Volume 47: Dream Exchange Murder

After the Little Four case was closed, the headless man incident was still unresolved. Although the police gave an explanation, the public always felt a little skeptical when they saw the words "expert" and "refuting rumors."

Just like Chen Shi’s estimation, few people were willing to believe the truth. All kinds of speculations were tossed around. Conspiracy theories, aliens, and human experiments were all topics that came about. Maybe life was too ordinary and everyone needed a little mysticism to adjust it.

On April 10th, on a quiet day, Lin Dongxue finally had a day of rest. She was wearing a loose T-shirt while playing with the computer at Chen Shi's house and waiting for food.

Chen Shi was preparing dinner, humming the tune of "Red Sun"[1] while cutting vegetables. He suddenly found that his humming tune had an echo. Upon closer inspection, Lin Dongxue was actually hummimg the same tune in the living room.

Lin Dongxue was wearing headphones and playing League of Legends with all her heart. She was so reckless that her teammates were crying. Five minutes in, the other team had already raised a boss.[2]

Chen Shi thought that it was impossible for her to hear him, so it must be a coincidence. But then again, when would she have ever listened to this old song?

With a testing mentality, he hummed "Troubled World Superstar"[3] and looked at the living room with his head poking out. A minute later, Lin Dongxue also hummed the tune.

Chen Shi was shocked and tried to hum "Soul Haunting Old Dreams"[4] this time. This time, he hummed very quietly, just like a mosquito’s buzz. As it was such an old song, even if their hearts were aligned, Lin Dongxue wouldn't be able to hum it.

However, what happened was shocking. Lin Dongxue was able to hum the same tune.

Chen Shi was inexplicably surprised. In order to clear his doubts, he went to Lin Dongxue. Lin Dongxue, who was waiting or to be resurrected, turned to look at him with a smile and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.

"What were you humming just now?" Chen Shi asked.

"Huh?" Lin Dongxue took off her headphones. "What?"

"Did you hum a song just then?"

"Yeah, I'm listening to your playlist. The old songs are pretty good."

Hearing Lin Dongxue opening the song listening software, Chen Shi saw that the three songs played were "Red Sun", "Troubled World Superstar", and "Soul Haunting Old Dreams". He solved the case there and then. It turns out that he usually listened to this song list. A conditioned reflex was formed and the humming of songs came in the aforementioned order. Lin Dongxue happened to be listening to the playlist.

Chen Shi smiled and said, "I thought we had telepathy. As expected, mysterious events can all be explained."

"What is it? You baffling guy, when is the meal ready? People are hungry~" Lin Dongxue stretched out her hands coquettishly.

"It'll be ready soon. The soup is ready."

At this time, Chen Shi’s cell phone rang on the table. Lin Dongxue snatched it before saying, "Miss Gu said she’s coming to find you."

"I'll open the door."

"Wait, I need to put my pants on."

Chen Shi glanced at the computer and said, "By the way, just surrender. It’s not easy for elementary school students to have time to play the game. You’re trolling them so hard, they’re losing out."

"Hateful!"

Chen Shi opened the door and Gu You was standing outside. She was holding a box of eggs in her hand. Chen Shi was a person who knew his goods. At first glance, he knew that they were eggs you could eat raw. They could also be fried into very tender eggs, or they could be beaten into the rice directly. It would be delicious.

"Am I imposing on you guys? You treated me to eat raw oysters last time, so this is a little token of my appreciation." Gu You said.

"Thank you!" Chen Shi accepted the little gift. "Miss Gu, would you like to stay and eat?"

"Huh, you cooked so early?"

"This slacker didn't get up until the afternoon. This is lunch." Chen Shi said.

Lin Dongxue punched him. "Why are you talking about me? Didn’t you just wake up as well?"

"You two are so sweet. Actually, I came because I heard that you two were at home. I wanted to invite you guys to dinner. I also have a rest day today. This is a rare opportunity."

"Miss Gu, do you need us for something? Don’t worry about dinner. Us old acquaintances needn’t be so polite." Lin Dongxue said.

"Oh, come in and sit down!" Chen Shi let Gu You in.

Lin Dongxue poured a cup of tea for her. Gu You said, “I’ve been thinking about something for a long time, but I haven’t been able to find a suitable opportunity to talk about it. This is the case: I once counseled a special mental patient whose symptoms and identity were both very special. I want to see him again after many years to see his current state because it would be too late if I don’t see him again. He will be executed next month..."

"Death sentence? Is this patient still serving his sentence?" Lin Dongxue asked in surprise.

"Yes."

"You can visit the prison. You’re his former doctor and the prison won’t disallow it."

"There is indeed no problem with the prison, but he himself does not want to see me. After thinking about it, the only way is to call him out for questioning through the police, so that I have a chance to see him. So, I want to ask Officer Lin for help."

Lin Dongxue thought for a while. This matter wasn’t actually difficult, Chen Shi asked, "What is the situation of this person?"

"His name is Chen Fengde. He can be considered someone who was in my industry. He used to be a professor of psychology at Long'an University. When I first came into contact with him, I couldn't even define whether his symptoms were paranoia, split personality, or ordinary psychological problems… By the way, do you know the term ‘Lucid Dreaming’?"

"I do." Lin Dongxue replied. "I’ve done it before. I knew I was dreaming, and then I could control the dream. It was very interesting."

"It's really interesting. Chen Fengde was also particularly interested in lucid dreams. When people dream, the firing speed of neurons is extremely fast. In dreams, they can often inspire extraordinary inspiration. Chen Fengde wanted to improve his work efficiency by lucid dreaming. This was originally a good thing, but he got caught up in it. He had mastered a way to control dreams. One of the key points is the marker. For example, if you always have an oil painting in your dream, then you can keep telling yourself that as long as you see this painting, you’re dreaming. This idea is carved into your nerve reflex. When you see this painting again, you will instinctively realize that you’re dreaming."

Lin Dongxue asked curiously, "Dreams are all so different, so how can there be things that will appear forever?"

"In fact, there will be. For example, some people will repeatedly dream of their deceased spouse. If there’s no sign, there’s also a simple way. You probably didn’t realize this, but people's dreams are black and white."

Lin Dongxue opened her mouth in surprise. "If I think about it carefully, it seems that this is indeed the case."

"Environmental changes and physical feelings can all become markers. Chen Fengde found his own marker X and continuously strengthened this concept. It went well at the beginning. Whenever he saw X, he knew he was in a dream and his consciousness would be woken up. Then, he could manipulate his dreams. Through continuous training and hints, he gradually learned to have continuous lucid dreams. In his dreams, he owns a small glass house in the deep forest where he can relive his daytime studies. He can think and even write. He works in his dreams!"

"That's incredible."

"Let me guess." Chen Shi said, "One day, the marker X appeared in his real life and he regarded reality as a dream."

"You’re really sharp." Gu You smiled. "Yes, X, which was impossible to appear in the first place, appeared in reality. This set of neural reflexes that automatically recognized X had penetrated deeply into his brain, and it forced him to think that reality was a huge dream, and his life was instantly messed up..."

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-rGtcdl5aE

2. This doesn’t actually make much sense as there’s no boss in League of Legends. I can only assume the author just means that someone on the other team got real fed, or she lost first blood. It can’t be the rift herald since it doesn’t spawn early into the game and the first dragon only spawns at five minutes.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivc0oH_0gV8

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okcsNZTYopc