Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 423 Face
"Oh?" Shi Fei tapped his fingers lightly on the sofa armrest: "How did Cat God do that?"

The whale's lens reflected the light from the living room lamp: "The Cat God came into reality with me, and then used dreams to trap them in dreams."

"Even such a powerful being can be trapped in a dream?" Shi Fei asked.

Will the powerful being capable of shattering the moon be trapped by the Cat God?
“The Cat God can do it!” the whale said, its eyes shining. “The Cat God pulled them into a dream, where they were caught in an endless struggle.”

"Only when they reach a consensus can they escape the dream. As long as even one of them refuses to compromise, the dream will continue to drain their power."

"In other words, it wasn't the cat god who trapped them, but rather they themselves who trapped themselves in the dream," the whale said. "They used their own minds as a prison."

"Then how did you end up here?" Shi Fei asked. "You must be living a very carefree life in the real world, right?"

After years of repression, anyone can finally relax and be carefree.

"It's alright!" the whale said. "There aren't that many reckless and willful strongmen in the world. Gradually, society has gotten back on track. So I stayed in the dream and became the high priest of the cat god, the whale."

"Why?" Shi Fei asked, "Why stay in the dream?"

“Because there is hope in dreams.” The whale said earnestly, “The City of Dreams needs better guidance so that everyone, no matter how they enter the dream, can find hope within it.”

"Even if it's just false hope? A false comfort?" Shi Fei's tone was tinged with sarcasm.

The whale retorted, "How can it be hypocritical? The Cat God clearly gave me hope, allowing me to change the whole world and make the world I live in a better place."

“But the development of the world always follows objective laws, and it always progresses in a spiral.” Shi Fei interrupted him, pointing to the neon-lit city outside the window: “You are in the City of Dreams, you know his past, you should understand this principle.”

The whale's shoulders slumped.

He spent countless years in the City of Dreams, witnessing its transformation from a small town into a metropolis. From cobblestone streets to asphalt roads, from kerosene lamps to neon lights.

Although he wanted the city to be better, there are many angles to what constitutes "better." People see the world and problems differently depending on their perspective.

There is never a place that can satisfy everyone.

“We must face problems, not run away from them. Problems won’t disappear just because we run away,” Shi Fei said. “It’s like working overtime in Dream City. Because the economic cycle in Dream City is flawed.”

"Most businesses in Dream City do not make high profits, and even if they do, business owners are reluctant to share them with their employees."

"There are problems internally, and there are problems externally. Wherever there are people, there is society, even in dreams. And even in dreams, basic rules must be followed?"

The whale remained silent for a moment, then said, "Then you shouldn't end the dream, should you?"

“Dreams are illusory; they are a respite and a resting place in people’s work and life, not the end of everything.” Shi Fei shook his head and said, “People don’t live to dream.”

"But people can't live without dreams!" the whale said.

What's the difference between a person without dreams and a salted fish?

Shi Fei looked at him and said, "You've been waiting for a long time, so you know that Lao Liu and I are having drinks. He's still working hard every day to make a living, while you don't need to do that anymore."

"Everything you do is to realize your self-worth. So, even though you and Lao Liu live in the same city, you think completely differently." "Everything Lao Liu does is just to survive. But everything you do is to live for your dreams and self-worth."

Old Liu clearly had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, but when he learned that everything had to be reset, he adopted an indifferent attitude.

The whale has no responsibilities, yet it values ​​this dream world the most.

Because Lao Liu was driven by life's hardships and had a self-destructive impulse, the whale wanted to pursue its dream, was attracted by illusion, and believed that illusion was reality.

The whale didn't speak; he didn't know what to say.

If Shi Fei uses his powerful strength to oppress him, he can still resist. He can join forces with the priests of the Dream City to try to banish Shi Fei to the "Endless Dream" again.

But Shi Fei used the truth to strike him down.

Lies don't hurt people; the truth is what hurts the most.

His life's pursuit, at some point, became striving to make this illusory city develop better. This city didn't actually belong to him, nor to the Church of the Supreme God, but to all the people of the city.

“I still hope you will reconsider.” After a long silence, the whale said, “Some people are tormented by life, defeated by life. They need the City of Dreams.”

“If you’re knocked down by life, you need to identify the problems in life,” Shi Fei said, shaking his head. “Then you need to find ways to solve the problems, instead of letting life knock you down and preventing you from getting back up.”

He was an ordinary person in this dream city, and perhaps after the dream city disappeared, he would return to nothingness. But he had no regrets.

Dreams may be wonderful, but facing reality requires courage, let alone overcoming it.

“Then…I’ll be rude!” the whale suddenly said. His white hair moved without wind, and his glasses cracked with a spiderweb-like pattern.

Suddenly, black mist appeared around him, and countless tiny runes emerged from the mist, each uttering a dreamlike murmur.

A strange power gathered around him. In a corner of the dream, a dozen cat god priests sat together, and Nan Nan chanted prayers.

"Life is like a dream, why cling to illusions? Raise your glass, let us meet you in our intoxication. Wine is your gift, a bridge to dreams."

"Praise be to you, God of dreams, may your dreams last forever, and may our intoxication endure. In this illusory world, we are with you until the time comes when we awaken."

Among those people was Liu Zhenyi, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner whom Shi Fei had met before. In nature, many fish have spines on their backs, the most common of which is the yellow catfish.

The black mist began to distort the entire space, and then a voice came from within the black mist: "In the midst of a drunken dream, there will be no disaster for eternity!"

All they sought was a world free from disaster and calamity!
No one can destroy this void world!
The black mist shone towards Shi Fei, but he neither dodged nor avoided it, letting the black mist envelop him.

"That's it?" Shi Fei said from within the black mist.

"Whoosh..." Shi Fei gently blew a breath, as if stirring up a strong wind in the black fog. After the wind, the black fog was completely cleared away.

The whale in front of Shi Fei, however, was a different person.

(End of this chapter)