Chapter 177 The Last Beautiful Dream

"The last beautiful dream?" Hao Ren looked at Nolan in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Nolan crossed her arms, her head lowered so that her expression was unclear. Only her thin lips were slightly pursed. "Actually… I can occasionally hear voices from the 'awakened world,' although they are very, very faint. But I know that outside this false planet, there exists a real world…"

Hao Ren was stunned. "You didn't tell me this before."

"I didn't know how reliable you were before," Nolan bit her lip. "You can only retain your memories; that doesn't say anything about your character and will. And I can only hear some 'voices' occasionally. I'm not even sure if they really come from the 'awakened world,' except for this recent time, which was very clear."

After Nolan explained a few more sentences, Hao Ren roughly understood her situation. In short, this girl's specialness was not limited to her ability to retain her memories in the cycle; she could also sense the operation of the "simulation program" behind this world.

No wonder she was so sure that the world was a terrible stage, and frequently used "director" and "script" to describe everything she experienced. This was not only because hundreds of cycles had given her this feeling, but also because she really realized the existence of the "creator."

It was just that her perception of the "awakened world" was extremely weak, not much more reliable than ordinary auditory or visual hallucinations. She could occasionally hear or see some scenes that would happen in the future, or sense a consciousness beyond human beings whispering in her ear. She was like a child who accidentally lifted the curtain while running around on the stage, and in a fleeting glimpse, saw the lighting engineer and prop shelf behind the curtain. Those short and impressive pieces of information made her realize the unreality of this world.

These occasional pieces of information were very few, and were mostly accompanied by serious interference and trance. If ordinary people encountered them once or twice, they would probably directly regard them as hallucinations, but Nolan had encountered them many times, hearing or seeing a few seconds of "strange sights" in almost every cycle. Accumulating like this, she became convinced of the existence of the "awakened world," or rather, the "real world."

Nolan was a little vague when describing those voices and images, as if she didn't know how to summarize what she saw. Hao Ren had to guide her from the side. "What does it feel like to hear or see those things? Did you see scenes from the real world? Or is it just a kind of… intuition in your subconscious, that makes you feel like you saw something?"

"Probably the latter," Nolan nodded. "Those things are always very abstract, and there are no clear pictures or sounds when I recall them afterward. Sometimes I feel like I see things like 'fate,' although not specific images, but I directly understand the future direction of this world. Sometimes…"

Nolan frowned, trying hard to think for a while before knowing how to describe that feeling. "It's like changing perspectives. I feel a consciousness beyond human beings, very vast, very complex, looking down at all the information in the world like a god. I guess that perspective is the control 'program' of this world."

As she spoke, she suddenly looked up at Hao Ren suspiciously. "The questions you ask are very specific. Do you know something too?"

Hao Ren waved his hand. "That's not important. I'm very interested in that 'beyond human' perspective you mentioned. Can you still sense it now?"

Nolan shook her head gently. "I can't sense it anymore. I can't control it."

Hao Ren looked into Nolan's eyes. "Then what exactly is the 'last beautiful dream' you mentioned earlier?"

"That was when this new stage had just started…"

According to Nolan, she heard the voice of the "creator" when this world had just completed its reset. Although she could not understand what the voice was saying with her human comprehension ability, a feeling similar to the injection of thought let her understand some things. That was a thought that flashed through the creator's mind when starting this stage: this might be the last reset of this world.

"I don't know what happened in the real world, but it seems the cycle is about to end," Nolan's eyes were a little erratic. She had originally been accustomed to the continuous cycle, but the sudden events in front of her broke her habit, and these things beyond experience made her also feel uneasy. “…The fragments of thought that flooded my mind can be summarized in just six words: This is the end.”

Hao Ren muttered to himself almost subconsciously, "What will happen after the cycle ends?"

"I don't know. Maybe this world will be peaceful from then on, and the current 'script' will be the final stage. If that's the case, that would be great," a smile seemed to appear on the corner of Nolan's mouth, but the smile was quickly replaced by coldness. "Unfortunately, such an idea is probably very unrealistic. Maybe this world will end together."

Although she didn't want to admit it, Nolan's second guess was obviously more likely.

At this moment, Nolan suddenly looked up at Hao Ren. "I've answered all your questions. Can you talk about your affairs now?"

Hao Ren was about to open his mouth to answer, but he heard the voice of the data terminal in the spiritual connection. "Partner! Can you hear me? We're here!"

Hao Ren was overjoyed, thinking that things had finally gone smoothly for once. "Oh, oh, I can hear you, very clearly. It seems the signal is good this time. How is the situation on your side?"

Before the terminal could answer, Lily's voice suddenly interrupted. "Don't talk about our situation yet! It's extremely urgent on your side!"

"What?"

The data terminal took over the communication again. "This machine will transmit the scene outside to you."

Almost at the same time as the terminal's voice fell, a set of images from a third-party perspective appeared in Hao Ren's mind. He saw a glorious and brilliant golden-red light covering his entire field of vision with an overwhelming momentum. Large groups of flames were spreading on the ground, and the sky was burning with raging fire. One-third of the horizon had been ignited by a dazzling arc. Hao Ren was taken aback by this spectacular scene. "Holy crap, what is this?!"

"Zhuom! This planet is falling into the sun in the real world! Global fires have been burning for who knows how long, and the crustal structure is slowly disintegrating - it's extremely urgent!"

Hao Ren was stunned for a full five seconds this time, and finally squeezed out a few words from his mouth. "...This is not something a ship can handle…"

Nolan heard his mutter and looked over curiously. "What did you say?"

"This world is indeed about to end, but it is collapsing from the real world," Hao Ren grabbed Nolan's wrist. "Don't you want to know what I do? Well, whether you believe it or not - I'm from the real world, the 'awakened' place you mentioned."

Nolan stared. "It's not funny to suddenly crack this joke."

Hao Ren slapped his forehead. He knew that the other party would have this reaction because he simply couldn't prove his real-world identity in this virtual space where everything was possible. He couldn't even prove that he could contact the real universe outside - all his arguments and even solid evidence could be regarded as simulated by this world. That's why he didn't explain the situation to Nolan at the beginning because he simply didn't know how to say it!

When all your actions and evidence are no more credible than an empty word, many things are not worth explaining.

Hao Ren waved his hand to Nolan to calm down, and at the same time called the data terminal in his mind. "How much time do we have left?"

"About forty-eight hours. It is not clear now where the main body of the virtual world 'server' is. Let's assume that it is deep in the crust, but now Zhuom's shell has also been torn apart by the sun's gravity. No matter how strong its underground equipment is, it can't last for more than forty-eight hours."

"Holy crap!" Hao Ren almost jumped up. "It's too late to do anything!"

His shout was not only in the spiritual connection, but also blurted out. Nolan couldn't help but look at him suspiciously. "What exactly are you…"

"I can't help it, the situation is urgent, I have to excuse myself," Hao Ren said quickly, while taking out a small communicator from his portable space and stuffing it to Nolan. "This is for you, it's a communicator, press this button to contact me directly. It doesn't matter if you don't believe that I'm from the real world, but if you hear the voice of the 'creator' again, or see any movement of the background program of this world, contact me immediately, understand? Report any other anomalies that occur in this world!"

After saying this, Hao Ren directly issued an instruction to the hibernation pod to wake him up. His figure disappeared into thin air, leaving Nolan, who was still a little unresponsive, staring blankly at this scene.

After standing still for a long time, Nolan muttered thoughtfully, "Did this person really… go to the real world?"