Chapter 163 Fifty-Eight Weeks (11)

After waking up from the anesthetic injection, Rei Furuya still couldn't tell how much time had passed.

Because of the medicine and the dream chair, his perception was impaired, and he could no longer judge the exact number of hours that had passed based on his body's reactions as he used to. There were also no clocks or dates in the laboratory.

He woke up but did not open his eyes, and even remained in a drowsy state.

However, he was unsure whether the collar around his neck could detect whether he was faking sleep based on blood flow, heart rate, breathing, skin temperature, or even brain activity.

As long as he wasn't exposed, he considered it a glimmer of hope.

The laboratory was quiet, eerily quiet, except for two rhythmic breaths coming from the doorway, probably from the two tall, black-clad men who had been brainwashed into being tools.

And then there was the black cat, curled up next to him with its head close to his; the cat's warm, soft body and the sound of its purring were very clear.

That's all.

Karasuma Renya is not here.

It's a rare opportunity, but...

Rei Furuya didn't move. He just carefully felt his body. He had regained a lot of strength, but he was still tightly bound as before.

My bitten tongue hurts a lot but tastes bitter, so it's probably been treated with medicine. My mouth has been re-bound with restraints, making it almost impossible to bite my tongue to commit suicide. I could try with all my might, but the collar would definitely detect it.

Okay, let me think about it first.

Since suicide in reality is unlikely, how about killing yourself in the mental world?

There are also cases where a person's body dies if they truly believe they are dead.

However, there's a problem: Rei Furuya isn't sure if he can still reload a save file after his spirit dies.

Physical death can be reloaded, but spiritual death is not so certain.

The system will abandon players who have suffered a mental breakdown, just like that predecessor from fifty years ago.

Rei Furuya wasn't sure if this situation—where he killed his own spirit in order to survive—would actually cause his spirit, or soul, to perish, making it impossible to reload the save and start over.

Even putting that aside, it's quite difficult to achieve a state of spiritual death.

It will probably require using hypnosis to kill oneself in a dream, and this must be done before Karasuma Renya realizes something is wrong.

Rei Furuya doesn't know hypnosis, but he knows a lot of theoretical knowledge, and he can start learning now.

Of course, he didn't learn hypnosis primarily to kill himself; he still wanted to live.

Especially in this world where everyone is living well, he naturally wants to live.

Therefore, his primary plan was to hypnotize himself so that he wouldn't dream about Hiro and the others exposing them.

Simple hypnosis isn't difficult, and Furuya Rei was fairly confident, but he didn't dare to completely forget everyone. He worried that his personality would change if he completely forgot all the important people, and he had many, many worries.

Moreover, even if one successfully hypnotizes oneself to forget everyone, one can still easily uncover real memories once entering the deepest part of one's dream world.

Many people who suffer from amnesia due to various circumstances will use hypnosis to put the other person to sleep and then guide them into a deeper level of consciousness to search for temporarily forgotten memories.

In summary, dreams are difficult to control.

Perhaps, but not something that the current Ryougu Zero can do.

However, he could still control his state before entering the dream.

Karasuma Renya manipulated his dreams using a combination of drugs and verbal guidance. In essence, he gave him the greatest stimulation before he entered the dream state, so that he would dream about things related to that stimulation.

So, all he needs to do is control himself and redirect the things that might stimulate him to something else before he enters a dream.

Rei Furuya organized all the relevant knowledge about hypnosis in his mind, then selected the ones that could be used, and combined them into a usable method based on his desired development.

He doesn't have much time left, and this start has been terrible, so he'll seize any opportunity to kill himself.

Rei Furuya is not only worried that he might accidentally reveal other people's secrets in his dreams, which would be discovered and dealt with by the organization's boss, but also that the search after everyone discovers his disappearance will be too commotion and be discovered by the organization. The consequences are the same.

Rei Furuya doesn't want to see anyone get hurt or even die because of him anymore, even if he could start over, let alone now that he can't freely reload save files.

This is also one of the main reasons why he dares not hypnotize himself to completely forget Hiro and the others.

However, mastering hypnosis skills, or even setting keywords and images for waking up, is beyond what Rei Furuya, who has just started learning hypnosis, can do.

Moreover, if he could, he would never want to tamper with his own memories.

All those photos have been destroyed. Now, the only proof that those memories existed is his mind. If his brain also malfunctions and he forgets all those memories, then those precious memories will truly seem as if they never existed.

Rei Furuya doesn't want to forget.

Even though reloading save files and going through cycles is painful, he still doesn't want to forget anything, let alone all the happy and joyful things that happened during that time.

Let him forget those things; it's even more painful than death.

So what Rei Furuya is trying to learn now is simply to shift his subconscious and attention to more important things, and then carefully lock away and hide the memories he doesn't want others to notice.

I haven't forgotten, but without related stimuli, the brain won't easily read it, and I won't have related dreams.

At the same time, he needed to stimulate himself by trying to show Karasuma Renya and Yumeko things that wouldn't cause any trouble for the time being, so as not to arouse Karasuma Renya's suspicion and to divert his attention.

He can't create dreams yet, but he's confident he can use extreme methods to select dream fragments to showcase.

Karasuma Renya has too many things to research right now. As long as he can still extract information from Furuya Rei, it doesn't matter if he can't catch the person he cares about for the time being.

Once you can't extract any more information, it's time to actually conduct the experiments.

Rei Furuya didn't think he was mistaken; Renya Karasuma sometimes looked at him with such fanaticism that it seemed like he wanted to devour him.

It was cannibalism in the truest sense, the kind where they cut off flesh and drank blood.

He must have been delusional, believing that Furuya Rei possessed the power of a "god," and that consuming him would grant him some of that power. Even if he couldn't be reborn, he could probably at least make his body younger.

Karasuma Renya firmly believes that Furuya Rei's 28 years of age while still having the face of an 18-year-old is due to the influence of this power.

Jianggu Ling: "..."

Rei Furuya has been told a lot about his youthful appearance, but this is the first time I've been so speechless.

Time passed in his thoughts.

After finalizing the plan, Rei Furuya began to boldly study hypnosis.

Take it one step at a time. Don't make it too obvious so that Karasuma Renya will notice something is wrong. Don't go too far and ruin your brain and those precious memories.

Hypnosis is a very dangerous practice, and most people only dare to use the simplest level, just like what Karasuma Renya did.

While injecting him with the drug, Karasuma Renya spoke those words in a low voice, which was also a form of hypnosis. He wanted to use the stimulation of the drug to guide him to remember what he said at the time, so that it would manifest in his dreams.

Perhaps the Dream Chair has a similar function, but he doesn't understand the Dream Chair yet, so he'll put it aside for now.

Tonight we can try. Karasuma Renya only wants to know a few things, but he can only tell us one at a time.

So, when Karasuma Renya mentioned one of the things, he gave himself a different suggestion and hypnotized himself to see who wanted the dream that the dream chair ultimately presented.

This will prove the effectiveness and degree of function of the Dream Chair.

The laboratory lights were so bright that even with my eyes closed, the world outside my eyelids felt blindingly white.

Rei Furuya opened his eyes, squinted for a moment to catch his breath, and then turned to look around.

Just as he had sensed before, Karasuma Renya was not there, but the robot in the corner was there, which could probably connect at any time and become Karasuma Renya himself.

From his angle, he couldn't see the doorway, only a small black shoulder near it, indicating that someone was indeed guarding the door.

The two men in black were tall and strong. Whether they were naturally that strong or had undergone modifications, they looked like they could smash someone's head like a watermelon with a single punch.

He had observed them when he came out of the Dream Chair before; both of them were wearing sunglasses and had no expression on their faces, much like the tools Rum had used to brainwash people.

"Meow~" The black cat sleeping next to him seemed to be awakened by his movements. It stretched its paws and yawned, then started licking its fur while staring at him.

Rei Furuya closed his eyes again.

Time is running out, let's start learning hypnosis.

It's just temporarily reminding your subconscious of something that is inherently important; it's not that difficult.

However, it is extremely difficult to carefully preserve something of utmost importance and lock it away so that one's subconscious forgets its existence.

Rei Furuya tried for a long time without success, and dared not make too much of a fuss, even breaking out in a cold sweat.

The theories sound simple, but they are very difficult to put into practice, especially for a newcomer who has not received formal training.

But Furuya Rei was already used to learning new things. He was not discouraged or disheartened. He did not believe that there was anything he could not learn. He focused on learning steadily and step by step, trying and experimenting again and again.

It's just a matter of time.

Even after Karasuma Renya reappeared, he was unsure if he had succeeded and could only temporarily focus his attention on this cunning old crow.

The wheelchair stopped in front of the robot by the wall, and Karasuma Renya, leaning on his ornate cane, slowly walked to his side.

The crow on Karasuma Renya's shoulder cawed merrily, flapped its wings, and flew to Furuya Rei's side, where it began to nip at his blond hair again.

The black cat jumped onto Furuya Rei's chest, sat up, and meowed at Karasuma Renya, receiving a gentle pat on the head from the old man.

Rei Furuya ignored the two animals and simply stared quietly at Renya Karasuma.

Something's wrong. His expression is off. Has something happened?

And this expression was deliberately shown to him. Why?

Having lived to be over 140 years old, controlled the country's economic lifeline, and formed a world-renowned black organization, Karasuma Renya was not a man who showed his emotions openly. The fact that he did so only showed that he was confident and disdained to pretend.

Or perhaps, they're trying to test the person in front of them with this attitude in order to achieve some goal.

Furuya Rei guessed it was the latter, because that was his most frequently used tactic, and he was very familiar with it.

"Zero-kun, what exactly is your relationship with Scotland?" Karasuma Renya finally spoke.

Even though he almost suffered a heart attack, Furuya Rei, who was well-prepared, did not reveal any flaws.

He frowned, his expression one of disgust, and even though he covered his mouth, he managed to let out a cold "humph" through his nose.

Karasuma Renya slowly paced around him.

"You're an undercover agent, a kind and righteous police officer, you must really hate the wicked people of Scotland, right?"

Rei Furuya remained expressionless, as if he had no desire to discuss this person at all.

However, the fact that the name of Scotland was mentioned by Karasuma Renya in this context was already an unprecedented and enormous shock.

Two thoughts exploded wildly in his mind: "Has Hiro been exposed? Is he in danger now?" and "It's over. The things about Hiro are too stimulating. He might appear in the third dream experiment."

“But Scotland really likes you.” Karasuma Renya chuckled. “He was so eager to find you after just three days apart that I almost arrested him for thinking he was one of your accomplices.”

Rei Furuya expressed his sneer, disgust, and regret with his eyes.

“You see, after you disappeared, your companions will definitely be eager to investigate you, right? Since they can’t investigate on their own, I’ll just set a trap and wait for them to come to me.” Karasuma Renya also said regretfully, “It’s just a pity that there are also very powerful people over there. I couldn’t catch them. The only ones I caught were my own people.”

"Hmm... but it's still uncertain whether they're on our side." Karasuma Renya, tired from walking, returned in her wheelchair. "After all, you and Sakura are comrades. Since your initial hostility towards Sakura was just a pretense to join the organization, your hostility towards Scotland might also be a pretense, right?"

Rei Furuya opened his eyes wide, his whole body began to move, every pore on his body expressing resistance and disgust.

"Don't get excited, don't get excited. It would be troublesome if the suppressor judged you to be doing something dangerous and you got anesthetized. I still have a lot to talk to you about, and the third experiment is coming up soon." Karasuma Renya reached out and touched the blond youth's hair, just like he had touched the black cat before.

“Besides, I can’t help but have my suspicions, can I?” he said. “Scotland went so far as to ignore my orders and investigate everywhere in order to find you, and even came to interrogate me. Is this something that can be done in an ordinary relationship? Even if it’s because he likes you too much, it’s still a bit strange. After all, he didn’t know you were an undercover agent, so why would he be so worried about what I might do to you? I was so fond of and cared for you before. No one else would suspect me like this, not even Vermouth, who was so close to you.”

Rei Furuya was so angry he almost couldn't catch his breath.

I knew they were going to take action, but I didn't expect Hiro to be so blunt and direct. Isn't this just asking for trouble and being suspected?

Or rather, Hiro's goal was to deliver himself to the boss and be brought directly to him after he disappeared.

“I sensed something was wrong, so I locked him up temporarily.” Karasuma Renya smiled, affectionately stroking the soft, beautiful blond hair. “After all, your situation is more important. Let’s start today’s third experiment as soon as possible. I can’t wait.”

Rei Furuya's heart, which had been pounding in his chest, finally caught a breath. He tried to calm himself down, determined not to let his emotions and feelings about Hiro enter the dream experiment. He needed to start thinking about other things now, immediately, and not think about Hiro anymore.

...But he couldn't control himself. He couldn't even calmly hypnotize himself. No matter how calm he appeared on the surface, the panic in his heart couldn't be calmed down immediately.

He couldn't help but think that it was fortunate that Hiro was only temporarily locked up, and fortunate that Karasuma Renya's attention was always on him. Even if something really was going to be done, it would definitely have to wait until after this experiment.

Rei Furuya quickly took the time to re-suggest and hypnotize himself...

"Knock, knock, knock." There was a sudden knock on the door.

Karasuma Renya seemed to suddenly remember something and said, "Oh right, I brought an acquaintance with me so you wouldn't be bored."

At this moment, Rei Furuya's heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand. Even hypnosis could not stop the name and face from frantically popping into his mind.

No, no... please don't let it be Hiro! He can't see Hiro right now!!!

If he sees Hiro now, then no matter how hard he tries to control himself, Hiro will definitely appear in his dream tonight...

The door opened, and clear footsteps grew closer.

Rei Furuya paused for a moment.

The footsteps sounded familiar, but they weren't Hiro's; rather...

The person finally stood before him.

Her long white lab coat matched the laboratory perfectly, and her expression was cold. Her fluffy, slightly wavy brown hair partially obscured her face, making it impossible to see her expression. All that could be seen was her beautiful lips and jawline, which were tense and aloof.

The other person lowered their head and looked at him, revealing a pair of eyes with a complicated expression.

“I never imagined I’d see you in a place like this, Bourbon,” she said.

It's Sherry.

The blond youth, strapped to the operating table, smiled helplessly, his eyes crinkling.

Yes, they were colleagues before, but after only a few days, they are now researchers and test subjects.

But he was very grateful to see Shirley at this time, really.