Embers Ad Infinitum

Upon hearing Jiang Baimian’s question, Shang Jianyao slapped his thigh. “What a pity!”

“What’s a pity?” Jiang Baimian couldn’t keep up with his train of thought.

Shang Jianyao replied in frustration, “Didn’t I break into the other party’s dream when I first entered Room 506? In hindsight, I shouldn’t have faced the danger with courage to end things quickly. Instead, I should’ve tried ‘Guidance,’ making Room 506’s owner reveal what had happened in her dream. In the end, sigh…”

He couldn’t enter the other party’s dream again for the time being, at least not before clearing the third psychological trauma.

This was a rule in the exploration of the rooms in the Mind Corridor. The information provided by Pangu Biology to Shang Jianyao had a clear description: When entering a room for the first time, one might face a psychological trauma or intrude into another person’s dream. But once one enters a psychological trauma, it will be fixed. One will face the same scene every time until they clear it.

A psychological trauma will connect to another psychological trauma. Unless an explorer can reach the place closest to the target’s Sea of Origins and clear the room, it is impossible for them to encounter a dream again.

As for whether the rooms representing the Kalendarium were like this, it was impossible to determine because there were too few samples.

Jiang Baimian knew what Shang Jianyao meant and sighed.

“That’s right. If we can use the dream to figure out the encounter of Room 506’s owner, it will indeed be a good thing for us. Even if this has nothing to do with the turbulent undercurrents in the company, it has a certain value as a reference.”

Shang Jianyao looked at the phone on the table and asked excitedly, “Is there a way to use the psychological trauma to communicate with the room owner?”

Jiang Baimian held the receiver and thought for a moment. “That’s unlikely. What you are exploring now is the third psychological trauma. Although it will make the room owner have nightmares continuously and become vigilant, the information doesn’t mention if such nightmares are directly related to your actions or if the corresponding details can be fully reflected. Besides, even if you can really transmit information through nightmares, the room owner can’t give you feedback…”

At this point, Jiang Baimian suddenly stopped.

Her memory had always been good. A sentence from the information Shang Jianyao had relayed surfaced in her mind: “If you have nightmares for days and feel exhausted every time you wake up, it means that someone has entered your Mind Room and has explored it to a rather deep extent. You have to think of a way to lock onto the other party and give them a warning. If they refuse, prepare for battle…”

Being able to lock onto, warn, and fight means that we can communicate and receive feedback in a sense… Jiang Baimian muttered to herself and said, “You can indeed give it a try, although I’m not that confident.”

What she didn’t have confidence in was whether the nightmare could fully depict Shang Jianyao’s actions in the psychological trauma, whether it would be exaggerated, whether it would only reflect a symbolic meaning, or whether it would only reflect a certain scene.

Of course, even if the message was wrong, it was also very good to make Room 506’s owner sense the danger and give them a warning. This meant that there was a possibility of communication.

“Alright!” Shang Jianyao couldn’t hide his eagerness.

After hanging up, he immediately lay on the bed and entered the Mind Corridor again.

In the Fourth Research Institute’s residential zone, Shang Jianyao spent a lot of effort to complete the Thought Implantation for everyone.

Therefore, some of these people were shouting, “I have something to consult you about.” Some were in charge of belting the chorus ‘come on, come on.’ Some were arranged in teams and posed with SOS symbols. Some repeated the word ‘friend’ over and over again. There were all kinds of variations.

Tarnan, Serene Dream Hotel.

Aynor—who had already gone to bed—suddenly shivered and woke up with a start.

In her dream, she was surrounded by darkness as her dense, blood-red eyes opened one after another. Ancient god-like whispers constantly echoed in her ears, but she couldn’t discern them clearly.

After Aynor snapped to her senses, she gritted her teeth and muttered, “That fellow is still exploring my psychological trauma!”

She still had a certain level of experience with such situations. In the early years, many people had explored the depths of her Mind Room, making her have nightmares continuously. This made her feel exhausted when she woke up every day.

Her choice back then was to be a coward and avoid reality.

Although this was shameful, it worked. After those people finished exploring the room, they didn’t choose to invade her Sea of Origins and left readily.

Later, such matters became fewer and fewer as if nobody tried to explore the depths of her Mind Room. It had been a long time since Aynor had nightmares.

Due to this experience, her response was self-evident.

Aynor hatefully said, “If you dare—if you dare to invade my Sea of Origins, I-I’ll fight you!”

She pulled the blanket over her and covered her body and head tightly as if she were an ostrich burying its head in sand.

Room 506, in the psychological trauma at the Fourth Research Institute’s residential zone.

Shang Jianyao waited bitterly for a long time, but he didn’t receive any warning.

“Could it be that this isn’t considered the depths of the room?” the calm and rational him muttered to himself in confusion.

Considering that they had expended a lot of mental energy and that something could go wrong if they stayed any longer, the Shang Jianyaos left.

…

Ding ring ring!

At 1 a.m., Long Yuehong and Bai Chen were woken up by the phone. Due to their experience, this sudden development made their hearts race.

The two of them glanced at each other in confusion and vigilance.

“Could it be a death call?” Long Yuehong recalled the Old World entertainment he had watched.

In the current Ashlands, this was possible.

Awakened had all kinds of strange abilities. Some could exert influence through electromagnetic waves.

“It can’t be that fast, right…” Bai Chen sat up and walked to the desk.

Nights in Pangu Biology were always cold. Long Yuehong saw that Bai Chen’s clothes were thin and that she was trembling a little. He quickly took her cotton coat, stood up, walked over, and helped drape it over her.

As for himself, he had already brought a new thick, military-green cotton coat to Bai Chen’s. He wasn’t as unprepared as last time.

Earning more contribution points made life comfortable!

Long Yuehong looked at the ringing phone and took a deep breath. “You have to add a caller ID later.”

“Anyone who can transmit power through a phone can definitely tamper with the displayed number.” Bai Chen sensed that her neighbors were showing signs of waking up and stretched her hand toward the telephone.

She disconnected the line.

The room became extremely quiet.

Long Yuehong calmed down and voiced his thoughts. “We have to tell Team Leader and Hey immediately to prevent them from encountering this.”

Bai Chen agreed.

They connected the line again, and Long Yuehong dialed Shang Jianyao’s number.

The latter lived alone, so they didn’t have to worry about disturbing his family.

“Hey?” Just as Long Yuehong said that, Shang Jianyao grumbled, “Why didn’t you answer my call?”

Ah? Long Yuehong looked at Bai Chen in surprise.

The call just now was actually from Shang Jianyao!

“What’s the matter?” Long Yuehong quickly asked.

Shang Jianyao sighed. “I’m just concerned about you. I wanted to ask if you had the same dream after returning to the 622nd floor.”

“…” Long Yuehong’s facial muscles immediately warped. “You can ask tomorrow morning.”

Shang Jianyao added, “If you fall into Real Dreamscape at the same time and can’t wake up, you might die at any moment. Such a call is enough to save your lives.”

That’s true… Long Yuehong scratched his head with his empty iron-black right hand.

Bai Chen’s expression relaxed.

Although they had already followed Jiang Baimian’s instructions and took turns watching each other as one slept for an hour until they confirmed that there were no problems before hitting the sack together, everyone was worried that an accident would happen.

“You have to thank me,” Shang Jianyao reminded him.

Long Yuehong took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

He forcefully steered the topic back on track. “We didn’t have the same dream again, nor did we fall into Real Dreamscape. We slept very normally.”

“That’s good,” Shang Jianyao said in all seriousness. He then laughed. “Do you need me to call you to use the bathroom at three?”

“There’s no need!” Long Yuehong replied firmly.

If he went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he was afraid of following in the footsteps of Mu Renjie!

After the call, Bai Chen and Long Yuehong returned to bed.

The two of them took more than 20 minutes to fall asleep again. They also kept worrying that Shang Jianyao would call again at some point in time.

Long Yuehong wanted to disconnect the phone, but he was afraid of missing key matters.

The two of them slept uneasily until 7:30 in the morning.

Although they usually woke up a little earlier than usual for breakfast during workdays, it was Sunday. They had suffered a shock last night and couldn’t sleep well.

They originally planned on waking up at 9 a.m. and having snacks for a simple meal.. In the end, Shang Jianyao called again and reminded them: It was the day of the parent-meeting session, so they had to make preparations.