On the other end of the phone, Ryan Hill was overjoyed:

"This means your condition is improving!!"

"Didn't I tell you before? I said you should watch more sci-fi movies and read more sci-fi novels, and the world in your dreams would definitely change! Did you dream of a spaceship or a two-dimensional foil?"

"Ugh, it's not that kind of change..."

Henry Clark sat up, noticing that it was very noisy and chaotic on the other end of the call:

"Where are you?"

"Watching the game at a bar! The Qatar World Cup, want to come? It's not far from your place."

Henry Clark glanced at the clock.

It was past one in the morning.

But thinking back on the changes in the dream... he was no longer sleepy.

"Alright, wait for me."

……

Henry Clark got out of the taxi.

He hadn't even entered the bar yet when he heard the raucous cheers from inside!

Looking at the bar's sign... it should be a quiet place for drinks and conversation, but since the Qatar World Cup was on, they probably set up a special football event.

"Over here, Henry Clark! Sit over here!"

Ryan Hill squeezed through the crowd with his belly, pulling Henry Clark to a small table in the corner:

"Let's watch here. I'll go get more beer."

"No, I'm not here to watch the game."

"We can talk while we watch!"

With that, Ryan Hill's hefty figure disappeared into the crowd...

Ryan Hill.

He was Henry Clark's childhood friend.

Their parents were coworkers at the same factory, and they were born in the same family housing compound.

Maybe it was fate.

Kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school—they were always either in neighboring classes or the same class.

It's just that Henry Clark was much better at studying than Ryan Hill.

Thanks to excellent sketching scores in the art entrance exam and decent academic grades, Henry Clark got into Donghai University. Ryan Hill went to a vocational college in the north.

After graduation, Ryan Hill also came to Donghai City to work, and is currently a car salesman at a 4S dealership.

Henry Clark really trusts Ryan Hill; even after having the same recurring dream for over twenty years, Henry Clark has only ever told Ryan Hill about it.

"Here, here!"

Ryan Hill slid over with an armful of beer, set it on the table, and opened a few bottles:

"Have a beer to calm your nerves! Tell me, bro! What's going on?"

Clink!

After clinking glasses and downing some cold beer, Henry Clark finally felt a bit more grounded.

"Here's the thing, it's a bit of a long story."

Henry Clark put down his glass, using both hands and words to explain to Ryan Hill...

From the chance encounter with the big-faced cat, seeing the Keke Cat mask, then all sorts of things at the company, to copying Keke Cat from his dream and casually naming it Rhine Cat, and finally returning to the dream only to find that overnight, everyone had forgotten the name Keke Cat, with not a single trace left, and the cat's name had suddenly, without warning, become Rhine Cat.

"Mhm."

"Mhm."

Ryan Hill kept nodding, drinking, staring into space thoughtfully, looking tense.

"I get it."

Ryan Hill put down his glass, his gaze unfocused:

"So, you drew a cat in real life, and then it appeared in your dream."

"You don't get it at all!"

Henry Clark pounded the table:

"I've been seriously telling you all this time! And that's all you understood!?"

"Aaaah wuwu ahhh!!!! Ahh wah wah ahhhhhhh!!!!!!"

Suddenly, Ryan Hill jumped up and shouted!

Wailing like a ghost!

Pounding the table like a gorilla!

"Damn, you're showing your true form!"

Henry Clark stepped back in shock—

Only then did he realize.

Everyone in the bar was waving their arms and legs just like Ryan Hill:

"Goal!! Awesome!!! Messi is awesome!!"

"It's in the bag! Argentina is awesome!"

"King of the Ball! Ahhhhhhh!!!"

……

Henry Clark turned around.

On the bar's big projection screen, they were replaying the goal just now.

"You weren't listening to me at all!"

"I was, I was! Hahaha, I was listening, really."

Ryan Hill sat back down, grinning as he refilled Henry Clark's glass:

"We've known each other for over twenty years. You've told me about your dreams hundreds of times. Honestly, it's always the same stuff!"

"The point is, why did the dream stay the same for over twenty years, and why did it change today?" Henry Clark emphasized.

Thud!

Ryan Hill downed his beer in one go, set the glass on the table, and pointed at Henry Clark:

"It's actually very simple. Let me tell you why!"

Chapter 10: Suit

"You've seen 'Inception', right?"

Ryan Hill filled his glass:

"People's dreams are actually controlled by the [subconscious]."

"You know what the subconscious is, right? Normally, you're not even aware it exists, but it always influences your actions, emotions, and... dreams in mysterious ways!"

"To put it simply, the subconscious is your underlying cognition. Even if you can't sense it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Many times, people can deceive their own hearts, deceive their own brains, but—"

"[People absolutely cannot deceive their own subconscious!]"