If Jon knew what was going on, it meant he was having a “lucid dream”.
In most cases, dreamers could control such dreams to a certain extent such as turning themselves into supermen.
But for now, Angor didn’t see any traces of such manipulation yet. Actively changing the course of a dream would easily cause it to become unreasonable, illogical, and more obvious than common dreams. And of course, the drastic changes all tended to be in the dreamer’s favor.
Jon had spent a long time talking to his neighbors and watching his wife, while everything he interacted with was fluent. This dream was almost a perfect recreation of Jon’s old memories, which was a rare case for lucid dreamers.
A small girl with a double-bun hairstyle, pink princess skirt, and a large school backpack rushed into Angor’s view and crashed into Jon’s legs.
Angor looked more closely and saw the girl resembled the woman above in many ways.
The girl was running too fast, so the accident knocked her to the ground. She looked about to cry, like any other kids who painfully fell on their butts.
“Hey, Muey,” Jon called her name.
The girl looked up and perked up in a second. “Daddy’s back!”
She jumped back up and hugged Jon’s legs without minding all the dirt and wrinkles on her clothes.
“Don’t do that again, alright?” Jon put a hand on her head. “Thank goodness I’m not a lamp pole.”
The woman in the stilt house also came to them with a bright smile, and the three of them went into the house together.
Inside the cozy house, Jon spent a peaceful moment exchanging lovers’ talks with his wife while their daughter napped quietly in Jon’s arms.
Angor also enjoyed the serene sight that seemed to be the best dream possible for Jon.
By listening to their conversation, Angor learned that Jon’s wife was Shan Harvey, while their daughter’s name was Shan Muey.
Harvey was a full-time housewife who fully devoted herself to looking after their home. Muey was now second-year at her primary school, which was only a street away from their house, so Muey usually headed there by herself.
The blissful family moment continued on for a long time.
“Our recent subject is done,” Jon said during dinner, “I can remain home for a month from now on.”
Both Harvey and Muey seemed glad to hear this. Apparently, they didn’t get to unite much due to Jon’s profession.
However, what Jon said next troubled everyone.
“As I told you last time, the coming project is supposed to be a teamwork between different nations. To watch over the test subjects provided by China, I need to join the labs in New York.”
“You’re going abroad next time?” Harvey dropped her chopsticks.
Jon’s current workplace was still within their city, which meant it was convenient for them to see each other as long as Jon found a few days to rest. But if they were to get separated across the ocean...
“It’s written in the plan. The project is too important to give up now. It will probably take me several years. I asked the HQ whether I could take you with me.”
“What did they tell you?”
“It’s approved.” Jon nodded.
Harvey didn’t seem happy about having to move to the USA all of a sudden because there were so many problems to settle, such as loss of friends, financial concerns, and the education of Muey.
Jon patiently waited for Harvey’s decision while looking at her passionately as if he were trying to imprint her looks into his mind while he still had time.
Angor was now certain that this was a lucid dream. The great sadness in Jon’s eyes only belonged to someone who was away from his family for decades, not mere months.
Seeing his wife still weighing her choices, Jon decided to persuade her. “Please, come with me. Apart from staying together, I... would like to introduce you to my favorite student as well.”
Harvey made up her mind and agreed, at which point, the dream suddenly shattered to fragments that swirled around Jon’s body.
The mirror-like shards showed Angor lots of different and amazing sights, which seemed to be more of Jon’s memories, such as metal cars flying in the sky, large traffic tunnels built under the ocean, more family moments with Harvey and Muey, academic conferences joined by professionals in doctor uniforms... All these fragments had Jon as the main narrator, who slowly turned from a young assistant to an experienced senior scientist.
Angor found himself floating in a brand new environment after the last fragment went away. It was a laboratory room fully enclosed by metal walls. He looked around and quickly felt dazed when seeing all sorts of hi-tech equipment and screens showing something he couldn’t recognize.
He saw many documentary movies related to such things before, but he never saw the inside of such a leading-edge lab so up close.
Jon was sitting in front of a glass container while writing on something. There was a strange plant inside the container. The plant was receiving some kind of spray coming from an irrigation device nearby.
Another researcher in a white robe suddenly appeared next to Jon. “Your team is up next, Jon. Wait, where are the rest of you?”
“They went to another department on call. Mass deaths have been recorded for ‘Specimen P’.” Jon sighed. “I’m afraid I’m on my own today.”
“I see. Take ‘Specimen R’ with you then. Number 7 to 13. Thirty minutes will do. The Alien Eye has remained inactive these days, so we don’t need to prolong the observations.”
Jon watched his co-worker leave the room and remained still for a moment.
Angor had no idea what was going on until he saw Jon take out five glass incubators, one of which contained something he recognized.
It was the Morning Dew.
Angor heard about the incident that brought Jon to the Old Earth. It was when Jon experienced an unexpected disaster caused by the Alien Eye while working on Morning Dew.
When an unknown force dragged Jon to a foreign world, he carried both the Alien Eye and Morning Dew with him.
But...
“The Dream Weaver’s supposed to give Jon a sweet dream. Why is Jon dreaming about the day of the disaster?”
This was the biggest nightmare in Jon’s life!
As Angor looked in confusion, Jon was beginning to tremble badly as if he was afraid of something.
“Jon knows what’s going to happen...”
Angor was hoping that this was a lucid dream because it could make it easier for him to directly talk to Jon, should he successfully learn subsequent arts.
The door of the lab room was suddenly pushed open, and another researcher went inside.
“We confirmed, Jon. The decay is caused by the Alien Eye—what’s going on? Not feeling well?”
“It’s nothing. Maybe I caught a cold last night.” Jon hid his true condition.
“Should I handle the job this time?” The researcher moved to take Jon’s containers, but Jon quickly rejected the offer.
“I’m fine. Tell our men to concentrate on their end. I’ll handle our schedule.”
Jon’s strange attitude had further confirmed it for Angor that Jon was purposely proceeding with the dream in a certain way. This didn’t seem like the work of the Dream Weaver. Rather, it was probably Jon himself who set up the “plot”.
But why would he do such a thing?