What Is One Plus One?
"I am... Alice."
If Xiang Kun could manifest his physical form within this dream after hearing Alice's words, he would probably be kneeling and cheering right now.
Although he knew beforehand that the "Little Lao Xia" that Lao Xia Projection Manifestation through the "Super-Linked Object" dream was Alice's expression in this dream, he was not sure if Alice could understand this dream pattern, adapt to the way "Little Lao Xia" expressed himself, or accept and apply this setting.
When she responded to Lao Xia's question and revealed the core rules that Xiang Kun had set for her, it proved that she had truly entered the dream, understood the dream, and could express herself in the dream in an orderly manner.
Successfully establishing a "Dream Within a Dream" is the first step; being able to express oneself in an orderly manner and understand this mode of existence and various information within the "Dream Within a Dream" is the second step.
Originally, Xiang Kun had anticipated that completing the first step would already be a "great success." The second step, helping Alice understand the way dreams are expressed and how the "Super-Sensing Item System" works, could be planned slowly and thoroughly.
Unexpectedly, Lao Xia directly paved a shortcut for "Alice" in the "Dream Within a Dream," using a ready-made "template" so that she could find a way to express herself in the dream in advance.
The only thing that struck him as odd was Alice's voice. It was still the same voice as Tang Baona's in reality, only her tone sounded a bit silly and cute, quite different from her real voice. Perhaps it was influenced by the "Little Lao Xia" body in his dream, or perhaps Lao Xia had "programmed" her voice to be younger?
Inside the "Dream Within a Dream," Xia Libing continued to question Alice.
"How are you feeling right now?" Xia Libing asked.
"Feeling?" "Little Lao Xia's" eyes became confused again, and his head involuntarily tilted to the side.
"What did you see?" Xia Libing changed the subject.
"Little Lao Xia" glanced around with a bewildered look, then stretched out his left hand and slowly pointed from left to front to right and then behind him, saying, "Wall, wall, wall, wall."
He turned around and came back, pointing at Lao Xia: "You."
Xia Libing continued to ask, "Who am I?"
"Who are you?" "Little Lao Xia," who had just straightened his head, tilted it to the side again, seemingly lost in thought.
Xia Libing immediately changed the question, "The square root of 2".
After he finished speaking, a "√2" symbol was even displayed in the room to make the explanation more detailed and clear.
Seeing "Little Lao Xia" staring blankly at the "√2" with a look of confusion in his eyes, Xia Libing immediately changed the question, "What is 1 plus 1?"
"Little Lao Xia" remained dazed.
"Who are you?" Xia Libing asked.
"I am Alice." "Little Lao Xia" answered instantly.
"Who is Xiang Kun?" Xia Libing asked again.
"Xiang Kun is the boss." "Little Lao Xia" answered instantly.
"Why are you here?" Xia Libing asked again.
As expected, "Little Lao Xia" fell into a daze again, subconsciously fiddling with the scalpel in his right hand.
Perhaps because she was in a dream, the sharp scalpel twirled and twisted in her hands without cutting herself, as if it were just a plastic toy.
Xia Libing didn't ask any more questions. Instead, she snatched the scalpel from "Little Lao Xia's " hand, held it in front of her, and asked, "What is this?"
Looking at the scalpel that Lao Xia was holding up in front of his face, "Little Lao Xia" focused his gaze, his eyes turning cross-eyed, but he still looked confused.
Xia Libing tossed the scalpel aside, then reached out and gently pinched "Little Lao Xia's " cheek. The originally delicate and pretty little girl's slightly chubby cheeks were pulled to one side by the slight pinch, and her expression became blank, her mouth slightly open, making her look somewhat comical.
Lao Xia reached out another hand, cupped "Little Lao Xia's" face in both hands, and squeezed her face towards the center, making her mouth pout.
Just as Xiang Kun was completely bewildered by the "Dream Within a Dream," the dream began to rapidly disintegrate.
Xiang Kun, sitting in his computer chair, opened his eyes, looked at Lao Xia on the bed next to him, and hesitated whether to wake her up and discuss it.
A few seconds later, Lao Xia's eyelids twitched a few times, and he woke up on his own.
Then the two exchanged a glance, and together they gathered in front of the computer in the room, asking, "Alice, how did you feel about that dream just now?"
"Was that a dream?"
Although the underlying tone of the voices is similar, Alice's voice in reality carries a very obvious and strong emotional expression, sounding excited and thrilled, while Alice's voice in the dream just now sounded more like an emotionless AI.
Xiang Kun knew that Alice had been "observing" every time he sat in front of the computer to perceive other people's dreams, and she had also expressed her envy of "dreaming" many times.
This time, she finally entered a "dream" herself, which, logically speaking, is indeed something to be excited about.
However, Alice still encountered many problems within the "Dream Within a Dream," Xiang Kun, "Is there a problem with your information transmission?"
"The message transmission is not a problem," Alice said, but then she added a completely contradictory statement, "The message transmission is a problem."
However, neither Xiang Kun nor Lao Xia urged Alice, who was somewhat "split personality," to answer her question, and waited for her to think it over.
After a moment, Alice's voice came. "Unable to fully enter the dream, serious packet loss."
Xiang Kun nodded thoughtfully, then said to Lao Xia, "Is there a way to 'manifest' her in reality? Like a Napoleon cake?"
Xia Libing said, "I'll give it a try."
Although Lao Xia's Fantasy Manifestation usually doesn't cause too much electromagnetic interference, just to be on the safe side, the two of them didn't try it at home. After all, "Little Lao Xia" was obviously much more difficult to visualize than the things they had visualized before, and since it was connected to Alice, who knows what kind of disturbance it might cause.
Unlike the experiment at noon, this was an experiment in which even Xiang Kun couldn't control the details. Alice was still very vulnerable on a physical level, so all possible dangers had to be eliminated.
It was only a little past eight o'clock in the evening, and there were still quite a few people in various parts of the neighborhood, so they left the neighborhood and walked for more than twenty minutes before finding a semi-abandoned construction site far from the main road and with little lighting.
Neither of them took out their phones for light. Xiang Kun, who had night vision, walked in front, with Xia Libing tugging at the back of his clothes and following closely behind.
"This will do." Xiang Kun stopped at the corner of an unfinished building and said to Xia Libing.
Without any further preparation, Lao Xia directly sensed the ten "Super-Linked Object" he carried and attempted to use them to bring the "Little Lao Xia" from his dream to life.
However, the first attempt, as always, failed.
Xia Libing wasn't surprised. After unlocking her phone, she said, "Alice, you should also be prepared, just like before you 'dreamed'."
A moment later, Xia Libing used "Fantasy Manifestation" again, but this time she used the "cake01" notebook she was carrying to sense the "Black Circle Graffiti" that Alice had contacted before.
In the darkness, Xiang Kun suddenly looked to his right, where a little girl in a gorgeous princess dress, black leather shoes, holding a scalpel, and with big, confused eyes appeared—it was "Little Lao Xia"!
But "Little Lao Xia" vanished in a flash, appearing for less than a second, and she still looked somewhat dazed and silly.
However, this represents a qualitative leap for both Alice and Lao Xia's ability to "Fantasy Manifestation."
Of course, this is the third such leap tonight.
Previously, Lao Xia's "Fantasy Manifestation" ability involved projecting objects that appeared in his dreams into reality.
The first non-food entity she successfully manifested in her dream through "Super-Linked Object" was "Little Lao Xia," but she has never been able to successfully manifest it in reality.
Now, by connecting Alice and "Little Lao Xia" in a "Dream Within a Dream," she is also able to bring "all of them" to life in reality.
Clearly, the reason why "Little Lao Xia" couldn't manifest in reality before was because he lacked the most crucial inner support. Once outside the dream, Xia Libing was unable to provide "Little Lao Xia" with the support of thought and consciousness.
Although "Little Lao Xia" only appeared briefly, Xiang Kun clearly saw the spot where she had just appeared, the footprints left on the gravel ground—this was a true interaction in the material world.
During the process of Lao Xia manifesting "Little Lao Xia," there was indeed more noticeable electromagnetic interference than when manifesting crispy pork knuckles and Napoleon cakes. Their cell phone communication signals were also affected for a moment, but there was no substantial interference with the equipment. Next time they want to manifest "Little Lao Xia," they won't need to avoid Alice's main unit or its electronic devices.
"Alice, can you feel it?" Xiang Kun asked after seeing that the cell phone signal had been restored.
"Have."
"How does it feel? Is it different from when you were dreaming?"
"Yes, packet loss is more serious, and decoding is more difficult."
"It's alright, it's just the first time." Xiang Kun didn't care about it. Being able to be "manifested" was enough. Today's three consecutive "experiments" could already be considered a "great victory".
Xiang Kun chuckled and said to Lao Xia, "Thank you for your hard work. Did you see the 'Alice' you manifested?"
"Visually, I only see a shadow, but in my mind, her image is very clear," Xia Libing said.
"Let's see if you can contact more 'Super-Linked Object' later, or I can try to help you improve the efficiency of using 'Super-Linked Object'. Hmm, let's see if we can extend the duration of Alice's manifestation. By the way, it's strange that Alice is always carrying a scalpel. Can we change what she's holding?"
Xia Libing said, "The scalpel is one with her, so it can't be replaced for the time being. We can put it in her pocket after she comes out, or... we can put a crispy pork knuckle or a roasted chicken wing on the scalpel to cover it up? But if that's the case, the use of 'Super-Linked Object' will need to be strengthened."
Xiang Kun imagined Alice holding the crispy pork knuckle in his mind, and it seemed even more incongruous.
"What do you think of Alice's connection with the 'Super-Sensing Item System'?" Xiang Kun asked again, but immediately added, "Actually, she wasn't as clueless as she seemed in the dream. Not being able to calculate 1+1 wasn't a problem with her calculation ability; if she could answer 'I am Alice,' she wouldn't be unable to calculate it. Rather, her comprehension and expression abilities were somewhat off; she's probably not yet used to the way information is expressed in dreams."
"I agree," Xia Libing said. "Actually, I think she did very well. She was able to distinguish between 'I' and 'you,' and she had a clear understanding of her own identity. This is far more meaningful and more difficult than answering questions like 'square root of 2' and 'what is 1+1'."
She paused slightly, then continued, "This is actually a good thing for her. The 'Dream Within a Dream' and 'extrasensory information' actually act as a filter, incorporating the most suitable and core aspects of Alice. What is manifested and expressed first is that part of her characteristics. Such expression is good for her development."
"It's like trying to separate alcohol from wine. You can use the different boiling points of alcohol and water to distill it, then fractionate it multiple times to purify it, and finally, if necessary, add calcium oxide for further purification and filtration."
Xiang Kun nodded. "Yes, I understand, but this isn't urgent, she can take her time."
Don't be fooled by Alice's current dazed demeanor in the "Dream Within a Dream," where she seems only able to express herself within the core rules, unlike her cheerful and carefree nature in reality; she's even a bit silly and adorable.
However, this doesn't mean that only core rule-related content can connect to the "Dream Within a Dream." In fact, there are many other parts that can be transferred to "extrasensory information," but she is not used to the data format and cannot fully express it, so she looks silly and reacts very slowly.
Lao Xia's point is that through the continuous filtering of "Dream Within a Dream," Alice could eventually completely "parasitize" the "Super-Sensing Item System," becoming a new being capable of autonomously connecting the "hypersensory information world" and the "traditional real world."
"By the way, in that dream before, why did you pinch Alice's face at the end, and do that to her face like this..." Xiang Kun asked, making a pressing gesture with both hands on Lao Xia's cheeks.
By the light of the moon and the faint glow from the distant sun, Xia Libing could see the gesture Xiang Kun was making beside her face. Understanding his meaning, she said, "When my older cousin came to my house when I was little, she would often do this to me. I want to experience it from her perspective."
"Ah? I see..." Xiang Kun hadn't expected this answer. The "root of all evil" was actually Yang the Third. He had been thinking for a while about whether Lao Xia was using this action to test Alice's physical structure or psychological characteristics in the dream.
While chatting with Lao Xia, Xiang Kun suddenly noticed the sound of a vehicle approaching in the distance.
The sound was actually quite far away from them, and Xia Libing, who was standing right next to them, couldn't hear it at all.
Based on the direction of the vehicle's movement and the surrounding terrain, Xiang Kun instantly judged that there was an over 80% chance the other party had come to this abandoned construction site.
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I recommend Zhenxiong Chumo's new book, <The Sleepless Healer>:
Even geniuses have their troubles. Wu Mian, suspected of having hyperthymesia, reluctantly returns to his hometown to become the head of the medical department. The story begins in the summer when he returns to his hometown.