Chapter 7 7 Charlie's Castle Frozen in Summer Dusk 7
2152 Words
In the afternoon, Zoe Miller rushed to the nearby schoolhouse where she tutored two high school students.
By the time she got out of the second student's house, it was getting a little late.
She glanced at her phone and noticed that her counsellor had sent her a message this afternoon.
"Zoe Miller , a couple of guys from a cybersecurity company came to see you and said that because of your great grades they want to give you a scholarship. I'll give them your number if you're interested too?"
Zoe Miller typed a reply, Okay, you send it to them, please teacher.
Putting away his mobile phone, Zoe Miller stepped on the bus home.
Network security company, if it's a real scholarship that comes to me, that's good, if it's someone from that website that comes to me, then they're too fast, I just finished filling out the application in the morning...
Of course, Zoe Miller wasn't surprised that she was found; as a computer science student, she knew that it wouldn't be hard to find her ip address right on campus if the other side had a techie. If the hackers on the other side were still able to hack into the campus system, it couldn't have been easier to find out which student ID had submitted that application.
Getting off the bus, Zoe Miller was on her way home when she received an unfamiliar call.
She picked up the phone and a gentle female voice came from the other end of the line, "Hello, is this Zoe?"
"It's me, hello."
"I'm the head of White Box Cyber Security in Mountain City, my name is Olivia Smith."
White Box! It was the name of the website I had filled out in the morning, and sure enough, they had found it.
The female voice on the other side continued nonchalantly, "I'd like to ask Zoe, have you visited the front page of our website today and submitted an inbound request?"
"Yes, I did submit it today."
"Okay then, I'll fill you in on the general situation, until then I think you need to find a quiet place first. After all, what follows may be a bit much, and whether you believe it or not, I'd like you to at least listen before you make a decision."
"Understood, give me ten minutes."
Zoe Miller hung up the phone and ran all the way home, ready with paper and pen again, she was going to pour over her mobile phone to record the call but before she could search how to record a call the other person had already called.
"Zoe, have you reached a quiet place yet?" It was the same gentle female voice.
"I've arrived."
"Good. You wrote on your application form that you woke up with wounds on your body for several days in a row. I need to check with you again, is this your personal experience?"
"Yes, it is my personal experience."
"Zoe, please listen to me carefully next. Many people are currently having similar experiences. Victims are entering someone else's dream world at night, and the injuries sustained in the dream are brought into reality, while during the daytime victims lose all memories of the night, and can only wait for you to completely escape a dream world before you remember all the things that happened in that dream at once during the day. Your current situation is most likely entering the first dream."
"Someone else's dream?" Zoe Miller didn't understand why, instead of dreaming herself, she would be caught up in someone else's dream.
"In fact, ordinary people dream, it would have been an extremely normal thing to do, and it wouldn't have involved others. What I am referring to here on behalf of the dead is actually the dreams of the dead. The last obsession of someone who is about to die will manifest into a complete dream world, which we call a dream bubble. And their obsessions, after experiencing the contamination of death, will generate a huge amount of energy, enough to pull the living into their dream bubble. You can understand that when a person falls asleep, the brain cells that are still active send out a segment of brain waves, which are normally very weak and cannot affect others. But after death, it's like going through an enhancer, where these waves are instantly amplified countless times and wrap around the living person at all times in an attempt to get on the same frequency as the living person's brainwaves. Once they capture the brainwaves of the living they can pull the living into the dream. If we can't get out of the dream in time, we will slowly be assimilated. And the result of being assimilated by the dead is only death."
Zoe Miller took in such a large amount of information at once, and it took a while for her to find her voice, "So, how can we leave from the dream in time?"
"The way to leave the dream bubble is to fulfil their last wish, or they voluntarily let you go.Speaking of which, classmate, I would like to remind you that in a dream bubble, the owner of the dream represents the supreme will of the dream, so be sure to get on good terms with them, this is the first time you have entered a dream and have no experience, so remember to be careful not to anger the owner of the dream, and not to poke a finger in front of him that it is just a dream there, or else there will be serious consequences. Though you may not understand it now, you will certainly understand it at night."
Zoe Miller knew the seriousness of what was going on, but she currently had no idea what her nighttime self was experiencing.
"Can I bring things into the dream world? Is there a way to send messages from the dream to the daytime?" Otherwise she must be anxious when she knows nothing during the day.
"I understand where you're coming from, but unfortunately the answer is no. Nothing can be transmitted between the two worlds. Even if you tried to carve a message into your body at night, by daytime the perception would be distorted, the wound would still be there, yet the message would be erased."
The caller seemed to hear her anxiety and tried to calm her, "Zoe, don't panic, the truth is that a large portion of the dream bubbles are harmless, and as long as you don't provoke your master's perceptions, you'll have a high probability of surviving. We at the White Box will also help newcomers adapt as quickly as possible. As a newcomer, you have one unconditional chance to ask us for help. When you successfully come out of your first dream bubble, you will be able to share your experiences with others on the site, or you can write about your experiences and give them to the site in exchange for points, which in turn can be exchanged for money or other things you need."
Zoe Miller sensed the power of this organisation, "I see, thanks."
"No need to thank me, we are in a hurry today, so you can digest this information for now. You can always find me if you have any doubts after that." The person on the other end of the phone said softly, "Zoe, good luck surviving."
Hanging up the phone, Zoe Miller got up and went to wash her face to calm down.
When she came back, she looked at the blank sheet of paper on her desk, cluttered with words like "dream bubble," "brainwave," and "cognitive distortion."
She was inclined to think that what was said on the phone was true, but of course, whether it was true or not, as long as she could get out of the first dream bubble, she would naturally know then. If she couldn't get out of it, then even knowing those facts wouldn't help.
She then thought about the b****y scab on her arm. If the night me realises that injuries in dreams carry over into reality, surely I can sense that something is wrong and try to send a message to the day me. Could any of the injuries sustained over the past few days have been left on purpose by myself?
Zoe Miller can't be sure when she was drawn into the dream world, nor can she tell how dangerous that world is at night. In other words, there was nothing she could do during the day.
Whew, can't be this demoralising. She put pen to paper and laid out a plan.
The first was to continue filming with the camera at night, or at least figure out when the wounds appeared.
The second was to keep a log of the changes from day to day, recording what wounds were sustained on what days, so that over time she could at least roughly determine if the dream bubble was dangerous or not.
Third, I need to save up for a computer, I'm going to be browsing the White Box website a lot after this, and it doesn't seem very convenient to browse on my phone.
Fourthly, I need to buy some history books; Zoe Miller, being a science student, has returned most of her history knowledge to her teachers. But since the owners of the dream bubbles are all dead people, it might be useful to read more about history.
With that in mind, Zoe Miller ordered several history books online, both domestic and international. Then she looked at her bank card balance and, well, there wasn't much money left for a computer.
Without thinking about the heartbreaking balance, Zoe Miller moved the camera to the end of her bed and narrowed the view to her left hand. Well, once he's asleep, he'll find a way to slightly injure his left hand, and hopefully this time the camera will be strong enough to get a clearer video.
With that done, Zoe Miller rested her left hand in front of the camera and fell asleep in that position.
--
Rosie's Castle, third floor sleeping quarters.
Zoe Miller awakens to a patch of morning light -- apparently she forgot to lower the drapery before falling asleep yesterday.
She thinks about what Olivia Smith warned her about in the afternoon, "Do not anger the Master of Dreams, do not poke at the fact that it is a dream, and do not provoke the Master's perceptions."
One mustn't forget that in the dream he was God, but one mustn't make him cognisant of the fact that he was God either.
Zoe Miller broadly understood why, except that again, it was a little counter to the plan she had in mind. She hadn't wanted to just grant Charlie's wish. But now it seemed there was a long way to go.
Before she could recompose her thoughts, the maid knocked on the door.
This time she wheeled in a dining car full of breakfast, followed by a small maid holding a hunting outfit.
"Honoured guest," the maid who walked in front greeted her, "Good morning, His Majesty's trip this morning is to hunt in the back of the mountain, he specially instructed you to have breakfast as soon as possible, change into your hunting clothes, and go to the back of the mountain to meet up with him."
Hunting, a word that sounds bloodstained.Zoe Miller had a bad premonition in her heart.
"I don't feel well today, can I not go?"
The maid respectfully lowered her head, but there was no concession between her words, "His Majesty said he is waiting for you to go over at the back of the mountain."
Zoe Miller had no choice but to dawdle through her breakfast, change her clothes, and follow the maid to the back of the mountain.
--
In the back of the mountain, there were many iron cages on the grass, containing many animals, mostly pigeons, foxes and rabbits. The servants were guarding one cage at a time. Charlie was holding a musket and filling the barrel with gunpowder.
Behind him, a middle-aged man in the shape of a butler shouted, "The third one, release!"
A servant opened the cage in his hand on command, and a grey pigeon flew out, fluttering its wings and escaping into the sky.
With a bang of a gunshot, the dove fell to the ground in response. Soon a servant ran up to clean up the animal carcass.
Charlie, on the other hand, as if he had only just seen Zoe Miller arrive, "Good morning Miss Emily, I was wondering if you've ever been on a hunt before?"
Zoe Miller shook her head, "No."
"Then you have the honour of experiencing it today," Charlie smiled, "Welcome to my hunt."
"I hope you'll enjoy it."
- Writer
