Within the Bureau of Dream Intervention, there are people who can intervene in dreams through other means, and there are others elsewhere as well. These people are highly sought after everywhere.
They don't need to hitch a ride to enter dreams, and although they still face the effects of dream erosion when leaving, they are much more agile than those who hitch a ride.
Entering a dream is equivalent to being an 'intruder,' and taking things out is more like looting; dream erosion is like a punishment for the looter.
'Dream Walkers,' who can actively intervene in dreams, have a greater advantage in this regard than ordinary people.
They have higher resistance to dream erosion, so when taking things out, it's easier to bring out certain items. However, carrying too much will still result in damage from dream erosion.
Even now, many people are still researching how to better bring things out of dreams.
Even if they can't bring them out, Dream Walkers can still acquire knowledge from dreams.
If they can't find the knowledge, they can try to bring out one or two special items from dreams; many people collect those.
"That car was most likely brought out by the other party," the man next to him reminded the smoking man.
"Someone has brought out even bigger things before." The man smoking shook his head and handed a report to the other man.
The other man frowned slightly as he read the report, then his brow relaxed. "Is it because of the gift?"
The alternate dreams of this world have existed for a long time, and there's a wealth of research on them.
Although there's no way to get anything out of an alternate dream with 100% certainty yet, methods to increase the probability of bringing it out have long been developed.
Simply put, it's related to the acquisition method.
Items purchased normally have a higher probability of being brought out of an alternate dream than items obtained through free purchases. Items gifted by influential figures in the alternate dream have an even higher probability of being brought out.
If you're strong enough, you can also snatch things from those powerful figures, and the probability of taking them is also high, but this requires a lot of strength; trickery is useless.
These are considered generally accepted rules within the alternate dream community.
Purchase, plunder, and nurture…
of these three routes, purchasing is the easiest, but you have to earn the money for buying things through your own abilities.
Plundering is pointless; attacking the weak is like buying something for free. It only works against the powerful and famous. And plundering isn't necessarily evil.
No one requires plundering only against good people; you can steal from bad people too. Since the target is a bad person, once you kill them, the original inhabitants of the Otherworld don't see it as plunder, but as spoils of war.
Cultivation is a slow-to-result, high-yield, and stable
approach. Some have tried investing in Otherworld origins, but the results were only so-so. It wasn't that there were no gains, but rather that they weren't as good as truly famous original inhabitants.
The reason is that the further away the Otherworld origin is from its initial location, the weaker its dream protagonist characteristics become. It's not that such Otherworld origins are useless, but rather that they revert to 'normal'.
Unfortunately, many Otherworld origins don't stay confined to their initial location.
Like Thorn in the sewer dream, if he had stayed in the Great Bear City, he probably wouldn't have been in trouble, but he chose to leave.
However, Thorn's situation was unavoidable; the Great Bear City was about to be hit by a nuclear bomb. No matter how much home-field advantage he had within the dream, he couldn't withstand a nuclear attack.
The man reading the data knew what a 'nuclear bomb' was.
Those who left the sewers first were probably on the 'nurturing route,' cultivating relationships and getting gifts from the other party.
Besides, it's just a car, not some magical artifact or anything more special. It's not difficult for a Dream Walker to bring such a thing out of a dream, it's just that the process is rather troublesome.
Think about it, if they can confidently bring out a car like this, what else wouldn't be better?
The reason the Dream Management Bureau didn't intend to pay too much attention to that 'Dream Walker' wasn't the car itself, but rather the fact that the other party handled the cleanup of the dream's source very well.
Even if, strictly speaking, the other party's actions were 'illegal,' it's better than being involved in a zombie outbreak in Rota City. Moreover, the appearance of dreams is very uncontrollable. Having someone who can handle dreams well and minimize their impact is actually a good thing…
The man put away the document and sighed. After thinking about all this, it all boils down to the Dream Management Bureau not having enough manpower, and although the Dream Management Bureau is supported by many parties, it is also constrained by many.
The answer is always the same: vested interests.
Without this constraint, the Dream Processing Bureau would quickly decay due to self-interest; with this constraint, the Bureau becomes very passive in handling certain dream-related incidents.
A clanging sound rang out, and the man looked over to see a knight in red 'tin can' armor.
He walked over: "Be careful during the cleanup; this involves a bio-virus."
"Understood." The Bureau member in red armor entered the sewers. Soon after, scorching air surged from the sewer entrances, and other vents began to emit heat and flames…
The people here had already been evacuated, and no one paid much attention to what was happening.
In other areas of the sewers, similar cleanups were underway.
The small monsters and mutated rats in the pipes were all purified by the flames.
Normal flushing of the sewers could easily spread the virus elsewhere, but flames could purify everything!
At the hospital, a nurse looked disapprovingly at the man who arrived smoking: "Smoking is prohibited here!"
"Excuse me." The man stubbed out his cigarette and stuffed the remaining half into his pocket.
The smoking man found the hospital director.
"Tell me about their situation. Should we eliminate them or treat them normally?"
"Normal treatment is fine," the director said hesitantly. The smoking man frowned slightly.
"It's fine if you have ideas about other things, but are you worried this isn't big enough? If 'zombies' appear in Rota City, regardless of whether you're involved or not, you'll be the first to suffer."
The director broke out in a cold sweat: "I... someone wants their blood samples, and I haven't agreed yet."
"Who are they?"
The director shrugged: "No one would be stupid enough to use the name of their backer to ask for something. I only know they are supporters of this hospital."
The smoking man was somewhat annoyed: "I understand. Tell me about their situation first. Will they mutate?"
"Yes! They've obviously been deceived. The antibodies in their bodies aren't enough to completely resist the virus. If left unattended, they'll turn into zombies in a day or two at most."
"Virus enhancement? They really have guts."
The smoking man clicked his tongue twice. Things related to viruses are rarely good, unless the person behind it is absolutely trustworthy.
(End of Chapter)