Electronic Nezha

Chapter 115 Dream Battle
Modifying my watch seems to be a big project. Yuanyuan worked on it for half a day, then stopped halfway to make steamed buns before starting again. She didn't stop even when we were eating.

Yuanyuan didn't finish until after 9 p.m. When she handed me the modified watch, I could immediately tell that it was different from the previous one—the dial was covered in scratches, and the case had several places where the paint had chipped off. It had suddenly become a brand-new old watch...

"I'm sorry, Master—" If Yuan Yuan had the ability to cry, she probably would have cried long ago. "It's because I'm too stupid and didn't control the intensity well."

"Is it usable now?" After all, the scale of the project is obvious to all; even Yuan Yuan didn't go through this much trouble when she had her own brain surgery.

"It works, but..."

"Then it's alright." I said in a friendly tone.

Then I quickly asked Liu Zhenhua, "How do I use it?" He and Yuanyuan used it for less than half an hour after converting the digital watch into a mobile phone. I was very curious about what functions my watch now had.

"Please adjust the watch strap first."

I put the watch on my wrist and adjusted the strap.

Liu Zhenhua said, "Now I will tell you about its uses. The first problem we need to solve is: after the alien queen hypnotizes you, you need to know immediately that you are dreaming. The first two times, she may not have much experience. Before you realize that this is a dream, she can actually ask you a lot of secrets."

“Hmm.” I nodded. The first time I was hypnotized, I felt something was strange when I saw the octopus people completely take over the earth. The second time was actually more dangerous. If it weren’t for the deep memory left by the fall of “Fu Hongxue”, I wouldn’t have realized that there was anything wrong with a warehouse the size of a palace on the wall of the fruit stand.

I looked at the unremarkable digital watch and asked, "How is it going to tell me? Does it have a voice alarm?"

Liu Zhenhua shook his head and said, "To determine whether you're dreaming, your eyes and ears are the least reliable. Think about all the dreams you've had; don't they all have both images and sounds?"

"No images or sounds, that's called deep sleep. Your dad isn't scientifically illiterate."

"Then touch is unreliable too; if you feel like you've got something in your dream, you'll believe that you've got it."

Yes, me holding "Fu Hongxue" is a perfect example. I blushed for no reason. I've been single for so long, and in my dreams I've touched more than just "Fu Hongxue"...

"So what are you trying to say?" I asked.

"Don't rush me. Let me explain the principle to you first before we talk about taste. Taste is like a sycophant who only knows how to flatter. In a dream, you can make it appear and pretend to be there. For example, if you dream that you are gnawing on a big pork knuckle, it seems to taste good, but it's just an illusion provided by your cerebral cortex based on your memory. The same principle applies to eating lemons."

I said, "If your pillowcase is wet when you wake up, it's probably because you dreamed about those two things."

Liu Zhenhua said, "Sight, hearing, touch and taste appear frequently in dreams because the brain regions that control them are also active in dreams. The most reliable way to distinguish whether you are dreaming is through smell and pain."

"That's not right, I can sometimes smell things in my dreams too."

"Yes, it's not that absolute. It might also be due to experience. But most of the time when you dream of smelling smoke, is it because someone is smoking next to you? Or when you dream of smelling food, is it because someone is cooking?"

That's right, I have so many experiences like that. In the past, when I was on vacation at home, I would sleep in late, and his grandfather would smoke and his grandmother would cook, which would disturb my sleep.

Liu Zhenhua said, "So we'll work on your sense of smell and pain." He picked up the cheap perfume he bought at the mall and said, "I've had Yuanyuan inject this into part of your watch. This watch will constantly monitor your blood pressure and heart rate, and once it detects that you've fallen asleep, it will spray the perfume—" Liu Zhenhua said solemnly, "If you smell the perfume for no reason, it means you've been hypnotized."

So this cheap perfume is for me?

"What if someone in the real scene I go to is using the same product?" Liu Zhenhua shrugged and said, "There's nothing I can do. This is all I can do, which is why I chose a niche perfume."

A high-EQ approach: Niche.

Liu Zhenhua continued, "Besides, don't your personal belongings disappear in your dreams? When you smell the fragrance, check if your watch is on your arm. If it's not, then there's definitely a problem."

"If I'd known you were going to waste your money, wouldn't it have been more accurate to just put my fart in the watch?"

"I did think of that, but I'm afraid you don't have the technology..."

Yuan Yuan said with difficulty, "The main problem is that the collection process is too complicated, and I'm afraid I don't have the technology."

Liu Zhenhua and I chuckled, and Yuan Yuan's indicator light also smiled like a crescent moon.

"What about the pain?" I asked with some concern. Although I'm not a hero, my grandfather instilled in me a bit of a hero complex. I can take the pain of injections and blood draws in stride. But if a nurse is right behind you with a syringe, and you never know when she'll prick you, wouldn't you feel uncomfortable?

Liu Zhenhua said, "This is set up to prevent you from getting lost in your dream and not being able to wake up—ten minutes after you enter the dream, the watch will release a weak current. It won't hurt too much, but it will feel real enough."

"I'm not afraid of the pain." As long as the nurse tells me I'll get the injection in ten minutes, it's fine even if the needle is a little thick...

"If electrical stimulation doesn't wake you up, you'll have to try to fight it."

"confrontation?"

"Yes, since you can see the same scene in your dream, it means that she has connected with you in some way. The electric current manifests as pain in your body, and the radiated magnetic field will also distract her and weaken her control. At this time, you can build your own world. Don't forget, this is in your dream."

"Dream battles? I'm not good at that."

"On the contrary, I think she is no match for you. She says that the civilization of Latos is more advanced than that of Earth, but there is no evidence to support this claim. The slight advantage she has now is entirely due to our lack of understanding of her biological functions. That's why I didn't set the watch to trigger an electric current as soon as someone is hypnotized. Our biggest problem right now is that we don't know what methods she uses to hypnotize people. The only way to solve this problem once and for all is for you to enter her dreams a few more times and find the root cause."

"So you're just using your dad as bait?"

"Actually, you performed very well during these two hypnosis sessions. If she hadn't brought up Latos on her own initiative, how would we have known? As for your safety in reality, it's time for Hao Hao to appear under another identity."

"I also think she's pretty dim-witted..." I asked, "What about you?"

"My safety is not a problem at all. Have you ever thought about it? She has been on Earth for so many years, why doesn't she try to target me? Before, you could say you didn't discover me, but after you discovered me, why didn't you just kill me and be done with it?"

I was taken aback and said, "That's right."

“This means she doesn’t dare, or she has a lot of concerns.” Liu Zhenhua pointed to his head and said, “And hypnosis doesn’t work on me either. I have two heads, one of which is always rational.” Liu Zhenhua continued, “So regardless of whether the human agreement she mentioned is true or false, the most important thing to guard against now is her getting your signature.”

I walked to the window with my hands behind my back, my face solemn, and said, "For the future of humanity, your father will never write again!"

(End of this chapter)