Shang Jianyao once again opened his arms, tilted his body back slightly, and answered Jiang Baimian's rhetorical question with a drunken tone:
“Everywhere is a dream, why take it seriously?”
Jiang Baimian discovered once again that this sentence was simply omnipotent and could be used to deal with anything.
However, this encounter involved dreams, so it was quite fitting.
She pondered for a moment and said:
“Go ask Bai Chen and Long Yuehong if they had similar dreams.”
“You want to wake them up?” Pudu Zen Master had a "you are a bad person" expression on his face.
Before Jiang Baimian could respond, he had already switched personalities and said with great interest:
“Let's go now!”
Jiang Baimian looked up and then turned over, got out of bed, and opened the door.
“Going to the toilet so soon?” Geva, who was sitting in the living room, asked.
As an intelligent robot who respects humans, he did not eavesdrop on the movements in his companions' rooms.
Although Geva's question was perfectly normal, Jiang Baimian always felt that his train of thought was sliding towards Shang Jianyao.
Thinking that there would be two, no, eleven Shang Jianyaos in the team in the future, she felt a headache coming on.
Jiang Baimian took a slow breath and said:
“Remember that A-level mission we saw at the Hunter's Guild during the day?”
Geva quickly analyzed Jiang Baimian's hidden meaning:
“You also encountered that nightmare?”
“Yes.” Jiang Baimian nodded while seeing Shang Jianyao tiptoeing towards the bedroom where Bai Chen and Long Yuehong were.
With a creak, before Shang Jianyao could burst out and knock on the door, Bai Chen opened the door.
“Long Yuehong and I had the same nightmare.” Bai Chen said straightforwardly, "It's very similar to the description in the Hunter's Guild mission.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Long Yuehong followed behind, echoing.
“So did we.” Jiang Baimian told them about her and Shang Jianyao’s encounter.
“So, in the end, it was Xiao Chong and Du Heng, Teacher, who scared away the ‘nightmare’?” Bai Chen was not so used to calling Du Heng teacher.
Shang Jianyao stroked his chin and answered before Jiang Baimian could:
“Eliminate all the impossibilities, and what remains must be the truth.
“At least we didn't experience any adverse symptoms, no dizziness, nausea, fatigue, or insomnia.”
Long Yuehong listened solemnly and then raised a question:
“If the ‘nightmare’ has its own consciousness and can be scared away, then what is ‘it’ doing all this for?
“Spreading nightmares? Liking to see everyone suffer from insomnia and dizziness?”
These reasons could not convince Long Yuehong; he felt they weren't forceful enough.
A 'nightmare' that could simultaneously affect so many people, even an Awakened at Shang Jianyao's "Mind Corridor" level, should have a more "high-end" motive.
Otherwise, why bother causing trouble in First City at the risk of danger?
This place is full of powerful people!
“There have been no deaths or anyone going crazy, or with obvious abnormalities…” Jiang Baimian said as she pondered, “The whole thing seems very mild.”
She suspected that an Awakened in the dream realm had made a breakthrough and was quietly experimenting with their abilities.
“Not necessarily now.” Shang Jianyao suddenly became excited, “After I used the ‘Six Senses Beads’ in the dream, the monster in the darkness suddenly became violent. It seems ‘he’ knows what's valuable. He knows how precious it is.”
Shang Jianyao’s “Six Senses Beads” were items that had been modified by some anomaly in a Buddhist holy land.
Long Yuehong was shocked:
“Will ‘he’ come knocking in reality?”
“Probably not for a while.” Jiang Baimian comforted her teammate, “Since ‘he’ can be scared away by Teacher Du Heng or Xiao Chong, ‘he’ certainly won’t rashly come to deal with us. At least ‘he’ has to rule out the possibility that Xiao Chong or Teacher Du Heng is hiding around us, right? And Xiao Chong and Teacher Du Heng aren't so easy to find."
Even if that "nightmare" could influence through dreams, and learn from the "Old Task Force" members that they hadn't met Du Heng or Xiao Chong recently, it would still have to worry that it was a trap set specifically for "him."
Bai Chen followed up by saying:
“By then, we should already be out of the city, going to the Wasteland Ruin 13, away from this ‘nightmare’.”
Long Yuehong nodded to indicate that he understood.
“What exactly is the source of this ‘nightmare’?” Geva guided the topic back on track.
Jiang Baimian first made the guess of “experimenting with abilities” from the perspective that the whole thing seemed very mild, and then said:
“Also, there’s another possibility:
“There is an uncontrolled ‘node’ connecting to a new world within the city, and the aura there is slowly seeping in, but it hasn't yet reached the point where it causes people to suffer from ‘Heartless Disease’, it just brought a large range of nightmares.
“The leaders of 'First City' hope to find out the location of the 'node' through the 'Hands of Order' and the Hunter's Guild.
“But this doesn’t explain why the ‘nightmare’ would be scared away by Teacher Du Heng or Xiao Chong.”
Clap clap clap, Shang Jianyao clapped his hands:
“You’re getting more and more imaginative!”
That's not a good thing… Jiang Baimian glanced at this guy and finally concluded:
“We don’t need to worry too much about this. This is First City, and the tall people will definitely hold up the sky if it falls.
“We just need to grasp the progress of obtaining information and leave First City before the ‘nightmare’ figures out that Teacher Du Heng and Xiao Chong are indeed not lurking in the surrounding area, and there won't be any big problems. Hmm, we can ask Boss Ugo, their 'True Self Teaching' believes in the dream realm's Ruling Star 'Dawn', and they won't be uninterested in this kind of thing.
“Also, report it to the company and see what those big shots above think about this matter and what instructions they will give.
“Do you have any other suggestions?”
“No.” Long Yuehong was the first to shake his head.
After Bai Chen, Shang Jianyao, and Geva gave their replies one after another, Jiang Baimian found the radio transceiver and immediately made a report to “Pangu Biology.”
Inside “Pangu Biology,” employees were always guarding the telegraph machine.
After finishing this matter, Jiang Baimian clapped her hands and said:
“Continue sleeping. If you have any strange dreams, be sure not to hide them.”
With a whoosh, Shang Jianyao turned his gaze to Long Yuehong.
Your gaze is very strange, you bastard! Long Yuehong restrained himself and responded to his team leader with an "um."
At this time, Shang Jianyao looked at Jiang Baimian again and asked in a joking tone:
“Big White, is there any progress with your Fear Island?”
Jiang Baimian hesitated for a moment and decided to bring up the difficulties for discussion.
She explained the details of the Fear Island being equal to the deserted and unmanned “Pangu Biology” underground building, and then, with a slightly stiff neck, took the initiative to say:
“This may correspond to my fear of losing relatives, friends, companions, and familiar life.”
Hmph, I said it myself, said it openly, instead of being guessed, so as not to damage my image as a steel female warrior!
Shang Jianyao said “Oh” and his face was full of appreciation:
“You didn't even get lost in there!”
Jiang Baimian secretly ground her teeth.
“No enemies, no abnormal states, it really makes it a bit difficult to come up with ideas.” Bai Chen seriously discussed.
Long Yuehong immediately echoed:
“Yeah.”
Immediately afterward, he said his thoughts:
“Those islands correspond to psychological shadows, inner fears.
“To solve them, the most important thing is to fall back to reality, just like the team leader, you were able to pass through the first island. The real reason is that you dared to face the loss of control of your coma, try to awaken, and accept the surgery. So once you found a way, you broke through smoothly.
“This time, you also need to bravely face…”
Speaking of this, Long Yuehong suddenly paused.
As Jiang Baimian’s friend, companion, and part of her familiar life, persuading her to face the fear of losing relatives, friends, companions, and familiar life always seemed a little wrong…
You think I don't know that? But how can this kind of thing be deliberately pursued? Could it be like that cowardly and timid Wei, actively create opportunities to wipe out the team? Jiang Baimian smiled bitterly in her heart.
Without her needing to respond, Geva analyzed the whole thing and offered two solutions:
“One is to make oneself become indifferent and dilute the feelings for other people. In this way, the loss won't be too sad and won't become a psychological shadow.”
“Why does this sound so familiar?” Shang Jianyao picked his ears.
The honest Shang Jianyao immediately laughed:
“Isn’t that what you thought before?”
While the Shang Jianyaos were arguing, Geva continued:
“Two is to make oneself become strong enough, strong enough to think that one can protect everything.”
That's too idealistic… And it becomes a dead cycle – only by becoming strong enough can one overcome this psychological shadow, but only by overcoming this psychological shadow can one continue to move forward and become strong enough… Jiang Baimian did not say the slanderous words out loud.
At this time, Shang Jianyao, in the midst of his busy schedule, said:
“You can also try to understand the meaning of sacrifice, the value of life, and understand what is meant by united as one.
“In this way, you will know that what is lost is just replaced with another way to accompany you, becoming your meaning and motivation to move forward.”
That actually makes some sense… Jiang Baimian said “hmm” and then asked:
“What did you gain from exploring that cruise ship this time?”
Shang Jianyao explained all the discovered rules and at the end said:
“Since we can’t temporarily find an Awakened at the ‘Mind Corridor’ level to help us test the waters, then consider finding the owner of room ‘522’ during the day, when everything is normal.”
“How do you find him?” Long Yuehong asked.
Shang Jianyao smiled:
“Judging from the order of his psychological shadows, he should have already become an Awakened when he boarded the cruise ship.
“In other words, he has been to Tieshan City Second Food Company.
“As long as I keep talking to people about this topic, I will have a chance to identify him.”
“This is a way, but be careful to trigger a mutation.” Jiang Baimian commented.
After discussing, they went back to their respective rooms and went back to bed to rest.
The night passed without incident and without nightmares.
The next day, after eating breakfast, Bai Chen asked:
“Are we going to find Boss Ugo today?”
Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said:
“We can.”