"A dream?" Shu frowned slightly. Honestly, this conclusion wasn't surprising.
But it was a rather tricky conclusion for him.
The source of [Hope] was the trust, expectation, worship, and other positive emotions others had for Shu.
Conversely, negative emotions like panic, fear, and even... malice and killing intent could also fuel it.
This was a dreamscape, and a well-known aspect of dreams is "what you think about during the day, you dream about at night."
The content of a dream directly affects the dreamer's emotions. If he caused too much chaos in the dream, and the thousands of dreaming children perceived it as a "nightmare"...
Shu glanced at the profession title above his head and his heart sank a little.
He remembered... the bad deeds of the [Demon Lord] involved entering children's dreams and turning them into a muddled mess, right?
Looking at it this way, he was actually surprisingly suited for the role?
"Then how do we escape this dreamscape?" Shu sighed. He felt a strong sense of being targeted by this Herrscher.
This time, it was truly aimed at him.
Joyce shook her head. "Currently, we only have conjectures. We cannot guarantee the effectiveness of these methods."
They already have well-developed ideas?
"Let's hear them."
"The natural way to leave a dream is to [Wake Up]," Joyce said, waving her hand to pull up two data light screens for Shu to view.
Shu glanced at them. The demonstration diagrams on the light screens were drawn with somewhat... abstract little figures. This flat, distorted, colorful style reminded Shu of someone.
"Is this... Picasso?" Shu had initially wanted to say it imitated Picasso's style, but then a thought struck him.
Instead of the artist deliberately emulating Picasso's style, it seemed more reasonable if Picasso himself had drawn these demonstration diagrams...
After all, this was Joyce... Even if she was a bit different, gathering a "constellation of human geniuses" around her wasn't really that difficult.
If Tesla and Einstein could be best friends, what else was impossible?
Cézanne, Picasso, Van Gogh... these three getting into a hair-pulling fight over artistic style wouldn't be...
"Aih... I should have given these diagrams to Cézanne to draw... Van Gogh would have been fine too..." Joyce sighed, noticing Shu's strange gaze.
She knew it. This style wasn't suited for Picasso. Demonstration diagrams like these were best kept as concise as possible...
Shu's eyes widened.
Ah no... Are you serious?!
Shu's breathing hitched for a moment, then quickly calmed down. He turned his attention to carefully examining the plan.
No matter how abstract Picasso's style was, it was still the work of a master. Once you got used to it, the intended meaning was easily understood.
There were essentially two ways to [Wake Up] from a dream. The first was to be [Startled Awake]—cause extreme damage to the dreamscape, pushing its tolerance beyond its limits with drastic changes, thereby shattering the dream.
However, this method had a low probability of success and was time-consuming.
After all, this was a dream; its greatest characteristic was its boundless, imaginative nature. Never mind nuclear or hydrogen bombs; even Ultraman fighting Transformers would be child's play here.
The second method was to wake up naturally. This could be further divided into being awakened by an external stimulus or waking up on one's own.
If someone outside could set up a super-large alarm clock to wake everyone up, the goal could be achieved.
Shu silently tried to sense such a possibility, then shook his head.
It couldn't be done... Not that setting an alarm outside was impossible, but the alarm wouldn't wake everyone.
Waking up naturally... meant waiting. Waiting until the dreaming children outside couldn't sleep any longer. After a few decades, perhaps a day would have passed for them...
Didn't normal people experience "days" worth of dreams in a single night?
Looking at it this way, the only viable method to escape the dream was the first one, which made Shu's teeth ache a little.
"Do you have a plan?" Shu put down the document, rubbed his temples, and sighed. "I mean for the first plan..."
"Yes," Joyce nodded, pulling up a second plan. This time, the art style was significantly clearer, without distortion or exaggerated color contrasts. Instead, it was very realistic, yet with an artistic flair.
Cézanne, at a glance.
However, just before Shu could look at the contents of the plan, Joyce interrupted his thoughts.
"Before that, there's a very crucial piece of intelligence that needs to be shared," Joyce said, pointing to the profession text above Shu's head. "In fact, this is the most important piece of information I want to share."
"Bar none."
Shu's expression immediately turned serious. He looked at Joyce,示意 (signaling) her to elaborate.
"In this dreamscape, aside from that King, all operational logic here is based on a set of rules we cannot see. These rules can even affect the most fundamental microscopic laws of physics."
"We've named these rules that constitute the world—[Setting]."
Shu paused. He felt Joyce's before-and-after demeanor was as different as the art styles of the two plans.
Joyce continued, "And more than just forming the basic laws of the world, the aspects affected by the [Setting] are unexpected. For example..."
"Here, two iron balls will not land at the same time."
Shu's eyes widened instantly. He certainly hadn't expected that.
"And these are some of the more acceptable laws... Some [Settings], we've racked our brains and still don't understand the meaning of their existence..."
As she spoke, Joyce picked up two slices of bread from the table, spread jam on one side of each, and then tied the two slices together.
Then, under Shu's dawning gaze, Joyce tossed the bread onto the floor.
As Shu's "as expected" look confirmed, the two slices of bread spun rapidly in the air, gradually emitting streaks of white light and static electricity.
Finally, with a "snap," the string Joyce had casually used to tie the bread broke, and both separated slices landed jam-side down.
"It seems the world's second perpetual motion machine has been declared a failure," Joyce shrugged indifferently, then looked at the silent Shu. "Why do you think that is?"
Shu was silent for a long time before saying faintly, "Have you tried tying jam-buttered bread to a cat's back?"
"Hmm?" Joyce blinked, confused. "A cat? Do cats also have this property?"
"No matter how high it falls from, no matter the position, a cat will always flip over and land steadily on its feet... You've heard that saying, right?" Shu raised an eyebrow, a guess forming in his mind.
Joyce: "Huh?!"