Assuming that they have opened a new nightmare since entering the second ghost tunnel, there is a reasonable explanation for You Yu's inability to return favor points after Chi Nan disappeared.
It is precisely because they are in a nightmare that all they see in front of them are the illusions created by the nightmare, and only the core goodwill system cannot be polluted by the nightmare image.
The rain drops and swims against the umbrella held, and the wet and bright red umbrella surface is out of tune with the gray world.
You Yu's hand holding the umbrella handle tightened unconsciously, and looked up at the silent base building: "If I am assimilated by nightmares and forget about you, I will probably be judged to be out of the game."
"Thank you for remembering me," Chi Nan said sincerely, then added after a pause, "Thank you too...for liking me."
Chi Nan thought that it was probably the existence of emotions that lengthened the shelf life of memories.
You Yu smiled: "If it's your guess, I think... the nightmare we are in now should be a dream woven by the legendary dream maker himself."
It is not surprising that Chi Nan can enter the so-called "God-level Nightmare" tour, and even predicted the arrival of this day a long time ago.
But why is he himself being pulled into a dream? In what capacity is he involved in this nightmare
Is it because Chi Nan can only act through him? Because his body served as the container of Chi Nan's soul? Or was it because of his special feelings for Chi Nan that triggered some kind of connection
Or...or there's something deeper, they don't know yet.
The inorganic sound of the system pulls You Yu back to reality—
[Congratulations to Chi Nan, a sleepwalker, and Dream Maker 229 bound to Chi Nan for successfully clearing the first level dream of the nightmare "Crying Boy", which took a total of 229 days]
[The second layer of the dream of the "Crying Boy" dungeon has been opened, please enter the connection port of the deep dream within an hour, and continue to explore the dream]
The system broadcast completely confirmed Chi Nan's guess.
The moment they jumped into the rain curtain from the 206 circulation room, they had already fallen into the copy of "The Crying Boy". At that time, from the densely repeated 206 windows, they saw countless "Crying Boys" with only the background left. Prompt, but no one has realized this for more than half a year.
"Do you have any tips?" You Yu repeated Chi Nan's words to the system.
System: [Time and the Illuminati will guide you into your dreams. ]
"Time and light?" You Yu questioned.
But his questioning voice disappeared in the rain without any response, and the system quickly hid his voice after giving the ambiguous prompt.
Chi Nan looked at the brightly lit base through You Yu's eyes, and the rain blurred the light into a mottled patch: "But there is light everywhere."
You Yu also pouted: "The most important thing in the dream world is time."
"Could it be the light outside the artificial light source? Like moonlight..." Chi Nan followed You Yu's line of sight to the gloomy rainy night, "I think too much."
Since I entered the nightmare, I have rarely encountered a clear night when the moon appears.
"I've worked at Dawn Base for ten years, and it's always brightly lit here," You Yu frowned slightly when he fell into deep thought, "Perhaps, absolute darkness can help us find the "light" mentioned in the system. "
Chi Nan quickly understood what he meant: "Do you have permission to turn off the lights on the entire base?"
"I can't do it myself," You Yu was walking towards the base building with an umbrella, "but if you're here, Brother Nan... how would you know if you don't try?"
But You Yu was soon blocked in front of the glass door of the base building, and his ID card, facial fingerprint recognition, and dream maker number were all useless.
The building defense system makes an annoying 'beep beep' sound—
[The base building is in an emergency closed state, and the building passage cannot be opened through identification, please take other verification methods]
"Other verification methods?" You Yu questioned the system's icy rejection, "All permissions in the base are enabled through identification, and other verification methods do not exist."
He aimed his dark green right eye at the recognition system, and the 'dididi' sound of rejection sounded again—
[Unable to open the building channel through identity recognition, please follow the prompts and take appropriate verification methods]
"Time and light," Chi Nan silently recited the only reminder, Fu Zhixin, "could it be time?"
The dissatisfaction and fog in You Yu's eyes dissipated instantly: "Pocket watch?"
"Pocket watch?"
The two spoke in unison.
As You Yu said, the time in the dream world is infinite, and they can't master infinite things, but the prompt given by the system clearly mentions 'time'.
In contrast, Yu Yu's time is still, and he always stays at the moment of 12:20.
As an important participant in this nightmare, the time he represents is of great reference value.
You Yu quickly took out his pocket watch and placed it in the identification area, only to hear a 'di', and the tightly closed glass door slowly opened to both sides.
The base building was as quiet as all the dreamers and NPCs disappeared, and the hall full of floor-to-ceiling glass was deserted.
You Yu didn't want to delay for a moment, and rushed directly to the elevator to the floor where the control room was located.
In the process of the elevator going up, You Yu felt an inexplicable unease in his heart, which he had seen when countless sleepwalkers faced the unknown.
Why in the copy of the Dream Maker, the time that he stopped, and this pocket watch as his death certificate would be the key to unlocking the authority? Is it just luck that you become the most senior dream maker yourself
This is the first time that You Yu has doubts about why he appeared in the dream world.
He had a vague hunch that when "The Crying Boy" was hung in his bedroom, it might not have been the beginning of all cause and effect.
All truths are buried deep in the dreams left by the dream maker.
What he and Chi Nan have to do is to get closer, open, and crane their necks to see this mysterious box.
The confinement door of the main control room still needs to be identified and opened by a pocket watch.
The energy cycle of the entire dream-making world is normal, and all programs are running as usual.
You Yuzao took a flashlight from the storage room and put it in his pocket, and walked to the equipment that controls the light source of the entire base: "Brother Nan, let's try it?"
"Okay." Chi Nan didn't have a body, so he sensed it with consciousness, folded his hand on You Yu's hand, and moved synchronously through the feeling returned by You Yu.
I saw the screen of the light source control device flickering—
[The two have obtained the permission to manipulate the light source, may I turn off the light source]
[Please note that once the shutdown operation is performed, the entire Dawn base will sink into darkness]
"Yes."
"Yes."
The two made a sound again at the same time, and You Yu had already pressed the button that appeared on the screen.
The moment his fingers touched the screen, the base silently fell into darkness.
The base building is the tallest building in the entire base, and the nineteenth floor, where the general control room is located, has a panoramic view of the entire base to the west and north.
You Yu came to the floor-to-ceiling window, and there was no light outside the window.
He turned on the flashlight he had prepared, left the control room and walked towards the offices on the other side where he could see the south and east sides of the base. It was still dark outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.
"It seems that the so-called "light" is not outside, but in this building. "
Having said that, You Yu has already walked towards the elevator with the flashlight.
Back on the ground and looking up around the base building, they quickly locked the only bright window in the building.
It was a warm yellow light, just like the countless windows that flashed past when they jumped from the 206 window, the wet lights drenched by the rain flickered alone, making people feel unreal.
You Yu was familiar with the entire base building, and quickly confirmed the location of the room: "Office 2906."
"What is this office used for?" Chi Nan asked.
You Yu shrugged: "It's just an ordinary favor accounting spare room, nothing special."
But when the elevator stopped on the twenty-ninth floor, and they walked towards the only light in the entire base, You Yu's footsteps suddenly stopped.
The white door of the 2906 office was tightly closed, and the yellow light leaked from the crack of the door and sprinkled on the red carpet.
You Yu's flashlight just shone on the place where the house number was written, the "9" in 2906 was cut out by someone, and the vacancy was not repaired, and the number on the house number became "2+06".
This familiar, nostalgic, and disturbing figure.
"You Yu, shall we open the door?" Chi Nan was much calmer in comparison.
You Yu hesitated for a moment before nodding his head: "Okay."
Following Chi Nan's example, he politely knocked on the door: "Is there anyone?"
Unexpectedly, there was no response. You Yu waited for half a minute and tried to insert the key of the 206 dormitory into the door lock. Just like in the 206 cycle, the door lock was easily twisted open.
With the warm yellow light coming, You Yu turned off the flashlight.
Through You Yu's line of sight, Chi Nan saw that the furnishings in the house also looked like the bedroom of the old house that he was familiar with.
The wardrobe, the bed, the drug-stained carpet, the paintings on the walls where the protagonists disappeared, and even the rain and night outside the window were completely unchanged.
For a moment, the two had the illusion of returning to the 206 cycle again.
You Yu's breathing changed slightly, and Chi Nan quickly noticed his change and said in a soft voice, "Don't worry, there is no body to burn him this time."
You Yu forced himself to relax and smiled, he opened the pocket watch in his hand, and he was slightly relieved after confirming that the time was still.
"Dream Maker will not be so boring that we can relive the scenes in the re-engraved bug."
You Yu quickly calmed down, and entered the house according to the prompt to quickly check, including whether the window glass could be opened.
Soon, he found the most obvious difference between this and the bug, and he walked towards the wall where "The Crying Boy" was hung: "The world in the painting is also raining."
The rain this time is different from the previous rain, it is dynamic, and it floats on the canvas, as if someone had cut a rectangular hole in the wall, and framed a picture frame around the hole, and kept falling outside the window. Night rain as a scene in the house.
You Yu took the painting off the wall, and he stroked the cold frame, while the static canvas was painted with dynamic rain, which seemed inconsistent and unique.
It was as if a whole world was imprisoned in a picture frame.
Chi Nan also looked at and touched the frame: "Take off the frame and take a look, maybe it's the entrance."
You Yu's hand paused slightly: "Is it okay?"
Regarding everything about Chi Nan, he will show the most cautious side.
Chi Nan: "What does it matter?"
You Yu skillfully removed the frame, and the moment the painting was released from the frame and exposed to the air, the light in the room rapidly intensified and spread rapidly to the surroundings in an explosive manner.
Under the shroud of excessive light, the two lost their vision, and then their hearing, smell, and touch all briefly disappeared.
There was silence, absolute light came, and the world seemed to have been pressed the pause button, still in the skyrocketing light.
Both You Yu and Chi Nan thought they were going to become blind again.
I don't know how long it took, the strong light gradually faded, and the senses also woke up a little bit.
The first thing to wake up was the hearing, not far away there was still the sound of the pattering rain, and the screeching sound of the wheels running over the gravel road.
The sense of smell was also awakened, and the air was full of smoke that made people dizzy, and the smell of moss on a rainy day was slightly diluted by the smell of smoke.
Then he recovered his sense of touch. Chi Nan felt that the space he was in was constantly bumping, and it seemed to be some kind of ancient means of transportation. Fortunately, he was wrapped in a soft cushion, so that the bumps would not hurt his back.
Finally, You Yu opened his eyes.
But the environment he was in was surrounded by darkness, and he couldn't see anything when he woke up from the absolute bright light.
"Chi Nan?" You Yu's voice was a little unstable.
The unfamiliar, quiet and invisible environment made his palms slightly wet, and he immediately confirmed Chi Nan's existence.
"I'm here." Chi Nan felt his emotions and comforted him unfamiliarly.
Only then did You Yu's nerves relax, and his reason gradually returned to his cage. He was sure that he and Chi Nan had been teleported to the second-level nightmare of "The Crying Boy".
"It's like we're sitting in a carriage."
As soon as You Yu finished speaking, the carriage jolted violently, and a ray of sunlight leaked in through the gap in the door curtain, just illuminating the right half of You Yu's face and the shackles that clasped his wrists and locked his ankles.
The ankles wrapped in black socks were pitifully slender, and the black leather shoes under the shackles looked much smaller than the ones he was familiar with.
A pair of children's feet.
"Tsk," You Yu showed a novel expression, he tried to move his slightly numb body, and the shackles made a ding ding dong sound, "It seems that something is wrong with my body, and the current situation is also a little troublesome. "
Saying that, he touched his pocket with difficulty, and paused: "The pocket watch is gone too."
Chi Nan's vision was in sync with his, and he soon discovered the abnormality. Obviously, You Yu had turned into a child, and he seemed to be a hapless child who was sent to the prison in handcuffs and shackles.
"Could it be that the person who escorted us stole it?"
"It's hard to say, find a chance to knock them down and do a search." For You Yu, there is nothing more common than knocking people down, even if he turns into a child, it doesn't seem to matter to him.
Just then, another voice sounded from the carriage: "Are you talking to yourself?"
You Yu's back collapsed, and he always had the sharpest alertness. Even in an absolutely dark space, he would not be unaware that there was another person beside him.
Either his abilities have deteriorated with the change of identity, or the other party is also unusual.
By now he had gradually adapted to the darkness and looked in the direction of the voice.
In the darkest corner of the carriage sat another child, who looked eight or nine years old.
The eyes of the two met, and Chi Nan saw the unfamiliar little boy showing a vigilant but indifferent expression.
This expression is very familiar to him, and he has seen it countless times on Xiao Youyu's face.
But looking at each other for a moment, the little boy laughed: "We should be able to be happy roommates."
You Yu didn't hate the little boy in front of him: "Why?"
He noticed that the little boy was also wearing handcuffs and shackles, and a huge drawing board was still pressed against his thin body.
The little boy said, "I like your eyes. If you don't mind, I want to draw a portrait of you."