Chapter 1609: A Dream with a Tendency
In the end, Scarface Glasses was the one to fall asleep, with Young Master Mo responsible for protecting him.
Two other players were also sleeping alongside them.
After the initial half hour, the three of them entered a deep sleep.
Xu Huo tried calling out to Liao Xiaorong and the others again, but still had no success.
The waiting time was extremely boring. After eating and drinking his fill, Tong Qi came over to Young Master Mo. "What's your relationship with him? This hired bodyguard is way too dedicated. Where did you hire him? Can you introduce me?"
Young Master Mo never took off his glasses, but the way he tilted his head showed his disdain for Tong Qi, to the point where he couldn't even be bothered to speak to him.
Chi Xian, who was playing with a mushroom nearby, let out a light laugh. "Some people from big families think their bloodline is noble, that just breathing the same air as us commoners dirties them. Why would he talk to you?"
Tong Qi was a very open-minded person and didn't really care about Young Master Mo's attitude. He went off to chat with other players instead.
Most of the others were unwilling to talk to him, except for Yi Jun, who exchanged a few words with him.
"My luck isn't great," Tong Qi said, shaking his head. "I came here with a friend, but I ended up being the only one who entered this instance. I don't even know if I can get out. Ah well, I'll just live day by day..."
Xu Huo, who had been leaning against a pillar and staring intently at the sleeping people, suddenly stood up. He walked quickly over to Zhao Qing and gently patted her face. "Wake up!"
"Why is she crying?" Tong Qi asked in surprise.
The other sleeping people were all very calm, or at most had slight smiles on their faces, as if they were having pleasant dreams.
Zhao Qing was quickly awakened, or perhaps she was about to wake up on her own anyway.
Her dull eyes looked at the person in front of her, and she opened her mouth to ask, "How long have I been asleep?"
"Two hours and three minutes," Xu Huo said quickly, then asked, "What did you dream about?"
Zhao Qing sat quietly for a moment before speaking. "I dreamed about my boyfriend."
"What exactly happened?" Mi Yaojia asked impatiently from the side. "Did you see the Star River or anything like that?"
This was also what the others were concerned about. No one paid attention to Zhao Qing's current emotional state.
She briefly described the content of her dream. It was simply a dream that her boyfriend was still alive, and the two of them seemed to be living in an ordinary world without the game, preparing for their wedding.
"Did you know in the dream that he had already passed away?" Xu Huo asked.
"Yes," Zhao Qing said. "I guess that's why I woke up so quickly. No matter how sweet the illusion, it's still just an illusion."
Xu Huo then asked about some specific details, such as how the dream began and ended, and whether there was anything special during the dream—like something from reality, or if it was entirely her own imagination.
"It was just like a normal dream. Some things and scenes were familiar, some felt like déjà vu, maybe things I've seen before but can't quite remember." Zhao Qing recalled carefully but couldn't find anything particularly special or out of place.
Xu Huo nodded slightly. "Get some rest."
Based on her and Liao Xiaorong's condition, he had initially thought Liao Xiaorong would start dreaming sooner.
The second person to wake up was Scarface Glasses. He had slept for five hours.
Just like Tong Qi and the others last night, he had a good sleep with no other sensations.
Then came the other two players who had fallen asleep around the same time as him. Same thing.
After the seventh hour, Liao Xiaorong woke up. She paused for a moment and said, "I did dream, but it was meaningless. I just remembered buying ice cream when I was a kid. I had just picked out my flavor when I woke up."
Xu Huo, as before, asked in detail about the dream's progression and how realistic the environment in the dream was.
Unlike Zhao Qing's fantasy, most of the content in Liao Xiaorong's dream were things she had actually experienced. Even the little shop where she bought the ice cream was one she had visited before, and the placement of the ice cream in the freezer was similar to what she remembered.
Starting from the eighth hour, the people from Zone 013 began to wake up one by one.
Compared to the players, their dreams were much richer. Besides dreaming of becoming completely normal people, they also had some secret desires that were hard to speak of—having money, power, or becoming a powerful player were all common things.
Although some of it was difficult to talk about, Xu Huo still went through the process. Unlike the players, the people from Zone 013 weren't very vigilant about their dreams. They were more immersed in the dreams and didn't really care about what state their bodies were in during the dream.
"These dreams are all over the place. I can't tell anything special about them," Tong Qi summarized.
"There's still something to be gained," Xu Huo said. "No matter what kind of dream it is, it implies a choice. Whether it's ice cream or a beautiful woman, they generally don't exist alone. If there's only one of a kind, then there must be other tempting options nearby."
"The instance is called 'Another Choice.' Could this be related?" Yi Jun said. "What does 'another' mean? Do we follow our true hearts or deliberately do the opposite?"
"If every dream has a choice, it looks more like a psychological survey questionnaire," Young Master Mo said at this point. "Usually, there's this process before psychological treatment, mainly to analyze the patient's mental state and self-tendencies."
"There should be bigger choices after the small ones, right?"
"Is this instance just about psychological assessment?" Liao Xiaorong didn't understand. "Make the right choice and you see the Star River, make the wrong one and you sleep forever in the dream?"
"That possibility can't be ruled out," Yi Jun said.
"Then what exactly is the right choice?" Mi Yaojia followed up. "What's the standard? It can't be good versus evil, can it?"
"Not necessarily," Tong Qi said. "Would a game instance care about whether a player is a good person or a bad person? And their choices are all very ordinary. How meaningful is picking an ice cream flavor? I think there might be some other hidden meaning behind it."
"At least we've gained something. Looking at it this way, the longer the sleep time, the more likely the dream content will progress," Scarface Glasses said. "When the time comes, we can just choose based on what we see."
"But the Star River has nothing to do with us at all. Will there be any substitute or hint in the dream?" Liao Xiaorong looked around.
Everyone looked at each other but said nothing.
After a moment, Tong Qi said, "Isn't that simple? First, pick something related to the Star River to deepen the impression. Maybe you'll see it in the dream."
"Something related to the Star River in reality doesn't mean it will be related to the Star River in the dream," Xu Huo interjected. "Besides, we don't even know what the Star River really is."
"That's true. Overemphasizing the Star River might even interfere with the dream," Yi Jun added.
Several players who were rummaging through their things silently put them down.
"It's already evening." Xu Huo glanced outside, then stood up and stretched his body. "I'll go next."