Seizing Dreams

Ch106.1 – Hypothetically

“The coffee you brewed is not bad.” Chen Yekai said.

“Learnt it from you.” Yu Hao smiled.

Chen Yekai used to work in a cafe in New York and was even a three-star barista there. The skills Yu Hao learnt in the flower cafe were reduced to nothing in front of Chen Yekai in mere seconds. After learning a little from him, his coffee could barely be acceptable for Chen Yekai.

“The teacher who taught me how to brew coffee said,” Chen Yekai said, “Brewing coffee is like love — every cup of coffee has its own unique flavour; no two cups of coffee are the same.”

Yu Hao had a hunch that Chen Yekai might have changed his mind. The two of them looked up at almost the same time, then looked at each other.

Yu Hao moved the filter paper away and gently shook the glassware, “I don’t think you’re here today to teach me how to brew coffee or to tell me what to focus on for the final examinations.”

“Of course not.” Chen Yekai said, “There’s nothing much I can teach you anymore. In fact, I want to ask you to teach me.”

Chen Yekai took the coffee. Yu Hao said, “If you like then say it ba.”

Chen Yekai was stunned as he watched Yu Hao, then seemed to realise something and began laughing.

“No.” Chen Yekai said, “You’ve misunderstood, Yu Hao. But I came here today because I did want to explain a few things to you, regarding that kid……un……”

Yu Hao was puzzled. Chen Yekai rubbed his nose, took a sip of coffee and murmured, “I have no interest in Ou Qihang. I tried my best to convince Zhou Sheng to let me enter the apocalyptic dreamscape for another reason. I think there’s no need to hide this from you……Yu Hao, Ou Qihang’s father is dead.”

“Yes.” Yu Hao said doubtfully, “What about it?”

“Those who have died can occasionally reappear in the dreams of the living.” Chen Yekai said, “There’s no doubt about that.”

“That’s right.” Yu Hao answered.

Chen Yekai made a gesture while he was thinking, “I thought, that perhaps in Ou Qihang’s dream, we would also find such a situation: his deceased father would appear as an impression and have a conversation with him.”

“And he did appear.” Yu Hao answered, “So then what?”

Yu Hao was extremely patient. He began to feel that Chen Yekai came to discuss this topic with him because he really trusted him a great deal.

Chen Yekai gently tapped the table with his finger and Yu Hao added, “I once saw my grandma in my dream too.”

“Un……” Chen Yekai said, “Then, can we understand it as the Golden Crow Wheel having the ability to allow the deceased to live in someone’s conscious world through another form?”

Yu Hao didn’t speak for a long time.

Chen Yekai said, “Just like the words ‘he lives in my heart’, what we retain are the memories we shared together, and with those memories, that person’s form can be reproduced, as well as an incomplete soul……”

Yu Hao said, “Chen Laoshi, what I’m about to say next is just a part of our discussion. I don’t want to persuade you to walk out of the past or anything like that. In actuality, if something like that had happened to me, it’s not likely for me to do that either; everyone says it as if it were really easy……”

Chen Yekai smiled and made a gesture, then answered, “I understand what you mean.”

Yu Hao said, “But this kind of person ‘simulated’ in our conscious world will never be the real him. Of course, you could say that it’s a kind of hypnotic comfort for us, but it would be for the best not to indulge in the illusion.”

Chen Yekai suddenly said, “Hypothetically speaking, what if the one who exists in our memories, is the real him?”

Yu Hao, “……”

“It’s just an assumption.” Chen Yekai answered.

Yu Hao said, “Do you believe that there are souls in the world?”

Chen Yekai said, “Ever since I knew of this secret, I have often imagined: what if we could leave all our memories, impressions, and thoughts formed throughout our lives in this device through the Golden Crow Wheel? Then would we be able to enter the dream world completely, obtain immortality, and the right to prolong life through another method?”

It was eight o’clock in the morning. The sunlight streamed into the house, Yu Hao suddenly felt like his back was a little chilly.

Chen Yekai said, “Last night, aside from my two guesses of it being a Consciousness Exchanger and an entertainment system, I had a third conjecture. Do you want to hear it?”

Yu Hao said, “Why……don’t you tell Zhou Sheng all this?”

Chen Yekai straddled his chair and placed both his hands on the back of it. His eyes had an inexplicable look in it as he glanced at Yu Hao.

“Zhou Sheng would just ask me not to think so much, then tell me to let it go and walk out of it.” Chen Yekai took a sip of his coffee with his brows furrowed, “But I think, Yu Hao, you can understand how I feel.”

As he spoke, Chen Yekai muttered again, “Once I think too much, Zhou Sheng might consider helping me by getting me to forget all this, in the same way he erased Ou Qihang’s memories.”

Yu Hao thought, that’s true, your worries aren’t completely unfounded. But even if you tell me all this, I can’t do much for you.

“What’s your third conjecture?” Yu Hao finally asked.

“A device that separates the body from brain waves.” Chen Yekai said, “During an interstellar voyage, the body needs to sleep, that is, to ‘enter a dream’. But the mind still needs to be active. So, you can treat it as a ‘Consciousness Storage’, or a ‘Soul Box’, or a sort of ‘Soul Device’.”

Yu Hao immediately said, “Don’t say anymore, that’s a little scary.”

Chen Yekai raised his eyebrows slightly and said, “You are the only one who truly knew the Ryuusei in my dreamscape, I think you may be able to judge……”

Yu Hao was greatly shocked. He couldn’t help but stand up and paced a few steps beside the dining table to calm himself down. “It’s just your yearning for Ryuusei that constructed such a real impression……”

“Yes.” Chen Yekai said, “So I’ve always been searching, if there was anything I didn’t know Ryuusei had done that he showed to you. That’s the only way to prove that he’s a soul and not a memory. Just like how you could ‘swim’ in my dream……”

“Stop it!” Yu Hao’s hairs were standing on end, “Chen Laoshi!”

Chen Yekai was smiling, but his eyes carried a bit of sorrow, “Don’t be afraid, he’s my lover.”

Yu Hao thought, that’s right. If something like that really was true, Ryuusei may just be a ghost to him, but he was a lover to Chen Yekai.

“Why did you think of something so strange?” Yu Hao asked.

“I discussed it for a long time with my junior.” Chen Yekai said, “After all, a civilisation has to travel through the vast universe for hundreds or even thousands of years before they can find another planet with intelligent life. And the existence of the Golden Crow Wheel proves that these people’s spacecrafts must have been made of matter. Matter can’t exceed the speed of light, or even reach the speed of light; it’s a technological limitation……”

“……so isn’t it very reasonable to make a bold conjecture, that the body and consciousness were separated during the voyage?”

Yu Hao made a meaningless gesture. Chen Yekai continued, “I don’t want to mention this speculation to Zhou Sheng, you should understand.”

Yu Hao said, “There are no secrets between us.”

Chen Yekai nodded, “Then, do as you like?”

Yu Hao thought, and now you’re throwing this difficult problem to me, god damn it.

“Then what do you want me to do for you?” Yu Hao said, “Prove that the Ryuusei in your memory is the real Ryuusei?”

Chen Yekai shrugged and answered, “I don’t know what I want either.” As he spoke, he laughed again, “You can take it as a kind of confession by a lonely man to the Archangel ba. If the truth does exist in the world, then I think it’ll come to light someday. Let’s head to class?”

Yu Hao ate the breakfast that Chen Yekai had brought for him, but Chen Yekai’s idea constantly whirled in his head. Chen Yekai acted like he was just ‘talking about it’, and he didn’t want to suffer Zhou Sheng’s memory erasure magic because of this. On the other hand, Yu Hao knew that Zhou Sheng has always had an inexplicable fear of the Golden Crow Wheel — it was the kind of fear towards a power that he couldn’t control. It wasn’t easy for him to temporarily dispel that idea. Bringing up the past would just stir up annoyance, so he couldn’t decide if he should discuss this with Zhou Sheng at the moment.

But ultimately, this was still just one of Chen Yekai’s conjectures. Ou Qihang’s matter finally came to an end, and he had completely forgotten Chen Yekai. In the meantime, Huang Ting even gave them a call to verify what had happened, but Ou Qihang couldn’t recall the past at all.

“Are you going to erase Kaikai’s memory?” Yu Hao asked Zhou Sheng in private.

Zhou Sheng said, “Not for now, why?”

Yu Hao shook his head and tied his shoelaces at the venue of their three-man basketball match.