"Does this really work?"
"Do you want the truth or a lie?"
Su Nian thought for a moment. "The truth, of course."
"The truth is, it might work or it might not."
"So which is it? Does it work or not?"
"Depends."
"On what?"
"If you take an idealist view, it works if you believe it does. If you take a materialist view, it doesn't."
Su Nian's head was starting to hurt. "Shouldn't it be the other way around? Idealism means it doesn't work, and materialism means it does."
"That gets into theories about reality and dreams. This is a dream, which means we're in another dimension."
"If the rules here can give physical form to a person's mental power or soul, then the idealist view holds."
"I'm lost. Either way, we have to take a gamble, right?" Su Nian's arm trembled.
The knocking outside grew more frantic.
"There might be one way out. Falling from a height can wake you from a dream by jolting your body awake. But this is that thing's territory. I can't promise you'll wake up when you jump, rather than die in the dream."
"The other option is to wait for that thing outside to break in and fight it with the knife."
Su Nian fell silent.
If she could live, she wanted to make it out alive.
Why did both choices feel like certain death?
But with her nerves, she couldn't face whatever strange thing was outside the door.
"I'll jump."
Su Nian clenched her fists.
"Then let's go."
Shen Yu took her to the bathroom.
"Wait. Why the bathroom?"
"Every other window has security bars."
"Oh, I see. Wait, didn't you just get here? How do you know that?"
Even she, who had been here for days, wasn't sure of a detail