Ailin possessed the ability to enter the dreams of others—and according to her, she could not only slip into someone’s dream but could also influence its direction to some extent, like summoning trucks with a ringing bell in the dream.
Honestly, if used correctly, it seemed like an impressive skill.
With it, she could perform advanced operations like psychological suggestions, mental parasitism, and memory reshaping.
However, Yusheng was deeply skeptical about how much of this doll’s boast about her abilities was credible—so far, she seemed utterly useless, even in dreams; she couldn't even hide well in the bushes.
And even when they were in the dream, she was still trapped in that oil painting.
The oil painting of Ailin floated before Yusheng, and the girl in the frame appeared somewhat awkward.
No matter how Yusheng looked at her current state, it seemed off—she looked far less impressive floating in mid-air than if she were hanging on a wall.
“Is this how it is in your dreams? You can only stay in the painting?” Yusheng couldn’t help but ask the question plaguing his mind. “I thought in the realm of the mind, you would at least be able to move around a bit…”
“Why else would this be called a curse?” Ailin said, her expression helpless. “Trapped in a painting in reality, and it’s the same in the mental world. No matter where I go, I can’t escape this painting unless I find a suitable vessel—freedom? That doesn’t exist in dreams.”
“Wow, that really is quite tragic,” Yusheng genuinely lamented.
“Ah, but there is still a bit of difference in dreams!” Feeling a bit embarrassed, Ailin noticed the sympathetic reaction from Yusheng and quickly defended herself. “Here, I’m a bit freer than in the real world—look, I can float around… don’t laugh! It’s more than this!”
Yusheng raised an eyebrow, genuinely curious, “More than this?”
Ailin thought for a moment, striking a pose like she was powering up in an old fighting game, beginning to exert herself in the painting as if she was about to unleash some power.
Even Yusheng couldn’t help but take her seriously, focusing on the doll in the painting, and in the next moment, the surface of the painting indeed shimmered with a mesmerizing light!
As Yusheng’s eyes widened in amazement, the painting finally “boom” transformed into an eighties-style poster.
Ailin changed to an old film’s color scheme, standing in the poster and staring wide-eyed at Yusheng.
Ailin: “I can change the painting style.”
Yusheng: “…”
“You laughed out loud!!”
Yusheng pressed his lips tightly together, “I didn’t.”
“Your heart is laughing!”
Yusheng, not wanting to engage with the doll any longer, turned his attention to the large fox lying nearby.
He still hadn’t figured out her situation.
Ailin felt a bit hurt by his lack of attention.
Seeing that Yusheng ignored her, she floated to the side and began to mutter, “I can transform into others, like woodblock prints or scrolls… I’m also researching how to become a sculpture. Once I achieve that, I’ll have depth, and you can’t say my character is flimsy anymore…”
Yusheng truly couldn’t stand her ramblings any longer.
Suddenly he turned and said, “First of all, when did I ever say your character was flimsy? Second, the term ‘flimsy character’ isn’t used like that—similarly, even if you transform into marble, it doesn’t make your character any heftier.”
Ailin opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, she “boom” transformed back into her oil painting form—her transformation time was up, lasting less than three minutes in total.
Yusheng was left stunned: he knew this doll was useless even in dreams, but he had never expected her to be this incapable…
This time, however, Ailin didn’t appear disappointed.
She finally noticed the white fox lying in the grass beside them—or rather, she finally realized the big fox seemed somewhat out of place in the surrounding dreamscape.
Curiosity shifted her focus, “By the way, what’s up with that fox? Why does it look different from everything else?”
Noticing the puzzled expression on Yusheng's face, she added an explanation: “In a normal person’s dream, everything tends to share a similar color tone. Even if the dreamer isn’t aware of it, I can see it when I observe. Like in your dream, the sky and grass are all a dull gray. That’s the ‘base tone’ of your dream. But that fox… it looks like it walked into the wrong scene.”
Pausing for a moment, she then looked at Yusheng curiously, “How did such a strange phenomenon appear in your dream?”
Yusheng remained silent for a moment, then turned to look at the sleeping white fox and slowly spoke, “Her name is Huli.”
“I know, she’s obviously a fox…”
“I mean her name, Huli,” Yusheng corrected her helplessly, then reminded her, “Remember when I was stuck in that ‘other realm’ and told you about a fox I met? The one with white fur and red eyes?”
Ailin froze for a moment, her not-so-reliable memory gradually kicked in as she recalled what Yusheng had mentioned earlier.
Her expression lit up as she stared wide-eyed at the giant fox, and after several attempts, she finally managed to utter, “What?! How did you get her into your dream… wait, how do you have the ability to imprison someone…”
“I didn’t catch her here, and I feel like she isn’t genuinely ‘trapped’ here; it should only be like a shadow, right? I'm not entirely sure,” Yusheng explained. “I saw her almost as soon as I fell asleep, but I can’t wake her up no matter what.”
Ailin looked between Yusheng and the fox, moving her gaze back and forth several times as if trying to piece together the logic of the situation, but it clearly wasn’t easy.
“I’ve never heard of something like this…” she mumbled in surprise, and then suddenly turned to stare intently into Yusheng’s eyes, “Are you really a person?”
Yusheng quickly frowned, “What do you mean by that? If I'm not human, are you?”
Yet Ailin continued to stare at him, her face unusually serious: “Okay, a human, an ordinary human, living in another realm for a long time without realizing it, then entering another realm where he encountered a malignant entity. Not only did he survive, but he also extracted a ‘local specialty’ from that entity and even consumed it.
Now he’s full of energy, and can store another mind in his own dream—while that mind’s original body is somewhere else trapped.
“All these absurd things have happened to you, and you say—you are a person? An ordinary person?”
Yusheng found himself feeling uncomfortable under Ailin’s piercing gaze. He instinctively shifted his eyes away, thinking they also missed the part where he had ‘died and been reborn.’ Compared to the earlier ridiculous events, this sudden revelation felt far less shocking…
“Indeed, many strange things happened… I’m a bit bewildered myself, but if I must say, even you are one of the ‘strange things’ in my life recently,”Yusheng said helplessly.
“Stop looking at me, I don’t know what’s going on either.
I can’t wake Huli up, and anyone who could might be able to ask her about it.” Ailin continued to gaze at Yusheng for a while, seemingly confirming he wasn’t joking before finally shifting her attention back to the silver-white fox. After a long contemplation, she suddenly spoke,“I have an idea.”
“An idea?”
Yusheng asked, curious.
“What is it?”
“I’ll try to dive into the fox’s dream.
If she happens to be dreaming right now,”Ailin pointed at the fox,“Her current state feels like a mental block.
But no matter how solid the block may be, it’s hard to put up defenses in dreams.
Maybe I can ‘see’ something, and if I can take advantage of it to wake her up here, that would be even better.” Yusheng was genuinely surprised. After just a moment ago feeling skeptical about Ailin’s reliability, he hadn’t expected her to propose such a high-end plan, and he couldn’t hide his astonishment.
“Is that really possible?”
“It’s not difficult, as long as she is dreaming… even if she isn’t dreaming, your minds are clearly connected right now, and I can find a way to ‘squeeze’ in and take a look.
The only problem is… it comes with some risks, and I’ll need your help." Yusheng’s expression turned serious all of a sudden.
“No problem, tell me what to do.”
“Because jumping between minds is akin to ‘deep diving’ in unstable waters.
If the ‘connection’ falters, I could get trapped on the ‘other side,’”Ailin said earnestly, looking into Yusheng’s eyes. “So, I need a ‘rope,’ and you’ll be that rope.
“You’ll have to ‘dive down’ with me, continuing to sink from your dream into the depths of this big fox’s mind. You also need to relieve some pressure from me so I can focus on finding direction. And if something goes wrong during this process…
I’ll use rather forceful methods to ‘wake you up.’ “Your awakening will have the highest priority in this layered dream, and it will also pull my mind back.
This way, we can both return safely to the real world, but I must warn you first, my ‘waking’ process may not be very pleasant.”
“How unpleasant can it be?”
“…Probably like taking an exam in a dream, and before you even finish writing your name, the bell rings, and you don’t even have time to react before a truck crashes into the exam hall, turning you and your most cherished memory from high school into a flat paper doll—something like a particularly flimsy character…”
Yusheng struggled to understand Ailin’s peculiar analogy. But he thought it shouldn’t be too much trouble—it was just an awakening after all. Even if it was unpleasant, it couldn’t be worse than dying, could it?
More than that, he wanted to determine Huli’s current state and what was going on in his dream.
“No problem, let’s get started,”Yusheng took a deep breath and nodded seriously to Ailin,“What’s the first step?”
“Approach that big fox, as close as you can… just lie down on her tail.
“Then, hold onto my painting frame, close your eyes, and we’ll jump in the dream.”
(End of Chapter)