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The Technological Malevolence

Humanity has thrived for millions of years, but only the last 4000 years have been truly meaningful. In the ancient days before civilization, we huddled in caves, gathered around small fires, fearing the incomprehensible. Those indescribable signs from the heavens, those monsters with human heads and bird bodies, we called them "gods" and "demons," praying for their forgiveness. As our numbers grew and our civilizations rose, the mysteries dwindled, and we began to view the world more rationally. Yet, they did not vanish...

FishLikesBanana · Sci-fi
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19 Chs

19 Striking similarity

Dream Distortion!

As Zhang Yaoyang gazed at this new ability, and then at the thousand-point increase in his illusion value, there was no hint of excitement on his face, only deep contemplation.

He once heard a theory while watching "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

Freddy's ability to kill in dreams actually follows a pattern.

Some people have summarized that, based on analysis, the world of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" can be divided into three worlds:

The first world is the reality where people are, a world of sunshine where nothing unusual happens. This world is absolutely safe.

In addition to this, the second world is called the safe dream world.

What is a safe dream world?

In the movie's plot, Freddy enters the target's dream and even arranges some events that the characters have experienced before. For example, in "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3," the female protagonist was already confined to a psychiatric hospital. However, when she falls asleep, she suddenly finds herself back home, experiencing an event that happened before she went to the hospital: waiting for her mother's return, she turns on the radio to listen to rock music so loud it bothers the neighbors, prompting her mother to turn it off upon her return.

At this moment, in her dream, her mother indeed comes in and turns off the radio, saying a series of things she has heard in reality. The female protagonist then mistakenly believes that her encounters with Freddy's attacks were just dreams.

Later, her mother starts talking as she would in reality, but Freddy suddenly appears and even becomes her mother's 'guest.' Not only does he decapitate her mother, but her mother's head keeps talking non-stop, horrifying the female protagonist, who starts screaming...

According to the analysis, this is the second world — the safe dream world, where Freddy enters the target's dream, manipulates the dream until just before the attack, a period referred to as the safe dream world.

So, the question arises, why does a safe dream world exist?

Logically speaking, since Freddy can freely enter and change others' dreams and easily kill people, why doesn't he just kill his targets with a snap of his fingers?

Really, is it just for entertainment and madness? Just to satisfy that perverse desire?

Perhaps, there's another possibility.

If one considers a person's dreams as an impenetrable spherical shell, then to kill someone in their dreams, the first thing to do is to break that shell.

Freddy originally didn't have the ability to kill in someone else's dream, because someone's dream should be their domain, and in their dream, they should be invincible. The so-called daydreaming, sweet dreams, or even fantasizing, all mean imagining oneself as invincible in one's own dream. This explains the reason for the safe dream world.

Because this is our own dream, so here we are invincible, absolutely safe.

And what Freddy does is break the shell protecting this dream. He uses various means, terror is his most commonly used, or seduction.

For example, in the movie "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3," he uses this method to seduce one of the characters, or uses familiar memory fragments to lower the target's guard, then suddenly destroys those familiar memories, or kills your most familiar and trusted person right in front of you...

All of this is so similar to Zhang Yaoyang's 'dream interference' ability!

In short, when the target is in a safe dream world, Freddy can use various methods to open their mental vulnerabilities. When the mind is opened, that's when the protective shell is broken, and consciousness is pulled into Freddy's own domain.

And this is the ultimate dream world in distress.

At this moment, Zhang Yaoyang recalled this very famous summary on the internet. He couldn't help but gasp in astonishment. The dreams mentioned above are like eggs. Only by breaking the egg and pulling the other person into one's own dream is the true way to kill someone — this is remarkably similar to his own ability, the 'dream distortion' ability, which just broke the opponent's dream screen and then pulled the opponent into his own dream!

No, it's not just similar, it's almost a perfect summary of the principle of his ability!

Zhang Yaoyang's eyes flashed with a strange light. According to the other person's words, if he killed the other person in his dream, would Wang Jianren in reality also die?

As Zhang Yaoyang sat up from the grass, squinting his eyes to look at the distant building, he was hindered by the walls that blocked his view, preventing him from seeing what was happening inside the prison at that moment.

...

At this moment, behind the thick walls of the prison, in cell 302 near the corner, screams continuously echoed from the cell after the lights were turned off.

Soon, the screams alerted the prison guards, and two guards immediately walked to the front of cell 302 to check the situation inside the prison.

But as they looked inside, they were stunned...

The entire cell 302 was filled with dark red bloodstains. On the right bed, Wang Jianren was futilely clutching his neck, eyes tightly shut, struggling constantly, even flipping off the bed and falling onto the cold floor!

Next to him, the remaining three cellmates kept screaming, curled up in the corner, eyes filled with intense fear...

Wang Jianren was dead.

The autopsy report revealed that his arteries, veins, and trachea were simultaneously cut by a sharp weapon, causing him to die from blood loss and lack of oxygen.

By the time Zhang Yaoyang learned this news through a special channel, three days had already passed.

"If I bring someone into my dream, then the harm I cause to them will be reflected back to their physical body?" Looking at the message in his hand, Zhang Yaoyang couldn't help but raise a cold smirk.

This concept is not difficult to understand. In the late 1960s, a Soviet expert conducted an experiment like this — he took a coin from his pocket, placed it on the arm of a hypnotized person, and in a deep, firm voice said, "This coin is hot, you have been severely burned."

As a result, the person's arm developed second-degree burns, lasting for several hours.

There are many similar examples. For instance, in the 19th century, a fervently religious French woman, without any external injuries, developed bleeding ulcers on her arms and thighs simply due to her devout belief in Christ, resembling the wounds of Christ's crucifixion.

This is the power of the subconscious.

Just like a scientific paper Zhang Yaoyang once read, every person's mind possesses immense energy. The subconscious energy of humans is more than thirty thousand times greater than self-awareness. Human self-awareness is constantly influenced by the subconscious, from small things like heartbeats and blood flow to your worldview, values, and survival instincts, all controlled by the subconscious.

And when the subconscious tells itself, "You are already dead," then that person will truly die, just like Wang Jianren.

Clearly, the ability of "dream distortion" involves not only consuming the dreams of others but also consuming their consciousness. That's why Zhang Yaoyang can kill someone through dreams.

So, Zhang Yaoyang's lingering question was finally answered:

When he gained this ability, where did the originally existing over two thousand eight hundred illusion points come from?

Clearly, the source of nearly three thousand illusion points probably includes the dreams of Li Dazhuang and the three suicides in the school.

In ordinary dreams, each person can only collect one or two illusion points.

However, by frightening someone in a dream, changing the course of their dream, one can obtain several points or even more than ten illusion points, just like the prank he played on Liu Yang.

Furthermore, if you completely disrupt someone's dream, causing them intense emotional distress, similar to what he did in Tang Ning's dream, you can gain hundreds of illusion points at once. However, the downside is that the target will suffer severe psychological trauma, and in severe cases, may develop mental illnesses, and so on.

Finally, when you completely devour someone's dream and kill them in the dream, you can gain thousands of illusion points. But the downside is...

In reality, the target will also die!

This is the true operational method of the dream entry ability.