In this world, there were many independent instances of awakening.
Not every Nightmare Disaster was resolved by a Special Response Squad. Many ended at their very onset or while in progress because the Subject in the dream woke up prematurely, bringing the Nightmare Disaster to an end in various ways.
Even in these short-lived Nightmare Disasters, there were still those who managed to successfully awaken.
The laws of the Bureau dictated that every Dreamwalker had to register and accept official supervision. In reality, however, many chose to keep their status a secret due to various concerns, becoming underground Dreamwalkers.
Yu Jin was not one of those cases. He was an agent of the Bureau, and for agents, an awakening had to be reported.
Such a report would not affect him negatively in any way, and having been raised in a family of Bureau agents, he had no reason to hide it.
The Bureau would never force a Dreamwalker to join a Special Response Team to throw away their life in a Nightmare Disaster. All agents who chose to join the Special Response Teams did so voluntarily, and the Monument of Dawn had witnessed their resolve and convictions.
Squad 172 had not found any record of Yu Jin reporting an awakening before they entered the dream, which meant there was a high probability he had not awakened.
They had only found a psychiatric evaluation record. It showed that shortly after Yu Jin's older brother, Yu Xiang, had passed away, Yu Jin had gone to a psychiatric clinic, admitting that another person had appeared in his head.
After a detailed examination, the attending doctor had concluded that Yu Jin, overwhelmed by grief from losing his real-world companion, had hallucinated a virtual companion, which was the red-haired Yu Jin.
This condition was similar to Xia Jie's schizophrenia, though it was not as severe and had not reached the point of dissociation.
Yu Jin could clearly recognize that the other person was a part of himself rather than an independent individual, and his symptoms had not affected his daily life.
After a period of follow-up observation, the doctor confirmed that Yu Jin was fine and recommended continued observation and conservative treatment.
But it was precisely because Yu Jin's schizophrenic symptoms were somewhat similar to Xia Jie's, combined with the fact that the red-haired Yu Jin looked exactly like a copy of Xia Jie, that Squad 172 had their current concerns.
Upon learning that he had never awakened, Yu Jin was utterly unwilling to believe it.
He had only just convinced himself to accept the reality of the tragedy that had occurred, to accept the agonizing loss of nearly all his colleagues, thinking only of escaping the Nightmare Disaster and using the red-haired Yu Jin's power to find the bastard who had orchestrated the massacre and bring him to justice.
But now you're telling me that the red-haired one isn't my awakening, but just a simple split personality?
Then what about my ability?
How am I supposed to track down and fight that murderer?
No!
This can't be true!
Yu Jin clutched his head in agony, saying in despair and helplessness:
“Tell me this isn't true.”
“It's not true.”
“!!!”
Overjoyed, as if a drowning man had grabbed onto a final lifeline, Yu Jin snapped his head up and looked at the surrounding members of Squad 172. He wanted to see who had given him this hope and denied the falsehood before him.
However, as his eyes swept over the group, he realized that the words just now had actually been spoken by himself—by the red-haired Yu Jin.
The light of hope in Yu Jin's eyes dimmed, and he fell silent once more.
Hearing this, the faces of Squad 172 darkened instantly. A Nightmare Disaster projection that possessed a defiant personality and attempted to blur the lines between reality and dream was extremely dangerous, and they had to treat it with the utmost caution.
The traditional method of handling this situation, provided the Subject was willing to cooperate, was to leverage their status as the Dream Core. Even while asleep, they retained a limited ability to influence the dream. They would be guided to isolate their fantasized personality from their primary personality, manifesting it physically. Finally, the unstable personality would be shot and killed, performing what was essentially a personality extraction surgery within the dream.
This method was highly effective in treating schizophrenia, and at one point, many medical professionals and scholars in the psychiatric field had recommended its widespread application.
However, the conditions required to perform this surgery were incredibly stringent.
First of all, the requirement that the patient must be the Subject of a Nightmare Disaster locked out the vast majority of patients.
Second, the Nightmare Disaster could only be a Class C disaster, the lowest tier. Any disaster exceeding Class C would cause real-world damage, making the trade-off counterproductive and not worth the cost.
Finally, the patient could not wake up during the nightmare of the Nightmare Disaster. Otherwise, it would no longer be a personality extraction surgery, but would instead turn into an accelerated awakening surgery!
Due to all these difficult-to-realize reasons, the promotion plan fell through before it could even be drafted.
Yet in this very dream, Yu Jin, as the Subject, met every single condition for the surgery!
Zhou Li explained the surgical method to Yu Jin and asked for his consent.
Sometimes, one could gauge whether a Subject's other personalities were dangerous just from their attitude.
Zhou Li kept a close eye on Yu Jin, taking in every bit of the young man's internal conflict.
As they waited for a response, the entire Squad 172 remained on high alert.
Fortunately, in the end, Yu Jin held fast to his goodness and sense of duty. He nodded in agreement.
“I have only one request. I want to be the one to send him off. Is that alright?”
“...”
If the personalities were not adversarial, such a request was practically synonymous with suicide.
According to surgical protocol, and to guarantee safety, such a request would never be permitted. However, considering the Subject's emotional needs, Zhou Li agreed.
Or rather, Pineapple Head agreed. As the captain of Squad 172, he nodded on Zhou Li's behalf.
“Thank you.”
Yu Jin squeezed out a strained smile and began to isolate his personality under Zhou Li's guidance.
Since this kind of dream modification only affected himself, the process was not long. Soon, the two Yu Jins, who had never “met” before, stood on opposite sides.
Looking at the red-haired Yu Jin before him, Yu Jin had countless things he wanted to say, but he swallowed them all. Ultimately, he merely raised his gun and asked a single question:
“Answer me. Are you Yu Jin, or are you Xia Jie?”
The red-haired Yu Jin looked around, his gaze sweeping over every member of Squad 172. Letting out a click of his tongue, he said dismissively:
“You might as well ask me if I'm Yu Jie or Xia Jin.”
“...”
“...”
Yu Jin knew the red-haired Yu Jin was not evading the question, but rather using this method to ease his own tension.
He fell silent. After a moment, unable to bear it, he asked again:
“Did you... really never think about having freedom?”
By freedom, he meant replacing Yu Jin to become the real Yu Jin.
The red-haired Yu Jin chuckled:
“Of course I did.”
“!!!”
Yu Jin shuddered.
Every member of Squad 172 tensed, raising their guns to aim at him.
But in the next second, the red-haired Yu Jin said softly:
“But the freedom I want isn't about possession or replacement. It's about companionship and walking together.”
“I could feel your pain, your despair, and your helplessness, so I came into being.”
“I wanted to handle all of this for you, but it looks like I messed up.”
“Tsk, what a failure.”
“Oh well, everyone fails sometimes.”
“Since you also think I shouldn't exist, go ahead and shoot.”
“Goodbye, Yu Jin.”
“...”
Yu Jin's hand trembled. The act of killing himself was still far too difficult.
He tried his best to aim at the red-haired Yu Jin. But after struggling repeatedly, he ultimately chose to lower his weapon.
The brows of Squad 172's members knit together. Captain Pineapple Head even racked the slide of his gun, preparing to lend Yu Jin a hand.
However, Yu Jin shook his head, offering a tragic laugh:
“I forgot, my gun has no bullets. Could you lend me one?”
Pineapple Head paused, handing his own gun over with a complex expression.
Yu Jin took the weapon, tracing the gun's body. Lowering his head, he murmured:
“Do you have anything else to say?”
The red-haired Yu Jin resigned himself to his fate. Though there was still a trace of reluctance in his eyes, there was far more of the calm acceptance that came with facing death.
He had never intended to replace Yu Jin, as Squad 172 feared.
To avoid putting Yu Jin in a difficult position, he accepted his end.
He chuckled:
“I already said it.”
“Goodbye, Yu Jin.”
A single tear fell from Yu Jin's eye. Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, he suddenly raised his hand. Leveraging the sensory synchronization between them, he locked onto the other's forehead and fired a single shot.
“Bang!”
A flash of muzzle fire sparked and vanished in an instant.
The red-haired Yu Jin collapsed to the ground at the sound.
He hit the ground with a dull thud.
Yu Jin shuddered violently, letting the handgun slip through his fingers and clatter to the ground. Not daring to look at the corpse, he turned his back, suppressing his agony as he said:
“Let's go back. Don't let this Nightmare Disaster continue any longer.”
Seeing this, the members of Squad 172 sighed one after another.
They knew that goodbyes were painful, but they could not fathom what it felt like to say goodbye to another version of oneself.
Soon, however, they collected their emotions and sprung into action, preparing to wrap things up and bring an end to this Nightmare Disaster.
Only Zhou Li kept his brows tightly furrowed, staring at the fallen, red-haired Yu Jin. He felt as though something was not quite right.
He wanted to step forward to check once more and ensure everything was fine, but just as he raised his foot, Pineapple Head pulled him back.
Setting aside his previous carefree attitude, Pineapple Head assumed a solemn expression and sighed:
“He is Yu Jin, not Xia Jie.”
“He is our colleague, not our enemy.”
“He is the orphaned son of the Yu family, a family that has sacrificed so much for Haicheng. He is not a Disciple of Eternal Night trying to overturn the world.”
“Our blades are meant to point outward. Don't let the cold steel freeze the hearts of the people standing behind us.”
“He has suffered enough. Let this matter end here.”
“I will write the report.”
Saying so, Pineapple Head raised his gun and aimed at Yu Jin. A gentle smile appeared on his face as he offered comforting words:
“It's all in the past.”
“Welcome back to reality, Yu Jin.”
“Bang!”
The bullet pierced through his skull, and his consciousness plunged instantly into nothingness.
As the Dream Core died, the dream began to collapse, and everything before them shattered like a spiderweb.
Pineapple Head blew away the smoke rising from his muzzle and raised his arm, calling out:
“Mission accomplished with flying colors! Pack up, let's go home!”
Tumbling into the center of the collapse, the members of Squad 172 exchanged smiles and high-fived in celebration.
Zhou Li watched the two Yu Jins disperse into points of light, his expression a complex, unreadable mix of emotions.
He only hoped that once they woke from the dream, Yu Jin would still be Yu Jin.
...
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