Chapter 55: Ai Yue's First Try of Dreams
The two of them walked through the city and soon came to a residential building.
"So, the unconscious person is here?"
Hua looked at the somewhat old single-family building in front of her. Ai Yue had briefly explained the current situation to her on the way here, so she also understood Ai Yue's plan. She knew that the other party intended to start with those who were affected by the Herrscher's ability and try to find the Herrscher's location.
"Well, I have already contacted her parents in advance." Ai Yue couldn't act like a charlatan in front of Hua and explain the matter in too much detail, so he could only be vague. "Don't talk later, just watch me operate."
Hua nodded and followed Ai Yue.
After Ai Yue rang the doorbell, a woman with a sad face soon came out. She looked at the two people in front of her with a puzzled look and asked vigilantly: "Who are you?"
"Hello, are you Mrs. Sarah?" Ai Yue showed an ID. "I am a doctor from the medical branch of the United Nations Public Welfare Foundation. I contacted you on the forum before. I came to your home to examine your daughter."
"Are you Doctor Ai Yue?" The woman obviously remembered something and looked Ai Yue up and down. "Is this... okay?"
Although Ai Yue was still wearing the white coat at this moment, his overly young appearance was still very unconvincing.
"You don't have any other options now, right?" Ai Yue said with a smile, "Don't worry, we don't charge any fees anyway, why not give it a try?"
"...Okay." Mrs. Sarah was obviously in a state of panic, so she did not hesitate too much and invited the two of them into the house. However, her expression was still a little embarrassed. "By the way, please try to keep quiet. I..."
"Sarah? Sarah!"
Before the woman finished her words, a drunken and impatient voice of a man came from inside the house: "Where have you been!"
As soon as the two of them walked into the house, they saw a man staggering up from the sofa with a bottle of wine in his hand: "Who is this pretty boy? Who told you to let them in?"
As the other party spoke, he walked towards Ai Yue and rolled up his sleeves, as if he was going to use violence.
Hua narrowed her eyes slightly and took a step forward calmly - if the other party dared to come within three meters of Ai Yue, she could take him down directly.
"Dear, this is the doctor who is here to see Rachel," Mrs. Sarah stopped him quickly, "Don't get excited, they don't charge."
"Humph, they'd better." Perhaps because he was frightened by Hua's eyes, or perhaps because he didn't want to make a scene in front of outsiders, the man finally gave up his original idea, but grabbed Sarah's arm again, "Since your daughter is under the care of someone, come upstairs with me!"
Mrs. Sarah subconsciously tried to break free at first, but then gave up struggling and just pointed to the door of the room next to her with her other hand. Then she looked at Ai Yue with pleading eyes: "Dr. Ai Yue, Rachel is in your hands."
The two people quickly disappeared around the corner of the stairs. It was only at this time that Hua finally couldn't help but ask: "Are we just going to watch like this?"
"Household affairs are the most difficult to manage." Ai Yue walked towards the room that Sarah pointed to. "What is your judgment of this family?"
He pushed open the door of the room, and saw a small room that was so crowded with a bed, a table, chairs, and a wardrobe that there was almost no room to stand. A somewhat haggard girl was lying on the bed with a smile on her lips.
"This is a typical reconstituted family. Economic factors put the mother and daughter at a disadvantage in this family," Hua made a simple analysis. "From the attitude of the man, the girl's life at home is probably not good. This may cause her to have some psychological problems."
"It's a reasonable analysis, but this is just the surface we see." Ai Yue picked up the phone beside the pillow, and Prometheus, hidden in his sleeve, immediately extended a tentacle to connect with the phone. "You can manage this kind of thing for a while, but can you manage it forever? If there is no appropriate means to deal with it, her situation may become worse after we leave."
'Besides, if you want to intervene, you have to wait until the real work is done.'
"Search completed, special keywords found," Prometheus said at this moment, "Based on the current situation, there is a 99.2% probability that this person is one of the original anchor points."
"What about the remaining probability?" Ai Yue put the phone back and motioned Hua to take out the box.
"There is a 0.8% chance that it is the Eighth Herrscher herself." Prometheus responded, "Okay, it was just a joke. Miss Hua doesn't need to be so nervous."
"You should chat less with Vill-V in the future." Ai Yue glanced at Hua, who was ready to fight, and shook his head. "Okay, prepare for the next step."
"Wait, I still don't understand." Hua said at this moment, "What does the original anchor point... mean?"
She vaguely felt that Ai Yue knew much more than what he had told her on the road.
"Before that, let's take a look at these brain wave images." Ai Yue spread out his right hand with his palm facing up. Prometheus turned into a fingerless glove on his hand, and the lens on the palm released a projection. "These are brain wave images of people from different cities and different ages who fell into deep sleep at the same time. What did you find?"
"They... are all the same?" Hua was stunned when she saw the identical wavy lines overlapping each other. "Are these people all dreaming? And they are dreaming the same dream!"
"Yes, they are dreaming the same dream." Ai Yue put away the projection. "A dream constructed by the Herrscher that has trapped them in it and made them unable to extricate themselves."
"So Prometheus said that this girl is the original anchor point," Hua then reacted, "which means that she is the first person to be affected by the Herrscher, and her dream is part of this dream?"
"Well, at least she was one of the first people to fall into a coma." Ai Yue took out a strange hat from the box and put it on his head. "Also, unlike those who fell into a coma later because of the spread of keywords, she may have come into contact with the Eighth Herrscher in her dream."
"So what should we do next?" Hua asked. "Do you need me to sneak into her dream?"
Hua finally understood why Ai Yue chose her. Obviously, the other party needed someone to sneak into the dream and try to contact the Herrscher.
However, Ai Yue's words made her look surprised: "No, your task is to keep an eye on her."
After Ai Yue put on his hat, he took out a pale white potion from somewhere and directly inserted it around his neck. "Of course, I will be the one to sneak into dreams."
Hua was stunned for a moment and then felt that there was some change in Ai Yue's temperament. For a moment, she even felt that there was another person standing in front of her.
"This doesn't seem to be the same as what Aponia said." Ai Yue first looked at Hua, then looked at Rachel lying on the bed, then frowned. "Forget it, let's get down to business first."
Then he closed his eyes and instantly fell backward as if he had lost consciousness.
Hua subconsciously supported Ai Yue's body and helped him sit on the chair. She stood aside and looked around at the two unconscious people, feeling a little confused for a moment.
When she heard that the mission was related to the Herrscher, she had already prepared herself for a tough battle, but why did she seem to be the most relaxed now?
And what does "keep an eye on her" mean? Is there something else wrong with Rachel?
"Miss Hua, you seem to be a little confused." Prometheus' voice came from Ai Yue's hand. "Dr. Ai Yue once told me that if you have any questions about the mission, I will try my best to answer them for you."
"Just call me Hua." Hua subconsciously stood up straight, then relaxed. "About the mission... I want to know what will happen to Rachel, and why Dr. Ai Yue wants me to keep an eye on her?"
"According to Dr. Ai Yue's analysis, dreams are not only a means for the Herrschers to restrain human consciousness, but also have other functions," Prometheus said. "If his inference is true, that is, all consciousnesses are trapped in the same dream, then it means that the Eighth Herrscher can locate their real bodies at any time through their consciousness in dreams."
"In other words, the consciousness of the Eighth Herrscher may possess Rachel?" Hua, who was originally quite relaxed, suddenly tensed up. "Doesn't that mean she may control Rachel's body and launch an attack at any time?"
"Yes, but it is not easy to bypass the original owner of the body and control it." Prometheus said. "For the Eighth Herrscher, perhaps she can do this easily, but the Eighth Herrscher's own strength should not be strong, so the only means she can rely on is to pull you into the dream."
Hua immediately took two steps back, as if this would allow her to get out of the range of the Herrscher's ability.
"Don't be nervous, Hua." Prometheus continued. "Aren't you wearing the forehead protector that Dr. Ai Yue gave you?"
"You mean this?" Sakura subconsciously touched the cold metal on her forehead. "Can this resist the power of the Eighth Herrscher?"
This was given to her by Ai Yue when she got off the plane. He said it was a kind of protective gear. Hua didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but now thinking about it, the other party should have arranged everything at that time.
"It's called 'Soul Guardian.' Although it has never been put into actual combat, it can do the job in simulation experiments." Prometheus said. "At least it is enough to deal with the consciousness of the Eighth Herrscher that came from a long distance."
"So the Herrscher controlling Rachel's body is actually not a threat. Dr. Ai Yue asked you to keep an eye on her because he was worried that the Eighth Herrscher would kill Rachel to cut off Dr. Ai Yue's connection with the dream world, thus avoiding unnecessary sacrifices." Prometheus continued. "Based on the methods currently displayed by the Eighth Herrscher, she is the most dangerous in the dream world."
"Then there won't be any problems with Dr. Ai Yue, right?" After listening to the other party's analysis, Hua couldn't help but focus her attention on Ai Yue again.
"According to my deduction, Dr. Ai Yue only has a 40% chance of surviving against the Eighth Herrscher," said Prometheus. "But Dr. Ai Yue said, 'Don't think your model can simulate my strength.' He rejected all my suggestions and insisted on carrying out his own plan. What a troublesome man."
She didn't know if it was an illusion, but Hua heard an emotion called "helplessness" from these words.
Ai Yue naturally didn't know that Prometheus was teasing him behind his back again. At this moment, he was feeling the sensation of weightlessness as he fell from a high altitude.
There is usually only one way to enter a dream, and that is to read the keywords set by the Eighth Herrscher. When reading the content designed by the other party, the reader will be dragged into that vast dream and immersed in the perfect life established by the Eighth Herrscher through "keyword hypnosis," which reflects the reader's inner desires, making it nearly impossible to escape.
In the original plot, it was several months later that Fire Moth invented a device called the "Observation Hub," which could read the dreams of unconscious people and establish an active intervention channel, allowing people to enter the dream state while remaining fully conscious.
Ai Yue also used a similar method, but he did not choose to create a device specifically for dreams. Instead, he opted to enhance himself, which was the potion he had just injected into himself—"Aponia's Embrace."
The principle of this potion is actually similar to the "Fire of Redemption" used by Kevin. Both are potions that grant the user a temporary super-mutation factor, allowing them to temporarily master special abilities. The only difference is that its raw materials are not derived from Honkai beasts, but from fusion warriors, which further lowers the threshold and danger of using the potion, enabling ordinary people like Ai Yue to use it as well.
By the way, the name of this potion was not given by Ai Yue but was proposed by Aponia when she learned that Ai Yue wanted to use her genes to create the potion.
After using this potion, Ai Yue became a degraded version of Aponia for a short period. With Aponia's abilities as a foundation, he was able to actively open an entrance in Rachel's dream and enter it.
The hat he had put on earlier not only has the ability to protect the spirit as a "soul guardian" but can also amplify the user's mental power, assisting them in better controlling their mental energy. It can even detect the user's physical condition, forcing them to leave the dream when the effects of "Aponia's Embrace" begin to fade.
With the help of these two items, plus a system hidden in Ai Yue's brain, he dared to take the risk and directly break into the territory of the Eighth Herrscher.
After experiencing the sensation of weightlessness for who knows how long, Ai Yue finally regained his sense of reality and officially entered the dreamland.
The first moment he regained his sense of reality, Ai Yue tried to call the system. When the familiar light blue interface appeared in front of him, he finally let go of his last bit of worry.
Even the Eighth Herrscher's dream could not isolate the system from his consciousness, so what was there for him to fear?
It's time to let this country bumpkin from the moon see how powerful wall-hanging is.
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