No strange things are allowed to evolve!

Just as he was trying to break free of his restraints, a feeling of exhaustion suddenly welled up from every part of his body.

Jiang Shu's first reaction was whether the Heart of the Great Wilderness was broken.

Before entering the incubator, he had read the publicly available information in detail and knew what the main difficulties were in this incubator.

But he wasn't worried at all, because he possessed the Great Wilderness Heart, which made him immune to all negative states.

So he simply can't fall asleep here.

But drowsiness arrived as expected.

This surprised him.

He was even more puzzled when he discovered that the Heart of the Wilderness was on standby.

The only explanation is that this drowsiness is not a negative state, so the Great Wilderness Heart cannot be dispelled.

When did hypnosis cease to be considered a negative state?

Before Jiang Shu could figure this out, he fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in another place.

This looks like a studio apartment.

It was old and cramped, cluttered with miscellaneous items, and filled with the smell of cooking oil. The roar and clanging of the range hood told Jiang Shu that it seemed to be mealtime.

For some reason, the furniture and layout gave Jiang Shu a very familiar feeling.

Wait... isn't this my own home?

Before I started third grade, my family lived in the old house that my father had been assigned to by his work unit.

"I am back!"

Hearing the sound, Jiang Shu turned around and saw his second-grade self, wearing a crooked red scarf, covered in mud, throwing his schoolbag on the sofa and rushing into the room as if he hadn't seen him.

"Going to play on the computer again? Dinner's ready!" My mom's youthful voice came from the kitchen.

"Just play for a little while, I've already finished my homework!" Xiao Jiangshu shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Honestly." Mom didn't say anything more, just complained, "Your dad bought this computer for work, but you're the one using it all the time."

Jiang Shu couldn't help but laugh, and many long-forgotten memories came flooding back.

Road Rash, Contra, Red Alert, and many animated DVDs...

I really miss that time...

But at the same time, he also felt very strange.

Is there really something in my own home that I'm terrified of deep down?

Just as Jiang Shu was puzzled.

"what!!"

Xiao Jiangshu's terrified screams came from the room.

Jiang Shu felt a jolt in his heart, as if something was piercing his chest, and he began to tremble for no reason.

He suddenly remembered that it seemed like there was a time when he hadn't dared to touch a computer for a long period of time. During that long period, his father seemed to have become a different person, leaving a deep shadow on him.

In Jiang Shu's memory, her father would always cause trouble for her for no reason during that period. She would be severely beaten for the slightest mistake, so she was never close to him when she was a child.

It took several years for this barrier to gradually disappear, and it wasn't until junior high school when I started taking computer classes that I slowly overcame my fear of computers.

But Jiang Shu still can't remember why.

Could it be... today?

Jiang Shu rushed to the room.

Even faster than him was his mother, who was even younger and prettier than he remembered.

She rushed out of the kitchen immediately, pushed open the half-closed door, and then froze in shock.

"What are you looking at?!"

Mom yelled at Xiao Jiang.

Xiao Jiang Shu, however, looked terrified, unable to look directly at the computer screen, and stammered, "I don't know... I thought it was a game..."

Jiang Shu looked at the computer screen, then his brows gradually furrowed.

You really can't blame your own father then.

At this moment, Jiang Shu finally reconciled with her tragic childhood.

Chapter 259 Underground Laboratory

The moment Jiang Shu saw the computer screen, he deeply understood that sentence—

It wasn't until I grew up that I realized that none of the beatings I received as a child were for nothing.

Even from his father's perspective, he felt that he hadn't been beaten enough when he was a child, and that his father hadn't adopted him out, which just showed that his father cared too much about their father-son relationship.

This also explains why my mother became so open-minded later on.

In fact, Jiang Shu had a feeling that her mother might know what kind of work she did, but she only reminded her to keep a proper distance and not to break the law, which was quite remarkable.

Jiang Shu initially thought that his mother had simply become more open-minded about many things as she got older, but now he realized that she had actually been used to it for a long time.

However, back to the present moment, Jiang Shu felt a surge of curiosity.

In this dream, there were two things that terrified him from the bottom of his heart, things that could be considered childhood traumas.

One is the father's "domestic violence," which proved to be justified, and in fact, quite gentle.

The other trigger was the video on the computer.

That was indeed very impactful.

The awe felt by the tiny ginger bundle is probably no less than that of astronomers taking the first picture of a black hole.

The shock was so profound that Jiang Shu lost this memory for a long time, or even now, as if the impact of the Dayun heavy truck had caused his soul to leave his body.

But this also allowed Jiang Shu to successfully exploit a bug.

It's true that Jiang Shu was terrified of those eerie scenes when she was a child. Coupled with the explosive music and the protagonist's screams in the scene, it was really no different from watching a horror movie.

However, as Jiang Shu grew up, she became immune to it.

He had even seen more bizarre things.

However, since he doesn't have this memory, it doesn't mean he has overcome his fear. It can only be said that he could accept something he couldn't accept when he was a child, but the shadow caused by not being able to accept it at the time still exists and is buried in Jiang Shu's subconscious.

This is like someone who is afraid of heights and doesn't even dare to ride a roller coaster, standing on a cliff thousands of feet high on a pitch-black night. Although he has objectively reached a height that he would never normally be able to stand on, he doesn't actually know that he is standing on a cliff because he can't see anything at all.

Does this mean he overcame his fear of heights?

This only shows that if a person doesn't know that what they are facing is what they fear, then they won't be afraid.

This is not self-deception, but simply because fear originates from cognition and self-suggestion. Even the most instinctive fear, such as the fear of venomous snakes and wild beasts, is merely knowing that it will bring death. But if a person doesn't even know what death and pain are, then of course there is nothing to fear.

Overcoming something is simply about discovering that what you were originally afraid of is actually not a big deal, and then letting go and accepting it.

So Jiang Shu became very interested. Since the two things he feared were nothing to him now, what would happen when he returned to reality?

Just as Jiang Shu was pondering this with great interest, he suddenly noticed an icon on the computer screen that looked extremely out of place.

It was a small rocket.

Jiang Shu is very familiar with this icon.

He needs it to manage his accounts on international social media platforms.

But in this era when QQ is still called OICQ, should Little Rocket really exist?

While her young mother was beating up Deng Dua Lang and simultaneously crying and wailing on the phone to her father who was working overtime, Jiang Shu went to the computer, moved the mouse, and opened the software.

[Gain new ability: Overpassing]

From a young age, you displayed extraordinary decryption abilities, easily cracking password-protected folders and opening Pandora's box. The hardships of your childhood undoubtedly crowned your talent...

[Description: It may offer a way out when you are in deep trouble]

New abilities?

Jiang Shu suddenly understood why the Great Wilderness Heart was not exerting its power. It turned out that to conquer this incubation site, one had to combine dreams and reality, using the abilities gained in dreams to achieve goals in reality.

Once she understood this, Jiang Shu's "nightmare" began to gradually dissipate.

In the final scene, Jiang Shu saw her younger brother, still crying and stubbornly insisting that she had accidentally clicked on the video.

Jiang Shu could only sigh.

"Whose child is this? How come they've been lying since they were little?"

......

On the other side, Melatonin and Jiang Shu were in the same small white room.

But unlike before, he was no longer tied to the bed; instead, he was standing in the center of the room.

In fact, he had received the same treatment just moments before.

However, he had already forcefully broken free from the restraints.

By this time, the bed that had bound him was in pieces, and the leather straps used to bind him had all broken. If you looked closely, you could see many bruises on his body, which were marks left by the rupture of capillaries caused by the brute force used to break the leather straps.

But melatonin doesn't seem to care about this level of pain and discomfort.

He had clearly gotten completely used to it.

And the reason he was able to do this was naturally because, like Jiang Shu, he had obtained power from dreams.

Melatonin works much faster than Jiang Shu, and although Jiang Shu himself is unaware of this, it is indeed the first time he has been at a disadvantage in terms of mechanism.

For melatonin, who suffers from insomnia and claims to be "a person who has never dreamed" and "a person who has never enjoyed sleep," there is no imagery from dreams. It simply moves from a snow-white room to another snow-white space.

Then the key item that should have been buried in the dream was left completely exposed, hanging alone in the middle of the space.

With a gentle touch of melatonin, he gained superhuman strength and quickly escaped his predicament upon returning to reality.

After checking the next goals, melatonin muttered to itself with a hint of helplessness.

"To be honest, I really didn't want to win against you like this, but I have no choice. I'm not just representing myself now, but the entire final arena..."

"If there's a chance, let's have a proper, one-on-one competition next time."

Thinking this, Melatonin swung his fist and smashed a dent into the large iron door of the room.

Then, one punch, two punches...

Although Melatonin's fists were quickly covered in blood and mangled, the iron gate finally gave way and was smashed open by Melatonin's force, sending it flying.

Peeking out, Melatonin surveyed the empty corridor on both sides before cautiously slipping out...

At the same time, Jiang Shu had just woken up in bed.

Information about the hatchery flooded his mind like a tidal wave.

[Final Mission Objective: Escape the underground laboratory]

[Current Objective: Main Quest 1: Leave the observation room and find the path to the upper level]

"A linear process?"

Jiang Shu was somewhat surprised.

Having always worked his way up in open-world environments, this was his first time visiting a linear incubator.

It seems that this underground laboratory is the only stage left for us.

Without much thought, Jiang Shu used the ability he had just acquired to try and find a way to break free from the restraints.

But just as he used his ability, the room, which was originally pure white, suddenly turned scarlet.

In Jiang Shu's eyes, countless writhing, twisted characters appeared on the walls, ceiling, floor, and even on the one-way glass.

Your father doesn't love you.

"Amazing."

Jiang Shu laughed.

So, using your abilities is accompanied by the appearance of things you fear?