208: Chapter 2: Entering the Dream 208: Chapter 2: Entering the Dream “Gongsun has been sleeping for 12 hours already.”
Shiyu Lianyi observed the clock in the hall and made the above report.
He was diligently observing his friend’s condition.
Gongsun Ce lay motionless on a large sheet of Xuan paper adorned with complicated diagrams.
Occasionally, he grunted a few times, sleeping as soundly as a pig.
Yan Qi, holding a plate of shark fin and sea cucumber stir-fry before the dining table, mumbled without even looking up, “He’s been asleep for 12 hours and still in the shallow dream phase.
The young man in the suit defended out of friendship, “He’s almost 20 years old in the latter half of the year…”
The practice of Impermanence Skill usually begins from childhood.
Children have simpler thoughts and simpler dream structures, which allow them to enter deeper levels more quickly under the guardianship of their mentors.
Assistants can even use Secret Techniques to enter dreams together and help the young find their Spirit Light.
But Gongsun Ce’s mind was more convoluted than the wrinkles on a walnut.
And Yan Qi, his mentor, merely stood by watching, not offering a hand, which made his entering the dream take much longer than usual.
In Shiyu Lianyi’s view, the long duration it took to reach deep dreaming was normal for him.
“You think you know better?”
The young man in the suit fell silent.
Yan Qi put down his chopsticks, “Keep waiting!”
The Biochemical Kangaroo made crow-like sounds and hopped even more joyously in the sandpit.
Gongsun Ce felt so shaken that he wanted to vomit.
He thought hard but couldn’t figure out where he was or what he was doing.
Why had the sun turned black?
What was that ship in the sky?
Why was there a Biochemical Kangaroo in the desert?
Everything seemed absurd, yet it somehow made sense.
He had just complained about not knowing where he was, but somehow, it felt right that he should be here.
Here, experiencing a crazy desert kangaroo cross-country race.
The feelings of disorientation and familiarity almost made him feel schizophrenic.
Gongsun Ce instinctively wanted to close his eyes and merge with the desert winds to experience the race.
But faintly, very faintly, he heard a voice next to his ear speaking in a particularly annoying tone,
“Go deeper, Gongsun kid.”
He muttered those words to himself.
Deep in the desert was an old apartment building.
He needed to go there, to go there…
Having walked so long, he should have arrived.
Thinking thus, Gongsun Ce had a stroke of inspiration.
He pulled the reins—there hadn’t been reins just now, but somehow there were now—and the Biochemical Kangaroo responded loudly, “Quack!”
The kangaroo threw a couple of punches, pressed down its body, and charged forward.
They slammed straight into towering sand dunes, creating straight tunnels through them, causing mountains of sand to collapse behind them, whipping up vast clouds of dust in the wind.
Soon, the Biochemical Kangaroo’s rampant charging induced a sandstorm in the desert.
When the sandstorm obscured the entire sky, they finally reached their destination, arriving in front of that old apartment building.
Gongsun Ce dismounted from the kangaroo’s back and patted its face solemnly.
I promise you, I’ve never eaten a Biochemical Kangaroo burger.”
The Biochemical Kangaroo spoke human language, “You’re lying.
You bought one each with Kardesia when they launched the new product.”
“I never ate one again after that, it was really disgusting,” Gongsun Ce waved his hand, “Farewell, my friend.
Next time, remember not to play boxing hurdles on the main road; you’ll get everyone thrashing you.”
“Ah, farewell, friend, farewell~!”
The Biochemical Kangaroo sang a tune and turned into sand, returning to the desert.
Gongsun Ce cried bitterly, tears streaming down his face, deeply moved.
He sat in the sand, sobbing for a while before wiping his tears and stepping into the apartment building.
The moment he crossed the threshold, all vague feelings vanished, the unnatural harmony faded immediately, and calm and reason returned to his mind.
He clearly remembered the purpose of his visit: he was practicing within [“spirit light”]…
was trained within his own dream, trying to find his inner “Spirit Light.”
And he also clearly remembered the nonsensical actions he had just performed.
The young man with gray hair opened his mouth, dryly saying, “People really do stupid things in dreams.”
It seemed there was no elevator in the building.
Oddly enough, when he realized this, a spiral staircase abruptly appeared in front of him.
“How considerate, thank you, my mind.”
Gongsun Ce talked to himself, climbing up the staircase step by step.
He confirmed he had reached the second floor, but the signs between the hallways read “0.”
“Is it negative one if I go up again?
Honestly, this place looks like a haunted apartment.” The young man with gray hair said nonchalantly, “Am I going up or down?”
0.1 seconds later, he got his answer.
The moment the words left his mouth, the floor beneath Gongsun Ce vanished, replaced by an endless dark abyss.
Gravity tugged at his body, pulling him toward the unfathomable depths below.
“This trap mechanism is too old-fashioned; am I that nostalgic?”
He sighed, without hope, “Let’s see my ‘telekinesis floating’ superpower…”
Telekinesis didn’t work, nor did the white matter, and the feeling of helplessness typical of ordinary people reminded him of Xu Junyi’s fleeting struggles.
The sound of the wind roared as the young man fell, and the empty hallway was left with only his dry muttering.
Gongsun Ce felt his thoughts were tightly bound by some force, his normally scattered thoughts now compressed into a minuscule space, thin as a steel needle.