Speaking about the changes to humans and cats as well as the weird landscape and structures, the length of two years could probably explain those changes. However, the sun that had changed into Fishball's face was simply unexplainable.
Zhao Yao patted his face and muttered, "Am I under some spell?" He withdrew his five sense and immediately returned it back.
He looked at his surroundings, lifted his head but the sun was still Fishball's face.
He deeply exhaled, "This spells trouble."
"This isn't an illusion, this fantasy…" Zhao Yao shut his eyes and the ominous feeling became more evident in him. He slowly began thinking of events that took place.
"I can remember what happened prior to I was awake. When I returned home, Matcha and the rest were asleep. I went to sleep after washing the dishes. But when I was awoken…"
He tried to recall the various happenings, the people and cats he met. However, besides the familiar faces, he could barely remember the rest.
With Zhao Yao's concentration and his abilities, his memory was incredible. To not even remember a single face, it was not possible.
"Am I… dreaming?" Zhao Yao recalled when Matcha and the rest fell onto the ground as well as the changes that happened to Xiao Yu, Zhao Xue and the rest. It seemed to be what they wanted to change into, "This isn't my dream? It's a connected dream of ours?"
It seemed like this situation was more complicated that it seemed, Zhao Yao hence decided to retrieve the rest of his cats.
"Irregardless, I will retrieve all the cats first and gain the experience points." Zhao Yao suddenly frowned, "If this is really a dream, I wonder if the book's task is real. I can ask Zhao Xue and the rest."
When he exited the forest, Zhao Yao pointed to the sun and asked them, "What's up with this?"
"Ah?" Xiao Yu looked at the sky and was suspicious, "Isn't it just the sun? Why?"
Zhao Yao was speechless, "That's Fishball! This is obviously Fishball!"
"Fishball? The sun is just the sun, how can it be Fishball?" Xiao Yu was puzzled, "And Zhao Yao, you're out so quickly? Where's Matcha, Roly Poly and the rest?"
As Zhao Yao looked at Zhao Xue, Zhao Shiyu and Xiao Yu who thought that the sun was still the same and had forgotten the existence of Fishball, he could not help but sighed. "No one is aware of the oddness of the sun? Only I'm aware that this might be a dream?"
As he sat on the car, Xiao Yu and the rest drove back to the cafe. He began conversing with them. He started asking the outsiders about things that they could not possibly know about him, Zhao Xue and Xiao Yu when they were young. As he heard them answer, he asked a few questions that he did not have the answer to too.
"Zhao Xue, when did you start like women?"
"Xiao Yu, when did you start having your dog?"
As he saw them answer fluently and explaining with details. Zhao Yao could somewhat confirm that Xiao Yu and Zhao Xue were real people. If not they could not have known so much. Even for details that Zhao Yao didn't know, they could answer sincerely with details.
Zhao Xue curiously looked at Zhao Yao and said, "Brother, why do you have so much to talk about today?"
"He he, I couldn't remember many things after sleeping for two years. I am just trying to confirm some matters." Zhao Yao looked at the two of them and asked his last question, "What did you all have for dinner yesterday?"
As they listened to this simple question, Zhao Xue, Xiao Yu and Xiao Shiyu revealed blank stares. They seemed to be trying their best to recall but couldn't remember anything.
In dreams, some memories would be blurry. With the human's consciousness, we cannot possibly every specific detail in the world. Hence, there were some that would have been neglected by our consciousness.
Just like Zhao Xue and the rest, they did not actually spent two years in their dreams. The context of the dream allowed them to feel like they had actually spent two years. If they tried to recall specific details like what they ate and how much they spent on a daily basis, it would be a blur.
As he looked at their expressions, he was more or less confident that they were existing in the same dream.
But he still couldn't comprehend why Noodle became Ho Hao Cang.
"Perhaps Noodle saw Ho Hao Cang previously and thought that he was too handsome and wanted to become this man?" Zhao Yao could only think of this explanation. Even with his wonderful imagination, he still couldn't think of the real reason for that. Their consciousness had overlapped and this weird occurrence took place.
Zhao Yao stroke his chin and thought, "Looking at things now, even though this dream is connected by many people and cats. However, they could only change themselves and not others. Zhao Xue becoming a guy, Xiao Yu becoming a beauty, Matcha and Roly Poly fighting for the cafe. The rest of the supercats would have probably became what they envisioned. This dream seemed to be triggered by an ability and probably by a supercat or an apostle."
"And to escape this scenario…" The first thought Zhao Yao had was death. "Let's try other methods and if all of them don't work out, let's see if death can escape the dream."
After all, Zhao Yao still has two lives. There's capacity for him to try, even if he died once, he wasn't afraid.
"I'm able to awaken myself in my sleep, this probably still had to do with my ability of five cats." This ability was holistic and apart from endowing his body, it also enhanced his consciousness. Hence, he could be awoken in his dream.
But he also realised that he couldn't change himself like what Zhao Xue and Xiao Yu did as he wasn't actually dreaming and didn't have the ability to change himself and his experiences.
"But the person orchestrating this isn't that powerful." From the situation, if the person could properly orchestrate the dream, the dream wouldn't be like that.
The scenes and rules in the dream possibly still had to fulfil everyone's consciousness. Only their personal areas could be altered.