Chapter 58 - 24: The Survivor Who Escaped from a Dream

Chapter 58: Chapter 24: The Survivor Who Escaped from a Dream

If his cousin knew what he’d been through, he probably wouldn’t believe him. Just like last weekend, he’d likely try to take him to see a doctor.

And even if his cousin *did* believe him, his first reaction probably wouldn’t be to help investigate. He’d more likely just restrict his freedom.

After analyzing the first point, he wrote on the paper:

Point Two—

’Why didn’t I forget? What caused this memory bug?’

This was what puzzled Yu Xian the most.

According to Article Three of the protocol, as well as the seller’s reaction, everyone in the TDI Phase III experiment was supposed to forget 99% of the dream’s contents upon waking.

They were supposed to forget the painful "training process" in the dream, retaining only the pleasant results.

Even if they occasionally remembered one or two training sessions, it wouldn’t be enough to cause psychological trauma.

This was the very foundation that allowed TDI to continue operating in this white hell and even get its users "addicted."

If everyone remembered the ten days of torture like he did, TDI would’ve gone out of business long ago.

’Why was he the exception?’

He had three hypotheses regarding this question.

Hypothesis 1: Before entering the dream, he had wanted to "record the exploration process of the dream to help analyze his parents’ thesis upon waking."

Moreover, when he first signed the TDI Dream Net Protocol, he had also considered setting a habit to "immediately record the dream after waking up."

’Could that intention have had an effect?’

Of course, that logic didn’t quite hold up. As Senior Sister Yiyi had said, the dream-forgetting mechanism was determined by MCH neurons. If it could really be influenced by "wishes," then her team wouldn’t need to do any research—they might as well just open a wishing well.

Hypothesis 2: If anything was related to this memory bug, it had to be Xia Li’s disappearance.

He was the only one who remembered her disappearance; everyone else had forgotten Xia Li even existed.

He had to admit, the two incidents felt remarkably similar. In both cases, he was like the only sober person in a world of drunks, with absolutely no proof.

Hypothesis 3: ’Could there be something unique about my brain structure?’

’For instance, are my MCH neurons less active, leaving me unaffected? Is my memory of dreams clearer? Am I immune?’

But that didn’t fully add up. Less active neurons and completely inactive neurons were two different things.

If they were just less active, he should have forgotten some parts and remembered others. To remember every single moment as he did, his neurons would have to be completely inactive.

But growing up, he’d never noticed being able to remember his dreams with any special clarity. Most of the time, he forgot them as soon as he woke up, just like anyone else.

"Senior Sister Yiyi."

He wrote her name next to the question.

She was an expert in neuroscience, a PhD candidate specializing in MCH neurons and the mechanisms of dream memory loss.

He had to find her to figure out why he hadn’t forgotten.

Done thinking about the memory bug, Yu Xian turned the page and started to ponder the most difficult question.

Point Three—

’How exactly does TDI work? The technical implementation and points of suspicion.’

Setting aside the ten days he was trapped in the dream, forced to repeatedly recite the protocol, the overall TDI dream-entry experience was genuinely stunning.

So stunning, in fact, that it felt beyond the capabilities of modern science and technology.

’Go to a website, download an audio file, bind it to a device, play it for an hour, and you can enter a dream?’

There were many suspicious things about it.

Suspicion 1: ’How exactly does TDI get people into a dream? Or, to put it another way, how does it use an audio file to induce a dream?’

He took out the audio file to analyze it again. The audio primarily contained a few types of sounds, including that strange Schoenberg piece, *Op. 25*; a hissing sound like TV static; and a low-frequency, rhythmic white noise.

’First, why this combination of three sounds? The hissing and rhythmic sounds are hard to figure out, but why this particular piece by Schoenberg?’

He didn’t think the TDI project team was just being deliberately obtuse; there had to be a scientific principle and an explanation for it.

’Second, why did it need to be played from the beginning, without being paused or skipped? Why couldn’t it be disturbed by messages or phone calls?’

’What was the difference in effect between continuous and intermittent playback?’

But his knowledge of acoustics was limited. He might need to consult a professor from the acoustics lab, or perhaps he could ask Wen Xiao to use a decoder to analyze what information the audio file contained.

Suspicion 2: ’Why can the audio only be used once? Why is it effective only a single time?’

The protocol clearly stated that the SessionKey, or login key, was single-use. The next login would require downloading a new key.

The file on his phone obviously hadn’t been touched—it hadn’t been deleted or modified, and the sound from the second playback just now was no different from the first time he’d listened.

’So why didn’t it work the second time?’

It was like using a key to open a lock once, which then destroyed the key. If you wanted to open the lock again, you had to get a new key made.

’What kind of lock is so hard on its keys? Does the key just break after one use?’

Suspicion 3: ’How is the device binding accomplished? Why must it be played on the designated device?’

The protocol he had memorized mentioned that the audio must be played out loud through the native speaker of the bound physical terminal.

’How does it manage to bind the dream-entry effect to a specific device?’

’If I sent this audio to someone else, would it still work if they played it on a different device?’

’Why is repairing the device or replacing parts strictly forbidden?’

’Could that be accomplished just by using the MAC address?’