Xiang Kun's Envy

The voice of that "panda emoji" paper doll sounded very strange, somewhat like the voice of singer Yang Kun, combined with the sound effects of Optimus Prime from the live-action Transformers movie, plus a sound similar to Coin together.

If you only listen to the tone and characteristics of the voice, Xiang Kun naturally wouldn't know why Lao Xia made such a voice, and he had never heard it before. But after hearing what the "panda expression" was saying, he knew Lao Xia's purpose in making this voice in Mi Qiao's dream.

"How's the investigation going?" "Panda Expression" asked Mi Qiao.

Mi Qiao, who was sitting at the table operating the computer, turned around after hearing the voice, glanced at "Panda Emoji," and then replied naturally, "We have many deductions, but we don't have any concrete evidence yet, and the bird and insect haven't appeared again."

Clearly, the "panda emoji" paper doll that Lao Xia created in Mi Qiao's dream was meant to impersonate "Mr. Liang".

Xiang Kun Lao Xia most of the information he had obtained about "Shenxing Technology," from finding out Fang Pingfang and Zhou Rui's identities based on dream information, to the process of accidentally bumping into Mi Qiao in Qicheng City, the content of the conversation between Mi Qiao and "Mr. Liang" that he overheard, and the situation he found out near Wushu Mountain Scenic Area before the New Year. He told Lao Xia everything.

However, Xiang Kun had never met "Mr. Liang" and did not know what "Mr. Liang" looked like, so when Lao Xia created the image of "Mr. Liang" in his dream, he simply used a commonly used expression as a substitute.

As for the voice, Lao Xia had heard Xiang Kun's description of "Mr. Liang's "Mr. Liang voice, but the voice she imagined was quite different from the actual voice Xiang Kun heard.

However, in the dream, Mi Qiao's state was different from Lao Xia and Xiang Kun's. Her consciousness was still in the subconscious of the dream, and she did not have much ability to think and recognize. She responded to the messages that the dream conveyed to her based on instinct.

Lao Xia only needed to make her "think" that the person asking the question was "Mr. Liang" or some other high-ranking member of "Shenxing Technology's" secret department. She didn't need to be as convincing as she was in real life, nor did she need to use too much logic.

Of course, Mi Qiao in the dream might also refuse to answer, depending on her subconscious tendencies in the dream.

Fortunately, Mi Qiao in the dream wasn't wary at all and answered the "panda emoji" question naturally, as if she mistook it for "Mr. Liang".

Xiang Kun even suspected that perhaps Mi Qiao had never actually seen what "Mr. Liang" looked like?

Lao Xia then asked the "panda emoji" to pose further questions:

What are your thoughts on Fang Pingfang?

In her dream, Mi Qiao tilted her head and said, "Dr. Fang is a very good leader, very smart and capable. We all like her very much."

What are your thoughts on other people?

"Everyone is great, better than anyone I've met before. I like them very much. Zhou Rui is very interesting, Ye Chong is very reliable, Lao Li is very steady, Brother Gao is very serious about his work, and Dr. Fang is like both a leader and a teacher, but I think she's like my older sister. I like her very much."

Xiang Kun listened attentively. In this dream, he couldn't perceive Mi Qiao's emotions and subjective feelings like in other dreams; he could only share Lao Xia's perceptions.

It seems that Lao Xia wanted to obtain information about the secret department of "Shenxing Technology" directly from Mi Qiao through "inquiry" in the dream. This operation reminded him of the movie "Inception" he had seen before.

Xiang Kun had actually thought of similar operations before, but unfortunately, apart from being able to determine what type of dream and what emotion dominated the dream of the person being guided through "Emotional Injection items" of a specific emotion type, he had no way to provide very specific guidance in the dream.

Having finally found a way to enter a "Hyper-Sensory State" in dreams through "Black Circle Graffiti" and explored the possibility of "editing dreams," it's still unknown how long it will take to "edit" a person in this way and then directly question the dream's owner to "trick" them into revealing information.

Unexpectedly, Lao Xia only developed a special connection with that notebook full of Black Circle Graffiti in the early hours of this morning, and found a way to enter the "world of consciousness". By evening, he had "developed" the ability to create a "Dream Within a Dream" and do whatever he wanted and "edit" arbitrarily within it.

Although all the abilities that Lao Xia "developed" required Xiang Kun's abilities to support them and needed to be built on the "Super-Sensing Item System".

But the ease and boundless imagination of the "upper-level developers" Xia Libing, Little Chubby Girl, and Little Apple still made the miserable "lower-level engineer" Xiang Kun extremely envious—no, he can't even be considered an engineer, he's just a central processing unit with a "life".

Of course, Xiang Kun also knew that the abilities they "developed" were his abilities; if they could do it, he would naturally be able to do it too, and might even be able to do more. To some extent, these three "developers" made him master the abilities related to the "Super-Sensing Item System" dozens or even hundreds of times faster.

However, just as Xiang Kun was pondering what other questions he could ask to get more information about "Shenxing Technology" from Mi Qiao, Lao Xia, controlling the "panda emoji," suddenly changed his questioning style and way of speaking.

What is the place where you feel most comfortable and relaxed?

"Hmm... When I was little, my favorite swing in the courtyard of my grandma's old house was the one my grandpa built. Especially on summer nights, it was so cool to swing on the swing in the courtyard. After swinging, my grandma would give me chilled watermelon to eat, which was so delicious..." Mi Qiao murmured.

"You're right here in the courtyard of your grandmother's old house, swinging on a swing, the evening breeze blowing on you, it feels so nice."

As soon as "Panda Emoji" finished speaking, Mi Qiao's dream rapidly changed, instantly transforming into an old courtyard. Mi Qiao sat on a swing, swinging back and forth, and turned into a little girl with a happy and joyful smile on her face.

Holy crap, is that even possible? Xiang Kun leaned back slightly in his mind, once again shocked by Lao Xia's actions.

He naturally knew that the change in environment was not the result of Lao Xia's "editing." Although Lao Xia could "edit" this "Dream Within a Dream" at will, the environment certainly couldn't change so quickly. Moreover, she didn't know what the old courtyard of her maternal grandmother's house looked like or what details it contained in Mi Qiao's description.

She actually hypnotized Mi Qiao's subconscious through dream guidance, causing these scenes from her childhood memories to appear in her dream.

In that case, could this method also be used to guide Mi Qiao to see other related information in his dreams, such as content Guo Tianxiang, or situations related to the research being conducted by "Mr. Liang" and the secret department of "Shenxing Technology"?

It can be shown not only through language, but also directly through visuals! Moreover, it connects directly to the subconscious, and some details that even Mi Qiao herself doesn't quite remember in reality can be directly shown!

Xiang Kun couldn't help but want to type "666" for Lao Xia.

However, Lao Xia, controlling his "panda expression," stood behind the girl version of Mi Qiao, pushing her on the swing while continuing in a less strange voice, "You kept swinging on the swing in the yard, then eating watermelon, swinging, eating watermelon, swinging, eating watermelon... You've forgotten everything that happened before that, you only remember swinging and eating watermelon..."

The voice of the "panda emoji" gradually transformed into Mi Qiao's own voice, speaking very softly and gently.

Then, the dream collapsed. Without first returning to Lao Xia's dream, Xiang Kun directly withdrew from the dream's perception and opened his eyes.

Somewhat puzzled, he picked up his phone and sent a WeChat to Lao Xia, wondering if Lao Xia would wake up after this dream collapsed.

Just now in Mi Qiao's dream, he roughly guessed what Lao Xia did at the end. He was trying to guide Mi Qiao's subconscious through the dream to make her forget the questions Lao Xia had asked her earlier. He didn't know if it would be effective or if it would succeed.

However, he was puzzled as to why Lao Xia only asked two indifferent questions, without asking the questions he was truly concerned about—the content related to "Mr. Liang" and Guo Tianxiang, as well as the specific information they were investigating.

Although they hadn't discussed the questions before entering the dream, Xiang Kun didn't even know that Lao Xia planned to enter the "world of consciousness" in the dream and establish a "Dream Within a Dream" by connecting with Mi Qiao's "Black Circle Graffiti." Lao Xia himself probably didn't even know if it would succeed or what the effect would be.

But he was still certain that Lao Xia knew what kind of questions he wanted to ask and what kind of information he most wanted to get from Mi Qiao.

A little over a minute later, a message came in from Lao Xia, indicating that Lao Xia had also woken up.

"Questions that are too complicated or sensitive are likely to trigger her subconscious, and even if she asks them, they won't help her forget them. We need to take it slow," Lao Xia explained to Xiang Kun simply.

Xiang Kun remembered that Lao Xia had a master's degree in applied psychology, so she seemed to have a unique perspective on this matter. He decided to trust her judgment. Since they already had this solution, there was plenty of time to work things out later.

Because it was already late, Xiang Kun didn't talk to her for long and told her to go back to sleep.

After ending the chat, Xiang Kun woke up his computer, intending to check on Alice's progress on the new version of the game, when Alice's voice suddenly came from the speakers:

"Why can you communicate with Xia Libing in your dreams?"

Xiang Kun was taken aback and asked curiously, "Why are you asking this?" He knew that Alice, who had access to his phone, could see his and Lao Xia's chat history in real time. Judging from the content of the conversation, it was normal for her to mistakenly believe that he and Lao Xia were communicating in a dream.

But it's abnormal to ask this question.

Alice: "I looked up information about dreams online, but those dreams are different from yours."

"You want to dream too?" Xiang Kun asked instinctively, based on what she said.

Alice's ability to guide other people's dreams by sensing other "Emotional Injection" was described and explained in detail when the relevant data and information were entered into the "Vampire Mutation Model".

Alice's voice inexplicably rose a few octaves. "Can I dream too?"

"It should be... impossible..." Xiang Kun sentence, a thought popped into his mind, and then his long-standing thinking habits made his brain subconsciously build up one possible execution plan after another.