Chapter 73: Subconscious Inception
The three lay on the grass, their steady breathing indicating they were fast asleep.
This continued for a full hour!
Suddenly, Jake sat up, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "Whew..."
"I didn't expect his consciousness to be so resilient," Cobb said, also waking at this moment, looking at Dr. Simms, who was showing signs of stirring. "It even automatically generated defenses."
"But at least the inception was successful," Jake sighed, pulling out the IV line.
Recalling the twelve hours they had spent in the dream, this subconscious implantation hadn't been smooth sailing.
...
"Who constructed the dream this time?" Cobb asked.
"I did," Jake replied, knowing that Cobb couldn't construct dreams because the influence of his deceased wife, haunting his subconscious, would appear uncontrollably and sabotage his efforts.
"This place... is quite interesting," Cobb said, looking at the sunny Malibu beach and bikini-clad women. "Isn't our target a scientist? Are you sure this environment is appropriate?"
"That's because you don't know him well enough," Jake smiled without further explanation.
In the movie The Tuxedo, Dr. Simms is a fanatic with strong "incel" tendencies. He's cowardly, greedy, lustful, and power-hungry—otherwise, he wouldn't have been so easily manipulated by threats.
He's a scientist without principles or ethics, focused only on research and personal gain.
Working for anyone is acceptable as long as he can live comfortably—that's Simms's philosophy.
Why does Jake know so much about him? Because not far away, Simms is lounging in the sun with two beautiful women on either side, enjoying the ocean breeze.
Watching Simms enjoy himself like a king, Jake asks Cobb, "How do we plant something in his subconscious?"
Cobb doesn't answer directly but instead asks, "Have you constructed any specific buildings?"
"A bank?"
"Then let's head to the bank, access his vault, and implant the idea along the way..."
The two move quickly, but for some reason, police suddenly appear on the street, opening fire on Jake and Cobb, attempting to gun them down!
"This is his dream's self-defense mechanism. Are you sure he hasn't received any training in counter-extraction?"
"He's a fanatic. I have no idea what's going on in his head."
Jake, skilled in gun-kata, showed no fear facing a dozen adversaries. Armed with dual pistols, he moved forward methodically, his arms constantly shifting positions and angles, and one by one, the officers fell to the pavement.
When the two arrived at the bank, bodies littered the street.
"Shouldn't we try to reason with him?" Jake asked Cobb, looking at the massive bank building before him. He remembered that in the original story, Cobb had devised multiple layers of intricate plans to implant ideas in others. While their approach was more direct, the process felt somewhat brutal.
"He's probably still on the beach with those models. How are we supposed to communicate with him?"
"Fair point." Nodding, the two entered the bank, stepping over the bodies piled up behind them.
With the "assistance" of a bank employee, Jake and Cobb located Simms's safe deposit box.
"What should we do?" Opening the safe, the contents were somewhat chaotic and surprising.
At the bottom was a thick stack of printer paper, covered with formulas and equations in very messy handwriting. Besides scientific notes and research data, there were condoms, a hundred-dollar bill, and a selfie of Simms.
"Do you have anything that can identify you?"
"This?" Jake pulled out a brass die, which he always used to determine if he was dreaming.
Cobb nodded. "Put it in."
He placed the brass die in the safe. Jake deliberately arranged it carefully, but frowned when he saw the condoms and the cash.
He threw all those items out, then picked up a watch from a nearby table and placed it inside, flipped Simms's photo face-down, and locked the safe.
"I feel like we should leave him with some positive associations," Jake said.
Cobb didn't speak, perhaps agreeing with the sentiment.
After completing their mission, the two shot themselves and exited the dream.
...
Aside from a somewhat unexpected firefight, the subconscious inception went relatively smoothly. Now, the two would wait for Simms to fully wake up and see how effective it was.
"Ugh..." Simms groaned as he lay on the ground, then slowly sat up and yawned. He seemed to have slept quite well.
However, he froze when he saw the two men standing before him, especially when his eyes landed on Jake. "Boss?"
"I didn't tell him to call me boss."
"He must have done it voluntarily."
Under their gazes, Simms slowly stood up, his movements formal and his expression serious. "Boss, what is our next research project?"
Looking at the completely transformed Simms, Jake immediately understood it was because he'd replaced the items in the safe.
"Let me show you where you'll be working. As for your research focus, your specialty is biology, correct?"
"That's right, I have a PhD in molecular biology, and I've published papers in..."
Seeing Simms about to launch into a lengthy academic history, Jake waved his hand. "Stop! Come on, we'll show you your new facility first."
After a few minutes of interaction, Jake was certain that the Simms before him—a biologist with an intense work ethic who was now devoted to working for him—was completely different from before.
He assigned Simms to a small guest house separate from the main estate mansion. Jake didn't give him specific tasks yet, but instead provided him with sufficient funding to acquire the equipment needed for his research.
This was to give Simms, with his workaholic tendencies, something to focus on—otherwise, Jake worried he'd go stir-crazy from having nothing to do.
"Time to get you home." Jake handed Cobb a black leather briefcase, which the latter accepted without protest.
Inside were several hundred thousand dollars in cash, a modest token of appreciation.
"If you need help again, don't hesitate to reach out."
"Don't worry, your daughter is so adorable, of course I'll visit often. I'm even thinking of proposing when she's old enough..." Seeing Cobb's expression darken like a protective grizzly bear, Jake quickly waved his hand and stopped his teasing. "Alright, alright, let's get you back."
"Feels like something is still missing."
Looking at the estate that was practically falling into ruin, overgrown with weeds, a massive property without dedicated staff to maintain and clean it looked like a haunted mansion, making visitors hesitant to enter.
He was still missing housekeepers and staff, which definitely couldn't be ordinary humans. He already had fresh ideas about which world he was going to visit next.
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