20demayo Chapter 49 The Role of a Psychologist
Chapter 49 The Role of a Psychologist
"Next, we need to figure out the role of the potion."
Lu Xingchen stood up from the old sofa in the lounge, dusted off the corner of his clothes, and looked toward the depths of the corridor—where the orphanage's staff quarters were located.
Now, only Lu Xingchen, four children, and Cocolia remain in the orphanage. Most of the rooms that used to house caregivers are now empty, and the room he is currently living in is that of a caregiver who has passed away.
His choice of this location was not without reason. After all, he harbored too many secrets and needed to maintain some privacy.
"The omnipotent creator, the one to which all things are unified..."
The deep voice echoed in the quiet room. As the prayer was repeated, his consciousness gradually detached from reality and sank into a sea of chaos.
When consciousness returned to his body, there was an item in his outstretched palm—a black cloak, its fabric smooth as satin, with fine silver patterns embroidered along the edges, gleaming faintly in the dim light, exuding a sense of eeriness and mystery.
[Level 2 Sealed Item '2-034': Dream Travel Cloak]
Ability 1 "Dream Travel": Allows the holder to become ethereal, like a sprite traveling through dreams. It can directly enter other people's dreams or use dreams as a springboard to jump between different dreams, thus achieving "teleportation" in a physical sense.
Note: The straight-line distance between two dreams must not exceed 500 meters, and the dream holder must be an intelligent being.
Ability Two: "Dream Modification": By subtly adjusting the content of dreams, the target's subconscious is gradually influenced, causing them to change unconsciously and ultimately make them do things they wouldn't normally choose.
Negative effects: While wearing the cloak, the wearer's body will gradually become ethereal; if worn for too long, the body will become completely ethereal, eventually turning into a ghost that can only wander in dreams, never able to return to reality.
This sealed artifact, "2-034," is an extraordinary item that naturally emerged from the Chaos Sea during Rosalia and the others' hospitalization at Tenkai Hospital.
Its ability is highly consistent with the "audience approach" that Lu Xingchen took, and is essentially a concrete manifestation of sequence ability.
The audience pathways that Lu Xingchen took, from lowest to highest, are named as follows:
Sequence Nine: The Audience.
Sequence Eight: The Mind Reader.
Sequence Seven: The Psychologist.
Sequence Six: Hypnotist.
Sequence Five: Dream Walker.
Sequence Four: The Manipulator.
Sequence 3: The Dream Weaver.
Sequence Two: The Insightful One.
Sequence 1: Writer.
Sequence Zero: Dreamer.
The core ability of this "Dream Travel Cloak" originates from the fifth sequence of the audience pathway – "Dream Walker".
It is equivalent to extracting and solidifying the core ability of "Dream Walker", allowing Lu Xingchen, who has not yet reached this level, to come into contact with the power to influence and travel through dreams in advance, which greatly helps his role as a magic potion player.
"At this time, everyone should be asleep."
Lu Xingchen walked to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked out.
Night had already fallen over the Tianhai Orphanage. Several of the streetlights in the courtyard had broken down at some point, leaving only scattered rays of light flickering in the darkness.
After confirming that no one would disturb him, he draped the "Dream Travel Cloak" over his shoulders.
The moment the cloak touched his body, it emitted a distorted, pale purple light. The light spread along the fabric to his entire body, and Lu Xingchen's body became transparent and ethereal at a visible speed, as if it would merge into the air at any moment.
At the same time, the world he saw underwent a dramatic change—the familiar room disappeared, replaced by a hazy "sea of dreams".
Countless colorful orbs of light floated in this space, some emitting a warm orange glow, some shimmering with a tranquil blue light, and others shrouded in a faint pink hue.
Each ball of light was slowly rotating, and one could vaguely see images flashing inside the ball of light—the dream scenes that the dream holder was experiencing.
Lu Xingchen knew very well that these orbs of light were the "dream manifestations" of intelligent beings in the real world, and each orb of light corresponded to a sleeping person.
He had now stepped into the boundary between reality and dreams.
"Dream Travel".
Lu Xingchen silently recited the command in his mind and activated the first ability of the cloak.
The next second, his body vanished completely from the room, like smoke blown away by the wind.
When he materialized again, he was standing in a small alley 300 meters away from the orphanage—this place happened to correspond to the dream of a sleeping resident. Using this as a springboard, he easily completed his first "teleportation".
"The role of a psychologist requires solving psychological or mental problems for others."
Lu Xingchen looked down at his still-childish hands and murmured to himself, "But with the body of a six-year-old child, even if I were to stand up and say I'm a psychologist, no one would believe me, and no one would be willing to let me diagnose them."
The obstacles in the real world were obvious, but he quickly came up with a solution:
"What is impossible in reality may be possible in dreams. Mental problems are essentially unrelated to the body. As long as the root cause can be found in the dream and the other person can be helped to resolve it, the 'feedback' needed for the magic potion's performance can still be obtained."
He had tried it several times before and found that this method was completely feasible. Even helping others solve psychological problems in dreams was perfectly in line with the role of a psychologist.
Moreover, dream therapy is more convenient than therapy in reality.
When a person is asleep, the brain enters a relaxed and inert state, and the person tends to subconsciously ignore unusual details in the dream—such as a "stranger" who suddenly appears, or some illogical plots.
Unless the opponent's martial soul is related to the dream, or their mental strength has reached the level of "Spirit Realm", it is extremely difficult to detect their existence.
……
As night deepened, Lu Xingchen's figure kept appearing and disappearing in the shadows of the city.
He passed by the pale blue orb that represented tranquility, bypassed the red orb that represented anxiety, and finally, a continuously flickering gray orb caught his attention.
The fluctuations of this ball of light were extremely unstable, sometimes rapid and sometimes volatile, as if the dreamer was trapped in some painful cycle.
"It's you."
Lu Xingchen stopped and his gaze fell on the gray ball of light. He could clearly sense that the owner of the light seemed to be in a very unstable mental state. This was the first "patient" he had been looking for tonight.
His body became ethereal again, like an ink droplet merging into water, slowly drifting towards the gray ball of light.
The moment he entered the dream world, Lu Xingchen's body also changed, transforming from a six-year-old child into a blurry, pixelated figure standing 1.8 meters tall.
These are the dream parameters he modified using his "2-034" ability. Although dreams are illusory products of consciousness, no one can guarantee that when the dreamer wakes up, there won't be any fragmented memories remaining.
As a precaution, concealing one's body shape and appearance is a necessary preventative measure.
"So, where is the protagonist?"
Lu Xingchen's gaze swept around and he found himself standing on a busy street.
Not far to the right, a steel bridge spanned the road. Pedestrians and vehicles on the bridge rushed by as if on fast forward, but no one noticed him, the "outsider."
The construction of dreams is often based on the dreamer's subconscious. The scene in front of the dreamer is inevitably a replica of a scene in reality, perhaps a place that left a deep impression on the dreamer's memory.
Lu Xingchen closed his eyes slightly, immersing his consciousness into the dream's structure. With the help of "2-034's" perception of the dream realm, like a hunter searching for clues in a maze, he instantly locked onto the location of the dream's owner.
Guided by his senses, he walked quickly toward the bridge, his gaze finally settling on the outside of the guardrail.
A middle-aged man was leaning against the railing, a half-burnt cigarette between his fingers. The smoke curled up, blurring the expression on his face, but could not hide the lingering anxiety and unease between his brows.
He would occasionally look up at the distant horizon, then look down at the cigarette in his hand, his movements filled with an indescribable inner turmoil.
Seeing this, Lu Xingchen raised an eyebrow and thought to himself, "Even the scene in his dream is set by an empty bridge. This guy's inner pressure has probably reached a breaking point."
Without the slightest hesitation, he strode to the bridge railing, expertly sat down sideways, and gently nudged the middle-aged man beside him with his elbow, his tone as casual as if they were old acquaintances meeting by chance:
"Hey bro, what's your name? You seem to have a lot on your mind. Would you mind talking to me?"
In the real world, Lu Xingchen would never strike up a conversation in such an abrupt way. After all, being so overly familiar with strangers would most likely be seen as a mentally unstable freak.
But this is a dream, a chaotic realm dominated by the subconscious. Even if there are illogical details, the dreamer will subconsciously ignore them under the self-protection of the subconscious.
Moreover, at this moment, Lu Xingchen had already quietly activated his "Dream Modification" ability, injecting a wisp of gentle conscious energy into the dreamer's subconscious, subtly eliminating the other party's wariness.
The middle-aged man turned his head and his gaze fell on Lu Xingchen's blurry "mosaic" figure. There was no doubt or wariness on his face, as if this strange appearance was perfectly normal.
He simply sighed deeply, his voice hoarse and weary: "Alas, my name is Wu Lang. As for why I became like this..."
At this point, Wu Lang brought the cigarette back to his lips, took a deep drag, and let the smoke swirl in his lungs for a moment before exhaling it heavily, forming dissipating smoke rings.
His eyes became somewhat unfocused, and his tone became more complicated: "Sigh, you might not believe it, but my good brother was reincarnated after he died and became my son."
"Oh?"
Upon hearing this, a hint of surprise flashed in Lu Xingchen's eyes.
Using his ability to "modify dreams," he could clearly perceive the emotional fluctuations and memory fragments in Wu Lang's words—without the chaotic fluctuations characteristic of lies.
In other words, Wu Lang truly believed that his good brother had been reincarnated as his son.
"Brother Wu Lang, tell me in detail why you believe your brother has been reborn?"
Lu Xingchen pressed on with interest, not entirely denying the existence of "reincarnation," since he himself was in a similar situation.
Moreover, Tang Shenwang also possesses a similar ability. As soon as Xiao Wu died, he immediately became like a vengeful ghost, committing suicide to haunt her. Therefore, reincarnation is indeed a possibility.
only……
Lu Xingchen observed Wu Lang calmly. Before entering the dream, he had repeatedly confirmed through the ability of "2-034" that Wu Lang in front of him had no soul power and was just an ordinary person.
Can someone like that really know a brother with the ability to reincarnate?
Wu Lang, oblivious to Lu Xingchen's suspicions, was lost in his own memories and slowly began to speak: "Six years ago, my good brother Wang Gobi contracted an incurable disease. Three days before he passed away, I made a special trip to the hospital to visit him."
Lu Xingchen twitched his fingertips slightly, and his ability to "modify dreams" was activated once again.
This time, he did not interfere with Wu Lang's memories, but simply made the vague memories in the other's mind concrete—like showing a movie, constructing a scene from six years ago in front of the two of them.
In the scene, the white ward is filled with the smell of disinfectant. Sunlight shines through the window onto the hospital bed, but it cannot dispel the oppressive atmosphere.
Wang Gobi lay on the hospital bed, his body so thin he was just skin and bones: "Brother, I'm not going to make it. In this life, besides my parents, the relationship between us is the closest, no different from that of blood brothers."
Wu Lang forced a smile and patted Wang Gobi's hand: "Brother Wang, don't worry, I'll help you take care of your parents from now on."
Upon hearing this, Wang Gobi gave a weak smile:
"Thank you, brother. I'm relieved to hear you say that. I have nothing to repay you with in this life, so... how about I be reborn as your son in the next life? That way we can continue to be family, and I can repay you properly."
Wu Lang thought Wang Gobi was joking to ease the somber atmosphere, so he laughed along and nodded vigorously, "Hahaha, okay! It's a deal then, you'll be my son in the next life, and I'll take good care of you!"
The scene gradually blurred and faded as the two talked, and Wu Lang's voice rang out again, carrying a complex and incredulous tone:
"At first, I really thought Brother Wang was joking. After all, birth, aging, sickness and death are common occurrences. Who would have thought that reincarnation really exists? But unfortunately... my wife was pregnant at that time."
"A month after Brother Wang passed away, my wife gave birth to a big, healthy baby boy. I was overjoyed and felt that Brother Wang was sending me good luck from heaven."
"But as the child grew up, I felt more and more uneasy. You know what? The child's eyebrows, expression, and even the way he smiled were becoming more and more like my deceased brother Wang."
At first, I comforted myself, thinking that I was just missing Brother Wang too much and that's why I was having these illusions, but until this year...
Wu Lang paused, a deep fear appearing on his face. His hands clenched unconsciously, his knuckles turning white.
"My son just turned six this year, the age to awaken his martial soul. I took him to awaken his martial soul, and guess what? Although he didn't have innate soul power, the martial soul he awakened was exactly the same as my deceased brother Wang's—it was an 'Iron Grass'!"
"As you know, children's martial spirits mostly follow their parents, either mine or my wife's. But my wife and I have martial spirits that are 'hoe' and 'cotton' respectively, and they have absolutely nothing to do with 'iron grass'!"
It was at that moment that I suddenly remembered what Brother Wang said before he passed away, that promise I had always thought was a joke…”
Wu Lang's body trembled slightly, his voice filled with horror:
"Isn't this a bit unbelievable? Brother Wang actually became my child! Although this child has been like a normal child since he was little, every time I see his face that looks so much like Brother Wang, I feel creeped out and can't sleep at night."
"I always felt like I wasn't facing my son, but my best brother..."
Upon hearing this, Lu Xingchen paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What's the relationship between your wife and Brother Wang?"
Wu Lang said, "Of course, every single one is good. Brother Wang is a friend I've known since childhood. Once, when I was away working for more than half a year, he took care of Xiao Li for me without complaint."
Lu Xingchen looked at the brother with some pity.
He really made me cry my eyes out. I'd rather believe that my good brother will be reincarnated than doubt that the two of them betrayed me.
He raised his hand and made a gesture in the air. The dream energy gathered at his fingertips transformed into a piece of white paper and an ink pen. He wrote a few large characters on the paper and then gently tossed it to Wu Lang.
"Brother, a pear tree in the courtyard cannot bear the fruit of a peach orchard. Spend more time reading books. These are my words of advice to you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Xingchen stopped. The mosaic halo around him suddenly contracted, then transformed into a stream of light, merging into the chaos of the dream and disappearing without a trace.
He has activated his "dream travel" ability and is heading to the next dream realm that needs treatment.
"Huh? Where did they go?"
Wu Lang stared blankly at the empty space around him for a moment, then subconsciously scratched his head, his face full of confusion.
He looked down at the paper in his hand and slowly unfolded it. The five large black characters "Biological Genetics" were clearly marked on the paper, as if branded.