Char went back to his personal terminal to check the books he had just purchased.

Books are the ladder of human progress, and Char is immersed in them before he knows it.

He has the ability to read and forget, and after reading it once, he imprints the words on the book in his mind.

I don't know why, Char's headache didn't come as expected when he was reading the book.

As she reads, Char's mind becomes clearer and clearer, and her understanding of the world becomes deeper and deeper.

Before she knew it, it was already evening, and the hunger pangs in her stomach told Char that it was time to stop.

Char came to the window, looked at the dirty streets downstairs and the pedestrians coming and going, took a light breath, and said to himself: "Ander said that you can go to the training base in three days, but I'd better go today." At least three meals a day are provided there for free. ”

Char sent an email to the landlord, Locke, telling him that he was going to be away for a few days and that he would be making up the rent when he returned.

Subsequently, Char packed up a few close-fitting clothes and found an old holographic bracelet in a drawer.

Holographic bracelets are portable terminal devices in this era.

The role of the bracelet is equivalent to the mobile phone of the old era, but it is more convenient to carry and more durable than the mobile phone.

However, only the poor in the lower cities will buy cheap holographic bracelets.

The wealthy in the upper cities, on the other hand, are jumping on the bandwagon and buying the best electronics, such as holographic glasses.

Char changed into a T-shirt and jeans, put a change of clothes in a shoulder bag, and left the room.

The streets are filthy, sewage is flowing, and there is a disgusting stench in the air.

A light rain falls from the sky, and the bright neon on the skyscrapers shines through the rain curtain, like another world.

On both sides of the road, there were ragged homeless people, their eyes were hollow, their expressions numb, and Char could not see any life in them.

The thought that she might fall into their form made Char shudder and shudder.

Char hid under the eaves, opened the holographic bracelet, entered the address of the training base, and walked towards the subway station under the guidance of voice navigation.

Hope City is a giant city, divided into four areas: upper and lower, east, west, north and south.

The area where Char is located is the lower level of Xicheng District, which is a slum.

The area where the training base is located is the outer city to the east, which is a remote and inaccessible place.

The walls of the underground passage are covered with graffiti, there are many homeless people begging, and the passers-by look indifferent and hurried, ignoring them, and the air is filled with gloom.

On the platform, more than a dozen office workers are waiting for the next subway, but their faces are full of exhaustion.

The subway is late again.

Public transportation in Hope City is free, but it is outrageously inefficient, and breakdowns and delays are commonplace.

Office workers have long been accustomed to the delay of the subway, the light from the bracelet, weaving a virtual light screen in front of them, touching the light screen with their fingers, and their consciousness has long been immersed in the virtual world, killing time.

Char came to the platform and continued reading without immersing himself in the virtual space.

Today he received enough information, and he wanted to see the real world with his own eyes rather than the virtual world.

"Hah..."

A middle-aged man in his thirties had dark circles under his eyes and sleepiness written on his face, and he rubbed his dry eyes and couldn't help but yawn.

The yawn spread through the air like a virus, and the others couldn't help but start yawning.

For a while, yawns came and went, and Char was also affected, feeling a thick sleepiness coming, and his eyelids seemed to be filled with lead, so heavy that he couldn't lift them.

When Char came to his senses, he found himself in a large, empty playground.

Carousels, Ferris wheels, roller coasters, slides, seesaws...

Strangely, the playground was empty.

These rides run on their own when no one is around.

Squeak... Squeak...

There was no one on the seesaw, but it kept going up and down, as if two invisible ghosts were playing.

"Is this a dream?"

Char's consciousness was clear, and he quickly realized that he was dreaming.

But Char didn't know how she could wake up.

He struggled to remember, but he couldn't remember when or where he fell asleep, and why he had come to this strange dream.

"Big brother, are you here to play with me?"

A girl's voice suddenly sounded behind Char.

Char felt a chill run down her spine.

"Who is it?"

Char's throat throbbed, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, and slowly turned his head, the muscles in his neck extremely stiff.

With long black shawl hair, pale skin, and gloomy eyes, she was a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl.

She was sitting on the merry-go-round, waving to Char, but there was no smile on her face.

Dream Girl!

Char woke up violently from a sharp headache, sweating profusely and panting for air.

A headache will only be late, not absent.

But this time, the headache saved Char.

Recalling the dream just now, Char had palpitations.

Char had never had such a clear dream, the dream did not become blurry with waking up, but became clearer, and every strand of black hair fluttering in the dream girl was firmly engraved in his mind.

"Dream Girl's urban weird talk turned out to be true, so the nightmare plague?"

Char came back to his senses, his gaze swept across the platform, and his expression suddenly froze.

All the office workers lay on the dirty ground and fell into a deep sleep.

Except for the corner of the platform, a man in a black raincoat was still standing, his eyes were cold.

Seeing Char wake up, the strange man sighed lightly, with a little surprise in his eyes, and looked at him.

"Could it be that he's messing around?" Char was very alert.

"Hey, wake up!"

Char knew that he might not be the match of the weirdo, so she walked quickly to a sleeping middle-aged man, grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him vigorously, trying to wake him up.

However, the man's expression was frightened, his teeth were clenched, his eyes were closed, and no matter how Char shook and screamed, he showed no sign of waking up.

Char lifted his eyelids and found that his eyes were spinning rapidly, and he was experiencing a nightmare that he couldn't wake up from!

Char was not reconciled, and tried to wake up a few people nearby.

The result was the same, no one woke up.

All this is so abnormal!

At this time, the man in the black raincoat spoke, and it turned out to be a girl's voice: "Give up, they are in a nightmare, unless you are a dream builder who can enter their dreams and wake them up, otherwise they will sleep until the subway arrives at the station." ”