Group A

"Yiguan, take a look at this."

But then Dr. House standing not far away, staring at a wall.

Qin Yiguan approached Dr. House and looked up. In the dim light, there was a notice covered with writing.

'Personnel Structure of the Ring Research Institute '

"Director of the Research Institute (1 person): Level 10 staff member."

"Three vice deans: Level 9 staff members."

The expert team consists of 6 members: Level 7-8 staff members.

"Research Team Leader (AE Group): Level 6 Staff Member"

"Core members of each research group: Level 5 staff."

Logistics Support Department: Staff Levels 1-4

"The logistics support department includes finance, equipment management, general assistants, field staff, cleaning personnel, etc."

Dr. House muttered to himself, "This is a personnel structure chart. Many organizations in the old days did this, displaying their personnel lists publicly."

Qin Yiguan's gaze shifted slightly to the right, where there was another notice covered in mold. After wiping away the mold, the details were revealed.

This clearly states the information for all personnel whose positions are below the vice dean, that is, below level 9.

Qin Yiguan quickly found three familiar names.

The Lu Zhoulang, the Lu Zhoulang.

And Du An.

Du An is a Level 6 staff member with the title of Group Leader E, and his area of responsibility is microbiology.

This is consistent with Du An's previous statement.

And the Lu Zhoulang.

He was actually the Group A and a member of the expert group, holding the rank of Level 8 staff member, the highest level below the deputy director.

Qin Yiguan clearly remembered that Du An had said that every day multiple groups were conducting various experiments on him, and that these Group A or B, were probably all involved!

Qin Yiguan's gaze moved from one name to another, memorizing them firmly. This was a damn list of enemies!

Then, Qin Yiguan turned his attention to the introduction of the Lu Zhoulang.

His expression faltered slightly.

Because the research field of the Lu Zhoulang is actually... dreams?!

Dream...

In any case, it's really quite incongruous for a research topic called 'Dream' to suddenly pop up in such an academically-filled research institute.

Moreover, it's Group A project, with Lu Zhoulang, an expert member, serving as the group leader. In other words, is "dreams" a very advanced research topic?

The Qin Yiguan remains unclear.

My gaze continued to move.

He looked at the information about Bishamonten's teacher, Lu Zhoulang.

Judging from his birth year, he is Lu Zhoulang's older brother, born one year and three months older than Lu Zhoulang.

To Qin Yiguan's surprise,

His position was surprisingly in the logistics team, a level 2 employee responsible for equipment management.

In other words, these two brothers, one is a great scientist, while the other... is just a handyman?

Qin Yiguan looked at the photo of Lu Zhoulang, who had a kind face and a somewhat timid demeanor, a perfect microcosm of an ordinary person.

The Lu Zhoulang, on the other hand, exuded a cold and ruthless aura, as revealed between his brows. Although the two looked almost identical, their auras were worlds apart.

Suddenly, Dr. House said, "My patient is inside this research institute, but he's unable to communicate normally with the outside world right now. I have to actively seek him out."

"Why don't we start here?"

Qin Yiguan pointed to the notice board in front of him, his finger landing on room 'AZ001', the office of Lu Zhoulang.

Unexpectedly, the so-called 'AZ001' room was actually the entire second floor of this white, spherical building.

With an area of several thousand square meters, it's clear how important this research group is.

The moment I pushed open that glass door, I saw a huge slogan hanging on the opposite wall.

Their dark prison is my blue sky.

Qin Yiguan stood at the doorway, the light behind him casting a long shadow that almost extended to the bottom of the slogan. He was softly repeating the phrase, pondering the meaning of "that" and "I".

The huge open space contains at least 50 individual workstations, with everything clearly visible.

Among those workstations, there were also scattered skeletons, all slumped in their chairs, resembling the state of natural death.

On the walls on both sides, there were crooked posters covered with blood-red cursive script, as if some scientists, obsessed with something, had written them down in a frenzy after gaining some insights.

"About dreams!"

'Three inferences!'

First, dreams are a release of repression.

"When a person sleeps, their conscious mind enters a dormant state, while their subconscious mind becomes active. It uses pretense to reveal the person's inner instinctive desires, and some people can exploit these desires!"

Second, dreams are reality in parallel universes.

In 2014, Lisa Randall, a professor of theoretical physics at Harvard University, proposed that there might be a connection between dreams and parallel universes, suggesting that in dreams we might be able to get Infinity closer to another universe.

She believes that humans in dreams exist in some kind of quantum state, with no interaction with the real world. We are fully aware of everything while dreaming, yet unable to control ourselves. This could be us in a parallel universe, or perhaps we've been taken to a parallel universe by someone!

Third, dreams are a "loophole" in the virtual world.

Harvard University philosophy professor Strom and his research team, through various lines of reasoning, believe that the probability of the current world being a virtual world is 100%!

'Dreams may be the best evidence that the current world is virtual. When we are asleep, due to the inactivity of the brain, computers reduce their control over us in order to allocate resources more efficiently.'

'Therefore, dreams may be the real world we see when computers loosen their control over us; of course, dreams could also be another simulation!'

Qin Yiguan frowned slightly. "Are dreams really that complicated?"

But then Dr. House said in a low voice, "Yes."

Qin Yiguan continued walking forward.

But some large characters were seen rolled into balls and piled up in the corner.

Qin Yiguan used his toes to tap the paper to write it down, then slowly squatted down and unfolded it.

'After my in-depth research on that freak, I discovered... those three inferences are all correct; they don't contradict each other!'

Qin Yiguan turned around and glanced at Dr. House, only to see the highly respected psychologist silently nodding.

'That's terrifying!'

Qin Yiguan unfolded another wad of scrap paper, revealing four large, blood-red characters. He then continued flipping through the other papers.

'In our brains, the essence of dreams is 'thinking,' and 'thinking' generates information in our consciousness. However, some 'thinking' is not generated by our own consciousness; it comes from the outside. It (other consciousness) generates information in our consciousness, and it interferes with us. Recent dreams... were not our own creations!'

'During dreams, a person is in a state of sleep, which is a low-energy state. At that time, our consciousness is very vulnerable!'

Lately, we've all been getting more and more sleepy!

it...

Dream...

Qin Yiguan's eyes flickered.

After slowly getting up, he looked at the skeleton beside him. In his hand, he held a sharp cone, which was being stabbed into his own thigh. If there were still flesh, his leg would have been covered in blood.

"What is he doing? Is he afraid he'll fall asleep?"

Qin Yiguan tilted his head slightly and continued walking inside, pushing open an office that read 'Core Member of Group A '.

But they found it was full of bones.

Six people were sitting behind the desk, two were leaning against the windowsill, and one was lying on a recliner in the distance.

There were no signs of struggle at the scene, and no bone damage; it all seemed like a natural death.

I checked their nameplates one by one.

The core members of Group A the Ring Research Institute, totaling nine people.

Not one is missing, not one is missing, all neatly arranged!

"Hehe."

Qin Yiguan suddenly chuckled softly, as if he had realized something, and then muttered to himself, "Tell me, how did you die!"

The boy's eyes scanned rapidly within the approximately 100-square-meter office.

Finally, the gaze settled on a diary pressed beneath a skeletal hand.

After taking out the diary, Qin Yiguan slowly turned the pages.

'I am a member of Group A at the Ring Research Institute. Our group's code name is -- The Dream Wave.'

Dreams are far more complex than humans imagine.

'It may very well be the only breakthrough to unlocking the secrets of human consciousness.'

For years, we had gained nothing, until the experimental subject codenamed "Mouse Pup" appeared.

"We've been meticulously researching a device called ' Dream Wave.' While our Mouse Pup are sleeping, it releases brain impulses, much like dust kicked up while sweeping, directly weaving dreams into their Mouse Pup."

'Yes.'

'Regarding that test subject, we did not cause any damage to his body.'

"However, we designed one dream after another for him, setting the time flow within them, with a total duration of approximately 147 years. These dreams were filled with extreme conditions: cruelty, terror, pursuit, death, multiple deaths, unsolvable mazes, and prisons from which there was no escape for eternity."

The purpose is to observe its brain's responses to the fullest extent, find its unique characteristics, and thus collect more data about "dreams."

'Recently, I've realized that the experimental subject seems to have awakened, and he might turn against us at any moment.'

Group Leader Lu completely ignored my opinions.

'I also discovered that Group Leader Lu secretly cut open the skulls of the Mouse Pup.'

I'm so sleepy...

Qin Yiguan's expression had become gloomy. He flipped through the diary in his hand with a hint of irritation, but there were no more entries.

It seems that this person fell asleep halfway through writing in his diary.

I pondered for a moment.

Qin Yiguan's expression also twisted for a moment.

He suddenly realized a truth.

These people... including those skeletons from before, all died in their sleep!

Or rather, they were trapped in their own dreams, unable to wake up on their own, until their bodies died and turned into bones!

Dream General?

You're very strong; you've already killed many enemies before even leaving the research institute?

But.

Qin Yiguan narrowed his eyes slightly, then looked up and scanned the skeletons in the room. He felt a surge of anger that he couldn't release, because he knew very well that these corpses did not include the Lu Zhoulang!

now.

Qin Yiguan suddenly looked up. "Dr. House, I haven't asked yet, what illness does your patient have?"

"Him."

"It is a type of mental disorder with multiple contributing factors. Common symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, illusions, unpredictable crying and laughing, talking to oneself, and bizarre behavior."

"Currently, he only has one main symptom."

Dr. House turned to look at him and said slowly, "That's the inability to distinguish between dreams and reality."

Can't distinguish between dreams and reality?

Qin Yiguan blinked slightly, seemingly lost in thought.

This 'patient' must be a survivor from Dream General's forces!

Could he be Lu Zhoulang?

Right now.

Dr. House, who had been calm and collected all along, suddenly changed his expression, turned around abruptly, and knocked away a huge steel spike that was aimed at his head.

Dr. House squinted out the window and exclaimed, "My patient has arrived!"