tearjerker director

Chapter 1651 Dream within a dream

Mal smiled and asked, "Will I survive if I jump?"

Cobb said, "If we go directly into the sea, maybe it's possible. Mal, why are you here?"

She turned around and looked at him, and said with some joy: "I think maybe you miss me."

She smiled. He leaned forward, looking a little confused.

Cobb looked at her and said, "I miss you, but I won't trust you again."

She looked up at him with a seductive look: "So what?"

"It looks like something Arthur would have liked," she said, gazing at a painting and sipping champagne.

Cobb looked through the window at the security guard patrolling the lower level of the castle and said, "In fact, Mr. Li prefers British painters after World War II."

He turned to Mal and pulled on a pair of black leather gloves.

Cobb couldn't help but say to her, "Would you please sit down?"

Mal lowered herself very gracefully into the leather chair with back and arms. Cobb approached her, pulled out a long piece of black rope, and knelt at Mal's feet. She looked down at him.

Mal looked at him and said, "Tell me."

Cobb tied the rope around the chair legs.

Mal continued to ask, "Do the children miss me?"

Cobb paused and let his gloved fingers touch her ankle. He looked up at her. "You can't imagine."

Mal looked away, looking uncomfortable, and Cobb stood up and straightened the rope as he leaned back toward the window.

Mal looked at him in confusion, "What are you going to do?"

Cobb threw the rope out the window: "Get some fresh air."

He gripped the rope firmly, testing it out. The chair, with the weight of Mal sitting on it, would hold.

He said to the woman, "Please sit down!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped down. Mal stared at the open window in a trance.

Cobb slid down the wall, leaping through windows at high speed. He stopped at one particular window. He pulled out his glass cutter. Suddenly he began to fall. The empty chair slid across the floor—and got stuck under the window. Cobb stopped abruptly 15 feet from the sill, looked up at the bedroom window, shook his head, and began to climb back up.

Cobb stepped silently down the window sill into the dark kitchen. He drew his pistol from his waist and loaded a load of bullets into the chamber as he crossed the room. Then he slipped in the darkness toward a guard who was standing at the beginning of the huge staircase. The guard heard something—turned—and peered into the darkness, searching.

Cobb flashed out from the shadows, silently loaded his pistol, aimed and fired, hitting the guard in the head - the guard fell down... but Cobb quickly went over to catch him, slid on his knees on the floor, and at the same time quietly put the guard down on the floor.

He walked over to a painting and with his practiced hands he quickly moved it away from the wall, revealing a safe. Cobb fiddled with the dials, opened the safe, pulled out an envelope, and quickly tucked it into his belt before pulling out an identical envelope.

But at this moment, all the lights came on and Cobb didn't move.

Li Teng's voice came: "Turn around."

Cobb turned around and saw Li Teng standing at the other end of the room. Next to him was Mal, holding a gun in her hand and smiling at Cobb.

Mal looked at him and said, "Put the gun down, Dom."

Cobb didn't move. Mal gestured outside, only to see two guards dragging Arthur into the house, with Mal pointing a gun at his head.

"please!"

Cobb placed the gun on his end of the long table and swung it across the polished ebony, stopping in the middle of the table.

Li Teng said: "Take out the envelope now, Mr. Cobb."

Cobb reached to his waist, pulled out one of the envelopes, and slid it across the table. He stepped back, raising his hand.

Cobb asked him, "Did she tell you that? Or did you know it all along?"

Li Teng said calmly: "Did you know that you came here to steal my things? Or did you know that we were actually in a dream?"

Arthur gave Cobb an "I told you so" look.

Li Teng said, "I want to know the name of your employer."

Mal's loaded gun was pressed against Arthur's temple.

Cobb was not nervous: "It's no use threatening him in a dream."

Mal obviously understood this: "It depends on what you threaten. Killing him will only make him wake up...but the pain? The pain will remain in his mind."

As he spoke, Mal lowered his gun and shot Arthur in the foot - Arthur fell down, screaming - Mal looked at Cobb with a grim expression.

Mal continued, "And judging by the decorations, we are in your dream, right, Arthur?"

Cobb watched Arthur's agony. Mal aimed at Arthur's other foot. Cobb leaped over to the table, gliding across its smooth surface--he grabbed the gun--and shot Arthur between the eyes!
Gunshot! Arthur fell to the ground, and the whole house suddenly began to be shaken by a huge earthquake. Cobb rushed to the door. Arthur's eyes were staring at the ceiling, and he was dead.

The scene then shifts back to the dirty bathroom, where Arthur wakes up in the chair, opens his eyes, grabs the tubes on his wrists and unties them!

Nash was surprised: "What are you doing?! This is too fast!"

Arthur hurriedly opened the silver box on the bathroom floor, and some liquid splashed out of the pipe.

Arthur said, "I know! We have to reconnect the loop knot before they wake up!"

Arthur grabbed the box, pushed open the door to the bedroom, and followed the tube to where it connected to Li Teng's wrist. Li Teng lay on the bed, still asleep, just turning over.

Still in the Chinese manor, Cobb walked towards the stairs with difficulty. The buildings around him began to shake, tremble up and down, deform and fall down one after another! Li Teng and the security guards were panicked. Mal calmly shuttled among the destroyed buildings, picked up the envelope, and turned to hand it to Li Teng.

Mal said, "He was almost there, just a little bit."

On the other side, Cobb rushed up the stairs and pulled out the second envelope!

Meanwhile, Li Teng tore open the envelope and pulled out a stack of papers. He looked at Mal and fell into panic. He turned and yelled at the security guard, "Stop him!"

Mal looked at the paper, confused: it was completely blank. Mal smiled, becoming even more excited.

Cobb ran up the stairs while reading the printed materials he took out of the envelope. Outside, in the dirty bathroom, Arthur opened the silver briefcase: inside was a complex device with tangled pipes, syringes, and dosage controllers. Arthur glanced at Li Teng's disturbed expression, and his hands moved quickly on the machine control buttons.

Arthur said, "I don't think I can do this! Wake up Cobb!"

Nash turned to Cobb, raised his hand and slapped him in the face.

At the same time, in the intertwined dreams, something fell and damaged the road on the side, and Cobb fell down!

The ceiling above Li Teng's head collapsed, and when he looked up, a pile of rocks fell down and crushed him.

Li Teng's eyes blinked open and he woke up.

In the dirty bathroom, Nash continued to slap Cobb with his hands, but Cobb couldn't wake up no matter how hard he hit him!

"He can't wake up!" Nash said.

Arthur squatted beside Li Teng and connected the second tube: "Take him down!"

There was a crisp sound: Arthur looked up and found that Li Teng was pointing a gun at his head and a finger at his lips, signaling him not to make a sound!

Nash put his hand on Cobb's forehead and pushed him back, and in slow motion Cobb began to fall backwards in his chair.

Inside the manor, or perhaps in a dream, Cobb tried his best to calm himself and quickly read the last page. He stared at the paper with confusion on his face, while the security guards rushed up the stairs and fired, and the bullets hit him around him.

The scene switches again, back to the dirty bathroom!
Cobb falls to the water in slow motion, and as he continues to fall, the water covers his head.

Inside the manor! When Cobb looked up from his paper, the water broke through all the windows, and the flood sank to the bottom and submerged the entire hall. Cobb was swallowed by the flood that came from all directions in an instant. He was either pushed into the depths or pulled to the surface of the water. Suddenly he broke out of the water and struggled to get up from the bathtub to breathe air!

He woke up, breathing rapidly, and trying to find his direction. The next moment, Li Teng rushed into the bathroom and knocked Nash down. Cobb jumped out of the bathtub, splashing water all over the bathroom. Cobb flew towards Li Teng and pressed him against the door. The gun fell to the ground.

Cobb's fist hit Li Teng's chin and the fight was quickly over.

After an unknown amount of time, Cobb sat there, soaking wet but very calm, and put Li Teng's gun in his own hand. Nash twisted Li Teng's arm from behind. The noise of the riot outside was getting louder and louder.

Cobb asked, "You came prepared."

Li Teng laughed: "I brought a gun because even the people responsible for my safety don't know about this apartment. How did you find it?"

Arthur stood at the window, watching the escalating violence outside.

Cobb said: "It's difficult for someone as powerful as you to keep your love nest completely secret...especially when there's a married woman involved."

Li Teng shook his head: "She won't leak it!"

Cobb said, "But here we are."

Li Teng remained silent after hearing this.

Cobb added: "It's a dilemma."

Li Teng looked at him: "You got what you wanted, didn't you?"

Cobb shook his head again: "That's not entirely true. The most crucial information is not on it, right, Mr. Li Teng?"

Arthur looked at Cobb with a worried look on his face: "They're getting closer, Cobb."

The scene changes again, this time on a bullet train.

Chen Tian put a pair of earphones on Nash's ears and took out an MP3 player.

On the other side, Li Teng's eyes were on the floor.

Cobb said: "You kept some things because you know the purpose of our trip." As he said that, he lifted Li Teng's chin with the barrel of the gun.

“Why did you involve us?”

Li Teng laughed, defiantly. The sound of the riot echoed up the stairs!

“It’s a test.”

Cobb was suspicious: "Testing what?"

Li Teng smiled and shook his head: "It doesn't matter, you failed."

Cobb frowned. "We've stolen all the information you put there."

Li Teng laughed: "But your trick is too obvious."

On the bullet train, Chen Tian opened the silver suitcase, revealing a complex syringe and dosage control
Mechanical devices such as controllers - there are four metering controllers showing countdown.

Chen Tian waited until the first countdown showed "30", then he pressed the play button on the MP3 player.

Key - He raised his voice while looking at Nash's sleeping face...

"No, I don't regret it at all," came the voice through the headphones on Nash's head.

Back to Cobb, a strange, heavy, low music begins to sound from the background, sounding like a distant horn...

Li Teng was a little impatient: "Don't bother me, just go away."

Cobb said: "You know, the company that hired us will not accept our failure. We won't last two days."

The music in the distance grew louder and louder, and then the shouting came rushing upstairs. Arthur looked at his watch, its slow second hand ticking away the time in time with the loud music.

Arthur said urgently, "Hurry up, Cobb."

"So we have to use simple and primitive methods now!" Cobb grabbed Li Teng and pressed him to the ground, pressing the gun against his cheek. Li Teng looked into Cobb's eyes, challenging him to pull the trigger, but suddenly Li Teng blinked and looked away with shame on his face!
When he realized something, he started laughing.

Li Teng said: "I have always hated the carpet here."

Cobb's eyes flickered to the carpet and then back.

Li Teng: "It's dirty and tattered, but it's very special!"

Cobb looked up at Nash, who shrugged with a helpless look on his face.

Li Teng: "But it is indeed a wool blanket. And now I am lying on a piece of polyester fiber."

Cobb stares at Nash!
On the high-speed train, Chen Tian saw the first row of numbers jump to zero. He looked up at Arthur and moved slightly.

The interlaced shots return to Cobb's side.

Li Teng turned over from the carpet and looked up at Cobb: "That is to say, I am not lying on my carpet now, nor am I lying in my apartment. You are indeed worthy of your reputation, Mr. Cobb. I am still dreaming."

Cobb looked towards Arthur, but Arthur was gone.

Obviously, this is indeed a dream within a dream!

On the high-speed train again, Arthur's eyes opened, he woke up, and he pulled off his pipe.

Chen Tian asked: "How is the situation?"

Arthur shook his head. "Not good."

He checked the three remaining sets of countdowns.

On the other side, Li Teng stood up and looked at Cobb with admiration: "This is a dream within a dream. I have learned a lesson."

Cobb put down his gun, looking completely defeated. He looked at his watch, the music started again, and the rioters banged on the door.

(End of this chapter)