Ch104 - Infection (1/2)
Yu Hao approached Ou Qihang carefully, and he had just touched his arm when Ou Qihang raised his head. He woke up.
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“Which period is it?” Ou Qihang said, then immediately realised something, “Oh, it’s a dream.”
“You slept in a dream?”
At this moment, Zhou Sheng wasn’t surprised at Ou Qihang’s injury but was instead inquiring about him sleeping in a dream, looking very puzzled.
“Un……” Ou Qihang didn’t look very good. Yu Hao sat next to him and removed his bandages, seeing deep bite marks underneath.
Chen Yekai said, “Qihang got bit while protecting me.”
“It’s nothing.” Ou Qihang said wearily.
“I wanna kick you.” Zhou Sheng said, “Why couldn’t you just wait for a bit?”
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Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng. Ou Qihang said, “I thought you guys had already arrived but were trapped outside and didn’t enter my safe haven. I thought something happened, so I went out to look for you guys.”
Ou Qihang’s fair chest was bare. He had broad shoulders , a narrow waist, and clearly worked out often; his figure resembled that of a sports student’s, lean but without exaggerated muscles. Yu Hao thought, Xiao Yujun often teased him by saying he was like a puppy, but Ou Qihang was more like a puppy.
Zhou Sheng, “What did you dream of when you fell asleep in your dream?”
Ou Qihang was extremely bewildered. “Can’t really describe it. I dreamt of Dunhuang murals, and a lot of impressions were really clear at first, but gradually changed into lines……”
“Zhou Sheng.” Yu Hao gave him a reminder, to mean that now wasn’t the time to talk about that.
Zhou Sheng looked out of the landing windows. There was a densely packed crowd of zombies outside the flower cafe. They were blocked by the glass wall, and their ferocious faces were plastered onto the glass, which was actually kind of amusing.
Chen Yekai said, “When I entered his dreamscape, I appeared in the hospital. I bumped into him not long after I left, and we encountered a particularly big one that was even carrying an iron hammer. I cut off its head with my scalpel, Qihang helped me guard the rear and got bit.”
Chen Yekai’s tone was very calm, but Ou Qihang said, “I was careless.”
Zhou Sheng looked at the mountain of zombies outside. Yu Hao gathered his strength and a silvery white light emitted from both his hands. He pressed them against Ou Qihang’s wound, staring at him seriously.
His wound began to heal, but Ou Qihang’s complexion didn’t improve. Not long after, dark bruises reappeared on his shoulder and back, and his complexion turned pale again.
Yu Hao touched his forehead —— Ou Qihang had a fever, his forehead was boiling hot.
“I can heal his wound.” Yu Hao said, “But after getting bit by a zombie, his wound still remains. Qihang, you need to change the impression you hold……”
Ou Qihang struggled to shake his head, “I’m better now, do we go now?”
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Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng and Chen Yekai, “What would happen once he turns into a zombie?”
Zhou Sheng didn’t answer, Chen Yekai’s expression turned grave.
Yu Hao never thought that it would be too serious. In fact, ever since he entered Ou Qihang’s dream and followed Zhou Sheng, he has always regarded it as a game. After all, Zhou Sheng was really adept, and it felt like they were playing a game as they made their way to the flower cafe. He didn’t expect such a serious problem to occur.
If it was him, Zhou Sheng, or Chen Yekai who got bit, they could still be sent out of the dreamscape and postpone dealing with the dream. But now, the one who got infected by a zombie is the dreamscape’s owner, Ou Qihang.
In other words, even if the three of them left now, Ou Qihang would still remain in the dream, and his infection will spread……at this moment, a hint from the Golden Crow Wheel suddenly surfaced in Yu Hao’s mind.
What would happen if we leave Ou Qihang alone?
He would suffer from the infection of his self-suggestion and lose control of his conscious world, leading to the collapse of his consciousness on the surface, then he would fall into his subconscious bit by bit.
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These impressions made it seem like Yu Hao had just answered his own questions in his mind, but he keenly grasped the word ‘self-suggestion’.
He immediately said to Ou Qihang, “Have you ever thought that, one day, you would become one of them?”
Ou Qihang’s gaze looked a little dazed. Yu Hao said, “That’s the self-suggestion you’re giving yourself.”
“Yes.” Ou Qihang admitted it quite frankly and answered, “I have thought about that before, about whether I would become someone like them after stepping into society.”
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Yu Hao explained to Zhou Sheng and Chen Yekai, “His self-suggestion has already taken form, the outcome of getting bitten by zombies was foreordained. It’s the vague, indistinct ‘hope’ in his heart.”
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“Qtfc tf aegcr lcab j hbwylf,” Te Ljb rjlv, “Ktf vgfjwrmjqf klii yf gelcfv, ilxf Oljcu Ojbrtl’r, jcv tf’ii ojii lcab tlr reymbcrmlber. Dea jr ibcu jr kf rflhf tlr abafw yjmx, fnfgsatlcu klii gfaegc ab lar bglulcji rajaf. Qf cffv ab teggs.”
Zhou Sheng said, “The Golden Crow Wheel told you that?”
Yu Hao nodded. He didn’t know why he would obtain the Golden Crow Wheel’s prompt at this time.
Zhou Sheng said, “We better get moving.”
Ou Qihang said, “I can still hold on for awhile.”
Zhou Sheng threw a gun to Yu Hao, and the two of them shared their weapons. Chen Yekai took out his silver pistol and spun it around his fingers, indicating that his weapon was a gun. Just as he was about to lend Ou Qihang an arm to support him, Ou Qihang got himself together and stood up by himself.
“I’m okay, look. There’s nothing wrong.” Ou Qihang put on his jacket and picked up his gun. “I’ll open up a path for you guys.”
Chen Yekai, “Follow behind! Stop being impulsive!”
Chen Yekai’s tone was extremely imposing, and Ou Qihang immediately said, “Got it, Laoshi.”
The atmosphere lightened up instantly and Yu Hao couldn’t help himself from laughing. Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao took charge of the front while Chen Yekai supported the rear. Ou Qihang suddenly said, “Ting Ge didn’t come?”
“He doesn’t know.” Yu Hao explained.
Chen Yekai said, “Don’t ask anymore, behave yourself.”
So Ou Qihang could only follow behind Yu Hao. Yu Hao looked back at Ou Qihang and smiled. Everyone was like a student in front of Chen Yekai, you just had to comply.
They couldn’t go outside, there were zombies everywhere in the shopping mall. Zhou Sheng went underground from the first floor, took off an emergency flashlight from the railway platform, then observed the subway tracks. Ou Qihang said, “My house is in the small area beside the subway station, we’ll reach it as long as we walk along the tracks.”
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Yu Hao said, “Walk along the subway tracks?”
Zhou Sheng shone the light towards the end of the dark track and said, “Don’t be afraid, there shouldn’t be any zombies here.”
Their surroundings were so quiet that it was frightening. Zhou Sheng led the way and walked into the tunnel. Yu Hao was still thinking — this was the first time he so clearly felt a direct hint from the Golden Crow Wheel, it always used to be hazy impressions. Why did it especially give him the hint, and not Zhou Sheng?
“What are you thinking about?” Zhou Sheng said, “Sing something?”
Yu Hao said, “Quit it. I’m thinking about the consciousness exchange with the Golden Crow Wheel.”
Zhou Sheng said, “It will appear suddenly sometimes and give me a hint, then disappear just as quickly.”
Yu Hao frowned deeply, “Perhaps it’s because of the scope of permissions? If Ou Qihang isn’t cured, he’ll fall into the subconscious. According to Kaikai’s analysis, the subconscious world is under my supervision……”
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“Wu.” Zhou Sheng answered, “Just like how Kaikai and I were helpless in the ruins of the depths of Liang Laoshi’s subconscious, you were the only one who wasn’t affected. You turned into the only luminous body in the area of absolute darkness — that is, the moon.”
Did the binary star system refer to the sun and the moon? The more Yu Hao thought about it, the more he felt a vague truth gradually surfacing, but he couldn’t see it clearly.
“I asked if he was dreaming in his dream,” Zhou Sheng said, “Because of that. Usually, very few people will fall asleep in their dreams. Once they leave the dreamscape consciousness on the surface and continue downwards……” As Zhou Sheng spoke, he pointed below his feet and explained, “Then it’s possible to approach the subconscious.”
Yu Hao wanted to say that he had dreamt before in a dream. In fact, the world of a dream within a dream exists, and you wouldn’t fall straight into the subconscious once you dream in a dream.《Inception》had mentioned that dreams were made up of many layers, and only the last layer would be the subconscious.
But now that he thought about it carefully, the dream on the surface was the clearest, and the one that was most easily recalled after waking. It was also the world where control over your own consciousness was most easily obtained. However, once you fall into a dream while you’re in the surface dream, your consciousness would become blurrier and blurrier, and your world will be thrown into even more abstraction and chaos.
In that case, the birth of a dream within a dream is indeed the establishment of a channel that draws closer to the subconscious region layer by layer.
Yu Hao held a flashlight while Zhou Sheng wore his infrared goggles and walked right in front. Zhou Sheng casually said, “If we can master the required technique, could we go into the subconscious world without the collapse of the dreamscape on the surface?”
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Yu Hao though, that is one way of doing it……but dreaming within a dream may be even more difficult.
Chen Yekai walked right at the back and kept a careful eye on Ou Qihang’s every move. Ou Qihang was gasping for breath a little. Chen Yekai said, “If you don’t feel well let us know, don’t be so stoic.”
Ou Qihang answered, “I’m alright.”
The tunnel fell into a long period of silence. The sound of footsteps and the whispers of Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng travelled over from the front.
“What are we going to do now?” Ou Qihang asked Chen Yekai, “Save my dream world?”
“Get your totem back. Something you once held fast to, but thought that you had already lost.” Chen Yekai asked, “Zhou Sheng never told you?”