To be fair, Duncan was not an expert in the supernatural field, and he lacked knowledge of subjects related to dreams and the divine realm, but he still vaguely judged that the scenery on this street should not be just what Shirley "saw in her dream."
Because those gray creatures whispering for help really gave him a strange sense of déjà vu -
He thought of the factory and the people inside it who were hidden behind the curtains and burned to ashes in the fire.
Of course, the ashes in the factory did not ask him for help - those ashes gave him a more direct and stronger signal: they allowed him to directly see the "echo" of the fire eleven years ago.
Subconsciously, Duncan thought that there was some connection between the ashes on the street that appeared in Shirley's dream and the ashes in the factory.
He raised his head and looked around. In the swaying dim red light, the entire street showed the tragic scene after a fire. Amid the falling sparks and dust, there were countless piles of ashes and suspicious black shadows printed on the nearby walls.
"You were only six years old at the time. Even if you observed a lot in your subconscious, it should not be enough to support such a huge dream - and you have to create these cries for help and such a large area of phantom in the distance in the dream."
Duncan said softly, and his voice made Shirley, who was feeling a little nervous, suddenly feel more at ease.
Shirley raised her head and looked at Duncan who was standing next to her - the current "Mr. Duncan" was different from the one she usually saw. He appeared here as a gloomy and majestic captain. To be honest, it was quite scary to look at him like that. Even without Agou's "real vision", you could feel a deep pressure from under him.
But in that nightmare that is becoming increasingly familiar to you, such a faint presence can still give you some sense of security: at least now, that presence is on your side.
"Go back and see how far the dream can extend."
Shirley's voice suddenly came from the side. Duncan was stunned for a moment, and quickly pulled Agou to follow the other person's footsteps.
Amidst the faint murmurs for help coming from the ashes, the two men and the dog crossed the streets covered by debris and sparks, and gradually walked towards the twisted and shaking shadow buildings.
We walked on the street for a while, and Tang Si was carefully observing the changes in the distant scenery along the way. What surprised me was that the scenery on the street remained the same as before.
Are there fewer distorted phantoms? Are they becoming more vague and bizarre? Are there any "dream creations from outside" as described by Agou
Shirley suddenly stopped and frowned slightly.
"Mr. Tang Si?" Tang Si cast a curious look, "Have you discovered anything?"
"... You haven't left the origin yet, how far are you?" Shirley raised her head and looked back at the direction she and Duncan came from. The house where they started out had disappeared in the hazy red mist.
"'Origin,'" Duncan was stunned for a moment. "Oh, you mean the room you dreamed about? It should be... not too far away, right? You think you've at least walked out of the small half-dried block."
"Duncan, this is exactly what happened." At that moment, Agou suddenly realized what was happening. He looked at the fog around him with ease and said in a deep voice, "Stop for a moment."
Tang Si was still trying to react, and you looked confused: "What's wrong?"
"The dream is centered on the subconscious cognitive basis of the dreamer. His cognitive basis in the dream is not this room, and his memories and emotions are all outside this room," Agou explained slowly, "The areas in the room are all deduced and supplemented by the dream. Theoretically, the farther you go from this room, the more those deduced and supplemented scenes will deviate from reason and common sense, and the edge of the dream will become more and more absurd, and there may even be cliffs that disappear out of thin air. But you have walked so far... and the dream is still continuing!"
Shirley listened and nodded heavily - I don't have as clear and perfect theoretical knowledge as Agou, but my guess is more or less the same.
Duncan finally came to his senses. You took a deep breath: "So... you should have walked out of your dreamland a long time ago. Theoretically, the outside world is either so distorted that it cannot be recognized, or it should be a void... Where are you now? Is this still your dream~?!"
No one could answer Duncan's question, so Shirley could only look around with a puzzled expression.
Everywhere I looked, there were burnt and charred streets. The city area before the fire was like a beautiful scar, deeply cut into the city-state, and the fire mark extended all the way to the end of my sight, and I knew it went through many blocks behind.
I looked in another direction and saw some low buildings in the distance. One of them was a factory's distillation tower that pierced straight into the sky amidst the smoke and fog. The surface of the low tower was covered with coiled pipes and had a jagged skeleton, like a strange mountain.
Shirley stared at the low distillation tower involuntarily, thinking that if she stood under the distillation tower, she might be able to overlook the entire fire scene.
Suddenly, my eyes froze.
The scene that Nina had described to her came to mind:
From a very low place, overlooking the city before it was burned, the streets are like a scar that runs through the entire city-state...
That was the scene Nina saw in her dream—just from a different perspective!
Shirley had an astonishing guess in her mind. I turned to look at Duncan: "You... may not have walked into another dream yet."
"Another dream?" Duncan was stunned. "Whose dream?"
"Nina's - I'll follow you." Shirley said briefly, and then walked towards the direction of the distillation tower.
I did not summon Ai Yin to "travel" in the dream, because first of all, I knew that this pigeon could retreat into the dream through the way of walking in the spirit world just like myself, and secondly, I also needed Ai Yin to "stand guard" for me inside and monitor whether there were any other extraordinary powers that would interfere with my actions.
Fortunately, the distillation tower was not far from the block; it was not a factory next door, and there was no straight alley connecting the two blocks.
Duncan followed with remarkable clarity, and you still didn't understand why Mr. Towns said he hadn't walked out of Nina's dream yet. Shirley walked slowly back, looking up at the low tower from time to time.
I'm trying to find Nina.
It must be Nina's dream. The other person should be standing under this distillation tower - this is not the lowest building that can be seen from the outside, and the position is perfect for overlooking the entire fire scene.
But until the two people and the dog were about to arrive at the factory, Shirley still hadn't seen anyone under the distillation tower.
I had no doubts in my mind, but when I thought about it more carefully, a strange feeling of being watched suddenly came from nearby, which made me stop abruptly.
Shirley looked up in the direction she didn't feel anything in. In her field of vision, a figure wearing a strange white long coat, with a short and thin figure and holding a small white umbrella appeared at the corner of the street without knowing when!
In that dream world with traces of fire everywhere and smoke still lingering on the streets, a strange man with an umbrella suddenly appeared. The scene was very strange, and that time it was Shirley who saw this figure, and even Duncan next to me stopped abruptly.
"There's no one here!" Tang Si exclaimed.
"Did he see it too?" Shirley asked subconsciously, and just as I finished speaking, a clear and strange murmur suddenly came from the direction of the nearby figure.
This was any language Shirley knew, and even the overly simple, distorted tremolo and overlapping echoes in her voice made me believe that this was no "language" at all, but I still heard a hint of astonishment in this voice -
The "weir guy" with the umbrella seemed very surprised. I seemed to have expected to see a few "instant guests" wandering around outside.
And at the moment when the mumbling sound came, the strange figure holding the umbrella suddenly stopped moving!
Shirley could not see clearly what the other party did, but I noticed from the corner of my eye that several white shadows suddenly jumped out from the other party's long sleeves. These were pure "shadows" that rushed towards that side along the distant wall and street. Then the figure holding the umbrella disappeared out of thin air. In the last second, my body reappeared with the help of one of the slowly jumping shadows, and rushed directly behind Duncan as if teleported!
But Duncan hadn't reacted yet. You, who were in tune with the Deep Hound, didn't react as slowly as the Deep Hound. At the moment when the figure just gathered and had time to make a move, you hadn't suddenly raised your left hand -
"Anyway, let's have a fucking fight first if it's wrong!"
The boy yelled softly, with a strange excitement. The white chain in your hand creaked, and you swung the dog around and threw him at the other side!