Chapter 334: The Trouble Encountered by Fool Dream
I stood up and looked through the obstruction to see the person outside the door, who was wearing the uniform of the Ground Patrol Team and looked quite anxious.
After a brief assessment of the situation, I decided it wasn’t suitable to open the door, so I directly used the Dream Rewriting Spell to create a hole in the wall and made my way into the corridor.
“Is there something the Ground Patrol Team needs from me?” I asked.
“Um… um?! You… Scholar Xiao Han, you’re outside!”
It was obvious that my action had startled him, but since I was in the Dream World, he couldn’t see the opened door. Why would he want me to come out just because he was so close to it?
“Just tell me what you want.”
Although the slight anger I felt earlier had subsided, his way of knocking at the door left a bad impression on me.
“Okay, okay!”
This young man nodded, but internally he was feeling miserable. He regretted reminding me about this matter since casually mentioning it led him to run errands; as a result, he went to the Extraordinary Research Base to look for me and searched all around before finally finding this place after inquiring about my residence, enduring a lot of trouble.
“Scholar Xiao Han, the cats you were concerned about… oh no, those Fool Dreams, have gotten into trouble. Not long ago, we received numerous calls from the residents of the district saying that the cats have gone crazy and caused serious injuries.”
“What?”
Hearing this result, I was instantly taken aback. Fool Dreams gone crazy? And causing injury incidents?
How is that possible? How could those Fool Dreams harm anyone?
If the Fool Dreams really had caused injuries, then… Nightmare, that’s the only thing I could think of.
“Take me to the scene.” I said in a deep voice.
“Alright, please follow me.”
As this member of the Ground Patrol Team prepared to lead me to the scene of the incident, Sister Bai’s room door was opened.
“Xiao Han, what happened?”
“Sister Bai, those Fool Dreams are in trouble.” I said in a solemn voice.
“What? I’ll go with you.”
“But my… well, that’s fine. I’ll get some things ready; you tell me the location, and I’ll head over directly.” I had been thinking about what to do with my body, but since Sister Bai was going with me, I could just bring my main body over, just in case anything unexpected happened, so I could deal with it immediately.
When we arrived in that area, the incident was already over.
The scene only had the blockade tape put up by the Ground Patrol Team and numerous onlookers who hadn’t left yet.
“Did they leave?”
“Sorry, it took us quite some time to find you…”
“I understand, this isn’t your fault.”
I replied briefly, and Sister Bai and I stepped in. I could sense the aura of Nightmares here. Even though the Ground Patrol Team had used Type I Nightmare Killing Devices, they were not me, and the Nightmares had not been properly dealt with, leaving behind plenty of Nightmare fragments, which meant that they had only temporarily addressed the symptoms without solving the root problem.
Yet the people here were chatting and laughing about the event.
“That Nightmare just vanished all of a sudden.”
“I said those cats had problems, right? Otherwise, those Nightmares wouldn’t have been fixated on the cats.”
“What you said is wrong; the previous person was right—sacrificing a cat to save a person is great.”
As I approached, I overheard snippets of their gossip, and they noticed me walking toward them.
“Excuse me, what happened here just now?”
“You don’t know?”
“Sorry, I just arrived. Did another Nightmare invasion occur?”
“Yes, but this time it was different. I heard that someone saw those cats suddenly running out together, and then, well, the Nightmares got tangled up here; what a coincidence.”
“And then, that person had a brilliant idea and directly tossed one of the cats to where the Nightmares were, causing them to chase the cat instead of the people.”
“Wait… what does that mean?” Listening to their conversation, with the Fool Dreams running out, then the Nightmares attacking—Nightmares were once part of the Fool Dreams, but the Fool Dreams instinctively feared that part. It’s understandable to fear and avoid harm, but what was that person’s mentality in throwing a Fool Dream into the Nightmare invasion area?
“Why did that person do that?” I quickly asked.
“What? Are you a member of the Wild Cat Protection Association? Is the life of a beast more important than that of a person?”
“Beast?” I glared intensely at the person who spoke, causing them to feel a chill run through them.
“What? Am I wrong? Let’s go, let’s go! We don’t want to talk to people from your Wild Cat Protection Association.”
“Xiao Han, calm down.”
At that moment, Sister Bai’s voice came gently from behind me.
“You’re right…”
When Sister Bai said this, I calmed down. I didn’t need to lose my temper at such a group of people; getting angry would only make matters worse without any benefit.
In fact, I even felt like speaking with them was beneath me.
Afterward, I talked to other people to learn more; those Fool Dreams that were invaded by Nightmares seemed to go mad all of a sudden, unlike typical people who would fall into sleep when invaded by Nightmares.
When Nightmares and Fool Dreams combined, they turned into chaotic, disordered dream creatures, and they could even possess a physical shell in reality. To most people, this chaotic state bore no difference from madness.
I also learned that when that person discovered Fool Dreams could attract Nightmares and awaken those who were already invaded, they spontaneously returned the escaped Fool Dreams, allowing them to bear the brunt of the Nightmare’s harm.
Then the initial people who did this were precisely those first injured by the mad Fool Dreams, who then called the police. When the Ground Patrol Team arrived to understand the situation, they found that the Nightmares had indeed been “resolved” in this manner by these people, and then they captured the mad Fool Dreams back.
That was why there were so many Nightmare fragments left behind; not all Nightmare fragments opted to invade Fool Dreams. It seemed that the Ground Patrol members truly saved themselves a lot of trouble.
The remaining Nightmares here meant that before long, they would have nightmares, feasting off fear and other emotions until they invaded this place again.
Using Fool Dreams to deal with Nightmares, it’s surprising that they thought of that, but I wasn’t going to clean up after their self-inflicted troubles.
“Xiao Han, are you okay?”
“I’m fine…” I took a deep breath again, adjusting my emotions. In such situations, it was increasingly a test of my will to control my feelings.
“Those people merely returned a part that belonged to the Fool Dreams,” I said flatly as I prepared to head to the headquarters of the Ground Patrol Team with Sister Bai.
Bai Yu fell silent at my words. If one were to delve deep into the fundamental issues, it would certainly indicate that Xiao Han was not feeling well at the moment. Encountering such matters, the most direct and apparent reaction should be anger, right?
What those people did was enough for Xiao Han to level this place to the ground, rather than investigating who was right and who was wrong here.
“Xiao Han, don’t suppress yourself like that. You just know more than they do, but that doesn’t mean what those ignorant people did is right.”
“Is that so? What Sister Bai said… makes sense. Nobody will know the truth, so it just doesn’t exist. Their actions remind me of primitive tribes sacrificing others’ lives to pray that disasters don’t befall them—superstitious, foolish, and selfish.”
Of course, I’m not saying their selfishness is wrong; at least, it’s right for them. But they can’t afford the price of selfishness, so the boundary of right and wrong has to be defined by my standards.
“Society’s development, the changes in civilization, the evolution of lifestyles, and the enhancement of cognition, but people can’t change certain ingrained traits.”
After that, silence fell between Sister Bai and me as we silently made our way to the Ground Patrol Team, hoping the people there wouldn’t do anything foolish.
Even if a person’s life cannot be measured in value, to be honest, the subjective value gap between people in people’s eyes is greater than the objective gap between humans and dogs.
In the entire Underground City, what was most valuable to me were those Fool Dreams; their value even surpassed that of those scholars in the Extraordinary Research Base. I now regretted not revealing that fact to them.
“Scholar Xiao Han, you finally made it! Our Ground Patrol Team is short-handed; these cats have really been exhausting us.”
As soon as I arrived at the Ground Patrol Team, a makeshift team leader in uniform came to complain to me.
“What about the Fool Dreams? Take me to see them.” I ignored their grievances and asked directly.
“Well… we have temporarily detained them. Initially, we planned to send them to the base for housing, but upon learning that you place great importance on these cats… oh, Fool Dreams, we kept them here for now. Let me take you there.”
As I followed him, I saw the holding area, which resembled a prison, and there were still some disordered individuals being held there.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Captain… these cats are too small, and the gaps in their holding area are too big; they just slip out one by one. We need to change to a more secure one…”
“No need, I’ll handle it.” I stepped forward and waved my hand, and the Fool Dreams were restrained.
“Xiao… Scholar Xiao Han!”
“Not your concern, you all leave first.” I instructed, and the Ground Patrol member hastily exited, even more effectively than the temporary captain’s words.
“Um… Scholar Xiao Han, these Fool Dreams…”
“Have been invaded by Nightmares.”
“Invaded by Nightmares? But shouldn’t being invaded by Nightmares mean they fall asleep? These little ones have injured quite a few civilians.”
“Injured civilians? Shouldn’t you be thinking about why those people threw the innocent Fool Dreams into the Nightmare area to attract the Nightmares? Those who got injured were those idiots, right?”
“Well… that is true… but…” The temporary team leader wanted to say something more, but seeing the dark expression on my face, he dared not continue, especially as he didn’t want to offend a scholar from the Extraordinary Research Base over those people.
“We’re going to capture those idiots for breaching the Nightmare blockade and improperly handling the Nightmares…”
“Do as you like. Also, the Nightmares in that area are not thoroughly taken care of; perhaps in a few days, they might invade again. Let those people fend for themselves.”
“Not… not dealt with thoroughly?”
“Is the Nightmare Killing Device I developed just for show? Still thinking of using these Fool Dreams to deal with them? What do you take this for, a primitive sacrificial rite? Sacrificing one to save another? I won’t hold it against ordinary people for being foolish, but you are the Ground Patrol Team. I don’t want such things to happen again.”
“But… our Ground Patrol Team doesn’t have enough manpower; they’ve all gone up! If those fools insist on using such methods, we won’t keep up, Scholar Xiao Han…”
“Then gather all the Fool Dreams together. I will apply for extra housing from the base. You all are responsible for moving those Fool Dreams from the Underground City there. If anyone intentionally causes trouble there…”
“This…” At this moment, the captain felt overwhelmed. After such a situation, none of them fared well, and internally, he could only viciously curse those fools.
Why did they have to mess with those Fool Dreams? Wasn’t the notice posted earlier saying not to mess with them? These little ones had a scholar backing them.
Now, he realized that this scholar was somewhat protective… this was truly infuriating.
“I’m taking those Fool Dreams with me.”
“Alright, you can take them. Please go ahead.” The temporary captain quickly replied upon hearing my words. After all, having these cats leave would only add trouble for them, and now that a scholar was taking the blame, they were undoubtedly pleased.
After leaving the Ground Patrol Team, I prepared to go to the Extraordinary Research Base with the mad Fool Dreams restrained behind me. If possible, I hoped to apply for an independent housing area at the base to accommodate these Fool Dreams, to prevent them from coming into contact with those bad people.
And it won’t take long; with Tan Han and Ninglan Qiuyue’s actions, this incident would inevitably be resolved soon, allowing us to return home with legitimacy.
Also, it would serve as a warning to them not to let Fool Dreams come into contact with those Nightmares and to be careful of the consequences.
“Xiao Han, is it very troublesome to deal with these Fool Dreams?”
At that moment, the base had already arranged for me a containment room for these mad Fool Dreams. Here, apart from the Fool Dreams, it was just me and Sister Bai. Other scholars might have noticed, but I didn’t let them get involved.
“Of course, it’s very troublesome. There is a trace of fortune within the Nightmares, and now that they coexist with the Fool Dreams, it means the script’s driving force wants to drag these Fool Dreams down with it.”
“Xiao Han, you…!”
“Oh, that contract of mine has already been dissolved. Sister Bai, you don’t need to say anything, just listen to me.” I smiled and said.
“I know Sister Bai might still be puzzled about many things at this moment, but I don’t have much time to explain everything to you in detail.”
“I understand, Xiao Han, it’s okay if you don’t want to say.”
“Thank you, Sister Bai, for understanding. In any case, these Fool Dreams are a bit troublesome now. I do have ways to eliminate the Nightmares on them, but if I eliminate the Nightmares, the fortune they bear will transfer to me. That’s the main reason I haven’t killed a single Nightmare until now.”
“However, I’m not confident in separating the Nightmares perfectly…”
“If I want to sever the Earth Vein Shackles and detach from the Main World, I best not involve myself with the fortune of the Main World; otherwise… unknown situations may arise. The worst case… is just dying once.” I said with a smile.
In fact, dying once doesn’t mean the fortune would transfer; it’s about how to d*e once to achieve the transfer of fortune, just like the fortune transfer duel arranged by the Academy Head back in the day.
Perhaps… being killed by the Child of Fortune could allow that person’s fortune seed to plunder my fortune.
So… is that why the Academy Head gave me the Resurrection Spell?
Also, there’s the insight brought by the Nightmare invasion of reality. After losing the physical shell, my consciousness becomes the subject, akin to d*ath—life enters a “life-d*ath state.” Resurrection is just creating another shell to carry the essence of my life.
“d*e once? Xiao Han, what nonsense are you talking about?”
“It’s nothing; the Academy Head had arrangements long ago. Also… there’s something I haven’t told Sister Bai…”
“What is it?” Bai Yu asked, suppressing her inner unease.
“My essence of life is my soul; the soul is immortal. d*ath to me is merely changing shells.”
“How… is that possible? Wait, Xiao Han, d*ath isn’t just about changing a shell. Don’t think of d*ath so simply!”
“I know, that’s why that would be the worst outcome. Our current efforts are meant to change the development of events to avoid the worst outcomes, right?” I reassured her.
