He changed Tiwat

"--Actually, the people on the continent of Teyvat are the same. As a planet, Teyvat is constantly rotating and revolving in the universe, traveling a long distance every day, but we on the surface can't feel it at all."

“Heh, simulating outer space, that certainly fits the style of the great sage of the ‘Minglun School.’” A mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth. “I think I know what Hazard is up to.”

"You mean... we're in outer space right now?" Ying's eyes widened.

“It’s a ‘simulated universe.’ With Hazard’s level, he can’t even see through the ‘false heavens,’ how could he possibly simulate a real universe?” Han Fulai shook his head and said, “This is not the place to talk. Let’s go back to ‘Sumeru City’ first.”

He pulled Yingmei up and flew towards the huge "colorful sphere" in the distance.

"...There's no going back."

“...There are many ‘spaces’ there, and ‘the Flower Goddess’s Birthday in Sumeru City’ is just one of them…”

Intermittent sounds came from the "Void Terminal".

"What did they see...?" Paimon stamped his feet anxiously in the air.

Nasida shook her head slightly: "The signal is intermittent and cannot be located. Based on just a few words, I cannot determine what is happening outside."

Paimon couldn't hold back any longer.

"No, I have to go find them!"

As she spoke, she prepared to fly away—at that moment, a lithe, honey-colored arm grabbed her "starry cloak," and she couldn't break free no matter what she did.

The owner of the arm, Desia, solemnly warned Paimon: "Mr. Jiang Xue said that you should wait here for them to return, and you are not allowed to go anywhere."

"But, but..." Paimon still looked anxious.

Dixia shook her head: "There are no buts. I said, I'm going to wait here, and I'm not allowed to go anywhere."

Like Han Fulai, Dixia is a person of her word.

She had promised Han Fulai that she would be his "lighthouse," and that no matter what happened, she would wait for them to return. Han Fulai had said that Paimon should wait here, and she would promise to make Paimon wait here and absolutely not let her wander off.

Paimon tried very hard to break free from Desia's wrist, but the difference in strength was too great, and all her struggles were in vain.

She finally gave up struggling, her little head hanging low, her voice trembling with a hint of tears: "But...but...what if they don't come back? So much time has already passed!"

Nearly two hours have passed since Han Fulai and Ying left the city, and they have still not returned.

They could only hear a few incomplete sentences from the intermittent "void terminal" signal.

Based solely on these conversations, no one could deduce what the two had encountered outside the city, or whether they were safe. As time passed, Paimon grew increasingly anxious.

Dixia remained calm: "I trust them. I can tell that those two are far stronger than me. If they can't handle it, going out would only be a hindrance. The best we can do for them is to wait quietly and not cause trouble. If you also go missing outside, they'll have to go out and rescue you again when they come back."

Nasita then spoke up to advise, "Judging from their conversation, there are countless 'spaces' outside Sumeru City. If you go out now, Paimon, you might get lost in them. Moreover, you don't have a tracking device on you. Once you get lost, you might never be able to come back."

Paimon looked at Nasita, as if she wanted to say something, but she quickly shut her mouth again.

Naxida silently looked away.

She could roughly guess what Paimon wanted to say—Paimon wanted her to go out and look for the people together. After all, she was a god, and a "goddess of wisdom" with consciousness and the power of dreams; theoretically, she should be able to bring those two people back.

Unfortunately, she... didn't have that ability.

She is an "incompetent god".

Dixia secretly glanced at Naxida a few times.

As desert dwellers who themselves have no faith, Dishia actually has no reverence for the grass god of Sumeru—leaving aside the previous Great Tree King, at least the Little Auspicious Grass King standing in front of her has never given any help to the desert dwellers.

People living in the desert never rely on any gods; they can only rely on themselves.

She would help protect the Zubair Theater and even privately sponsored a sum of money for the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival," all to make Dina Zede happy. "The Little Lucky Grass King's birthday" was just an ordinary day for her.

Although Dixia had no reverence for the Little Lucky Grass King, she was still very curious.

After all, this was the first time she had ever seen a god in person!

Dina Zede had always talked about the Little Lucky Grass King, and she had always wanted to meet the Little Lucky Grass King who was said to have saved Miss Dina Zede.

But when she actually saw it with her own eyes, Dixia felt a little disappointed—no matter how you looked at it, it was just a little girl.

Although Nasita appears much more mature than the average little girl and seems to possess some special abilities, that's about it.

The legendary gods possessed the power to move mountains and overturn seas, but this one clearly did not; and as for what extraordinary wisdom she, as the "goddess of wisdom," possessed... she had absolutely no idea what to do about the current situation.

Is this little girl really a deity?

Suddenly, the "Void Terminal" responded again.

It was Ying's voice.

"We've entered a new space..."

All three held their breath and listened intently.

However, Ying didn't speak for a long time.

After waiting for about fifteen minutes, another message came through the "Void Terminal": "Flowing sandstone, howling fish, this is an impossible landscape..."

"There is no one in this space, nor is there any trace of human existence."

Then, Han Fulai's voice appeared: "This is someone's dream."

"It's just different from the dreams we've experienced before. There are no people in this dream, only a world with a very strange natural environment."

"I guess the owner of this dream is probably a scholar from the Council of the Church, who studies the prehistoric Teyvat continent. That's why his dream contains magma that hasn't cooled down yet, as well as creatures that have long since disappeared from history."

The three waited for a while longer, but only the hissing sound of signal interference came from the "void terminal".

Dixia frowned: "...There's so much information here. So the area outside Sumeru City is also a dream?"

“But it looks perfectly normal from inside the city, it’s unbelievable. And it sounds like the other spaces inside are all very strange…” Paimon couldn’t help but worry.

Nasita remained silent, gazing at the seemingly peaceful city of Sumeru, lost in thought.

Han Fulai held Ying's hand as they flew through a strange space.

This illusion, or rather, the dream world, is vast. He had just flown tens of kilometers, but still hadn't reached the boundary.

The dream was half seawater and half fire, very similar to the prehistoric tectonic movements he knew. To be honest, it was undoubtedly a scene from a blockbuster movie with top-notch special effects, and Han Fulai would have liked to see more of it.

However, due to the time constraints, he still chose to decisively fly through this dream and return to the dream of the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival".

They had already entered many dreams before.

The scenes in dreams can vary greatly depending on the individual.

For example, the owner of this dream dreamed of an entire world, while the forest ranger girl dreamed of the daily life in Vimo Village.

Well, they even had those blush-inducing dreams that happened in dark little rooms—after all, a large part of human dreams are about the continuation of the race.

What these dreams have in common is that the owner of the dream cannot be found.

The owner of the dream is either an "invisible person" or does not exist at all.

Along the way, the two encountered the risk of the dream collapsing several times. Fortunately, Han Fulai gained the ability to fly after obtaining the divine status. Otherwise, Ying alone might have really been sucked into that "sun".

"Speaking of which, you said you discovered the Great Sage's secret, what exactly is it?" Ying finally couldn't help but ask.

She had wanted to ask this for a while, but the dreams they had encountered weren't places where they could stay for long, so they hadn't had time to chat. This dream wasn't going to collapse anytime soon, and it looked like they were going to fly for a long time, so Ying decided to satisfy her curiosity.

Han Fulai readily gave her the answer: "Hazar is using the 'Void' to harvest the dreams of the Sumeru people."

Chapter 87 Do the Sumeru people really not dream?

"Is the Great Sage using the 'Void' to harvest dreams?"

Upon hearing this answer, Ying immediately recalled the scene she had just witnessed in the "simulated universe"—countless "dream bubbles" that resembled planets, and the "sun" that would suck away the "dream bubbles".

She quickly realized: "...Could it be that the 'sun' is the 'void'? The reason those dream spaces keep disappearing is actually because they are being absorbed by the 'void'?"

“Yes, that’s it.” Han Fulai nodded. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. The Order Council gave away the ‘Void Terminal’ to everyone in the Sumeru Realm for free in order to seize their dreams.”

"Don't be fooled by how grand that 'simulated universe' we just saw looks. It's actually just a visualized 'void' program interface. The scene we saw of the 'dream bubble' being sucked away by the 'sun' is actually the process of someone's dream being harvested by the 'void'."

“All ‘Void Terminals’ are connected to the ‘Void,’ just like countless asteroids orbiting the same star. The asteroids captured by the star’s gravity will be completely swallowed by the massive star…”

Ying was even more puzzled at this point: "But... what use does he have for everyone's dreams? Isn't this making a mountain out of a molehill?"

The Order of the Church spared no expense in distributing "Void Terminals" to everyone and went to great lengths to hypnotize the people of the entire Sumeru Realm, creating a "Reincarnation of the Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival," only to collect everyone's dreams in the end?

As Narcida previously suggested when she used alchemical divination, dreams represent "illusion" and "lies".

Even if a great sage collects countless "illusions" and "lies," what can he do with them?

Ying really couldn't understand the reason why the great sage would do such a thing.

"Void" can instantly hypnotize everyone wearing "Void Terminal"... What a terrifying ability that is!

She herself, Paimon, and everyone wearing the "Void Terminal" were trapped in a dream from which they could not awaken, their bodies outside the world completely defenseless.

Meanwhile, their consciousness is imprisoned by the "Void" and constantly worn down in the "Reincarnation"... As long as the Great Sage does not stop operating the "Void", eventually everyone's consciousness will be worn away in the "Reincarnation".

A little thought reveals just how desperate it is to be controlled by someone both physically and mentally.

It is no exaggeration to say that the great sage who controls the "void" is now the master of all of Sumeru.

He rules over the "Void" and also controls the fate of all beings in Sumeru.

To use the simplest analogy, the Great Sage has successfully "kidnapped" everyone in Sumeru. Logically speaking, a "kidnapper" who has taken people hostage must be after something, right?

On a grander scale, a great sage could directly don the "robe" and rule all of Sumeru by relying on the "void"; on a smaller scale, one could demand "ransom" from all those who have been "kidnapped"...

The result?

This "kidnapper" went to so much trouble to "kidnap" so many people, just to force the "hostages" to keep dreaming about him?

If Yingmei could meet Hazard, her first words would definitely be a strong rebuke—what are you trying to achieve by doing all this!

Han Fulai knew what Hazard was after.

He suddenly asked, "Do you remember the 'debate' I had with Hazard in the first 'cycle'?"

Ying nodded: "Of course I remember. But didn't you say that Hazard was just a 'puppet'?"

“It is indeed a ‘puppet.’ But don’t forget, the ‘puppet’ was created by ‘Void’ by extracting that person’s memories,” Han Fulai reminded him. “Although that Hazard is just a ‘puppet,’ he inherited Hazard’s memories and thoughts, and his views should also represent Hazard’s own thoughts.”

“I once posed this point to Hazard during a ‘debate’—'People are ends in themselves, not means to an end.'”

Do you remember how Hazard responded to me?

Ying thought for a moment and replied, "He said, 'People are ends in themselves, not merely means to an end.'"

“That’s it,” Han Fulai said seriously. “'People are the end, not just the means,' in other words, 'people can also be the means.'”

"The Council forces everyone to enter the dream world, and constantly creates and harvests dreams, all for that 'secret project.' Harvesting dreams is not the 'goal,' but the 'means' to complete the 'secret project.' Moreover, the people who dream are also 'means' for him to achieve the 'goal.'"

The sounds coming from the "void terminal" were still intermittent and could not be formed into a coherent sentence.

But some things only need one "keyword" to be understood.

Nasida just heard a "keyword" -

“Harvesting Dreams?! Can dreams be harvested like wheat?” Paimon exclaimed in surprise.

Dixia shrugged: "You're asking me? Who should I ask?"

Nasita suddenly spoke up, saying, "Have you ever heard the saying... 'The Sumeru people don't dream.'"

“Uh… I have heard of it.” Paimon didn’t know why Nasita was bringing this up now, but she still answered honestly: “A while ago, Ying and I met a scholar named Haibasha in Daocheng Forest. She told us that only children dream of Sumeru, while adults basically don’t dream.”

"She said the wise men of the Church of Christ said that 'wisdom' means 'reason,' and adults are all 'reasonable,' so they don't like to dream. She also said that this is a gift from the Grass God, keeping people away from the foolish delusions of sleep..."

“That’s a lie,” Nasita shook her head. “Neither I nor the previous Grass God considered dreams to be foolish delusions, much less a ‘gift’ of not dreaming.”

“Of course it’s a lie.” Dixia’s tone was blunt. “Aren’t we in a ‘dream’ right now? If the Sumeru people don’t dream, where does this ‘cycle of the Flower Goddess’s Birthday’ come from?”

"Also, I dream, not just when I was a child, but even when I'm an adult I still dream—unless you want to say that desert people don't count as Sumeru people."

“That’s not what I meant.” Nasita shook her head again. “What I wanted to tell you is that the Sumerian people have always dreamed, they always have, and they still do. But because the Council of the Church claims that ‘not dreaming is a gift from the God of Wisdom,’ everyone takes pride in not dreaming. Even if they do dream, they will hide it and pretend that they don’t dream…”

"It's just that adults are better at lying, while children aren't. They enjoy novel dreams and are willing to share their dreams with others... That's why there's the strange phenomenon of 'adults don't dream, but children do.'"

Chapter 88 "Wish Power" Factory

"Is that so..."

Paimon recalled that when Hypasha was discussing her dream experiences, she had specifically asked them not to reveal her dreams to others. According to Hypasha, as a researcher at the Church of God, she was a person very close to "wisdom" and shouldn't still be dreaming; if others told them, they would laugh at her.

Now it seems that if word gets out about Haibasha's dream, the people at the Order Academy might say she's not qualified to be a researcher... Being a researcher at the Order Academy must be really tough.

Nasida raised her head slightly, staring at the sun overhead.

The sunlight was dazzling, but she didn't look away.