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

However, after practicing, she realized that the meditation method would not save her.

Once she left this dream, she would immediately face a food shortage crisis. The effects of the meditation technique would only manifest years later, and by that time, it would be too late—it would be irrelevant.

As time passed, it was around four or five o’clock in the afternoon.

At Tabitha’s reminder, she had to take off the visual terminal and accompany the doctor to the large cafeteria at the end of a corridor on the floor for a meal.

“…Little girl, you’re at the age of growth, so make sure to eat more,” the uncle serving food in the cafeteria said warmly.

Glancing at his completely metallic right arm, Yvette smiled sweetly and said, “Thank you, uncle.”

After getting her food, she found an empty corner to sit down, her smile fading as she began to think.

From her interactions with the cafeteria uncle, Dr. Tabitha, and the staff she encountered along the way, she felt that everyone here was quite normal and friendly.

This made her begin to doubt her “human experimentation theory.”

After all, if they were really conducting human experiments, there would be no need to provide such good treatment for these orphans. They had single rooms, visual terminals, and a specially designated large activity room, all while maintaining such a gentle attitude. They could simply keep the kids locked up, providing only basic water and food, which would be more budget-friendly.

Of course, she couldn’t rule out the possibility that Dr. Tabitha and the others were kept in the dark. But if she had the chance to escape and managed to survive, she could search for any clues in the ruined base…

As she thought about this, Yvette suddenly entertained another idea—what if this dream was perpetual?

Would she be trapped here for life?

But…

Being trapped outside was just as bad as being trapped inside. Weighing the two options, staying in this dream felt a bit better?

…

In the following days, Yvette spent most of her time in the machine room class, learning the Black Tide Language and continuously using the AI program to explore common knowledge and intel about this world, searching for ways to maximize her survival once she left the dream.

Yet the AI’s responses gradually sank her heart.

—Even being in the wild would be manageable; at worst, it would be survival in the wilderness. But here, in a metal-structured base with no way out, where even cockroaches and rats couldn’t survive, where would she find food?

The Magic Glow Vine, while beautiful, was full of toxic alkaloids. Eating it would either poison her or cause fatal intestinal blockage due to its indigestible cellulose, making it impossible to serve as emergency rations.

Overall, the only survival strategy seemed to be to cling to this dream, hoping never to leave!

Upon realizing this, Yvette couldn’t help but find it amusing.

If a typical protagonist from a novel were trapped in such a bizarre dream, they would surely strive with all their might to escape. Yet here she was, not only wanting to stay but actively hoping to prolong her time in the dream…

 Obito was right.

What was wrong with a world of illusions!

Thus, in this contradictory mindset of striving for survival yet despairing, Yvette spent six months in the dream.

One night, watching the walls slowly begin to fade, Yvette understood that she was finally about to leave.

To be honest, after staying in the dream for so long, she had thought it was eternal. Unless she died of hunger in the real world, she would never escape.

Now it seemed that wasn’t the case; it was just a particularly long-lasting dream.

Feeling complex emotions, she changed into the white dress she had worn upon entering the dream. After anxiously waiting, when all the scenes vanished, she found herself staring into deep darkness.

She slowly opened her eyes to see the ruined base’s layer negative ten, covered in Magic Glow Vines.

She had finally awakened.

But unlike before entering the dream, the surrounding mist had vanished, as if it had never existed.

Yes, just as the AI said, magic also abides by the law of conservation of energy—once the mist dissipated, it meant the energy had been used up…

As for what that mist was, the AI in her dream offered a reasonable hypothesis. It suggested that the mist formed a magical energy field due to the intertwining of many souls and memories of those who had died without dissipating for some reason. It even cited some materials regarding cult organizations that studied necromancy to demonstrate its feasibility.

Considering that this place had indeed undergone a great disaster, resulting in many deaths, Yvette decided to accept this explanation for the time being.

Then, she stood up, brushed off her skirt, felt that her physical condition was still fair, and decided to look around on this level for any recyclable items.

Suddenly, a small discovery caused her movements to come to a halt. Googlᴇ search novel※fire.net

If she remembered correctly, before entering the dream, she was only wearing a white dress and had nothing else on. But now, she had underwear, white stockings, and clean little shoes—all of which were her clothing in the dream!

Who had changed her clothes?

But for someone to do so so precisely, was it really something she had brought back from the dream herself?

Yvette’s heart began to race; there were now two possibilities. The first was that a mysterious person was hiding here, capable of peering into her dream, and secretly dressed her while she was asleep—but that seemed incredibly absurd and could be dismissed almost instantly.

The second possibility, however, was that this dream was not merely a dream. It might be a special form of time travel, allowing her to use the dream to genuinely return to the past while bringing something back with her!

Damn it, I should have brought some tools!

Yvette lamented silently, and after a moment, suddenly realized something. She quickly removed the stockings and began to examine the soles of her feet—she had walked barefoot before entering the dream, collecting a lot of gray black, and on the night before, she made a point to clean her toes before sleeping.

If her feet were still clean now, it would indicate she had indeed experienced a physical time travel; otherwise, it was just a dream.

A few seconds later, under the bluish glow, Yvette frowned slightly—her feet were still dirty; she had not undergone physical time travel.

Then where had her extra clothes come from?

Was it possible there were others hiding here? Some kind of ghost or evil spirit? Was the dream she experienced actually a mirage created by malevolent spirits?

As this thought crossed her mind, Yvette felt a chill rise from the bottom of her heart, and the surrounding scene turned eerie, as if countless eyes were secretly watching her in the darkness.

But fortunately, as a person who valued logical thinking, she quickly adjusted her mindset, dismissing this low-probability event after a few deep breaths.

This was mainly because she well understood that the worst thing in such a situation was to scare herself.

If external factors didn’t appear and she frightened herself into mental instability, then the false would become real.

Thus, after thoroughly checking around layer negative ten and finding no clues, Yvette resolved to attribute this strange phenomenon to the peculiar mist of the dream.

And then…

Returning to the layer negative nine where she had lived for half a year, looking at the Magic Glow Vines in the hall, Yvette couldn’t help but show a wry smile.

Damn it, what a mess!

At worst, she would starve to death and restart!