Qingmu chatted with Xia Wenyuan about old stories from Wuzhong. The two had a pleasant conversation, but they couldn't come up with anything useful.
He put the matter aside for the time being and began to prepare for the important matter—dealing with Xia Wenyuan's Parasitic Consciousness.
Xia Wenyuan hadn't had nightmares for a long time, and his brain disease was gradually recovering. He thought he was almost fully recovered, so he didn't let anyone disturb Qingmu. But Qingmu knew that he and the Crow had failed to completely eliminate that shadow twice before. Judging from the speed at which that consciousness had grown last time, it should already be causing trouble in Xia Wenyuan's dreams by now.
" Elder Xia, how long has it been since you last dreamed of him?" Qingmu asked.
Xia Wenyuan said, "My sleep quality has been very good these past few months. Although I still dream, I don't have nightmares as often anymore, and everything is pretty normal. To be honest, a while ago, I could still feel his presence; he was still my shadow. But strangely enough, recently there's been a period where I seem to have stopped feeling him, as if he's disappeared."
Qingmu asked, "How long has this been going on?"
Xia Wenyuan and said, "I can't say for sure, it might take a week or so, or it might take more than half a month."
Qingmu said, "Then I'll go in and take a look."
Xia Wenyuan nodded, then leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest. His health had recovered very well during this time, and he no longer needed a wheelchair.
Seeing that Xia Wenyuan was ready, Qingmu hypnotized him and entered his dream.
They had probably just talked a lot about Mulberry Camp and Xia Wenyuan's childhood, so this time Xia Wenyuan's dream was of a large mulberry forest. A group of teenagers were rummaging through the forest picking fruit from the mulberry trees.
Qingmu recognized Xia Wenyuan from among the children at a glance. He didn't need to use any Mental Power or physical consciousness to identify him; he just recognized him by his appearance.
Xia Wenyuan looked very strange; he was like an old child, with the appearance of someone in their eighties or nineties but the physique of a child. Perhaps he simply couldn't remember what he looked like as a child.
Mulberry juice stained his face and clothes with large patches of purple, and his lips were a deep crimson, as if he had eaten something alive. When Qingmu appeared behind him, disturbing his dream, he froze, his mind seemingly affected.
As expected, Qingmu did not see Xia Wenyuan's shadow.
Normally, people don't dream about their own shadows unless you deliberately create a light source in your dream. Shadows appear with light; without light, there are no shadows.
Of course, if two consciousnesses exist in a space, even if they are hidden, Qingmu can still sense them, unless the consciousness's Mental Power is stronger than Qingmu's, or it is just an unsprouted seed. Seeds of consciousness do not exhibit Mental Power fluctuations.
Now, Qingmu did not sense any other spiritual energy fluctuations in Xia Wenyuan's dream, indicating that the consciousness had either left or had been replaced by a seed of consciousness, which was still waiting to sprout.
Qingmu looked around at the dense mulberry forest, and with a thought, he used his Mental Power to support Xia Wenyuan's dream. Then, to Xia Wenyuan's astonishment, a small mulberry tree suddenly grew into a giant mulberry tree.
He didn't know what the big mulberry tree in the Mulberry Garden actually looked like, so he just enlarged it based on the image of the mulberry tree in Xia Wenyuan's dream.
Xia Wenyuan and his friends were indeed about to climb the tree to pick mulberries.
Just then, naturally, sunlight streamed through the gaps in the leaves. Xia Wenyuan squinted, shielding his forehead from the glaring sunlight with his hand. He glanced back, and dappled shadows appeared on the ground, along with Xia Wenyuan's own Tushu.
The light filtering through the leaves was a subconscious simulation that Xia Wenyuan created while climbing the tree, and the shadow was also a real shadow he had dreamed of. But Qingmu immediately noticed something unusual about this shadow—sure enough, that guy only existed with the help of a shadow.
Qingmu now actually has a way to detach the Parasitic Consciousness, which is the Dream Corridor. He just needs to grab the shadow into the Dream Corridor and then exit Xia Wenyuan's dream, and Xia Wenyuan will no longer be disturbed.
This has another advantage: it's like capturing a living parasite that can be studied at any time. He's not worried that it will cause time to rewind when it comes out of the Dream Corridor, because the corridor isn't completely closed. Moreover, this pure consciousness has no substantial relationship with the material world, so its time doesn't need to be synchronized with the world, or rather, for it, time doesn't exist before it parasitizes a material life form.
But Qingmu doesn't plan to use that method today; he wants to see what Ruxue will do.
The cat came with Qingmu. Aunt Xia said the cat was chubby and very cute, and asked someone to bring it some fancy cat food. The cat just lay quietly at Qingmu's feet, eating non-stop.
When Qingmu entered Xia Wenyuan's dream, he also hypnotized Hanran into a deep sleep.
"Hanran is Hanran, Ruxue is Ruxue," was the Boss Coal's assessment, and he absolutely refused to equate them. And in fact, just as the Boss Coal said, the cat's body— Hanran —and her consciousness— Ruxue —are completely different.
In her dreams, she was a pure white, noble, and spotless royal cat; but once she woke up, she transformed into a fat orange cat that could be lured away with a bag of dried fish.
This matter once piqued Professor Mei Yiqiu's interest, because it was precisely the relationship between the body, memory, and consciousness that scientists had been trying to explore: whether the movement of matter determines memory and consciousness, or whether consciousness influences the composition of matter.
Theoretically speaking, the original orange cat's consciousness was dead; scientifically speaking, it was brain dead. But Qingmu implanted the white cat's consciousness into the orange cat's body. So, is this cat now the original cat, or the white cat?
Comparing reality and dreams, the cat's behavior in this situation is more like the original cat, while the subconscious mind sees a new cat. How does this contradiction arise?
The professor couldn't explain it, and neither could Qingmu. The only thing he was certain of was that the consciousness inside the cat's body was not the original Hanran, but Ruxue. However, Ruxue herself had no memories, only an instinctive will. Under the protection of her powerful Mental Power, this will was weakened by the memories inherited from Hanran.
In the days to come, how will consciousness and body influence each other? Will Ruxue gradually be influenced by Hanran's life and eventually become a gluttonous cat, true to its nature, or will Hanran Ran's old habits slowly change under the influence of Ruxue's noble consciousness?
According to the Boss Coal's expectations—perhaps consciousness can influence the composition of matter, even altering genes, thus turning blond hair white!
However, at least for now, this cat still seems like a schizophrenic. At this moment, she appeared beside Qingmu, dressed in pure white, exuding nobility and arrogance from her eyes to her posture, quietly watching the old child Xia Wenyuan who was climbing the tree and picking mulberries to eat, as well as the restless shadow under the tree.