The Crow suddenly jumped up, shaking its head and cawing, "Caw! Is this a 'dimensional reduction attack'? Wow, that's so cool! But... who did it?"
"No one did it. Dimensional reduction is just an objective law; it doesn't require a two-dimensional foil or anything like that," Su Huilan said with a smile. " Qingmu, does your bird really like reading novels?"
"A novel? What novel!" the Crow cackled. "Dimensional reduction is a hot topic; everyone at the bar knows it. Last time, two drunk guys got into a fight. One of them grabbed a whiskey bottle, saying he'd teach the other a lesson in 'water droplets,' and the other grabbed a stool, ready to implement dimensional reduction. After some practice, I discovered that dimensional reduction is actually a bit more powerful than water droplets. See? Even a drunkard knows this, so why bother reading a novel, cackle!"
Su Huilan laughed heartily and said, "Wow, bars are so much fun! I'll definitely go more often in the future."
"You've never been to a bar? That's such a shame!" The Crow perked up, cawing Guagua. "Bars are great places, full of handsome unmarried men and beautiful women. Marriage is out of the question, I'll never get married in this lifetime, and I can't do housework anyway. The only way to stay happy is to go to a bar, drink, and tell dirty jokes. Going to a bar is like coming home; everyone there is so talented and has such nice voices. I love the cawing there!"
Su Huilan laughed even harder, bending over and clutching her stomach, saying, "Your bird is so much fun!"
The Crow was pleased with the praise and became excited:
"Hey beautiful Su, there are lots of handsome guys in the bar! Don't say I didn't teach you. If you want to hook up with a rich guy, the usual procedure is like this... You can sit somewhere close to a handsome guy, but not too close, or you'll look tacky. And not too far either, or you won't get any... First, order a drink, nothing too expensive, a Bloody Mary or a Margaret Guagua do. Then pretend you're hot and unbutton your shirt collar, one, two, maybe three, to show some cleavage... Guagua..."
The Crow was talking so wildly that it was suddenly glared at by Qingmu. A powerful surge of Mental Power rushed into its brain, instantly bringing it back to its senses, and even the feathers on its neck stood on end.
"Caw..." The Crow, a little embarrassed, turned to Hanran and said, "Ahem, um, is there anything else to eat?"
With a Hanran meow, it used its chubby paws to pull out the food it had been pressing down on. Then, gazing affectionately at the Crow, it tilted its head back, revealing the soft fur on its neck, and made a gesture of unbuttoning its clothes with its front paws...
The Crow quickly pressed its wing against the cat's paw and cried out, "NO! No, no, no, no... You are Ruxue! Ruxue isn't like this!"
Su Huilan was listening with great interest when she scolded Qingmu, "Why didn't you let it continue? I might need it later!"
Qingmu said, "You have no idea what it might spit out."
"What will it vomit out?" Su Huilan asked.
Qingmu recalled the way Boss Coal got drunk, something Hu Xing and Bi Shenghua experienced. He smiled and shook his head, saying, "Alright, forget about him, let's continue our conversation. The points you just made were very interesting and eye-opening. But why have I never heard Professor Mei mention such views before? I've discussed dreams, consciousness, and the spiritual world with the professor more than once."
Su Huilan said casually, "His views may not be the same as mine; science is inherently a field of diverse opinions."
"Why didn't you say these things when you were in Wuzhong? I think your ideas could have sparked even greater insights with Professor Mei," Qingmu asked.
"Can't we have any interaction?" Su Huilan chuckled.
"That's different. I'm just an ordinary person, while the professor is a great scientist," Qingmu said.
Su Huilan lowered her head and fell silent. After a while, she suddenly looked up at Qingmu and said, "Because I don't trust him!"
"Huh?! Why?"
If a mirror were held up right now, Qingmu was sure he'd see a face full of question marks. He couldn't understand why Su Huilan didn't trust Professor Mei Yiqiu. Was there something suspicious about that lovable old woman with her bushy white hair?
"For no particular reason. My understanding of the world and the mission I carry make it impossible for me to trust just anyone."
Do you trust me?
"Why not?"
Qingmu shook his head. "We've only known each other for a short time, and besides..."
Su Huilan smiled and said, "Whether you trust someone or not is just a feeling; it has nothing to do with anything else."
"And what about me?" Petru asked, puzzled. Although he didn't know who Professor Mei was, and he knew that what Su Huilan had just said seemed to be mainly for Mr. Qingmu, they had been talking in English without any reservations in front of him, which meant that Su Huilan trusted him at least.
Su Huilan was taken aback, then said, "You're not on my list of suspects."
This statement can be interpreted as either that she already had a list of suspects, or that Petru was so ordinary that she didn't even have the qualifications or value to be suspected.
Petru didn't see anything wrong with it. He was convinced by the powerful Mental Power, even though he had once been the arrogant Redbeard. He thought Su Huilan was saving face for him by not saying everything clearly, and he felt a little grateful.
Qingmu, however, felt that Su Huilan might not be able to explain herself because it was inconvenient to say, so he didn't pursue the matter further and said:
"Okay, thank you for your trust. So, what should we do? Or rather, what should we do based on your theory?"
"Of course, it's about breaking through to the next level!" Su Huilan said. "Crawling out of the three-dimensional bubble, out of this Group Dream, back to the next level of the dream, repeating this process until we return to the real world."
"But according to your theory, the Mental Power of seven billion people is unshakeable, and there is no difference between nothingness and reality, so how can you get out?"
"One person may be unshakeable, but what if there are many people together? What if there are many spiritually strong individuals like you together?"
"You mean..." Qingmu's eyes suddenly lit up, a flash of inspiration crossing his mind, but he immediately became dizzy again. Before he could finish speaking, his head began to throb with pain.
Su Huilan smiled, looking incredibly charming, Qingmu seemed to smell that refreshing fragrance again.
"That's right, I'm not the first person to have this idea," she said. "Long ago, there was an ancient organization on Earth that gathered many highly capable Awakened to form Alliance. Their goal was to seek truth upwards and prevent the world from falling into a deeper dream."
Qingmu dipped his finger in the water in the glass and then drew the symbol on the table, just like the one drawn for him a few months ago in the dimly lit corner of the bar by the woman with the indistinct face and a strange fragrance.
Is this it?
"Yes."
They exchanged a knowing smile. He knew she understood, and she knew he understood. He waited for her explanation. She smiled, looking at the dawn outside the cave, like a young girl just waking up in the morning, recalling the beautiful dream of the previous night.
Petru stared intently at the symbol on the stone table. The edges of the lines were jagged and incomplete as the water dried, as if it had been copied from an ancient ruin.
"That's it!" Petru shouted. "It's on the box that the Mummy was holding. Tell me! What is it? Are they chasing me?"
Su Huilan said, "That's right, it's an organization's symbol."
What organization?
" The Awakeners' Alliance."
" The Awakeners' Alliance..." Petru murmured, repeating the name.