The strongest dream therapist

Chapter 34: Crossing the Virtual World (2)

Fu Yuan repeated softly: "Virtual Realm?"

Wang Fugui nodded slightly and said, "Yes, you should have heard of Freud's iceberg theory."

Fu Yuan nodded.

If the human mind is compared to an iceberg.

Consciousness is the part of the iceberg that is above the water, accounting for only a very small proportion, about one tenth. It includes the thoughts, feelings, and memories that people can perceive at the moment.

The subconscious mind is a huge part hidden underwater. It contains human instincts, desires, repressed memories and emotions, etc., which can have a profound impact on people's behavior, thoughts and emotions.

But people are often unaware of their existence.

Wang Fugui pulled Fu Yuan along the twisted road, saying to her, "We call reality the real world, and this place the virtual world. The virtual world is like an iceberg hidden beneath. We use ourselves as a medium to connect the real world and the virtual world. In the past, people like us had a unified name: mediators."

He looked up at the sky, where a pale red full moon was already hanging.

The full moon has many tentacles, like countless octopuses put together, with densely packed eyes on them, and each eye emits a cold light.

White birds and beasts flapped their wings and flew low in the moonlight, their beaks opening and closing, making low cawing sounds.

Suddenly, a black bird swooped down from above and swallowed it in one gulp, leaving only a feather floating in the wind.

Wang Fugui held her hand, turned slightly sideways, crossed one of her little hands, and twisted into the thorny jungle. The thorns grew everywhere, scratching their clothes from time to time, making a rustling sound.

Amid the rustling of branches and leaves, he said to Fu Yuan, "Observing the virtual world can purify one's spiritual power, but it can also easily lead to madness."

Fu Yuan noticed that he had previously used the phrase "what you thought was a dream," so he asked Wang Fugui, "What is the relationship between the virtual world and dreams?"

"When a person's consciousness is dormant, his subconscious mind becomes extremely active, and ordinary people can also enter the virtual world." Wang Fugui said, and a faint fluorescence appeared on his hand, pushing aside the wantonly growing thorny branches.

Wang Fugui turned and whispered to Fu Yuan, "But their mental strength is too weak, so they get lost in the virtual world. That's why they can't control themselves in their dreams, or why they can't remember most of the plot after waking up."

Suddenly, a road paved with white rose petals appeared.

As they walked along the muddy road, the smell of rotting birds and animals and the sweet scent of flowers from the manor were in their noses.

Fu Yuan heard this for the first time and questioned Wang Fugui, "So, when people dream at night, it means their souls have traveled to the virtual world? What they see are things that happen in the virtual world?"

Wang Fugui nodded: "You are right, but I prefer to call it a 'spiritual body'."

Fu Yuan's mind flashed back to his previous dream experience, and he couldn't help but refute:

"So, according to what you said, spirits are the embodiment of a person's subconscious. If a person is killed in a dream, they should also die in reality. But I've seen some people being eaten in dreams, but still alive and well in reality."

Wang Fugui seemed to have anticipated Fu Yuan's question and asked calmly, "How can you be sure that what you saw is all there is? Most spiritual entities float freely in the virtual world and have no fixed form."

He paused briefly, looking into the distance with a deep gaze, and continued, "Also, normal people's spirits have protective mechanisms. When they reach a certain threshold, they will disperse, and the corresponding person will wake up from the dream."

Fu Yuan continued to ask: "Are we walking in the virtual world now?"

"Yeah," Wang Fugui nodded calmly, "I've said before, my ability is similar to a door, it can open the real world and the virtual world." Fu Yuan didn't understand, so he asked directly: "Then how do we pass through the virtual world and go directly from Jiang City to Lin City?"

Wang Fugui didn't seem to have thought about this question.

After a moment, he slowly spoke: "I'm actually not sure about this. You can perhaps think of it as two spaces that are not in the same dimension. The real one is bumpy, while the virtual one can take a shortcut."

Fu Yuan was lost in thought, thinking about how he felt in his dream, and asked Wang Fugui: "Is it similar to, if my thoughts go somewhere, I can also go there?"

He was stunned for a moment, then replied, "...That's not impossible, but because the space is unstable and the anchor point is also changing, it's not as powerful as you say."

Fu Yuan frowned slightly, not quite understanding what he was saying. Wang Fugui had whetted her appetite, but now he didn't want to continue. He cleared his throat and began to introduce the history of intermediaries.

"Recorded records of mediums can be traced back to the pre-Qin period." Wang Fugui raised his head slightly. "At that time, mediums traveled across this continent as shamans. The Nine Songs written by Qu Yuan of the Chu State, depicting shamans offering sacrifices to the gods, is actually a scene of mediums communicating with the virtual world."

"It is said that even in the earlier Shang and Zhou dynasties, there were traces of mediums active. However, for some reason, fewer and fewer people awakened their abilities later on."

Fu Yuan hesitated, biting his lip slightly, and asked Wang Fugui, "Are you talking about tortoise shell divination from the Shang and Zhou dynasties?"

Tortoises have always been considered as a symbol of longevity. People of that era believed that tortoises were spiritual and could communicate with heaven and earth.

When fortune-telling, holes are drilled in the tortoise shell and then the holes are burned with fire. Cracks will appear on the tortoise shell after being heated, and these cracks are called "omen".

The fortune teller will judge good or bad luck based on the shape and direction of the cracks.

Fu Yuan tightened his grip on Wang Fugui's hand and said, "But isn't that a product of political rule and the worship of gods and ancestors?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Fugui rolled his eyes at her, his tone filled with helplessness. "Back then, mediums were also called 'priests.' In many tribes, priests had the same rights as the chiefs, and their authority might even be higher than the chiefs."

"If you were the leader, would you allow someone like that to exist?"

As he spoke, he lowered his voice, with a hint of uncertainty: "But at that time, there should have been more than just mediums. There should have been another lineage, but perhaps it was cut off. I looked through the books in the 224th Bureau, but didn't see any introduction."

"Okay..." Fu Yuan's heart tightened, and he felt an inexplicable sense of oppression.

She still had her eyes closed, and although she could no longer see, her hearing and sense of smell became sharper.

She saw a manor in the distance. The cold moonlight fell on the roses inside. The delicate buds were covered with dew and were quietly blooming.

Between the leaves, a long mollusk crawled, carrying the stench of earth. It swallowed the delicate and tempting flower, along with the stem and leaves, and then slithered away leisurely...

She asked Wang Fugui: "How long will it take?"

Wang Fugui stopped and closed his eyes. A faint milky white line emerged from the soles of his feet, extended underground, and disappeared into the endless void.

About half a minute later, he opened his eyes and said, "Almost there. I have to keep walking for another 2 minutes."

　Finally—the setting was thrown out.

I was straying further and further from the outline and completely letting myself go.

　
(End of this chapter)