don't open your eyes [unlimited]

"Realm of the Dead" is actually a very general concept.

The plan proposed by Professor Yan was overturned and banned by himself, and the pioneers' exploration of the realm of the dead was also extremely limited.Most of the people who had the opportunity to see this scene probably couldn't describe it to others.

They only know that there is an endless glacier standing on the other side of the world that is completely composed of cognition for many years...

"It's not all glaciers, the scenery here is very good."

When regaining consciousness, Number Zero happened to hear the voice beside him.

He opened his eyes suddenly, sat up with his arms propped up by conditioned reflex, and the scalpel had slipped into his palm silently.

Only at this point did he realize that his body was completely out of control, and with just such a simple movement, he was already unable to do what he wanted and fell over.

The young man with a small woolen head reached out and hugged him in time: "Be careful—hmm."

The curly-haired young man took a breath, supported Zero's body to lean back and sat firmly, and then gently pulled his hand back, studying the blood-stained fingers.

He seemed to have seen this situation for the first time, carefully observed the wound from all angles, and even tried to taste a little bit of the red, warm liquid.

Zero's expression changed, and he looked down at the bloodstains on the scalpel.

The young man standing opposite him was holding the bloody hand, and was looking for information on the virtual screen with one hand, and soon found the answer he was looking for: "This is called 'injury'."

Zero quickly put away the scalpel and said in a low voice, "Sorry..."

"It doesn't matter." It seemed that because he finally heard him speak, a smile appeared in his eyes, and the young man shook his head, "This is the first time I have encountered such a situation."

The young man sat down by the repair bay and handed Zero his hand.

Zero was startled, and looked up at him.

The opponent's pupils were completely pure black, and the cold and beautiful light refracted inside made him dazed for a moment before he realized that this meant "whoever made it is responsible for solving it".

Zero slowly moved his arm that regained consciousness. He took the right hand from the other party and searched around.

It is not difficult to see that the technology here is more advanced than where he came from.

This place seems to be a very advanced operation cabin, with many dazzling operation panels and many advanced instruments with unknown uses, but there is no medicine box.

The young man simply handed over the panel of the virtual screen to him, and asked No. [-] to search it, but he couldn't find any bandages or medicines to treat the wound.

"We generally don't have that need."

After quickly understanding the search logic of Number Zero, the young man explained: "If the consciousness is damaged, just smash it and recast it."

"I probably went too far." The young man looked at himself and analyzed, "Some changes have taken place in my body."

Zero lowered his gaze, looking at his body that had been severely ice-crystallized.

His consciousness also seemed to be covered with a thick layer of ice, and it took a lot of effort to turn his mind.

Fortunately, the cold seemed to have an analgesic effect too, and the almost constant headache that plagued him seemed to subside quietly.

Zero closed his eyes, concentrated his energy and thought for a while at a speed that he was not used to, and left a roll of bandages, a small bottle of purple potion and a box of cotton balls in his hand.

The young man watched his movements intently: "How did you do this?"

"Conscious creation." Number Zero simply explained.

He quickly treated the wound for the other party, carefully wrapped it with a bandage, and he was a little relieved after confirming that there was no more blood oozing out.

The young man took his hand back.He seemed to be very curious about all of this. After studying it back and forth for a long time, he touched the little bow tie made of bandages again, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

The young man stood up, rummaged through the spare parts library for a while, and returned with a box of lollipops, opened the lid and handed it to him.

Zero looked at the colorful box of lollipops, his expression eased, he shook his head slightly, closed his eyes and leaned back.

"Your consciousness is severely damaged."

The young man seemed a little bit regretful, but he still took one lollipop and put it in his mouth, and put away the rest of the lollipop: "This will be dangerous."

Zero was silent for a while: "Will you come to your place?"

"It's worse." The young man said, "It may turn into a cloud. Recently, there have been many clouds on the other side."

No. Zero nodded, calmed down and stopped talking.

He could almost understand what the other party meant—just as the realm of the dead in their eyes was a glacier, in the eyes of those conscious bodies on the other side, the "shadows" of the real world were just clusters of dark clouds.

In fact, he himself has already vaguely noticed that his consciousness has reached the verge of collapse.

The drug experiments that the teacher did on him did improve his mental power again and again, but they also caused him endless headaches. Sometimes he even felt in a trance that he would be swallowed by his own brain.

It would be fine if it just turned into a cloud.He just found a place where it rained non-stop and kept himself clean.

Zero opened his eyes, and looked out the window at the cobalt blue sky, which appeared extremely thin and far-reaching.

He wanted the young man to find a place to throw himself down, but he didn't know how to speak politely, so he was silent for a long time before trying to ask, "Are you a pioneer too?"

The young man has been sitting by the side of the repair cabin, studying the changes in his body.

The other party seemed to be very patient. When he heard him speak, his eyes lit up and he nodded: "But I should be the only one nearby. I walked too far."

Of course, the realm of the dead is not just a glacier—under those huge icebergs that seem to have condensed hundreds of millions of years of time, there is a realm that belongs only to the dead.

There are lands, forests, vast grasslands, beautiful countryside and bustling towns... and at the end of it all is a beach.

Going forward from that beach, crossing the sea level blocked by ice floes, you will be blocked by an invisible barrier, and you can only see the outline and shadow of the world on the other side of the sea from a distance.

"It turns out that the consequence of approaching the barrier is this."

The young man let the analysis instrument scan his wound several times through the bandage, and while quickly scrolling the page to browse the data, he typed on the keyboard: "It will be closer to the 'real' human body, which can be hurt..."

He pondered for a while, quickly typed a few lines of code with one hand, and sent back to the headquarters suggestions on adding virtual barriers to prevent residents on the beach from getting lost too far.

Zero couldn't help asking: "Have you never had a real body before?"

After he asked this sentence, he felt that this kind of question was really inappropriate, and he frowned unconsciously: "Sorry——"

"No." The young man didn't seem to care at all, smiled and shook his head, "I was born in the realm of the dead."

Zero looked at him with some surprise.

"Is it strange? We also have new population."

The young man zoomed in on the virtual screen directly in front of the two of them: "There are a lot of raw materials in the subconscious world, which are supplied to you and us at the same time."

"In your world, how a baby develops self-awareness, absorbs and learns feedback from the outside world, and finally grows into an independent consciousness. The situation here is similar."

The young man said: "It's just that the first step may be slightly different—the method we use is 'cocooning'."

A nascent consciousness slowly forms a "cocoon" in countless cognition and information flows, and then absorbs those cognitions and information bit by bit, breaking out of the cocoon.

Cooperating with the children's stick figure sketch on the screen, the young man completed a simple science popularization and admired his professional writing on the blackboard for a while: "When I am not in charge of pioneering, I teach cocooning in kindergarten."

Zero was a little dumb, and he looked at the stick figures seriously: "It's almost the same as us."

The young man turned around curiously: "Aren't you adults taking children?"

"The nature is similar, and it is actually very metaphorical."

Zero pointed to the picture: "Parents, teachers, environment, society... Everyone's perception of this child, plus all the information this child receives from the outside world, together form a cocoon."

He hadn't talked about his professional content for a long time, and when he talked about it, he unconsciously became interested, and sat up cross-legged with one hand propped up.

"The functional school, as well as environmental determinism, once had more extreme ideas. One of them believes that consciousness is a function to adapt to the environment, and the other believes that people are simply shaped by the environment."

"In our world, the growth process of a person is also a process of first forming a cocoon with these things, and then breaking out of the cocoon."

Zero looked at the screen: "The cocoon means safety, but it also means restriction. Breaking this cocoon is painful and dangerous, but it is also the only way to freedom..."

He hadn't had a good chat with anyone for a long time, and when he realized that he seemed to be talking too much, it was too late, so he stopped talking slowly.

The curly-haired young man was lying on the back of the chair, listening carefully and attentively, staring at him with bright eyes.

With Number Zero being stared at by him like this, the pinnae of his ears turned red unconsciously: "Did I talk too much?"

"No." The young man shook his head quickly, "I like to listen to your lectures, are you a teacher?"

Zero froze for a moment, shaking his head slightly.

The young man was a little regretful, but he still tried to invite: "Would you like to come to us and teach children how to cocoon? I can be your teaching assistant."

Zero looked at his translucent palm, fell silent for a moment, and then whispered, "Sorry..."

The young man sighed softly in frustration, leaned on the back of the chair with his arms pillowed on his head, and the little wool roll on his head shook slightly.

Zero couldn't help reaching out and trying to touch his hair lightly.

"We should at least get to know each other better."

The young man quickly cheered up: "I tried to listen to your channel, and someone was looking for you. Some of them called you 'instructor', and some called you 'captain'."

The young man unwrapped a lollipop and handed it over.He didn't know what these two words meant, but he was very interested and wanted to stay with the other party for a while longer: "May I also call you captain?"

Number Zero met those eyes, his eyebrows softened a little bit, trying to let his fingers land on those curly soft hair.

He took the lollipop and put it in his mouth, the milky sweetness instantly filled his entire consciousness.

"Okay." He smiled and replied softly, "Little Curly."