Chapter 958: Inside and Outside the Dream |
It's that Zaratulstra again… Did he go to the Dream Tutoring Classes to wait for Zhou Mingrui, or did he have another purpose? Lumian held Ludwig's hand as they walked out of the seating area. While waiting for the staff to open the door of the amusement facility, he smiled at Anderson and asked, "Did you chat with him?"
Anderson put his hands in his pockets and smiled. "He said he wanted to deeply influence one person and eliminate some people."
Is the one he wants to deeply influence Zhou Mingrui? And who are the ones he wants to eliminate? Why did Zaratulstra talk about this with Anderson? Was one of his purposes for going to the Dream Tutoring Classes to find Anderson, to find the mute Anderson representing the Fantasy Association? Does this symbolize the cooperation between the Celestial Worthy and that evil god of the Fantasy Association? Lumian walked towards the now-open door, casually saying, "People like Danitz?"
What he wanted to ask was whether the people Zaratulstra wanted to eliminate were dream characters like Oracle Danitz, or outsiders like himself.
Anderson gave a thumbs up, walking down the few steps at the entrance. "At the time, I couldn't understand why they dealt with Danitz first. What role could he play? Maybe he was just lucky, and they had to first finish off the lucky one."
In a situation where everyone is suppressed to Sequence 7, luck is indeed very important… From Anderson's words, was the death of the Oracle done by Zaratulstra and the mute Anderson together? The mute Anderson's involvement means he himself was also involved, with a chance to secretly sabotage and influence the progress of things. So, is that why we discovered the Oracle's body earlier, instead of it being sent to the morgue at Mushu Hospital according to the planned schedule, to "resurrect" and return? Lumian nodded thoughtfully.
He felt that Anderson had used the mute dream manifestation to interfere with Zaratulstra's actions, resulting in the other party only achieving the goal of eliminating Danitz, without successfully utilizing the Oracle's body.
Lumian was now unsure whether Zaratulstra was more Zaratul or more Loki, so he directly used the dream name to refer to him.
Damn, it was you, Anderson, who did it. No wonder you called the police immediately… This also explains why we stumbled upon the death of the Oracle. It wasn't a coincidence… Lumian cursed inwardly for a couple of sentences, passing by Anthony without retrieving his phone. Anderson did the same.
"What do you want to do by opening the Colorful Hostel?"
"As soon as you come in, someone hands you a sum of money, hands you a hotel that's still under renovation, would you refuse? When faced with sugar-coated bullets, isn't it a normal choice to eat the sugar coating and throw back the bullet?" Anderson smiled and asked in return.
"But many times, the sugar coating can also be poisonous, or you might not have time to throw back the bullet. You wouldn't want it if someone forcibly put a child in your belly, would you?" The temporary Child of God of the Great Mother, Lumian, spoke from experience.
Anderson was stunned for a second, then smiled and said, "If it's really put in, you have to keep it even if you don't want to. If you can't get rid of it later, you can only cultivate a good father-son or father-daughter relationship."
Lumian changed the question. "What does the behind-the-scenes hand that made those people give you money and the hotel want to do?"
Anderson turned his head to look at him and said with a smile, "Isn't that why I've come to find you?"
Lumian's thoughts raced, vaguely understanding the meaning in Anderson's words: one of the goals of that evil god of the Fantasy Association was to hinder the Celestial Worthy and maintain the balance of the dream. It was precisely because Anderson grasped this key point that he actively contacted Lumian and others, speaking so plainly.
Anderson looked ahead again, walking towards the food gathering area behind the mall.
"I saw a funny saying online before.
"The saying goes, 'I'm afraid of my brother suffering, but I also don't want my brother owning a Range Rover.'"
"That's interesting." Lumian felt Anderson didn't need to hint so obviously, he could understand completely.
Anderson continued, "A hotel always has guests, coming from different places."
At this point, he suddenly pointed at the spray painting on a shop sign.
"Paintings are complex. They are both information and a door to a fantasy realm. If a complete and real order can be established in the world within the painting, wouldn't it become an almost real world?"
Is this hinting at something? Hinting at the possible goals of that evil god of the Fantasy Association? Lumian lacked key information and could only roughly understand what Anderson was saying, unable to figure out the true meaning of these words.
Based on the knowledge he currently possessed, he felt that the evil god of the Fantasy Association also wanted to occupy more pathways, just like the Great Mother and the Mother Tree of Desire. What He had His eye on were the Mystery Pryer and Savant pathways that symbolize information, the Apprentice pathway that represented the concept of "door", alternate worlds, and space itself, as well as the Lawyer and Arbiter pathways that could give the world within paintings a real order.
While Lumian was thinking, Anderson pointed at a shop and laughed. "I told you the world would have loopholes, look over there."
Lumian looked over and found it was a small shop named "Loen Delights", mainly selling sweet iced tea and Desi pies.
"How could Loen have anything considered a delight? This is definitely a loophole," Anderson said with a mocking expression.
Lumian nodded. "Yes."
On this matter, the two Intisians easily reached a consensus.
And Ludwig started to clamor.
"I want to eat!"
…
In an apartment on Rue du Chapeau Noir in Quartier de la Maison d'Opéra.
Witch Niceea sat in front of her dressing mirror, carefully and meticulously drawing her eyebrows and applying powder in the light of the gas wall lamp.
Suddenly, behind her, near the chair by the window, a figure appeared.
It was Franca, in a relaxed posture.
Franca quietly watched Niceea without making a sound.
After discussing with Madam Magician and Madam Judgment about why she was kicked out of the dream and the issue with the associate dean of Mushu Hospital, she rested for a day. Before returning to the dream, she specifically came to see her subordinate to ask about her recent progress.
She couldn't be the kind of superior who disappeared completely after arranging a task, showing no concern and effectively going missing!
After about ten seconds, Niceea finally noticed and subtly adjusted the direction of her dressing mirror.
Seeing it was her immediate superior, she quietly sighed in relief and turned around.
"Good evening, ma'am."
"Good evening, how have you been lately?" Franca didn't directly ask about the Emperor Party.
She hadn't contacted 007 yet, because 007 was recently undergoing special training, seemingly with hope of obtaining a spot to become a demigod.
Niceea's expression changed several times, showing some struggle and pain, and with a bit of a "might as well" attitude, she said, "I've become Grouès's mistress."
Grouès was one of the confidants of Louis Gustav, the leader of the Emperor Party.
This progress is a bit fast; you haven't been a Witch for long, haven't you… Franca didn't ask about Niceea's current feelings, and asked calmly, "Did Grouès say anything?"
Seeing that her superior didn't inquire about her journey and actual experience of becoming a mistress, Niceea's inner conflict, embarrassment, and irritation subsided considerably.
She recalled and said, "He said Louis has been troubled lately, seeming very irritable. The reason seems to be that he can't contact some important figure."
"Which important figure?" Franca asked.
"Grouès doesn't know either, only that there is such an important figure, an important figure that gives Louis a lot of confidence." Niceea shook her head.
Unable to contact the mirrored Emperor Roselle? Franca suddenly had such a thought.
She nodded slightly.
"Find a way to figure out who that important figure is, and grasp the substantial movements of the Emperor Party."
After saying this, her figure quickly faded and disappeared from the chair.
Niceea quietly watched the lady leave, raised her right hand, and slowly caressed from her cheek to her lips.
Franca directly returned to that luxurious villa, without going to report to the Demoness of Black that she had fully digested the Affliction potion.
Let alone whether the Demoness Sect would reward her with the Despair potion in a situation where she hadn't made new achievements, even if they would, she couldn't possibly really perform the ritual, so it was better to stall for now.
After dinner, close to midnight, Franca stood up and walked towards her room.
The slightly short Madam Judgment escorted her to the room while instructing, "For the second return to the dream, operating under the previous identity, the current experience is that there won't be much difference from the first time. But by the third time, we've found that some attempts that wouldn't have gotten us kicked out of the dream before will also result in being kicked out, as if we've been simply marked by that Celestial Worthy.
"So, you need to pay attention now to whether there are subtle changes compared to last time, to determine whether becoming an object of attention starts from the second entry into the dream or the third. Also, don't make any radical probes in the next few days, you've just been kicked out and need to wait a while."
"Mm, I'll be careful." Franca remembered that this had been mentioned in the documents.
After going upstairs and reaching the door, Madam Judgment further said,
"We can't give you many things to take into the dream, because we've used them in the dream and they've also been marked.
"If you want to make money, there's another way: have one person apply for a job at the Hall Film Company, a subsidiary of the Hall Group. Although Miss Justice can't enter the dream anymore, as a Dreamweaver and Major Arcana card holder, she can still exert a little influence on the dream."
"Understood," Franca responded with a smile, "Thank you all."
She then entered the room, lay down on the bed again, and gripped the lucky coin in her palm.
She had tried yesterday, if she didn't put the lucky coin beside her, she would just fall asleep normally and dream normally, occasionally flashing fragments of the dream city, like sights and sounds from "Luo Fu".
Franca closed her eyes and regulated her breathing.
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