Chapter 1148: Within the Dream
After hearing Wen Wen's question, Moyadi and Mefna exchanged a glance and simultaneously said with a bitter smile, "For now, we don't have the ability to rescue those who are unconscious."
Wen Wen frowned, "Why not?"
Mefna explained, "You should know, dreams are layered as well."
"Shallow dreams, they're normal dreams; most ordinary people's dreams are in the shallow layer, and my ability allows me to fully control shallow dreams."
"Deep dreams, ordinary people can occasionally enter, you could call it a 'dream within a dream.' As long as you fall asleep in a shallow dream, you can enter a deep dream. My ability can interfere with deep dreams to some extent as well."
"The third layer is the subconscious dream. This layer cannot be entered through ordinary sleep, and the dreams here are extremely unstable and very dangerous. Even for me, entering the subconscious dream is risky."
"According to our theory, the mastermind put the victims' consciousness into a certain dream layer, using illusion to cover the other dream layers to achieve this effect."
"However, I attempted to enter one victim's dream and found signs of illusion covering the shallow, deep, and subconscious dreams of this victim..."
"Which means... the perpetrator has hidden the victim's consciousness deeper than the subconscious dream, a place I cannot reach."
Wen Wen nodded, showing understanding to Mefna. If the means of a Catastrophe-Level Expert were so easily unraveled by two Disaster-Level superpower users, he would indeed find it odd.
"What lies in the deeper layers of dreams?"
Mefna answered, "The remaining dreams are mostly theoretical. I've never heard of anyone truly entering those kinds of dreams."
"Peripheral dreams, also known as the Sea of Subconscious, where all dreams converge, including Lost Dreams and Death Dreams."
Wen Wen touched his chin, pondering for a long time before asking, "Do you know of any way to send someone into deeper dream layers? I'd like to try."
Mefna shook her head, "Don't think about taking risks, the subconscious dreams are already very dangerous, not to mention even deeper dreams, where one try might mean you never return."
Wen Wen chuckled, "The more you say that, the more interested I become. This issue needs to be resolved eventually; we can't leave it alone because it's dangerous. Who knows if that guy will bury the entire US-Canada District."
Mefna gave Wen Wen a surprised look. She always thought Wen Wen was just here to loaf around, but she didn't expect him to hesitate not at all when faced with danger.
She hesitated for a moment and said to Wen Wen, "Speaking of methods to enter deeper dreams, there are some, but they're largely unfeasible. Have you ever heard of Nightmares?"
Wen Wen nodded, "A kind of creature living in dreams. It's said that being killed by a Nightmare in a dream means you'll also die in reality."
"Nightmares are dream creatures that can shuttle between various dream layers, a very dangerous kind of creature."
Mentioning the Nightmare made Mefna shiver. She had once encountered a Nightmare in a subconscious dream, the terrifying feeling still clung to her like a shadow.
Even she, a superpower user with some dream manipulation abilities, felt a sense of powerlessness from the depths of her heart when facing a Nightmare, let alone how desperate ordinary people would feel encountering one.
"If we could get the help of a Nightmare, we could certainly enter the victim's deeper dream layers, but that's utterly impossible... because Nightmares are just too dangerous."
"How do you know it's impossible if you don't try? Can you make me see the Nightmare?" Wen Wen wasn't afraid of challenging methods, just afraid of not finding any.
"Are you crazy?" Mefna exclaimed, "Normal people avoid Nightmares like the plague, and you dare to approach one?"
"In the realm of dreams, you're not much more powerful than ordinary people, don't think being a True Order Psychic means the Nightmare can't harm you."
"The horror of the Nightmare is beyond your imagination."
Wen Wen touched his nose, "Enough talk, is there a way or not?"
Mefna sighed deeply, "I have a way to let you see a Nightmare, but I can't guarantee your safety."
"We, Dream Speakers, have a capability to scatter bait in a person's dream, and the Nightmare will follow the bait and kill the dream's owner."
"Then what are we waiting for, let's start," Wen Wen eagerly said to Mefna, thinking that capturing a Nightmare in the Sanctuary would be incredibly interesting given its high rank on his list of curious things.
Mefna replied helplessly, "Then please enter a sleep state first. Let me state in advance, if I sense you might be in danger, I will immediately wake you from the dream."
Wen Wen obediently lay on the bed, quickly entering a sleep state while opening his consciousness to Mefna's influence, as otherwise, her ability couldn't affect him.
Once asleep, Wen Wen immediately opened his eyes to find himself lying on an iron bed.
Mefna's voice came to his ear, "A normal person in a dream wouldn't be aware they are dreaming. My ability allows you to stay conscious in the dream."
Wen Wen sat up from the iron bed, curiously observing everything around him.
He had dreamt many times before, but those dreams were mostly forgotten upon waking. This was his first time dreaming while consciously aware, naturally making everything very intriguing.
The iron bed he lay on was the entrance to that mysterious psychiatric hospital when he first met Wen Li.
The dream presented only a part of the psychiatric hospital, with only about a ten-meter radius around the iron bed, beyond which lay pitch-black nothingness.
Besides the remaining ten square meters of the psychiatric hospital, this void also contained numerous floating objects from Wen Wen's experiences.
There was a corner of Wenwen's family home in Lugang City, vague visions of Oye Water City, and the deep, dark Underground Labyrinth...
A smiling sun floated in the sky, along with flying big lamps, bringing light to this bizarre world.
Aside from inanimate objects, the dream included some living creatures, like a fully formed Cicada Ancestor, the Sky Curtain Giant Whale soaring in the void, and a hand of Heavenly God Yogma, shadows of almost all Catastrophe Level beings Wen Wen had witnessed were present here.
In the dream, manifested entities possess strength, and if Mefna saw Wen Wen's dream, she might be so shocked she couldn't speak.
Everything pieced together into an incredibly bizarre world, a world Wen Wen found difficult to describe with words.
Mefna stood by Wen Wen's bedside, constantly observing his condition, ready to wake him at the slightest hint of danger.
She could only have brief conversations with Wen Wen and knew nothing of the overwhelmingly shocking state of his dream.