Chapter 1

Yuan Chenfei first met Liu Yang in his office.

At that time, he was wearing an old gray jacket and holding a hat in his hand. His hair was messy, and his expression was somewhat dazed.

His two eyes stared straight at Yuan Chenfei, with a vacant and呆滞 gaze.

"Mr. Liu?" Yuan Chenfei, holding the documents, called out cautiously.

Liu Yang seemed to wake up from a dream. His eyes regained some vitality, and he nodded at Yuan Chenfei by tilting his neck: "Hello, Doctor Yuan."

"Hello, please sit down." Yuan Chenfei pointed to the large sofa in the room.

Liu Yang sat down cautiously, but he didn't sit firmly, as if he could jump up at any moment.

"You look a bit nervous. But please trust me, okay? You can completely relax here." Yuan Chenfei spoke to him in the most gentle tone possible.

His attitude softened the clearly tense man.

Liu Yang nodded.

"Then..." Yuan Chenfei walked over, sat opposite Liu Yang, and looked at the documents in his hand, saying: "Mr. Liu, you mentioned here that you have been having frequent nightmares recently, which have been preventing you from sleeping well, is that right?"

"Yes." Liu Yang nodded vigorously: "I keep having the same dream. The scenes in the dream are very realistic and scare me to death. I can't sleep well every night, can't rest, and can't focus on work. I'm always sleepy..."

As Liu Yang spoke, the frightened expression reappeared on his face.

"You've come to the right place. I can help you have a good dream." Yuan Chenfei took out a pocket watch from his clothes.

He waved it in front of Liu Yang: "This can help you sleep."

Liu Yang's face changed instantly: "No, I don't want to sleep. Once I fall asleep, I enter that terrifying world. It's too scary."

"Don't worry, I won't let you have nightmares." Yuan Chenfei comforted him: "Oh, before that, can you tell me about the content of the dream?"

Liu Yang hesitated for a long time before saying: "It's a very terrifying dream."

"Terrifying?"

"Yes." Liu Yang stared straight at him: "I dreamed of... gods and demons descending, and the world undergoing a dramatic change."

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After leaving the office, Yuan Chenfei saw that Liu Li had already finished her meal and was eyeing his chicken leg rice hungrily.

"Damn!" Yuan Chenfei shouted, rushing over in two steps and snatching the chicken leg rice to his chest.

"Stingy." Liu Li grumbled不满地.

"If you're not full, you can always order another meal. Why do you always try to snatch others' food?" Yuan Chenfei looked at his assistant with a headache.

If he had come out any later, the chicken leg would have been gone.

Liu Li pouted and replied: "I don't know why, but if I order another meal, no matter what it is, I have no appetite for it. But if it's someone else's, I really want to eat it. Hey, you're a psychologist, why don't you tell me what kind of psychological disorder this is?"

Yuan Chenfei shook his head helplessly: "This isn't a disorder, it's a quirk."

Liu Li was stunned for a moment, then threw her head back and laughed loudly, kicking her legs in the air and shouting "Roar, roar, roar," looking like a complete madwoman.

After a while, Liu Li stopped and looked at Yuan Chenfei. Seeing him eating slowly, she knew he was deep in thought and called out: "Another strange patient? What kind this time?"

Yuan Chenfei clearly hesitated, thinking for a moment before saying:

"The patient named Liu Yang has been having nightmares about the end of the world since a month ago."

"Repeating the same nightmare?" Liu Li's eyes lit up: "That means the dreamer has an unresolved psychological issue, which in psychology is called a 'complex,' or in layman's terms, a 'knot.' This complex is directly related to the theme and emotions of the recurring dream. For example, if someone keeps dreaming about exams, it might be related to the psychological factors of 'seeking approval' or 'anxiety'..."

Yuan Chenfei smiled: "Alright, stop showing off your psychology knowledge. If it were just that, it would be simple."

"Oh?" Liu Li became interested: "What makes it not simple?"

"His dreams are very systematic." Yuan Chenfei replied.

"Systematic?"

"Very specific and detailed dreams."

"How specific and detailed?"

Yuan Chenfei answered: "A complete structure, accurate time, sufficient characters, rich plot... like a movie, no, a TV series, with everything you'd expect."

Liu Li was stunned.

After all, dreams usually lack a complete story. They are a physiological phenomenon that occurs during the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage, an active physiological process that includes imagery and emotional memory activities and unconventional associations.

Therefore, most dreams are fragmented and abstract, neither realistic nor systematic, and certainly do not have a complete structure or system.

Now, Yuan Chenfei was saying that someone's dreams were as specific as a TV series, with all the elements of time, place, characters, and plot, which was truly incredible.

"Are all the dreams like this?" Liu Li asked.

"No, they are different plots based on the same background, like a person's experiences. On the first day, he dreamed of a dramatic change in the world, with unexpected changes everywhere. On the second day, he had new encounters. On the third day, the dream continued from the second day... He had thirty days of dreams, but in the dream, he experienced thirty months, with many hardships and a miserable life."

"Are all these dream contents interconnected?" Liu Li asked in surprise.

"Yes. Surprised, right? It's like writing a novel in a dream, day after day... I've never seen such a case." Yuan Chenfei said with a hint of excitement.

He never expected that his psychological clinic, which had been open for less than half a year, would encounter such a magical case.

In the field of psychology, magical cases are not uncommon. Various bizarre psychological disorders often challenge the perspectives and knowledge of psychologists.

What Yuan Chenfei encountered was undoubtedly one of them. If he could track this case and make detailed records and analyses, it would undoubtedly be of great help to his future work and reputation.

Liu Li, however, remained much calmer. As a skeptic, she was naturally suspicious of everything.

She asked sternly: "Is it possible that the guy is making up stories? You know, there are such patients..."

Yuan Chenfei interrupted her: "You know I can tell if someone is lying."

Excellent psychologists are often also lie detectors, skilled at judging whether someone is lying through various subtle clues. They are essentially precise lie detectors.

As a top graduate from Stanford's psychology program, Yuan Chenfei was one of the best.

"Is it possible that he thought of the story during the day and then replayed it in his dreams at night?" Liu Li still wouldn't give up.

Yuan Chenfei laughed: "Random guessing won't improve your psychology skills. This patient's case is very rare. It's not appropriate to draw any conclusions now. We need long-term observation. I used hypnosis on him, let him sleep for a while..."

Before he finished speaking,

"Ah!" A shrill scream came from the office.

Yuan Chenfei put down his meal and rushed to the office with Liu Li. Pushing open the door, they saw Liu Yang had rolled off the sofa onto the floor.

He was clutching his neck and screaming desperately, almost choking himself to death.

Yuan Chenfei rushed over and forcefully pulled his hands apart.

He was incredibly strong.

After much effort, he managed to pull Liu Yang's arms away. Liu Yang coughed violently, his pupils dilated, and his eyes were filled with fear.

"Liu Yang! Liu Yang!" Yuan Chenfei shouted loudly.

Liu Yang seemed to finally wake up.

His eyes regained some vitality.

He stared blankly at the ceiling, saying nothing.

"Did you have a nightmare again?" Yuan Chenfei asked.

Liu Yang remained silent.

"Can you tell me what happened in the dream?"

Liu Yang finally looked at Yuan Chenfei.

He swallowed and said:

"They... cut off my head."

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After that day, Liu Yang never came back to Yuan Chenfei's clinic.

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