Ch50 – Battle of Wits

Translated by: DMlations/Zryuu

Edited by: Amelea, FistFullOfDollars and Juurensha

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Zhou Sheng got up and sat on the bed listlessly. He and Yu Hao just stared at each other.

“Let’s play a game ba.” Zhou Sheng said, “Call Kaikai for a game.”

Yu Hao called Chen Yekai, but he didn’t pick up. Yu Hao thought, crap, is he sleeping? Not a moment later, Chen Yekai replied to his WeChat message, “I don’t have good reception here, you guys go ahead.”

Zhou Sheng, “Talk to him, don’t let him sleep.”

Yu hao chatted idly with Chen Yekai intermittently, and Chen Yekai also responded every so often. Their messages were spaced about five to ten minutes apart in their conversation. Rather than being in the United States, Yu Hao felt that Chen Yekai was on Saturn instead.

Not long after, the group chat that Yu Hao, Zhou Sheng, and Fu Liqun were part of began to light up with messages. Inside it was a selfie that Fu Liqun and Cen Shan had taken at night by a river.

“Pei!” Zhou Sheng said, “I’m quitting the group!”

Yu Hao, “Congratulations!”

Cen Shan sent a sweet voice message in the group, “I’ll come see you guys some other day.”

Zhou Sheng pressed the voice key, “It’s good that you guys got back together.”

Cen Shan, “Zhou Sheng, when will you……”

Zhou Sheng cut it off halfway. Yu Hao didn’t react and just played Cen Shan’s complete voice message.

“Zhou Sheng, when will you start dating too, un? You know what I mean.”

Zhou Sheng said into his phone, “Shan Jie, I’m really quitting the group this time.”

Yu Hao began laughing. At first he didn’t understand what Cen Shan meant, but after coming to a sudden realisation, both of them were a little embarrassed.

In this group of four, Cen Shan only asked Zhou Sheng “when will you start dating” and didn’t tease Yu Hao at all……

In the end, Zhou Sheng suddenly said, “How’re things on Kaikai’s side?”

“He’s still there.” Yu Hao said.

“Sleep ba.” Zhou Seng said, “See you in the dream.”

Both of them were a bit sleepy. They laid down separately, and Zhou Sheng continued, “Don’t be afraid, we’ll come save you now.”

Yu Hao wanted to say something else at that moment, but held back in the end. If there are words left unsaid, then he’ll still be able to eat chicken later. But once spoken, he might not be able to eat the chicken anymore.

Yu Hao drifted in and out of slumber. The effects of the caffeine from the coffee he drank during the day hadn’t waned, but then he felt Zhou Sheng reach over with his hand and gently pat his forehead. Yu Hao then fell into the dream.

Zhou Sheng was standing in front of the Golden Crow Wheel clad in a suit of armour.

Yu Hao, “He hasn’t slept yet?”

Zhou Sheng frowned as he shook his head, “We could wake up and wait awhile longer? It’s only 1pm on his side.”

“What would happen if a situation like this occurs?” Yu Hao asked.

But this time, instead of Zhou Sheng, the Golden Crow Wheel erupted with a bright flare that engulfed Yu Hao’s body and answered him — the answer rushed directly into Yu Hao’s consciousness.

If Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng didn’t enter the dreamscape in time when the owner fell asleep, then they would still be dragged into the owner’s conscious world when they next entered the dream. No matter what kind of events had taken place in that conscious world.

It also meant that if Chen Yekai’s conscious world was destroyed in their absence, and the owner fell into his subconscious, when Yu Hao enters the dream again, he would be forcibly pulled into the subconsciousness of the previous dreamscape.

“It seems a bit dire.” Yu Hao muttered.

Zhou Sheng, “That depends on whether our Chen Laoshi would get KO-ed by Ryuusei after he rushes over to Ryuusei without our help.”

“What’ll happen if he gets KO-ed?” Yu Hao asked again, but he could vaguely guess even without Zhou Sheng’s answer. The situation in Chen Yekai’s conscious world was quite critical now: the rainforest outside Chichén Itzá was on fire, and his conscious world had almost completely disintegrated. However, he had never encountered such a situation.

“Mental breakdown.” Zhou Sheng said, “Through destroying his consciousness himself. Let’s get up and wait ba. Good night.”

The time zone difference was tortuous. Yu Hao suggested, “Let’s go out for an all-nighter?”

The dormitory wasn’t closed yet. Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng went to the Internet cafe outside their college for an all-nighter. Zhou Sheng watched a soccer match as he bitterly complained, “Why the hell are you still working on your English Listening Comprehension during an all-nighter? Could you not be so annoying?!”

Yu Hao said, “But it’s not like I know how to play online games! What do you want me to do?!”

So Zhou Sheng could only ignore him. He took a short nap on the sofa later in the night. Half an hour later, he got up, “He hasn’t slept yet.”

The two of them stayed up until 7am before yawning as they returned to their dormitory. Zhou Sheng said, “Just hold on a little longer.”

“What if Fu Liqun returns in the afternoon?” Yu Hao was concerned about being woken up by Fu Liqun.

Zhou Sheng, “I sent him a message saying that we did an all-nighter, and asked him to be quiet when he comes back.”

Yu Hao could tell that he wasn’t very lucid anymore. It was hard for him to stay up until 9am.

“I can’t……” Yu Hao said, “I’m so damn sleepy, I don’t care anymore……”

But when they entered the dream again, they were still standing in front of the Golden Crow Wheel.

Zhou Sheng, “He’s still not asleep? That kid can really hold out, huh.”

Yu Hao sat on the bridge railings and looked at Zhou Sheng with an utterly listless expression. Zhou Sheng said, “We’re already in the dream! We’re not sleepy anymore!”

“But I’m still really sleepy……” Yu Hao only wanted to lie down on the bridge. He didn’t know why the sleepiness from reality had followed him into the dream.

Zhou Sheng, “Don’t sleep, I don’t know how to wake up someone who falls asleep in a dream!!”

Yu Hao rallied and was about to say something when he suddenly heard a noise.

“Fu Liqun is back.” Yu Hao said, “I’ll go open the door.”

“Didn’t I tell him to keep it down?” Zhou Sheng said.

Yu Hao felt muddleheaded and thought, what’s going on? He forced himself to open his eyes. His eyes were painfully dry, and someone was knocking on the door.

“Who is it?” Yu Hao got off the bed and looked at the time. 1pm. He had to go open the door.

When he opened the door, Yu Hao’s heart almost stopped, and he thought that he was still in the dream.

Chen Yekai was standing in the corridor outside the door.

Yu Hao, “……”

Chen Yekai, “Is it convenient to talk now?”

Yu Hao, “Zhou Sheng! Get up!”

Yu Hao immediately turned around and was still wondering if he was actually dreaming, or if this was reality. But Chen Yekai naturally entered the dormitory and casually closed the door behind him.

Yu Hao shook Zhou Sheng a few times. Zhou Sheng was woken up, so he sat up in annoyance, “What are you guys doing——

He abruptly stopped speaking. When Zhou Sheng saw Chen Yekai standing in their dormitory, he was also stunned speechless.

“You’re back?” Zhou Sheng said.

“I’m back.” Chen Yekai said, “Let’s talk ba.”

Yu Hao had been very sleepy, but Chen Yekai’s sudden return completely stirred him into alertness with fright..

Chen Yekai rubbed his face, “Do you have coffee?”

Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng looked at each other as they wondered if Chen Yekai knew something, but Zhou Sheng shot him a glance, signalling him to not fumble.

“Only the instant kind.” Yu Hao said.

“Any is fine.” Chen Yekai said simply, “Have you guys eaten lunch? Let’s go for lunch together?”

Yu Hao hurriedly went to boil water for a cup of instant coffee and threw the handling of this impossible matter to Zhou Sheng. He listened to their conversation as he stirred the cup of coffee.

Zhou Sheng, “Drink some coffee first ba. Yu Hao, make one cup for me too. Kaikai, you didn’t sleep on the plane?”

Chen Yekai said, “I didn’t dare fall asleep. I’ll dream once I sleep. I want to talk to you guys about something.”

When he heard this, Yu Hao’s tensed heart relaxed a little. He remembered that every time after he and Shi Ni experienced her dreamscape, there would be some changes, so Chen Yekai should have resolved some things.

But Zhou Sheng was still very vigilant, “What can’t you tell us over WeChat? You even especially came all the way back here to talk.”

Chen Yekai smiled and didn’t say anything. He took the coffee that Yu Hao handed to him. The three of them sat down, and all of them were irritated from sleep deprivation. Yu Hao even suspected that Zhou Sheng was on the verge of hitting Chen Yekai.

It was extremely quiet in the dormitory. Chen Yekai tapped his finger on the table rhythmically and deliberated for a moment, “I don’t want to avoid it anymore, I have to face it.”

Zhou Sheng, “Then that’s really good!”

Yu Hao, “You’ve finally come around! Congratulations!”

Some vitality seemed to finally return to Chen Yekai’s eyes — they no longer looked as lifeless as before. Zhou Sheng might not think much of it, but Yu Hao knew how difficult it was for him to make that decision.

“Thank you.” Chen Yekai said earnestly. Yu Hao could tell that he seemed very weary, but his soul seemed to have gained a new life.

Zhou Sheng shrugged, “I didn’t do anything at all ma, you’re the one who got over it.”

“It’s good as long as you got over it.” Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng looked at each other.

“No.” Chen Yekai said, “The two of you saved me. But to be precise, it was you, Zhou Sheng, who saved me.”

Yu Hao’s heart instantly started beating wildly. Chen Yekai must have guessed it! He thought about it, then cast an inquiring glance at Zhou Sheng. He also reminded himself that he definitely couldn’t give himself away. From here on out, they would be competing to see who was the better actor — Zhou Sheng’s acting skills were practically on a film emperor level, but Chen Yekai was also very clever. If they had colluded earlier they might just be able to muddle through it……but Chen Yekai had obviously come prepared and had almost caught them off guard.

“Me?” Zhou Sheng looked like he had just heard the joke of the century. His mouth twitched, “That……Chen Laoshi, do you have some kind of misunderstanding?” As he spoke, he looked at Yu Hao with a bewildered expression on his face, while Yu Hao tried his best to also feign a similar expression as the both of them looked at each other.

Chen Yekai turned on his phone and found a screenshot, then turned his phone towards Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao.

Yu Hao, “……”

On it was an IP address, and beside it was the English name of the region it was in.

Chen Yekai stared closely at Zhou Sheng, then scrolled through his phone. The next page was a screenshot of Zhou Sheng’s account, then he scrolled to the next page — it was a photo taken by his phone of an analysis of command strings and IP addresses.

Zhou Sheng immediately asked, puzzled, “What’s this? I don’t understand it.”

“It’s you.” Chen Yekai said, “You were very careful. You deleted all of your visiting records, but you can’t delete the page views on Ryuusei’s homepage. I asked my postgraduate senior who’s a hacker to help me investigate the IPs that had visited the page. It was a proxy, the real address was in mainland China.”

Zhou Sheng instantly understood. Ryuusei’s homepage, birthday, and password might have all just been traps set by Chen Yekai!

“Oh.” Zhou Sheng brazenly continued, “I was too curious.”

Yu Hao immediately said, “I’m the one who went to search for it. I’m sorry, Chen Laoshi, but I didn’t find your video or anything……”

“How would the two of you know that Ryuusei was called Takin?” Chen Yekai said, “I wasn’t sure at first, until I told Zhou Sheng in my dream that there was that letter, then I saw the page views on Ryuusei’s homepage suddenly increase after four years……”

When he got to this point, Chen Yekai’s voice trembled slightly.

“Wait wait wait!” Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng almost cried out in surprise at the same time, “What did you say?”

Zhou Sheng, “Dream? What dream?”

Yu Hao, “Chen Laoshi are you alright?”

Chen Yekai said, “Tell me! That this isn’t a hallucination! How did the two of you get into my dream?! Otherwise, Zhou Sheng, why would you know what I said to you in my dream?!”

The dormitory immediately quietened down. Three seconds later, Zhou Sheng burst into laughter.

Zhou Sheng, “Kaikai, there’s nothing wrong with you ba? Say that again?”

Yu Hao suddenly felt that Chen Yekai was very pitiful.

Chen Yekai said calmly, “I know that I have psychological problems, but I’m not crazy. Zhou Sheng, you came into my dream, otherwise you wouldn’t know about this letter, and you wouldn’t know Ryuusei’s English name.”

Zhou Sheng said in disbelief, “You’re serious?”

Yu Hao said, “I found it online, isn’t that the translation of his name in katakana?”

Chen Yekai suddenly said, “Then how can you guys explain why the page view of this letter would become 1? Zhou Sheng, you even knew the password to it?”

Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao were both dumbstruck. Zhou Sheng was about to turn around to look at Yu Hao, but he abruptly reacted almost instantaneously, “I didn’t see it! We didn’t click on that page at all!”

Yu Hao reacted as well; Chen Yekai had tricked them! When they heard that, if he and Zhou Sheng both knew the password, then they might suspect each other of viewing it in secret. So when Chen Yekai said that, they would definitely look at each other for a short duration — even if it was just for a fraction of a second.

However, Zhou Sheng vigilantly guarded this psychological defense line and didn’t look at Yu Hao. But Yu Hao reacted too slowly, and hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Let me see?” Zhou Sheng reached out to take Chen Yekai’s phone and asked, “What’s the password?”

Chen Yekai didn’t pass his phone to Zhou Sheng. Yu Hao thought that the two of them were really too cunning; they kept trying to find gaps in each other’s defences. Zhou Sheng was practically defending his own to the point that not even a drop of water could escape.

“In the dream.” Chen Yekai suddenly said, “I never knew that Yu Hao couldn’t swim. It was Yu Hao who said it himself, then immediately afterwards he sank. How would you explain that?”

“How can I explain it?” Zhou Sheng looked utterly baffled, “It’s your own dream, and you’re asking me to explain it?”

Chen Yekai looked at Yu Hao. Yu Hao’s anxiety was plain as day on his face, “You really dreamt of me?”

“He said that we have superpowers and went into his dream!” Zhou Sheng explain, “How could that be possible?”

Chen Yekai gave up on breaking through Zhou Sheng’s defences and instead changed his target and began to pursue and relentlessly corner Yu Hao, “You don’t know how to swim — that’s what you said in my dream. I thought you could, so there was no problem when you tried to swim in my dream. The moment you said that you didn’t know how to swim, I realised it, which is why you lost the ability to swim in my dream.”

“But if you were just the Yu Hao of my imagination, then when I was sure you knew how to swim, you wouldn’t tell me yourself that you actually didn’t know how to! Because the you in my imagination depends on my understanding of you!” Chen Yekai said, “I wouldn’t deny my own knowledge!”

Yu Hao’s heart jumped with a “thud”. So Chen Yekai had made his judgment from that detail!

“But……” Yu Hao’s brows were locked in a deep furrow, “Chen Laoshi, let’s not talk about how ridiculous that assumption is first. Regarding the matter of whether or not I know how to swim, aside from your knowledge in the real world and the phenomenon in your dream, wouldn’t it also depend on the suggestions of your own subconsciousness?”

“You might have just forgotten some things.” Yu Hao didn’t know why the cogs in his brain suddenly started spinning so fast at this time, “Through a reminder of your subconsciousness, you suddenly remembered it in your dream……remember a few months ago, when we picked up the money in the reservoir? At that time, Zhou Sheng said……”

Zhou Sheng smacked his thigh and said, “That’s right ma, I said that ‘I want to teach Yu Hao how to swim’; the implication being that Yu Hao doesn’t know how to swim, so you were reminded by your subconscious in your dream……Wait, no, why are we discussing such a topic right now that makes it seem like we’re crazy?! Kaikai, are you okay?”

Chen Yekai fell silent.

Yu Hao gave himself a +1 in his heart, he did sooo well today!

Zhou Sheng, “I’m serious, Kaikai. You’re too exhausted. You should rest.”

Chen Yekai said helplessly, “Since it’s like this, then accompany me to do an experiment ba.”

A sense of foreboding immediately loomed over Yu Hao, and Zhou Sheng’s brows furrowed.

“Wait until Fu Liqun returns.” Chen Yekai said, “Let him accompany you guys and ensure that the two of you don’t sleep while I go back to sleep. This time, I’ll see what will happen in my dreamscape then……”

“Spare me ba!” Zhou Sheng bitterly exclaimed, “We just pulled an all-nighter!”

Chen Yekai said, “Then the two of you can sleep first, I won’t disturb you guys. I can still hold on. Once the two of you have slept for ten hours, I’ll come back again.”

Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng instantly fell silent. The deathly still silence dragged on, and after three seconds, Chen Yekai knew that the truth had finally come to light, while Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao were still speechless. Zhou Sheng was racking his brains, but even he couldn’t think of a way to handle this.

There was a sound of a key opening the door. Fu Liqun pushed the door open and entered, and was dumbstruck when he saw the three people who had turned into statues.

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