Upon arriving at the branch where Knoska was located, Lin ignored Elysia suggestion to take a rest and headed straight to the branch's medical department with Prometheus, without stopping.
All the people in Knoska who had fallen into a coma due to the "1:15 AM Video" were being held by the branch. Fire Moth's life-support pods could maintain their normal biological signs, while also allowing Fire Moth to research exactly what had caused their comas.
"The victims' brain waves are normal, no abnormalities, and the central nervous system has not been damaged. It is different from a persistent vegetative state; they possess cognitive thought." The person in charge of these "Video Disease" cases reported to Lin while holding a list. "Their state is closer to 'sleeping' rather than a coma induced by external trauma."
"So, we have also tried various ways to wake the victims. Both physical and drug stimulation are effective. It has been proven that they are just asleep, but..."
Usually, at this point, there is a "but." Over such a long time, Lin had heard countless "buts," so he remained silent and simply nodded to the person in charge.
The person in charge then made a gesture to the staff in front of the life-support pod. The staff member understood and manipulated the control panel, injecting certain drugs into the life-support pod via the delivery pipes.
Lin walked to the screen displaying the victim's brain waves, watching the steadily pulsing lines.
At first, there was no reaction, but as the drug began to take effect, the brain waves actually began to weaken unstably!
Without Lin needing to say a word, the person in charge already had the injection stopped, and the brain waves returned to their original steady state.
"Once we attempt to wake them through external means, the victim's brain waves begin to weaken. They would become brain-dead before we could wake them." The person in charge, perhaps tired of this thorny problem, tapped his finger forcefully on the list. "Furthermore, they occasionally exhibit brain wave fluctuations and physiological responses, even responding to the outside world. This means they possess consciousness and are likely dreaming, but they are unwilling to wake up. Forcing them to awaken would instead cause them to begin committing suicide."
"...Why?" Lin understood the analysis; it wasn't that these people truly couldn't wake up, but rather that they themselves didn't want to.
"Why?!" The person in charge looked at the calm, helmeted man and sneered. "If you could live in a world where everything went your way, and you were the sole protagonist of that world, would you want to wake up?"
"Some people feel a dream is so wonderful it's beyond compare even if they just dream of a person of the opposite sex they can't have or a deceased relative. They wake up filled with regret. Imagine actually living in that dream."
"We are thinking about saving the world, but many people in this world are still wondering if they'll have a meal to eat next. Reality is so cruel; who would want to wake up?"
Hearing the person in charge's sighing monologue, Lin silently looked up at the man floating in the life-support pod.
At the corner of the man's mouth, there seemed to be a faint, happy smile.
...
"Elysia, if you could live in a world without any regrets, would you be willing to leave?"
Elysia, who was eating a sundae to replenish her energy, looked up with the spoon in her mouth and asked indistinctly, "A world without any regrets?"
Lin leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms in a thoughtful pose; his helmet had entered sleep mode. "A world where all your wishes come true. As long as you don't want a tragedy to happen, it won't. You can eat sweets until you're full every day without getting fat. You can go wherever you want with your friends. Even if you have a sudden whim to start a universal cultivation trend and be the protagonist, it's no problem..."
"Say no more." Elysia asked with high solemnity, "Where is the entrance?"
"..."
Lin pointed to a nearby charging socket. "Just stick your hand in there."
After Lin explained that the comatose people were actually dreaming, Elysia stuck out her tongue and licked the ice cream off her spoon. She looked deep in thought. "Is it because it's an omnipotent, happy dreamscape that reality feels even more cruel?"
There are many people in this world immersed in the world of games, placing their feelings on non-existent, virtual people while choosing to ignore reality.
Do they not know they are just facing a pile of data? They probably know better than anyone that those people smiling at them and saying affectionate words are just programmed scripts. But even so, the emotions invested are not fake in the slightest.
Beautiful people and things no longer exist in reality, so is it a mistake even to cast one's gaze toward a virtual world?
"If it's just a dream, then forget it."
Elysia gave an unexpected answer. She looked at the empty sundae cup in front of her. "What is a dream? It's probably a hazy, beautiful, yet fleeting illusion. Being able to eat sundaes until I'm full, where another cup appears the moment I finish one... maybe I'd be happy at first. But as time goes by, I would stop cherishing that feeling of happiness when eating a sundae."
"It is precisely because I feel that cold, sweet deliciousness on my taste buds bite by bite, and see the ice cream getting less and less, that I want to savor every bite until the flavor fades."
Elysia turned her head, her long hair falling onto Lin shoulder. Her fingers brushed over the petals of the crystal flower on her chest, and she chuckled softly. "Besides, even if there were an identical Lin in the dream, he might be as gentle, kind, and loving as you, but he would ultimately just be a fake Lin."
The Lin in the dream would think of giving her gifts immediately, make her happy with every word, never contradict her, and never deliberately maintain distance. She could squeeze and knead him however she liked... but because of that, he would never be the real Lin.
"But we also don't have the right to deprive others of their power to dream." Lin thought of the wish Yama had made in the World Bubble. But she was different from these people; she didn't want to immerse herself in a fake beauty, she was just punishing herself in that way.
"Lin, trust them a little more." The pink-haired girl's sweet smiling face swayed in front of the monitor, as beautiful as a painting. "Humans possess the strength to move forward even after seeing both cruelty and beauty."
"...Yeah."
Lin would believe. No matter when, he would always believe in humanity.
He reached out and wiped away the ice cream stuck to the corner of Elysia mouth, causing her to suddenly freeze, staring unblinkingly at Lin helmet.
"Let's go, let's investigate the crime scene."
However, Lin didn't notice her abnormality. He simply walked out of the room after doing it as if it were a normal occurrence.
"...Oh."