Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 294 The Reality and Dreams of Exchange

Chapter 294: Chapter 294 The Reality and Dreams of Exchange

In the office, Tang Guangbo was organizing the medical records on the desk when he saw Xu Huo come in and smiled, telling him to pour himself some water.

Xu Huo poured two glasses of water and placed one in front of him.

Tang Guangbo took out his medical file, "Are you feeling better today?"

Xu Huo didn’t commit to an answer, turning his head to look at the sunlight outside the window.

Tang Guangbo didn’t mind and continued, "Let’s chat for a while. After you take your medicine at noon, you can go downstairs for a walk, but you can’t go over to the fence."

"Do you remember what happened yesterday?" Tang Guangbo picked up his pen to take notes, "In the last dream, you mentioned your elder brother and the government. It was very unpleasant."

Xu Huo looked at him, "A dream? I thought I was sick?"

Tang Guangbo chuckled in surprise, "Isn’t that what we agreed on? You clearly know you’re sick and understand better than the other patients how to control yourself, but you don’t like to call it a fantasy. So, we replace that word with ’dream’ during the treatment."

"I suggested the term ’dream’ because I think you’re lucid. Everything in the fantasy is like a brand-new life, exciting, but in the end, you have to return to reality."

Xu Huo fiddled with his water glass, "How long have I been here?"

"The latest admission for treatment has been four months," said Tang Guangbo. "You’ve come and gone over the years, but this time you’ve been in treatment the longest."

"Was I like this before?" Xu Huo asked, "Talking about player games and such since I was a child?"

"Of course not." Tang Guangbo took another file from the drawer and handed it to him, "Dimensional Rift has been popular for only half a year, but it’s been widely banned recently."

"I don’t remember ever playing this game," said Xu Huo.

"That’s also normal," Tang Guangbo reassured him. "The human brain is like a huge storage container. Usually, the closer the memories are in time, the clearer and more detailed they are. However, every individual is different, and the brain will autonomously filter out those memories it considers unimportant."

"You could try to do a memory retrieval."

"The first time I came to the Seventeenth Hospital, there was a doctor who taught me how to gamble," Xu Huo said.

Tang Guangbo nodded, "This matter has made a very deep impression on you. Every time you do a memory retrieval, you add some details."

He gestured for him to continue.

"Later I became addicted to gambling, using all possible methods—fighting, betting money, racing, even daring to bet my life when the stakes were high," Xu Huo seemed to be lost in recollection.

"For over a decade, my parents and brother always cleaned up after me until my brother was killed, and then I quit gambling."

"But having been arrogant and ignorant, I’d offended many people. I wanted to get out, but others wouldn’t let me. The last time I gambled was when I had just arrived in Ting City. I lost everything I could."

"After that, I entered the game. I had just come out of a dungeon with Yan Jiayu, and before I knew it, I was here."

"Yan Jiayu..." Tang Guangbo wrote down the name, "This is the first time you’ve mentioned her."

"I’ve never mentioned her before?" Xu Huo said, "She was the first person I met when I entered the game."

"As I just said, you’ve been perfecting this dream," Tang Guangbo explained. "The truth is, you’re someone who loves excitement. But your family upbringing enables you to clearly distinguish right from wrong. That’s why every dream you tell ends in tragedy."

"For example, during your first dream therapy, because you were too young to accept yourself, a doctor appeared who taught you gambling tricks. You also mentioned last time that he kept controlling you with drugs."

"Your IQ is very high, and many of the gambling games were completed online. There were people who came to cause you trouble during that period, but it didn’t lead to any serious consequences. You used to come to the hospital frequently then, realizing the danger of losing control. After exercising self-control, there was a turning point when you gave up gambling because of your brother’s death."

"Including later, when you went to Ting City and dreamed about losing a bet that resulted in having to be a background actor there for ten years, all of these were manifestations of your inner desire to suppress your thirst for excitement with an ordinary and peaceful life."

He adjusted his glasses as he spoke, "Afterwards, you indeed got better for a while, but then you began to get addicted to gaming."

"Actually, it’s not that serious. People can’t suppress themselves forever, or they’ll eventually have a breakdown. Using ’another life’ to vent these emotions is a good thing for you."

Xu Huo watched him, noting that Tang Guangbo had repeated the same actions three times now: adjusting his glasses, drinking water, smoothing the corner of the medical record.

"What kind of person am I in your dreams?" he asked.

Tang Guangbo chuckled lightly, "Probably a player who is knowledgeable but very scheming. Not just me—many people in the hospital had cameo roles in your stories, including Director Lin, myself, other medical staff, and patients here."

"I’m sorry," Xu Huo expressed his apology.

"There’s no need for that; on the contrary, I’m quite pleased," Tang Guangbo said with a smile. "At least in your story, I’m a very learned individual."

Xu Huo also smiled.

"But indulging in dreams indefinitely isn’t good," Tang Guangbo’s smile faded as he spoke seriously, "Human memory is divided into those that are locked and those that are not. Memories that haven’t been locked can be easily recalled, but the locked ones require some skill to access."

"You can imagine your brain as a door with locks. The memories you have forgotten, your true memories, are those that have been locked. Some have one lock; others have many. Each time you revisit a memory, you can unlock these locks once. The more times they are unlocked, the weaker those locks become, and when you wake up from your dreams and are clearly aware that your memories are locked, it won’t be difficult to unlock them."

Xu Huo looked at him, "Doctor Tang, you’re really amazing."

He had only met him a few times initially, but he was still somewhat influenced by him.

The Tang Guangbo in front of him finished recording elegantly and asked Yu Qingqing to take him out for a walk.

"Have you finished talking?" Yu Qingqing pushed the door open with a bit of urgency, pulling Xu Huo and heading out.

Xu Huo could tell she was eager to talk, but she held back until they were downstairs before speaking up, "You’ve told Doctor Tang, now tell me. Last time I turned into a player, right? What happened after that?"

Xu Huo shook his head, "You weren’t in this one."

Yu Qingqing looked slightly disappointed, but she quickly perked up, "It doesn’t matter, go on and tell me."

Xu Huo brought up Yan Jiayu again, but Yu Qingqing replied with confusion, "There’s no one by that name in the hospital, where did you see it?"

"Are all the people in my story from the hospital?" asked Xu Huo.

"Not necessarily," Yu Qingqing said. "The more significant characters are ones you see often, like me—your cousin in your dreams who doesn’t like you, Dai Wenqian as the antagonist, and Zhou Ning who is kind to you as a companion."

"Dai Wenqian isn’t an antagonist," Xu Huo said.

Yu Qingqing waved her hand dismissively, "Anyway, I think they are more or less the same."

At that moment, a commotion erupted from upstairs.