Facing Fear

Seeing Xia Libing fall asleep instantly on the bed, Xiang Kun had no choice but to pull the blanket over her to keep her from catching a cold.

Then he took the hair tie off her hair and let her hair down.

Then he took out the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving from the cabinet and placed it on the bedside table, next to the box containing the chopsticks.

Given Xia Libing's consistent style of doing things, since she clearly stated that her purpose was to try to induce a dream in Xiang Kun through the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving, she also brought another item for Emotional Injection —chopsticks—and deliberately placed them next to her head, which was obviously purposeful.

Sitting in the computer chair in the room, looking at the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving on the bedside table, Xiang Kun did not immediately try to sense it. Instead, he first mentally simulated the possible situations he might encounter in the dream.

Based on his previous experiences with dream perception, the dreams and emotions evoked by the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving have a strong negative effect and lasting influence. This is why he kept the wooden carving "sealed" in a cabinet after getting it back from Tang Baona's grandfather.

Therefore, regardless of whether the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving can successfully trigger Lao Xia's dream, we need to prepare contingency plans in advance regarding how to assess Lao Xia's state and limits after triggering it, how to provide help and support to her in the dream, when to end the dream, and in what way to end it.

These issues should have been discussed and decided upon by Lao Xia and him before the onset of the sensation and before he fell asleep.

As it turns out, Lao Xia is too tired now and fell asleep instantly after coming over. It's not convenient to wake Lao Xia up, discuss it, and then let her fall asleep again. So, Xiang Kun has to handle and decide for himself.

After five minutes, considering various possibilities and devising multiple contingency plans, Xiang Kun began to sense the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving. Subsequently, a large amount of sensory information surged in, successfully triggering Lao Xia's dream.

It seems this emotion also affects Lao Xia.

In the dream, Xiang Kun observed his surroundings through Lao Xia's senses.

This was a dark and unclear world, where she couldn't see her surroundings clearly. It felt like she was in space, boundless and limitless, yet there was solid ground beneath her feet, allowing her to stand firmly on the ground.

Driven by an intense hunger, she searched her surroundings for something to eat, but there was nothing, and it seemed there would be nothing.

I'm so hungry.

My body is getting weaker and weaker, and I can even feel my life slipping away. I can feel my stomach shrinking, my internal organs failing, and my muscles breaking down.

Xiang Kun sensed that in Xia Libing's dream perception, she was like a candle, constantly "melting," feeling herself being "dissolved" by hunger little by little, heading towards death.

Just like hunger, this is the body's most instinctive reaction, its most primal response.

Xiang Kun could clearly sense the source of Xia Libing's fear, which was probably a lingering effect from when Dr. Li treated her as a child.

Or rather, the threat of death and fear brought about by extreme hunger is the main method of "treatment." Only through this method can the Little Lao Xia be reintegrated into the lifestyle of a normal person and understand what he can and cannot do.

In the dream, despite the fear of hunger and death, Xia Libing did not panic or become hysterical or reckless like an ordinary person.

Sharing Lao Xia's perceptions and emotions from a first-person perspective, Xiang Kun knew that she was constantly observing her surroundings, even though she could tell at a glance that there was nothing around her.

It seems that even before he was "awake" in his dream, Lao Xia's instincts were still dominated by rationality. Even when he felt the strongest fear, he didn't simply think about running away or escaping, but rather how to "solve" it—although normally, this is a vicious cycle and an unsolvable problem.

Then, Lao Xia saw a white door appear in the distance, with a window in the door and a blurry face in the window.

Lao Xia ran over quickly, but as the distance closed rapidly, she slowed down when she saw the face in the window.

It was a face with two rows of eight eyes; it was a monster.

In an instant, the entire door merged with the monster, which not only had a head with eight eyes but also a huge and bizarre body with eight arms, giving people a strong feeling that this only door was also impossible to use to get out.

She was going to starve to death in this void; this was Lao Xia's instinctive feeling in the dream.

The next moment, extreme rationality descended, and Xia Libing "woke up" from the dream.

Xiang Kun's perspective on the dream was able to shift, and the support of the dream shifted from him to the ten "Super-Linked Object" that had established a special connection with Xia Libing.

Compared to the previous times when chopsticks triggered Xia Libing's dreams, this time she "woke up" from the dream more slowly.

Moreover, in previous dreams, the emotions triggered by the chopsticks were quickly suppressed by Xia Libing's rationality after she "woke up." But this time, Xiang Kun could clearly feel that the emotions brought about by the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving —the fear of death caused by extreme hunger—were still there, only slightly weakened.

Although the homemade chopsticks and the eight-armed wooden carving evoked similar emotions in the dream, they were both related to food and hunger.

However, the former's emotions are mainly focused on "eating," the satisfaction that eating brings, and the impulse to possess food. The latter, on the other hand, are more concerned with the fear brought by hunger, the harm to the body, and the threat of death.

Undoubtedly, the latter's emotions were far more intense and negative than the former's. Perhaps this is why, even though he was "awake" in his dream, Lao Xia was unable to completely suppress the negative feelings brought about by his emotions.

In the dream, Xia Libing observed her surroundings again, and the empty space immediately became "full." Except for the door, which was still firmly blocked by the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster, everything else had become real—it was the closed, empty room in the dream that Xiang Kun had first triggered by using chopsticks.

Without a doubt, this is where Lao Xia's fear was born.

Xia Libing walked directly toward the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster. The closer she got, the stronger her fear became. Even in her dream, Xiang Kun could clearly see her trembling slightly. If it weren't for the fact that he could directly sense Lao Xia's emotions in the dream, objectively speaking, her behavior seemed more like she was suppressing excitement and agitation than suppressing fear and dread.

But this did not stop her. She knew very well that she was dreaming, and she also knew very well what this Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster represented.

No matter how close she got, she was always just a tiny bit short of the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster, seemingly forever unable to touch it.

Xia Libing thought for a moment and stopped making futile attempts. Nine Coin and a tungsten steel ball appeared in front of her. The next moment, they disappeared together and turned into a crispy pork knuckle.

She ate the pork knuckle in big mouthfuls, and after finishing one, she would immediately take another piece and keep eating.

But after eating a few pieces, she found that neither the act of eating nor swallowing them relieved her hunger or the fear it brought.

She frowned and thought for a moment, then looked up at the empty ceiling and said, "Chopsticks."

Xiang Kun, who was observing Lao Xia from the perspective of Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster, immediately knew that she was talking to him and understood her meaning—she wanted Xiang Kun to sense the chopsticks now.

Normally, when perceiving other people's dreams through "Emotion-Infused Object," he cannot simultaneously perceive other "Emotion-Infused Object." But Lao Xia's dream was different. When she "woke up" in the dream and transferred the support of the dream to the dream projection of the "Super-Linked Object," Xiang Kun gained the ability to sense other "Emotion-Infused Object," as if he had "freed up his hands."

Last time, he tried to sense Liu Shiling's chopsticks in his dream, and successfully merged the dreams of the Little Chubby Girl and Lao Xia. The two of them even met in their dreams and had a "dinner" together.

But this time, the "chopsticks" Lao Xia mentioned were clearly not the pair Liu Shiling had, but the pair Xiang Kun gave her, which is now also placed on her bedside table.

Xiang Kun immediately sensed the chopsticks. Soon after, the dream changed, and a figure appeared beside Lao Xia. It was the dream emotion projection of the chopsticks, which was the image of the Little Chubby Girl.

The Little Chubby Girl representing appetite and the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster representing fear—these two "Emotion-Infused Object," projections of two different emotions, unexpectedly appeared simultaneously in one dream.

Xiang Kun knew that the underlying structure of Lao Xia's dream had also changed significantly; the current "system" was both Windows and Linux.

The Little Chubby Girl, projected by the chopsticks, looked up at the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster not far away, then approached Xia Libing, gave her a chicken wing, hugged her leg, and timidly looked at the monster.

Xia Libing ate the chicken wings, she finally felt her appetite satisfied, which relieved her hunger and reduced her fear. The Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster also seemed less ferocious and smaller in size.

Xia Libing, with a Little Chubby Girl clinging to her leg, ate chicken wings while carefully observing the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster. Every now and then, she would use a scalpel that appeared in her mind to make a few cuts and pokes on the monster's body.

Xiang Kun suddenly realized that Xia Libing's great interest in this Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving might be because of the group hallucinations created by Little Apple, and the influence of the hallucinations he created on the three car thieves in the abandoned factory area. He also wanted to try to establish a more direct connection with the "Emotion-Infused Object" outside of the dream, and try to use the projection of the "Emotion-Infused Object" for his own purposes.

Xiang Kun couldn't help but feel a little hopeful. Would Lao Xia be able to find a way to bring the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster to life in reality through the "Fantasy Manifestation" method?

Although the ability "developed" through Little Apple can also create "illusions" for others, allowing them to "see" Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster, the objects that are "Fantasy Manifestation" are fundamentally different from illusions.

Xiang Kun hadn't really thought about what "All Manifestations" was supposed to do; he just had a feeling that "this function seems very difficult to implement and do, but if it were made, it would definitely be amazing."

However, judging from the previous instances where other dream objects "appeared" simultaneously, it would probably not be so easy to achieve.

When the dream ended, Xiang Kun opened his eyes and found that Lao Xia on the bed had not woken up. Instead, he was lying on his side, curled up like a baby, sucking on his thumb joint, with a satisfied expression on his face.

It seems she was too sleepy tonight, or perhaps the dream was too exhausting, so she didn't wake up after the dream ended, but continued to sleep and rest.

Xiang Kun naturally wouldn't wake her. There were still many things to do during the day tomorrow, and after he drank the blood and fell into a deep sleep, Lao Xia would most likely have to "keep watch." So it was very important for him to get a good rest and enough sleep tonight.

He turned his computer chair around so that he was facing the computer instead of the bed.

Because he was afraid of waking Lao Xia, he didn't call Alice by voice, but by the keyboard.

After Alice replied to him in writing, Xiang Kun began to summarize the directions for improving the game from that day and reissued the task to Alice.

Unexpectedly, after Alice routinely reported on the progress of some previously assigned tasks, Xiang Kun discovered something that surprised him.