The flesh and blood oozing yellow-green pus sprayed like sudden rain towards everyone in the surveillance room, accompanied by the sudden explosion.
Franca had no time to use the Ice Amulet, nor to grab Jenna and the others to bring them into the compact mirror in her hand. She could only face the explosion, which wasn't too powerful, and the obviously dangerous flesh, blood, and viscous fluid.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
In this situation, the three of them could only actively trigger their Mirror Substitutions, first being shattered by the impact wave, then being coated with sticky flesh and still-writhing yellow-green pus.
Ludwig, who had also been given a Mirror Substitution by each of the three Demonesses, didn't use it himself. Instead, he crouched down, hugging his body tightly to minimize his "exposed area".
During this process, he opened his mouth.
His mouth corners stretched without any restriction, extending all the way to the back of his head. His upper lip pushed his eyes, nose, forehead, and other parts to face the ceiling directly, while his lower lip nearly touched his chest.
Splat, splat, splat, the yellow-green flesh mixed in the explosion's blast rushed into Ludwig's enormous mouth, heading straight for his stomach.
Unfortunately, Ludwig, enjoying this buffet, only lasted two seconds before involuntarily triggering his Mirror Substitution, shattering into pieces.
This abnormally terrifying giant mouth shape seemed to be all appearance without sufficient strength, only at the Sequence 7 level.
The explosive blast subsided in an instant, and the figures of Franca, Jenna, and the others were reoutlined in the surveillance room, which was now covered everywhere with viscous flesh and yellow-green pus.
As Demonesses of Affliction, Franca and Jenna both instinctively believed that this place was now full of dangerous diseases, rapidly infecting them.
Without hesitation, Franca raised her right hand, revealing the Ice Amulet she was gripping tightly.
This crystal-clear charm had been remade by Lumian and could now be used for Mirror Traversal four times.
As soon as they saw Franca reveal the Ice Amulet, Jenna and Anthony immediately moved closer to her, grabbing her arm and sleeve. Ludwig hesitated for a moment but still joined the vile Demonesses.
The next second, the four figures blurred and entered the compact mirror in Franca's other hand.
Franca didn't linger at all, bringing her companions to traverse into another metal decorative item with a mirror effect in the surveillance room.
Smack!
The compact mirror, no longer held by anyone, fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, causing the corresponding area behind the mirror to collapse.
These shards would take different amounts of time to become mirrors again in the mystical sense—without considering other factors, the larger the shard and the better the mirror effect, the shorter the time needed to regenerate the area behind the mirror. Conversely, smaller shards would take longer, and if too small, they might risk never becoming mystical mirrors again.
After transferring to the interior of the mirrored decorative item, Franca spoke rapidly while remaining vigilant against a sudden attack from the reanimated female corpse, "A Demoness of Despair doesn't have the ability to make people half-dead and turn them into plague bombs…
"Could it be a Demoness of Unaging?"
"It could also be with help from the Order of All Extinction or possession of a similar item," Jenna suggested another possibility based on her own feelings.
"Is Mushu Hospital not just home to the Mother Tree of Desire?" Franca suddenly had an inspiration. "The hospital as a whole should simultaneously possess the healing abilities related to the Great Mother pathway, the influence of the Mother Tree of Desire pathway on spirit, desire, corpses, and hospital urban legends, as well as control over diseases and pathogens from the one the Order of All Extinction believes in or the Demoness pathway!"
As Franca spoke without any embellishment, she observed the situation in the surveillance room and attempted to use the Ice Amulet's ability to transmit information through mirrors to send simple intelligence to a certain mirror on Lumian.
As long as Lumian hadn't left the current Huafeng District, he would definitely receive it!
Jenna guarded against the direction of the illusory tunnel that resembled a spider web, while Anthony said carefully, "That reanimated female corpse is almost unaffected by Awe, making me feel she's more like a dead person than a living one."
Franca's thoughts raced, and she immediately had two guesses.
"Is she an awakened Zombie, with a Mother Tree of Desire believer hiding nearby controlling her?
"Or, didn't we guess earlier that she might have a companion, possibly Loki? Is it possible that she's actually a marionette, with the Marionettist hiding somewhere nearby controlling her?"
Franca had confronted Loki before and had contact with spies from the Bureau 8 of Intis, so she was quite familiar with the antics of Marionettists.
"But according to the information provided by the Major Arcana card holders, even normal Marionettists can only control marionettes within a range of about 100 meters. Now, with their abilities suppressed to Sequence 7 level, I believe their maximum distance from the marionettes won't exceed 40 meters. Before we came to the surveillance room, we checked the surroundings and there was no one…" Jenna raised an objection.
At this point, she suddenly paused.
It wasn't that there was no one; in fact, there were two people!
Franca and Anthony also realized the issue and simultaneously turned their gaze towards the front of the surveillance screen.
There were indeed people within a 50-meter range—those two security guards!
One of the security guards had been turned into a plague bomb and had already disintegrated into disease-spreading flesh, but the other security guard was still sitting in his position, his eyes concealing a gray-white deep inside, staring motionlessly at the large screen!
Franca and Anthony's gaze fell on that security guard.
The security guard seemed to sense something and suddenly turned his body.
His clothes were now tattered, his body pitted and uneven, different areas of his face either missing skin, suffering abrasions, or with flesh split open and festering.
These were the "aftereffects" of being directly hit by the explosion of the other security guard.
The security guard, with half his face almost unrecognizable as human, reflected the flickering light from the surveillance screen, curled his lips, and revealed an exaggerated, terrifying, and sinister smile.
As his smile bloomed, his body rapidly swelled, becoming a human-shaped balloon like his colleague.
Bang!
The balloon burst, and countless viscous flesh and yellow-green pus splattered onto the surface of the metal decorative item where Franca and the others were hiding, smearing it into a mess and preventing Franca and Anthony from seeing the outside situation clearly.
"Let's change positions," Franca said, turning to Jenna and Ludwig, seizing the opportunity while they still had a few more Mirror Traversal charges.
…
In the Moon Plaza formed by the surveillance footage.
Lumian bent his back, drew the Sword of Courage, and sprinted from outside the men's and women's restrooms towards the reanimated female corpse at the entrance of the passage.
Behind him, on the wash basin mirror between the two restrooms, a female figure wearing a white dress with a loose bun suddenly appeared.
This was a projection created by the Demoness of Despair using the mirror!
Although it only possessed a fraction of the original body's power, it was still capable of assassination. It aimed to deliver a fatal blow to Lumian from behind!
Almost simultaneously, another figure emerged behind this female figure.
That figure had black hair, beautiful features, and a cold expression—it was Lumian's feminized image.
This projection, completed with the help of Precision, instantly turned into a ball of black flames brewing extreme destruction in silence, completely enveloping the mirror image projection of the reanimated female corpse, causing her to be thoroughly ignited amid painful wails.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Lumian, wielding the Sword of Courage, continued without any pause, charging towards the reanimated female corpse without looking back.
At this moment, in front of the reanimated female corpse, crystal-clear but sharp frost spears suddenly condensed, like a beautiful and clean hedgehog showing its spines.
Such a forest of ice spears couldn't be accomplished by a Sequence 7 Witch. Only a Beyonder who had reached the Demoness of Despair level and gained further control over frost, but was currently restricted to Sequence 7 level, could do this. It was equivalent to the Ice Spear Condensation ability evolving into Ice Spear Forest at Sequence 4, but now the Ice Spear Forest was only at the Sequence 7 level.
If Lumian didn't stop in time, he would crash into this forest of ice spears, being pierced through and creating multiple bloody holes.
At this moment, Lumian's figure suddenly became blurry and distorted, like an image displayed through electromagnetic signals suffering from strong interference.
It took only the blink of an eye from becoming blurry and distorted to completely disappearing. Lumian's body quickly outlined behind the reanimated female corpse.
He swung the Sword of Courage diagonally, chopping towards the target's shoulder.
With a whoosh, crimson flames ignited on the surface of the Sword of Courage.
Boom, Lumian's single stroke cleaved the reanimated female corpse into two pieces, exploding her into mirror shards.
The reanimated female corpse, having used a substitute, didn't appear immediately, seemingly disappearing into the dark, empty fourth floor of the mall.
Lumian's expression didn't change at all as he pressed the Sword of Courage downwards in one smooth motion.
Boom! Crimson fireballs flew out from the sword, indiscriminately covering this area, collapsing walls and igniting merchandise.
The crimson fire hell quickly engulfed nearly half a floor in continuously rising high temperatures.
Under such a wide-range indiscriminate attack, the figure of the reanimated female corpse was affected, forced out of her invisible state, and appeared to Lumian's side and rear.
…
Inside the surveillance room.
The reanimated female corpse who had previously fought with Franca and the others left her hiding place in the mirrored object and appeared in the room now covered everywhere with viscous flesh and yellow-green pus.
Taking advantage of the opportunity that various pathogens and decay forces were permeating this place, which would quickly infect and affect Franca and the others once they entered, she condensed a long ice spear covered in white frost in her hand and thrust it towards the surveillance screen, which already had multiple dents and was covered with flesh and pus.
The power of the two previous Disease Bombs wasn't strong, mainly focused on spreading pathogens and decay forces, so they couldn't directly destroy the large screen that was at a certain distance from them.
Now, the reanimated female corpse wanted to personally destroy the surveillance screen, causing the corresponding alternate space to collapse, making the enemies fighting there and her other "self" fall into the chaotic flow together, to be torn into pieces!
-x-X-x-
Just as the reanimated female corpse's frost-covered ice crystal spear was about to pierce the surveillance screen, a gunshot rang out. A bright yellow bullet arrived first, striking the middle of the ice crystal spear and causing it to suddenly shatter and break apart piece by piece.
After transferring to another mirrored decorative item, Franca immediately understood the opponent's intentions upon seeing the reanimated female corpse's actions. She quickly took out the Inevitable Gun, extended it through the mirror surface, and pulled the trigger.
Having successfully prevented the ice crystal spear's strike, she immediately moved to withdraw her hands, pretending to traverse to other mirrors with Jenna, Anthony, and Ludwig in order to lure the reanimated female corpse in to surround this enemy.
However, the reanimated female corpse didn't even glance in her direction. Sharp frost spears suddenly condensed in front of her body, all thrusting towards the large screen simultaneously.
It was like a huge ice flower carved out of ice was blooming.
Franca's pupils dilated instantly. Taking advantage of her hands not yet having returned to the area behind the mirror, she pulled the Inevitable Gun's trigger once again.
Bang!
That classically styled brass-colored revolver fired an iron-black bullet, which created a small explosion upon striking one of the frost spears.
The explosion covered all the frost spears, tearing them apart and scattering them in all directions.
Heavy Strike!
Splat splat splat, some ice crystal fragments inevitably hit the surveillance screen, creating multiple dead pixels and areas where colors bled together on the large screen.
Franca was nearly scared to death—the large screen had almost been completely damaged!
She immediately left the mirrored decorative item and returned to the surveillance room, launching an all-out attack against the reanimated female corpse.
In this situation, the best strategy was to use offense to suppress the opponent and prevent her from destroying the surveillance screen. Pure defense wouldn't last long, as the item that needed protection was a relatively fragile technological product.
One can be a thief for a thousand days, but how can you guard against a thief for a thousand days? There will always be gaps in defenses!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Franca continuously pulled the trigger, firing bullets to force the reanimated female corpse away from the area closer to the large screen.
Jenna also left the area behind the mirror, directly guarding in front of the surveillance console to prevent stray bullets from damaging the screen.
Almost simultaneously, Jenna felt herself collide with an invisible spider web, with transparent thin threads constricting her body.
Some of these threads bound her limbs, while others stirred up her condition, striving to restrict her movements and interfere with her casting of black magic.
Fortunately, Jenna now had relatively rich combat experience. As soon as she left the mirrored decorative item, she condensed several bizarre Demoness black flames around herself. Now she immediately let them fall, burning the spirituality of the transparent spider silk and spreading out.
The intense feeling of constriction instantly lessened somewhat. Jenna quickly sidestepped, shielding the large screen.
Crack!
She used a Mirror Substitution to block both the reanimated female corpse's opportunistic attack on the surveillance screen and the stray bullets created by Franca's continuous shooting.
During this process, Franca emptied six ordinary bullets, hitting the reanimated female corpse once and consuming one of her Mirror Substitutions.
She then retreated to the front of the large screen, using a special loader to reload bullets, while Jenna instinctively lunged forward, replacing Franca, using her own gun, frost, and black magic to attack furiously, suppressing the enemy.
With everyone currently at the Sequence 7 level, a short-term reckless outburst was still very effective!
In this way, Franca and Jenna continuously rotated, one defending, one attacking, one reloading bullets, the other firing rapidly as if unconcerned about running out of ammunition. They temporarily restricted the reanimated female corpse to the area near the door. However, because the opponent had Mirror Substitutions and strong spiritual intuition, Franca had not yet used bullets like Impregnating Bullet or triggered effects like Sure Hit or Certain Death.
She was waiting for an opportunity, because a Sequence 7 Demoness shouldn't be able to use many Mirror Substitutions!
Even if the reanimated female corpse had once reached the demigod level and gained the characteristic of reduced Mirror Substitution consumption, allowing her to use a few more Mirror Substitutions than Franca and the others who were currently at the same Sequence 7 level, it certainly wouldn't be many more.
After fighting intensely for dozens of seconds, both Franca and Jenna felt weakened, their lungs like hot bellows continuously exhaling fiery breaths.
At the same time, they felt varying degrees of pain throughout their bodies.
They were well aware that this was caused by the diseases and decay spread by the two plague bombs earlier. Due to the viscous flesh and yellow-green pus covering every part of the surveillance room, the mystical pathogens and decay forces were continuously strengthening. The infection had finally occurred in the two Demonesses of Affliction who had disease resistance, and it was gradually worsening.
Neither Franca nor Jenna were willing to immediately use a Mirror Substitution to resolve the disease and decay. Their Mirror Substitutions were now very limited in number, and they wanted to conserve them to protect the large screen.
What puzzled Franca was that although her Inevitable Gun was also continuously spreading disease and decay, the reanimated female corpse didn't seem to be significantly affected, only slightly weaker than before.
Could she really be a zombie or a marionette, immune to most mystical pathogens and with strong resistance to decay forces? She only initially affected Jenna with the spider web, then abandoned this strategy. Was it because the spider web was a flammable object with spirituality, which would cause the Demoness black flames—which could only be produced one by one or in small clusters—to spread, burning the mystical pathogens and decay forces in the air, slowing down the speed of our onset of illness and the progress of symptom severity? As this thought flashed through Franca's mind, she actively began to create a spider web.
The invisible spider silk entangled both the reanimated female corpse and Jenna, forcing the former to use her own Demoness black flames to evade, and reminding Jenna that she could produce and consume her own, letting this area fall completely into the burning of Demoness black flames, thereby clearing out the mystical pathogens and reducing the intensity of the decay forces!
…
Inside Moon Plaza in the surveillance footage.
Lumian was suppressing the reanimated female corpse in all aspects, but due to her Mirror Substitutions, strong spiritual intuition, and rich combat experience, he couldn't achieve a quick victory.
By now, the flames had spread, turning most of the fourth floor of the mall into a crimson sea. Lumian released his accumulated spirituality and once again flashed behind the "reanimated" female corpse.
Instead of directly swinging the Sword of Courage, he pushed his left palm forward.
At some point, his palm had already been gripping a cheap silver and black bracelet, while his eyes showed a silver-black hue, with what seemed like an illusory long river flowing slowly inside.
The reanimated female corpse didn't hesitate. Following the prompting of her spiritual intuition, she was about to actively trigger a Mirror Substitution.
At this moment, the toxic thick smoke produced by the burning entered her throat, while the high temperature caused her black hair to start self-igniting.
These environmentally-induced problems made the reanimated female corpse instinctively shrink her body, slowing her down by a beat.
Magnified Fate!
Lumian had already used Magnified Fate twice before, without achieving satisfactory results. The Weakening pathogen he had secretly spread, which could survive for a longer time in high-temperature flames, also hadn't worked as he had expected, only imperceptibly accelerating the rate of the reanimated female corpse's spirituality consumption.
Now, taking advantage of the environmental changes brought by the long-burning fierce flames, he finally grasped the opportunity, successfully turning the corresponding stream of fate into the main trunk.
As the reanimated female corpse slightly shrank her body, the crimson flames covering the surface of the Sword of Courage suddenly extinguished, revealing the iron-black metal blade beneath.
Parts of this blade were smooth and flat, reflecting the silhouette of the reanimated female corpse.
In the next second, the black Flames of Destruction that Lumian had condensed in advance fell onto the metal "mirror surface" and drilled into it.
Unable to use a Mirror Substitution in time, the reanimated female corpse let out a painful sound. Her body shattered with a crack, re-outlining at the edge of the crimson hell. However, the black flames that erupted from inside to outside, hiding ferocity and terror, continued to burn her, only partially extinguished.
Once a Demoness of Despair's curse succeeded, the characteristic that it couldn't be transferred by substitutes when suppressed to Sequence 7 level became a situation where a substitute could only transfer part of the curse damage.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The reanimated female corpse consecutively triggered Mirror Substitutions, finally escaping Lumian's curse.
But at this moment, Lumian directly teleported in front of her and asked with a smile, "How many Mirror Substitutions do you have left?"
As he spoke, he had already swung the Sword of Courage.
The reanimated female corpse was dazzled by that charming smile, only reacting when the Sword of Courage was near. She quickly lunged to the side.
She had no more Mirror Substitutions left!
She was fast, but Lumian was faster. His wrist paused, and the Sword of Courage cleaved the air, creating an explosive sound.
Boom!
Crimson flames burst open, directly engulfing the reanimated female corpse.
Although this explosion only had Sequence 7 power, it was enough to severely injure a Demoness without Mirror Substitutions!
Bang! The reanimated female corpse was slammed heavily against the wall, her bones breaking and blood spurting from her mouth.
Water-like waves rippled over her body, stripping away her beautiful appearance and revealing an expressionless, ordinary-looking young man.
Lumian frowned slightly and swung his sword down again.
With a rolling sound, the young man's head tumbled to the side amid a spray of blood.
His body, along with his head and the splattered blood, instantly vanished like an illusion, never to appear again.
"A deep mirror image of the real female corpse?" Lumian had seen similar gender-reversed Mirror People in Fourth Epoch Trier.
The special mirror world fragments in Franca and Jenna's possession could also create similar deep mirror images, with strength nearly perfectly replicated and certain special characteristics.
Thinking of this, Lumian suddenly raised his head, looking towards the surveillance camera obscured by smoke.
He suspected that the reanimated female corpse also had a special mirror world fragment!
…
Inside the surveillance room.
The infected Franca and Jenna were growing increasingly weak, their movements inevitably affected to some extent.
Just as the reanimated female corpse was about to seize the opportunity to destroy the surveillance screen, she suddenly felt something leap towards her from the side.
It was Ludwig, crouched like a frog.
He had emerged from the mirror world at some unknown time.
The reanimated female corpse instinctively thrust an ice crystal spear towards Ludwig.
Ludwig suddenly opened his mouth wide, his mouth corners splitting to the back of his head.
His two rows of sharp teeth then closed, biting the tip of the spear.
Immediately after, he quickly sucked in a breath through his mouth.
He completed a Deprivation through the ice crystal spear connecting him and the reanimated female corpse.
What he Deprived was the Mirror Substitution!
Currently only at Sequence 7 level, he could only Deprive one ability from the enemy, and only for one minute, so Anthony had him choose Mirror Substitution.
"Attack with full force," Anthony's voice then sounded in Franca and Jenna's ears.
Franca didn't ask why, immediately raising the Inevitable Gun, aiming at the reanimated female corpse, and pulling the trigger.
A dark yellow bullet flew out with a bang.
Sure Hit!
-x-X-x-
The dark yellow bullet flew instantly, striking the reanimated female corpse.
However, it passed right through, merely causing the silhouette to waver, become illusory, and disappear.
After being deprived of her Mirror Substitution, the reanimated female corpse's first reaction was to use the mirrored objects in the surveillance room to create a mirror projection, supplemented by mirror illusions, while she quietly changed her position.
So, what Franca had locked onto was just the mirror projection, and what Sure Hit would hit was also just the mirror projection, not the real reanimated female corpse.
Having evaded the fatal strike, the silhouette of the reanimated female corpse immediately became ethereal, projecting onto the nearest mirrored object.
She intended to use the mirror world to temporarily leave the battlefield, wait for her Mirror Substitution ability to recover, and then decide based on the situation whether to wait for the next opportunity, attack Franca and the others again immediately, or quietly follow them to determine their identities and whereabouts, so they could be directly locked onto and kicked out of the dream.
Just as the reanimated female corpse's silhouette became prominent on the surface of that mirrored object, a person suddenly appeared in the void dark area behind the mirror.
It was Anthony, wearing a black T-shirt.
Anthony held a charm similar to the Ice Amulet in one hand and the Winter is Coming revolver in the other, aiming at the reanimated female corpse who was about to enter the mirror surface.
He had used the Mirror Traversal ability in time to intercept the reanimated female corpse!
Since Lumian could make his own charms to help Beyonders traverse the mirror world, he certainly wouldn't make just one, only for Franca.
Besides himself, everyone in the team had one, and each could be used four times!
They had relied on Franca's Ice Amulet to transfer positions earlier, partly because since everyone was close together, there was no need to waste the uses of the other charms. After all, in the dream, Lumian was restricted to the Sequence 7 level, and making similar charms again had a high probability of failure. On the other hand, it was also following Lumian's Conspirer approach and Franca's occasional mutterings after entering the dream about "appearing weak when you are strong", deliberately setting a trap for the enemy.
By demonstrating that they could only hide in the mirror world and transfer positions by holding onto Lumian and Franca's clothes, they led the reanimated female corpse to believe that the others couldn't perform Mirror Traversal. So, after evading Franca's attack, the reanimated female corpse confidently used the mirror world to escape.
By demonstrating that they could only hide in the mirror world and transfer positions by holding onto Lumian and Franca's clothes, they led the reanimated female corpse to believe that the others couldn't perform Mirror Traversal. So, after evading Franca's attack, the reanimated female corpse confidently used the mirror world to escape.
This led her right into the gun barrel of Anthony, who had forcibly concealed his presence earlier.
Anthony pulled the trigger with a calm expression.
Another bullet tinged with a dark yellow glow flew out, heading towards the reanimated female corpse who was about to enter this area behind the mirror.
Sure Hit!
Bang!
As the gunshot rang out, the reanimated female corpse, who hadn't had time to retract her black flames, frost, and spider silk to protect herself, had blood blossoming on her chest, her flesh and bones splitting.
She was truly hit by the bullet, shot out of the mirror surface, and fell back into the surveillance room.
Seeing this, Franca aimed at the target once again.
Now, she was going to use the Certain Death bullet.
Meanwhile, Jenna still guarded the surveillance screen, having intention to steal credit, to prevent stray bullets from destroying the object that needed protection.
She only quietly extended invisible spider silk, intending to touch the blood splattered by the reanimated female corpse, to use it as a medium for curses.
At this moment, the reanimated female corpse suddenly raised her head and let out a painful scream.
Her hair rose strand by strand, instantly becoming long and thick, like venomous snakes.
The tips of this slimy, bizarre black hair were each inlaid with black and white eyeballs and heads that stuck out forked tongues like snakes.
Jenna instinctively closed her eyes, but still felt her thoughts becoming chaotic, pain and pleasure arising simultaneously, her body inexplicably stiffening as if turning to stone.
In this instant, she suddenly understood what the enemy was doing.
The reanimated female corpse seemed to have sensed that she was about to suffer a fatal blow, and with no way to avoid it or protect herself by forming a huge cocoon, she actively indulged in her own madness, displaying an incomplete Mythical Creature form that only Saints should possess.
For most Saints, displaying an incomplete Mythical Creature form was extremely dangerous, leading to a loss of control. Unless there were no other options or they intended to drag the enemy down with them, no one would use it.
For Beyonders without godhood, directly viewing an incomplete Mythical Creature form would result in intense corruption and terrible mental shock, likely leading to madness and loss of control. Even if they didn't look directly and closed their eyes, being within range would still cause some corruption.
Saints with godhood would still be affected to some degree by the incomplete Mythical Creature form, and would continue to be affected afterwards while facing the frenzied attacks of the incomplete Mythical Creature—the incomplete Mythical Creature form was a Saint's most powerful and dangerous state.
As the horrifying transformation of the reanimated female corpse reflected in Franca's eyes, she gritted her teeth and resolutely pulled the trigger of the Inevitable Gun. Gẹtt the l𝒂test 𝒏𝒐v𝒆ls at 𝒏.o/(v)/e/l/bi𝒏(.)co𝒎
Bang!
A dull green bullet flew from the muzzle, heading straight for the reanimated female corpse's body hidden by the slimy, thick hair.
Franca then let out a painful cry.
She instinctively tilted her head back, her black hair tied in a ponytail and modified by Lie broke free from its restraints, becoming wild and distinct, seemingly growing thicker.
Her face took on a grayish-white tinge, her chest felt somewhat swollen, and her mind felt as if it had been hit by a storm, all thoughts blown about, becoming mad, twisted, and dark.
She felt intense pleasure and also extreme pain. This, combined with her body's state already infected by disease and decay forces, caused her to passively trigger a Mirror Substitution.
With a cracking sound, Franca regressed into a mirror and shattered into pieces.
But when her silhouette was outlined in the corner, while she no longer felt the effects of disease and decay, her hair still floated in mid-air, still growing thicker. Her face was extremely pale and twisted to the extreme, yet presenting a strange beauty, her eyes full of madness and malice.
Corruption couldn't be transferred by Mirror Substitution, nor could the tendency towards losing control.
At the same time, the Certain Death bullet fired by Franca hit the mass of slimy, bizarre black hair of the "reanimated female corpse".
Although the effect of Certain Death was suppressed to Sequence 7 level, only certainly fatal to ordinary people, it was still deadly to the already severely injured reanimated female corpse. Moreover, the reanimated female corpse's incomplete Mythical Creature form was also limited to Sequence 7, only possessing defensive capabilities at this level!
The bullet glowing with a dull green light penetrated through layers of thick hair, entering the brain of the reanimated female corpse in her incomplete Mythical Creature form.
Smack!
The reanimated female corpse's head split open, blood and white matter splattering outwards.
The slimy, bizarre thick hair with black and white eyeballs fell in succession, returning to their original state to varying degrees.
Only then did Anthony dare to jump out from the mirror-like object, turning his back to the corpse with its strange charm and mental corruption. From a not-too-distant position, he began to perform Psychoanalysis on Franca, which was essentially throwing a Placate her way.
Franca's painful and mad chaotic thoughts calmed, and the symptoms of losing control in her body began to subside.
Seeing this, Anthony quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the reanimated female corpse's incomplete Mythical Creature form was also only at the Sequence 7 level, so the corruption and impact on Franca were at this level. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have known if she could be saved; that might have depended on Franca's own willpower.
As Anthony began the second Placate, Lumian jumped out of the surveillance screen.
He instinctively looked towards Franca and Jenna, checking their conditions.
Seeing that the problems were all within an acceptable range, Lumian then turned his gaze to the reanimated female corpse on the ground with its split head and bizarre hair.
As a fellow Saint, he only experienced a slight emotional fluctuation, without any other reaction.
Their joint efforts had actually taken down a Demoness of Despair with Mirror Substitution… Lumian was surprised and quite gratified.
He unconsciously looked towards Ludwig, finding that the little boy was staring at the Demoness's corpse with blazing eyes, completely unconcerned about possibly being corrupted.
Indeed, Ludwig wouldn't be affected by the incomplete Mythical Creature form. Moreover, the corpse had already left the incomplete Mythical Creature form, with only some characteristics remaining.
While repeatedly creating seven clusters at a time of deep black Flames of Destruction to burn the patches of viscous flesh and yellow-green pus in the surveillance room, Lumian took out a mirror, bent down, and put the reanimated female corpse with its burst head inside.
They couldn't let this corpse continue to corrupt the surveillance room, affecting Jenna and Franca who were recovering!
During this process, a black, irregularly shaped mirror fragment fell from the corpse.
As expected, she has a fragment of a special mirror world… Lumian stuffed the black fragment into the Traveler's Bag, planning to compare it with Franca's and the others' later.
By this time, about a third of the viscous flesh and yellow-green pus in the surveillance room had caught fire, and the black flames began to spread to the surroundings, seeking other combustible materials.
"Phew…" Franca let out a long breath, her mental state finally stabilizing, the abnormalities on her body having subsided.
Anthony moved to Jenna's side, performing Psychoanalysis on her, who had not been much corrupted.
After putting the Inevitable Gun back into the Traveler's Bag, Franca was about to proudly tell Lumian "We took down a Demoness of Despair" when her eyes suddenly caught sight of the several cameras in the surveillance room.
She immediately changed her words. "I'll check if our fight just now was caught on the cameras."
"Couldn't we just completely destroy the surveillance equipment with the Flames of Destruction?" Lumian thought it wasn't necessary to be so troublesome.
"What if this mall's surveillance footage is stored on a cloud server?" Franca wasn't too sure, but felt it necessary to guard against this possibility.
Lumian didn't stop Franca further, because he didn't understand what a cloud server was.
Franca quickly manipulated the surveillance system, and after a while said, "It's fine, the reanimated female corpse probably destroyed the cameras in this room when she came to check the surveillance."
As she spoke, she used another Mirror Substitution, because Lumian couldn't make the entire room be engulfed by the Flames of Destruction. He could only create clusters of flames and burn areas bit by bit, with mystical pathogens and decay forces still lingering in the air.
Lumian nodded and continued, "Check if my battle in the surveillance world has become part of the surveillance footage. If there's no problem, let's hurry back for the spirit channeling."
"Can it work like that?" Franca said in surprise.
This was equivalent to the actions of a dummy in a painted world changing the painting itself.
-x-X-x-
Following Lumian's suggestion, Franca quickly reviewed the surveillance footage from the 4th floor of the mall in the past three minutes.
During this process, Jenna and Anthony hid in the area being burned by the Flames of Destruction, to avoid the remaining mystical pathogens and decay forces.
The former also had clusters of quiet black flames flare up in other parts of the surveillance room, assisting Lumian in eliminating necessary traces, though she could only create six to seven clusters at a time.
Taking advantage of the fact that he still had an unused Mirror Substitution, Ludwig took the opportunity to eat some snacks—the flesh and blood carrying mystical pathogens and decay forces.
Soon, Franca pulled up the corresponding surveillance footage.
The scene, which should have been dark, quiet, and empty, now showed two figures engaged in a fierce battle, with red flames quickly igniting the area and dense smoke billowing up.
However, the fighting scene and the original background seemed somewhat out of sync, as if forcibly edited in with outdated special effects technology. Both Lumian and his opponent's figures were quite blurred, showing signs of interference.
"Your battle in the surveillance world did become part of the surveillance footage, but nothing like that actually happened in the real world, the 4th floor of the mall is perfectly fine…" Franca pulled up the current camera feed from the 4th floor to make the comparison.
She took a deep breath and said, "Wh— The surveillance world is clearly not just the mirror world, it has the characteristics of an information world as well…"
"The pathway good at summoning should also have some understanding of parallel spaces and illusory worlds." Franca half-turned her body and said, "This surveillance footage can't be used by the police and Celestial Immortal's subordinates to recreate your image, so we don't need to deliberately destroy the surveillance equipment."
Lumian nodded slightly and added, "Our mystical knowledge of parallel spaces and illusory worlds is still quite superficial. The abilities, authorities, and knowledge in this area seem to be scattered across Demonesses, Mystery Pryers, Apprentices, Painters and other pathways, with Apprentices being the main line, and I'm not sure if the Painter pathway can match Apprentices."
"The pathway good at summoning should also have some understanding of parallel spaces and illusory worlds." Franca half-turned her body and said, "This surveillance footage can't be used by the police and Celestial Immortal's subordinates to recreate your image, so we don't need to deliberately destroy the surveillance equipment."
At this point, with Jenna's assistance, Lumian had already erased the various traces they had left in the surveillance room, and Franca also began to use the Demoness's black flames to clean up the fingerprints she had left on the equipment.
"Let's head back, we need to hurry with the spirit channeling." Lumian withdrew his gaze.
"Okay." Franca retracted her hand covered in black flames.
Lumian immediately led his teammates back through the mirror world to the rented car, and as soon as Franca fastened her seatbelt, preparing to start the engine, she suddenly shivered.
She began to feel cold, as if all the heat in her body had been drained away. Her head became dizzy, her vision occasionally darkening and sparking with golden stars, almost fainting.
Franca understood that this was the negative effect of the Inevitable Gun—if the Certain Death and Sure Hit effects were triggered, the user would inevitably fall gravely ill, and without effective treatment, could even die. Even if treated, the severe illness would persist for some time.
Similarly, every time Anthony used the Winter is Coming revolver, he had to find an Apothecary or Doctor for treatment, otherwise he would contract an intractable disease that Low- to Mid-Sequence Beyonders were powerless against.
Seeing Franca's face turn nearly transparent, Lumian reached into the Traveler's Bag and took out two vials of healing agents.
These were supply resources provided by the Tarot Club, reportedly extremely rare items not sold publicly, produced by The Fool Pharmaceutical Company.
For this mission, the Major Arcana card holders had given Lumian's group a total of twenty-five general-purpose healing agents, with the majority kept with Lumian as the team leader, while Jenna, Franca, and Anthony each carried two, but Ludwig had none.
Children needed supervision, otherwise he would secretly drink them all!
Franca's trembling hands opened the cap of the healing agent and gulped it down.
The icy liquid slid down her throat and into her stomach.
Soon, the chilled feeling rapidly disappeared, and a light sweat broke out on her skin.
"Much better…" Franca exhaled, "Just a bit dizzy in the head, my forehead is a bit hot, and my body feels weak."
Anthony, who had yet to suffer symptoms, had also finished his healing agent.
"I'll drive." Lumian said.
"You can, can drive?" Franca really didn't feel confident in her current state to be driving, but Lumian, who had never learned, made her even more worried. "Should we just take a taxi?"
Lumian chuckled. "I carefully observed you driving today, I've basically mastered the basic operations. And now it's late at night, there aren't many cars.
"And more importantly, I also have the driver's license that Madam Justice gave."
"Alright, Li Ming." Franca weakly unbuckled her seatbelt and pushed open the door.
Li Ming was Lumian's alias in the dream world.
As soon as Franca's feet touched the ground, her knees buckled, nearly causing her to fall. Luckily, Lumian was waiting outside the driver's seat and quickly grabbed her arm.
"So this is what being severely ill feels like… and this is with the negative effects suppressed to Sequence 7…" Franca leaned on Lumian as she slowly walked to the passenger seat, muttering while preparing to provide guidance later.
Lumian chuckled."If this were the real world, I'd probably have to carry you."
Franca imagined such a scene and suddenly said, "No, let's go with a piggyback ride!"
Lumian glanced at her but didn't say anything further.
Jenna, who had already come out of the passenger side, looked at the two approaching, her gaze slightly dark but also with a hint of relief as she listened to their conversation.
After everyone was seated and the doors closed, Franca gave a simple explanation,
"This is the steering wheel, you turn it in the direction you want to go. This is the accelerator, to control the speed. This is the brake, to stop the car or decelerate in an emergency… Basically, don't overtake, change lanes only when there are no other cars, stop at red lights, go at green, turn when you need to… It's very simple with an automatic transmission…"
Lumian stepped on the brake, released the parking brake, and shifted the lever to the appropriate gear.
The gray sedan slowly started moving, gradually picking up speed.
After passing two traffic light intersections, Lumian already had a very skilled driving technique.
Franca looked at him with her mouth slightly open, weakly saying, "You've learned it just like that?
No need for me to guide you on the side?
"It's very simple." Lumian chuckled, using Franca's own words to respond.
He then released one hand, pointing to his head. "You have to trust the spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination of a Hunter."
Franca suddenly felt that being the one who could drive in the team was no longer something to be proud of.
In this way, Lumian successfully drove the car back to the rented old neighborhood, and then, with Jenna's guidance, after spending quite some time, finally parked the car, allowing Franca to feel proud again.
They had rented an older model car to save money, without any parking assist systems.
Back in the rental unit, Lumian led the team into the mirror containing the reanimated female corpse.
Except for Lumian and Ludwig, the others didn't dare to look closely, fearing new corruption, but even with just a brief glance, they all noticed that a faint dark glow was slowly emanating from the decrepit corpse, gradually converging towards the right eye.
"Evocation of Beyonder characteristics?" Jenna blurted out.
Franca, being weaker, was a step slower in her reaction, saying in amazement, "This dream is too realistic!"
Beyonders will also evoke their characteristics?
Before Lumian and the others could respond, Franca had a sudden idea.
"If I obtain Beyonder characteristics in this dream, concoct them into a potion, and perform a ritual to drink them, will I be able to successfully advance in the real world?"
At this question, the area behind the mirror fell into an unusual silence.
"I can't answer that for you." Lumian pondered for a few seconds. "Maybe you should consult the Major Arcana card holders, or take these Beyonder characteristics and exit the dream to see if it 'follows' you to reality."
After arriving in this city, Lumian's group no longer needed Madam Justice's help to exit and re-enter the dream. They could simply take the train, and use lucky coins to complete the task directly.
"Frequent entering and exiting of the dream might also draw the attention of the Celestial Immortal," Anthony reminded Lumian.
Lumian offered a curt acknowledgment.
"There are other ways, let's try to avoid exiting as much as possible. We'll contact the Major Arcana card holders early tomorrow morning."
Although the Major Arcana card holders were subject to various restrictions in the dream, with some unable to even enter this place, there were still ways to communicate through the dream.
As they were talking, the dark Beyonder characteristics had gathered in the reanimated female corpse's right eye, dyeing it a blackish-blue hue.
During this process, Lumian, Franca, and Jenna—the three Demonesses—had already created multiple clusters of black flames to incinerate the corpse and the mystical pathogens spread from the characteristics.
According to the Demoness of Despair's potion formula, Lumian collected the black eyeball, the corpse's bile, and a strand of the coarse, partially restored gray-white hair, and handed them to Franca to put in the Traveler's Bag.
Having endured all this time, Ludwig finally found an opportunity, pointing at the corpse and asking, "Can I have a few bites?"
He had already obtained the Mirror Substitution ability through Deprivation, and by eating a few more pieces of the corpse's flesh and blood, he would have a chance to permanently fix this ability to himself.
Of course, limited by the dream and the current Sequence 7 level of Deprivation, he could only use Mirror Substitution for two to three weeks, unable to gain it permanently.
"Go ahead." Lumian nodded.
Ludwig excitedly ran over, crouching next to the corpse's head, targeting the delicate, small ear.
"After her death, the Demoness's charm is concentrated in the ear, to the point that even Ludwig is attracted?" Lumian had just had this thought when he saw Ludwig lean down and bite off the ear with a crunch, chewing it noisily, his mouth covered in blood.
"…" Franca and the others fell silent, turning their bodies away, no longer looking.
After Ludwig finished eating both of the Demoness's ears, reluctantly returning to Jenna's side, Lumian began to set up the ritual.
Due to the lack of a subject to pray to, he could only perform the spirit channeling in the simplest way, carefully guarding against the strong corruption from the Celestial Immortal on the target.
Soon, the vague silhouette of the female corpse appeared.
Lumian asked in a deep voice,"What were you trying to do, waking up in the morgue of Mushu Hospital?"
-x-X-x-
The pale-faced ghostly figure of the female corpse replied in a wavering voice, "To forge a good identity, pass the Intis Group's interview, and become an employee of the company and a colleague of Zhou Mingrui.
"Interacting with Zhou Mingrui daily, starting off polite and distant, then gradually getting familiar, subtly seducing him in our daily interactions until he falls in love with me.
"I will become his girlfriend, and in the future, enter the marital hall with him. Through prosperity or adversity, wealth or poverty, health or sickness, whether he is male or female, I will always accompany him, never leaving, forever and ever."
Listening with a slightly agape mouth, the sickly Franca gradually felt bewildered.
Isn't this character script a bit off?
This is neither an urban fantasy nor a suspense-horror, it's turned into a pure romance novel…
Is this intended to immerse Mr. Fool in a blissful, sweet love life and a peaceful, warm urban environment, unwilling to wake up?
Is the Celestial Worthy being this down-to-earth?
Is this a large-scale Truman Show for Mr. Fool, isolating him from reality?
When she heard the part about "whether he is male or female", Franca suddenly snapped awake.
There is a conspiracy here!
There are sinister plots hidden within, with another purpose!
Lumian and Franca had similar thoughts, but Franca's mind was more active. Lumian was more concerned about another aspect.
The task of the reanimated female corpse did not include inducing Mr. Fool to drink the Witch potion. Does this mean someone else is responsible for turning Mr. Fool into a Demoness?
At this point, Franca quietly said, "The method in the script does seem feasible… To influence Mr. Fool, or Zhou Mingrui, a person so cautious and careful, the only way is to work on 'falling in love over time', only through the calm, genuine, day-by-day interaction can connections and trust be built.
"And for this kind of task, the most suitable executor is indeed a Demoness, secondly a Baby Cupid. No wonder they need to revive or awaken this female corpse, Charm can blend into many little details of daily life without being detected…"
"Indeed, following Madam Susie's reminder, we also seem to be able to only gain Mr. Fool's trust through similar means, only we don't need to use Charm, but then the risk of exposure would be too great." Jenna weighed her words in agreement.
Prolonged, repeated contact with Mr. Fool would easily be noticed by the Celestial Worthy.
Lumian did not respond to Franca and Jenna. He needed to hurry up with the spirit channeling.
Looking at the floating female corpse illusion, he carefully asked, "Are you a marionette?"
Lumian had not experienced the battle with the female corpse's physical body, the two disease bombs' explosions, or the discussion about a Marionettist with Franca and the others, so at the time he did not search the 30-40 meter area around the surveillance room to see if there were any Beyonders hiding, until on the way back in the car, after exchanging details of the battle with his teammates, did he consider the possibility of a marionette.
However, not actively searching the 30-40 meter area around the surveillance room did not mean he was not wary of other enemies lurking nearby—that was a basic quality of a Hunter. At the time, he simply did not detect anyone hiding in the vicinity.
This made him uncertain about Franca and the others' suspicions. Their doubts might not be true, just as the reanimated female corpse did not have powers granted by the Door pathway.
The ghostly female corpse with its sinister black hair replied in a hollow voice, "Yes."
Yes? She's really a marionette? Lumian was stunned for a moment, then urgently asked, "Who is your manipulator, and where are they?"
This time, the female corpse illusion did not respond, but slowly raised her head, gazing towards the vast, dark "sky" of the mirror realm.
Lumian and the others may have been influenced by the remnant spirit of the corpse, or perhaps stimulated by the change in the mystical environment caused by this action, and they actually experienced a slight hallucination.
Vaguely, they seemed to see ethereal, dense threads emerging from the corpse's body, extending upwards towards the heights, and similar illusory threads floating from their own bodies too, also drifting up into the dark, cloud-shrouded night sky.
They also seemed to see the individuals in the city, each of them sprouting numerous, dense illusory threads, connecting to somewhere in the night sky where the moon and stars were obscured by clouds.
Lumian was greatly shocked in both mind and spirit by this scene, but his observational abilities as a Hunter still allowed him to notice one detail.
The illusory threads emerging from themselves and the female corpse had a fairly obvious difference: theirs floated and swayed, as if only attracted and drawn towards some unseen thing high above, without actually deeply integrating into the darkness, while the female corpse's threads were taut, seeming to merge into the unfathomable blackness.
As for the threads of the other people in the city, Lumian could only vaguely sense them, unable to see them clearly.
Combining the currently available information on The Fool pathway provided by the Major Arcana card holders, Lumian, Franca, Jenna, and Anthony immediately came to the same judgment: the heights represented Mr. Fool, as well as the Celestial Worthy, and the resurrected female corpse was the Celestial Worthy's marionette!
"No wonder we couldn't find the Marionettist controlling her in the vicinity…" Jenna had just had this thought when she quickly realized a problem. "No, that can't be right! If it were like that, we would have already been locked on to by the Celestial Worthy and kicked out of the dream, and even if we weren't kicked out, we would definitely be under restrictions…"
Shifting gears, Jenna came up with a possibility, "The Celestial Worthy is also in a slumbering state, largely in a dazed, unconscious condition, controlling the marionette, only becoming aware of the corresponding situation when stimulated or when the marionette actively reports back.
"But can an unconsciously controlled marionette exhibit the kind of behavior we saw earlier? Apart from being a bit extreme, obsessed with dealing with us, not leaving in advance, the reanimated female corpse is no different from the real person…"
At this moment, the female corpse illusion began to fade, about to disappear.
The spirit channeling was almost over.
Grasping the last bit of time, Lumian asked in an urgent tone, "Who gave you humanity?"
Jenna immediately understood that Lumian had the same thoughts as her.
He was also very curious about the humanized behavior of the reanimated female corpse or marionette!
The pale-faced female corpse illusion grew fainter and fainter, only the empty voice echoing, "It was Mr. Fool and the Great Mother…"
"Ah?" In her weakened state, Franca's self-control slipped, the exclamation escaping her lips.
This sounded as if Mr. Fool and the 'Great Mother had given birth to her, like she was their child…
Lumian ended the spirit channeling and turned to his teammates, saying thoughtfully, "I think I can understand the meaning of that last sentence.
"She should have previously made contact with Mr. Fool or one of his incarnations, a Demoness of Despair. Mr. Fool's subconscious would instinctively weave an identity, appearance and personality for her based on the image in his memory, and with the Great Mother's awakening, or rather, giving her new life, she naturally acquired humanity and became a unique marionette capable of autonomous action according to the mission assignment.
"The Oracle's corpse being sent to the Mushu Hospital morgue is also to create a similar marionette?
"Does Mushu Hospital not only have the Mother Tree of Desire, but also the presence of the Great Mother?"
"I knew it!" Franca had wanted to clap her hands, but after raising them, she had no strength left. "Mushu Hospital may also have the power of the Order of All Extinction."
Turning his gaze to the tattered yet enchanting female corpse, Lumian observed for a few seconds and said, "No powers from the Door pathway dissipating, nor any decay boons dissipating…"
"I don't know how they did it… She didn't show any corresponding abilities in the battle, were those two disease bombs pre-made with some kind of tool? Too bad we didn't get to ask about the marionette transformation of one of the disease bombs…" Franca grew increasingly fearful of Mushu Hospital.
She didn't even dare imagine what Lumian would have encountered if he had gone down to the B1 of Mushu Hospital!
Searching the body, Lumian found no other items, then stood up and said to Ludwig, "If you promise to listen to Jenna's orders from now on, I'll reward you with this corpse!"
"Okay, I promise!" Ludwig had a completely carefree expression, not caring at all about the future.
Lumian's true purpose was actually to destroy the body and eliminate any trace, as this was the Celestial Worthy's marionette. It had to be completely destroyed before the Celestial Worthy's intermittent awakening, leaving no evidence to avoid drawing attention and anomalies.
Seeing Ludwig rush towards the female corpse, Jenna supported the sickly Franca, and along with Anthony, quickly exited the mirror realm and returned to the rental unit.
Standing beside Ludwig, Lumian asked in a flat tone, "If this corpse is real, would you be able to restore to Sequence 4 after eating it?"
"No, unless you give me the other one too." Ludwig looked at Lumian with longing.
He was referring to Voisin Sanson's body. A few days ago, he had received an arm as a reward for his good performance in studying, exams, and homework, so he had fully recovered to the Sequence 5 Depriver level before entering the dream.
Ignoring Ludwig's plea, Lumian asked instead, "What is your Sequence 4 called?"
Ludwig began gnawing on an arm, answering in a muffled voice, "Sea Monster."
…
The next morning, Franca found that her severe illness had not yet recovered. Her forehead still felt feverish; her body weak, and she almost couldn't get out of bed.
Lumian used the simplest Magic Mirror Divination method to confirm that this was just the lingering effect of the negative effect, and she would be ill for about half a day, not because the healing agent had not worked as it should. He then told Jenna, "We'll take turns. You take care of her and Ludwig in the morning, I'll do it in the afternoon.
"Now I'll drive with Anthony to contact the Major Arcana card holders."
"Okay." Jenna had also been somewhat corrupted the night before and needed more rest as well.
Downstairs, getting into the car, Lumian, mimicking Franca, placed his phone on a specially bought holder and opened the navigation app.
Then, under Anthony's gaze, he used voice input to enter the destination: "Star Dream Provisions Store."
-x-X-x-
In the rental apartment.
Jenna cleaned up the table, picked up the soy milk and meat buns she had specially left for Franca, and said to Ludwig beside her, "You can start studying now."
Ludwig's expression changed a few times before he argued, "What's the point of me studying?
"If you want to gain knowledge, eat scientists. If you want to gain abilities, eat Beyonders!"
Jenna smiled faintly and said, "Studying may not be important for you, but it's very important for us that you study."
"…" Ludwig, already inarticulate, was left completely speechless by Jenna's frankness.
After some consideration, Jenna added, "Although we don't know the exact process, and you've probably forgotten too, the fact that you were sealed by the Church of Knowledge is as solid as steel. And what's the biggest difference between you and the clergy of the Church of Knowledge? It's the attitude towards learning!"
Ludwig was left feeling a bit confused. Reluctantly but resignedly, he sat down at the table and opened his textbook.
Jenna returned to the master bedroom, casually closing the door behind her.
Franca struggled to sit up halfway, stuffing a pillow behind her back, and said in a low voice, "You're deceiving Ludwig again. Trying to defeat the Church of Knowledge through studying is like competing against them on their home turf, under their favorite rules. How can we win that way? The best approach is to play to our own strengths.
"Hehe, Demonesses are indeed supposed to be good at deceiving people."
Many Demonesses had experience deceiving others' feelings to digest the Witch potion, and some of them even became emotionally invested themselves, ultimately having to force themselves to separate. So they also had their share of pain.
Jenna laughed. "We have to give him some reason, and he's just looking for a reason too."
Jenna paused, then said thoughtfully, "Besides, I think studying does have an effect on Ludwig. You saw him during last night's battle—he was completely monstrous. But in our daily interactions, I feel that apart from his ability to eat, love of eating, and need to eat, he's just like a normal little boy in every other way.
"This is partly due to the Church of Knowledge's seal, but it's also likely because he's learned rules, morals, and common sense about human society through studying."
As she spoke, Jenna brought the plastic cup of soy milk to Franca's lips, letting her take a sip, then handed her the meat bun, watching as she bit into it until she reached the filling.
Franca had never enjoyed such treatment before, and her heart was instantly filled with warmth.
She nodded thoughtfully. "You mean studying is one of the ways for Ludwig to integrate into human society? That studying has given him some humanity?"
"Yup." Jenna continued to feed Franca her breakfast while casually chatting with her. At the end, she even used a wet wipe to clean Franca's mouth and washed her face.
After finishing these tasks, Jenna took the trash and left the master bedroom.
After bustling about for several dozen seconds, she sat down next to Ludwig, as if supervising a child's study.
After watching for a while, she took out two packages from the Traveler's Bag and placed them on the table.
They were two bags of simply packaged rice crisps.
As Ludwig looked over in surprise, Jenna said with a smile, "If you can pass my test later, these will be yours.
"Do you prefer spicy or original flavor?"
"I like both!" Ludwig lowered his head again, his gaze unusually focused.
"I prefer the original flavor." Jenna tore open the packaging and popped two pieces into her mouth, chewing.
Ludwig's head snapped up to look at her, his mouth half-open, expression bewildered.
Isn't this my reward?
"I'll eat a bit while you're studying. Don't worry, I'll save some for you," Jenna said with a smile.
Franca, lying on the bed in the master bedroom, couldn't help but laugh when she heard this conversation.
She suddenly realized that although Jenna usually seemed very mature, she was actually just a girl fresh out of college by her real age. It was perfectly normal for such a girl to enjoy snacks, and now she finally had the opportunity.
The smile on Franca's face gradually softened as new dialogue drifted in from the living room outside.
"This is a corn soup flavored puffed snack."
"These are cucumber flavored potato chips."
"These are chocolate wafer cookies."
"…"
"These snacks aren't plentiful because they're not as cheap as staple foods, but they're all prepared for you, as rewards for studying hard and doing well on tests."
"You… you eat less! I'll work hard!"
Leaning against the pillow, Franca slowly developed a strange feeling: She was the sick father, and outside were the gluttonous, study-averse child and the mother supervising the child's homework.
If one ignored phrases like "the corpse's finger is also your reward for today," it was really such a warm and beautiful day-to-day life for a family of three.
…
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The sound of horns blared constantly behind and beside the gray sedan, urging Lumian to drive faster, but Lumian remained calm and completely ignored the noise around him, keeping the vehicle moving steadily at the lowest speed allowed on the current road section.
As a new driver—safety first!
Anthony sat in the passenger seat, constantly scrolling through his phone, looking at local news.
"What are you looking for?" Lumian glanced at his companion out of the corner of his eye.
Anthony shouldn't have reached the stage of being addicted to the Internet yet; after all, he had only just learned how to use it.
Anthony turned his head and said solemnly, "I still feel that several details from last night's battle seem increasingly odd the more I think about them."
"Such as?" Lumian focused on driving.
Anthony said carefully, "The second security guard who self-destructed, his state before the explosion was very similar to that of a Marionettist himself, but he just exploded like that."
"The ability to swap positions between a marionette and its master? You suspect that there was indeed a demigod-level Marionettist assisting the Celestial Worthy's marionette at the scene?" Lumian understood what Anthony was trying to express. "But we were aware of the situation within a range of several dozen meters and found no traces. Could it be that this demigod-level Marionettist was in a state where we couldn't see, hear, or touch them?"
"That's the most terrifying part. And if there really was such a Marionettist present, why didn't he save the reanimated female corpse afterward, and why hasn't he spread information about our appearances and characteristics since then?" Anthony returned his gaze to his phone.
Lumian nodded slowly and replied, "You're scrolling through reports and private rumors related to last night's incident, checking if any of our information has leaked?"
"Yes," Anthony said, his finger constantly sliding across the screen. "The current circulating story is that workplace conflicts led one of the security guards to bring in detonators, killing his colleague and himself in the explosion…"
Anthony stopped mid-sentence.
He frowned slightly.
"I've come across a strange local news item. This morning, a madman was found near the garbage collection point close to Moon Plaza, a completely irrational madman unable to communicate. Then, he was sent to the hospital for treatment."
"Near the mall? A madman?" Lumian also noticed the oddity of this news and keenly asked, "Which hospital was he sent to?"
Could this madman be the Marionettist who was hidden last night?
Did he not intervene in the later battle because something happened to him?
What happened? Why did something happen?
"The news doesn't say," Anthony continued scrolling through reports on this matter.
Lumian maintained his speed and took another ten minutes or so to reach their destination.
After finding a parking spot and struggling to park the car, he and Anthony walked towards Star Dream Provisions Store located at the corner of the street.
The shop had no lights on, and it was narrow and dim inside. The moment Lumian entered, it felt like he had gone from morning to night.
He glanced at the tall, long shelves on both sides filled with peculiar goods, and walked to the cashier counter at the very back.
Behind the counter sat a woman wearing a black dress. She leaned against the wooden cabinet behind her, head lowered as she played with her phone. In front of her was a tablet playing a TV series.
Lumian politely said, "Hello, I'd like to send a letter."
He was actually saying he wanted to send a letter in a provisions store.
The woman in the black dress playing with her phone didn't find it strange. Without raising her head, she asked, "Where to, and to whom?"
"To the Cathedral of Serenity, to High-ranking Deacon Leonard Mitchell," Lumian took out the letter for the Major Arcana card holders.
The woman in the black dress still looked at her phone, her voice gentle and calming as she said, "There's a silver-rimmed black mailbox on the third shelf to the right. You can put your letter in there.
"Come back tomorrow to collect the reply."
"Thank you," Lumian quietly sighed in relief and turned towards the shelf.
What caught his eye wasn't a toy mailbox, but a brass-like book and a silver mirror with black pupil-like orbs on both sides.
Lumian quickly scanned the shelves and also found classic quill pens, various strange dice, and other items. If it weren't for the shop owner being on her phone and watching a tablet, he would have thought he had returned to the real world, back to Trier.
The style of these items was quite different from the dream city, more like things from the Northern Continent!
After placing the letter in the silver-rimmed toy mailbox, Lumian turned to the side and asked the shop owner, "May I look at the goods here?"
The shop owner's voice carried a hint of amusement. "These are all for sale."
For sale? As a Demoness, Lumian first picked up the silver mirror with ancient patterns and a black gem on each side.
In the mirror, Lumian's face quickly appeared.
Light blue eyes, clear and deep, a slightly thin face, almost perfect, lips neither thick nor thin, pale in color yet moist, with a hint of radiance…
This was his female form.
It directly shows my Demoness state… This mirror indeed has magical properties… Just as Lumian had this thought, he saw the surface of the mirror ripple like water, outlining rows of blood-colored words in ancient Feysac: "I am the great Arrodes. I can answer any question you ask, but you must also answer an equal number of questions from me, in the presence of at least one witness.
"If you refuse to answer, or if you lie, you will face punishment."
Arrodes, the great Arrodes? Lumian knew this name.
Franca had mentioned it before. This was Mr. Fool's magic mirror, most accurate in answering questions, but each of its questions would cause the diviner to suffer social death.
Mr. Fool's magic mirror is actually in this provisions store in the dream? What does this represent, what does it symbolize? Lumian couldn't help but glance again at the shop owner, the woman in the black dress playing with her phone.
After brief consideration, Lumian calmly said, "My question is, regarding the matter of awakening Mr. Fool, what do you want to warn us about?"
-x-X-x-
The surface of the magic mirror claiming to be Arrodes rippled with aqueous light, and the surrounding darkness became hazy.
One by one, ancient Feysac words that seemed to be dripping blood quickly appeared on the mirror: "Beware of the night."
Beware of the night? Lumian repeated this answer while instinctively looking outside the Star Dream Provisions Store.
At this time, the August sunlight was bright and brilliant, reflecting golden light off many glass windows across the street, unconsciously making people feel certain and secure, while also instinctively dreading the heat.
Lumian quickly recalled his experiences of the past two nights, realizing that neither night had been peaceful: The first night, the dream image of Oracle Danitz was murdered, and the orderly at Mushu Hospital revived the corpse of a Demoness of Despair;
The second night, they encountered the reanimated female corpse in the monitoring room, a fierce battle ensued, and they nearly made the local news headlines as a major case involving guns, explosives, and biochemical toxins. Fortunately, to avoid causing panic, the police did not disclose specific details and only launched a secret investigation.
In comparison, nothing major had happened during the two daytimes. The only anomaly was the revival of the Oracle's corpse, which had walked into Mushu Hospital without causing much commotion.
Daytime is relatively safe, while night is more dangerous? During the day, Mr. Fool's power is dominant, while at night, the Celestial Worthy's consciousness is more active? Lumian briefly analyzed the answer from the magic mirror Arrodes.
At this point, the blood-colored words on the silver mirror's surface twisted and writhed to form new content: "Based on the principle of reciprocity, it's my turn to ask a question.
"If you answer incorrectly or lie, you will be punished."
Lumian nodded fearlessly, while Anthony beside him remained silent.
On the magic mirror, new words began to form one by one: "Regarding your sister Aurore…"
Lumian's eyebrows suddenly twitched, and at the same time, the words on the mirror's surface suddenly blurred, rearranging into new content: "After becoming a Demoness, do you want to be fucked by men?"
"No," Lumian answered briefly and decisively.
No punishment appeared.
Lumian murmured in confusion, "The question is so simple?"
First, it suddenly changed the question, then asked one that he currently had a clear conscience about. How could this create social death?
On the mirror's surface, waves of light floated, and several lines of ancient Feysac words that seemed to be dripping blood appeared:
"The great Arrodes is very friendly to everyone who enters the dream and wants to awaken Mr. Fool!"
I see… This magic mirror is very loyal… Just as Lumian finished this thought, he saw the words on the mirror change: "Based on the principle of reciprocity, it's my turn to ask a question.
"If you answer incorrectly or lie, you will be punished."
That also counted as a question? Lumian hadn't expected his mutterings to become a question.
He hadn't even demanded that the magic mirror Arrodes answer!
On the surface of the antique silver mirror, a bloody question appeared before Lumian's eyes:
"What does it feel like to wear women's underwear?"
Still quite friendly indeed… Lumian answered expressionlessly, "Constricting, a bit tight, not very comfortable, but it gives a sense of stability and security."
Considering that the magic mirror Arrodes had only answered "Beware of the night" for the first question, Lumian felt that asking more questions now wouldn't yield much more information. So he put the antique silver mirror with black eye-like gems on both sides back in its original place.
He thoughtfully looked towards the cashier counter and asked the shop owner, "How much is this mirror?"
If the price was right, perhaps he could buy it. As Mr. Fool's personal item, the magic mirror might provide important information at crucial moments later on.
The shop owner in the black dress finally raised her head.
For some reason, Lumian felt the sunlight outside suddenly dim a little, as if large clouds had drifted by.
The interior of Star Dream Provisions Store became even darker.
In this environment, Lumian, with his Night Vision, could still clearly see the shop owner's appearance.
Her eyes were a rare pure black, her face extraordinarily beautiful, but she didn't look like a local.
The shop owner smiled and answered Lumian's question, "5 million."
"How much?" Lumian blurted out, and even Anthony's expression changed slightly.
"5 million," the shop owner repeated the price.
I have to think twice even about spending 50 now, and you're quoting me 5 million… Lumian abandoned the idea of buying the magic mirror Arrodes.
He knew that this price was actually very cheap. This was Mr. Fool's personal item, the great Arrodes, its true value definitely worth 5 million, or even far exceeding this price, but one had to allow those without money to grumble a bit.
With an attitude of gaining knowledge, Lumian pointed to the brass-like book. "How much is this?"
"9 million," the shop owner answered politely.
Lumian couldn't ask further.
He now only knew one thing, this brass book was more valuable than the magic mirror Arrodes!
The shop owner added with a smile, "Most of the items in the store are antiques, and related to mysticism, so they're not cheap. But you can choose to rent them, calculated by the day."
"Rent?" Lumian pointed at the magic mirror Arrodes in surprise. "How much to rent for one day?"
"220,000," the shop owner's voice was as gentle as a serenade.
220,000… This isn't much different from buying it for 5 million, we can't afford it either way… Lumian first grumbled to himself, then based on his rich dream experience and a Demoness's spiritual intuition, he muttered softly, "Saving up 5 million to buy the magic mirror, and saving up 220,000 to rent it for a day, both have corresponding symbolic meanings?"
The shop owner didn't seem to expect Lumian to rent or purchase, and lowered her head again to focus on her phone.
Lumian indeed didn't have the ability to rent or buy now, so he and Anthony walked towards the door of Star Dream Provisions Store.
After a few steps, he suddenly thought of something and turned back to ask, "Has anyone rented the magic mirror before?"
The shop owner raised her head again, a smile appearing on her beautiful face. "Yes."
Lumian's pupils suddenly dilated. "Who?"
Someone really rented the magic mirror Arrodes in the dream city?
What did they use it for?
The shop owner answered with a faint smile, "It's my duty to keep my clients' privacy and secrets."
In Lumian's mind, thoughts flashed like lightning.
He finally didn't pursue the question further and turned to walk out of Star Dream Provisions Store.
Just as they approached where they had parked, Lumian and Anthony saw a foreign man with brownish-yellow hair crouching beside the gray sedan their team had rented, looking left and right, occasionally taking a photo.
Seeing the car owners return, this foreign man slowly stood up.
He was about the same height as Lumian, wearing a pair of plain glasses on his nose bridge, with some light yellow stubble on his face. His chest muscles were developed, his arms were thick, stretching his blue shirt to near bursting point. He wore faded jeans and carried a black travel backpack on his back.
"Why are you photographing our car?" Lumian asked cautiously.
He now had a kind of illness where he felt that every person in the dream had a corresponding identity and symbolic meaning.
The foreign man said, "Such a vintage car is rare to see; it fills a gap in my knowledge."
"Knowledge?" Lumian asked puzzledly.
Is this guy studying cars?
The foreign man smiled and said, "I'm an international student, studying at the university here. I really like this city, I like everything here, so when I don't have classes, I carry my bag and phone, walk around and take photos everywhere, recording every detail that makes up this civilization."
"I see…" Lumian felt this guy was a bit strange, but as he was still in the first stage of observation, he didn't want to have too much contact with him.
At this point, Anthony suddenly asked, "What's your name?"
The foreign man glanced at Anthony and smiled as he answered, "Stiano. What about you guys?"
"Li Ming," Lumian gave his fake name for the dream city.
Anthony also introduced himself, "An Ruide."
After chatting for a few more sentences, Stiano, this foreign man, continued to wander aimlessly with his backpack and phone.
Once in the car, Lumian fastened his seatbelt and looked at Anthony.
"Why did you ask for his name?"
Anthony rarely took such initiative.
Anthony thought for a moment and said, "He gives me a strange sense of familiarity.
"I'll use hypnosis to ask my subconscious later, to see where this sense of familiarity comes from."
Lumian nodded and started the car.
Halfway through the drive, Anthony suddenly came out of hypnosis and said to Lumian, "I've found the source of the familiarity. I get a similar feeling every time I enter a Church of Steam cathedral."
He was originally a Steam believer.
"The corresponding dream image of a high-level figure in the Church of Steam?" Although Lumian had disguised himself as a Steam believer before, he had hardly ever entered a Church of Steam, so he didn't have the same feeling as Anthony.
"Maybe," Anthony wasn't too sure.
…
At noon, in the rental apartment.
Lumian said to Jenna, who was supporting Franca as she came out to eat, "This afternoon, you and Anthony take Ludwig to check out Dream Tutoring Classes in person. I'll stay home to take care of Franca.
"According to the information provided by the Major Arcana cards, Mr. Fool also enrolled in this tutoring center. This is one of the best ways for us to naturally and normally come into contact with Mr. Fool.
"Moreover, we can observe the impact of the Oracle's death on this tutoring center."
"Mm," Franca spoke up. "It seems a bit strange that the Oracle, as an adult man, was reported missing after just one night of not returning."
Jenna thought for a moment and said, "Maybe Mr. Fool's subconscious thinks this matter is urgent."
"There might be other reasons," Lumian glanced at Ludwig, whose face had soured upon hearing about the tutoring center, and said, "Jenna is responsible for communication and probing, Anthony for observation. I'll leave this matter to you guys."