"According to the information they provided, someone had already escaped before we arrived."
At the sewer entrance, looking at the items that had been cleared out, a man smoking a cigarette spoke to the person next to him.
"And that person was prepared in advance, nipping the source of the dream's out-of-control state in the bud."
"Try to find him. If he doesn't intend to communicate much, don't be too aggressive," said the person next to the smoking man.
There are many types of dream out-of-control states, but this one is relatively stable, yet highly dangerous.
Some dream out-of-control states cause powerful explosions with a lot of noise, but these types of dreams are basically one-off events. Apart from causing some environmental damage, they leave very little residue if handled properly.
Not long ago, an explosion caused by a dream out-of-control state occurred on Ster Street. According to the report, the residue at the scene was unexpectedly small, and the police station could clean it up normally without the intervention of the Dream Management Bureau.
As for the box containing the dream, the Dream Management Bureau had inspected it; it was a high-specification storage box. If it weren't for that box, the out-of-control dream would have caused an even greater disaster.
It's possible the entire neighborhood could be corrupted by these alternate dreams, turning into an "otherworld." Uncontrolled alternate dreams can corrupt objects and living things, and in severe cases, even affect the environment itself.
The records of the Alternate Dream Management Bureau in Rota City contain several instances of otherworldly realms created by uncontrolled alternate dreams.
These cases are rare, but even one occurrence means long-term trouble, and these realms are difficult to eradicate, so the primary method of handling them is containment.
According to Matt and others, the alternate dreams generated from corpses in the sewers aren't particularly special; at least that "world" is still inhabited by humans, without demons or other non-human beings.
It's just that the bio-virus is quite troublesome.
When a bio-virus is involved, nearby sewers must be sealed off, and then a large-scale cleanup is conducted using special methods. However, Gunner Eller was lucky enough to bring back a vaccine.
Therefore, the potential crisis brought by this alternate dream is significantly reduced.
Their world seems backward compared to the world in the alternate dream, but some technologies are not lagging behind, just not fully developed.
Those technologies are all related to alternate dreams; small-scale use is fine, but large-scale use… the infrastructure can't keep up.
Dreams are mostly inhabited by people, occasionally animals, and even corpses can become dreams, and the probability isn't low!
However, these situations often occur with people who are near death. A near-death experience might lead to a dream due to obsessions or certain beliefs.
But dreams can't completely save their lives. If the dream appears earlier, the near-death person might survive; if it appears later, the near-death person might die by the time the dream appears. But the dream doesn't disappear; it continues.
The corpse Thorn in the sewers is a case in point.
Matt and his friends met Thorn in a dream, and the Dream Management Bureau discovered Thorn's information while cleaning the sewers.
The Thorn in the photos wasn't strong; on the contrary, he appeared somewhat sickly. His family was dysfunctional; he had a child who died in an accident.
Thorn developed psychological problems as a result, began drinking heavily, and his wife divorced him due to her resentment towards his depravity and the child's death. The fact
that the corpse Thorn in the sewers appeared strong is undoubtedly an effect of the dream.
In the alternate dream, Thorn is very strong, and his corpse also becomes stronger after being affected.
However, this does not mean that the person who generates the alternate dream will gain great power as a result. On the contrary, it is a feedback from the alternate dream encroaching on reality. When the alternate dream is stable, everything is fine.
However, once a problem arises in the creation of a dream, or the person involved is about to wake up, the stability of the dream rapidly decreases, and its erosion of reality intensifies, making it extremely easy to spiral out of control.
Matt and his companions experienced the harm caused by dream erosion; when they left the dream, the things they carried turned into black mist—that was the erosion itself.
Dreams that erode reality are unstable, and those who touch them suffer severe corrosive damage; the more greedy one is , the more severe the erosion
. Some dreams, however, stabilize during their invasion of reality, becoming intact or damaged objects.
To avoid dream erosion, the best way is to leave the same way you entered, without carrying anything related to the dream except knowledge, unless that thing has become part of oneself.
However, even making something part of oneself still carries risks when leaving the dream.
Thorne has a local identity within the dream because he is the source of the dream; those who create dreams obtain conditions favorable to themselves within the dream, allowing them to integrate normally into it.
However, these effects are limited. For example, an ordinary person who generates a different dream won't immediately become a superhuman capable of flying and diving.
At most, they'll grow stronger in the dream, like a newly created protagonist, even becoming someone they don't recognize as their original self, but rather their ideal self.
Since Thorn died in reality, he's essentially reborn in the dream, so it's normal for him to act more like a local.
Those who are drawn into the dream through the source of the dream will also be affected by the source, but these hitchhikers don't receive the same favorable treatment as the source.
Thorn behaves like a protagonist in the Great Bear City of the dream; even after being infected by the virus, he doesn't turn into a zombie but instead gains strength. If Matt and others emulate Thorn, the Dream Disposal Bureau will have to deal with several more zombies.
The Thorn in the dream is clearly his ideal self; his behavior in the dream is vastly different from the Thorn in reality.
However, Thorn doesn't seem to have lasted long in the dream. While the real-life Thorn remains unaffected, the Thorn in the dream encounters trouble after leaving the Great Bear City.
After the problem arose, the source of the alternate dream, Thorn, began to collapse and go out of control. Everyone who didn't belong to the alternate dream was ejected, and the alternate dream Thorn generated also began to go out of control, albeit on a smaller scale.
After Thorn's alternate dream went out of control, the bio-virus within it appeared on him, and his corpse turned into a monster corrupted by the alternate dream. If no one discovered the zombie Thorn and allowed that thing to roam the sewers for a few days...
then either Rota City would be devoid of rats, or a bio-crisis would erupt there.
A small-scale, out-of-control alternate dream doesn't mean it's less of a threat; once a virus spreads, it's difficult to deal with in every sense of the word.
And the person who returned early to prepare... the Alternate Dream Management Bureau also has similar personnel.
Anyone wanting to enter an alternate dream has to hitch a ride near the source of the alternate dream, which means they're bound to the source.
Those who hitch a ride can move freely outside the source of the alternate dream, but after a certain distance, those caught up in the alternate dream will eventually leave, within a period of one week to a month.
Besides these, there are some special individuals who can enter otherworldly dreams without hitchhiking. They can also leave a dream if they concentrate their minds in a undisturbed and unobtrusive place.
However, once they leave, it's very difficult for them to re-enter the same dream.
Some of these individuals possess this characteristic innately, while others acquire it through extensive exposure to otherworldly dreams; the difference between the two types is minimal.
(End of Chapter)