"Sister Lian, don't be afraid, Brother Li also said, we are just in a dream now, even if we die, it is just a nightmare, and we will definitely wake up in the real world in the end."

Hao Yiming's optimism made Ke Cailian relax a little, and her face was not so ugly.

Li Mengnan picked up a piece of gravel and bombed it on Hao Yiming's head, and the second middle school boy covered his head with a sigh, looking at Li Mengnan inexplicably, not understanding why he wanted to beat him.

"Does it hurt?"

"It hurts."

"If you usually dream, will you wake up if it hurts so much?"

"Definitely!"

"And now?"

"This ......"

Hao Yiming's face couldn't help but change, he seemed to understand what Li Mengnan meant.

"The dream level we are in now is very deep, the brain has no ability to distinguish injuries, it doesn't matter if it's just a missing arm and a broken leg, but if you die here, you may really die in the real world!"

Although Li Mengnan didn't want to pour this basin of cold water, if he didn't say these words in advance, it was hard to guarantee that no one would treat this test task with a child's play mentality.

But Cailian couldn't help but sobbed in a low voice, Hao Yiming was a little at a loss, and seemed to want to comfort her, but found that no matter what she said, she was so pale and powerless in front of the threat of death.

"Malegobi! What are you crying about, what did you think when you signed the agreement in the first place? If you want to get out of prison early, and you don't want to take risks, how can there be so many good things in this world? ”

Guo Debiao's fierce tiger face was so frightened that Ke Cailian suddenly didn't dare to speak, and covered her mouth with her hands and wept silently.

Li Mengnan glared at Guo Debiao, walked up to Ke Cailian and comforted him in a harmonious voice: "Sister Lian, don't mind, Debiao is a rough man...... However, since we have chosen this path, we have no possibility of turning back, no matter what awaits us, we can only keep going. ”

Ke Cailian nodded, but tears still couldn't stop coming out of her eyes.

"So what are we going to do now?" Guo Debiao asked.

"Don't look at me all the time, you little one...... You are the one who knows the situation best, and if you have anything, just say it, we all listen to you. ”

Tian Laogen twisted his beard with a smile, he just wanted to do his best to complete this mission, and then go home and tease Sun, he was not interested in leadership or anything at all.

"Okay, I'll talk about my plan."

Li Mengnan has always been a lazy person, if there is a better candidate, he is actually more willing to inconspicuously hide in the crowd and paddle, but at the moment, only he knows this dream world best, and can only be forced to take on the responsibility of leading the team.

"Let's start with this mission note...... If you extrapolate according to the real-world time, it is about 8 o'clock in the morning, and there are about ten hours before sunset.

I don't think the folks at the HX Institute would give us such a safe time for nothing, and I suspect that they may mean two things:

First, let the volunteers who participated in the test discover the difference between this world and the real world on their own, so as to recognize the current form and prepare psychologically.

Second, leave enough time for volunteers to prepare the items and weapons they need to carry out their tasks at night. ”

Tian Laogen nodded affirmatively: "Yes, since the other party mentioned Shou in the mission, then it means that there will definitely be a battle, and in order to increase the chance of victory, we must prepare weapons and first-aid medicines at hand." ”

"Boss, if those people really need us to fight, why did they send us weapons and equipment directly when they issued the mission?"

Don't look at Guo Debiao, who has no brains, but this sentence is to the point.

"I think it's probably to make the task more difficult for us, right? If you come up with an AK for one person, then you'll have a fart in the back! ”

Hao Yiming still can't get rid of the game-style thinking, and simply treats this mission as a copy of the online game team.

Li Mengnan didn't want to remind this second-year teenager that this kind of thinking would kill people, anyway, when the mission officially began, the qiqi in front of him would make him completely aware of the situation.

"Actually, from the moment I entered this dream world, I have been thinking about a question - what is the ultimate purpose of the so-called test of the HX Institute?"

Li Mengnan's words stopped everyone, indeed, since the signing of that agreement, these people have blindly obeyed the arrangement of the HX Research Institute, but they have never thought about the purpose of the other party.

What is the so-called test?

"Boss, do you know why they're doing this?"

"There's too little information to speculate...... However, judging from the clues known so far, I have a feeling that they are carrying out a kind of elimination, similar to the law of the jungle, natural selection, survival of the fittest. ”

In fact, from the moment he found out that twenty people were sent in at one time, Li Mengnan had already vaguely had this kind of guess, and it was not until he saw the mission that he was completely sure of this.

Li Mengnan is not a defender of human rights, and he doesn't want to accuse HX of how inhumane this practice is, he knows very well that the rules of this world are like this, even in a modern society that shouts that everyone is equal, behind the appearance of warmth and affection, in fact, the law of the jungle is still followed.

What's more, the HX Institute gives everyone the opportunity to choose, and since they have signed that volunteer agreement, they must have the awareness to face any situation.

Staying in this kind of abandoned amusement park will definitely not be able to obtain any weapons and materials, Li Mengnan and the others can only focus on places outside the amusement park.

I don't know how the HX Institute did it, even though it was a dream world, every grass and tree in sight was so real, and there was no blurring of the scene or seeing each other's different scenery because everyone had never been here, and even the buses on the road were running back and forth on the road according to the real time.

If it weren't for Li Mengnan's perception that he couldn't use illusions in this world, I'm afraid even he would have been deceived.

When they reached the side of the road, they found a small but very embarrassing thing - no money.

I don't know if it was an omission in the work of the HX Research Institute, or if it was deliberately arranged like this, when Li Mengnan and his party were sent into the dream world, they only had a uniform style of volunteer uniforms on their bodies, and they didn't even have a coin other than that.

"Boss, since this is a dream world, do you still have to buy a ticket to take the bus? Can't we just go straight to it? Guo Debiao said that an hour's drive is 50 or 60 kilometers, and I am afraid that I will have to walk for a day on foot alone.

"Heh, this is good, you can try it." Li Mengnan did not object.

As expected, as soon as Guo Debiao, who was going to take the overlord car, got into the car, he was bombarded by the driver who he thought was NPC, and when he got out of the car, he was kicked with a long shoe print on his buttocks.

"Boss, you're deliberately fixing me, right? Did you already know this was going to happen? Guo Debiao scratched his head and walked back with a disgraced face.

"No, I just wasn't sure, but now I can be sure...... Well, this time for you. ”

The most important thing to do in a dream world is to understand the rules of this world, otherwise, even a dream that seems extremely safe can be fatal because of a little thing that doesn't follow the rules.

Obviously, the HX Institute did not deliberately make things difficult for them, the dreams here still strictly follow the rules of the real world, as long as they follow the usual methods, it is not difficult to survive here.

"Brother Li, now we can't even take a car, how can we go to the city to prepare weapons and supplies? This is not a game, and when you come out naked, you can also fight monsters and explode money and equipment...... Wait, what does it taste like? ”

Just when Hao Yiming was crying bitterly, his nose suddenly twitched a few times, and his eyes fell on a farmland well not far away.

In the well was the body of a middle-aged man, judging from the neatness of his face and clothes, he should have just died.

"That Wen Jiahao is very amazing, he actually saw the essence of this world so quickly......"

Li Mengnan waved his hand and motioned for Guo Debiao to re-cover the stone on the manhole cover.

"Brother Li, what do you mean by that?" Hao Yiming caught up and asked.

Li Mengnan observed the traces of Mai Miao being overwhelmed all the way back to the road, pointed to a few points of blood that were still fresh, and said: "The identity of the corpse just now should be the owner of a private car, Wen Jiahao and others stopped his car here, and then killed people and robbed the car...... Obviously, some of them must have noticed the difference in this world and dared to kill people unscrupulously. ”

"Brother Li, are we going to do the same?" Perhaps because he already had a human life in his hands, Hao Yiming said that killing people was extremely easy, and he even felt a little eager to try.

"There's no need to do that."

Li Mengnan shook his head, although the people in the dream world are not real human beings, if they kill unscrupulously because of this, it will still have a certain impact on their psychology.

After all, this is not a computer game, and the dying wails of the slain, the splattered blood, and the desperate eyes can all be truly felt.

……

At the same time, inside the HX Institute.

Euonymus sat on the lift chair with a box of yogurt in his hand, touching the stubble on his chin and staring with interest at the image on the monitor in front of him, which was the two members of Li Mengnan and Wen Jiahao.

Through the transparent plexiglass wall in front of you, you can see twenty neatly arranged oblique egg-shaped containers, in which all twenty people who participated in the test are sleeping according to their serial numbers, and many staff members in white uniforms nervously check the working status of all the instruments.

"Yuan Fang, what do you think?"

Euonymus turned his chair and asked with a grin at a little loli who had been standing beside him.

This Lori is only seven or eight years old, wearing a pure black Lolita dress, her skin is so white that there is almost no blood, and she looks as petite and cute as a doll.

But the strange thing is that this Lori obviously has an oriental face with black eyebrows and black eyes, but she has pure white long hair like an old man, and not only does it not have any disharmony, but it adds a rare bewitching beauty in reality.

"Euonymus, believe it or not, I shredded your words and fed them to Nightmare on my next mission?"

was lightly glanced at by the white-haired Lori, and Euonymus felt that the hairs all over his body were exploding, and he hurriedly laughed and said: "Hehe, just kidding, don't take it seriously, I'll treat you to ramen another day." ”

Little Lori thought about it seriously and nodded: "That...... I want a big bowl. ”

"Uh...... Closer to home, what do you think of the volunteers so far? Euonymus sucked the yogurt box into a whirring sound, shook it a few times, and threw it into the trash.

"Both of these people are very intelligent, and few people can perceive the existence of the dream world in such a short period of time." The white-haired little Lori stretched out her finger and tapped Li Mengnan and Wen Jiahao on the screen, "But I'm not optimistic about this guy named Li Mengnan, his approach is too pedantic, he doesn't even dare to kill people in the dream world, if it weren't for the fact that we deliberately set aside enough safe time for them, I'm afraid he would have been eliminated......"

Wei Mao smiled helplessly, he also knew very well that what the white-haired little Lori said was the truth, but out of a good impression of Li Mengnan, he still defended it: "You can't say that, as a dream walker, it is important to kill decisively, but don't you think that having such a companion with a bottom line will make people feel at ease behind it?" ”

"I don't need companions, including you."

Little Lori coldly dropped a sentence, turned around and left the room with her dazzling white hair, leaving the Euonymus sitting in place with a helpless wry smile.

A new researcher came over, looked at the slowly closing automatic door and said curiously: "Brother Wei, who is this little girl, talking so well?" The illegitimate daughter of our director? ”

"Just a few words and you think the cow beeps? If you can go on a mission with her, you'll know what a real cow beep is! Euonymus lit a cigarette, pointed his finger at the forehead of the rookie researcher, and said with the appearance of a passer-by: "Young man, the profession of a dream walker is not based on age, but on talent, this little girl is harmless to humans and animals like a little white rabbit in reality, in the dream world, it is definitely an ancient beast, even if you offend the director, don't offend her, otherwise don't blame Brother Wei, I can't save you...... Of course, due to the rules of the institute, you will definitely not die, but it is estimated that you will definitely want to die when the time comes. ”

"I'll go! Then I'll have to be careful......" The rookie researcher shrank his head weakly.

"Alright, stop talking nonsense, hurry up and get to work!" Euonymus smiled and slapped the rookie researcher on the head, "Keep an eye on the real-world surveillance, be sure to disperse all the people near the amusement park before dark, if you go in a living person, then the matter will be a big deal......"

"Don't worry, Brother Wei, in this barren mountain and wilderness, there is no village in front and no store in the back, who would come to this kind of place in the middle of the night?"

Although he didn't seem to care, the rookie researcher still meticulously operated the camera and carefully searched every suspicious corner around him, and this serious work attitude couldn't help but nod his head secretly.

"Brother Wei, there's one thing I haven't been able to figure out - why choose a dreamwalker among criminals? Wouldn't it be better to select well-disciplined and militarily competent soldiers in the army? ”

"I didn't expect you to be quite observant." Euonymus hooked the trash can with his foot and flicked the cigarette ash in his hand, "You're new here, and it's normal not to know the past history of our institute......"

"After discovering the existence of the dream world for the first time and confirming its strategic value, our research institute did send several exploration teams composed of all active military personnel to enter, but without exception, they were all wiped out after encountering nightmares.

During that time, due to the large number of deaths, the research institute faced considerable pressure, and even stopped exploring the dream world for a time, and only carried out theoretical research and existing calculations.

Later, the limelight gradually passed, and the big people above couldn't resist the temptation of 'eternal life', and the exploration of the dream world was once again on the agenda.

However, recruiting volunteers with high salaries as in the past would put too much financial pressure on the institute, and it was not so easy to recruit after several previous failures, so some people proposed to recruit from prison inmates, supplemented by a small number of volunteers recruited from the army.

Surprisingly, in the next few expeditions, almost all of the volunteers who survived were recruited from among the prisoners, and only one case of military volunteers survived.

Later, the institute abolished the practice of recruiting volunteers from among the military and changed to recruit all from the prisoners, supplemented by a small number of potential recruits. ”

"Isn't it? Criminals are actually stronger than soldiers? Euonymus's answer was a bit subversive of the rookie researcher's perception.

"Not only do you think it's strange, but in fact, everyone in the institute is incredulous about this result, and there was once an internal forum of the institute because of the controversy......"

"Did that have any results?"

"The big discussion came to a conclusion that sounded like that but there was no evidence to confirm it -- they felt that the problem might lie in the will to survive, and that the subconscious psychological activity of soldiers in the face of death was 'sacrifice', and there was no psychology of criminals who would never give up in struggling to survive, although there may be only a slight difference between these two wills, but it is just that, the distance between life and death."

"Oh? Brother Wei, so I can become a dreamwalker like you? ”

The rookie researcher was a little excited, he had watched a previously recorded video of the dream world, and was extremely envious of the Dream Walker's formidable combat power and gorgeous fighting methods.

Superheroes in the real world can only be imaginary, but in the dream world, the dreamwalker is the superhero who exists in real life.

"You're still honestly your supporter, the horror of nightmares isn't something you can understand just by watching a few videos."

Euonymus patted the other party's shoulder, and he couldn't remember how many such young people who were full of fantasies about being Superman.

"Brother Kewei, I've seen your mission video, and those nightmares are completely vulnerable in front of you......" The rookie researcher still refused to give up.

"You said this video?" Euonymus tapped the mouse and brought up a dream world transcoding video less than three minutes long, "I just think this one is more handsome, I cut it down and watched it by myself, if you take this as a dream world battle, then you definitely don't know how to die......"