in the outer layer of the illusory dream, and even in the reality of the new world...
Based on the previous experience, only this kind of change can threaten life, and since I know I am dreaming, the human self-preservation mechanism will be activated, filtering out most of the effects, leaving only the weaker reactions that make the heart beat faster, breathing rapid, and covered in cold sweat...
In this way, my severely electrocuted body state will be synchronized to the outer layer of the illusory dream, or even the new world, and the auxiliary chip in my left hand has been monitoring my body state...
Once the conditions are met, just like when dealing with the Fishmen Envoy, if my heart has a problem, the auxiliary chip will drive the biological prosthetic limb to release the current used for defibrillation and pacing...
That is a stimulus located in the outer layer of the illusory dream or the new world, enough to wake me up, just like when Shang Jianyao shook me awake from "Real Dream"...
And if the chip data in my dream is inaccurate, then this is the outer layer of the illusory dream or the reality located in the new world, and the corresponding current can also save me from self-harm, giving me a chance to inject Non-Ka...
In a flash of thought, Jiang Baimian felt an unusual reaction in her heart.
She suddenly woke up, opened her eyes, and found that her body still had some residual paralysis.
At the same time, she saw a brown off-road vehicle driving from the diagonal, with a dark rocket launcher sticking out of the window.
What good luck, any slower and we would have to hope the jeep's bulletproof armor can help us block the most fatal part of the damage... When facing an Awakened individual at the "Mind Corridor" level, you really have to rely on luck to some extent... Jiang Baimian extended her right elbow and slammed it on the window opening button.
On the other side, she took the "Ice Moss" pistol in her left hand.
As the window lowered, Jiang Baimian, relying on the intuition of a gunslinger, completed the shot.
Bang!
The man who was holding the rocket launcher and aiming at the sapphire blue jeep fell backward and disappeared from the window.
A bright red flower bloomed on his neck.
After the master of "Real Dream" failed to completely destroy the "Old Task Force" twice in a row using the dream, Jiang Baimian was worried that he would use the outer layer of the illusory dream or the real world to make a fuss, so she risked electrocuting herself, trying to wake up.
When she really woke up and saw the rocket launcher, the "Reasoning Clown" effect on Jiang Baimian naturally disappeared.
She no longer believed in any outer layer of the illusory dream or reality located in the new world.
The present is reality!
The reality of having to live well!
Squeal!
The brown off-road vehicle braked and turned suddenly, creating a harsh sound.
Jiang Baimian didn't shoot at the other party again, but pressed a switch to make the backrest suddenly fall backward.
Bang!
She leaned to the side and slapped Shang Jianyao awake.
Using her right hand.
As soon as Shang Jianyao woke up and saw the situation in front of him, he reached back towards the tactical backpack.
Jiang Baimian also hurriedly instructed:
"Music!"
Shang Jianyao quickly took out the portable recorder and connected it to the small speakers.
He turned on the appliances and turned the volume up to the maximum.
He was so skilled that this series of actions took less than ten seconds.
Bang!
The sleeping Bai Chen crashed the jeep into a roadside telephone pole, scaring the surrounding pedestrians.
However, because the speed had been kept very slow and the jeep was loaded with bulletproof armor, only the front of the car had a slight dent and it did not suffer more damage.
Such a collision was not serious, but it still made Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Giuseppe vaguely about to wake up.
Just then, including Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian, they all fell asleep again.
The dream was no longer affected, and corresponding thoughts fell into a daze of sleep.
The master of "Real Dream" gave up the idea of manipulating the dream and began to use the ability to force sleep to control them.
The brown off-road vehicle then adjusted its direction, seemingly wanting to drive over again.
Suddenly, a loud burst of music came from inside the sapphire blue jeep:
"Dog woof woof
"Cat meow meow
"Bird chirp chirp
"Mouse squeak squeak..." (Note 1)
This cheerful nursery rhyme was transmitted outside through the open passenger window, and there was an obvious children's shushing sound in the background music.
"Shh...
"Shh...
"Shh..."
Note 1: Quoted from the Norwegian song "The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)" by Ylvis.