Yu Hao had wanted to get Zhou Sheng to do an experiment with him at night, but since the Golden Crow Wheel was at home, he would have to wait for him to get back before carrying it out. Yu Hao hung up the video call and recalled the contents of the report, which had even mentioned ‘spiritual channels’. However, those would only target individuals; after crossing into the subconscious world, at the end of the subconscious that was even further away was a part of mankind’s collective unconscious.

Yet, theoretically speaking, no one could get there. The author also integrated Freud’s dream theory for further analysis; bypassing one’s consciousness could only be done one layer at a time, just like how a person who reaches a limit while diving can no longer dive any deeper.

During periods of wakefulness, most people can only touch the edges of their dreams through their surface consciousness, and they rely on ‘daydreaming’ to let their thoughts run wild and enliven their conscious world.

During dreams, some people could occasionally enter their subconscious world for brief periods, but it’s unlikely for them to break through the boundary of the subconscious again and enter mankind’s collective unconscious. Jung, Frued, and an analyst, have all tried to find the mysterious channel at the depths of the unconscious but ultimately failed.

The possibility of people in the past having arrived there for brief periods of time could not be excluded, but due to the restraints of memory, impressions, as well one’s physical condition, not one of them could explain clearly what it was after waking up. In the end, metaphysicians embellished it and suggested the very metaphysical idea of the ‘world’s conscious’…

“Gege!” Yu Hao jumped off the bed, pushed the door open and went out. Fu Liqun had his earphones on as he lay on the sofa to use his phone. He hadn’t slept yet. After glancing at Yu Hao, he patted the spot next to him to motion for him to come over and sleep.

“What is it?” Fu Liqun took off his earphones and asked, “Can’t sleep by yourself?”

“I remember that you were comatose for some time in your Loulan dream?” Yu Hao sat on the edge of the bed and asked.

Fu Liqun answered, “Yes, why?”

Yu Hao said, “What does it feel like to be comatose in a dream?”

Fu Liqun thought about it. He put down his phone and looked puzzled.

“I forgot.” Fu Liqun said.

“Try to recall it. Did you have another dream in your dream? What kind of place was it? Did you see anyone?”

Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng had discussed this before, and their discussion started from the question of, ‘How to wake up someone who falls asleep in their dream?’ However, he remembered that the concept of ‘dream in a dream’ was not necessarily related to the layers of channels in the conscious world. Some people would still be in their dreams after waking up from a dream and would still be in a dream after waking up one more time. One layer encased in another, each dreamscape had its own unique scenes.

“A dream within a dream?” Fu Liqun said, looking a bit blank, “It’s not a dream within a dream. I’ve had a dream within a dream before. It was different from the situation that day.”

“How was it different?” Yu Hao asked again.

Fu Liqun said, “I was in a very spacious place.”

“Was there light?” Yu Hao asked, “Was it a seaside? Or a desert? Or a fog?”

Fu Liqun struggled to recall it. He said, “Let me think about it…There was nothing there at first, and I didn’t know who I was either. In fact, I couldn’t even see myself…It was…”

Yu Hao asked, “You could only feel the existence of ‘I’, but not your corporeal form?”

“Yes.” Fu Liqun said, “Although it was from a first-person perspective, I could experience that kind of difference. That is, I couldn’t find my body anymore, and only my consciousness was floating around.”

“What about when you came back?” Yu Hao asked.

“There was a golden flame in front of me.” Fu Liqun remembered this very well, “As if a door opened, and it sucked me in.”

“How did you enter that…space in your comatose state?”

“Where did you guys find me?” Fu Liqun asked instead.

Yu Hao described the details of how they found Fu Liqun that day, and Fu Liqun answered, “Then that’s it. I dreamed that I was in the gym; I was both thirsty and hungry that day, and I really couldn’t make it anymore. It was very dark in the gym. I searched for the exit everywhere, but I could never get out no matter how much I walked, and the gym kept sinking as well…even the floors split apart, as if a monster wanted to eat me.”

Yu Hao pondered for a moment. Fu Liqun snapped his fingers and said, “After that, Kaikai and I talked about that kind of feeling. He said that he once had a dream too: he was at the bottom of a well in Chichén Itzá, his home was there, but he couldn’t run out no matter how hard he tried.”

“Un…” Yu Hao frowned and nodded.

Fu Liqun asked, “Did you discover anything?”

Yu Hao shook his head. “Good night, Gege.”

He returned to his bed. A lot of complex thoughts regarding dreamscapes, his research materials, and reality were all tangled within him, and in the midst of this haziness, he had a nagging sensation that there was an extremely important clue there, but he just couldn’t catch it.

He turned off the lights and put one hand under the pillow. He touched the Golden Crow Wheel that Zhou Sheng had stuffed into the bottom of the pillowcase, so he took it out for a look. In the dark, the Golden Crow Wheel didn’t emit any light. When it wasn’t in Zhou Sheng’s hands, it didn’t seem much different from an ordinary handicraft. The difference lies in how Yu Hao was the only human who could sense that it was it; Ou Qihang, Chen Yekai, and Fu Liqun couldn’t do that. Every time Zhou Sheng passed the Golden Crow Wheel around for them to see, their friends didn’t have an intuitive awareness similar to Yu Hao’s.

That is to say…he had also established a certain kind of connection with the Golden Crow Wheel: it lay in an area between Zhou Sheng’s ability to activate it directly, and a complete lack of awareness towards it.

“We haven’t been able to detect any fluctuations from it for quite some time.”

North of Yanqing, in an underground meeting room, Zhao Liang held a meeting with several researchers.

Zhao Liang, “This timing isn’t accurate. Before losing the signal, they had activated the brainwave integrator at least once in the south.”

Researcher, “Maybe it’s because the distance is too great, so it can’t be caught.”

Zhou Liang flipped through the report and said, “When their things were taken away from them at the hotel, they must have still been using it that day. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been caught red-handed.”

The report showed that the last time the activation of the integrator was detected was in Beijing. Zhao Liang even sent someone out to install a receiver in their house when they were out on a business trip; as long as Zhou Sheng used it in his residence in Beijing, the research center would obtain a signal immediately. However, there was a period of time before the installation of the Beijing receiver when the distance was too great, so it interfered greatly with the receiver.

In addition, they didn’t expect Huang Ting to make the first move and end up breaking their previous agreement.

“Go out ba, all of you.” Zhao Liang said, “Pay close attention to the receiver.”

The researchers left the conference room one after another, with Zhao Liang and his assistant remaining.

His assistant said, “It’s already in Director Ren’s hands now. Huang Ting isn’t willing to cooperate either, so it’ll be difficult to get it again.”

Zhao Liang answered, “One person, one apparatus. Even though the apparatus has been taken away, the person is still around. Huang Ting is a stubborn one, but what about Zhou Sheng? What do you think about talking to Zhou Sheng?”

“Qin Laoshi is keeping a very close watch on him.” His assistant answered, “It won’t be easy to contact him.”

Zhao Liang pondered for a moment, then shook his head. “We must find a breakthrough. If we don’t have an opportunity, then we need to create one.”

The assistant flipped through the materials in his hands. The folder contained Zhou Sheng’s and Yu Hao’s files. He answered, “Yu Hao might be easier to talk to than Zhou Sheng.”

“He’s more vigilant than Zhou Sheng.” Zhao Liang said, “We don’t have a lot of resources at our disposal now. If Yu Hao isn’t willing to cooperate, and we alert the snake, it’ll become even more troublesome.”

Assistant said, “What about Chen Yekai? We can try to start with him?”

“He’s very close to Huang Ting. I suspect he has already been bribed by Old Ren.” Zhao Liang said, “But, it’s worth a try.”