Chapter 969: Conspirer's Sensitivity |
Star Dream Provisions Store.
With Ludwig tagging along, Anthony received the reply letter from the Major Arcana card holders from the shop owner.
"In reality, Rozanne is under strict protection from the Church of Evernight Goddess. As long as she's asleep, there will definitely be Beyonders monitoring her dream state. The Church of Evernight Goddess are experts in this area…"
"On the Future, Frank Lee hasn't shown any more abnormalities so far. He's the same as before. Regarding Li Keji in the dream, our bottom line is that we can't let him be corrupted by the power of the Great Mother, nor can we let him become a puppet of the Celestial Worthy through death and rebirth…"
Reading this, Anthony seemed to hear the inner thoughts of the Major Arcana card holders: "If necessary, you can actively eliminate Li Keji and destroy the body. In any case, we can't let him be corrupted or exploited. Death won't affect the real person in reality."
Lumian thought the same… Anthony hadn't personally witnessed Li Keji's mushrooms, he had only heard Lumian recount the other's ideas, which he found somewhat reasonable but also permeated with bewildering madness.
He continued reading the rest of the letter.
"We can only confirm that Anderson Hood is currently in Anderson, the capital of Lenburg, but we can't find him. We will communicate with the Church of Knowledge later."
The fact that even the Major Arcana card holders from different pathways can't find him proves that Anderson Hood is hiding very well. Perhaps he has even received protection from higher powers… Is the communication with the Church of Knowledge a way to confirm if they had provided help to Anderson Hood? If not, things would be even more complex and troublesome… Anthony folded the letter and stuffed it into his jeans pocket.
…
Tech Building.
Lumian was already at work. While patrolling the floors, he pondered how to more effectively monitor Zaratulstra's situation, and where to go tonight to observe this enemy's state—Lumian wanted to see if Zaratulstra would still encounter hostility in his dreams at night after Luo Shan reminded Zhou Mingrui again, deepening the latter's impression of Zaratulstra.
Reaching the seventh floor, taking advantage of Old Xia's trip to the bathroom, Lumian took out his phone, opened the online shopping platform Franca had mentioned, and typed a few words using voice input: "Pinhole cameras…"
He felt that although Zaratulstra was also suppressed to Sequence 7, he was essentially still an Angel with many mysterious and bizarre abilities. Relying solely on the mirror world to spy on him was obviously unrealistic; this could only be done occasionally.
So, Lumian planned to try scientific methods, to try pinhole cameras and bugs. Even if Zaratulstra later discovered these little devices, as long as he couldn't trace them back to Lumian, there wouldn't be any problem.
After completing the input, Lumian didn't press the "search" button.
He remembered Franca saying this was illegal, part of the black and gray industry.
Let's not even mention whether regular platforms sell these, but as a Child of God, why should I personally get involved in the black and gray industry? I'm a law-abiding citizen… Lumian half-jokingly, half-mockingly closed the app and switched to WeChat, entering the conversational window with "Intis Group Grimm".
He calmly input: "Prepare some pinhole cameras and bugs for me, preferably with user manuals.
"Also, give me Zaratulstra's itinerary for the next two days."
Zaratulstra's safety in the dream city was jointly managed by his personal bodyguards and the Intis Group's security department, so Lumian knew last night that Zaratulstra was most likely at the hotel, and headed straight there to observe the situation. Of course, this wasn't entirely certain; Zaratulstra could change his itinerary at any time. He was the one in control, just like when he suddenly decided to visit two tutoring centers, Lumian hadn't received any warning from Grimm beforehand.
"Alright." Grimm quickly replied to Lumian.
By the time Lumian finished patrolling the floors and returned to his office, opening the drawer that belonged to him, he immediately saw two sets of pinhole cameras and bugs quietly placed inside.
Lumian pulled out the paper placed on top of them and memorized Zaratulstra's itinerary from 5 pm to 10pm today.
As the sky approached complete darkness, he found an excuse to go to the bathroom and teleported away.
He first used the mirror world to hide the pinhole cameras and bugs in inconspicuous places in Zaratulstra's room, erased traces of his presence, and completed anti-divination using Mirror Substitution. Then he returned to the Tech Building and arrived at Mr. Huang's exclusive 16th floor through the mirror.
Tonight, Mr. Huang would host a business dinner here to entertain Zaratulstra and his entourage.
Lumian was very grateful for Mr. Huang's fondness for mirrors and gold foil decorations, which allowed him to easily find the best position to observe Zaratulstra from behind a mirror-like object on the ceiling.
The elderly man had just toasted a glass of red wine with Mr. Huang and appeared completely normal, while outside the window it was truly night.
Time ticked by, and Lumian quietly watched them drink wine, eat, and chat casually.
Suddenly, Mr. Huang leaned back in his chair, raised his head, and as if pondering a question, cast his gaze towards the mirror-like object where Lumian was hiding.
Lumian instinctively withdrew his body, moving away from the mirror surface.
Did Mr. Huang sense me?
Can he detect spying from behind mirrors?
He's just a dream projection, not Emperor Roselle… Was that just a pure coincidence just now, or in Mr. Fool's subconscious cognition, is Mr. Huang hiding Beyonder powers? Thinking of this, Lumian suddenly remembered a piece of information Franca had told him: Louis Gustav of the Emperor faction has been very irritable lately because he couldn't contact a key figure, and that key figure was suspected to be the mirrored Emperor Roselle.
There's a whiff of conspiracy… Lumian's Conspirer's intuition immediately gave him a suspicion: Could it be that the mirrored Emperor Roselle has also entered the dream?
She had previously cooperated with the subordinates of evil gods and Celestial Worthy, did She enter the dream with the help of the Celestial Worthy's side? After all, She's not a true god, hasn't accommodated the Uniqueness, and doesn't have special items, so it's unlikely She could come in on Her own…
Is She working with Zaratulstra, attempting to erode and influence Emperor Roselle's dream manifestation, Huang Tao, until they control and replace him?
She is essentially a Mirror People, so it's only natural that She can detect someone spying from behind mirrors…
If She and Zaratulstra control the Intis Group, given the Group's influence and terrifying cash flow, the balance of victory will surely tilt rapidly!
While we focused on Zhou Mingrui, Li Keji, and An Xiaotian, Zaratulstra quietly raided our vault…
Normally, given that Princess Bernadette seems to still be able to enter the dream, Mr. Huang should be on our side…
But why did Mr. Huang so obviously look in my direction?
She could have pretended not to notice and waited for an opportunity to suddenly attack…
The more Lumian thought about it, the more he felt cold sweat breaking out on his back.
Zaratulstra isn't a Conspirer, but he's as good as one!
Indeed, my initial idea wasn't wrong—we should actively attack, assassinate him, or trade one for one, kick him out… As these thoughts raced through Lumian's mind, he pressed against the mirror surface again, looking down.
At this time, Mr. Huang had already withdrawn his gaze.
But Zaratulstra noticed his previous behavior and glanced at the ceiling, asking, "What were you looking at?"
Mr. Huang gently swirled the red wine in his glass and smiled, answering, "Thinking about some things."
Zaratulstra didn't ask further and started talking about other matters.
Lumian observed for several more minutes, confirming that Zaratulstra showed no abnormalities after nightfall.
In other words, after being punished once, Mr. Fool's subconscious will consider this person completely marionettized. Even if Zhou Mingrui hears the corresponding name again, deepening his impression, it won't alert the dream's subconscious, unless Zaratulstra does something new to stimulate him, bringing new changes? Lumian speculated about the reasons for the current situation as he left using Mirror Traversal.
"What took you so long?" Old Xia casually asked when he saw him walk back into the office.
Lumian sighed and said, "Ah, I'm the kind of person who gets diarrhea when I eat excessively spicy stuff, and gets constipated when I don't eat spicy food."
Old Xia enthusiastically started chatting about the topic of "spicy food".
…
Late at night, Lumian teleported to the vicinity of Crimson Moon Hospital, continuously flashing between the glass windows of different special wards through the mirror world.
After a minute, he stopped.
Before him was a dark hospital room with only a bit of moonlight, and his spiritual intuition told him that the person in the room was An Xiaotian, whom he was looking for.
Lumian looked down at the hospital bed from above and saw a person connected to many machines and tubes.
The person's head was immersed in darkness, only vaguely showing decent facial features, but the beard seemed to have been only trimmed short due to not being shaved for a long time, growing up to just below the cheeks, thick and black, in tufts.
Lumian observed for a while, then walked out of the glass window and approached the bedside.
He saw that the comatose patient's head was shaved bald, with multiple suture marks on top that looked like giant centipedes.
A scene spontaneously formed in Lumian's mind: the head forcibly split open, the brain violently extracted, then something unknown placed in the emptied space before suturing shut…
A symbol? Just as this thought flashed through Lumian's mind, he saw on the monitor that the heartbeat became intense, with peaks and valleys rapidly alternating, bringing a beeping alarm sound.
Lumian instinctively stepped back, moving to the window, ready to leave at any moment.
At the same time, he saw that all of the patient's monitoring data had changed, becoming very active.
As soon as I arrive, there's an anomaly? Is it caused by something on me… There are too many possible reasons, I don't even know which one it could be… Lumian once again turned his gaze to the patient himself.
The patient's fingers suddenly moved imperceptibly.
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