-5- Who changed her into these?

Under the guidance of the AI, Yvette spent the entire afternoon learning how to practice this retro-style “art of wellness,” completing the initial introduction.

But after trying it out, she was certain that meditation would not save her.

Once she left this dream, she would immediately face the survival crisis of food shortage, while the effects of meditation would only manifest years later. By then, it would be too late.

Later, around four or five in the afternoon, following Doctor Tabitha’s reminder, she had to remove the visual terminal and go with the doctor to the large cafeteria at the end of a corridor on this floor to have a meal.

“...Young lady, you’re still growing, so you need to eat more,” said the uncle serving Yvette enthusiastically in the cafeteria.

Glancing at his fully replaced mechanical right arm made of metal, Yvette smiled sweetly. “Thank you, uncle.”

After getting her food and finding a quiet corner to sit, her smile quickly faded as she began to think.

Interacting with the cafeteria uncle, Doctor Tabitha, and some staff she met along the way, she felt everyone here was quite normal and friendly.

This made her doubt her “human experimentation theory.”

If it were truly a human experiment, there would be no need to provide such good treatment to these orphans—single rooms, visual terminals, dedicated activity rooms, and gentle attitudes. Why not just lock them up and provide basic water and food? That would be more budget-friendly.

Still, she couldn’t rule out the possibility that even Doctor Tabitha and the others were kept in the dark. If she had the chance to leave and survive, she could look for clues in the ruins of the base.

At that thought, another idea suddenly took root in Yvette’s heart—what if this dream was eternal?

Would she be trapped here forever?

But...

Whether outside or inside, she would be trapped. Between the two evils, she chose the lesser. Staying in this dream seemed a bit better.

...

Over the following days, Yvette spent most of her time in the machine room classroom, not only learning the Black Tide language but also constantly using the AI programs there to gather general knowledge and information about this world, searching for ways to survive after leaving the dream.

But the AI’s responses gradually sank her heart.

Even in the wilderness survival was possible, but here she was trapped in a metal-constructed base from which there was no escape. A place where even cockroaches and rats couldn’t survive—where was she supposed to find food?

Though the magical light vines were beautiful, they contained toxic alkaloids. Eating them would either poison her or cause fatal intestinal obstruction due to indigestible cellulose. They couldn’t serve as emergency rations.

In summary, the only survival strategy was to stay in this dream forever and never leave!

Having clarified this, Yvette found it somewhat amusing.

If she were a protagonist in a normal novel trapped in such a strange dream, she would surely try every means to escape. Yet she, instead of wanting to leave, was trying hard to linger longer in the dream...

Obito was right.

What’s so bad about a world of illusions?

Thus, caught between the contradiction of desperately trying to survive and hopelessly waiting for death, Yvette spent six months in the dream.

One night, gazing at the gradually fading walls, Yvette realized she was finally going out.

To be honest, after staying in the dream for so long, she had thought it was eternal—unless she starved to death in the real world, she would never escape.

Now, it seemed not so; it was just a rather long-lasting dream.

With mixed feelings, she changed back into the white dress she had worn when she arrived. After a nervous wait, when all the scenes disappeared, what appeared before her eyes was deep darkness.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw the tenth basement level of the ruined base, covered with magical light vines.

She was finally awake.

But unlike before she entered the dream, the surrounding fog had vanished as if it had never existed.

Yes, just as the AI said, magic also abides by energy conservation. The dissipated fog meant the energy had been used up...

As for what exactly that fog was, the AI program had offered a reasonable hypothesis in the dream: it was a magical energy field formed by the spirits and memories of countless deceased who hadn’t yet dissipated after death, intertwined by some unknown reason. It even cited data from cults researching necromantic technologies to support the possibility.

Considering the massive disaster and many deaths here, Yvette decided to accept this explanation for the time being.

Then she stood up, brushed off her skirt, felt her body in decent condition, and planned to search this level for any usable items.

Suddenly, a tiny discovery made her stop abruptly.

If she remembered correctly, before entering the dream she wore only a white dress and nothing else. But now she had underwear, white stockings, and clean little leather shoes—all attire from her dream!

Who had changed her clothes?

But for the clothes to fit so exactly, could it really be that she had brought them out from the dream herself?

Yvette’s heart pounded fiercely. There were two possibilities. One, some mysterious person was hiding here, able to spy on her dreams and secretly dress her while she slept—but that was obviously absurd and could be dismissed quickly.

The other was that this dream was not just a dream but a special kind of time travel. She had actually returned to the past through this dream and brought things back!

Damn it, she should have brought some tools!

Regretting it deeply, after a moment, she suddenly realized something and took off the stockings to check the soles of her feet—she had always walked barefoot before entering the dream, leaving them covered in dark dust. On the first day in the dream, she had even washed her toes clean before sleeping, thinking about this.

If her feet were still clean now, it would prove she had physically traveled. If not, it was still a dream.

After a few seconds, under the faint blue light, Yvette frowned slightly—they were still dirty. She had not crossed over physically.

Then where did the extra clothes on her come from?

Could there really be someone else here? Some ghost or evil spirit? Was the dream she experienced all a phantom created by malevolent spirits?

Thinking this, a chill rose from her heart, and the surroundings seemed to grow eerie, as if countless eyes were secretly watching her from the darkness.

But fortunately, as a person who valued logical thinking, she quickly adjusted, and after a few deep breaths, dismissed such a low-probability event.

Mainly because she knew well that the worst thing was to scare herself.

If no external factor appeared, but she scared herself into a mental breakdown, the fake would become real.

So after thoroughly inspecting the tenth basement level and finding no clues, Yvette could only attribute this anomaly to that strange dream fog.

Afterward...

Returning to the ninth basement level where she had lived for half a year in the dream, looking at the magical light vines in the hall, Yvette bared her teeth in frustration and helplessness.

Damn it, just give up!

At worst, she’d starve and start over!