"I can certainly understand why discussing this with outsiders is forbidden, and a serious taboo at that. Most would take such an idea as a vicious insult and lie. I can't say I believe it myself."
"That's just the thing, actually," I said, taking another deep breath before I finally admitted what I'd been avoiding not just to Chen Huan, but to myself, "on several occasions, my own belief in this has been shaken. Since my arrival in this world, I've experienced a number of sensations that I can't think should be possible, if I accept the premise that everything I see, hear and do is being put into my brain by a machine.
