Seizing Dreams

“It’s really cold.” Fu Liqun followed along and passed his scarf to Yu Hao. This action instantly drew Yu Hao out of the emptiness and loneliness he felt; when he smelled the unfamiliar warmth of ‘someone else’s boyfriend’ on the scarf, he thought of Zhou Sheng. He must be freezing to death today, and he wondered how Zhou Sheng was faring with his task on his business trip.

Yu Hao asked, “Are you hungry?”

Fu Liqun said, “I had some stewed vegetables with Jin Laoshi.”

It was snowing slightly; Fu Liqun dragged his luggage with one hand, carried his and Yu Hao’s bag on his shoulder, and held an umbrella with his other hand. Yu Hao didn’t need to hold anything. They walked along the quiet street, and the street lamps shone with a bright yellow light.

“Jin Laoshi actually told you so much,” Yu Hao sighed, “That’s really unbelievable.”

Fu Liqun was baffled. “Ah? He seemed to know me and knew about what happened in the south before the New Year. As we chatted, I said that I play basketball, and he used to be the basketball captain at his previous factory, so we started talking. Does he usually talk very little?”

“He talks quite a lot,” Yu Hao said, “But he had never mentioned his past.”

Fu Liqun said, “People would want to talk about the past sometimes ba, I just happened to come across it.”

Yu Hao’s understanding of Jin Weicheng’s glorious past was limited to the prizes he had received before, as well as the rumours of him beating up one of the top leaders of Qinghua Times. Today’s truth was really too complicated. Yu Hao felt like he needed a day or two to sort out his thoughts and search for the truth hidden underneath all of these tangled and complicated affairs.

But no matter what, Fu Liqun’s arrival made him very happy and could make him forget some of his troubles for now. They chatted about some useless but interesting things. Fu Liqun had returned the house in Ying City, and he had decided to enroll in a German course in Beijing as well as take his exam and apply for his studies abroad. Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao had discussed it before and decided to take him in for free, although it would be okay if Fu Liqun wanted to pay some rent too.

Fu Liqun naturally asked to share the rent. The pressure on Yu Hao’s wallet instantly lessened considerably; their rent was really too expensive, and it was just adding a pair of chopsticks when it came to the question of food.

“Holy crap, it’s pretty good ah.” Fu Liqun said, “It’s so similar to the setup at home! An open kitchen!”

“You have to sleep in the living room.” Yu Hao said, “The sofa can be pulled out to be used as a bed. It’ll just be for half a year anyway, so make do with it. If I have to go on business trips, I allow you to sleep with Zhou Sheng on the bed.”

“Aye.” Fu Liqun said, “Humble me has never been picky. Can I sleep with you when Young Master’s not around?”

“Uh.” Yu Hao said, “Don’t ba. I’m afraid of treating you as Zhou Sheng while I’m all groggy…”

Fu Liqun burst out laughing, and Yu Hao said angrily, “It’s actually not a big deal to sleep together, it’s just a matter of habit…”

“Will you hug people like Xiao Ou does?” Fu Liqun said solemnly, “Xiao Ou only hugs people, he doesn’t kick them.”

Yu Hao didn’t understand the meaning behind Fu Liqun’s words and answered, “Oh, then?”

“Why would Kaikai say that someone who doesn’t kick people while he’s asleep would kick people?” Fu Liqun asked solemnly.

“Gege, you’re too nosy!” But Yu Hao had second thoughts, “Why though? What do you think?”

“Because Xiao Ou didn’t kick him.” Fu Liqun said, “He must have hugged him by accident when they were sleeping. Kaikai was afraid that you guys would think too much about it, so he quickly said that he was kicked off the bed to cover it up bei.”

Yu Hao said, “All you people who have so much meaning in both what you say and don’t say. Isn’t living like that too complicated?!” Then his train of thought diverted, “I’ll make supper for you. Zhou Sheng wrapped tons of dumplings before he left.”

Fu Liqun shook out the tablecloth that he brought from home and spread it on the table. Yu Hao realised it himself now as well; unknowingly, his house in Beijing was actually becoming more and more like the house they had in Ying City.

Zhou Sheng finally called and asked if he was home yet, and that they would talk about the matter with Huang Ting in detail next time. Yu Hao turned on the video and let Zhou Sheng see the pot of dumplings and Fu Liqun. Fu Liqun was in the middle of a video call with Cen Shan as well, so Yu Hao and Fu Liqun placed their phones opposite to each other’s for the two in the video to talk. Fu Liqun went to take a bath, and Yu Hao went to cook dumplings.

“What the hell?!” Zhou Sheng said in FaceTime, “Why did it turn into me video-chatting with sis-in-law? And it’s through two phones too. Where are they? My dear wife, what the hell are you doing?”

Cen Shan, “You’re nuts. I’m hanging up. Sleep earlier ba, it’s almost 12 AM in China now.”

Yanqing, late at night.

Huang Ting was taken into an underground research center. Zhao Liang was walking in front of him, and his assistant led the way. Huang Ting walked up to a massive computer and stopped right in front of it.

His legs were slightly parted as he stepped on the steel plates in front of the apparatus.

“When did you set up this apparatus?” Huang Ting asked in a low voice.

Zhao Liang answered, “Two years ago, when I left the investigation team. I borrowed the most cutting-edge technology available at STA, and only a few people know about this thing.”

Huang Ting was wearing leather pants and boots, and he still had the down windbreaker he put on before. Zhao Liang explained, “At first, this apparatus was used for brain wave analysis and research. There are only two of them in the world. After putting forth a suggestion to use it as an integrator, those on the STA side agreed wholeheartedly and moved the apparatus here, hoping that we would be able to obtain epoch-making research findings.”

Huang Ting walked to the front of the apparatus and observed two reclining chairs. He turned around again and saw a small maglev platform.

“As long as we take it,” Zhao Liang said, “We would soon be able to draw many conclusions, and these conclusions would be of special significance to China, and even to all of mankind.”

Huang Ting glanced at the researcher and then at the record displayed on the screen on the control platform. There were five tables around them, each with a complex minicomputer that was in the middle of analysing data.

Huang Ting said,  “Ren Laoshi didn’t agree with your proposal in the beginning. I really can’t help you.”

“Huang Ting.” Zhao Liang said, “People can’t be too inflexible. You’re an understanding person. You have to stay here for a few days, think through it carefully ba.”

Huang Ting frowned. Zhao Liang continued, “We’ll treat your illness as well. It’s your own body. You have to take care of it.” Then he patted Huang Ting’s shoulder and left.

Fu Liqun and Yu Hao polished off a plate of dumplings. Yu Hao felt like pigs that were being fed every time the three of them ate together; he always had to serve food in large bowls and plates. After Fu Liqun ate, he was self-aware enough to go wash the dishes, mop the floor, and tidy up the slightly messy house. Yu Hao wasn’t going to work tomorrow, but Fu Liqun had a tiring day, so he asked Fu Liqun to sleep earlier. Then he got on the bed, opened up his laptop, and began reading the documents he had downloaded that day.

Collective unconscious, the deepest segment out of the three in the human psyche. The ego, deep-layer consciousness, that is, the personal unconscious, as well as the deepest collective unconscious layer…The paper was written by a Polish psychologist who had quoted Jung’s descriptions. Jung likened the spiritual world of everyone in the world to countless islands; the islands that stood in great numbers out in the sea are the egos of people, while the area near the island where the tides ebb and flow is their personal unconscious.

Deeper still, there is a vast world submerged by the sea. Whether one was a human or an animal, the spiritual worlds of all living beings that have an autonomous consciousness are connected to each other under the sea.

This really was a very metaphysical theory. Jung’s psychology course did not specifically mention this part, and most theories believed that the collective unconscious was congenital, that is, it is engraved into our genes and is part of our ancestral heritage. It never affects any individual directly, but instead plays an imperceptible role in many group behaviours, such as in areas of religion, art, culture, and so on. Human beings ascertain their connection to the world through this collective unconscious.

Is that possible? Yu Hao had once looked at it in a hurry and never took it to heart. This sort of content wouldn’t be tested anyway, and within the scope of materialism, scholars clearly didn’t quite agree with this part of Jung’s view that tended towards mysticism. However, the deepest layer of dreams, the deepest part of the conscious world that they had arrived at once, wasn’t it the ruins of memory?

Could there be another world under the ruins of memory?

Yu Hao thought about it carefully. He had seen the analysis report of the Golden Crow Wheel on the second slide in Huang Ting’s house for a brief moment. Huang Ting was clearly under the restriction of his field and didn’t realise the importance of the second slide, but Yu Hao had just glanced at it and had known that it was a very important report.

Although it did not put forward an answer to explain the origins of the Golden Crow Wheel device, it had accorded a possible conjecture about its operating mechanism, which coincided with one of his, Zhou Sheng’s, and Chen Yekai’s inferences. That is: the Golden Crow Wheel is an apparatus used to intervene in the collective unconscious. Through the connection between each individual and the collective unconscious, a new world is formed wholly independent of reality, and it transforms into a brand new dream world after it is refined with actual experiences in reality.

The report used another analogy to describe this sort of situation, where it described dreamscapes as a ‘giant tree’. Everyone’s dream is a leaf on this tree, and everyone’s dreams are interconnected. Theoretically speaking, as long as the right medium is found, everyone would be able to go to any other leaf through the branches and forks, or even through the vascular system in its trunk.

And this medium was the Golden Crow Wheel.

【Did you take the Golden Crow Wheel with you?】Yu Hao sent Zhou Sheng a WeChat message.

Zhou Sheng initiated a video call, Yu Hao answered, and he adjusted the bedside lamp to be a little brighter.

“Not asleep yet?” Zhou Sheng was smoking outside a budget hotel.

“Not yet.” Yu Hao said, “Got some news from Huang Ting, it may inspire me a little.”

Zhou Sheng ascertained that Yu Hao had not been held hostage and answered, “In the usual place.”

Yu Hao uttered an “un“, and Zhou Sheng asked again, “What did you discover?”