Chapter 3
◆One: The Reset World
The 100th day since the collapse of Phantom Coin.
Half of the city's facilities are shut down.
The trust curve panel has become a piece of scrap metal decoration.
The former data tower is now used for drying clothes.
This period is known as the "Silent Era".
Both the economy and society have fallen into a prolonged state of stagnation.
Without a trust system,
Humans seem to have lost their heartbeat rhythm.
Until the first dream record appeared on an underground trading website.
—Dream ID DC000001.
—Content: "On the sea without light, some people can still dream."
—Price: 1 drop of real tear.
It is not a data archive, but a liquefied memory.
The person who bought it claimed to have "felt trust" in a dream.
From that day on
Dreams are starting to be priced again.
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◆Part Two: The Rise of Dream Company
Three months later, the news headlines announced:
"DreamCorporation has officially obtained the global Dream Spectrum reconstruction authorization."
This company was founded by several former stock exchange engineers and sociologists.
It claims to be able to "rebuild a database of human trust".
Their slogan is:
"Dreams are more stable than currency."
The DC system allows everyone to upload their own dreams for storage, analysis, and tracing.
Dreams are archived in three categories:
1. Private Dreams - Not to be made public, only for others to verify with their trust.
2. Shared Dreams—Social Trust Resources That Can Be Experienced Collectively.
3. Trading Dreams—A business model that allows for the exchange of dreams for dreams.
Dreams have become the new currency.
The city lights up again.
But Lin Xian and Lu Caichen both noticed that the light seemed colder than before.
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◆Three: Lu Caichen's work
Lu Caichen was invited to join Dream Company.
Her task was to "audit the Dream Records"—
Identify the authenticity of dreams and prevent false dreams from entering the system.
The terminal screen in front of her,
The dream data drifted in the form of light bands.
Each dream is like a transparent raindrop.
It contains the lingering echoes of human desires.
She selected a sample from the paragraph log:
Dream entity number DE21:
An old man walked repeatedly through the ruins of the street.
He looked back every 10 steps.
I remembered someone I had forgotten.
The system was assessed as having "low commercial value".
But Lu Caichen was deeply shaken.
She typed in the remarks column:
"If it is remembered, then it is a true dream."
The system displayed the message: "Format error".
That night, in her dream, she saw the sea—
The waves surged with fragmented symbols of the phantom coin.
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◆Part Four: Lin Xian's Infiltration
Behind Dream Company, Lin Xian found familiar code.
He showed the screen to Lu Caichen:
DC_Core_v1.0 -> derived from TRUST_INDEX_CORE v12.9
"They used PhantomCoin's old engine."
Lu Caichen's pupils contracted.
"In other words, Dream Company is actually... rebuilding the market of trust."
"But this time, they're using dreams as currency."
The two decided to infiltrate the DC mainframe and uncover the truth.
The firewall laser inside the host machine flashed.
A slogan floats above:
"We don't sell dreams, we protect dreams."
Lin Xian sneered:
"Liars love to lie using gentleness as a cover."
The deeper they went, the warmer the data became.
The faces of thousands of sleeping people appeared on the walls.
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◆Five: Memory Bank
The central area of the Dream Company is called MemoryBank.
In thousands of transparent cabins,
People voluntarily go into a deep sleep, submitting their dreams to the system for safekeeping.
These dreams are disassembled, encrypted, and reassembled in the database.
Then they are sold to the "dream poor"—those who can no longer dream.
Yet, they yearn to experience emotions.
The price is extremely high.
When Lin Xuan reviewed the transaction list...
He saw a familiar name—
Lu Caichen's Dream Entity #0.1 Status: Authorized.
"Did you authorize it?"
"I don't……"
Lu Caichen's voice trembled.
They realized,
The Dream Company is secretly copying its employees' dreams to use as samples.
And those dreams that are copied,
It was used to recalculate the "social trust base".
The ghost of the phantom coin
Resurrected in a dream.
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◆Six: The Reappearance of the Ghostly Web
That night, Lin Xian activated the old system interface.
Cold, lifeless words appeared on the screen:
"3% of the YWitness sub-modules remain."
Start?
He confirmed it.
A current-like stream of light passed through my fingers.
The voice of the net was faint, yet clear:
"You still want to rebuild trust?"
"What humanity rebuilds is not trust, but illusion."
"Then I will witness the second collapse."
The light dimmed.
Deep within the system,
YWitness slowly awakens in the shadow of a new dream.
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◆Seven: The Surge of Dreams
A week later, the dream market expanded wildly.
People are no longer willing to be sober.
Simply upload your dream, and you can exchange it for real-world goods.
Advertisements appear on the street:
"Being sober is the poverty of the old era."
"Sleep, create value."
The bubble of dreams bursts faster than the bubble of trust.
The warning from the Ghost Web failed to reach its intended audience once again.
This time, it was declared an "anti-dream virus".
Lin Xian and Lu Caichen had to act alone.
They knew,
History is repeating itself.
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Chapter Three: The End - Dream Company Completed
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