Chapter 973: An Unexpected Visitor |
When Lumian arrived at the administrative department, several professionals were already there collecting physical evidence for analysis, including but not limited to leftover milk tea, liquid from the water dispenser, discarded takeout containers, vomit, and swabs from computers, desks, and air conditioning vents…
After they finished, another group of specialists began a full disinfection process.
During this time, Luo Shan and the other administrative staff who were still working could only wait in the hallway.
At a glance, Lumian noticed that besides Mr. Ed and Luo Shan, only two people seemed unaffected by the mystical pathogen. Their complexion and movements appeared quite normal.
One was a male, relatively tall by Yangdu standards, standing over six feet. The other was a woman in her thirties, with a round face, slightly overweight, not particularly attractive but not ugly either.
They don't seem to be after Mr. Huang… or rather, not after Mr. Huang's body… Why would Beyonders work diligently in the Intis Group's administrative department? Lumian tried to fathom their intentions based on his own thinking.
Of course, he couldn't be certain that there weren't any Beyonders among those who went to Crimson Moon Hospital. Perhaps there was a Demoness waiting for a chance to have a taste of Mr. Huang, but upon sensing the presence and erosion of the mystical pathogen, she feigned severe symptoms and went to the hospital to avoid being discovered?
Luo Shan also noticed the reportedly handsome security guard and felt he lived up to her expectations.
After a while, Mr. Ed received a phone call.
Then he heard Zhang Qing on the other end say: "The test results show a mild viral infection. The doctor said they can go home after finishing their IV drips, take medication for two more days, rest a bit, and they'll be fine.
"More than a dozen people have already applied for sick leave, planning to stay home for a couple of days to recover. They're also asking if this counts as a work-related injury and if there's any compensation."
Mr. Ed's temple twitched as he suppressed his emotions and said, "They should rest at home. We can't have them forcing themselves to work and risking more serious problems. As for whether it counts as a work-related injury, ask the legal department when you get back."
"Alright," Zhang Qing said, "But there are also more than a dozen people who say they want to come back to work, however…"
"However what?" Mr. Ed asked.
Zhang Qing replied ambiguously, "They're all the ones who like to dress up, except for Luo Fu."
Even sick beauties were beauties—Mr. Huang might feel sympathetic when he saw them.
Mr. Ed was momentarily speechless.
Is it only the new employees who are eager to work and take their jobs seriously?
Meanwhile, Lumian used the incident in the administrative department as an excuse to keep watch nearby, occasionally offering help.
This was also to guard against Luo Shan being eliminated by the Celestial Worthy's subordinates in the chaos—as a Painter, she had some ability to protect herself, but she clearly lacked experience and could easily let her guard down in crowded situations. Now, with Franca in the hospital, she couldn't rely on Mirror Substitution to escape a first strike.
After Franca returned from Crimson Moon Hospital to help Luo Shan and others deal with the backlog of work, Lumian and Old Xia went back to the security department on the thirteenth floor.
He continued to ponder how to treat An Xiaotian.
He believed that An Xiaotian becoming a vegetable was symbolic, representing the decline and disappearance of Antigonus's spiritual imprint within The Fool's Uniqueness. This couldn't be reversed through normal methods, so he had to seek a solution from the essence.
Find a way to strengthen Antigonus's spiritual imprint within The Fool's Uniqueness? But Antigonus can't enter Mr. Fool's dream now. Even if He's willing to provide the corresponding items, we'd have to corrupt Zhou Mingrui, the symbol of The Fool's Uniqueness, to achieve our goal. This would damage our image in Zhou Mingrui's mind, wasting all our previous efforts, and it's extremely dangerous.
Franca and Jenna's approach isn't wrong. Using the power of the Great Mother might awaken An Xiaotian, but it's not treatment or having An Xiaotian have a child. It's new birth, symbolically meaning that Antigonus's spiritual imprint within The Fool's Uniqueness is reborn. Whether the reborn An Xiaotian is a friend or foe is hard to say, but he would inevitably interfere with Mr. Fool's awakening…
Sequence 7 Heretic Spellmaster of the Villain pathway can perform rebirth rituals. Theoretically, Great Mother bestowed like Grimm can wake An Xiaotian, but it involves reversing symbolism. I estimate only a rebirth ritual performed by someone with godhood would be effective. In the dream city, Grimm and others believe only I, the fake Child of God, have this, while others don't. Well, there should be another place that has it, the basement of Mushu Hospital, but sending An Xiaotian there would be purely creating an enemy for ourselves…
After pondering for a long time, Lumian felt that both current approaches had significant problems. The hidden dangers and negative impacts far outweighed the gains, and it wasn't something he and his companions would choose.
He began to consider this matter from the perspective of finding loopholes.
Soon, he thought of someone: Li Keji!
Mr. Fool's subconscious understanding of Li Keji's mushrooms should come from Gehrman Sparrow's interactions with Frank Lee.
From what we've seen, he seems to think Li Keji's mushrooms are quite dangerous, with various possibilities, producing some incredible effects.
The essence of this city is a dream, and dreams are idealistic. As long as Mr. Fool truly believes Li Keji's mushrooms can achieve incredible things, Li Keji could create a mushroom to treat An Xiaotian and wake him up!
It's not the mushroom treating An Xiaotian, but Mr. Fool's subconscious being guided to reverse the symbolism.
Of course, that awakening would inevitably be distorted, abnormal, and horrifying, but if An Xiaotian could use this to say everything he wants to warn me, it would be acceptable… The more Lumian thought about it, the more he felt that using Li Keji might be useful.
He planned to find an opportunity to talk with Li Keji through the door of the hospital room.
The original of this biology teacher was really a Doctor!
…
Jenna, who was observing other incarnations corresponding to Mr. Fool, received a call from Hall Film Company, asking her to head over to the talent department tomorrow to sign a manager contract.
Phew… I have a job now too. Jenna breathed a sigh of relief.
She even looked forward to filming movies and TV dramas but felt that the matter of awakening Mr. Fool wouldn't drag on that long, not until she joined a production.
At the same time, she felt that Hall Film Company was managed quite well. She had thought some interviewer would call in advance, hinting that she needed to do something to have a chance at a good contract.
She was prepared to use Charm to make the relevant personnel lose themselves, but nothing happened.
This was different from some things she had seen and heard at the Thtre de l'Ancienne Cage à Pigeons.
As expected of a film company founded by Madam Justice… Jenna felt relieved.
…
After dark.
Lumian, who knew the target's schedule, took advantage of Zaratulstra's absence from the hotel to cross over from the mirror world and retrieve the surveillance content stored in the pinhole cameras and listening devices.
After midnight, he returned to the rented apartment in Xinhong District and used his phone to play back Zaratulstra's activities in the hotel room.
This wasn't to spy on what Zaratulstra was plotting or planning to accomplish—though that would be a bonus. Lumian's main purpose was to observe Zaratulstra's behavior when alone, to find out how many marionettes he could currently maintain, how often he summoned Historical Void images, how long these images would dissipate on their own, and other such information.
This was preparation for an upcoming surprise attack and encirclement to kill Zaratulstra.
Although Zaratulstra was also suppressed to Sequence 7, he still had an Angel's rank. Many of his abilities' effects and ranges were somewhat different from a true Sequence 7.
Take the number of marionettes, for example. A normal Marionettist who had just advanced to Sequence 5 could only control one marionette. If restricted to Sequence 7 level, theoretically, they wouldn't be able to control marionettes at all, only using marionettization for killing. But this ability might qualitatively change at Sequence 4 and Sequence 2, reducing spirituality consumption and lowering control difficulty. After that, even if the ability was suppressed to Sequence 7, it would still essentially exist, just with less pronounced effects.
In other words, Zaratulstra could still control marionettes, but the number was very limited—perhaps two, perhaps only one. Lumian now needed to confirm these details.
Without grasping the relevant intelligence, if they directly launched a surprise attack and tried to encircle and kill Zaratulstra, given their superior numbers, they might have some hope of defeating or forcing him to retreat. But achieving their predetermined goal would be almost impossible. The Seer pathway was known for its strong survival abilities!
Lumian stared intently at the phone screen, not missing any detail.
For now, he was skipping through, selecting only scenes with human activity.
When the surveillance video reached 11 pm last night, Lumian saw Zaratulstra, dressed in a black robe, walk to the door and open it.
Someone entered from outside.
The person wore sunglasses even at night, dressed in a black T-shirt and dark jeans that wouldn't attract attention, about six feet tall.
Who could it be? Lumian's focus intensified.
After entering the room, the person looked left and right, then removed the sunglasses perched on their nose, revealing a face quite familiar to Lumian.
He had seen videos of this person being interviewed and participating in certain activities online.
It was Jia Yu, the actor who played Gehrman Sparrow!
He doesn't look too much like Zhou Mingrui, which shouldn't be a problem, so why is he visiting Zaratulstra late at night? What have we missed? Lumian's pupils dilated as he watched more intently.
He was grateful for the technology that provided him with assistance, but also worried that Zaratulstra might have already discovered the presence of the pinhole cameras and listening devices, deliberately staging this scene.
Jia Yu sat down in the sofa area and talked with Zaratulstra for nearly fifteen minutes, then stood up and left.
Lumian quickly stopped playing the surveillance video, deciding to first listen to whether the listening device had recorded any dialog during that time period.
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