In our time, the world is highly intelligent, and humans just need more entertainment.

No matter what era it is, human beings always need more for entertainment.

As an actor, my original duty was to bring spiritual enjoyment to human beings, but I can't do it now, not because I'm old, but because times have changed. I'm middle-aged, and I could have played for humanity for decades, but the times told me that you could retire, and unfortunately you didn't have a retirement salary.

It's like throwing you to another planet and leaving you to fend for yourself, and I feel hopeless. And when I was desperate, the government told me: You fool, why don't you use a dream machine?

Dream Maker!

A term that sounds depressing and numb, I heard that the Dream Machine has everything, and there are hundreds of millions of data stored in it, which can infinitely change everything you want according to the needs of your brain. And that's why we artists are unemployed, because as long as you have a dream machine, you can have all the spiritual enjoyment.

But at this time, the government told me that I could escape reality with the dream machine that took my job?

No, I want to stay away from this thing like I do from drugs, so I keep hiding. But wherever I hid, there was a shadow of a dreamer, and my spirit was on the verge of collapse, until one day I met the leader.

The leader is a strongman, and he recently founded an organization called the Artists' Association, as the name suggests, the members of this organization are naturally unemployed art workers, and the purpose of this organization is not to use dream machines, but to live soberly. At this moment, I think I have found a savior, and the chief, with a savior smile, extends a hand of friendship to me.

2.

After I joined the organization, my spirits eased a lot. This year, artificial intelligence has fully covered the earth, the time of human work has been greatly shortened, most of the time human beings are addicted to the dream machine, the world has long become a gloom, in my opinion, the shortcomings of the dream machine have been highlighted, I think at this time, the government should ban the dream machine, but the government not only does not stop it at this time, but instead funds to use semi-coercive means to encourage the people to use the dream machine!

This makes me wonder, I think that even if the government does not ban the dream machine, it should not fund and encourage its use, because the cost of buying and maintaining the dream machine is not a lot, before the use of the dream machine is a personal act, and the cost is also borne by the individual, and now the government invests it, which greatly increases the financial pressure on the government, why does the government do this, what is hidden behind this?

These questions give me a headache, and I don't bother to think about it.

Although my spirit has eased a little after joining the organization, life is still cruel, and I found that I am facing a serious survival problem, I have no income, and the membership fees paid to the organization are also my savings. I was reminded of how it felt back then, that it was like throwing you to another planet and leaving you to fend for yourself.

It's ridiculous, and wherever I go, it's a dilemma for me. I had hoped that the members of the organization would be self-sufficient, creating something practical and valuable for the organization to survive, but on the contrary, what the members of the organization seemed to be doing was only hastening the demise of the organization, and they did not want to make progress, and indulged in their own artistic pursuits all day long, fantasizing that people would one day go to see their artistic creations, and would give them money.

I thought about hiding again, but where else could I hide?

To this end, I went to find a former friend who used a dream machine and was a person who was strictly forbidden to be contacted by the organization, and I secretly contacted him.

I went to his house, and after a brief pleasantry, I said, "Give me your dream-making machine." ”

His expression was very suspicious: "What, I heard you right, you actually compromised?" ”

I said with a blank face, "I'm just going to try it out and see how it goes." ”

My friend said, "You can go to the government to register and get a dream machine by yourself, there is no need to sneak around." ”

I said, "Then I'll be hunted down by the organization." ”

My friend sighed: "Hey, it's late, now the dream machine has been networked globally, there is a master station responsible for the operation of the server, the owner of each dream machine is also registered, the dream machine is started according to the owner's fingerprint recognition, each person has one, and it cannot be borrowed." ”

I said dejectedly, "It looks like I've come for nothing." ”

My friend said: "I can't say that, we haven't seen each other for a long time, wouldn't it be nice to talk to each other?" Besides, I've been staying in my dreams, and it's rare to wake up from the dream machine, and this time it's enough for us to last for ten years. ”

Knowing that the Dream Machine has a perfect circulatory system that can solve people's physiological needs, even if they dream in it all the time, I suddenly have a feeling of envy, just like people envy the hibernation of some animals when it is cold in winter.

After being silent for a while, my friend said: "Quit your organization and return to normal, now most people including me are no longer working, in this era, only by using the dream machine can we survive, the government will bear all this for us, you must know that every era has its rules of survival, and it will be very hard to fight against it." ”

I smiled wryly: "It's too late, once our organization joins, we can't quit." ”

My friend stared at me: "Nothing is impossible as long as you want to do it, and when you need my help, talk to me." ”

I nodded, and then asked, "I'm curious that since the government pays for you, you can also play carefree in the dream machine, and you don't have to worry about eating, drinking, and sleeping in real life, what are you still doing when you wake up, isn't it better to stay in the dream machine all the time?" ”

The friend shook his head: "You don't know, now the dream machine is globally networked, everyone can communicate in the dream, it has become a more orderly world, unlike before the network, you can play in the dream as you like, after staying for a long time, I feel that it is a real world, and waking up and talking to you is like a dream, I woke up just to keep myself awake." ”

It's ridiculous, I wanted to go to the dream machine to be sober, but he came to be sober in reality. It seems that whether you use a dream machine or not, everyone is not awake.

……

When I got back to the organization's clubhouse, I looked even more depressed, and I ordered a glass of spirits at the bar at the clubhouse bar, all I needed at the moment was alcohol.

A guy in the organization who was looking for something was coming up to me, and he sat down next to me and ordered a drink.

I glanced at him, and I saw that he was disheveled, unshaven, and drunk, and he used to be a famous painter, but now it might be more appropriate to describe him as a vagabond.

The painter asked, "What are you doing?" ”

I said, "I'm drinking!" ”

The painter said, "What else do you do besides drinking?" ”

This guy is angry and has nothing to do, which makes me feel irritable.

The painter reluctantly said, "I want to ask you, have you contributed anything to our organization?" ”

I said, "No." ”

The painter was stunned for a moment and said, "Very good, you are very honest at this moment, you should come to see my new work, and comment by the way." With that, the painter took out a painting from him.

I glanced at it casually, it should be a work of high artistic content, but it is meaningless in our time, and I also hate this meaningless self-pity: "It's okay, but do you think anyone will buy it?" ”

This made the painter angry: "Yes, no one will buy it, but at least I'm still working hard and doing things for the organization, and what about you, what are you doing, you're only going to act." ”

I laughed dumbly: "You're right, I'm an actor." ”

The painter's gaze suddenly became sharp: "You can deceive others in this play, but you can't deceive me." ”

Isn't it because this guy knew about my going to see a friend? This is too bad, if this guy reports to the organization, I will inevitably be punished severely, I pretended to be calm and said, "I don't understand what you're talking about?" ”

The painter said coldly: "You will understand. After saying that, the painter turned and walked away, his gait faltering, as if he was drunk, giving people the feeling that he would fall at any moment.

And his words overwhelmed me.

3.

Time flies, during this period, the government has increased the popularization of dream machines, people who use dream machines and people who do not use dream machines have become two different circles of people, people who use dream machines have their own set of contact information, we can no longer contact them, dream machines are becoming more and more mysterious to us. However, the government has defined our organization as a heretical cult and tried its best to suppress it, so the members of our organization had no choice but to go underground and start living a life of hiding in Tibet.

It's ironic that instead of leaving the organization, I was promoted to the top of the organization by the leader.

But because of the artist's pretended mystical hint last time, I have a restless life every day, and now I just want to get out of this damn organization as soon as possible.

On this day, the head of our organization summoned our top brass to a meeting in a dilapidated meeting hall.

The leader told us that the next step for the government was to make the Dream Maker universal, and that our organization would soon be uprooted.

Hearing the news, the audience was boiling, and the high-level officials were very excited, and they had the momentum to fight with the government.

The leader suppressed the scene in a loud voice, he told us that he had a countermeasure, and everyone immediately fell silent, and after listening carefully to the chief's countermeasure, I felt very excited, and my chance finally came.

The leader's countermeasure is that he has written a virus that can break through the main platform of the Dream Maker, and he plans to use this virus to infect the Dream Maker!

It's a great irony to say this, only the leader of our organization can deliver the virus to the main platform, because our leader's profession is the maintenance staff of the main platform of the Dream Machine, and this person who should be hostile to us has single-handedly created this so-called Artists Guild......

The leader has been controlling the organization behind the scenes, and most of the members don't know the identity of the leader, except for us at the top. Ever since I became a high-level and knew of his identity, I suspected that he had bad motives for creating the organization, and now I have been right.

And the leader is a very ambitious person, for his political purposes, he spent a few years successfully writing a virus that can control the dream machine, he first plans to feed the virus into the server of the main platform, and then the virus will spread globally through the network, the virus will also write a nightmare program for the dream machine, everyone who uses the dream machine, the nightmare program will analyze its brain, and then conjure up the image that the person is most afraid of in the dream, and at the same time make it deep in it, difficult to escape.

Under the torture of this nightmare, people with weak wills will be scared to death in the nightmare, even if the spirit of immortality is difficult to normalize, plus the dream machine has been widely used around the world, the destructive power of human beings around the world will be more than any previous world war!

The leader was very excited when he said this, he decided that he would carry out the plan tonight, he expected that when the dream machine was infected by the virus, the humans who touched the dream machine would be controlled by nightmares, and it would be difficult for humans to stop this trend in a short time, so the world would be in chaos. I was assigned to lead a group of members to take control of the armory, and then provide weapons to the members of the Order, and the leader gathered a vanguard force to quickly capture the main platform, and then our organization that does not use Dream Machines will become the largest organization in the world, and the global order will be rewritten by this organization.

For this group of psychologically twisted fanatics, this plan they had been waiting for a long time.

If the leader's plan succeeds, I think we'll be back to the Stone Age, which I don't want to see, and I've decided to betray them, and it's a good time for me to leave the Order. I had already secretly filmed the meeting, and as soon as I left the venue, I secretly transmitted the video to the Security Service using communication tools.

What happened next, of course, was that the Security Service quickly arrested the members involved, executed the leader, cleared the virus program, and once again strengthened the Dream Machine's defenses. In order not to cause panic, all this was done in secret, our organization was completely banned by the government, and I was secretly released after being arrested by the Security Service for my meritorious report.

Later, I applied to the government to receive a dream machine, and finally I had a 'sweet dream' in accordance with this era.

4.

There is also a return dream machine at home in my dream, which allows me to return to reality from my dream, and I have not been back in my dream since I entered the dream, so I have never used this machine.

Now the machine is covered with dust, like a beautiful box that seals all my memories in it, and when I look at this machine quietly, it attracts me to open it like a life, and when I want to turn it on, I suddenly think of the gray reality, so I have never had the courage to turn it on.

I chose to continue living in the world of dreams, and interestingly, in the dream I met the real friend again, and he gave me an approving look: "Congratulations, you're finally back." ”

I said, "It's just a dream, what's there to congratulate?" ”

The friend said: "You are wrong, this is not a dream, this is the real world, and the real world that we thought before was a dream." ”

I was stunned: "How is this possible?" ”

My friend said, "Don't you still understand?" If you think about why the government pays for the popularization of the dream machine, this is because the government has long found that the world before us is a dream, and only through the dream machine can we return to the real reality, and the purpose of the government is to bring us back to reality. ”

But if the previous world was a dream, how did we get to that dream?

I asked my friend this, and my friend said, "We used the dream machine to go to that dream in the real world before, but then after too long, we were all lost in the dream, and the dream machine was lost with the passage of time, until we invented the dream machine in the dream world, and we were able to return to reality again." ”

I feel a headache again, I don't bother to think about it, since I have this dream machine, I have been living in a mess, so for me reality and dreams are not important, as long as I can survive, it is enough.

As I turned to leave, my friend reminded me, "Remember, don't use your homecoming dreamer, or you'll go back to dreaming." ”

I'm noncommittal.

5.

Some time later, I met the leader in this world with vague memories.

At the moment, he was pointing a high-energy laser gun at me, and it seemed that he was not a good person.

Hasn't the leader already been executed in that world, and why is his image here?

On second thought, it's not a strange thing, if the world I'm in is a dream, maybe the main platform of the dream machine in real life is still implanted with a virus, I'm controlled by the nightmare program, I once betrayed the leader, and this leader is the image I fear the most; If the world I live in is the real world, then this leader is a person from the real world, and the previous executions were only in a dream, so he may still be alive in this world.

And whether it is reality or dreams, I believe that I will not escape death when I meet him.

I asked him, "Are you here to kill me?" ”

He said, "Yes, you betrayed the Order and deserve death. ”

"Then please hurry up." Since I can't escape, I choose to face it.

He was surprised: "You're not afraid? ”

"I'm afraid." I have almost lived in 'fear' and 'hiding' all my life, since I can't 'hide', I hope to end 'fear', "The faster you move, the less afraid I will be." ”

"Okay, then I'll fulfill you." He pulled the trigger, and a high-energy millimeter wave instantly pierced my body, and my consciousness gradually blurred.

I felt a sense of relief and relief that I had never felt before, I didn't have to hide anymore, it was all going to go with the wind, and at this moment I was so grateful to the chief.

But I didn't expect that at the last moment when I was about to lose consciousness, the leader said: "You can't die, if you die here, you will come back to life in another world." ”

It's a desperate statement, and of course, I can't choose whether it's true or not.