Chapter 36 Investigation Project
It was Borei who knocked on the door, bringing a large bankbook to Bai Mu's residence.
Before coming here, Borei had already learned about what had happened here—the place where the strange dream incident had occurred more than half a month ago. He wasn't the one in charge of handling it, but the matter was handled very well; otherwise, no one would be living here.
"The items have been appraised, there are no problems."
Borei handed the bankbook to Bai Mu, his gaze casually sweeping over the books on the table.
"Pleasant transaction." Bai Mu put away the bankbook. From now on, he was a wealthy person in this world, right?
Probably someone with a little money. The fact that the Bureau could directly provide so much funds meant there were more wealthy people in this world than he had imagined, plus the high value of money.
As long as he didn't squander this money and didn't think about doing anything else, he could find a suitable place and live comfortably for the rest of his life.
However, how could Bai Mu endure such loneliness? He was already extraordinary; how could he remain ordinary?
"I'm already looking forward to our next collaboration. Does the Bureau have any suitable alternate dreams? What's your procedure for handling alternate dreams? I'm willing to cooperate."
Whether he can actually access the alternate dreams managed by the Bureau is another matter, but he should at least take this opportunity to learn more about them.
As for the mist that clung to him after he escaped the alternate dream, he'd deal with that later. Since it was related to him, he could try to swallow it whole after leaving the alternate dream.
If not, he had a plan: he could drive another car, stay inside for a while, and then come out.
"Of course, there are. The banks are still open. You can go to the bank to check your passbook first, and then come with me to the Bureau." Borei reminded Bai Mu to confirm the money first.
The Bureau wouldn't try to fool people on this, but since it was their first collaboration, it was important to establish trust first.
"Okay."
Bai Mu took the passbook to the corresponding bank, and after confirming with the staff that everything was fine, he followed Borei to the Alternate Dream Bureau.
Before even reaching their destination, they saw two cars speeding away. These cars seemed to use a design from some alternate dream world; whether the interior was the same or different depended on disassembly, but the exterior design certainly didn't seem to exist in this era.
Bai Mu thought of the car he had left in the sewers.
Bo Lei timely said, "The car you left in the sewers was contaminated with many viruses, but it has been cleaned up. If you want to take it, you'll have to pay for repairs and disposal."
"Forget it, I don't want it." Bai Mu shook his head. Taking that car would mean dealing with maintenance issues. "Can I get something else?"
"If the firearms you brought back run out of ammunition, you can get a certain amount of ammunition from the disposal bureau."
Since Bai Mu didn't want the car, Bo Lei offered another solution. The car was actually quite good; although damaged, it wasn't difficult to repair.
If Bai Mu hadn't shown up, the car would have been considered abandoned, but since Bai Mu had, this matter couldn't be ignored. He had to make a statement.
Now that Bai Mu had stated his position, the subsequent handling of the car was much simpler; at least it wouldn't need to be sealed up for a month or two before being disposed of.
"Even though you don't have a locally certified gun license, the processing bureau can handle that for you."
"That's good." Bai Mu nodded. Ammunition was secondary; the gun license that Bo Lei mentioned was much more valuable. Bai Mu had looked into it in the library.
Obtaining a gun license in this world wasn't difficult, but those who did were more or less related to 'professionals,' and these professionals needed firearms.
They didn't deal with people, but with monsters created by the alternate dreams. These monsters were often very dangerous, and not everyone could defeat them with melee weapons.
The monsters appearing in the sewers, aside from those recklessly dumping various dangerous research materials, were all related to the alternate dreams. The upper city was alright, but the lower city was much more chaotic, with more than just Thorn among the corpses in the sewers.
The necessary permits were processed quickly, at least at the processing bureau; a photo was taken, and Bai Mu received his permit shortly after.
Borei told him that this was currently just a formality, and it wouldn't officially take effect until two days later. Giving it to him now wasn't standard procedure, but since Bai Mu was a freelance Dreamwalker and had given up the car, changing the process wasn't a problem.
Someone had already taken a liking to the car. If Bai Mu wanted it, he would have to follow Borei's instructions, paying for repairs and virus treatment before taking the car, and then the interested party would negotiate with Bai Mu. Since
Bai Mu didn't want the car, this wasn't necessary.
"There's a Dream Investigation Project tonight."
"Tell me about it." Bai Mu put away his gun permit; it could be used as an ID card in Rota City, but showing it off could easily frighten people.
Bolei brought the white curtain to his office and took out a document: "This is a new source of a strange dream discovered six hours ago. So far, the dream is stable, and the processing bureau is preparing to investigate and file it."
The processing bureau doesn't immediately seal some strange dreams because sealing technology isn't as good as normal preservation methods.
Time flows differently within a strange dream than outside time. The so-called sealing technology preserves the source of the strange dream while synchronizing reality and time in the strange dream as much as possible.
The time difference ratio is no longer one hour compared to a day or even longer in the strange dream, but closer to 1:2 or 3. If it's one hour compared to more than a month, it can be reduced to two or three days compared to one hour.
The advantage of this sealing is that because the time difference ratio is small, the probability of the strange dream source encountering trouble in the strange dream is low, allowing the strange dream to be preserved for a long time.
If it were a normal time difference, one hour in reality would be one or two days in the strange dream. One
day in reality would be a month in the strange dream source, greatly increasing the probability of the strange dream source encountering an accident.
It's possible that the alternate dream might explode just one day after being preserved because its source has encountered an issue.
Sealing can significantly extend the shelf life of an alternate dream and stabilize it; however, if something goes wrong, the consequences could be far more severe because the time difference is too close.
Even if the sealed alternate dream's impact is small, its close proximity to real-world time will inevitably trigger a small-scale, high-quality dream erosion if things get out of control.
Therefore, preliminary investigation is essential when dealing with alternate dreams. At least the type of alternate dream and the state of its source within it must be investigated.
If the source is in a very safe environment within the alternate dream, sealing it is generally fine.
Letting the source live for decades within the dream allows the dream to be sealed for decades in reality as well, and the processing bureau can slowly develop it.
However, if the source is in a very dangerous environment within the dream, the decision to seal it depends on the situation. If it's too dangerous, then sealing or preservation is unnecessary; destroying the alternate dream is safer.
However, the value of these alternate dreams is too high, requiring Dream Walkers and other personnel to help the source of the dreams escape their dangerous environment, thus maintaining their stability in the long term.
If the source of the dreams itself is abnormal, then destruction is the primary solution.
Dangerous objects should be destroyed quickly to prevent them from growing larger.
(End of Chapter)