Extra 5: Indulging in Dreams

"Hello, it is 7:15 am Beijing Standard Time. Would you like to set the alarm to five minutes later?"

The sound of silent machinery woke him up.

He opened his eyes and saw a monotonous blue spherical AI image.

He remembered that some people would spend money to buy a nice avatar leather case, or make one themselves. The feeling of being awakened by a lifelike person every day would make them feel less lonely in this cold city.

His acquiescence caused the holographic AI image rising from the watch to gradually disappear.

He wiped his face and felt his head was splitting with pain.

But his memory is still good.

Some people forget their dreams, even the dream itself, but not him.

He remembers every one of his dreams.

Especially this dream.

All the details are laid out clearly before your eyes.

He lay in bed for a long time, until his vision gradually became clear and he could see his room clearly.

The room was in a monotonous and dull grey and white hue. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the undrawn curtains, and dust floated in the light.

It was his room, he knew the location of every item and their function, but somehow it felt so strange.

He pushed down the gray photo of two people on the bedside table.

He lifted his legs and got out of bed. His limbs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead. He walked into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and splashed cold water on his face.

Looking up, he saw his own face.

Careless.

It's him.

But it's not him.

A strange face.

A long-unseen face. Why is he here?

"What's going on? Did I take the dream seriously again?" Gu Shu murmured.

He lowered his head and soaked his face in the cold water.

Only when the coolness enveloped his cheeks did he find a sense of peace.

He looked up at his face again.

Thin, tired, malnourished, and sleep deprived.

Even though he had lost his job, his overall condition was worse than before.

That's why he doesn't like looking in the mirror.

He randomly pulled a few clothes from the hanger and put them on. As it was getting cold outside, he put on a windbreaker.

When he went out with his bag, he hadn't had breakfast yet. He looked back at his room and left without any reluctance.

He ordered a cup of soy milk at a nearby breakfast shop and warmed his palms with it.

Then walk aimlessly on the street.

He looked up and saw the 3D clock image outside the shopping mall, and realized that it was almost noon.

It took him so long to do just a few simple things from the time he woke up to the time he walked out the door and here.

But he didn't care.

He has a lot of time.

Yes, too many.

He didn't know how to spend his time.

He didn't even know the meaning of going out.

He knew that something was wrong with him.

But he had no money to see a psychiatrist.

He has low material desires. His current savings, future pension and unemployment benefits are enough to support him for the rest of his life, but they are not enough to support him to travel abroad or continue to see a psychiatrist.

So he could only try to solve his own problems.

For example, even if you have nothing to do, you have to get up at a fixed time.

Can't stay at home for a long time, must go out for a walk.

But it was while walking down the street that he became more aware of his problem.

In his eyes, the faces of the people coming and going were just blurry grey shadows, and their words became broken tones in his ears.

I don't know when it started to become like this.

He thought it was an instinctive way of protecting himself.

Because it was emotionally draining to write down all the things he didn't want to remember.

Since there is no way to forget them, just break them down and pile them in a corner and ignore them.

This has no significant impact on his life.

He has been trying to cut off communication with people.

When his legs and feet were sore from walking, he found a chair in the park and sat down.

Colorful musical notes are dancing on the ground.

He remembered that there were many pigeons here when he was a child. People held feed in their hands and a group of pigeons jumped up to grab the food. Now he can only see some repetitive images.

Not far away someone was painting a three-dimensional painting that was confusing reality with the fake.

Gu Shu looked down and found that the soy milk in his hand had gone cold. He had only drunk one-third of it, so he threw it into the trash can.

"Thank you for your contribution to environmental protection!"

A cute smiley emoji appeared on the small screen of the cleaning machine bucket.

Gu Shu couldn't muster up the energy, so he turned and walked towards the museum in the city.

The museum and the hospital are face to face, and the psychological care robot at the entrance of the hospital has been turned around since he arrived.

"Sir, do you need any help?"

Then various buttons appeared on the screen and a mechanical sound began to announce the "dish names".

Gu Shu sighed and clicked [Not needed].

I guess it was this thing that scanned and analyzed the details and discovered the emotional problems he was showing.

He looked at the door of the museum and chose to leave.

He took a public shuttle bus, set a route, and arrived at a remote hill nearby.

The facilities here were built about fifty years ago and no one maintains them. He wiped the stone bench with paper and sat in the wilderness for a while. He felt restless and started to climb again.

When he moves, he can clear his mind, which is why he keeps walking and walking.

When he stops, his mind can't help but wander to all sorts of random thoughts.

He walked all the way to the top of the mountain.

There is a small amusement park on the top of the mountain that has been discontinued.

Only one swing was complete.

Gu Shu sat on it.

Then, last night's dream flooded into my mind like a flood.

When the wind blows, only Gu Shu can feel the coolness on his cheeks.

That was a dream that was too good for him.

A dream that is unreal and illusory.

So much so that he would rather die in his dream than return to reality.

He walked in reality, just like walking on a high bridge that could collapse at any time. The air of reality entangled him stickily, and he felt more breathless with every step he took.

He swung from the swing, then stood up and walked to the front. The top of the small hill looked like a high cliff in his eyes, the hills and plains looked like bottomless abysses, and the small houses looked like unknown boxes, from which monsters might jump out at any time.

He walked quickly down the hill.

On the way down the mountain, he asked the AI ​​assistant to search for the comic "A Tribute to Dawn" or "Funeral at Dawn".

No information could be found about what he once knew.

He clearly remembered that he fell asleep after reading the comic and then entered the world of the comic, which he later discovered was actually a real world...

A ridiculous and happy dream awakened.

His memory is infallible.

So, either it was a dream within a dream, or he was dreaming now.

Gu Shu quickly returned home, took out the dusty tablet, and used a paintbrush to paint on it.

His drawing skills were not very high, and he was able to perfectly reproduce some mechanical drawings only because of his good memory.

In his mind, the faces and clothes of those familiar people were vividly portrayed.

But when it came to the board, there were only messy facial features.

Even so, he still stroked the paintings, lost in thought.

Beautiful, painful, and all kinds of intense memories rushed out one after another.

It was a feeling that he could never experience in this unbearably peaceful age. It was not a dream that he could have created in the past.

Gu Shu looked out the window at the dark night and closed his eyes.

After a while, he opened his eyes and looked down. He was sitting near the window.

He had an idea that if he jumped from here, he could return to the world in his dreams.

In other words, to escape from this present dream and return to the reality that belongs to him.

Even if he were given the choice a hundred times, a thousand times, or countless times, he would still unswervingly choose the blue pill.

Even if it was a dream or an illusion created by someone, he was willing to indulge in it.

He once didn't quite understand those who were addicted to full-scale virtual games and risked their lives, but now he may understand a little.

The other world is reality for them.

"What are you thinking about?!"

Gu Shu vaguely heard a loud shout.

He shuddered.

That familiar voice seemed to carry a hoarse cry and helpless anger.

"Live! No matter where you are, live well! Why do you always want to give up your life so easily! You fool!"

Gu Shu's smile is uglier than crying.

Like something he would say.

But.

You are not here.

You are not here.

My friends. My family.

If I were to live here alone.

What's the point?

He was not afraid of death, but he had tasted the sweetness and could no longer bear the loneliness.

He admitted that he was vulnerable.

He needs a lot of people's company to live well.

But when he heard him say this.

Even in such a boring world, how could he just walk away?

He had promised him that no matter what the situation, he should never give up hope of living and should live well.

He has changed and become stronger.

He decided to keep this promise.

Gu huddled on the windowsill, his tearful face reflected through the glass against the night sky.

Fortunately, he thought, they couldn't see it.

"…Oh my God, what happened to him?"

"Isn't he sleeping well?"

"You had a nightmare?"

"What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?"

“Don’t cry…don’t cry, wuwuwuwuwu…”

"Oh, my ancestor, why are you crying too?"

"What are you arguing about? Aren't you all asleep? I have a terrible headache! I didn't use my magic to sober up!"

"…Ah, what happened to him? Was he beaten? Why is he crying like this?"

"Ying...breathe well and wake up soon..."

He opened his mouth, snatched up the air, and opened his eyes that were stained with tears.

The spots of starlight blurred in my sight.

There are many sounds in his ears, but he can tell which sound belongs to which person and which person is in a certain direction.

The corners of Inger's mouth slowly curved upwards.

He said weakly: "...I."

Alex held him and patted his back tenderly.

Inger could feel his panicked and hot heartbeat.

"Alex...I'm fine..."

Alex gently pushed him away and looked into his eyes, as if questioning him, how could he be okay?

Inger reached out and rubbed his eyes.

He also cried himself to sleep in his dream.

I didn't expect that I would really cry.

But he was happy.

That's a dream.

Inger opened his eyes again and saw his own reality.

Elena sat on a stool with her messy white hair looking at him, Cheryl was sobbing, Uri was looking at him worriedly, Veronica was looking towards him with her mouth wide open, Nineveh was standing beside him at a loss, Milia was frantically looking for the medicine in her bag, Romero picked up his coat and ran over to put it on Elena's half-exposed shoulders, Tang Ni and Ophira were holding bottles of wine and looking over curiously, not far away Bibidai was lying on the ground in a "big" shape, drunk, and had not been woken up yet.

Yes, he remembered that he and Alex had traveled to Levitra and given a private party with friends.

Many friends came.

"How come someone who was having so much fun playing games and drinking is crying so hard in his sleep and doesn't even want to tell the truth?"

Elena poked Inger's forehead with her finger.

Alex slapped her hand away.

Inger looked at Alex. Facing his eyes, he couldn't hide: "...Well...I had a nightmare..."

Wu Rui asked: "Does he often have nightmares at home?"

Alex hesitated for a moment and said, "It's not that serious..."

He knew that Inger could remember every one of his dreams.

Alex held Inger's hand and said, "Would it make you feel better if you told us?"

Inger thought this was his worst nightmare.

"I just...came to another world..."

Cheryl stopped crying and asked curiously, "What kind of world?"

"From now on... the world one hundred years later?"

"Eh, the future?"

"Yes."

Elena asked: "What's so scary about that?"

"...you don't exist in that world...I can't find you..."

A person stays in that world.

His voice trailed off.

All the sounds around stopped.

Among these people, only Alex knew the true meaning of what he said.

Alex hugged him tightly again.

His voice is so clear and gentle that it makes people feel calm unconsciously.

"Ying, that was a dream. We are here now, right beside you. Dreams will end no matter what."

Inger put his arm around his shoulders, feeling his body temperature, and said with a smile, "I understand. Don't worry about me."

"What? She's just acting coquettishly. She's so old, and she's still afraid of loneliness." Veronica muttered.

Elena kicked her quickly and quietly.

Romero turned his head and looked at the sky which was gradually turning pale. "Ah, dawn is coming."

Inger looked up at the sky and thought that when the first ray of sunlight fell on his eyes, it meant the dream was over and it was time to wake up.

He had a feeling that he would never have nightmares again.

All dreams will no longer be nightmares for him.