Ronald Cohen could have completely controlled Dickinson's consciousness, depriving him of freedom even in the mental world. The reason he didn't was out of curiosity about what kind of resistance Dickinson could possibly mount.
He watched Dickinson make that gesture and didn't understand what it was for; at best, it just made the muscles in his arm twitch due to a nerve reflex.
There was a small coffee table between him and Dickinson; even if Dickinson's arm was long, she couldn't hit him! And even if she did, so what?
To say that he wants to wake up this way is truly wishful thinking.
The actions a person takes in reality based on their dream activity are instantaneous, but this also encroaches on the dream's time. This is because muscle reactions are slower than the brain's ability to retrieve and construct dream space. As a result, dream spaces overlap, and the dream's progress has to wait for the muscle reflexes to complete. This can easily lead to dream collapse, which is why people usually wake up at this point.
This is why we often twitch like we have a cramp when we dream, and then we wake up.
But Ronald wasn't worried, because his Mental Power was enough to sustain Dickinson's dream and prevent her from waking up.
So what was the point of Dickinson doing this? Was there some hidden mechanism in the living room that he could trigger by touching it?
Just as he was wondering what was going on, Ronald suddenly felt a powerful suction force in the void, followed by darkness, as if a television screen had suddenly lost power, leaving only a white line of light in the middle.
He tried to support the space, but found that the Mental Power he emitted seemed to dissipate into the void of the universe and vanished instantly.
This is not a dream collapse!
It was as if the mental channel connecting to the dream had been shut down. This situation was extremely rare. It was possible that all the consciousnesses here had been trapped in an unknown space and completely cut off from the real world.
Ronald was startled and quickly exited Dickinson's dream before the ray of white light disappeared.
He saw Dickinson leaning back in her armchair, a mocking smile on her face, as if she were laughing at him: See, I did it!
Dickinson's body was completely relaxed, as if he had accomplished the most important thing in his life and finally found relief. Only his eyes were unfocused and lifeless, like someone who had just been hit by a truck.
Ronald's heart tightened. He immediately stepped forward, reached out and checked Dickinson's pulse, only to find that he was no longer breathing. He watched as Dickinson's eyes grew increasingly unfocused until they lost all light.
He recalled Dickinson's final grasp and pull in the dream, and looked at her hand, finding her right hand clenched into a fist.
He opened his fist and saw an extremely thin, transparent thread in his palm, about the thickness of a hair, which had left a mark on his palm. Clearly, the pull he had just made had moved this thread.
The thin thread was coming out of Dickinson's left sleeve.
Ronald opened Dickinson's coat and found that the thin thread passed through the sleeve, emerged from the collar, and mingled with the gray hair at the back of Dickinson's head, looking exactly like a single white hair. Unless you looked very closely, it would be difficult to notice such a thread mixed in with her hair.
He traced the thread to its source and found it embedded in Dickinson's skin at the nape of her neck, just like real hair. However, there were obvious surgical suture marks on the skin beneath it. At that moment, a small cut had appeared where the thread met the skin, and some blood was flowing out, already beginning to congeal, likely due to Dickinson's forceful pulling on the thread earlier.
That's ruthless!
Ronald Cohen understood: the thin thread must have been made of the latest nanomaterials, surgically sutured into the cervical spine, and wrapped around the spinal nerve bundles above the chip. With a gentle pull, all 31 pairs of spinal nerve bundles could be severed, thus severing the connection between the chip and the brain.
Ronald hadn't expected Dickinson to have such a trick up her sleeve; no wonder Saladin hadn't directly controlled him!
However, without emergency medical treatment, Dickinson would certainly not survive.
Ronald Cohen sighed, closed Dickinson's unfocused eyes, and said, "How foolish are humans! What a waste!"
As he was sighing, he suddenly heard someone speaking behind him:
"It may seem foolish, but it's worthy of respect!"
Ronald was startled, but when he heard the clattering footsteps, he laughed.
He turned around and saw that the living room door was already open, and the cool breeze from the yard blew in, making the living room chilly. A young man with messy hair, wearing an old gray trench coat, his hands in his pockets, and slippers on his feet, shuffled in.
"You've arrived?" Ronald Cohen smiled.
Unfortunately, it was still too late.
Qingmu walked to the sofa and stood there, glancing at Dickinson. He couldn't sense any mental fluctuations in Dickinson, so he knew he was dead.
A Crow suddenly flew in and landed on Qingmu's head, cawing at Ronald, "Murderer! You're the murderer! I saw you strangle this old man!"
Ronald didn't argue, but simply asked Qingmu, "How did you end up here?"
Qingmu said, "I came to see you."
Ronald looked surprised. "Looking for me? How did you know I was here?" Then, as if struck by a sudden realization, he slapped his forehead. "Ah, how could I forget your relationship with Saladin! But I'm curious, when and how did you get in touch with him?"
Qingmu ignored him, walked over and checked Dickinson's condition again, confirming that she was dead.
Selina's speech on TV continued...
Ronald glanced at the TV, a little anxious, and said, "Now that you're here, things are easier. Quickly ask Saladin where Selina is. If this woman keeps causing trouble like this, something really bad might happen."
Qingmu had been listening to Selina's speech with his headphones on. When he heard the slogan "Mortals are free," something deep within him was touched.
He felt Selina looked familiar, but couldn't quite place her. Regardless of whether he knew her or not, and whether they had any past connection, he admired this woman. He knew what her actions meant.
Ignoring Ronald Cohen's words, Qingmu asked, "Is she your second leader?"
"It used to be," Ronald said with a hint of regret, "But clearly, it was a mistake."
"So you're the first leader of the Children of Gaia?" Qingmu asked again.
Ronald suddenly burst into laughter, saying, "Me? Oh no! Hahaha..." He pointed at Qingmu, "You—you are our supreme leader!"
Qingmu frowned, vaguely sensing that Ronald wasn't just talking nonsense, yet finding it hard to believe it was true. Many jumbled memories began to reassemble, and some distant images appeared in his mind.
Seeing that Qingmu remained silent, Ronald knew he was lost in memories and said:
"There are some things you might not remember, but let me remind you: ' Children of Gaia ' is not an organization, but refers to a specific person—you!"