Chapter 945: New Hostel? |
After a while, Jenna also came to Room 1502 by climbing through the window, and saw Luo Shan controlled by three methods.
"Were the invading monsters driven back again?" Franca asked with concern.
Jenna tersely acknowledged.
"By the time dawn breaks, they should attack again."
She then summarized the key points of what Luo Shan had said after Franca left that space.
Hearing that becoming a Shaman would cause one's own psyche to sense another space and higher realms, thereby attracting all sorts of strange creatures to invade, Franca couldn't help but mutter, "What kind of extraterrestrial demons is this…"
Jenna could understand every word Franca said, but did not grasp the specific meaning. However, she was already accustomed to Franca occasionally blurting out some strange words, especially after entering the dream city, so she did not ask further, and continued to relay the information she had gathered from Luo Shan.
As soon as she finished, the doorbell rang.
Jenna walked to the bedroom door, and cautiously, without approaching the main entrance, took out a hand mirror to reflect the view outside the peephole.
Jenna then opened the door, pointed to the bedroom, and said in a low voice, "The patient is inside."
Anthony had driven himself to Dechuang Garden—after a few days of observation, he had learned how to drive to some extent.
Then, he "persuaded" the patrolling property management to help with parking and card swiping, and pressed the button for the 15th floor.
As Anthony walked towards the bedroom, Ludwig's gaze fell on the paintings Luo Shan had done.
"Can I… eat them?" he licked his lips, looking at Jenna with longing.
Jenna hadn't seen the child in several days, and seeing him still the same, she felt a warm affection and smiled.
"These are just paintings."
"But they still represent a certain reality." When it came to eating, Ludwig was always mature.
Jenna thought for two seconds and replied, "Okay."
She felt that these paintings were done by Luo Shan previously, and Luo Shan's condition at the time was unknown. There might be some contamination or hints left on the paintings. If Anthony managed to help Luo Shan recover, but the patient then saw some of her old paintings and the problem resurfaced, it would be a waste of her companions' efforts.
With the permission granted, Ludwig cheered and crumpled the unframed paintings, stuffing them into his mouth.
"Will eating these give you different qualities or abilities?" Jenna asked curiously.
Ludwig replied with a muffled voice, "I can temporarily acquire them, but the duration is very short, and I don't have anyone to deal with right now.
"Eating these is mainly to increase my spirituality limit…"
Jenna nodded in understanding, then looked at the back of Ludwig devouring the paintings and asked lightly,
"How have your studies been these past few days?"
Ludwig's back suddenly stiffened for a second.
Inside the bedroom.
Anthony had learned the full situation from Franca, lit some candles, and dripped on some pure dew.
After completing all the preparations, he signaled to Franca that she could retract the Wintry Blade.
Franca, who had been holding the almost invisible triangular spike for too long, had lost a lot of body temperature, and her lips were even a little pale. Upon hearing this, she hurriedly put the weapon back into the Traveler's Bag.
Of course, she was still far from becoming an undead. The negative effects of the Wintry Blade were also suppressed to Sequence 7 in the dream.
As the Wintry Blade was put away, Luo Shan's eyeballs rolled slightly under her eyelids and slowly opened.
She quickly recalled her ordeal, her expression twisting into an extremely hideous grimace.
Then she saw a pair of deep brown eyes, like a deep lake, and the flickering yellowish candlelight reflected in them.
At the same time, she smelled a soothing aroma.
Luo Shan immediately became calm.
Seeing this, Franca clicked to enlarge the words she had previously written on a memo and showed them to Anthony.
"Do not try to guide or suppress the corruption hidden in the patient's Beyonder powers. Trying to completely eradicate them is unrealistic and very dangerous for us now.
"What you need to do is treat the patient's mental problems, resolve the personality alteration, or reduce the impact of the personality alteration.
"If the patient relapses later, we will still handle it according to the current plan, until we find a way to thoroughly solve the corruption problem or find help."
Anthony gave an almost imperceptible nod and began to communicate with Luo Shan's mental self.
Franca stood by, ready to intervene if anything went wrong with Anthony.
After Ludwig finished eating even the paintings in the bedroom, leaving only the one with the bridge, precipice, abyss, and dark forest, Anthony finally completed the treatment, extinguished the candles, and led Ludwig out of the bedroom, leaving Room 1502.
After another dozen seconds, Luo Shan's long eyelashes fluttered, and her gaze gradually recovered its normalcy.
She looked at Franca and Jenna, her expression a mix of bewilderment and as if she understood everything, and said, "I feel like I've just woken up from a long nightmare…"
"We found a professional doctor and cured the problems caused by the corruption in the potion beverage you had to some extent. Of course, this is just the end of the first treatment course, and whether there will be more courses will depend on the situation," Franca explained vaguely, retracting her long hair and releasing the invisible spider silk bindings.
"I knew you guys would help me, even if you can't cure me, you'll deal with that demon properly." Luo Shan's spirit and mind had returned to the lively state before she drank the Reporter beverage. She smiled at Franca and said, "Actually, I noticed at the time that you seemed to have become less real, but I suppressed that feeling and deliberately didn't look at you again, so that she wouldn't find out."
She? Luo Shan had already started referring to the altered personality as "she"… Hmm, that altered personality also called her that… The situation seems to be more serious than we had anticipated previously, but at least we managed to control her and provide treatment in time… Franca nodded with relief.
Jenna then asked curiously, "You could tell that eh… Luo Fu became a mirror illusion, relying on the Reporter's ability to observe, investigate, and uncover the true world, right?"
They had not fully understood the Painter pathway beforehand, and their plan almost failed.
"Yes," Luo Shan quickly nodded, looking at Franca, "Your name is Luo Fu? It's so beautiful, even nicer than my name. You're all so beautiful!"
"We all have the surname Luo, maybe we were from the same family five hundred years ago," Franca joked.
Jenna thought for a moment, looking at Luo Shan.
"Why do you go out every evening?"
"Sometimes I go to find tasty food to treat myself, sometimes I go shopping with friends, and sometimes…" At this point, Luo Shan's expression changed slightly, "Sometimes I go to a hostel that's still under renovation and hasn't opened yet. That's the latest demand of that voice. It said that after the hotel officially opens, it will bestow the Literature Enthusiast beverage on me."
Hearing that the voice demanded opening a hotel, Franca and Jenna simultaneously thought of a term: Hostel!
For that evil god of the Fantasy Association, the concept of a hostel has strong symbolic meaning? Reflected in the dream, it's wanting to open a hotel? Franca asked, "Is the money for opening the motel from you, or is there another source?"
"I put in part of it, spending all my savings. Fortunately, I had already bought this apartment before, so the remaining money wasn't much. But lately I've been seriously considering mortgaging the house to get a loan and get the hotel open as soon as possible." As she spoke, Luo Shan had a look of lingering fear on her face.
Money… opening a hotel requires money… That evil god of the Fantasy Association didn't directly give money, but made the bestowed offer it themselves… In Mr. Fool's dream city, money indeed has a strong symbolic meaning, and the evil gods have to worry about it… Franca asked thoughtfully, "You only put in part of it, who provided the rest?"
"It's people similar to me, but I haven't met them. Different people go to oversee the hotel renovation every day, not contacting each other, and they're not even on the shareholder list. I'm not on it either. The hotel is owned by someone called Anderson."
"Anderson? Anderson Hood?" Franca and Jenna asked in unison.
"How do you know?" Luo Shan was surprised.
Franca laughed. "We know a lot more than you think."
She asked for the name of the hostel, opened her phone, searched it, and then saw the name "Colorful Hostel" with Anderson Hood's name clearly listed as a shareholder.
This was too direct and conspicuous, making Franca feel that the other party was challenging or boasting about a successful prank.
This needs to be told to Lumian, let him probe Anderson… Speaking of which, he hasn't had an excuse to communicate with Anderson… The Hunter hasn't been sending messages either… Jenna took out her phone, hesitating whether to contact Lumian now.
She was afraid of waking the other party.
After a brief consideration, Jenna still chose to step out of the bedroom and use the text input method to report the information about the Colorful Hostel to Lumian.
She couldn't let the softness in her heart hinder the communication of key issues. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before dawn, and she and Franca would be kicked out of the dream!
Luo Shan followed and came to the living room.
She looked around and asked, "Where are my paintings?"
"We've taken care of them all," Jenna honestly expressed her previous concerns.
"Okay." Luo Shan nodded in agreement, then pointed to the remaining painting and said, "What about this one? It's the most dangerous!"
Seeing Franca and Jenna both looking at her, Luo Shan's expression changed a bit as she said,
"It's not a painting I did. Soon after I drank the Reporter potion, I suddenly received this painting, I don't know who sent it. I feel that the other me, in my heart, is also in the dark forest in this painting!"
"Conventional methods can't get rid of it." Jenna did not hide anything from Luo Shan.
Franca changed the subject thoughtfully. "What about the self-portrait?"
"When you deleted all the photos, it self-combusted, so I knew you had a problem," Luo Shan said, worried and curious.
Franca immediately became eager to try, pointing to the painting with elements like the dark forest, precipice, and bridge, and asked Luo Shan, "Have you tried taking a photo of this painting? Did anything unusual happen at the time?"
If she could take a photo and the abnormality wouldn't immediately manifest, they could consider using the Information Shredder to handle it!
"I couldn't, the photos would turn out blank. I even tried throwing it away, but it mysteriously came back," Luo Shan shook her head.
As expected… Franca was not too surprised by this. She pondered and said, "Can you give us this painting? We have a way to deal with it, but we'll have to wait until morning."
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