Dream Plane?

Hao Ren sat upright opposite Raven 12345, waiting for her to educate him. Truthfully, he hadn't expected her to spill everything so readily. In his impression, Raven 12345 had always been a rather forceful person who did as she pleased. That impression had been cemented from the day she'd forcibly dragged him onto her ship. However, looking at it now… this woman didn't seem quite so unreasonable.

"This world is more complex than you think," Raven 12345 said, casually sitting on her desk like a gang leader. "There are races you don't know about, another society you're unaware of, even another space you don't know about—most humans are completely oblivious to this, but a very small number of people with special talents come into contact with it, which is the Dream Plane."

Hao Ren subconsciously swallowed. Raven 12345's serious expression put an invisible pressure on him.

"Of course, 'Dream Plane' is a name I decided on recently. Before that, I called it the Phantom Space, then the Mirror World, the Illusionary Universe… Hmm, I think I also called it the Second Realm before," Raven 12345 scratched her head, her serious demeanor vanishing completely. "It's a unique phenomenon of this universe anyway, so I can call it whatever I want. For now, it's the Dream Plane. I'll change it when I think of a better name in a couple of days."

Hao Ren had already slightly adapted to this strange woman's erratic rhythm. He suppressed the urge to complain and asked, "What exactly is the Dream Plane? A parallel space? I know about that theory…"

"No, it's a bit more complex than that," Raven 12345 shook her head. "The Dream Plane is a special informational structure of this universe. It's somewhat similar to parallel spaces, but more illusory and unstable. The Dream Plane is superimposed on this universe; the latter is real, stable, and follows rules, while the Dream Plane is illusory, changeable, and chaotic. When the real world operates normally according to universal rules, the Dream Plane shifts along with the real world like a dream, but the mapping relationship between them is very disordered, so these changes are basically untraceable. Just listen to these theoretical things; most humans won't understand this. Anyway, you just need to know one thing: the Dream Plane is a place superimposed on the real world, very unstable, but it almost never intersects with the real world. It also has mountains, rivers, plants, birds, and beasts, and may even contain intelligent life, but all of it is very chaotic. Before you gain enough experience… it's best not to come into contact with that place."

"Who would want to touch that stuff!" Hao Ren flinched. "I was surrounded and attacked by dozens of wolves shortly after falling in! They were at least two sizes bigger than wolves on Earth! Didn't you say the Dream Plane doesn't intersect with the real world? How did I end up there?"

"I already told you, people with special talents come into contact with it," Raven 12345 pointed at Hao Ren's forehead. "Through dreams. This world is in an information state; everything is a manifestation of information. Heat, cold, size, mass—all these pieces of information pile up, making something describable and perceivable, thus creating all things. This is the most basic Information Unification Theory. Oh, this theory is actually more complex than this, but hearing this much is enough for you—you just need to know that due to the existence of information unification, things from the Dream Plane can be guided into the real world, with dreams as the medium. This is also why I recently named it the Dream Plane. Throughout human history, there have been people who could connect to the Dream Plane. Most of them were short-lived, accidentally killed by distorted beings in the Dream Plane. But their brief lives brought endless trouble to the real world… the Black Death, floods, certain… well, very troublesome things. Everyone who died in the Dream Plane brought something back with them, and eighty to ninety percent of it was harmful to the real world."

Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat. He never imagined that the world he was so familiar with had such a side to it. Just a few days ago, he had been complaining that the world was too boring and daily life was too dull. Now, he felt completely differently. On the contrary, the world had suddenly become a bit too exciting!

"So, I have talent?" Hao Ren didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he pointed at his nose with a strange expression. "You make the Dream Plane sound so mystical, like you could die if you're not careful… So, figure something out for me."

"Talent? You didn't have this talent originally," Raven 12345 grinned. "Don't overthink it. You're just an ordinary person. It's just that after coming into contact with me, you've been affected by Information Perturbation Force. This influence can gradually make you extraordinary. The initial change is becoming more susceptible to unusual things, which will also be convenient for your future work. But you don't need to worry—the unlucky souls who died in the Dream Plane had no backing. None of those tragic figures in history were employees of our Administration Bureau. How long could they last on their own? You're different; you have a permit. This is called Ordered Transmigration—I'll try my best to pull you out whenever you're close to death…"

Hao Ren's forehead broke out in sweat: "…"

"Now you know the situation with the Dream Plane, but I doubt you'll understand much from just words. Abstract things like this require more contact. When the time is right in the future, you'll have plenty of opportunities to interact with that place," Raven 12345 jumped down from her desk and patted Hao Ren's shoulder comfortingly, nearly pinning the latter to the ground. "As for nightmares, you haven't encountered any in the past few days, have you? This means the balance between you and the Dream Plane has been restored. An individual in the real world won't fall into nightmares casually under normal circumstances."

Hao Ren grimaced, rubbing his shoulder. He finally remembered something else he wanted to ask. "Right, you know about Demon Hunters, don't you?"

From Vivian, Hao Ren had learned about the millennia-long grudges between Demon Hunters and Otherworldly Beings, as well as the historical origins between Otherworldly Beings and humans: the weak but numerous humans, the powerful but scarce and loosely organized Otherworldly Beings, and the Demon Hunters of unknown origin, positioned between humans and Otherworldly Beings. These three had once been equally active players on Earth's stage. But now, humans ruled the planet, Otherworldly Beings were extremely marginalized, to the point where ordinary people knew nothing about them, and Demon Hunters had gone into hiding within human society. The former three-way struggle had become a human-dominated landscape. Under these circumstances, everything seemed calm—but Hao Ren knew this calm was only superficial, a tacit understanding between Demon Hunters and Otherworldly Beings to maintain the surface stability of the world.

Demon Hunters still roamed the world. These powerful warriors, who looked no different from humans, were still hunting Otherworldly Beings. And very unfortunately, Hao Ren's home housed two of the most extreme Otherworldly Beings—he desperately wanted to know the attitude of this woman, Raven 12345, who called herself a god, towards this situation.

Or, in other words: how did the Xiling Pantheon and the Time-Space Administration Bureau view the various races on Earth? Which side were they on?

Hao Ren thought a lot, but Raven 12345 simply waved her hand dismissively. "I know, but I can't be bothered to manage it. They haven't found you yet, have they? We'll talk when they do."

Hao Ren thought for a moment, realizing he couldn't defeat the white-haired enchantress before him. So, he obediently sat back in his chair, clasped his hands, and said with a sincere expression, "Then there's one last question: You're asking a frail Earthling like me to deal with those superhumans. It's fine if Vivian and Lily have good tempers, but what if I encounter someone with a bad temper… You have to give me some ability to protect myself, right? Let's make a deal, give me two hundred years of cultivation?"

Hao Ren said this casually, not expecting Raven 12345 to readily agree and teach him the "Palm of the Buddha."

But Raven 12345 smacked her forehead. "Ah, I almost forgot! New employee onboarding reinforcement. I was wondering why something felt missing… Good thing I remembered this before sending you into battle!"

Hao Ren: "…"

If he ever died an untimely death, it would definitely be at the hands of this deceitful, unreliable, and crazy boss!