Chapter 68: Illusion and Reality

  False and True

  （1）

  Outside the window, a layer of cloud that wasn't very thick gradually pressed down to low altitude, slowly turning into a depressing black color. Upon closer inspection, it was still possible to distinguish the original pale-colored clouds at high altitude, which presented a completely different level and color difference.

  The weather at the end of November in the north is dry, mostly sunny and clear, with winter skies looking much clearer and more distant than summer ones. The pure pale blue sky lifts people's spirits. But today seems to have brought cold air from Lake Baikal, and the temperature has dropped suddenly.

  Winter's cold wave is always so unexpected. The cold air always comes from that distant and strange place, Lake Baikal in Siberia.

  Outside the window, small snowflakes began to fall gently, as if they were not falling in large pieces but rather in a scattered manner. Perhaps because the ground temperature was not yet low enough, they melted upon landing on the ground. From upstairs looking out, it seemed like it had rained instead.

  The coffee shop, with its Western European classical decoration style, had a large Western-style clock on the left side of the private room. In such a quiet environment, the sound of the clock's pendulum grew louder.

  So quiet and big eyes stared at each other for a long time, the ticking clock sound brought back Shen Yu's mind that had wandered off due to excessive surprise.

  After a while, his gaze finally focused, and the girl opposite him was leaning against her chin with great interest, narrowing her big almond eyes to look at him. Seeing him come back to himself, she still blinked her eyes very cutely, curled up the corners of her mouth, revealing two small and lovely dimples.

  "I mustn't have misheard you, are you sure that's what you said?" Shen Yu rubbed his temples.

  Zhang Tianqi nodded.

  "You say you are... a Dreamweaver?" Shen Yu struggled to squeeze out this unfamiliar term.

  "Uh-huh."

  "Alright." Shen Yu took a deep breath. "I'm a police officer, so I value evidence. Can you give me some real evidence?"

  The girl unexpectedly readily agreed, "Alright, whenever you need it, I can prove it to you anytime."

  "Alright, I need you to do two things," Shen Yu said, "One is to implant a dream in me."

  Zhang Tianqi smiled with her eyes narrowed, "But you might wake up and think that what happened in the dream was real, so you won't admit it."

  "You should have a way to distinguish between dreams and reality, if you're a dreamweaver as you claim." Shen Yu said immediately.

  "Alright then." Zhen Tianqi pulled out a delicate small snail from her pocket, "Although you think I'm writing a script, unfortunately it's not very original and the method to distinguish dreams is the same as that movie."

  "Balance," Shen Yu said.

  "Yes. The scenes in dreams, no matter how realistic they are, cannot be completely restored to the real world, such as balance. Because when people are dreaming, their physical body is relatively still, so the dream is also a relatively static space, it's just that the characters in the dream will move depending on the ability of the dream planter. However, people won't fall down in dreams, and there is no inertia either, so we will never set up a scene where people squeeze onto a bus, because it's normal for people to walk without falling, but if there was no inertia on a bus that frequently starts and stops suddenly, the person in the dream would quickly realize something is wrong." Zhen Tianqi explained, "We lucid dreamers also need to enter people's dreams to continue planting, sometimes we get lost at the intersection of reality and dreams, but as long as such things exist, we can verify where we are at any time and place."

  Shen Yu picked up the small top and put it in his pocket, then glanced at his watch.

  3:03 PM

  "Is the time in dreams synchronized with the time in reality?" Shen Yu furrowed his brow, "If it is synchronized, then hurry up, I have a meeting at 4 pm."

  "Okay." Zhen Tianqi took out a bottle of medicine from her pocket, "Take it."

  "What is this?" Shen Yu's eyes were filled with disgust.

  "Sleeping pills." Zhen Tianqi sneered, "Can't you think I'm skilled enough to implant dreams when people are awake?"

  （2）

  People who have had dreams know that the dream world is always full of strange and bizarre things. Perhaps one second ago you were still reciting English vocabulary with your junior high school classmates, preparing for a small test before early self-study, and the next second you became a housewife, frowning and changing diapers for a bunch of unlucky kids.

  This dream will never give people a sense of reality.

  But now this dream is different.

  Shen Yu came to the dream with memories of being sober in reality, and the way he came here was from waking up in a dream.

  When he saw the familiar office and the files on his desk, for a moment he really thought that he had just dozed off at his desk and was now waking up.

  The timing was just right, it was about half an hour after he left the office to meet Zhen Tianqi.

  3:03 PM

  He took a deep breath, reached into his pocket and pulled out an exquisite small top, then started spinning it on the table.

  A sense of balance, indeed, is in a dream. There is a sense of balance here that is not possessed in reality. It's also the only difference.

  He stood up, looked around and couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. The Dreamweavers were indeed an unfathomable race. Perhaps they could extract information from his brain, otherwise how would the pages of the documents on the table be turned to exactly the same page as before he left?

  Yes, completely consistent, without a single difference, just like reality.

  "Yuan Fei." He called out tentatively, and then Yuan Fei's face, which was always so serious every day, poked in.

  "Director, what do you want me for?"

  "Where is Liao Xinxin?" Shen Yu thought for a moment and finally came up with a topic.

  "Aren't you letting her off for half a day today?" Yuan Fei inexplicably rubbed his head, "How did you think of her again?"

  "Oh, then you go back first." Shen Yu sat back in the chair, thought for a moment, and dialed his sister's phone number.

  "What's up? Bro." Shen Sijia's voice came over with a hint of impatience.

  "Where are you now?"

  "What are you making me do again at home? I'm telling you, it's a rare day off and if you dare to make me run errands again, I won't forgive you!" Then she hung up the phone in a huff.

  At home. Shen Yu nodded, and when he returned to reality, he would verify again whether the things in his dreams were also proceeding as they did in reality without the deliberate intervention of the dreamwalker.

  There are still many things that need to be verified in this realistic dream. Shen Yu stood up and took his coat from the back of the chair.

  "Yuan Fei, come out with me."

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