With a ‘buzz‘, a bright lunar ring spread out from Yu Hao’s body, and he flew into the dense fog with Zhou Sheng. It was really foggy in the subconscious region, and the fog surged constantly around them. However, it was unlike the period when he had hit rock bottom, when it had been much more menacing, pitch dark, and extremely aggressive.
“I understand now.” Yu Hao said.
“Understand why you feel happier hugging me?” Zhou Sheng didn’t know where he should go either and just steered his jindouyun to fly into the fog. There was a vast expanse of white around them, and a protective shield had formed around Yu Hao.
“The sun in our dreamscapes exists to obstruct and control the subconscious from overstepping its boundaries.” Yu Hao said, “Under the illumination of the sun, the subconscious will have a boundary, so it won’t be able to swallow up the surface consciousness.”
“Yes.” Zhou Sheng answered, “What about now? Where do I fly to? Yu Laoshi, has the experiment started?”
“Fly even deeper in.” Yu Hao said.
“Is it deep enough now?” Zhou Sheng asked.
Yu Hao, “Don’t crack such a dirty joke, it’s so improper.”
Those words were usually part of their bedroom talk. After one says “Deeper”, the other would reply with “Is it deep enough now, baby?”. Zhou Sheng said, “Look at how improper you’re being.”
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao was still worried at first that it would be the same no matter which direction they flew toward in the fog, but after flying in, all they did was fly around everywhere at random. However, after Zhou Sheng flew for a while, the fog became thicker, and it turned even darker too.
Yu Hao, “How long have we been flying for?”
“We can get out.” Zhou Sheng answered.
Yu Hao said, “It’s not like you’ve entered the subconscious before.”
“I have.” Zhou Sheng said, “Don’t worry, no matter what happens, there’s me.”
Yu Hao was a little nervous originally. He was worried about getting lost in the subconscious because of his recklessness in their exploration this time and never be able to get out again. He didn’t expect that Zhou Sheng seemed to understand what he was thinking, and he wasn’t even worried at all.
“When did you come in?” Yu Hao asked.
“My own subconscious.” Zhou Sheng said, “Isn’t the arena on the island? I went into the sea before. I wanted to know what was in it.”
“What was the result of that?” Yu Hao asked.
“The further I dove,” Zhou Sheng looked around at the surrounding fog. It was even darker now. Only the lunar-shaped protective shield on Yu Hao’s body withstood the invasion of the icy cold fog, “the more fuzzy my consciousness felt. In the end, I was washed ashore by the sea water.”
“But there’s no loss of consciousness here.” Yu Hao said.
“Because this layer of light,” Zhou Sheng casually pointed at the ball of light around them, “wards off the subconscious that tries to swallow our consciousness. Don’t remove it no matter what, otherwise we won’t be able to get out of here anymore.”
“I can’t remove it.” Yu Hao said, “It appeared automatically.”
“Un then that’s good…” Zhou Sheng pondered.
Yu Hao asked again, “But in Nini’s dream, I had fallen into the sea before. Oh right! That was the filling! I remember there was no protective shield at that time, it only appeared afterwards. What does that mean? When did I get this ability?”
“My honored wife,” Zhou Sheng asked, “didn’t you come here to do an experiment? I thought you had thought everything through clearly, why are you asking me so many questions now?”
Yu Hao, “Because I’m more stupid!”
Zhou Sheng, “Because later on, the two of us got together ba?”
Yu Hao, “We weren’t together yet when we entered Liang Laoshi’s dream.”
Zhou Sheng, “That means I had already liked you then bei.”
Yu Hao thought, Maybe? Then asked again, “When did you start liking me?”
“Liking you and liking you are two different concepts.” Zhou Sheng said, “Which are you referring to?”
Yu Hao, “Could you stop teasing me all the time?”
“You’re my wife, if I don’t tease you, who should I tease?” Zhou Sheng said, “Quick, it’s dark now, what experiment do you want to do?”
“Hold on!” Yu Hao said, “Stop!”
After passing by a certain region, the fog miraculously retreated, revealing a void — it was actually a continental rift, and there was nothing beyond it! However, the fog behind was slowly catching up, and the ground was extending continuously into the void!
“What’s the meaning of this?” Yu Hao asked, “Is this the boundary of the subconscious?”
“I don’t understand.” Zhou Sheng seemed perplexed, “I’ve never been here before.” Yu Hao was about to speak, but Zhou Sheng’s gaze was a little dazed. He made a ‘wait’ gesture, and Yu Hao understood in an instant — the Golden Crow Wheel’s tip has appeared!
“Yes, this is the boundary of the subconscious.” Zhou Sheng was in a daze for a long time before he explained, “But the boundary will extend indefinitely, because your conscious world is spreading along with your awareness, and it pushes the subconscious to expand outward continuously.”
“The Golden Crow Wheel told you that?” Yu Hao asked.
Zhou Sheng nodded. The two of them looked at the space beneath the cliff; it was pitch dark. Yu Hao heard Zhou Sheng mention before that the chances of the Golden Crow Wheel’s advice appearing would be very peculiar. When Zhou Sheng first unlocked his ability to enter dreams, the Golden Crow Wheel would directly trigger an explanation within his consciousness no matter what kind of phenomenon he encountered, but as his knowledge grew, its explanations became much rarer as well.
“Can we go down to take a look?” Yu Hao asked.
“Let’s go.” Zhou Sheng flew out of the cliff with Yu Hao on his jindouyun towards the abyss. Yu Hao was extremely nervous, and it felt really strange too. He was currently exploring the fringe of his own subconscious?
“The bottom can’t be seen.” Yu hao would look back at the cliff from time to time. They were very far from the cliff by now. The fog was falling slowly from the edge of the continent like a waterfall into the abyss.
“It can be seen.” Zhou Sheng slowed down and said, “There’s a bottom.”
It was as if they were wrapped within a silver-white ball of light that descended slowly to the bottom of the abyss. Geometric figures that were all jumbled up were piled here, and an idea instantly surfaced in Yu Hao’s mind.
The ruins of memory!
“This is the ruins of my memory.” Yu Hao looked up. The fog that cascaded down like a waterfall transformed into geometric lines and flashing fragments in mid-air that slid down continuously.
“Un hng?” Zhou Sheng said, “What experiment do you want to do here?”
Yu Hao held Zhou Sheng’s hand. He looked all around him; it was quiet, cold, empty, and boundless. He murmured, “Could there be a boundary here?”
“It’s better to not run around anymore.” Zhou Sheng said, “It’s all dark. It would be troublesome if we were to get lost.”
“Go just a little bit further ahead.” Yu Hao said, “Without straying too far from the cliff.”
He has been holding Zhou Sheng’s hand the entire time. The two of them walked into a large ruin. Yu Hao said, “These are the…memory fragments that I have forgotten.”
Zhou Sheng nodded. Yu Hao said, “You can use flames to reconstruct them, right?”
Zhou Sheng frowned. “You suspect that you’ve lost your memory too?”
“No.” Yu Hao answered. “That’s not what I meant…I want, un, I want you to give it a try. To restore a memory that I had forgotten.”
Zhou Sheng, “What memory? No, you’ve already forgotten it, so you can’t describe it.”
“Yes…” Yu Hao said, “It’s probably…a kind of memory that’s like a nightmare.”
A bunch of question marks appeared above Zhou Sheng’s head when he heard that. Yu Hao said, “A small room, or a door, anything’s fine. Give it a try?”
Although Zhou Sheng was very confused, he had to give it a try.
He snapped his fingers, and flames materialised in his hand. The flame instantly spread out to become a ring that swept horizontally outward. Yu Hao exclaimed, “It’s so beautiful!”
It was like a miracle occurring gently in the ruins of memory, and it was also like the collision of planets; a fierce flare burst forth, and the surrounding fragments began reorganizing themselves under the force of the golden flames. A room appeared, and from within the room, a familiar person walked towards him.
“This is my Dad?!” Yu Hao said, “I was very young then!”
Zhou Sheng said, “What next?”
“Not this.” Yu Hao answered.
So Yu Hao withdrew the golden flames, and the memory shattered with a blast once again and dissipated. Yu Hao said, “What happened just now?”
Zhou Sheng, “You said that it wasn’t this.”
Yu Hao was a little confused. “What did you restore?”
Zhou Sheng laughed and hugged Yu Hao. He turned sideways and kissed him on the lips. “Don’t ask anymore.”
Yu Hao said, “Try again.”
Zhou Sheng raised his hand, swept it outward, and a flare burst out once again from his fingers, appearing just like splendid galaxy.
Yu Hao, “This…is my neighbour’s house. No, not here.”
Zhou Sheng withdrew it again, the memory shattered, and without waiting for Yu Hao’s inquiry, Zhou Sheng suddenly said, “I think I know where it is.”
Yu Hao, “???”
Zhou Sheng raised his hands above his head and snapped his fingers loudly.
Flares burst out with a blast, and the colours around them changed. The two of them appeared in a sealed off cement room.
Yu Hao, “!!!”
“Is this the place you were talking about?” Zhou Sheng asked.
There were several wooden boxes in the cement room, and there was a charcoal stove in the center. There were even mattresses spread out on the floor. The windows were all dusty, and there was tape plastered all over the windows.
“Yes.” Yu Hao muttered, “Maybe. But why did I forget this place?”
Zhou Sheng didn’t say anything. Yu Hao was baffled. “I shouldn’t have forgotten something so important? Never mind, that isn’t important.”
Zhou Sheng’s grip on Yu Hao’s hand tightened a little. “What exactly do you want to do?”
“What does this place symbolise?” Yu Hao wondered, “Death, right?”
There was no door in the cement room. Yu Hao was still holding onto Zhou Sheng’s hand. He tried to push the window with his other hand, but the windows were sealed tight. Then he went to look at the walls again. At the place where there should have been a door, it had disappeared for some strange reason.
