Qingmu saw the key that the Du Juan had discarded in the water, but it was a bit far from his cage, and closer to the mad beggar's cage instead.
He tried to reach it, but couldn't, so he stood up and said to the mad beggar, "Pick it up and throw it to me, and I'll open the cage for you when I get out."
The mad beggar remained unmoved, like a gorilla in a zoo, his hands gripping the iron bars, quietly watching Qingmu, his eyes seeming to say, "Give up, foolish human."
Qingmu repeated himself twice, finally giving up on the idea of reasoning with a Madman.
The river began to rise slowly again. When it reached waist-deep, the sound of splashing water could be heard again in the distance.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Qingmu, and some things he had been struggling to understand began to make sense.
According to Du Juan, it was Situ revitalized this place, indicating that it had been abandoned for many years. It is very likely not modern, because it is hard to imagine who in modern times would waste their energy creating such a thing in this deserted mountain.
The presence of the Japan seems to prove this point. Qingmu speculates that this place was likely a prisoner-of-war camp established by the Japan during their invasion of Southern Yunnan, and these pig cages were used to hold prisoners of war.
If a Group Dream continues indefinitely, with old dreamers dying and new dreamers constantly joining, then the entire dream can indeed be preserved. You can see the remnants of old dreams within the dream, and the fundamental rules will not change.
Theoretically speaking, if everyone in the world joined the same Group Dream Realm, that dream could be passed down through generations.
The only thing Qingmu couldn't understand was that if it really was left behind by the Japan, then it should have been abandoned for at least seventy years. In those seventy years, no one had stayed here; how had this dream space and its rules been preserved? And what had the Du Juan triggered that caused these Japan to reappear?
When he saw the splashes of water on the surface of the water in the distance, he remembered.
There is an underground river that leads to the outside world, and its water level rises according to a certain pattern. Every time the water rises, many aquatic animals swim through it.
Humans dream, and so do animals.
This cave is connected to the outside world, and it is home not only to fish, but also to rats, snakes, toads, turtles, spiders, bats... the number of animals in the mountains is beyond your imagination.
Animals may not have the same Mental Power as humans, but if there are enough of them, they can still sustain this dream.
During those seventy or eighty years of abandonment, it was the animals of the mountains that preserved this space. This was probably something even the person who designed this dreamland could not have foreseen.
The water level is still rising, and dark shadows keep swimming through it.
"Come out," Qingmu said to the water not far away, before it reached his neck.
Suddenly a dark shadow rose to the surface of the water, followed by a splash, and a Crow flew out of the water with a fish in its beak.
"Wow~~~ Ah... my fish... croak!"
As soon as the Crow opened its beak, the small fish fell into the water. It dove down and soon emerged from the water with a larger fish in its beak.
"If you keep eating fish, I'm going to drown." As Qingmu spoke, the water was already up to his chin and about to reach his mouth.
"Oh dear—you're really unlucky! You finally got to go on a trip, and now you're locked up?"
The fish fell back into the water, but this time the Crow ignored it and flapped its wings, flying towards Qingmu. The iron bars of the cage could not stop its large wings at all; it flew through like an invisible Ghost and landed on Qingmu's head.
"Remember to take me with you next time you go on a long trip. I really hate being bossed around like this!" the Crow complained, ruffling its feathers. "Ugh! Ugh!"
"Alright, if you don't mind the hassle of flying, I can consider taking you with me." Qingmu said, pushing open the cage door and walking out.
"Flying? Why does it always have to be flying? Can't you take a train or something else? Why force Crow to fly?"
"It's the same whether Crow rides a high-speed train or not."
"Oh, alright, alright, you can say whatever you want." The Boss Coal looked around at his surroundings. "Where is this place? Oh, it seems... a bit strange..."
You'll see something even stranger in a little while.
Qingmu floated to the surface of the water, hands in his pockets, and slowly made his way deeper into the cave, his flip-flops splashing across the surface.
The mad beggar in the next cage stared at them blankly with wide eyes. When the water reached above his nose, he swallowed a mouthful of water before remembering to grab the iron bar at the top of the cage. He then floated to the surface and coughed violently.
"So, how did you end up in that cage?" the Crow asked.
"This is a Group Dream," Qingmu said.
"What? Group Dream? A dream of many people? Oh my~~~" The Crow turned around on the Qingmu's head, looking at the iron cage behind it. "That's not important. I mean, the way you look in that cage... um... like a gorilla... quack quack Guagua!!"
The Crow couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Have you been eating too well lately?" Qingmu asked.
"Oh, you really are... can't take a joke... quack... okay, okay, I'll say it, a Group Dream has trapped you, have you regressed?"
"He must have been neglecting his training and using this as an excuse to come all this way to pick up girls, right? Hmm, I think I need to talk to Ruhua. If she gives me extra training, I might consider becoming a spy or something."
Double-sided tape?
"Hmm, double-sided... what? Double-sided tape? What double-sided tape?" Crow tilted his head, pondering what Qingmu meant by that.
Qingmu burst into laughter.
"Where is the child?" the Crow asked again after a brief silence.
"What child?"
"It's that diary entry. Wow, https://www. hetushu. com. com That diary is so touching, oh, not only touching, but also incredibly moving! It made me cry. You have no idea how heartbroken I am. I've even lost weight. I need nutrition, Guagua, I need braised pork hock to make up for it... Guagua..."
The Crow kept cawing.
After two turns, the underground river flows through the base of a rock wall, and the iron cage ends there.
Qingmu roughly estimated that there were no fewer than two hundred cages along the way. This was more than he had anticipated; even a POW camp wouldn't need so many individual cages, would it?
The entire cave is like a maze, with one cave leading to the next. Without the underground river, it would be easy to get lost inside. Some caves are filled with boxes of supplies, with Japanese words like "Danger" or "Forbidden" printed on them.
The boxes were covered in dust and cobwebs. As Qingmu walked by, his footsteps startled many small animals hiding in the gaps between the boxes.
A cry for help came from not far ahead, "Help! Let me go! Let me go..."
Then came a group of men laughing, "Pretty girl, yo-shi!"
Qingmu walked quickly for a few steps, rounded a large rock pillar, and saw in another cave that four or five Japan soldiers were pinning Du Juan to the ground and stripping her clothes off.
The cave wasn't large, but it was connected to a much larger cavern. There, a fire was burning, and an iron pot was placed on top of it. Seven or eight Japan soldiers sat around the fire, chatting and laughing.
"Hey, hurry up, we want to play a little longer," a soldier shouted towards the cave.
"Ah, you should have told them to be gentler, or they might kill someone."
"You just wait and see!" a Japan soldier who was taking off his pants replied.
"Don't worry, none of them can last a minute."
The Japan soldiers inside the cave burst into laughter.