Mei Yiqiu's workshop was filled with the smell of smoke, which even a heavy smoker like Qingmu found a bit pungent.
Mei Ziqing stood outside, hesitant to enter, and asked Mei Yiqiu if there was anything else he needed.
Mei Yiqiu thought for a moment and said, "If you don't mind the smoke here, please come in."
Mei Ziqing happily said "Yes," smiled at Qingmu, and secretly gave him a thumbs up. The fact that the professor let her in meant that he completely trusted her, and she was genuinely happy and admired Qingmu very much.
However, Mei Ziqing clearly underestimated the frequency and concentration of Mei Yiqiu's smoking, and started coughing incessantly as soon as he entered the workroom.
"Professor, why aren't you turning on the air purifier!" Mei Ziqing complained, then pressed a few switches on a wall.
"Oh, the thick smoke helps me concentrate," Professor Mei said casually.
Such a high-tech laboratory can theoretically remove every speck of dust from the workspace, naturally leaving no smoke behind. Shortly after Mei Ziqing turned on the air purifier, the smoke in the room disappeared, and the fresh air was invigorating.
"Professor, what exactly happened?" Qingmu asked.
Professor Mei Yiqiu didn't answer Qingmu's question directly. Instead, he handed Qingmu his pipe. "Would you like a puff? This is all I have here. The cigarettes are all in my office upstairs."
Mei Ziqing immediately said, "I'll go get it."
"Oh, no need, I have my own." Qingmu took out his cigarettes from his pocket and lit them with a lighter.
"Nice lighter!" Mei Yiqiu, looking at the S.T. Dupont lighter in Qingmu's hand. "Have you struck it rich?"
Qingmu laughed, "The business you introduced last time made three million; I heard that's a considerable sum."
"Three million? That's quite a sum of money. You could invest in a project in my lab." Mei Yiqiu started trying to persuade Qingmu to move his studio over. "My place is full of projects that could change the fate of humanity! Spending money here is much more meaningful than wasting it on things like lighters."
Qingmu said, "The lighter was a gift from a friend."
"Girlfriend?" Mei Yiqiu seemed somewhat surprised.
"Hmm... it's a girl, but not my girlfriend." Qingmu said after confirming in his mind what Mei Yiqiu meant by girlfriend.
"Oh, I see!" Mei Yiqiu took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled a long puff of smoke. "How could someone like you have a girlfriend? You don't understand love at all, because you're a blockhead! But, there are always some silly girls who like a blockhead like you."
Qingmu was taken aback by Mei Yiqiu's words, unable to tell whether the professor was insulting or praising him.
Mei Ziqing covered her mouth and chuckled secretly.
"So you haven't touched your three million?" Mei Yiqiu said.
"I didn't touch it, but..." Qingmu confessed honestly, "I gave it to another woman, and it seems... it seems it's almost gone."
Mei Yiqiu shook his head and said to Mei Ziqing, "You see, a block of wood is just a block of wood. You never know what stupid thing a block of wood might do!"
Mei Ziqing laughed and said, "Professor, don't you often call money 'that stuff' and say it's not worth mentioning? I think Mr. Qingmu has the same temper as you! You two don't have any concept of money, so you spend it recklessly, right?"
"Are you criticizing me for wasting money?" Mei Yiqiu, puffing out his beard and glaring.
Mei Ziqing lowered her head, not daring to argue, but she couldn't help but laugh when she thought of the professor's stories about money. This straightforward, lovable, and occasionally short-tempered old man really had no concept of money. Don't be fooled by his math skills, which were no less than any math professor in the university. When you showed him the lab's financial statements, it was like a teacher forcing a poor elementary school student to do their homework. He could be swindled out of all his cash on the street by a conman pretending to be visiting relatives, and he could argue with a shopkeeper for two hours over an eight-yuan bottle of mineral water at a scenic spot. Not only did the scenic spot's leaders apologize in the end, but he also threw a tantrum at the CPPCC meeting, forcing the Tourism Commission and the Parks and Culture Bureau to issue a notice to lower the prices at the scenic spot.
Mei Yiqiu, of course, had no idea what his student was thinking, and waved his hand, saying, "Forget it, forget it, your three million won't make any difference. That box can't be made for just a few million."
"What box?" Qingmu asked. "Are you investigating some strange thing again?"
Mei Yiqiu said, "Well, let's not talk about that now. I'd like to discuss a few issues with you first."
"Okay, go ahead and ask." Qingmu waited for Mei Yiqiu question.
Mei Yiqiu pondered for a moment, pipe in mouth, then asked, "You know hypnosis, and I remember you told me you could enter other people's dreams through special methods, is that right?"
Mei Ziqing was greatly surprised, thinking the professor was joking. When she saw Qingmu nod, she almost exclaimed, "Ah, it really works..."
Mei Yiqiu stopped her and asked Qingmu, "If you enter someone else's dream, you can see their consciousness, right?"
Qingmu said, "Yes."
"So, relative to that consciousness, what are you?" Mei Yiqiu suddenly looked at Qingmu with a very serious expression.
"What am I?" Qingmu also became serious, thinking carefully for a while. "Everything in the dream space is reconstructed by the main consciousness through memories, including the rules of the entire dream. To him, my appearance means danger, and the space may collapse as a result. Or rather, I shouldn't be there; I'm more like an intruder."
"Hmm, intruder..." Mei Yiqiu closed his eyes in thought, taking a few deep drags on his cigarette. "When you invade a dream, is there a way to eliminate the main consciousness within that dream and thus become its master?"
"No," Qingmu answered with absolute certainty. "Unless I possess all his memories, I cannot fully grasp the details of the dream space he constructed. If the main consciousness is destroyed, that dream space will collapse. Unless I enter his body and replace him, I will be trapped."
Mei Yiqiu asked, "If there's already an intruder in that dream, you should be able to detect it when you enter, right? Or to put it another way, if there are two consciousnesses within a person's body, then when you hypnotize them, which consciousness are you hypnotizing with the Tushu, and which one will you see in the dream?"
Qingmu suddenly remembered Xia Wenyuan's shadow in his dream, the intruder that Mama Yao had mentioned, and the white cat.
After a moment's thought, he said, "I've never encountered this situation before. Theoretically, if there are two consciousnesses, then you would see two in your dreams."
Mei Yiqiu nodded and began to puff on his cigarette. After a long while, he said, "Your words have been very enlightening! Humanity is facing an unprecedented catastrophe; if we are not careful, we may be doomed!"
Seeing how serious Mei Yiqiu sounded, and noticing his gaunt face and smoke-reddened eyes, Qingmu Hetushu knew something terrible must have happened. He asked, "Professor, what exactly happened? Why are you making everyone learn Lester Signature?"
"Mr. Lester has passed away," Mei Yiqiu said.
"I've heard about it." Qingmu had already seen the news online. A great scientist is indeed capable of changing the fate of mankind, but he didn't think that the death of a scientist would lead to the annihilation of humanity.
Mei Yiqiu handed Qingmu a large metal goggle, like a diving mask. "Put this on."