...The only reasonable explanation was that I, too, had been assimilated into a resident inside the lucid dream.
Otherwise, I looked utterly pathetic. If an outsider saw them, they’d probably think it was just three residents on a group study trip to the library. Hai Luwei leaned in close to Mai Mingle’s ear and opened his mouth.
"What ti is it what ti is it what ti is it what ti is it what ti is it?"
’If this isn’t how a resident talks, then what is?’
Hai Luwei’s mouth didn’t stop moving. He kept repeating "What ti is it?" while smiling bitterly to himself.
’Didn’t the car radio say that short sentences are like sharp nails? That they have enough "pressure" to break through into a lucid dream?’
’But no matter how sharp a nail is, you have to hit it a few tis to drive it into a wall. By the sa logic, even the shortest sentence is useless if you only say it once, right?’
The first ti he asked her for the ti, his words fell on deaf ears. Mai Mingle didn’t react at all, though it did earn him a glare from the resident.
’See? Guess I’ll have to try a few more tis.’
He had no idea what was happening in the dream’s "plot." Mai Mingle, whose appearance could no longer be called human, and the resident, with its constantly shifting face, were walking step-by-step into the library. He had no choice but to trail behind them, endlessly muttering, "What ti is it?"
"Shut your mouth!"
The resident flew into a rage as expected. It suddenly swung its arm, the force of the gesture grazing Hai Luwei’s cheek.
"You’re not just shooting in the dark are you... could it be you know a lot about lucid dreams? It doesn’t matter you won’t get your way this is useless I’m going to kill you kill you kill you just wait until my hands are free you’re finished"
"The phrase ’get your way’ isn’t used for doing good deeds, you know."
Hai Luwei ducked behind Mai Mingle just in ti to dodge another swipe from the resident. Its fingers were ford into a claw, but it stopped dead just before striking Mai Mingle’s ear.
"Why did you say my trick was useless?" Hai Luwei asked, huddled behind her.
"Foolish!" the resident shrieked with laughter. "Even if she happens to hear your question once or twice, I’ll just rationalize it within the lucid dream! All I have to do is bridge the gap with reality there are plenty of ways do you think just because you’re the one asking that she’ll hear it in your voice"
Hai Luwei froze.
He was about to ask, ’How would you rationalize it?’ but stopped himself. First, the resident was unlikely to give him a straight answer. Second, after a mont’s thought, he figured it out.
If Mai Mingle heard "What ti is it?" in her dream but assud it was the young girl character casually asking the guide for the ti, she probably wouldn’t pay it any mind—especially since her own sense of self had likely already turned into that of a resident.
"You’ve really thought of everything,"
He followed Mai Mingle and the resident into the library lobby, keeping his distance from the latter, ready to duck behind Mai Mingle at the first sign of trouble.
"I thought if she heard the ’guide’ asking her for the ti in the lucid dream, she’d find it strange. That it would create an opening..."
The resident paid him no mind. Its face was a flurry of activity, shifting between Hai Luwei’s likeness and the young girl’s.
To the resident, he must have seed like an annoying fly that it couldn’t quite swat—a nuisance, but not a real obstacle to its plans.
’Looks like I need a new approach.’
"Whoever’s face you wear is who’s talking in her lucid dream, right?" Hai Luwei said after a mont’s thought. "Your na is ’Dream Screenwriter’... so what exactly is the script for the lucid dream you’ve written for her?"
The resident slowly turned its head toward him. "How do you know... my na?"
By now, the two of them and the resident had crossed the center of the library’s main floor and were heading toward a gloomy corner. For a library in the Nest, it was surprisingly well-equipped; the main floor even had a computer section.
"...I guessed," Hai Luwei said, forcing himself to sound confident.
"No no no no"
’Great, here we go again.’
"A human like you couldn’t possibly guess my na soone must have told you soone must not want to see a future contestant beco a super-powerful resident who obeys my every command ah I get it so that’s why you suddenly know how to break my lucid dream soone is trying to stop "
The unpunctuated stream of words felt like a caterpillar burrowing deep into his ear.
As it spoke, Mai Mingle stopped beside a computer cubicle, moving like a sleepwalker.
The light in the lobby was so dim that if you weren’t looking closely, you’d miss the fingers protruding from the corner of her eye, clutching tightly at the skin there.
...It looked as if they were trying to twist her eye socket into the shape of a ribbon.
"Oh, it’s alright. I don’t even need to ask you how you found out."
The resident’s speech pattern suddenly returned to normal; even its tone was calm. It turned to look at Mai Mingle, its face once again shifting to resemble Hai Luwei’s.
"The ’you’ in the dream has already told her to turn on the computer. I’ll have my hands free very soon... All I have to do is erase your current face and paint on the one from ten minutes ago, and you’ll reenact everything for yourself."
"And I won’t just run away?" Hai Luwei’s heart was pounding, but he put on a brave front. "I’ll show you just how fast I can run the second before she’s fully turned into a resident."
"Then we’ll just have to see if you can even spot the exact mont she’s about to beco a resident... huh, wait a second." It turned its head, frowning at Mai Mingle. "How can soone not know how to turn on a computer?"
...For a mont, Hai Luwei wasn’t sure what was stranger: the fact that Mai Mingle didn’t know how to turn on a computer, or the fact that a resident found it strange that she didn’t.
The resident ignored him, watching Mai Mingle motionlessly. After a few seconds, it squatted down and turned the computer on itself. Utilities worked normally in the Nest, so the computer booted up just fine.
’This might be my chance...’
While the resident had its back to him, Hai Luwei seized the opportunity, leaned in close, and whispered another string of "What ti is it?" into Mai Mingle’s ear.
Even though he knew the Dream Screenwriter would just rationalize his questions, he had to keep asking. In fact, he had to redouble his efforts, forcing even more "What ti is it?"s to seep into Mai Mingle’s ears.
’Lucid dreams are built from the material of reality,’ the car radio had said.
In other words, the Dream Screenwriter couldn’t create sothing from nothing. It couldn’t turn its own fantasies into the lucid dream that had trapped its target.
That was why it had waited for them to talk for over an hour before finally making its move on Mai Mingle—it needed enough "material" of Hai Luwei to fabricate the lucid dream.
’That young girl was probably ’material’ it took from sowhere else, too, right?’
If his analysis was correct, then every ti Mai Mingle checked the ti in the lucid dream, she would only see one ti: 12:20 AM, the ti Hai Luwei had told her once in reality.
He had never told her any other ti, so the lucid dream had no material for any ti after 12:20 AM.
’Surely Mai Mingle would notice sothing was wrong then, right?’
Hai Luwei thought his analysis was solid; he couldn’t find any flaws in it, anyway. He himself had lost count of how many tis he’d repeated the sa phrase.
The problem was, even after he’d repeated it until his mouth was dry, the Mai Mingle in front of him looked exactly the sa. No change.
’She must have heard it at least three or four tis by now. Why hasn’t she wavered?’
’If she’s so dense she can’t even notice ti isn’t passing, then it’s not my fault if she dies here.’
"Now that things have progressed this far,"
The resident spoke up abruptly, startling Hai Luwei. "I’m starting to hope you don’t give up."
He stared blankly at the Dream Screenwriter. Its face had now changed back to the young girl’s.
"All sorts of humans die in the Nest, but as long as they’re human, they all fear ’failure’... because ’failure’ is a wound. It ans you aren’t good enough. Anyone who claims they aren’t afraid of failure is just soone who needs to comfort themselves with platitudes like ’failure is the mother of success.’"
It stared at Mai Mingle, its smile growing wider and wider.
"To us residents, the spiritual damage that ’failure’ inflicts on a human is as beautiful as a fresh, purple bruise..."
"Tell sothing I don’t know," Hai Luwei said. "I’ve failed in the Nest plenty of tis. You residents all seem to recycle the sa old speeches. One spits it out, another one swallows it whole. Very efficient."
’If I can just keep the resident talking, I can buy more ti for Mai Mingle, right?’
"Oh, fine. I’ll tell you sothing you don’t know, then," the resident laughed. "Since I’m just waiting around anyway... Huh? Why the long face? Did you really think I can’t advance the lucid dream’s progress while I’m talking to you?"
It patted Mai Mingle on the shoulder. She remained motionless.
"Deep within the lucid dream, there’s a ’Resident Data Registration Form’ I’ve carefully crafted. Right now, she’s following the dream ’guide’s’ instructions, turning on the computer, staring at the desktop, and getting ready to fill it out... When that form is complete, she will fully beco a resident."
The resident adjusted the crooked wig on its head. A lopsided smile appeared on the face that looked like Hai Luwei’s.
"The script for ’Mai Mingle Discovers She’s a Resident’ has been playing for a while now, and the finale is just around the corner. It doesn’t matter how much or how little I say; she’s not waking up."
Hai Luwei stared blankly at it, then glanced at Mai Mingle.
’If she’s following the guide’s instructions... then I have to make her stop trusting the guide.’
"The guide is a resident!" he yelled with all his might. "The guide is a resident, the guide is a resident—its na is Dream Screenwriter, its na is Dream Screenwriter—"
’Was a sentence of five or six words too long?’
Hai Luwei only managed to repeat it a few tis before he lost his chance.
The hand the resident had on Mai Mingle’s shoulder suddenly shoved her aside. Hai Luwei, focused on repeating his sentence, was a step too slow to react. By the ti he realized what had happened, he had lost his human shield.
The next second, the resident slapped him across the face—
It might sound strange, but in that instant—his consciousness, his blood, his breath, his very pores—Hai Luwei felt as if his entire existence was about to be slapped right out of his own skin.
When his senses finally stabilized, he found himself sprawled on the ground, the world spinning around him.
He slowly raised his head, a vague realization dawning on him. ’I have to run. Now.’
’No, it might already be too late to run.’
As if being torn open, Mai Mingle’s face split into two halves, right at eye level. Between her eyebrows and her cheeks, a stretch of black, bottomless void appeared.
Two hands clawed at the edges of the pitch-black fissure, pulling it wider and wider.
From within that widening void, a human head slowly, painstakingly, squeezed its way out.
...He recognized it. The head forcing its way out of Mai Mingle’s face was also Mai Mingle.
"Assimilation into a resident is now complete," the Dream Screenwriter announced cheerfully.
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