don't open your eyes [unlimited]

After turning this page, the logbook becomes completely blank.

Zhuang Die closed the notebook: "The font on the letter is the same as the last few pages."

It was a flying and phoenix font in a state of extreme excitement, full of consecutive strokes and misspellings, and the paper was stained with lumps of ink here and there, and it was difficult to understand the written content until it was carefully deciphered.

Song Huaimin asked, "Is it a distress letter?"

"No." Zhuang Die shook his head, "It's a stack of invitation letters."

All the recipients are empty, and it is impossible to determine where and to whom these invitations are sent.

The contents of the letter seemed ordinary, but there was a strange excitement for no reason.

In each invitation letter, the captain enthusiastically shared his experience on Paradise Island, sharing the leopards, giant lions and wolves on the island. He claimed that he had gotten along very well with these beasts and had fully adapted to it. A person's life on the island.

At the end of the invitation letter, the captain also invited "all the friends who received the invitation letter" to come to Paradise Island as guests, and he will bring his friends to entertain them in the most enthusiastic way...

Looking at the increasingly crazy and chaotic handwriting, Song Huaimin inexplicably felt a deep chill behind his back: "It's creepy, is this person crazy?"

"Very concise summary."

Ling Su nodded, and he put down the crumpled letter papers: "Due to the long-term imbalance of water and electrolytes, accumulated mental stress, and perhaps some kind of drug, this person has fallen into a state of extreme euphoric delirium... ..."

Song Huaimin: "..."

Because Zhuang Die was still taking notes, Song Huaimin couldn't even tell whether the man was yelling or seriously answering: "Are you joking?"

"Of course not." Ling Su was very frank, "'Crazy' can accurately describe the captain's state in the later stage. And all the things I said are just to make me look very powerful in front of Xiao Zhuang."

"..." Song Huaimin felt a pain in his brain, he kicked Ling Su away with his leg, and squatted down to find the trajectory of the bullet.

This trick is obviously very useful for Zhuang Die, and he is convincingly writing down the last few words: "Maybe it's not just the captain."

Zhuang Die put away his pen: "Everyone on this submarine has weaved an illusion together knowingly."

Song Huaimin was putting the skeleton on the chair, and he was stunned when he heard the words: "Can this kind of thing be done?"

Zhuang Die nodded, turned the book forward a few pages, and found the previous notes: "Understand each person's consciousness as an island. These islands grow on the seabed and are connected to each other in the depths of the sea."

—It is easier to hypnotize a group of people than a single person.

Unreasonable group fanaticism and blindness seem to happen forever, and the closed and depressed submarine trapped on the bottom of the sea has become the most suitable breeding ground for this "illusion contagion".

"On September 9, the concept of time began to become blurred on the boat. The subsequent dates are completely determined by the number of times the lights are turned on and off, which means that all subsequent dates are in doubt."

Zhuang Die said: "I suspect that this submarine will not be able to last for so long at all, and the later date changes faster, in fact, because the behavior of turning on and off the lights has become more and more frequent."

"On the day of the 21st in the log, they decided to turn off the lights again. Something must have happened after that-after being swept away by internal disputes among the crew and 'cleaning', the number of people on the boat began to drop sharply. And the remaining people A choice must be faced: whether to join this illusion of liberation for all..."

"Non-existent date, non-existent number of people on board."

Zhuang Die stretched out his hand and pressed the log book: "Combining these ideas, we can basically sort out another version of the story."

In this space full of despair, the consciousness of the crew gradually began to collapse.

Once again, in the darkness where the lights had to be turned off briefly to save energy, some people gradually began to fall into hallucinations, and vowed to claim that the submarine had already been repaired and could set sail at any time, and the nightmare-like everything in front of them was made by the devil dream.

There was a violent conflict among the crew.

As a result of several consecutive conflicts, those who did not want to believe in this illusion were "cleaned up" and the lights were turned back on.

Energy and oxygen are gradually being depleted, but no one cares about it anymore.

"It can be confirmed that the captain participated in the clean-up operation, that he may have been coerced into joining this collective hallucination, or that he himself was the original initiator of this hallucination-but at this point, these are not important anymore."

Zhuang Die walked to the desk: "On September 9th, he wrote the last real diary with the last bit of reason left, and then fell into delirium completely, and never really woke up again."

In this hallucination, they drove the repaired submarine all the way, and finally arrived at Paradise Island.

They regard predatory fish in the deep sea as beasts, and aquatic plants as dense jungles.All were convinced the submarine had sailed the great distance again, even though scavenging swarms of prawns, hagfish, and plankton had lingered nearby.

"The captain sits at his desk and opens a drawer."

Zhuang Die opened the left drawer, and sure enough there were a bunch of needles inside: "There are hallucinogens here, things that keep them from getting out of hallucinations..." He picked them up one by one and checked them, "They are all empty, The hallucinogens on board have run out."

Horrible reality alternates with beautiful fantasies. The captain's consciousness is sometimes immersed in the sumptuous banquet, and sometimes returns to the cold and cruel deep-sea submarine. The despair caused by this disorder became the last straw that crushed him.

Finally, the captain decided to visit the "mysterious forest".

In the reality that kept flashing back, he decided to let everyone go, and turned off all the oxygen machines.

It would be great if I could not carry my body in the way.

The captain put the "Divine Comedy" back in the drawer. He prayed devoutly and believed with all his heart that the book described in it was the world that the soul was about to experience.

The crew who noticed something strange slammed on the door and shouted loudly, but the captain's thinking had fallen into complete confusion.He locked the door and found his pistol, with a bullet in it.

He gazed eagerly at the forest, opened his mouth, and swallowed the cold barrel...

"He was sitting in the chair and the bullet went right through the skull and ended up on the roof."

Song Huaimin raised his head and took a photo with his flashlight.

He found burn marks and a bullet hole on the ceiling. The angle and position were so tricky that it would be impossible to find them without restoring the whole process.

Now that most of the puzzles have been solved, Song Huaimin still has one thing he can't figure out: "This kind of injury can kill you instantly, how did he put the gun back in the drawer?"

"He put it back by himself," Ling Su said.

Song Huaimin's back turned cold when he was attracted by this sentence, and his expression changed slightly: "Put it back by yourself?!"

"Don't worry, it's not haunted."

Ling Su held Zhuang Die's arm, lifted him up, and poked the whole person in front of the deputy captain: "Look, Xiao Zhuang's hair is still curly."

Song Huaimin: "..."

Ling Su opened the panel and left two messages on the team communication channel: "Xiao Zhuang guessed right, this dream realm is very special—it is a near-death dream realm, and it can also be called a 'revolving lantern'."

Song Huaimin couldn't help frowning: "Dreamland of Dying... You mean we are in this captain's dream?"

Zhuang Die nodded: "But he can't be regarded as the dream master, because he himself was trapped by the dream realm."

In most cases, the dying activities of the human brain are more inclined to its own memory retrieval-but the captain of this submarine fell into an inextricable entanglement between hallucinations and reality at the last moment.

The closure caused by this impact trapped his consciousness forever in this near-death dream that he could not escape.

The captain forgot about his own death.

He went to the forest, saw the beasts inside, and lived happily on the island for a while.

He went back to his room, put the unloaded gun back in the drawer, and wrote letters in a feverish manner.

He put the written invitation letter into an envelope, and crossed out any dissatisfied ones.He wants to invite everyone who has never been to Paradise Island to come here as a guest.

The captain warmly welcomes every visitor, releases beasts to entertain those who enter the forest, and intimately attaches routes and safe codes to guests who are willing to come to the submarine.

When you come to the captain's room and successfully open the safe to find the treasure, the owner will appear in person and warmly invite the guests to the banquet...

"Wait a moment."

Song Huaimin couldn't help interrupting Zhuang Die's explanation, pointing to Ling Su: "'Warmly invite' refers to strangling the neck of the guest, and breaking it if you don't go?"

Ling Su coughed, looked at the deputy captain who was gesticulating vigorously, and touched his inexplicably cold neck: "...It can be understood in this way."

To explain this matter clearly, I have to go back again, because some people can't control their minds and think too much.

Everything they see in this dream domain is determined by cognition.

If it is a group of guests who have received an invitation and come to the banquet without thinking twice, they will naturally see a well-repaired submarine.

Guests will find a small gift carefully prepared by the host in the safe, which is an ingenious surprise.

Then, the captain, who is personable and hospitable, will suddenly appear with a big laugh and personally invite the guests to enjoy themselves at the banquet.

After completing this process, go out from the captain's cabin, and you can see sumptuous banquet dishes in the living room.

There's plenty to revel in, with everything from steaks to fresh veggies, and plenty of free-flowing premium alcohol.

——It’s just that, because Ling Su, who was lying on the desk reading the letter, was thinking of another scene, the image and demeanor of the captain changed slightly when he appeared.

Under this change, there were also a series of deviations in the scenarios they triggered later...

"What we see is the truth." Zhuang Die said suddenly.

Ling Su was taking off his gloves. Hearing this, he slightly raised his eyebrows and looked at Zhuang Die.

He carefully took off the gloves and put them away, looked down, rubbed his hair vigorously, and smiled softly: "...Yes."

Their cognition will indeed change this dreamland, but in the final analysis, those that can be "changed" are ultimately self-deceiving illusions.

With enough calm and rational thinking, the only answer that cannot be changed is the truth.

Just like in the last dream, when they finally faced Chen Le's mother.

No matter how much interference there is in the dream, Zhuang Die can always maintain his own opinion firmly and clearly, and will not be shaken or misled by anyone or anything.

...Such little curly hair really makes him feel super cool.

"Since this is the case, isn't the matter simple?"

Song Huaimin's eyes suddenly brightened: "According to Zhuang Die's previous reasoning, those people are hiding in a safe place where they won't bleed, isn't it here?"

"The forest is too dangerous. The hostage-taker's choice is to take the hostages and hide in the submarine." He took out his gun and walked quickly to the door. "As long as we can subdue the gangsters and take the hostages out..."

Ling Su shook his head: "It's not that easy."

Song Huaimin stopped talking and frowned: "Why?"

"Because not everyone is so cool." Ling Su walked over and opened the door of the captain's cabin, and the lively voices outside had already faintly come in.

In their eyes, the submarine was still dilapidated, old and rusty, but in the eyes of the guests who came to the "banquet", it was a paradise for carnival.

"Old Song, this is the Realm of Dying Dreams, where time has almost stopped."

Ling Su's expression became serious, and he looked at Song Huaimin: "How can you be sure, how long have they stayed here, and do they still remember what is reality?"