dognovel Chapter 8 Ripples of Reality
Chapter 8 Ripples of Reality
Second Scene: The Sea of Chaos
There are no ups and downs, only an endless surge of "information." Cold, hot, sharp, viscous... all kinds of sensations are not transmitted through the five senses, but are directly "poured" into the core of Jiang He's mind.
The silverfish constitute this ocean itself, devouring everything that flows by, and then spitting back the chewed, twisted, alienated, and mixed fragments.
One second, Jiang He might "hear" a rigorous but incomplete piece of knowledge; the next second, countless self-contradictory philosophical paradoxes surge in like a tide; interspersed among them are the murmurs of completely unfamiliar symbolic systems and a large amount of purely meaningless noise.
The information that Su Fan fed to Jiang He through the silverfish was incredibly complex: there were real but obscure fragments of knowledge, conjectures, paradoxes and sophistry; there were also completely fictional “otherworld laws” and “mysterious symbol system” that he himself had conceived; and there was also a large amount of self-contradictory and illogical junk information.
This is not learning, but a brutal stress test of the limits of information processing, a continuous bombardment and potential reconstruction of existing cognitive frameworks. Su Fan wanted to know whether this analyst, who advocated rationality, would be overwhelmed by the absolutely disordered torrent of "knowledge," or whether he would be able to forge new methods of information filtering and integration.
Third Frame: Fountain of Life
The valley was so quiet it seemed unreal, even the air seemed to be soaked in the luster of jade. The hot spring called "Cleansing Dust" was steaming with colorful mist. Just by breathing, Li Bowen felt as if his long-standing ailments had been gently pried open, and an unprecedented sense of relaxation seeped out from the very marrow of his bones.
The medicinal beast led him to the spring and gently touched the back of his hand with its warm nose, gesturing for him to enter.
The moment Li Bowen stepped into the spring, he felt a jolt. It was no longer warmth, but countless tiny yet powerful life forces, like the most diligent craftsman, seeping into his pores and precisely healing his body.
Su Fan observed the complex and ever-changing expressions on the old man's face in the mirror—from shock and enjoyment to a fleeting look of confusion.
"Can the ultimate sensory deception fool the body itself? Can a strong suggestion of 'healing' stimulate a self-healing potential that is difficult to achieve even in reality?" Su Fan wondered.
Fourth Mirror: Body and Spirit Unite
The majestic dragon head and tortoise body of Bixi suddenly emitted a thick and gentle earthy yellow light. This light did not spread outward, but rather swirled inward like a vortex, gently and irresistibly enveloping and pulling Wang Jianguo's consciousness closer.
In the next instant, Wang Jianguo's individual perceptions underwent a strange superposition.
Wang Jianguo felt a vast, ancient, silent consciousness, as clear as the earth, yet incredibly clear—it was not independent thought, but a set of ultimate rules and authority regarding "how to become a cornerstone," "how to define stability," and "how to withstand immense pressure and remain unmoved."
This is not possession, but a temporary, deep combination or overlap.
It was an experience of "I am the rule." He briefly became a negligible but real "temporary coordinator" maintaining the fundamental attribute of "stability" in the dream. The "power" he felt was essentially a tiny fraction of the authority represented by the bi-shaped stone, concerning the rules of "stability" in the dream.
To some extent, Wang Jianguo achieved a state of perfect harmony with the Dao, since the bishi (a type of ancient Chinese tortoise shell) represents a part of the world's authority, even though this world is a dream.
Su Fan observed in silence as time quietly passed and everything naturally came to an end.
On the floating jade island, a faint light reappeared, and the five reunited. But before they could even exchange a single word or a glance, that powerful sense of "the end of our bond" descended once more, even more abruptly than before.
The five figures almost simultaneously shifted from real to ethereal, like pencil marks erased by an eraser, quickly dissipating into the beautiful dream.
……
Early morning, a male dormitory at a university.
"Chen Yang! Brother Yang! Wake up! Get up quickly, the boss will be taking attendance today!" His roommate, while putting on his coat, pushed Chen Yang, who was wrapped up like a cocoon on the opposite bed.
Chen Yang woke up from his dream. In the instant he was pushed, a primal instinct, originating from the depths of his dream and hammered countless times by the fear of death, suddenly exploded within him!
"Ugh!" The "silkworm" on the bed suddenly sprang up, its movement so fast it created a gust of wind. The roommate felt a sudden tightening on his wrist, a subtle yet irresistible force coming through him. In a dizzying moment, he cried out in surprise as his entire body was pinned against Chen Yang's bedside with his arms twisted behind his back, his cheek pressed against the cold railing.
"Holy crap! Yang, what are you doing?!" The roommate was shocked and in pain, completely dumbfounded.
Chen Yang was also stunned. His eyes were not fully open, but his body had already completed a series of smooth counterattack movements.
The touch and warmth of his roommate on his arm, along with his exclamation, woke him up like a bucket of ice water.
Chen Yang snapped out of his daze, jerking back half a meter as if burned. His heart pounded wildly as he looked down at his hands, his face filled with disbelief. "I'm...I'm sorry! I...I had a nightmare! Did I hurt you?"
He rushed to help his roommate, who was grimacing and rubbing his shoulder, his mind a complete mess. That last move... the force, the grappling, the joint lock—it felt eerily clear, as if he'd practiced it a thousand times.
"What kind of dream did you have?" My roommate asked, still shaken, as she rubbed her wrists. "That was really strong, and the technique was quite tricky... It gave me a fright."
Chen Yangqian apologized with a smile, but a storm raged within him. He felt a familiar, more subtle sense of control over his own power subtly emerging. An indescribable joy welled up inside him.
……
At the same time, inside an apartment building in a certain residential complex.
Jiang He was awakened by a severe headache. The pain was not purely physiological; it felt more like countless noisy, sharp fragments of information were rampaging through her skull, trying to find a way out.
She staggered out of bed and walked to her desk, looking for painkillers, but her gaze unconsciously swept over the open notebook and the titles of the books scattered among the bookshelves... The next second, a strange feeling caught her.
Feeling the chaotic knowledge that has suddenly appeared in my mind.
Jiang He took a deep breath, enduring the discomfort, and instead of looking for painkillers, quickly pulled out a brand new notebook and picked up a pen. The pen tip hovered on the paper, trembling slightly.
"It must be written down..." she whispered, her voice a little hoarse.
She began writing rapidly, not only complete sentences, but also cryptic symbolic sketches and numerous shorthand logical fragments that she herself couldn't immediately comprehend. Her handwriting was messy, and her logic was disjointed, completely unlike the usually organized Jiang He.
The notebook was filled page after page, the contents a jumbled mess, like a book written in a foreign language. Jiang He didn't know what use these things were, or even if they were worthless. But Jiang He felt she should record the extra knowledge that had entered her mind.
……
Hospital ward, early morning.
Li Bowen woke up earlier than usual; do old people always suffer from insomnia? The anticipated mental exhaustion, enough to overwhelm him, was indeed there.
However, beneath this weariness and hidden pain, a strange "warm current" stubbornly exists, faint but clearly discernible.
He raised his hand and examined it closely. The age spots were still there, and his skin was still withered, but... it seemed to have lost some of that lifeless, gloomy look? Or was it just psychological?
When the nurse came in for her routine check-up, Li Bowen couldn't help but ask softly, "Nurse Zhang, how do I look today?"
While recording the data from the instruments, the young nurse casually remarked with a smile, "Ms. Li, you look more energetic than yesterday. Did you sleep well last night?"
Li Bowen gave a vague reply, his heart filled with turmoil.
……
The morning light pierced through the dirty windowpanes of the construction shed.
Wang Jianguo was awakened by a throbbing pain that seemed to seep into every bone in his body; it felt worse than carrying cement for three days straight.
He sat up with a grimace, the boundless heaviness of the dream, and the strange experience of feeling as if he had become a giant rock and merged with the earth, still lingered deep in his consciousness.
"Jianguo, what's wrong? Did you dream about your wife and get tired?" Old Zhao from the opposite bunk was putting on his shoes with a cigarette in his mouth when he saw him like this and teased him.
Wang Jianguo shook his head and didn't say anything. He slowly climbed down the makeshift ladder from the bed, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he felt something was wrong.
Su Fan woke up with a severe headache and a feeling of utter exhaustion. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, cutting through the dust in the room, but it couldn't dispel the chill that permeated his very bones.
He glanced at the "Shared Dream Pillow" on the bedside table; the dark blue text remained the same, along with the rule of "seven-day cooldown."
But all of this is predicated on him needing more data, understanding how others feel, and guiding them to provide information and observe changes without exposing himself.
He knew that others must also be experiencing strong side effects. Especially Jiang He; with her analytical abilities, this significantly different experience would inevitably prompt her to make a more systematic summary and speculation.
The next day, the mental fatigue and the feeling of being detached from the world through a frosted glass still lingered. He forced himself to go out and buy groceries at the supermarket.
When he went to pay, the cashier stared at his face for a moment, seemingly taking half a second to confirm that she should scan the item he handed over. A hint of confusion flashed in her eyes, as if she wasn't sure if there was someone standing in front of her the whole time.
[Bai Ze] (Group Chat)
Bai Ze's most loyal servant (Chen Yang): [Image][Image][Image]
Bai Ze's most loyal servant (Chen Yang): Brothers and sisters! Rejoice! The drums and gongs are beating! My statue of the Great God Bai Ze has arrived!!! The consecration ceremony now begins! [Hands clasped in prayer][Hands clasped in prayer][Hands clasped in prayer]
(Click on the image. The first picture is a finely crafted wooden shrine against a backdrop of messy desks in a boys' dormitory. The second picture is a close-up: a mythical beast statue about 30 centimeters tall, pure white, made of what appears to be imitation jade resin. It resembles a lion, majestic and spirited, with two horns on its head. The details are carved with lifelike realism, especially its eyes, which have a gentle and wise charm reminiscent of those in dreams. The third picture shows three sticks of incense burning, with wisps of smoke rising.)