Chapter 299: Consciousness Deep Within the Dream
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 299: Consciousness Deep Within the Dream
"I don't know. Just as you feel the Academy will eventually resolve this, I feel that this matter isn't as simple as it appears on the surface."
"What? Are you trying to drag me into investigating this with you?" I asked tentatively. Although I hadn't seen Tan Han for a while, I couldn't tell if it was just my imagination, but she seemed to have undergone a... strange change. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
"You haven't changed at all. You're still so blunt with me. So, are you interested?" Tan Han asked directly.
"Before I answer, I want to know what exactly gave you the urge to investigate this."
"Is the answer that important to you?"
"Not really. Just curious," I said, waving my hand dismissively as if I were truly just asking on a whim.
"Then I'm sorry, but I can't explain the full story to you right now." Tan Han flatly refused to answer.
"Then may I ask what methods you plan to use for your investigation? To be blunt, if this is just some child's play, it's a waste of my time. I won't agree to it." I shook my head. I hadn't expected Tan Han to refuse to answer; it seemed she had secrets of her own. However, that didn't stop me from continuing to probe her.
As for going into the Dreamscape, I was going to do that regardless of Tan Han. It involved too many things that concerned me.
"Those people aren't just sleeping. Their consciousness must be active somewhere else, right?"
"Hm? You..." I was surprised by the way Tan Han phrased that as a question, as if she were certain from the start that I would know.
But by the time I realized this, it was already too late.
"You do know."
"I don't know what you're talking about. Besides, what would I know?" I played dumb, though I realized there was little point in it now.
A flash of displeasure crossed Tan Han's face for a split second—so fast I thought I'd imagined it. But in the next moment, she didn't rush to expose my lie. Instead, she began to tell her own story.
"Actually, I was there when the Sleep Curse truly took hold. The victim was a friend I got along with quite well. The day before, she told me she was having nightmares. The next day, I watched her collapse right in front of me. She's been... asleep ever since. You could say this accident disrupted my rhythm of study. Between continuing my lessons and helping my friend, I chose my friend."
"After she was taken to the infirmary, she was diagnosed with deep sleep, but no method could wake her. However, from her occasional contorted expressions and her startled movements, I knew that even if she was just sleeping, just dreaming, it had to be a nightmare. I've spent this time in the library learning a lot. I've learned about the Dreamscape, and I understand the relationship between human dreams and that world."
"And?" I remained unmoved, prompting her to continue.
"I also asked Teacher Lina. I've been trying to figure this out for days. I know you don't want to know exactly what I did, but in short, I've reached a simple conclusion: their consciousness must be lost in the Dreamscape, right? Similar to how we use dream devices to enter."
"And then?"
"And then... you've known this for a long time, haven't you?"
"And then?"
"Since you know, you should have told me. Sorry, maybe that's going too far... but I thought given our relationship, if you knew but intended to do nothing, you could have at least mentioned it to me. I would have been deeply grateful..."
"You're getting too worked up, Tan Han. I know you want to blame me for something, but I only have one question for you... Tan Han, are you... a savior?"
"A... savior?" Tan Han was stunned by my words. "I never claimed to be a savior. I know I don't have that kind of power. But the problem is right in front of us. There are no saviors in this world, only ordinary people who stand up."
"So... you think you're that capable? More capable than a Transcendent Witch? It's simple: if you think that just keeping yourself busy counts as making a contribution, then I'm not going to play along with your nonsense."
"This isn't nonsense. The Academy... I don't see the Academy taking responsibility for this. They've never cared about the lives of ordinary people. Even when the Academy Dean spoke that time, all I heard was intense perfunctoriness. I'm all too familiar with that kind of rhetoric."
Tan Han's words actually gave me pause. It wasn't that her logic changed my mind, but rather that her perception of the Academy was far beyond what I expected.
She hadn't moved past viewing a Transcendent Academy through the lens of an ordinary school.
She saw many things far too simply. For instance, her belief that the Academy Dean was just being perfunctory was perhaps the funniest joke I'd heard all year.
Or perhaps that was exactly the effect the Academy Dean wanted to achieve?
The Dreamscape was hosting a gluttonous feast for the distribution of Luck. As a Child of Destiny... it seemed she was instinctively being drawn to it.
I just hadn't expected it to take this form.
"May I ask, besides Teacher Lina and your own research, where else did you get your information?"
"I even went to ask the Academy Dean in person, but she..."
"Wait? You went to see the Academy Dean? How did you manage that?" My eyes widened in disbelief. To speak so casually of meeting the Academy Dean—even when I went, I was accompanied by Teacher Ji Niang.
Was this the kind of treatment Tan Han received?
Perhaps it was precisely because of such treatment that she developed these ideas...
For some reason, I suddenly felt like laughing, but I held it back given the circumstances.
"You've never been? I suppose..."
"I've been once. The Academy Dean seemed nice enough to me. So, what do you plan to do? Foolishly succumb to the Sleep Curse yourself just to go take a look?"
"Why not?"
"Huh?" I looked at the meaningful expression on Tan Han's face. I could hardly believe these words were coming from her. "You're a lunatic."
"Thank you for the compliment. If my guess is wrong, then even I will be affected. Will the Academy still sit idly by then? If I'm right, then I'll find a way to bring them all back."
"Don't you think you're overestimating your own value?"
"How could I? I know exactly what I'm worth." Tan Han was perfectly lucid when she said this, yet her words were utterly mad.
"Then... the consequences? The worst-case scenario. Can you afford the price you'll have to pay?"
"If you have to envision the worst-case scenario for everything, then nothing in this world would ever get done."
"Fine..."
I shook my head. Had I failed to see the real Tan Han before?
Or had the current Tan Han already become a puppet of Luck? Just like during our battle.
"Xiao Han... have you ever... never mind..." For a brief moment, Tan Han's tone sounded as if she were about to confide in me, but she quickly pulled back.
"Our meeting today was just a coincidence. I've said what I needed to say. I won't force an answer from you. I'm going to try tomorrow. Not just me, but those others who participated in the Exchange Competition... even... Lucianne from your class. They'll be with me. I will unite a force that even the Academy cannot ignore."
"Anyway, consider today's talk an intrusion on my part. If you still think this is meaningless, then please forget what I said... I hope we can still be friends."
"Hm... so in your heart, you've always considered me a friend?"
"Of course. A friend... a friend isn't some unattainable existence to me. If there's a high threshold even for being friends, then it's exhausting for everyone. Consider this a bit of advice from me, my... academic friend. That's what you call me, but in my heart, you don't have that 'academic' prefix. You place too much expectation on the concept of a friend. Maybe you could relax a little."
"Is that so? Thank you for the guidance."
As Tan Han said, I did seem to place too much weight on the word "friend."
"Yeah. I'm leaving now. Goodbye."
"Goodbye. Also... I'll consider what you said."
After parting with Tan Han, the whole encounter felt like a brief interlude.
However, it also gave me a piece of information: they were going to act tomorrow. But there was still one thing I didn't quite understand. Tan Han didn't seem like such an irrational person.
Then again, girls are often emotional creatures. Perhaps... that friend really was that important to her...
Or perhaps... that friend was just the final straw?
In this journey through the Witch Academy, perhaps I had overlooked too many things, to the point where I now seemed to understand no one.
I didn't know what mindset drove Tan Han to so crazily risk her life to save a friend.
Maybe... it was similar to Sister Bai being trapped in a dream?
If that were the case, I might be even more reckless than Tan Han.
After calming down, I recalled my conversation with the Academy Dean again.
It was a "mutually beneficial" transaction. Aimed at helping me escape the Script, it extended to severing the Ley Line Shackles once and for all. Much of what the Academy Dean told me before was actually just her selling me a pipe dream; that was much clearer to me now.
Of course, I hadn't forgotten one thing: helping Fool's Dream completely sever her connection with the Nightmares and using the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art on her to begin her journey toward becoming a true lifeform.
Yes... just the beginning. Fool's Dream still had a long road ahead of her.
"Maybe I should be more proactive too."
I closed my book, returned the borrowed volume to the shelf, and then contacted Sister Bai to arrange a meeting.
Although the Academy Dean said she wanted me to disrupt the situation and prevent the Abyssal Demons—the Dream Demons within the dream—from obtaining Luck, she hadn't told me how to get there.
It was as if she didn't care, or as if everything would happen naturally, pushed forward by the power of the Script.
But I knew very well that this incident was the work of Nightmares. To enter the dream, those Nightmares had to pull our consciousness in.
So, I needed to personally see those who had been pulled into the dream by the Nightmares.
The last time I went to check, I ran into Lucianne and didn't pay much attention to the situation of the girl named Mingyun.
My Spirit Vision could see many things. I had to try it to see if I could find a way.
Thinking about it, I actually knew exactly what was going on, which was why I was executing my plan without hesitation. But for Tan Han, all of this was unknown. Where did she get the courage to try?
I had no way of knowing, nor did I need to. Many things don't seem to require a definitive reason. As Tan Han said, if you always consider whether you can bear the worst-case scenario first, nothing in the world will ever be accomplished.
Leaving the library, I headed to the infirmary. It was visibly busier than before.
"Sister Bai, you got here so fast." I spoke as soon as I saw the familiar figure. After all, I had agreed to meet Sister Bai here.
"Yes, Xiao Han. Are you ready to act?"
"Yes. So I wanted to come take a look. With you by my side, Sister Bai, I'll feel much more at ease."
"Then let's go in together."
When I returned to Mingyun's room, Lucianne didn't appear before me this time. Instead, she was already lying on a hospital bed, just like Mingyun.
The contrast left me speechless for a moment. Had she ended up getting dragged in while staying by her friend's side?
It seemed Lucianne had beaten Tan Han into the Dreamscape.
I walked forward and looked at them sleeping so "peacefully." Perhaps only their beating hearts and contorted facial expressions proved they were still alive.
I reached out and gently waved my hand over them. In my eyes, a formless, black, smoke-like presence was rising from their bodies. This was the sign of being haunted by a Nightmare, but I couldn't find anything further.
"Xiao Han, did you find anything?"
"Well... they're giving off the aura of a Nightmare. Nightmares... are beings that exist in dreams, while we are in reality... I'm curious exactly what means a Nightmare uses to cross the boundary between reality and dreams to pull us in."
"Is that so? Sorry, I don't really understand that area, Sister Bai can't give you any useful advice."
"It's okay. I don't mind."
I shook my head to comfort Sister Bai, but my eyes continued to scan the sleeping girls, trying to find the pattern of the Nightmare attacks. After all, I couldn't just wait indefinitely for a Nightmare to pull me into the dream.
"It's here..."
I spoke as I watched a black shadow gradually coalesce before me.
"Wait, Xiao Han, what did you say is here?"
"A Nightmare. Sorry, Sister Bai, I forgot you can't see it... It's... breaking through the boundary between dreams and reality? What a fascinating process..."
"Xiao Han, Xiao Han..." Bai Yu called out to me several times as she watched me talk to myself.
"It's fine, Sister Bai. This isn't something I can control. Even if only I go over there, I'll have to trouble you to look after me, okay?"
I looked at Sister Bai as I spoke, then turned my gaze back to the Nightmare. I could feel a tugging sensation on my consciousness. Physically, my mind began to blur, and a wave of exhaustion washed over my body. It felt similar to using a dream device to enter a dream, but the experience was much more violent.
"Wait, Xiao Han, what nonsense are you talking? Didn't we agree to go together?"
"Eh?"
Faced with Sister Bai suddenly hugging me, my brain felt like it was about to explode.
I think this was the first time Sister Bai had ever hugged me like this...
"Hey... don't look like I'm going to abandon you..." I closed my eyes and let the Nightmare launch its attack on us.
If Sister Bai was going to be with me this time... that wouldn't be so bad.
A while later.
A part-time nurse making her rounds in the infirmary finally discovered the situation.
"Two more... They're just making more work for us! Someone come give me a hand!"