Chapter 664 Because We Never Give up Looking up at the Stars

"Uh-huh... ah--Hello everyone, my name is Wang Dachui. I wake up from a big bed of 10,000 square meters every morning... Oh, I am tired from saying such a long list of words every morning.

Snap——

He reached out and patted the buttocks of the woman beside him. He endured the stinking smell in his mouth when he got up and ordered:

"Go get me some water."

The woman stood up immediately and ran towards the bathroom obediently like a puppet.

"Hey, it would be great if I could directly cast some dust-avoiding technique like in Xianxia novels. Uh, wait, this can also be done, right?"

Thinking of this, the man suddenly felt that the smell in his mouth disappeared, and it still had the freshness of mint, as if he had brushed his teeth automatically.

"You need to wash your face too."

With a certain attitude of trying, he touched his dry palm across his cheek. What he felt on his cheek was the touch of a towel dipped in hot water.

"It's so convenient. Why didn't I think of it before... I'm so stupid, really."

Time seems to be endless - this is not an objective description, but in a supervisory sense, time has truly become endless.

On what day did it start? Wang Dachui himself can’t remember clearly. Whether he was called [Wang Dachui] before that day is also a question worth pondering. Because it was so long ago that I can no longer remember what happened before that day.

What was my previous name and what did I do before. I don’t remember any of it.

In short, from a certain point on, life suddenly became like a dream.

It is still so real, and all the senses can identify everything experienced as [reality], but the underlying rules of how the world operates no longer seem to be the same as before——

Everything you want can be achieved, it's like heaven.

Only once... Wang Dachui remembered that when he woke up a few mornings ago, the bed was still soft and he couldn't see the end, but his body felt extremely cold. The three women who were beside him before falling asleep last night were nowhere to be seen. , which shocked him directly.

But he fell asleep quickly after that, and had an extremely clear [dream] that even felt clearer than [reality] - From that day on, Wang Dachui never dreamed again. Dreams themselves seem like a strange thing.

In that dream, he turned into a monster with only four limbs, being pulled by thin leads and attacking a purple-haired girl.

A voice in his mind told him that it was a messenger sent by hell, vowing to break their existing happy life and make everything turn into what it should be.

Wang Dachui didn't know what this meant, so he just attacked like crazy. Even though he didn't touch her, she was broken into many pieces.

The pain hit me, and when I opened my eyes again, it was a new day.

Fortunately, nothing has changed. He is still in the reality he loves.

Uh, wait.

There does seem to be a change.

Wang Dachui rubbed his eyes vigorously, looked at the little white-haired girl next to him who was staring at her with blue eyes, and opened his mouth in vain:

"That's not right... I should have no such thoughts for the time being... And why is it such a young girl... Am I actually a perverted lolicon?"

"Yes, yes, you are a pervert!"

Theresa resisted the urge to take action, put her hands on her hips and said through gritted teeth.

"Huh? You can actually talk?"

Wang Dachui gradually realized something was wrong.

Because the women who appeared in response to his desires, except for some mechanical, pre-recorded performances, most of the time reacted like artificial retards, and it was almost impossible for such a distinct individual to appear before him.

Is it a real person?

He spends most of his time sleeping on this 10,000-square-meter bed, and he really hasn't seen many real people.

He was still thinking, while Theresa had resisted the urge to hit someone for the second time. She took several deep breaths before trying to explain in a calm tone:

"My name is Theresa Apokalis. You may not have heard of my name, but you should have heard of my last name, right?"

"Apocalis... seems to have some impression?"

"Destiny."

"oh oh?"

Seeing his slow reaction, Teresa gradually lost the thought of being angry:

"You can't remember anything about what happened outside. Are you completely immersed in this dream?"

"Dreamland? You said this place I'm staying in is a dreamland?"

"Yes, you have now been involved in a dream called [Stigma Project]. All of this is your imagination in your dream, not reality..."

"Oh... I said so."

Wang Dachui nodded, seemingly not too surprised.

"You already knew?"

"No, it's just a dream. It's no big deal, right?"

"Well……"

Similarly, Theresa was not too surprised. It was obvious that this was not the first time she had faced this attitude.

"I just said, how can there be 10,000 square meters of beds in this world, and those women don't look like real people. If it is a dream, it can be explained. It's just that this dream is too exciting and too real. - Let me ask you, if I don’t wake up, will I die?”

"Uh... no."

Theresa hesitated for a moment, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to lie.

"Look, isn't this good? I don't remember what kind of life I experienced before the dream, but it was definitely not so comfortable. I have whatever I want, and this is enough for me not to leave. "

"But if you remain immersed in dreams..."

"What will happen? Didn't you say it? You won't die. Everyone likes to sleep in. It's just that in reality, dreams can't go on forever, and people will always wake up. No matter what, if you don't wake up If you eat breakfast, you will starve to death. Now that you won’t die and won’t be forced to wake up, isn’t it good to just keep dreaming?”

Theresa was speechless for a long time with her mouth open, and finally she could only leave in anger.

…………

"Stop playing with kids, this is just a dream..."

"It's a dream! No wonder, if we were like this normally, our parents and teachers would have taken us back and spanked us long ago."

"Then...how about returning to reality with my sister?"

"Sister? You're good enough to be our sister, right?"

The children looked down at Theresa and wondered.

"..."

"However, we don't want to go back. When we return to reality, we have countless homework, and we have to be scolded by teachers and parents. If we stay here, we can play how we want, play whatever we want, and play as long as we want. . If you really want to learn, the knowledge will come into your mind just by thinking about it. Why go out?"

…………

"Uncle, do you know, this place is actually just a dream..."

"Dream? Oh kid, I already knew it."

"Then...don't you want to wake up?"

On the sunny beach, the old man squinted his eyes with a complex expression, and unconsciously turned his head to look at his mother-in-law, who was smiling and motionless on the lounge chair next to him.

"The old woman died in the collapse half a year ago. It's true... She has always been in better health than me. I also got cancer and I couldn't live for a few more years. Originally, I selfishly thought that I would be better than me. She left first, and it would be her who would be sad instead of me. Unexpectedly, she would be the one to leave first in the end... In this dream, I can be with her, and my own cancer is gone, so... I can let her go. Can I stay with her a little longer?"

"Grandpa..."

Teresa couldn't say anything in the end and could only leave.

…………

"Well……"

There was a slight tingling sensation in her brain, and Theresa opened her eyes. Her eyes were first sore from the bright light, but this pain also made her realize that she was back to reality.

"Oh, it looks like you have failed?"

With her lowered eyes, she caught sight of two ham-like little feet. Elf Ellie floated to her side as soon as she returned to reality, and gently pressed the heart-shaped staff against her big head. Sha felt her mind lighten instantly.

"yes……"

Gazing across the pairs of expectant eyes in the conference room, Theresa lowered her head in embarrassment.

"I failed... basically no one wants to wake up. Some of them have spent countless nights in dreams and have even forgotten everything that happened before entering the dream. Some of them..."

Otto shrugged, spread his hands, and said nothing.

The rest of the people had similar expressions, a little disappointed, but not that disappointed. After all, this was an expected result.

Originally, no one expected to overturn the entire Stigma Project with just words. That is, the forerunner named Alicia said it with certainty, so everyone had some expectations, but only a little, so there was only a little disappointment. .

"So, Ms. Alicia, do you have any other ideas?"

"What would you do if I said, no?"

Fairy Ellie's childish little face turned to Otto.

Otto gently pinched his chin and gave the answer without much hesitation:

"wait."

"Hey?"

"This is the only way I can think of at the moment. A dream is just a dream after all. As long as the time goes on long enough, the dream will reveal its flaws: if it is a real dream, that's it. But according to Mikael, since the dream In the story, personal wishes are fulfilled because the Stigma shares the experiences of others and everything in the past, so the flaw is actually obvious - there is no future in the dream of the Stigma Project.

"There may not be any problem in the short term. After all, Project Stigma has captured more than 7 billion individuals. Such a large number of samples is enough to ensure the freshness and non-repetition of dreams for a long time. But once the time is extended to the extreme , in the end there will inevitably be repeated dreams with nothing new, and in the end, this seemingly beautiful dream will actually become a kind of prison and a kind of torture.

"And I believe we don't need to wait too long. According to Theresa, the time flow rate in the dream of Stigma Space may be different from that of the outside world. Only three or four days have passed in the outside world, but there are people in the dream who have spent more time. A long time, so long that you can’t even remember the memory before entering the dream. According to common sense, time in dreams usually flows faster than reality, because dreams have a jumping nature. Of course, it does not rule out that it is just a single person. in this way."

"Oh! You have thought of everything! You are indeed a human being that both Mikael and Mei are optimistic about!"

Alicia spun around in mid-air, but then issued a soul torture:

"But... how long will it take to wait? Regardless of how long it takes [most people are unwilling to continue to stay in dreams], Mikael will not give us much time, right?"

"Yes, I understand this truth. So... Grandma, please help your descendants?"

"Ah - your grandma, who is that?"

Alicia was about to smile, but her face froze.

"You see, Shanyat is the blood of you and Mikael, and Kaslana has been intermarried with Shanyat for a long time, not to mention that my mother is also a Shanyat, so your blood flows in my bones. You must not have the heart to see us helpless, right? Grandma?"

Otto clamped his throat and continued to explain like a fool, and used his palm to cover up the smile at the corner of his mouth.

A cold smile bloomed on the face of Fairy Ai Li——

"Hehe, if you mention that name again, I will go back to the paradise of the afterlife now! I will give you another chance, what should you call me?"

"Miss Pink Fairy!"

"That's more like it! Ahem——"

Ailishia cleared her throat, and her sadness was covered by her jump and disappeared in a flash.

"Oh, really, I promised Mikael that I would not fight him... But helping you crack the Stigmata plan doesn't seem to count as fighting with Mikael——Then leave it to me, after all, you have already given your own plan, which is indeed a feasible plan, but if you add a little power of the Herrscher of Erosion, it will be better!"

…………

In a place where no one noticed, the time in the Stigmata space was split into two parts with completely opposite flow rates by different dimensions.

By modifying the data, the time tassels of the stigmata space itself were pulled to a level far beyond the second passing like a year, while the speed of human reaction still followed the original time flow rate. As a result, the people in the dream had spent a time far beyond the interval between two eras before they had time to react.

Then, a girl with long pink hair appeared in this green space.

"Oh, it's really a classic Mobius color scheme. This guy is really troublesome. If he stays here for a long time, his eyes will definitely become myopic, right?"

After flicking her hair, Alicia walked into the dream. In the stigmata space, she didn't have to rely on the fairy Aili to exist.

"Wow! There really is a 10,000 square meter bed!"

"Hello, my name is Wang Dachui. I wake up from this 10,000 square meter bed every morning...ah, what else should I say..."

In the middle of the bed, a man with a haggard face, a deep complexion, and full of shadows lay motionless in a big letter shape. Hearing Alysia's mumbling, he just mechanically and weakly said a few words in response.

"Do you still want to stay in this dream?"

Alysia squatted down beside him gently.

"No... no, I will sleep on the floor every day after I go out, no... I want to become a monk, I will never sleep on the bed again, and I don't want to see women again..."

Alysia's figure slowly faded away in a silent smile.

"Hi! Children, are you having fun?"

Some children fell asleep in front of the computer, some spread their mobile phones on the table and stared at the ceiling with lifeless eyes, and of course there were also some who were staring at cards, flying chess and the like. Some even picked up the test paper, but after hearing Alysia's voice, they threw the test paper away with a sense of relief.

"Not-happy-"

"Please, big sister, let us leave here... We've been playing games until we're about to vomit..."

"That's right, there are always these games. At the beginning, there will be some new games, but they are all like half-finished products. Even the online games have stopped updating later... Sister, you see, we have done our homework several times. There is really nothing to do. Please let us go..."

Alixia picked up the discarded test paper from the ground. The back of the paper was full of Gobang grids, and on the front, it can be seen that these children have made countless corrections, and even the blank space is full of drafts.

"Don't worry, as long as you have this heart, everyone will return to reality soon."

After the figure disappeared, Alixia appeared on another beach.

"Ah... This time, it's not the little girl from last time."

The old man seemed to have expected someone to come. His dry hand tightly held the old partner who could only smile beside him, and there was no fluctuation in his narrowed eyes.

"Is it okay, old man? Don't you need to accompany her more?"

Alicia looked at the overlapping hands of the two people, and obviously thought of something, and the smile on the corner of her mouth gradually faded.

"No need. After all... she is not the real her. The real her is dead, and she... is just a fake person created by an old man like me with my own memory... No matter what I say or do, all her reactions are exactly the same as in my memory, but there is something missing... And if I continue to stay here, it will be a nuisance to you young people, right?"

It is normal for the old man to know about the Stigmata Project. After all, the information held by everyone in the Stigmata Project is shared by everyone. In the case that a large number of members of the Destiny, Anti-Entropy, World Serpent, and Taixu are also captured by the Stigmata Project, the Stigmata Project itself is not a secret in a sense.

As long as you are willing to understand, you will know.

Even so, looking at the skinny and old face, Alicia's first choice is still a white lie:

"No, it's just..."

"Well, don't comfort me, an old man. Everyone will die, and staying here is just an escape. However, I died like that before, and it was just a death that no one cared about. But now, I seem to be able to make a little contribution to your victory over the collapse? That's enough... I have lived long enough and figured it out. An old man like me can only hold on to the past and cannot create the future, so... the next road is left to you young people."

As she said, there was already an empty space in front of Alicia.

The old man almost "fought" back to the real world.

The dream belonging to the old man has not collapsed yet.

Alicia sat down on the beach, the waves kept surging, and the sea breeze blew from time to time, which was almost exactly the same as reality.

"Speaking of which, it seems that everyone has made a movie..."

Ai Li lay on the beach and slowly closed her eyes.

The sun burned the sight under her eyelids into a fiery red, but behind the red, Alicia seemed to see the deep starry sky.

She suddenly thought of a conversation from a long time ago -

"Unlike some scientists who regard aliens as friendly, I once regarded every star in the sky as our enemy. But sometimes, I think, is my idea also a manifestation of human arrogance? So far, we have not been able to master the means to allow humans to leave the solar system in their lifetime, so what qualifications do we have to regard people in the sky as enemies... What do you think?"

This is a question Mei once asked.

It seems that everyone gave a different answer, but Alicia no longer remembers it.

She only remembers Mikael's answer:

"Because we never give up looking up at the stars."

No matter how arrogant, no matter how far-fetched the dream is, as long as you never give up, there must be a possibility of realization.

But if you succumb to the dream of the Stigmata Plan and rely on dreams to realize your ideals, this is just a false sensory deception, and... Is the reason why humans are satisfied because of the realization of their dreams just because of a result?

Isn't it the process of realizing the dream, the sweat, tears and blood, that gives meaning to the dream?

Reality is of course painful. To escape reality, one chooses dreams, to avenge reality, to make up for reality... Of course, there is nothing wrong with choosing dreams. When you are tired and don't want to move forward, you should escape for a while and rest for a while, but doing so cannot really get rid of reality.

Because dreams are the continuation of reality, they are just things that exist depending on reality.

And reality is the end of dreams. Only by being willing to walk out of dreams and bravely face reality can you embrace the future.

"Mikael... Is this the last lesson you want to leave for mankind..."

Tears kept flowing out of his closed eyes, and the beach beside his face had been wetted into another color.

No... more than that.

Facing reality is obviously the more positive and better side, while escaping from reality is the more negative and less beautiful side.

But what drives people to indulge in dreams is the yearning for beauty, and what makes people willing to actively get rid of dreams is not the enlightenment of "tomorrow may be worse, but it may also be better", but the boredom and dissatisfaction with repetition... Or to put it more seriously, what forces most humans to leave dreams is their desire to be filled by the past that can never be defined by the Stigmata Project.

How ironic... But it is such humans that make people more and more fascinated...

Alicia thought of Mei's words again.

Perhaps it is not bad to regard it as the end of a story:

"The bad nature that you think will lead to the extinction of mankind - this is precisely the key to my belief that they can survive forever."