Reality Programming Association

Chapter 82: Chapter 34: Everyone Succumbs

”It’s... that thing.” Shi Zuozhou rubbed his neck and handed his phone to Yu Xian.

”The guys from the optoelectronics major next door gave it to me. It’s a hypnosis audio file. They said if you listen to it while falling asleep, you can have a lucid dream.”

As he said this, he glanced at Yu Xian, a bit guiltily.

”I was going to send it to you just now, but you didn’t want it. If you want it, I can just send it to you now...”

Yu Xian didn’t say anything, his gaze fixed on Shi Zuozhou’s phone screen.

It was the interface of a local music player, the filename scrolling across.

NightBus_V3.0.2.mp3.

Midnight Bus.

Yu Xian spun around and, with a loud CLICK, flicked on the main light in the dorm room.

A harsh white light instantly flooded the room, and Shi Zuozhou reflexively raised a hand to shield his eyes.

But the blackout curtains on the other two bunks remained perfectly still.

”Were you... asleep just now?”

Yu Xian stared intently at Shi Zuozhou.

”Huh? I... I was asleep. I’d even started dreaming.” Shi Zuozhou still seemed dazed.

”What’s going on? Did something big happen?”

Yu Xian glanced at his phone. 1:58 AM.

Nearly forty minutes had passed since lights out.

It was too late.

Shi Zuozhou was already in. The other two must have gone in long ago.

”What did you dream about?”

Yu Xian’s throat felt a little dry. He didn’t dare to imagine what sort of malicious things might have been embedded in that ”Midnight Bus” audio file.

”A dream?” Shi Zuozhou paused for a moment. ”I just dreamed I was at a bus stop late at night. I’d just gotten on the bus when you woke me up. Old Yu, what the hell is wrong with you? You’re being so paranoid.”

Yu Xian took a deep breath. He hadn’t told Shi Zuozhou about the TDI project precisely because he didn’t want to get him involved in this mess. He never expected that his efforts would backfire so spectacularly.

He glanced at the other two bunks and lowered his voice. ”Let’s go. We’ll talk outside.”

”Go outside for what? It’s so cold out there. Can’t we just talk here?”

”We’ll wake them up.” Yu Xian pointed to the other two beds. ’Since they’re already in the dream, waking them up now might just get us blamed, and there’s so much I can’t explain to them anyway.’

Unexpectedly, Shi Zuozhou waved his hand dismissively, a nonchalant look on his face.

”Don’t worry, you won’t wake them. The guys from optoelectronics who’ve used it all said it makes you sleep super deep—it’s deep sleep. Unless you violently shake them awake like you just did to me, you could bang a gong right next to their ear and they wouldn’t stir.”

’Deep sleep...’

’Can’t be woken even by a gong...’

Hearing Shi Zuozhou’s words, a chill ran down Yu Xian’s spine.

’This isn’t sleep. This is clearly the brain’s control being hijacked, with consciousness locked away in a dream.’

”Old Shi, that file... besides you three, who else did you send it to?”

Seeing Yu Xian’s grave expression, Shi Zuozhou slowly began to realize something was wrong. He swallowed hard.

”Well... the internet is out today, right? We had nothing to do tonight, and we couldn’t go out because of the heavy rain. Everyone was just cooped up in their dorms, so...”

Shi Zuozhou’s expression turned grim.

”I think... pretty much every guy in the entire men’s dorm has a copy by now...”

’It’s over.’

’It’s completely out of control.’

Yu Xian froze on the spot.

It was already two in the morning.

The entire South District School of Physics men’s dormitory, with its hundreds of male students.

On this isolated island of a night, cut off by the torrential rain and the dead internet.

With no internet and no entertainment, one could only imagine how tempting an audio file named ”Midnight Bus” would be to a group of young men with excess energy and no outlet for it.

Deep sleep. In a dream where you can see whoever you want, do whatever you want.

It was a poisoned apple that was simply impossible to refuse.

He feared they had long since turned off their lights, put on their headphones, laid down in their beds, and, full of anticipation, pressed that play button.

All of them, boarding the ”Midnight Bus” headed for the abyss.

The entire building, perhaps even the entire South District Dormitory... everyone had fallen.

Shi Zuozhou saw Yu Xian’s deathly pale face. He dropped his playful demeanor, his voice trembling slightly.

”Don’t scare me, Old Yu. What the hell is wrong with this thing? Is it some kind of virus that steals your phone’s data? Or... is it bad for your brain?”

Yu Xian took a deep breath, turned, and looked at his normally carefree friend.

”Old Shi, do you remember what I told you on the phone the night Professor Gao’s obituary was released? About those suicide cases.”

Shi Zuozhou froze for a second, then nodded.

”I remember. You said those people acted like completely different people before they died, and their families even said they were impostors... wait a minute.”

His eyes shot wide open. He pointed at the phone screen, his finger trembling.

”Y-You’re not trying to say... that this audio file has something to do with those dead people, are you?”

”It’s directly related.”

Yu Xian stared at the phone in Shi Zuozhou’s hand.

”I suspect those people who died were trapped in their dreams. That audio file contains malicious commands that brainwash them in their sleep. When they wake up, they can’t tell the difference between dreams and reality, and maybe even...”

He paused, but then spoke the truth:

”It might even induce them to commit suicide in the real world.”

”Fuck.”

Shi Zuozhou’s face was ashen. He looked at the other two beds, then back at Yu Xian.

”Then... then we have to wake them up! And the guys next door! If something really happens...”

”It’s useless.”

Yu Xian shook his head.

”Putting aside how tempting the audio is for them, my suspicions are just theories. I have no proof. I can’t just tell them about the suicides, and it would be impossible to explain everything if I woke them up.”

He glanced out the window before continuing.

”Besides, there are hundreds of people in this building alone. How could we possibly wake them all up one by one? Not to mention some of the dorm rooms are locked at night.”

Despair.

Despair washed over him like the floodwaters outside the window.

Yu Xian had a feeling that this was a setup, an absolutely ruthless one.

The storm had cut off all transportation. The internet outage had severed the flow of information. And driven by human weakness and curiosity, the audio file began to spread like a virus.

It was like a meticulously planned ”massacre.”

He had no idea how many other dormitory buildings, apartment blocks, or staff quarters were playing out this same scene.

”So what do we do? Just stand here and watch?” Shi Zuozhou paced around the room anxiously. ”What about... calling the police?”

’Call the police?’

’And say what?’

’It’s not like I have any proof, just pure speculation.’

’What’s worse...’ Yu Xian glanced at his phone. No service. ’It’ll be tough just to contact the outside world.’

Even if the police believed them, by the time they braved the storm to get here, it would be too late.

Yu Xian was silent for a moment before saying helplessly,

”Right now... all we can do is pray that this version of the audio file doesn’t have any malicious commands hidden in it.”

Shi Zuozhou flopped onto the bed.

”Old Yu, don’t freak me out. I didn’t feel any suicidal urges or anything in that dream just now. In fact, it felt really comfortable and peaceful.”

”Comfort and peace can be the most dangerous things. It’s like being a frog in slowly warming water. By the time it boils, you can’t jump out even if you want to.”

After a pause, Yu Xian thought of a key question.

”Old Shi, do you know where this audio file originally came from? Who was the source?”

Shi Zuozhou frowned in thought.

”When I got back from leeching Wi-Fi tonight, around eleven-something, the whole hallway was already talking about it. I think it started spreading from a few dorms on the first floor. Once everyone saw the internet was down and had nothing to do, they all started passing it around. Some used Bluetooth, some used data cables, some used Apple’s AirDrop. It covered the whole building in no time.”

Yu Xian’s heart sank. The source was already untraceable.

In a closed, informationally homogenous environment like a university campus, the speed at which something tempting spreads is exponential.

Moreover, this audio file was different from the TDI login key he had used. It didn’t require device binding or audio fingerprint recognition, so there was no need to restrict it to Apple devices and headphones.

Yu Xian turned to look out the window. This dorm building, which on a normal day would be brightly lit late into the night, was now deathly silent, with nearly every window dark.

The old dormitory, built in the last century, seemed to have transformed into a giant morgue.

In every room, the vibrant, young students had become mere husks, their consciousnesses hijacked.

Yu Xian staggered and grabbed onto the bed rail for support.