Chapter 908: Hospital |
Seeing the local man curled up by the green trees, crying out in a near-breakdown state, Franca seriously considered whether to help call the police.
Lumian pondered for a few seconds, then gave Anthony a meaningful look.
Anthony immediately walked into the shadowed area and used Placate on the target.
The local man in his forties finally calmed down, as if emerging from a nightmare that had tormented him for a long time.
Lumian approached and asked pointedly, "What happened?"
Having encountered the strange death of Oracle Danitz not long ago and now meeting a mentally collapsed man, he intuitively felt this shouldn't be simple either, and might hide some crucial information.
The man raised his head and looked at Lumian and the others.
He was about to speak when he suddenly saw Franca and Jenna. His expression twisted and he cried out in extreme terror,
"Female ghost! A female ghost!"
Lumian quickly threw out his mirror, creating his own Mirror Maze.
Franca glanced at him, seeing that he had reacted in time, and withdrew her right hand from her pocket.
At the same time, Franca muttered to herself, "How do I look like a female ghost?
"How do Jenna and I look like female ghosts?"
The security guard, holding a brightly shining flashlight, came over and circled the green trees twice, saying with a puzzled face, "The sound was clearly coming from here, why can't I see anyone…"
He listened carefully again, feeling that the voice shouting "female ghost" had become somewhat distant, unable to discern exactly where it was coming from.
The security guard suddenly shuddered.
Could there really be female ghosts?
He decided not to deal with this matter anymore, only to help report it to the police.
As soon as he had this new idea, he immediately ran back towards the security room at the entrance.
Although the Mirror Maze was only at Sequence 7 level, the current dark environment with few people still allowed Lumian to successfully deceive the security guard.
05:47
He had Franca and Jenna retreat to the edge of the Mirror Maze, not to be seen by the collapsed man, and signaled Anthony to do another round of Placate.
Although the Mirror Maze was only at Sequence 7 level, the current dark environment with few people still allowed Lumian to successfully deceive the security guard.
He had Franca and Jenna retreat to the edge of the Mirror Maze, not to be seen by the collapsed man, and signaled Anthony to do another round of Placate.
The mentally broken local man calmed down once again, and Anthony asked gently and calmly, "What happened? Perhaps I can help you."
For some reason, the man felt that Anthony before him was very trustworthy, making him feel very at ease. He took a breath and said, "I-I encountered a jiangshi!"
"A jiangshi?" Lumian could roughly understand this belonged to a type of undead creature, perhaps a unique term for zombies in this dream world.
The man was silent for a few seconds, looked at Anthony, and received an affirmative nod from him.
He gathered his courage and stammered, "I-I'm a hospital orderly, I just took a corpse to the morgue.
"That corpse was too beautiful, unbelievably beautiful. Her ears were a bit small, very cute, enchanting, just like those expensive jewelry in gold shops. She wasn't wearing any clothes, I couldn't resist, I told my coworker to go ahead, then I climbed on top, bit her ear, and had my way with her for quite a while."
Hearing this, Franca couldn't help but raise her right hand to face palm.
Bringing shame to the motherland!
Perverts are everywhere, it's about relative proportions!
"It didn't feel like a dead person at all…" the man rambled on, as if still savoring the experience.
Gradually, his eyes bulged. "Just as I pulled up my pants, she, that corpse's eyes opened!
"They opened!
"Female ghost! A female ghost!"
After listening intently, Lumian turned his head and said to Franca and Jenna, "If even a corpse has such great allure, could it be a Demoness?"
"It's possible." Franca nodded.
Jenna then proposed another possibility, "The corpse of a Sex Addict or a Baby Cupid might also have this effect."
She had a very deep impression of the Scrooge pathway.
Lumian looked outside the Mirror Maze, seeing no sign of police yet, so he had Anthony Placate the orderly once more, then used Dream Divination to draw a sketch.
The woman in the sketch was clearly not a local, more like someone from the Northern Continent, with striking features but a sacred aura, not feeling like a corpse at all.
Additionally, it was evident that the orderly had the strongest impression of the female corpse's small, delicate ears and long, beautiful neck, mixed with intense desire.
"She does look a bit like a Demoness," said Franca, standing at the edge of the Mirror Maze with rich experience in identifying Demonesses.
Lumian pondered for a moment, then asked the male orderly, "Which hospital do you work at?"
The male orderly didn't hide anything from Anthony,
"I live nearby, but I work at Mushu Hospital."
"Mushu Hospital…" Franca's eyelid twitched.
"What's wrong?" Lumian, Jenna, and Anthony didn't understand why Franca would react this way.
The hospital's name seemed normal, doesn't it mean gazing at the dawn in the distance?
Franca organized her thoughts and said, "This is one of the manifestations of you being able to understand the meaning of corresponding words, but not truly grasping what they symbolize.
"In my native language, 'Mushu' and 'Mother Tree' are near-homophones, and you should know very well what 'Mother Tree' represents."
Without waiting for Lumian and the others to respond, Franca said in a deep voice, "Mother Tree of Desire!"
"Can the Mother Tree of Desire also infiltrate its power into this dream a bit?" Lumian slightly furrowed his brow.
If the Mother Tree has appeared, how far away is the Mother?
Jenna obviously thought of this aspect too, and after a few seconds of silence, she said, "Then the possibility of it being a Baby Cupid corpse has increased…"
Lumian had Anthony further question the male orderly about any unusual occurrences at Mushu Hospital, but didn't get any useful answers.
They didn't waste any more time. Anthony used Hypnosis to make the male orderly forget about the recent soothing and questioning, and had him walk out of the Mirror Maze on his own, heading towards another street.
Dispelling the Mirror Maze and watching the orderly's retreating figure, Lumian thoughtfully said, "That corpse definitely has issues, but it doesn't mean he doesn't have problems, nor does it mean everything else at Mushu Hospital is normal."
Jenna strongly agreed, "That intense desire to violate even a female corpse seems very much like the corruption of a Sex Addict.
"Of course, it could also be that he was enchanted by the female corpse to the point of losing control."
The group discussed the recent events as they walked into their rented apartment complex.
Franca suddenly sighed. "We've only been here half a day and already encountered two bizarre incidents not mentioned in the information, right?"
"Correct," Lumian confirmed.
He then smiled and said, "Perhaps this is how much weight the two Calamity pathways carry.
"When I switch back to the 'Hunter' pathway, I could almost be an incomplete human-shaped corpse wax candle. Maybe I could complete the corresponding secret deed rituals without relying on anything.
"Hmm, my spiritual intuition tells me that we might encounter that resurrected female corpse before long."
"Then we should take turns keeping watch starting tonight," Franca immediately said.
Dying in the dream could mean real death!
"It's indeed worth being so vigilant," Lumian nodded approvingly. "Tomorrow morning, we'll secretly observe outside Mr. Fool's company to recognize people first."
…
Late at night, in the master bedroom.
Jenna suddenly woke up and saw Franca hugging a thin blanket she had taken out of the Traveler's Bag, sitting against the headboard in the darkness, as if she had turned into a statue.
"What are you thinking about?" Jenna slowly sat up and asked carefully.
Franca gazed at the wall opposite, which had been "painted" by darkness, and answered in a voice like sleep-talking, "Why would Mr. Fool name his marionette town Utopia…"
"Is there something wrong with this name?" Jenna didn't quite understand what Franca was concerned about.
After a few seconds of silence, Franca said, "That's a term specific to the world I transmigrated from, meaning a non-existent country, an imaginary country… Why would Mr. Fool use it…"
Jenna roughly understood Franca's thoughts. She said in a gentle voice, "The Major Arcana card holders mentioned in the information that Mr. Fool has been collecting Emperor Roselle's diaries. Maybe this term was in one of the diaries, or maybe Mr. Fool learned about this term during his long-term confrontation with the Celestial Worthy. Or, well, didn't you say the Ancient Sun God might also be a transmigrator? Why couldn't Mr. Fool be one?"
"That's what I'm suspecting. The more I think about Mr. Fool's origins mentioned in the information and the experiences of his avatars, the more I suspect…" Franca's voice became so low it lost its weight.
"Don't suspect, verify," Jenna comforted Franca in her own way. "When we awaken Mr. Fool, you can ask this question. Whether he's a transmigrator or not, after confronting the Celestial Worthy for so many years, he must know the secret of your transmigration. He might even be able to help you return. For now, don't think too much about it, focus on awakening Mr. Fool."
Franca slowly exhaled and said, "Right, thinking too much now is useless, we can't verify anything for the time being.
"Hmm… For me, awakening Mr. Fool is no longer just a task from the Tarot Club, no longer just something that must be done to survive the apocalypse…"
After chatting for a while longer, Franca lay back down, inhaling Jenna's scent, and fell into a deep sleep, both mentally and physically exhausted.
After Franca was completely asleep, Jenna carefully got up, opened the master bedroom door, and walked into the living room that doubled as a dining room.
Lumian, wearing a white shirt and black trousers, was sitting by the wooden dining table, staring blankly at the window in the direction of the shoe cabinet.
"It's my turn to keep watch, you can go rest now," Jenna said with a smile.
Lumian withdrew his gaze and stood up.
"What were you and Franca talking about just now?"
Jenna summarized the key points of Franca's doubts and her own comfort. Lumian nodded slightly and said, "Right, give her a goal, motivate her to act, and not think too much for now.
"When it's daylight, I'll find a chance to consult Anthony again to see if we need to do anything else."
Jenna turned her gaze to the window in the direction of the shoe cabinet and asked curiously, "What were you thinking about just now?"
Lumian looked in that direction as well. What met his eyes was the scene inside the neighborhood. At this moment, only two or three households in each building still had light spilling out, while the rest were in darkness.
Lumian's thoughts seemed to drift away again. He answered in a low voice, "I was wondering if Aurore used to live in a city like this…"
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