Chapter 767: Waking Up

Gu You dangled the handcuff key in front of Chen Shi, saying, “I’ve spoken to Officer Lin. As long as you promise not to ‘wake up’ through suicide, I’ll unlock your handcuffs.”

“Whatever,” Chen Shi replied.

“Not ‘whatever,’ you have to promise.”

“Fine, I promise.”

Gu You unlocked the handcuffs. Chen Shi stood up and walked to the window. The reflection in the glass was indeed Song Lang’s face, but the ordinary scenery outside left him confused.

“Do you remember when you fell asleep?” Gu You asked.

“It must have been last night. When people started committing strange suicides at the hotel today, I thought, this must be fake again! I’ve been having weird dreams these past few days, staying in them for a long time. Someone hypnotized me. Damn it!”

Gu You knew that trying to convince Chen Shi would only make him more skeptical. Her father, Chen Fengde, had been the same. Intelligent people, once fixated on a thought, were nearly impossible to sway.

“If you know this is a dream, why not tell Lin Dongxue who you really are?”

“I… I’m afraid that saying it aloud will turn this dream into a nightmare… I need to wake up! Can I go for a walk?”

“As long as you behave.”

Chen Shi walked with Gu You into the hallway. Even in the familiar corridor, he felt a sense of unreality. The obsession that “this is a dream” consumed him like a virus.

The police were interrogating “Han Meng,” but the little girl said nothing, just sat with her legs hugged, smirking.

Chen Shi approached the interrogation room. Lin Dongxue was surprised, “Chen Shi is okay?”

Gu You signaled for silence.

Lin Dongxue changed the subject, “Chen, do you want to hear about the case?”

“Sure,” Chen Shi said, thinking it might be interesting to solve a case within a dream.

“All those affected were from out of town. They stayed in the hotel last night. We ran urine tests and found datura alkaloids in their systems. The hotel surveillance was tampered with; the footage from 11 PM to 3 AM was looped. We suspect someone broke into their rooms and hypnotized them during that time.”

“What kind of hypnosis could make someone confuse dreams with reality?” Chen Shi asked. “If this is real, could what happened to Xiaodong have been a test?”

“My father experienced something similar. He repeatedly tried to ‘wake up’ through suicide. We stopped him each time. He became restless, lost interest in everything, like a walking corpse,” Gu You said.

Hearing this, Lin Dongxue glanced worriedly at Chen Shi, hoping he wouldn’t end up like that.

Chen Shi stared at the CCTV outside the interrogation room for a long time, then said, “I want to talk to her.”

The interrogation wasn’t going anywhere, so the officers inside left, and Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue took their places. The girl, who had been sitting with her head down, looked up at Chen Shi and said, “You know, in a dream, no matter what you do, you can’t verify it’s a dream unless you wake up.”

“Shut up!” Lin Dongxue said, fearing the girl would manipulate Chen Shi.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Chen Shi asked.

“Because you have a big secret inside you. You’re confused, unsure if you’re in reality or a dream. If you believe in me and learn to control dreams, you’ll find relief.”

“Enough!” Lin Dongxue shouted, regretting letting Chen Shi talk to her.

“Did you kill those people using these methods?” Chen Shi asked.

“Didn’t they deserve to die?”

“It’s not for you to decide.”

“Justice is subjective. When one person kills another, you see blood and cruelty but not the killer’s prior suffering…” The girl’s eyes changed. “What I’ve been through is worse than hell. Can you understand that? Those who sent me to hell, how are they innocent? As outsiders, why do you interfere?”

Suddenly, her lower body turned into numerous writhing tentacles. Chen Shi stared in shock while Lin Dongxue banged on the table, shouting, “Stop it!”

Seeing the girl’s eerie smile, Chen Shi clutched his head and ran out. Lin Dongxue chased him, fearing he might harm himself.

Chen Shi ran into an office, touching desks and chairs, then turned on a computer, browsing its contents. Lin Dongxue was stunned. Gu You, who arrived later, said, “He senses something and is trying to determine if this world is real.”

“How can he tell?” Lin Dongxue asked.

“Details! The real world is infinitely detailed. If you go to a supermarket and buy instant noodles, the package clearly states the ingredients and origin. If you go to that origin, you’ll find a factory where you can talk to the workers. Each item in the factory can be traced back to its source… A world that can be infinitely detailed is real. He’s using his reasoning to ‘wake up!'”

Chen Shi looked up, trembling. “I understand what they’ve done to my brain!”

In his previous dream, he became Chen Shi, an impossible event. Now, in reality, he found himself as Song Lang. If he were Song Lang, Lin Dongxue and Lin Qiupu’s reactions wouldn’t be so normal.

Something had to be wrong. Someone had swapped the connections in his brain, making him think he was Song Lang when seeing Chen Shi and vice versa.

“Ms. Gu, please treat me,” Chen Shi said.

Chen Shi was taken to Gu You’s consulting room. When he woke up again, he immediately took out his phone and checked his reflection. He was Chen Shi again.

“Great!” He sighed in relief.

“Feeling better?” Gu You handed him a cup of tea.

“All good now. This is reality, right?”

“Yes, Officer Lin is waiting for you outside.”

Chen Shi went out, and seeing him back to normal, Lin Dongxue hugged him, crying with joy. Chen Shi patted her back, comforting her. But a fleeting thought crossed his mind: what if Gu You’s hypnosis hadn’t worked? What if he was still dreaming and seeing himself as Chen Shi was just another dream?