"As you said before, the Prophet is a reflection of the Dream Monster in the nightmare of the town. As soon as the prophet is killed, the nightmare will restart and we will be ejected from the nightmare. I said, "But we're still in a nightmare." Moreover, what does the death of the prophet have to do with the fog outside? ”

"Let me answer your last question first." The Turin doctor smiled helplessly, "The fog outside is a symbol of the nightmare being restarted. By the time the fog spreads inside the vault, the nightmare is over. ”

"In other words: the end of this nightmare is not instantaneous, but gradual?" I asked.

"No, it stands to reason for a moment." She replied, "I'm overwhelmed by the situation right now. I can only analyze two possibilities for this: either the prophet is not really dead, but only half dead; Either the reflection of the dream monster is not just one soothsayer, but two, and only one of them died. ”

It's really a mess. I thought as I asked, "So, if I don't passively wait for the fog to fill the shelter, but actively walk into the fog, can I just wake up?" ”

She patiently said, "That's dangerous." The further you go into the depths of the fog, the more hazy your consciousness becomes. Reach a certain distance and you will fall out of the border of the nightmare. But instead of waking up in the universe of images, you will fall directly into the universe of abstraction. ”

"If it's so dangerous, and there's fog outside the Vault, can I understand that—" I looked around, "Violent is in the Vault at this point, right?" ”

"I don't think he's here. He is a rather timid man, which is both his weakness and his strength. She said, "He has already suffered at your hands." From what I know about him, he'd rather stay in the shallow fog to prepare for the next raid than approach you. ”

"The enemy is dark and I am clear."

"Yes."

"So, how did the prophet die?" I asked.

"It seems to have been eaten alive by a large number of maggots." She replied.

This death is too bizarre. I asked, "Is it the hand of the undead?" ”

"No, it seems like it's because the psionic energy is out of control." She said, her expression a little incomprehensible.

"To be honest, I don't understand what it's all about." I expressed my feelings.

"Actually, I don't know much about ......," she sighed, "because the most important thing for me now, preparing the poison is the most important job." So as to the cause of the prophet's death, I only asked a few hasty questions. The other survivors said the same thing, saying that the reason was 'out of control', and the result was 'being eaten alive by a large number of maggots'......"

She continued: "If you really want to know, go and ask the other survivors in detail, it's useless to ask me who knows a little bit about it. I'm still too busy attaching the poison to the weapon. That being said, the amount of poison extracted was not as large as expected, and it could only be attached to smaller weapons...... Well? ”

Suddenly, she looked at the dagger in my hand.

"Can you give me this dagger?" She said, "This short knife is just the right size. ”

This is the short knife that the doppelganger Xu Fu used to commit suicide, probably from where he didn't know where to go. I gave the dagger to the Turin doctor. She nodded, ready to turn and leave, when she suddenly looked back at me again, "The doppelganger has returned?" ”

"Yes."

"Your eyes look a lot more normal."

"I was wearing a mask so you can make comparisons too?" I asked, "Anyway, how did you recognize me?" I don't look the same way I look in the real world and in my dreams. ”

"If you're interested in refining the route of the dream technique, you can do the same." She answered both of my questions at the same time, and looked at me from top to bottom, "Well, it's really recovered." It's a good thing you're not a psyker, otherwise you're likely to have sequelae. ”

I know what she meant by the second half of the sentence.

Psionic energy responds unconditionally to the strong imagination of the psyker. Sometimes this kind of "unconditionality" will not only cause physical damage to the psyker (such as the flax of the past), but also affect the psychic person's psyche.

For example, some people occasionally fall into depression in their lives. This frustration may be due to the fact that he sees the best in other people, and when he compares himself to himself, he may think, "I don't seem to be as good as I think I am," or even "I'm just a fool." Basically, most people are able to digest these negative emotions slowly, and even only need to sleep for one night to meet life refreshed. However, if the person is a psychic, and the peak of depression is too strong, then it is possible to make the psionic unconditionally respond, which in turn promotes negative emotions, hypnotizes himself, and makes the psionic person more convinced of his negative cognition.

Because psychic people are more likely to suffer from mental illness than ordinary people, they must be more active in maintaining their mental health than ordinary people, otherwise once they fall into the vicious circle of "hypnotizing themselves", it will cause great disaster.

The reason why many psionics become monsters is not necessarily because of something big happening, but also because of trivial things in life. To the extreme, some psychologically fragile psionics will even be unable to sleep because they watch tragic stories or listen to tragic songs, and then lie in bed staring at the ceiling and can't sleep, unknowingly triggering the psyker's response mechanism.

"I heard something wrong with your footsteps earlier." I said, "What's wrong with your feet?" ”

She glanced at me, then leaned over and lifted the legs of her pants, "As you can see." ”

Her exposed ankles were different from what I had imagined, prosthetics with wooden shells, like dolls.

Suddenly, I remembered her real-life posture as a wheelchair girl.

"The first time you saw me in the wheelchair girl's posture, I couldn't move freely from the head down." She said to me, "And the deeper I go into the dream, the more complete my body functions become, but the older my posture becomes, and the weaker my psionic abilities become." ”

"That's why you're a super-grade psyker, but you have no combat power?" I asked.

"No, in reality, although I have all the psionic powers, I am not good at fighting." She shook her head, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been forced into such a situation." ”

When the conversation was over, she turned and walked away.

I was about to ask someone for the details of the prophet's death, when I heard someone calling me from behind me.

It's flax.

I turned to look, and he ran up to me from a distance and hurriedly asked, "Do you see ...... See 'him'? ”

He asked about my doppelganger Xu Fu.

That's a bit hard to explain. The reason why I made that doppelganger is not only to control the wind for me, but also to reassure the flax. But now that the doppelganger has committed suicide, it's hard for me to conjure another one for him. As I pondered how to explain it better, I replied, "See." ”

"Where did he go?" He asked worriedly.

"Maybe it's going to the bathroom." I said, "What do you have to do with him?" ”

"I don't worry about him leaving me." "And the vault was attacked by the undead and the living dead before......"

"Really? Sorry, I left before. I said, "I found traces of the withered believers in my dreams." ”

"Withered Believers!" He suddenly perked up, "Really! Where is it! ”

"There's no hurry, tell me what happened before the shelter?" I asked, "How did the prophet die?" ”

As I spoke, I paused slightly, and then added, "If you can, can you tell me more about 'him'?" ”

I was extremely curious about what the doppelganger Xu Fu had experienced in those seventy-two hours. No, it's a bit of a misnomer to be curious. It should be said that I can't let go of the suicide of the doppelganger Xu Fu.

"That's fine......" he agreed, wondering, "but why are you interested in him?" ”

"I'll explain it to you later." I acted like I had a reason, but I was just trying to make it up.

"I see." He honestly accepted, "Then I'll start talking." ”

"Say it in big detail." I remind.

"Okay." He nodded.

*

Hu Ma told me about what had happened in the last seventy-two hours.

He started from the beginning: shortly after I entered the dream within a dream, he came to Xu Fu because he couldn't reassure him, and then saw Xu Fu standing at the door of the doctor's room in Turin.

Xu Fu looked blankly ahead, as if he was staring at a certain focal point in the air. Hu Ma didn't know what Xu Fu was thinking. At this moment, Xu Fu seemed to be caught in some kind of thought circle and couldn't evacuate, so much so that Hu Ma walked to his side, and he just stared at the air blankly. Hu Ma wanted to call him, but closed his mouth at the moment when he was about to blurt out. Maybe Xu Fu was thinking about something quite important, and out of politeness, he couldn't interrupt him at will. Moreover, Xu Fu was borrowed by the Facelings before, maybe it was the Facelings who specifically explained something, so he fell into deep thought.

After a long while, Xu Fu woke up suddenly. He noticed the flax beside him and smiled his usual friendly smile.

"What's wrong with you?" Hu Ma asked.

"It's fine." Xu Fu shook his head, "Have you seen the prophet?" ”

"He just went out." Hu Ma said.

"Went outside the Vault?" Xu Fu asked.

"Yes. Said to check out the other alternate shelters. Hu Ma nodded, "Did you eat just now?" ”

"Not yet. Let's eat together. As he spoke, Xu Fu took out the canned braised beef sent by Hu Ma.

"This, how can it be. I gave it to you. Hu Ma hurriedly said.

"Of course, it's mine now. So it's not for nothing. Xu Fu smiled and said, "In return, you have to answer me a question." ”

"What's the problem?" Huma's attention was easily diverted.

"Suppose you were given three days of life." Xu Fu said, "What will you do?" ”