Chapter 258 Stealing Dream and Truman (Part 1) (Patreon)

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In the room of Manor, on a soft sofa, Victor leaned against the armrest. He turned his head and looked at Schiller, who was sitting behind the table playing with the Earth device, and asked, "Why did you call us here?"

Copperpot was adjusting the length of a buckle on his clothing pocket, sitting across from Victor. Evans was holding a glass of wine, swirling the liquid inside. The liquid had a golden shine and white foam. Jack was lying on a single sofa, squinting his eyes and dozing off.

Schiller leaned against the back of the chair, continuously manipulating the Earth device in his hand. Even when he placed the Earth device on the table, the Earth model on it continued to rotate slightly. He looked at Victor and asked, "Haven't you noticed anything different here?"

"What's different?" Victor looked around the entire room. This was the living room of Schiller Manor, with a row of soft sofas, two single sofas, several cushions, and a coffee table in the middle of the sofas. On one side of the room was Schiller's table, and behind the table was a row of massive bookshelves filled with various items.

Victor had been here before but didn't notice anything abnormal. Just as he was about to continue questioning Schiller, he looked at Schiller again and felt that something was off. He asked Schiller, "What's wrong with your head?"

At that moment, Schiller's head had turned into a rotating Earth device. None of the other people seemed to notice, except for Jack, who slightly opened one eye and made a hissing sound through his teeth.

"Alright..." Schiller, with the Earth device as his head, stood up from behind the table. This should have been a very bizarre scene, but Victor didn't feel anything was out of the ordinary. It seemed as if it was perfectly normal for him.

"Think back, Victor. How did you get here?"

"Of course, I walked here from school. I... " Victor paused for a moment and then said, "Am I dreaming?... Is this inside my dream?"

"You got it backward. This isn't your dream; it's mine."

Victor looked surprised. Schiller walked to Victor's side and sat down, rotating his Earth device head to look at Victor. Victor wasn't sure if Schiller actually made that head-turning motion because the Earth device had been spinning all along.

Everyone, except for Jack, slowly sat up straight and stared at the space in astonishment, as if they had just woken up.

"Of course, human consciousness cannot be connected, just like dreams cannot be connected. What one person imagines in their mind cannot be seen or touched by another person, let alone observed up close..."

"But..." Schiller with the Earth device head turned to Evans and said, "I can bring other people's thoughts into my consciousness, starting with you, Evans..."

Evans looked at Schiller with the Earth device head, not knowing what to say. This scene would be incredibly horrifying in reality, but it didn't seem strange at all in this consciousness space because there were many even stranger things, such as the fact that they were now sitting on the ceiling.

The sofa and coffee table they were sitting on were stuck to the ceiling, and the chandelier was not far from Evans's hand. At some point, the entire space had flipped upside down, but they still hadn't noticed anything unusual.

Similarly, Evans focused his gaze on his own nose and found a small clown's red nose attached to it, yet he didn't feel that there was anything extra in his field of vision.

Jack squeezed the red ball on his nose with his hand and made a "squish squish" sound, cracking a wide grin.

"Are you saying that we are all inside your dream, Professor?" Evans scratched his head and said, puzzled, "But as you said, how can several people's dreams come together?"

"Now that you already know the truth of Alberto's creation from the Court of Owls, have you ever wondered why the Court of Owls and the old Father were able to create the personality of Alberto?"

"Um... Alberto didn't tell me about that. It seems like he doesn't know his own origin either. He just appeared out of nowhere one day..."

"That's why I said it starts with you..."

"Let's organize our thoughts. In the previous incident, we learned that the Court of Owls discovered a substance called 'Divine Wine' appearing underground in Gotham's Great Church. After their unsuccessful research, they sought help from Father. Father made some discoveries and handed them over to the Court of Owls. And then, they created the personality of your brother. So what is the key to this question?"

Evans wasn't dumb, and he was about to answer when Copperpot interrupted, "It's that 'Divine Wine'."

"That's right. When I communicated with The Godfather and Father, Father told me that in the Church, he possessed an ability that ordinary people don't have. It's a kind of special ability similar to mind-reading, where he can sense certain mental characteristics of others."

"It was precisely because of this ability that he noticed something different about me, which is why he hired me as your family tutor, Evans. Do you understand now?"

"So, does that 'Divine Wine' grant people the ability to read minds?"

The Earth device head shook slightly, but no one could tell for sure if it actually shook, because the Earth device had been spinning all along.

"That 'Divine Wine,' or rather, I prefer to call it the Dionysus Factor, can be understood as a liquid brainwave amplifier..."

"Brainwave amplifier?" Victor furrowed his brow and said, "I have also studied theories about brainwaves, and I've heard about theories that disrupt brainwaves to control the mind. But you're saying that a special liquid can amplify brainwaves. Isn't that a bit too..."

"We don't need to decipher its principles; we just need to know its effects. In short, Father handed over his research on fine wine to the Court of Owls, and they used it to create the personality of Alberto..."

"So, where is he now?" Evans looked around and Schiller explained, "His house is currently under construction, which is why you are here."

"In any case, after I confirmed this with Father, I knew that the Dionysus Factor might be related to the realm of human consciousness."

"And conveniently, I have several other liquids related to this. I asked a friend in biology to mix them in certain proportions to achieve an extreme amplification of brainwaves. I call it 'Mad Wine.'"

"When it was just created, I couldn't be sure if it worked, so..." Schiller turned his head towards Jack, who wiggled his head and said, "So, while we were drinking together, you added this stuff to our drinks..."

"And then, the realms of our consciousness truly connected, and an annoying guy escaped from your consciousness world, trying to trap me in your realm instead."

"Just now, I invited you all to my Manor, and then we had drinks. A few drops of this Mad Wine were added to each person's drink, so now we are sitting here."

"Welcome to my realm of consciousness, everyone."

In an instant, everyone became clear-minded. Victor remembered how he came to Schiller's Manor on a rainy day and took a sip of wine. Copperpot and Evans also recalled the process of entering the house, taking off their coats, and putting away their umbrellas. Schiller explained, "When you first enter, there is a period of adjustment, during which you may have trouble distinguishing reality from illusion, and thus, you won't feel anything unusual."

"It's like seeing an upside-down high-rise building in a dream without finding it strange. Transitioning from wakefulness to dreaming requires an adaptation process. Of course, if I reveal the truth, this process will speed up."

"I understand the logic..." Victor turned to Schiller and asked, "But why did you turn your head into an Earth device?"

Schiller reached up and adjusted the Earth device on his head before saying, "Not just me, you all can transform as well. Although this is my realm of consciousness, when our brainwaves merge, you also have a certain autonomy here."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jack's head instantly transformed into a fried chicken wing with a big smiling face on it. Jack's voice came from the cracked mouth, saying, "I had this for dinner tonight, and it tastes pretty good. Although it's a bit undercooked and awfully greasy..."

Evans widened his eyes as he looked at Jack with the fried chicken wing head, and he could even smell the aroma of fried food coming from it.

"What... What should I do?"

Before he could even attempt anything, Victor found a strangely shaped freeze gun in his hand. They curiously examined the guns in their hands and said, "This is the latest model I had envisioned but hadn't had the chance to create yet. I never expected it could materialize so realistically."

"In the realm of consciousness, which is the dream world, what you can do entirely depends on your imagination, the principle of 'believing is achieving.' Moreover, the more detailed your imagination, the more detailed it manifests. I suppose you have completely designed and conceptualized this gun, right?"

"That's right. I finalized the design a week ago. So, does that mean it can be fired now?"

As Victor spoke, he pulled the trigger, and an ice spike shot out, instantly freezing the Joker on the opposite side into a block of ice.

"As long as you believe it can be fired, it will naturally be fired, just like how people believe they can fly in dreams and actually do."

"Hey, you've chilled my head! Don't you know that cold chicken is the most disgusting food in this world?!" Jack with the chicken wing for a head shouted loudly.

Copperpot pinched the red ball on his nose and then, with a "pop," it transformed into a sharp cone, like the ones often worn at parties.

Evans scratched his head and said, "Can I change the color of my hair? I've always wanted dark brown hair like The Godfather, but dyeing is such a hassle."

While he was speaking, his hair slowly changed color, transitioning from a dazzling rotten gold to deep brown. Schiller's Earth-globe head shook and said, "I think gold suits you better."

"Do we have a mirror?" Evans turned his head back and forth, seemingly trying to find a reflective object to see his current appearance.

"You just need to 'think' about it."

After a moment of contemplation, Evans drew a crooked square in the air, which turned into a mirror that dropped down. He clumsily grabbed it and looked at himself, saying, "Indeed, blond looks better..."

As he spoke, his hair changed back to its original color.

Victor picked up the glass in front of him and asked Schiller, "So, why did you bring us into your realm of consciousness? What do you want to do?"

"Well, there's no particular business to attend to, just wanted to have some fun with you."

"Have fun? What kind of fun is there to have?"

"It's precisely because there's no fun to be had that we have to create some. Not just me, I believe Mr. Jack also shares the same sentiment, don't you?"

Jack transformed his head into a toilet brush and used his finger to continuously play with the bristles, saying, "Without Batman in Gotham, it's so boring. If I don't find some amusement for myself, I'll go crazy!"

"Alright, so what exactly do you want to do?"

Schiller shifted his body to the other side, leaning against the armrest of the sofa, and said, "There's a highly professional psychologist, my colleague, currently in Arkham Asylum. Later, I'm going to meet with him for work..."

"I will engage in some theoretical discussions with him and then invite him to have a drink together..."

"You're bringing him here too?"

"No, no, this is the audience area, and he..."

Jack on the other side interrupted with a cheerful laugh, saying, "He'll be an actor, a terribly lousy actor."

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 259 Stealing Dream And Truman (2)