Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 351 Experimental Dreams

Half an hour ago, late at night, in the western section of the shelter.

"Are there any precautions?"

Zhuang Xiao asked the man sitting opposite her, and unsurprisingly, Merlin ignored his superior's warning and pushed his plan to the next step.

Therefore, this is a dangerous experiment.

Failure to report means the lack of strict protective measures. They would have to bear all the responsibility for any accidents that occurred during the project. Moreover, the experiments had to be conducted in absolute secrecy, with no leaks allowed.

Even so, Zhuang Xiao still agreed to Merlin's suggestion and volunteered to become the "guinea pig" for this extremely risky experiment.

Because the man in front of her seemed to see through her heart, and was one of the few people who could understand her. The work of clearing the land had an irreparable impact on her will. Whenever the night was quiet, she would think of the guild and the canopy. If measured by the dimension of time, the identity of "Zhuang Xiao" only occupied less than one-thousandth of her life.

She found it increasingly difficult to return to real life, especially after recalling that their world had been destroyed.

The refugees hiding in the shelters could only lick each other's wounds in this sunless world.

Zhuang Xiao asked them why they didn't return to the surface and rebuild their home, but what he learned was more secrets—the world crisis that destroyed them was not over yet, and any strange noises from the surface would attract their attention.

But in reality, apart from a few high-ranking members of the shelter, no one knew what the crisis they were talking about was. They had lived in the shelter for generations, and most of the elderly who had witnessed the destruction of the world had passed away. The shelter's administrator became the last guardian of this secret, but her rank was not high enough to access the whole truth.

Merlin, who was half a rank higher than her, was also out of the question.

Their pioneering journey made them heroes in the eyes of the shelter's inhabitants, but that was all.

In the past few days, Zhuang Xiao has realized that the situation in the shelter is far more complicated than she had imagined.

When she raised many questions to the higher-ups, she only received the response, "Colonel Zhuang Xiao, you have done a good job, but you just need to rest and recuperate. You don't need to worry about anything else."

This statement is full of threatening implications.

This left her feeling disoriented, as if she had fallen from a dream into an even bigger nightmare.

"This is an experimental dream."

Merlin said, “I don’t want to hide the risks, but in reality we have no idea what you’ll encounter there, it depends on how well our preliminary work is done… On the bright side, you can briefly return to ‘reality’.”

The "reality" he was referring to was, of course, the beautiful utopia that existed in the minds of the shelter residents before the world was destroyed.

"I can't provide you with any logistical support, nor can I say what the consequences would be if you died in the dream."

As he spoke, Merlin took out a syringe. “What I can tell you is that after you finish the injection, you will fall into a deep sleep… just like last time. When you wake up, you will find yourself on the other side.”

"In Zhuang Xiao's name?"

Zhuang Xiao stared intently at Merlin, trying to discern something from his eyes, but Merlin always managed to conceal his thoughts perfectly. This was his talent, and also the foundation upon which he had risen to his current position.

“That’s right, using Zhuang Xiao’s name.”

"So, what is the objective of this mission?"

"No goal."

"No goal?"

"This dream won't last long; it's just to confirm the progress of our preliminary work."

Merlin reminded her, "Colonel Zhuang Xiao, this is not your obligation; you can withdraw at any time."

Zhuang Xiao simply rolled up her sleeves and extended her arm towards the other person, "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"If our preliminary work went relatively smoothly..."

Merlin hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Don't get too caught up in it."

These were the last words Zhuang Xiao heard. Immediately afterward, she felt a brief stinging pain in her forearm, and her vision flickered. The incandescent lights in the office turned into a kaleidoscope in her eyes. The dizziness lasted for about five minutes, accompanied by a strong feeling of nausea and tinnitus.

This momentarily distracted her from pondering the deeper meaning of Merlin's words, and when her vision cleared again, she found herself sitting in her office.

Through the blurry glass window of the general manager's office, one can see office workers bustling about in the work area. They are all dressed in smart suits, typical of urban white-collar workers. The oppressive atmosphere of the shelter is gone; everything is thriving.

She was wearing a fitted office lady suit and black high heels.

Zhuang Xiao sat in the office, stunned for a long time.

This is the scene she envisioned when she ended her "Scarlet" identity.

She remembered there was a beverage shop downstairs from her office, with a cute white snowman as its sign. Her favorite drinks there were bubble tea and bayberry pops.

Now, she can leave her office at any time and take the elevator to the first floor.

And Zhuang Xiao did just that. The moment she stepped out of the company gate, the warm morning sun shone on her. This was fundamentally different from the empty office buildings she had seen in the abnormal dimension. She could easily walk onto the street, where pedestrians came and went, and the shops across the street were full of goods.

Besides the milk tea shop, there's also a roast meat restaurant, and next door is a Hainanese chicken rice restaurant; these are the restaurants she frequents most often.

This is reality!

The thought surged into her mind, and in an instant, Zhuang Xiao fully understood Merlin's reminder.

She desperately wished this was real, and that Crimson and the destroyed world had been a long nightmare, but now, the nightmare was finally over.

Zhuang Xiao looked up at the magnificent company building.

"Pioneer Technology".

She silently read the prominent words on the building, and then, remembering her duty, she instinctively took out her phone and quickly found the name on it, even though the name felt completely out of place.

"Beep, beep, beep—"

Zhuang Xiao's heartbeat kept pace with the ringing of the phone. She was so nervous that she held her breath until, about half a minute later, a familiar voice finally came from the other end of the line.

"Hello, Mr. Ethan, I am Zhuang Xiao, the HR Manager of Pioneer Technology. Our company is very interested in your resume. If you have time today..."

"Tomorrow."

The person on the other end of the phone politely declined, saying, "I have to take my cat out today."

Zhuang Xiao wasn't discouraged. On the contrary, the reply from the other end of the phone relieved her. She didn't want to start working so soon; before that, she wanted to go to the beverage shop across the street, order a milk tea, and then go to the roast meat restaurant to savor that familiar taste. "Is 3 PM tomorrow okay?"

"can."

……

This is a lie that both sides tacitly agree on.

Because "tomorrow" will never come, what is presented to them is only a brief but real dream, and the same is true for Ethan.

He had many higher priorities to attend to than interviewing at pioneering companies.

For example, his cat pressed down on his arm while sleeping.

In fact, Ethan has never been a single, cat-loving young man living alone. His past interactions with cats were limited to feeding some dried fish to the stray cats in the neighborhood.

Of course, those stray cats were clearly not as pretty as the two he had at home.

Well, he had to admit that one of the cats here was different from the cats people traditionally knew. For example, she had long, silver-white hair that reached her waist, with the ends of her hair smelling of cherry blossoms. She had fair skin and a curvy figure. Although she was pressing down on his arm, her weight was still within his tolerance.

There is no doubt that this is a dream.

Winter appeared in his apartment, and on the other side of the pillow was a little black cat curled up into a black ball, making purring sounds.

White's hearing was more acute. She was awakened by the phone ringing and was now tilting her head, examining the strange object in Ethan's hand with her big, red eyes. It looked like a telephone, but it seemed to be much more advanced than the telephones in the Empire. And this room, which was not as big as their manor, was filled with novel objects that she had never seen before.

The mattress and blankets were softer, and there was a white box above my head that could blow out cool air.

Where did she end up sleeping during that nap?
Despite her many doubts, Winter didn't take any drastic action. She nestled in Ethan's arms—as long as the person beside her remained the same, there was nothing to be nervous about. Ethan always managed to come up with something new out of nowhere, and these new things were especially comfortable.

Despite the sweltering heat, a cold wind blew, causing the winter chill to unconsciously squint.

But Ethan has always been a man who is always prepared for the worst, and just now, he discovered a serious problem.

The first piece of information we know is that Winter always likes to go to bed completely naked. Before that, she will organize and hang her complicated noble clothes and jewelry on a hanger. Those noble clothes are very troublesome to wear, and she has to spend half an hour every day facing the mirror to take care of them. If he assists her, the speed will be much faster.

Now that the manor has become his former apartment, it has brought up a serious problem that they have to face.

All of Winter's clothes were wiped out by this unexpected bug.

Ethan wasn't a fan of cross-dressing, so he was pretty sure he didn't have any winter clothes at home. Plus, it looked like it was the height of summer outside. He could still wear his short-sleeved shirt over his outer clothes, but what about his inner clothes?
Ethan is confronted with Winter's well-developed physique, which has become the most pressing issue at the moment.

Even though this is a dream world, he absolutely cannot let Winter go out like this.

One of the main quests is to take Winter to buy clothes.

Ethan felt that this task was far more urgent than the interview at Pioneer Technology.

After some brainstorming, he managed to put together a loose-fitting gray short-sleeved shirt and shorts for Winter, along with a roll of bandages—which he found in the first-aid kit.

Looking at the roll of white bandage, the cat tilted its head in confusion once again.

"Is such that."

Ethan prepared his words, "I've seen it before. If you can't find suitable clothes right away, you can wrap this around your clothes a few times as a substitute. Let's go out and buy some clothes now."

!!!

Three exclamation marks appeared visibly above the cat's head. Its big, red eyes were no longer confused, but instead flashed with a fierce light. "Wait a minute, explain yourself first. Who's being so persistent?"

Her gaze flickered to the soundly sleeping black cat. "Is it her?"

"No, no, no, it was the helper in my daily life who said it!"

To prevent the cats from fighting again, Ethan quickly explained, and he had to take out his tablet and randomly search for a few related videos to convince Winter. Unfortunately, this could not completely eliminate Winter's unease, because the damned "intelligent recommendation" thing existed even in the dream world.

After several searches, Ethan and Winter were presented with a series of "cool" video covers. Winter, who had an exceptionally strong learning ability, randomly clicked on a few. Accompanied by loud music, the videos showed sexy bloggers dancing wildly.

What's worse, according to the current mainstream aesthetic style in the capital, their outfits are actually no different from wearing underwear directly.

AI recommendations have ruined me!

Ethan cried out in his heart.

"You like watching these."

Winter was shocked for a long time. Ethan could feel that she was trying her best to suppress the turbulent emotions in her heart, but the temperature in the room gradually dropped to freezing point, which said it all.

An angry winter is undoubtedly terrifying. She won't just punch you in the chest with her little fists; instead, she'll freeze everything within a few hundred meters into an ice cellar. In this peaceful era, her domain-level magic is practically a humanoid super weapon.

This is the deterrent power of the former number one wanted criminal in the empire.

The sudden drop in temperature woke the black cat on the pillow. Its heterochromatic red and blue eyes narrowed slightly as it looked around at the strange surroundings with a puzzled expression.

Ethan felt as if he had seen a savior. Right now, Shadow had become one of the few things that could restrain Winter.

"Xiao An, come here for a second!"

"You really should come over here."

Ethan and Winter spoke in unison. He never expected that the sullen Winter would be so quick to act. Before he could even speak, she placed the tablet in front of the puzzled black cat and clicked on the video that looked like the one with the least clothing on the cover.

The black cat, which was still a little sleepy, immediately widened its eyes and instinctively bared its teeth at the girl swaying her waist in the video.

Winter pointed the finger directly at Ethan, "He watches these things when we're not looking!"

The black cat raised its head, its extremely aggressive gaze seeming as if it wanted to devour him whole.

"Don't panic, let me explain."

Ethan extended his right hand in an explanation gesture, inwardly thankful that Winter and Shadow weren't very familiar with electronic devices. These smart recommendations were easy to explain, but what if they clicked on his favorites...?

Where is the bookmarks section?

At this moment, the black cat sided with Winter, and she said coldly, "There's something called 'Favorites' in here, find it quickly!"

(End of this chapter)