Hao Ren clearly remembered bringing Gray Fox's mercenary badge out with him. Based on his previous experience traveling through the Dream Plane, even spiritual bodies entering that world could carry personal belongings through the Wall of Reality. This was one of the Dream Plane's bizarre yet undeniably real characteristics. He had once discussed the phenomenon with the Data Terminal and concluded that it might be based on information-level effects. At the instant they passed through the Wall of Reality, both the spiritual bodies of the Outer World and those of the Dream Plane would undergo simultaneous changes, gaining or losing certain items. The entire process was like cloud synchronization. But now, after carefully checking himself, Hao Ren discovered that the badge was gone.
"Could you have dropped it in the slums?" The Data Terminal floated over and swept a blue light over Hao Ren again and again. "There's no metal badge on you."
"I remember it being hung right here." Hao Ren pointed to his upper chest. "I even felt it with my hand before logging out... Wait, I took off my shirt in the Dream Plane to bandage your wounds too. There doesn't seem to be any trace left on the shirt either?"
Based on past experience, the moment a "dreamer" logged out of the Dream Plane, changes would appear on their body. For example, they might have dirt from another world stuck to them, or wounds suffered in the "dream" might appear on their skin. Yet Hao Ren suddenly discovered that his body was exactly the same as when he had fallen asleep, and the things he had obtained in the Dream Plane had not come out with him.
"Did something go wrong when you logged out?" Vivian asked with a frown. "Some kind of interference?"
"No... Wait!"