Chapter 212 - 86: The Three Major Hypotheses of Dreams

Chapter 212: Chapter 86: The Three Major Hypotheses of Dreams

In the apartment living room, the wall lamps cast a dim yellow light, and the daylight outside was gradually fading.

The bottle of peach soda that Senior Sister Yiyi had left on the table had long since gone flat, its cloyingly sweet scent slowly dissipating in the air.

"Mm, I agree. There’s no need to get too caught up in the underlying principles right now. It’s like how ancient people didn’t know the true nature of fire, but that didn’t stop them from using it to cook."

Yu Xian nodded in agreement with Wen Xiao, gathering his thoughts.

"The top priority now is still to figure out the specific mechanics and boundaries of this ’multiplayer’ dream."

Seeing the two of them nod, he continued,

"Based on what we’ve just learned, we can break down the mechanics we need to verify into three specific questions. These are things we absolutely must figure out before we start any ’formal development’."

Yu Xian looked at Wen Xiao and said thoughtfully,

"First, you said a moment ago that the mirror in the dream looked familiar, right?"

"Yes," Wen Xiao nodded, then added,

"I still think that... before you joined, it was just my own ’single-player’ dream."

"Okay, so if this multiplayer dream really is, as you suspect, owned by the ’host’ who enters it first," Yu Xian paused, staring into Wen Xiao’s eyes as he asked,

"Then if you, the host, ’log out’ first—that is, wake up from the dream—what happens to the dreamscape?"

Seeing the confused look in Yang Yiyi’s eyes, he elaborated on the question:

"What I mean is, will the dreamscape continue to exist? Or will it be like the LAN games we play, where as soon as the host goes offline, the lobby closes and all the visitors are forcibly kicked out?"

Wen Xiao bit her lip gently and nodded.

"If the lobby doesn’t close... does that mean ’control’ of the dreamscape gets transferred? The visitor becomes the new ’host’?"

"Exactly. And that brings us to the second question. Let’s assume the ’host’ leaves, the dream doesn’t collapse, and the visitor is still inside." Yu Xian paused, picking up on Wen Xiao’s line of thought.

"In that case, what about the objects generated by the ’original host’s’ subconscious—like that walnut chair with the vine pattern? Would they remain as they are?"

He laid out three different possibilities:

"Will they disappear when the original host leaves? Will they transform into something new from the ’new host’s’ subconscious? Or will they simply remain, completely unchanged?"

At this, Yang Yiyi’s typing paused for a moment. She followed Yu Xian’s logic and extrapolated:

"If the objects are still there, it would mean that after the original host’s brain ’disconnects,’ that portion of visual data has been offloaded to the new host."

"Exactly. And more importantly, if a new object is generated at that point, whose brain’s memory bank are the ’art assets’ for that new object pulled from? The original host’s, or the new host’s?"

Wen Xiao’s brow furrowed slightly, her slender fingers unconsciously twisting the fuzzy hem of her pajamas.

"And the third question?" Yang Yiyi asked, steering around the complex issue.

"The third question is about the preservation of state," Yu Xian said gravely.

"If, after Wen Xiao leaves the dream, I alter an object she left behind. For instance, what if I move that mirror, or... what if I smash it to pieces?"

He looked at Wen Xiao, slowly asking the question that made his blood run cold:

"Then, when you use the audio file to reconnect to the dreamscape, will the mirror you see be perfectly intact, or will it be shattered?"

Wen Xiao’s eyes widened.

She clearly understood the terrifying implication behind Yu Xian’s hypothesis.

If she were to enter the dream again and see a shattered mirror, it would prove that this dream space didn’t just have storage functions independent of their brains. It would mean it even possessed...

"Objective reality."

It could act like a hard drive, saving all physical changes that occurred within it in real-time and synchronizing them for everyone connected.

This was no longer a simple case of "shared consciousness." It could be considered a small, genuinely functioning world.

Wen Xiao took a deep breath, set the throw pillow aside, pushed off the jacket covering her legs, and moved back to the computer at the desk.

"I think... we can design another experiment."

Her fingers rested on the keyboard as she began to type, speaking rapidly:

"First, we won’t set a unified wake-up time. Once we’re in the dream, I’ll set my audio countdown to 5 minutes, and you set yours to 20. That way, I can leave the dream before you do."

Yu Xian nodded. This would allow them to verify the answer to the first question.

They could directly verify in the dream whether the space would collapse when Wen Xiao, the "host," disconnected, and whether the objects rendered by her subconscious would vanish into thin air.

"Then, at the 7-minute mark of the script—2 minutes after I’ve left—I’ll add a trigger event to generate... to generate a book on that chair, one I’m sure I’ve never read." Wen Xiao turned her head to look at Yu Xian.

"For example, one of the required textbooks from your physics department. I’ll only put the title in the prompt, with no other specific content. That way, the text and formulas inside the book will have to be generated entirely from the memories in your head."