The loading box reached the bottom, and Ian opened the barred door.

"Follow me – it might be a little uncomfortable, but please don't worry about the details, just follow me."

With that, she led us out of the shaft quickly.

The tunnels under the mine were labyrinthine and Ian had a rail-mounted trailer for us to ride, powered by a small steam engine - much like a shrunken locomotive – that carried us for a ride, and then the road was completely unpaved with rails and we had to rely on our feet.

Ian takes us through the narrowing tunnels, which are strangely constructed, and we seem to defy the laws of physics, which can meander in any direction, even upwards.

"It's normal for a lot of irregularities in the dream world, and under normal circumstances, there is no need to adapt to it - after all, no one takes chaotic dreams seriously. But now that we're in the middle of it, let's try to get used to it, because we could have a worse situation. I said to everyone.

The old knife smiled behind me and said, "Aji, you are really comforting—shouldn't you say something encouraging now?" Most of the people in the team are women and children......"

"Huh, really? But I don't think they agree with you......"

Shen Tangzhi smiled: "I was the first to disagree. ”

"It's, though, it's a bit arrogant to say, but I think I can still do something to help...... Mr. Yoshimitsu, what do you say? ”

I let out an "um", and upon hearing my response, Kirishima chuckled cheerfully.

“……”

The old knife muttered a few times, but didn't say anything more.

The composition of our team is indeed not what Lao Dao said, although Shen Tangzhi and Kirishima Xun are two women, they both have expertise, and sometimes the role is no worse than me and Lao Dao, and those three and a half children, although they suffer from various phobias, each of them has experienced hardships since childhood, and their minds are much more mature than ordinary children.

And I suspect that these children, who suffer from phobias, may be the key figures in solving this incident.

Thinking of this, I also glanced at Ian, who was at the front of the line, a thin girl who had appeared in the strange dream I had first entered from the beginning, and she seemed to know the secret of the dream machine, but so far she still had a lot to explain to us, especially about the "King" and the "Resistance......

Let's hope it's all my overly worrying.

The tunnel ahead was getting narrower and narrower, and it was so dense that we might not be able to get through it without assistance.

We had to bend down to keep our heads from hitting the top of the sinking tunnel, the wooden planks around us supporting the top of the tunnel made a slight "squeak" from the heavy squeezing, and the rusty water continued to drip from above, and after rounding the last corner, we finally saw the light.

"It's the place."

Ian let out a confident voice, the first time I'd ever heard her voice light, probably relieved that she had completed the task.

She led us towards the light source, and a door appeared in front of us, and the light was on inside the room, which was a small room.

"I brought them here." She announced, leading us into the room.

The small room was lit by only a miner's safety lamp, which was placed on a smudged wooden table, and the room was still very dim around the room, and I saw four people standing in the room, but the details on people's faces were hard to discern.

When they saw us enter, the four strangers gathered in front of the lights with hesitant steps and wary faces.

We started looking at each other almost at the same time, and Ian had already started to introduce each other for us.

This group of people is what Ian calls the "Resistance", the full name of this organization is "Lud Resistance", and the four people standing in front of us are the core leadership of the fight against the Machine Lord Hemdal.

The Lud Resistance?

The name reminded us all of some not-so-pleasant experiences, but we didn't show it.

The leader of the Ludd rebels was Farakin, a lean man, only a little taller than Kirishima Fumi, about thirty years old, with an iron-gray beard and a serious expression on his face, in which I saw a hint of remorse.

When he learned that I was the "Chosen One," he stepped forward to shake my hand.

"We are very happy to have you here. Trust me, you have no idea how happy we are! When he said this, he still had a very serious expression on his face.

I responded, "We're the same." ”

Farakin's hands were rough and powerful, but after I pushed a little harder, the expression on the lean man's face changed slightly, and his complexion softened a little.

Farakin began to introduce us to other people in the organization.

The first was an older woman with very resolute eyes, with short male hair, and I noticed that she was missing three fingers on her left hand.

"This is Mira, and she is in charge of mobilization, which in a nutshell is to develop the number of members of our organization among the workers." Farakin introduced.

Mira nodded slowly at me: "After losing my three children, all I have left in my heart is resentment towards the Machine King, who took everything from me!" The Chosen One, I can accept any plan, even if it requires me to sacrifice my life - I have nothing to think of but kill the Machine King. She said with a tense face.

"I'm sorry, Mira said something too heavy...... "Farakin gave an apologetic expression.

"We've all seen the dried blood, so ...... There is nothing to apologize for. ”

Frakin nodded, moving on to the next member:

"He's Raya, in charge of logistics."

Raya was a tall, sunken-cheeked man, less than thirty years old.

Raya has children of her own, and the children are almost old enough to go to the factory.

"If it were just me, I probably wouldn't have stood up against ......" Raya looked very calm, "there's nothing to be ashamed of, my three older brothers all died in a repressive operation ordered by the Machine King, and I just feel simply hopeless." But now, my children are almost old, and if you can save us, preferably in a more peaceful way, then I will be forever grateful for your ......."

I understand that this man wants to see the fall of the Machine King before his child reaches adulthood, but is a little hesitant to use violence.

Raya's words made Farakin frown, but he didn't interrupt Raya, and when he finished speaking, he pointed to the last lady:

"This is Klee, in charge of intelligence gathering."

Klee, a gentle-eyed young woman whose lover has been mechanically taken to life, seeks revenge and fights for freedom in his name.

“…… However, I don't want the workers to be hurt by our actions. They are so pitiful and miserable, we can't bring disaster to them anymore......"

Klee spoke, her tone was supplied.

The old knife threw a very dissatisfied look at me, indeed, these people looked like a rabble.

According to them, the rebel group seems to be the last of the people in the country to have the courage to resist the rule of the Machine King, but their leaders, with the exception of Mira, are not strong enough.

If you are afraid of risk, you will not be able to make significant returns – even a novice investor should know this...... Could it be that after seeing so many bloody lessons, they still don't understand the truth of "how much ambition is to sacrifice for the sake of oneself"?

I'm afraid that's why they haven't succeeded in rebelling.

"Come, please sit down and talk, everybody." Farakin Road.

The long wooden table was just big enough for us to sit down, and Farakin explained to us that they were a revolutionary organization that wanted to overthrow the rule of the Machine King, but that no one had seen the ruler for what he really was.

They only know that the Machine Lord must be defeated, and that the Chosen One is the one who is mentioned in the prophecy that will overthrow his rule.

Hearing this, Shen Tangzhi glanced at me and asked, "Excuse me, what kind of prophecy is it?" What about the source? ”

"The exact source is no longer clear, but everyone knows the prophecy."

Farakin said that everyone had always believed that a Chosen One would come here – in the prophecy that outsiders like us would one day come here and that we would break the shackles and shackles on the workers and give everyone freedom.

No one knows when or how this rumor began to circulate, but everyone believes it to be true, and without the support of this belief, nothing but emptiness and despair would be left here.

The rebels have made little progress so far for two main reasons: they have been hesitant to clear the action until outsiders join them, and the rebels have not been able to agree on how much force to use.

For his part, Farakin wants to try not to use violence, which should only be used where it is needed. After Ian said he had seen the "Chosen One", they prepared a plan for rebellion......

Fundamentally, the plan was that Farakin and his organization would help us gain access to the King's palace. As soon as we enter the palace, they believe that we will be taken directly to the King of Machines because of our special status as outsiders.

After this, perhaps I, as the Chosen One, can obtain his power and directly replace the Machine King.

Even if everything doesn't go well, at least we can determine the location of the Dream Maker, and as long as the Dream Machine breaks, everything will turn around.

"What do you know about Dream Makers?" I asked.

"It's a device of supreme power, and all the power of the Machine King comes from the Dream Maker." "If we can destroy this thing, we'll put those terrible guardian machines into a state of interruption, so that the workers can be free from the oppressors - without those caretakers who can awaken the mechanical monsters, the overseers won't be terrible." ”

Finally, Farakin said sincerely: "I know that our plan still has a lot of holes and a lot of assumptions, but that's all we can do." However, we are sure that the King will be interested in outsiders under any circumstances, and will certainly want to meet you. ”

I nodded, "We're sure to help you, because this might be the only way for us to get out of this dream world." But the first thing we need is a period of rest......"

"We've been attacked by mechanical giants on the way." Ian explained it for me.

Shen Tang said: "We still need food, Mr. Farakin - as much food as possible, we haven't eaten anything since we came here......"

"Besides, there is a big stomach among us." The old knife snickered.

"Of course." "There are two empty rooms around here that can be rested, and as for the food, we will prepare it as well." ”

Ian brought me a miner's lamp and carried another miner's lamp in his hand, and led us through another section of tunnel, at the end of which were two rooms, and although it was rudimentary, we finally had a place to rest.

During the time when Ian went to fetch food, I called Shen Tangzhi and others for a discussion.

First of all, no one disagrees with my decision, whether or not we are interested in becoming a savior, or because of kindness and selflessness to help workers who are suffering terrible, but even if our goal is not so noble, we simply want to get out of this dream world......

We still need to find a way back to the real world.

And after realizing that we have to do something eventually, there are not many options in front of us - it is clear that any ally is better than none at this point.

Still, I didn't give up looking for other ways.

I asked Kirishima, "Kirishima-san, you are an expert in psychology, do you have any means...... Help us to get out of this dream world? ”

Under everyone's expectant gaze, Kirishima Xun's eyebrows wrinkled cutely, and then, she shook her head and said, "Mr. Yoshimitsu, our current situation is very strange, and I only entered the dream world for the first time in the orphanage after I came to Jinguan City, before ...... I haven't had such an experience. It's completely different from normal dreams, or hypnotism......"

As he spoke, Kirishima untied a shimmering bracelet from his wrist, which used a double-strand spiral white gold chain to connect a dozen goose-white crystals the size of a grain of rice.

"You've all seen the movie Inception, right?" Kirishima asked.

The boss and I glanced at each other and nodded, and the others had almost the same expressions, except for Shen Tangzhi, who probably knew about it a long time ago.

"In the Inception movie, in order to distinguish between dreams and reality, the protagonists will carry a spinning top - that special spinning top will never stop in the dream...... In fact, hypnotists do use such props - my bracelet has a similar function. ”

"Generally speaking, whether it is entering a patient's dream or performing self-hypnosis, I can use this bracelet to perform an operation called 'self-awakening'...... However, in this particular dream world, the bracelet fails. ”

Kirishima looked up, "I discovered this the first time I entered this dream world in an orphanage...... That's why I'll ask Shen Jiang to help me find a ...... worth entrusting Well, the pros ......"

"Professionals" who are "worthy of commissioning" ......

That's a pretty good evaluation.

I glanced at Shen Tangzhi, who was holding half of his face with one palm, and the latter pulled the corners of his mouth and showed me a fleeting smile.

"In other words, we ended up having to choose their advice."

“…… Well. Kirishima flattened his mouth helplessly.

The old knife scratched his head: "Speaking of which, what the hell is that dreamer...... We've only seen a model of it, but we've never been sure what it's all about! ”

Indeed, what we have gathered now is not sufficient.

We only know that the creator of the Dream Machine is named St Hemdal, who is also the ruler of this dream world.

But how exactly was the Dream Machine created, and why was this terrifying dream world filled with all kinds of mechanical monsters, and even the real world was affected by this dream world......

We need to continue to pursue the answers to these questions.