Odd Containment Specialist.

Chapter 1057 Effective Use of Books (4K Two-in-One)

Even if you have reached the outside world of the book a million times in the past, it is like the first dream of my eighteenth year that I summoned you to.

For the eighteen-year-old you in the book, this is your first time traveling to this completely unfamiliar world. If you are taken advantage of by others too early, you may even be deceived and become their enemy.

Therefore, preserving the Stars series has always been very important, and your lifestyle in the book was determined in early dreams.

In fact, you were a main character in the book at the beginning, but The Fall of the Stars does not only provide a fixed protagonist's perspective, and it does not determine a protagonist from the beginning. Therefore, you can avoid the narrative in some way and make yourself a passerby.

Therefore, in the book, you do not appear by your real name, but only in police news as the murderer. Even so, this can prevent those with ill intentions from summoning you, because once you have started killing, the outside world's stance is already fixed.

This approach is relatively safe unless you find a book that predates the first dream.

But... the problem lies in a dream you had in your twenties.

A traitor among us has tainted an early dream.

Before this dream was corrupted, you were a seemingly insane serial killer in the book.

But you're not actually crazy; you've been following the right approach all along.

However, this correct standard is relative to your external goals.

But after your dream is corrupted, you go completely insane.

Alice, as the only one who saw that dream, sealed the corrupted dream within her eyes.

She gouged out her eyes and lost her memory.

Although the dream was sealed, it was only sealed.

For this reason, after that dream, none of you could be summoned anymore.

If whoever summons you earlier can input their desired settings into your program, then the act of the Demon Poem polluting the dream is tantamount to directly destroying the program's operation itself.

Even though you are still normal now because of Alice's seal, once you are summoned, if the seal is affected, you may immediately become our enemy.

Therefore, to avoid risks, the safest approach is to define your safe summoning age as the period of life before the pollution of dreams.

This is one of the reasons why I summoned you at eighteen.

At eighteen, your skills, knowledge, experience, and various other qualities are not yet at their peak, but due to dream corruption, you are unsuitable to be summoned at any other age.

"Wow, it sounds like I'm a complete mess of save files," Xia Shou complained.

No, quite the opposite. According to others, you are the real mastermind. They don't know how you came out of there in the first place, but there is no doubt that you always had your own purpose, which was to break away from the book.

If you don't want to be controlled, your life in the book can be disrupted at any time. Beginnings and endings exist simultaneously, and outsiders can also find ways to enter the book.

Each entry will cause changes to the story, but these changes are small, and the story will even return to normal after those people leave the book, but it will still have some subtle effects on you.

In science, it's the influence of the subconscious; in Buddhism, it's called habitual tendencies; and in the realm of the extraordinary, it's referred to as something rooted in desire. Countless accumulations eventually lead you to accept the uncertainty of the world in the book.

A period of life may be fulfilling, while another period may even lead to the destruction of one's family and death.
Last time you had a good job, but this time a transfer student suddenly took your place in the college entrance exam, and your job became just average.
The stories in the book are constantly being rewritten. To the reader, it may seem like only temporary changes to the content, but for you, each time is a completely different, yet utterly forgotten, life.

Everyone would want to escape a life that fundamentally lacks autonomy.

That's probably what you thought at the very beginning.

Anyway, once the goal becomes very clear, there's no turning back.

As you can foresee, your life will be spent in chaotic and complex dreams and real-life murder and escape. Normal dreams will eventually be filled with increasing external experiences, and in the end, you may never have a normal night's sleep in your entire life. Every dream is bizarre and surreal, like going crazy.

No matter how you look at it, such a life cannot be called a happy life.

So you had already decided that, after the fruit ripened, you would summon your unknowing self.

Actually, you already achieved your goal last time. You completely broke free from the book, not by wearing a mask and dreaming, but by existing in your true form... If it weren't for that betrayal, the result would have been perfect.

But because of that traitor, you are in a state of incomplete detachment, and Alice becomes your stable anchor in the real world.

After saying all this, I'm starting to feel a bit emotional, even though those guys from Moyusi treat you like a god.

But to me, you'll always just be a hapless roommate. No matter how much they praise you, I'll still find it hard to see you as someone important.

Seeing you like this at eighteen years old has made my impression of you even worse.

Forget about that.

In short, some of the most crucial things have been said. Remember, Alice's spirit may have been corrupted.

She witnessed your dream, and sealed it away with her eyes. Therefore, the tainted dream—you won't dream it in the book, but she will.

Xia Shou was taken aback by what he heard, feeling that the topic had suddenly shifted from deciphering to horror.

Alice only dreams once. Since she met you in her dream, it proves that she has already had that tainted dream.

"I roughly understand. So, if I go back now, it's to kill Vero, right? As long as I kill Vero, my mission will be complete."

Xia Shou thought of Qiao Xin's scientific research in his dream, about those African hyenas.

It's likely that the African hyena is related to Vero.

The fact that we can summon you means that the story in the book has ended.

But the problem is... you didn't kill Vero, and the half of Vero's body that was contained in reality didn't suffer any damage.

If you kill Vero, we won't even need to use the "Great Dream Possession" technique to summon you; we can just bring your true form back.

However, it's perfectly normal not to kill the dog in the first storyline, because your mission is unclear. It's impossible for a normal person to make a dog in reality their life goal based on a vague dream.

But this time when you go back, you should be able to successfully kill Vero. Although the dream will still be blurry, the things you encountered in the book should make you believe those inexplicable orders.

However... we still need to be careful.

"Be careful of what? I think as long as the goal is clear, killing a dog shouldn't be a problem. There doesn't seem to be any supernatural power in the book... or rather, not in most cases, except when it comes to gods." Xia Shou said thoughtfully.

The original version of "The Fall of the Stars" is very long. Even if you can't use supernatural powers in the book, and even if the memories of those who enter the book are reset to zero, they can still enter the book.

Whether it can be included in the book... that itself is a variable.

Sprite's series of events is clearly not simple.

Don't you have a feeling that something is wrong?

Although the backlash from the old history triggered by Sprite was urgent and had the potential to destroy the world, the strategy to deal with it was actually quite clear.

But ever since you were bitten by Vero, things have become unclear. If fighting Sprite was like battling a tiger bare-handed in an arena, now it's more like walking through a dark jungle teeming with venomous snakes.

In particular, the loss of control in Merlin's House was entirely the result of the resonance of another Vero's clone. After the release of the Molten Gold River and Vero, the balance of desire in Merlin's House was broken.

But Alice is now in the book, and without her as the caretaker, no one can get in.

Under no circumstances should Merlin's House be allowed to go berserk. If we really can't kill Vero, then we'll have to summon you back first.

As long as Velo doesn't have any impact on the past and doesn't kill you, it can't pose any further threat. However, since you're carrying such a powerful cursed creature, the regulatory authorities might restrict your personal freedom.

Even so, it's better than Merlin's House exploding.

Merlin's House is our only trump card. With your current strength, without Merlin's House, even a random level 1 finisher could probably take you down.

Xia Shou remained silent.

Although his dream at eighteen was vague, he remembered that in the dream his power mainly came from his shadow and the house, and the shadow seemed to be an extension of the house.

As for his own special abilities... (see text description).

It's really not very useful.

I'll tell you some common uses of the Great Dream Possession Technique. You can then pass it on to Su Yue and Modis, and then you'll understand.

A dream within a book can encapsulate an entire life in the outside world.

Similarly, ten minutes in the outside world can span an entire life story within the book…

ten minutes later.

Xia Shou called Su Yue over, and Su Weiyu was also there at the time.

Then Xia Shou opened the copy of "The Season When the Stars Fell" that was kept in the Control Bureau.

"When I get back, the contents of the book will have changed, and it will summon me back. I will probably appear in this plot. I won't show my real name, but I will appear under a pseudonym, which is the identity of the main developer of this game."

If I don't appear here, I'll probably find other ways to expose myself later. I'll try to use these nicknames, wear this style of clothing, and appear in inappropriate places.

The protagonist of that book is Mr. Liu Yilong, right? Then I might dress up as a clown and advertise in front of his company. In a novel with him as the main character, I'm sure I'll appear.

Then, I'll say some code words to make sure it's me..."

Xia Shou used various methods to help Su Yue define her role as a passerby in the book after losing her name.

Su Yue listened attentively, nodding occasionally.

But she was still a little unsure, so she asked, "If the content of the book changes, will you just summon it directly?"

"Yes, that's right."

"So fast?"

"Yes, don't use this time to think about the time in the book. In fact, by the time the book's content changes, I've already lived my whole life, and you've only captured a fragment of it."

"It would also be best to record the contents of the book before and after the changes; a comparison might reveal some new information." Xia Shou calmly assigned the task.

Su Weiyu whistled, put her hand on Xia Shou's shoulder again, and laughed, "As expected of A-Shou, this is practically your first time in this world. You must feel the reality of these supernatural events, right? And you've adapted so quickly."

Xia Shou sighed: "According to the notes, this kind of switching and adaptation is an instinct formed by the accumulation of habits."

After saying that, Xia Shou touched the mask on his face. Just before he was about to remove the mask, he pointed to his body and asked, "Whose body is this?"

"Oh, I heard it was a Dreambird follower found among death row inmates."

"Huh? So casual?!"

"Hmm, it seems that the various qualities of the person who possesses another's body only affect the performance of their strength. Then there are also the feedback from their physical senses, the quality of their spiritual foundation, and so on. If it's just about transmitting messages, the standards are actually quite broad."

"The minister said before he even got into the book that the fewer people who know the specific details, the better. Once this matter is resolved, the death row inmate must be executed immediately," Su Yue said, intently flipping through "The Stars" without looking up.

Hearing this, Xia Shou nodded in relief, sat back down in his chair, and with Su Weiyu's help, re-secured his hands and feet with the restraints.

"If I take off my mask, will this death row inmate resist when he comes back?"

"No, he knows what will happen to him. The minister has already made a deal with him. There were dozens of people who wanted to make the deal, and he was just lucky to be chosen. He can't wait to cooperate."

This death row inmate has an illegitimate daughter who lived with him in her early years. In an attempt to save her father, she killed several police officers, which is why she is on the list of those sentenced to life imprisonment.

But the child was only ten years old, he didn't understand anything, and he didn't know what was good or bad.

He never intended to involve his daughter; it was a series of unexpected events. So he made a deal, agreeing to trade his life, which was originally destined for execution, for his daughter's eligibility for re-education.

It sounds quite ordinary, but Xia Shou felt that this was indeed something Shangguan Yan in this world would do—the kind of transaction that was consensual but came at a high price.

As the mask was removed, the death row inmate woke up.

Su Yue said from a distance, "Put the mask on again, and prepare for the second time."

"Just put it on again?" The death row inmate cooperated by putting on the mask.

He never considered resisting, because he was just a mediocre wanted criminal, while he knew very well how terrifying the girl in front of him was in combat.

Moreover, he had long ago made up his mind to use his life to give his lovely daughter a new life.

Su Yue observed the contents of the book, then recorded a video, quickly flipping through the book and re-recording the revised content.

Finally, in the scene Xia Shou had specified, she found the nomination he had mentioned—[The newspaper read: Mr. Liu Yilong's acquired game company has used his latest AI system to develop the newest, fully free-form game with automatically generated storylines, "Kyoto Sinks".]

During the development of "Kyoto Sinks," the person most credited and the main person in charge, "Joker," still refuses to reveal his name...

"found it!"

Su Yue immediately rearranged the ceremony and prepared the sacrificial offerings.

The death row inmate, who was sitting in the chair, raised his head again.

"Where is this? Oh, this familiar dream world... I'm back, aren't I?"

Xia Shou looked around at his surroundings with a complicated expression.

That year, he turned twenty-eight.

(End of this chapter)