Then, after understanding this information, Mr. Yoshimitsu must also be able to understand that the symptoms of these patients are very typical. In fact, I recently conducted a study on 'fear psychology', and it has been very helpful for my research to explore the experiences of these patients and to explore their psychological transformation processes and traits...... On the other hand, I really sympathize with their experience and really want to help them get out of it. So, I would often go to that orphanage and give them free psychotherapy. ”

"However, in recent times...... To be exact, from the 6th of this month, every time I go to the orphanage, I fall into a dream for various reasons, in which I see a large and strange mechanical creation......"

At this point, Kirishima paused, but I noticed the micro-expression on her face, not fear, but a deep confusion.

I didn't interrupt her, because I knew it had to be just the beginning.

Kirishima continued, "The strangest thing is that I questioned the three patients afterwards and found that they all had similar dreams, and the first time I had this dream was on October 6. ”

"After having this dream for the second time, I hypnotized myself once, trying to find the cause in my subconscious, but I failed, I found nothing."

I nodded, waited for Kirishima to finish, and then started asking questions.

"Are there any other people in the orphanage who have had this dream like you? Or is it that the people who have had this dream are always the only four of you? ”

"Not at first. However, when I went to the orphanage again the day before yesterday, I overheard a nurse at the orphanage complaining that he had been dreaming about robot monsters a lot lately, which caused him to have trouble sleeping. After questioning them, I found that there are quite a few people who have had strange dreams recently, and most of them are related to machines, but they have strange dreams......"

"Only you and your three patients dreamed of the same dream?"

Kirishima nodded: "That's right." ”

"President Kirishima, I noticed that all three of your patients have one thing in common - they are all patients with some kind of phobia, so are you also ......?"

"Well, that's true, as for me...... I actually suffer from a slight phobia of color. Also, can you not call me president, because I am very good friends with Shen Chan, and you are friends, so ......"

"Is it okay to call you Miss Kirishima? You can just call me by my name, or add a sir, but don't use the suffix 'san', it will feel weird. ”

"Okay, okay, Yoshimitsu...... Mr. ”

Shen Tangzhi chuckled lightly on the side: "Heh, there are really a lot of problems, you ......"

I ignored her and continued to ask, "So, Kirishima-san, what exactly does color phobia mean......"

"Colorphobia can be afraid of all colors or just a few colors, and I'm the latter, and I have anxiety when faced with bright colors, especially dark blue, so to be exact, I'm a dark blue phobia."

While saying this, I noticed that Kaoru Kirishima had a finger wringing motion, which showed her inner turmoil.

It was also dawned on me that Kirishima suffered from color phobia, so it was no wonder that the décor in her counseling clinic was so cold, even though she said that her phobia was "mild".

However, I had another question: "Since it's a fear of color, I would venture to ask why you would dye your hair in such a bright color?" ”

"This one is innate, not dyed." Kirishima shook his hand at me and explained, "And my skin is very sensitive, and if I use hair dye, I will get measles, so ...... Alas! She sighed in distress, "I can only use my hair color as a workout, and hopefully one day it will help me overcome my phobia." ”

Shen Tangzhi helped explain on the side: "Xiao Xun is of mixed Japanese and French descent, and her red hair inherits her mother's bloodline,"

I nodded, indicating that I understood, and that there was no need to go any further into the topic, and that I was not very clear about the specifics of the commission, but as it stands, the key words I had come up with were "strange dreams about machinery" and "phobias", and there was a strange connection between the two.

I turned to Shen Tangzhi: "For that dream, I guess you must have also conducted a little investigation, do you have any results?" ”

"I briefly looked up what special event happened on the 6th of this month, and as a result, I found this-"

Shen Tangzhi opened his handbag, took out a newspaper, and handed it to me.

This is a copy of "Jinguancheng Daily", and Shen Tangzhi has circled one of the messages with a red marker.

Actually, it's an ad that reads as follows-

Large Font Title: [Phantom of the Machine]

Sub-heading: [Exhibition of Precious Cultural Relics in the First Industrial Revolution]

Text: [On October 6, the opening ceremony of "The Phantom of Machines - Precious Cultural Relics Exhibition during the First Industrial Revolution" was held in Jinguancheng Science Museum. The exhibition features a total of 119 artefacts from the collections of the Louvre Museum and the British Museum.

The cultural relics on display are all immortal works from the period of the first industrial revolution in Britain, which is the mark left by mankind's first step towards the mechanical age, and it is also a miracle in the history of science. 】

[Exhibition time: October 15 - November 15, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily]

[Ticket purchase visit – 30 yuan for adults; Half price for children. 】

At the end of the advertisement, a brief list of the Science Museum's exhibits is included, as well as a popular science article.

The title of the article is "The First Industrial Revolution"

It reads as follows:

The first industrial revolution was the economic and social reform that swept across the Western world after the advent of mechanical power. The reform originated in Britain in about 1769, starting with the technological innovation of the cotton textile industry, with the improvement and widespread use of the Watt steam engine as the center, and the realization of the mechanization of machine manufacturing in the 30s and 40s of the 19th century as the symbol of basic completion.

The revolution led people to evolve from the agrarian age to the industrial age, with large machine industries replacing handicrafts and machine factories replacing handicraft workshops.

The way people produce is completely changed: the workers can no longer rely on handicrafts and labor for food, their jobs are completely replaced by factory machinery, and the factory owners, the industrialists, take their jobs. This has led to the brutal exploitation of the labor force of men, women and minors, including working in dangerous conditions.

At the same time, the consequences of mechanical accidents are more serious than those suffered before the industrial age. In order to maximize profits, many industrialists ignore the most basic humanitarian and safety guarantees for workers.

The most striking thing about the first industrial revolution was the invention of various machines: in order to meet the needs of different industrial production, various kinds of machinery were invented to occupy different positions in the market.

The relentless machines were enormous—huge foundries, hammers, ingenious gears and pistons—steam-powered monstrities that worked more than ten times faster than seasoned craftsmen.

After that, other countries in the West began to follow Britain's lead and industrialize one after another. The United States, especially after the Civil War (1861-65), soon became one of the giants of the industrial age. 】

I also subscribe to the Jinguancheng Daily, and my focus is usually on murders and bizarre events, and I have no impression of the advertisement that appeared on the fifth page of the newspaper.

I quickly finished reading these contents, raised my head to look at Shen Tangzhi, and frowned: "Do you think the strange dream that President Kirishima said is related to the exhibition of this mechanical artifact?" ”

I have also encountered cases related to dreams before, the most bizarre of which even involved the cycle of life and death (see "Strange Dreams" for details).

Many supernatural events are related to dreams, in the final analysis, people's dreams are an extremely magical phenomenon, for the analysis and speculation of dreams, from ancient times to the present, countless people have carried out research, Chinese culture has relied on dreams to divinate the good fortune and evil of the "Zhou Gong Interpretation of Dreams", the dream is interpreted as an omen or oracle, foreign countries have Freud's "Dream Analysis", that dreams are the continuation and reflection of the real world......

In my experience, these theories are all correct, but only partially true—

The dreams of ordinary people are indeed a reflection of the waking world;

The dreams of those with a strong sixth sense begin to show some kind of omen, and the degree of ambiguity or clarity is related to the intensity of the sixth sense;

The most special are some people with abnormal physiques (known as "psychics" abroad, and "special functions" in China for a period of time), whose dreams can sometimes break the shackles of time and space and interact with the other world.

As the saying goes, I have never stopped exploring the secrets of dreams, just because I am one of those human beings with special physiques.

Therefore, the reason why I frowned was because I realized that the president of Kirishima in front of me, as well as her three patients, were also very likely to have abnormal constitutions.

"You don't have to jump to conclusions, let's look at this again." Shen Tangzhi took out another newspaper from her handbag and handed it to me, and she had already thoughtfully circled the key points for me with a marker.

The newspaper used an inconspicuous space to publish a piece of news the size of a tofu block.

The headline of the news is "Runaway Machinery", and the text reads as follows:

[This newspaper: Yesterday there were two strange incidents that seem to be unrelated, and according to some reliable witnesses, some machines are in an abnormal state. Some people also told reporters that some of the machinery in their homes also seem to have strange behaviors, such as suddenly not being found, and then suddenly appearing in very strange places......

In the more serious accident, two workers in the No. 3 workshop of the Jinguancheng No. 2 Printing Plant died in a printing press that suddenly ran automatically, and the cause of the accident is unknown.

The relevant person in charge of the second printing plant in Jinguancheng said, "This is just an accident that happened by chance, and at the first time of the accident, the printing machine has been inspected inside the factory and no fault has been found." The person in charge refused this reporter's request for further interviews, and at the same time said that the No. 2 Printing House would take the initiative to take responsibility for the safety incident, but would not respond to the unreasonable demands of the family.

However, the police could not explain how the second victim died, working on the other side of his workshop, where the body was located close to a hundred meters from the faulty machine.

In another case, at around 9 a.m. yesterday, Ms. Wang, who lives in the Dongjing Lishe Community on Ronghui West Street, was injured by a kitchenware that had an "abnormal reaction" in the kitchen.

However, Ms. Wang's husband, Mr. Ho, said that his wife said that seeing the rice cooker "dancing" and the combined kitchen knife "moving slowly on the cutting board" were due to hallucinations caused by a recent traffic accident and her wife's mental stress.

Relevant experts said that the tragedy that occurred at the No. 2 Printing Factory in Jinguancheng "may have been caused by the wrong operation of the workers," and Ms. Wang was diagnosed with sudden depression, so the general public should not believe those absurd rumors in the market, but should believe in science and reject superstition.

It is understood that Ms. Wang is currently recuperating in Jinguan City Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital, and the hospital said that after being hospitalized, Ms. Wang's mood has stabilized and her mental state has improved. 】

Jinguancheng No. 2 Printing Factory is located in the northern district of Jinguancheng and is not under the jurisdiction of the Chengnan Police Bureau, but Shen Tangzhi is a person in the police system, so I asked her if she had any inside information.

Shen Tangzhi shook his head and said that the police were still investigating this case, and the two workers in the printing factory did die strangely, but the investigation idea of the Chengbei Police Bureau was obviously towards the murder case.

I nodded, there was nothing wrong with the police's investigative thinking, and only after the human factor was completely eliminated could other reasons be considered.

Now only one last question remains.

"Kirishima-san, is the content you commissioned related to that strange dream?" I asked.

"Yes!" Kirishima nodded heavily, she was petite, and her extremely serious appearance looked extremely cute, "I would like to ask Mr. Yoshimitsu to investigate the cause of our strange dreams, and besides, I have a reluctant request-"

"Uh...... Please say it. ”

I hesitated a little, thinking to myself that since you also understand that it is a "reluctant request", why bother to say it?

"I want to be part of Mr. Yoshimitsu's investigation from start to finish."

Perhaps looking at my hesitant expression, Kirishima added, "That, I know Mr. Yoshimitsu's current situation, and I'll add money!" 100,000 yuan, as long as Mr. Yoshimitsu can allow me to participate in the investigation activities together, the commission fee is 100,000 yuan! What do you think? ”

"This ......"

My first reaction was to glance at Shen Tang: Why do you tell people everything? I still have a little **.

The second reaction was: As soon as he made a move, it was 100,000, it seems that this Kirishima smoke is likely to be the same as Shen Tangzhi, both of them are little rich women.