Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 732 - 685 Collective Dream

As the evening bell rang, the busy citizens entered their dreams.

Even though some still needed to work diligently through the night, holding fast to their posts, most people in the city had already gone to bed and entered sweet dreams.

Even the nobles, who used to indulge in pleasures all night long, now went to bed early, putting aside their vibrant night lives.

For a moment, the entire city seemed much quieter.

The night appeared more silent and tranquil.

Perfikot was already lying on her bed, resting her head on a soft velvet pillow, and had fallen into a deep sleep.

But soon, she regained consciousness within her dream.

"Miss, is this the dream world? It seems hardly any different from the real world," the loyal old butler appeared by her side, looking around with a curious expression.

Because Perfikot was attacked in her previous dream, the old butler had been seeking ways to enter the dream world to protect her.

With the construction of the Dream Bell, the chimes gradually synchronized the minds of Beloburg's residents, and the collective dream had formed and stabilized during this period.

Therefore, Perfikot intended to enter the collective dream to take a look and confirm its situation, ensuring it provided the protection she had envisioned for everyone.

The old butler, naturally concerned about Perfikot, accompanied her into the collective dream.

"Dreams themselves are generated based on the dreamer's cognition. If it's just one person, everything might appear bizarre, and anything can happen," Perfikot patiently explained to the puzzled old butler. "But the foundation of the collective dream is everyone's cognition of the world. If two people's cognition clashes, it can cause severe discord in the dream, potentially leading to its collapse.

And since the perception of the real world is generally the same, when the collective dream forms, its manifestation appears as the most consistent with everyone's cognition."

Here, Perfikot mischievously drew out her Golden Touching Rod and waved it at the old butler, transforming his ordinary clothes into a set of splendid knight armor.

"Miss, this is..." the old butler looked at the armor on himself with surprise. Even though it was in the dream, it was somewhat astonishing.

"In the dream, the dream's owner can freely manipulate the dream. Although this is a collective dream, I can still control part of the dream's alterations. Ordinary people could do this too, but their spiritual power isn't strong enough, nor do they realize they're dreaming, so they can't achieve this," Perfikot explained to the old butler.

However, she did not tell him that another key reason she could do this was that when building the Dream Bell, she left herself a backdoor to directly control the entire collective dream.

This matter was known only to Perfikot herself, and she didn't plan to share it with anyone.

After all, if others found out, it would surely cause unnecessary trouble.

The Dream Bell itself was constructed to protect everyone's dreams. If supposedly protecting the dreams meant gathering everyone together only to be controlled by one person, then how could it be called protection?

Nobody would want their dreams to be controlled.

The collective dream is about connecting everyone's dreams, which is already the limit of what everyone can accept.

If someone could control the collective dream, there would surely be some people protesting, possibly even overthrowing Perfikot's rule.

Therefore, even with her loyal old butler, Perfikot still chose to remain silent.

After changing her own attire as well, she wandered through the city within the dream alongside the old butler.

Similar to reality, Beloburg was practically a one-to-one replica of the city where a large number of residents were unconsciously active, making them look like zombies.

"Although people are usually unconscious in their dreams, seeing this scene is still somewhat bizarre!" Perfikot couldn't help but comment as she looked at their unconscious behavior.

"Miss, are they alright like this?" The old butler, unfamiliar with the dream world, showed some concern as he looked at those unconscious people.

"What's the problem? It's a dream; they don't realize they're dreaming, so even if they're injured or killed, nothing will happen to them here." Perfikot waved her hand dismissively.

In dreams, if one doesn't realize they're dreaming, one can't maintain consciousness; whether injured or killed, for the dreamer it's merely a dream, causing no real harm.

But if the dreamer consciously appears in the dream without realizing they're dreaming, then upon injury or death, they genuinely believe they are dead or hurt, instinctively reflecting it physically.

In extreme cases, they could be killed within the dream.

Of course, like when Perfikot previously killed Kelin and Trivank, their spirit and consciousness were projected into Perfikot's dream, separated from their original bodies.

If a dream thief could return their consciousness and spirit to their original bodies, they wouldn't die in the dream.

But if they couldn't leave Perfikot's dream, their life and death were controlled by her.

In the collective dream, this naturally applies as well, and if someone unknowingly invades Beloburg residents' dreams through a dream thief, they will be sent into the collective dream.

Here, the collective dream has strong protective power; ordinary dream thieves can't even make a slight change, let alone impact the dream, not even changing their outfit.

In such a situation, a dream thief can't achieve anything, ensuring everyone's dreams are guarded.

Initially, Perfikot considered using her authority over the dream world to directly melt the ice and return the city to its pre-apocalyptic appearance.

Even if only in a dream, returning to life before the disaster would surely attract many.

However, considering various reasons, Perfikot decided against this option.

This could create an unwelcome reality where everyone is addicted to dreams, losing interest in returning to reality.

To prevent such a terrible situation, Perfikot ultimately chose to change nothing.