Su Huilan was taken aback, then smiled and said, "You already asked me that once in the Dream Guide game."
"Oh, sorry, I forgot." Qingmu scratched his head. "I'm a forgetful person."
"It's alright," Su Huilan said. "Are you trying to say that Situ holds a similar view to mine?"
Qingmu nodded and said, "So you knew."
"I don't know Situ any better than you do, so I've been looking for him, hoping to talk to him, but he's too mysterious." Su Huilan spread her hands. "I can't find him."
"Perhaps we'll find him this time; he should be somewhere nearby."
"Perhaps, but this area is quite large." Su Huilan tapped the nautical chart on the table with her finger. "The sea area shown on this chart alone must be over a million square kilometers."
"One million three hundred and fifty thousand square kilometers, I've measured it in person," Petru.
"Look, this is why I'm looking for the great pirate Redbeard!" Su Huilan said with a smile.
Qingmu smiled too.
Su Huilan then said, " Petru, do you know why you've remained a pirate for so many years, and could never truly step onto land and become a ruler?"
Petru thought for a moment and said, "It's not easy to whitewash a pirate. If you give me another three to five years..."
Su Huilan interrupted him, saying, "No, even ten years won't do."
"Why?"
"Because you're not one of them."
"Them?"
"Well, not only are you not one of them, you've also offended them and stolen their nautical charts."
Petru snapped out of his daze; this was the real question on his mind, "Who are they? Oh, and you just said the Alliance has disbanded, so who are the people hunting me down?"
Su Huilan said, "The old Alliance is gone, and a new organization has taken its place. Aren't the rules of this world always made by the victors?"
"You mean the new Alliance controls the distribution of wealth and status in the world?!"
"They don't need to completely control it; as long as they stay within their control, the world will develop according to the path they set, with class and regional stratification solidified, and the poor and lowly never having a chance to rise..."
What is the name of this organization?
"It has no name. It's mysterious, never revealing itself, but I know that many powerful people in the world are under its control. Petru, you don't!"
"They haven't contacted me either!" Petru complained.
Qingmu said, "This sounds like the Dream Society to me. I've heard that a large number of wealthy people and politicians have already been parasitized by it."
"At first, I also suspected that the Dream Society just an organization in disguise, but later I discovered that things might be far more complicated than we imagined. I came here to investigate the truth."
What truth is hidden here?
"Ever since the discovery of the underwater pyramids, the waters of the Pacific Ocean have been turbulent. Everything hidden beneath the surface will surface; nothing can remain hidden. After the first underwater scientific expedition, I confirmed that it was related to the Awakeners' Alliance. I originally planned to participate in the second expedition, but unfortunately, I was delayed by some matters."
"I don't know if this is lucky or unlucky," Su Huilan said with a sorrowful expression. "I hope there are still people alive on board!"
Qingmu couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. After reading the captain's log, everyone on board seemed like an old friend—the meticulous Captain Church, the gentlemanly Mr. Robbins, the stern Mrs. Larry, and First Mate Anderson, who would fish even if the sky were to fall...
After a moment of silence, Qingmu suddenly remembered that Su Huilan had mentioned a name that sounded familiar, a name he felt he had heard somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it.
"You just said your father used to follow... some kind of master?" he asked.
"It's Master Nanke," Su Huilan said. "He was the last chairman of the Alliance and the greatest awakening mentor in the world at the time, but he disappeared after the outbreak of war. My father searched for him for a long time without any leads. My father said he might have imprisoned himself in the City of Sin because he believed he was guilty and had to be held responsible for the world's disasters."
What kind of place is the City of Sin?
"As you just mentioned, the Alliance has established many rules to prevent Awakened from abusing their Mental Power, but there are always those who break them. The City of Sin is a place the Alliance uses to imprison the consciousnesses of Awakened violate the rules; to put it bluntly, it's a 'consciousness prison.'"
How is a consciousness imprisoned?
"I've heard that for thousands of years, countless sinful souls have been imprisoned there. It can trigger the original sin within the consciousness, creating a sinful gravitational pull that the consciousness cannot escape. Only by cleansing oneself of sin and restoring to the purest original consciousness can one leave."
Qingmu felt this was a bit too far-fetched, and what Su Huilan said was mostly from her father, who might not have actually seen the City of Sin. If such a place really existed, he guessed it would be something like Zero Space.
"It's a pity that so many years have passed, and now no one knows the true history of the Alliance, right?" Qingmu sighed, then looked at Su Huilan with a grin, "Back then, when you came to me, you said a lot of inexplicable things."
"Looks like my Fragrant Hypnosis Technique really won't work on you!"
"If it were useless, I wouldn't have failed to recognize you."
"But you recognized me now, didn't you?"
That's because your scent is so unforgettable.
Su Huilan giggled and said, "Aren't you curious about why I came to see you, and why I left?"
Qingmu nodded, waiting for her to continue.
"Because there's always someone's shadow in my dreams..." Su Huilan's eyes were distant, as if recalling her dream.
"But don't worry, I'm not being parasitized by a consciousness," she added with a smile, then became serious. "When I was very young, my father created a replica of someone's image in my memory. This person has since appeared in my dreams frequently, accompanying me throughout my life. My father said he was the most talented Awakened among the younger generation of the Alliance, considered the successor to Master Nanke. Although my father never told me why he placed this person's image in my memory until his death, I understand his meaning. He wanted me to find him and rebuild the Alliance. If possible, it would be best to enter the City of Sin. My father always believed that Master Nanke is still alive."
"Is the person your father is replicating in your memory me?" Qingmu asked, surprised yet also somewhat expectant.
"At first, I did think it was you, because you look so much like the person in my dream." Su Huilan stared at Qingmu's face, scrutinizing it as if admiring a work of art. "Moreover, your Mental Power is unfathomable. I've investigated your background, but I couldn't find anything. The more I couldn't uncover, the more I felt you were deliberately hiding something. Aren't all great hermits like that!"
"How did you later discover that I wasn't?"
"You took the Alliance symbol I drew for you to discuss with Professor Mei Yiqiu. I've thought about it a lot, and that person would never do such a thing. I think you genuinely don't know about the Alliance; you couldn't be pretending. However, since learning that you're a dreamless person, I've started to have some doubts again..."