Chapter 1032

The Yangdu High-Speed Railway Station was half-collapsed, having fallen into a deep, profound darkness as if swallowed by an abyss. The other half, while having regained stability and normalcy, remained unlit; everywhere was dim, with only a few paths leading to the outside world where radiance condensed, forming brilliant, clear gates of light.

In such an environment, Zhou Mingrui, standing with his back to that deep darkness, looked at Lu Mian and asked in a calm voice:

"You know?"

Lu Mian nodded gently and said:

"Yes.

"Theoretically, I should have waited for Anthony and Ludwig to awaken An Xiaotian, learned phrases like 'beware of Zhou Mingrui' from his mouth, and then, after being kicked out of the dream, had the corresponding information conveyed through the indirect influence of the Major Arcana cards to know the corresponding truth. But Peng Deng's true hint has already given me the answer.

"On the surface, he was hinting that he is a childhood friend of Mr. Fool and the Celestial Worthy, but the reverse also holds true: Zhou Mingrui is both a childhood friend of Peng Deng and a childhood friend of that original God. The identities from both sides are unified and fused together.

"In other words, Zhou Mingrui is both Mr. Fool and you, the Celestial Worthy!"

Zhou Mingrui wore a faint smile, slightly raised his chin, and assumed the posture of listening.

Lu Mian continued:

"This also matches the hint from the Magic Mirror Arrodes to 'beware of the night.' During the day, Mr. Fool's power occupies the upper hand, so Zhou Mingrui is equivalent to Mr. Fool. At night, you, the Celestial Worthy, become active, and Zhou Mingrui becomes closer to you. Therefore, even just approaching, without making any hints, carries risks.

"Based on this judgment, any hint, help, or awakening done to Zhou Mingrui is beneficial to both Mr. Fool and you, the Celestial Worthy."

"And Peng Deng, as the symbol of that original God, does not meet with Zhou Mingrui at night because if you two were to encounter each other, there is a high probability that very unfortunate things and accidents would occur."

Zhou Mingrui nodded and said:

"He was formed from the bit of power left in the magic mirror and the portion of spirit and consciousness brought into the dream by Grisha. He cannot compare to me here. If we meet at night, it is advantageous to me, but for him, it is a problem."

Zhou Mingrui did not deny that his current self was the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.

Lu Mian revealed a look of realization:

"That person's real name is Grisha?"

Without waiting for Zhou Mingrui to respond, he said to himself:

"Combining Peng Deng's true hint, the state of Section Chief Ya, and the fundamental reasons for the dream's restrictions, I actually roughly guessed what had happened before and your current situation when I entered the dream for the third time.

"Several years ago, not long after Mr. Fool fell into a deep sleep, he should have used himself as bait to lure you out and sealed you within the Zhou Mingrui image body formed by his spirit and consciousness.

"From the perspective of mysticism, this is a symbol of your fusion and confrontation. In reality, you are indeed inside his body, indeed restricted by him. This is mapped to the dream, and similarly, there are corresponding symbols!"

Having said this, Lu Mian paused, as if observing Zhou Mingrui's reaction.

Zhou Mingrui said with an unchanging smile:

"Continue, I am listening."

Lu Mian smiled and said:

"This also explains the problem of why, among the interpersonal relationships Zhou Mingrui originally possessed, only Peng Deng and Zhang Yujia appeared, while others came from identities like Klein Moretti and Gehrman Sparrow.

"He did not want the softest emotions buried deep in his heart to be utilized by you. Of course, those already known to you cannot be helped."

Zhou Mingrui nodded gently:

"Peng Deng and Zhang Yujia also did not originally exist; they were created by Grisha using the 'Dream Weaver' ability and Zhou Mingrui's subconscious cognition."

"So that's it. No wonder Zhou Mingrui would suddenly freeze when mentioning other childhood friends; that might have been the mapping of the real Peng Deng." Lu Mian suddenly understood.

He continued:

"Afterward, Mr. Fool might have made a wish or used some other ability to make the dream city devoid of supernatural powers, letting Zhou Mingrui live in the state of an ordinary human. In this process, he might have been fooled by you, forgetting who he truly was and forgetting many things.

"Overall, this ordinary human state is very advantageous to Mr. Fool because he became a great existence step by step from an ordinary person. Even though he has inevitably been influenced and eroded by divinity, he still retains a portion of humanity—that portion of humanity that is intense and fervent to him. And you, the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings, are naturally great and simply do not possess such humanity.

"When the battlefield of both sides is fixed on an ordinary human who only possesses humanity and within a city environment without supernatural powers, you are naturally suppressed, restricted, and weakened. Humanity temporarily defeats divinity.

"This can also be interpreted from a symbolic meaning: the fact that Zhou Mingrui, who fused Mr. Fool and you, the Celestial Worthy, is an ordinary person symbolizes that humanity occupies the upper hand, while divinity is suppressed to a corner and can be temporarily ignored."

"Yes, at that time I was influenced by that drop of river water and could not do more things, so I could only accept this change." Zhou Mingrui actually frankly admitted this point.

Lu Mian glanced at those dream images running toward the outside of the high-speed railway station and said:

"After you recovered, you began to influence this dream city, either with the help of other existences or by summoning original believers, letting items involving the supernatural, such as fully automatic vending machines, take the stage.

"One of their important meanings is to gradually guide Mr. Fool, letting him recognize that this is a world with supernatural powers, recognizing from Sequence 9 step by step to Sequence 0. And with such cognition and the change in sequence level, divinity will gradually grow, step by step suppressing humanity.

"According to this plan, the longer we are delayed in the dream city and the more we do with supernatural powers, the more advantageous it is to you. This is something you did not tell believers like Zarathustra; you were worried about attracting the interference of other existences.

"Similarly, you also did not want to wait that long, which is why you induced Zhou Mingrui to consume the 'Assassin' potion, letting Emperor Roselle in the mirror enter here.

"You wanted to make Zhou Mingrui split by creating a stable 'Mirror Person.' This is equivalent to opening a gap in the seal Mr. Fool constructed with himself. Once the 'Mirror Person' is gradually mastered by you, you can walk out of the mirror, replace the 'original body,' treat the false as true, and turn the false into reality. As for things like gender changes influencing cognition, these are all just smokescreens.

"But unfortunately, that original God foresaw this scene before falling, leaving behind arrangements spanning several eras and leaving behind the Magic Mirror Arrodes.

"One of the roles of the great terror in the depths of the special mirror world is prepared for you!"

Zhou Mingrui said with a smile:

"When I initially woke up and saw that magic mirror, I roughly guessed what kind of things would happen."

Lu Mian nodded in agreement:

"Yes, you should have made extra preparations for this.

"However..."

Having said this, he smiled and said:

"Among all the things Amon has said, the one I agree with most is:

"Eliminate the interference of complex information and see the most fundamental facts.

"So, what is the most fundamental fact now?"

Lu Mian stared at Zhou Mingrui's deep brown eyes wearing flat glasses and said:

"The most fundamental fact now is that I am standing in front of you, having said so many words involving your true situation, yet I have not been kicked out of this dream, nor have I felt myself being turned into a marionette!"

Lu Mian revealed a smile again:

"You let Zhou Shasha arrive in Yangdu early, besides wanting to interrupt our rhythm and not let that original God's arrangements truly become reality, it was also to prevent interference from other existences, wanting to let Zhou Mingrui appear as a stable, long-term 'Mirror Person' before they were prepared.

"This shows that you still attach great importance to and have high expectations for this matter. Extra preparations should be used as little as possible; they are not that convenient.

"I watched things deteriorate step by step, watched you truly find an opportunity to wake up, and let Anthony and Ludwig do the thing of awakening An Xiaotian, which actually has no meaning, asked 'Mystic Queen' to help mobilize the direction of the dream's main consciousness's attention, and asked gods like Stiano to help confuse the information world and contain other places, all just to attract your attention, all just to make you think you can win and invest more power and chips in this matter.

"In this way, when that original God's arrangements erupt with the help of the medium of the Magic Mirror Arrodes, you will be weakened to the greatest extent.

"Therefore, I, who entered the dream for the third time, walked in front of you and spoke the truth, yet I was still not kicked out on the spot.

"You temporarily do not have this ability!"

Zhou Mingrui laughed:

"Don't you think you look like bait right now?"

Lu Mian sighed and said:

"I know, you are waiting for your extra preparations to arrive. Otherwise, how could I possibly have this opportunity to talk to you?

"However, I am also waiting."

Having said this, a brilliant smile appeared on Lu Mian's face:

"Haven't you noticed that one of my companions is missing?

"So many things erupting at the same time just now was also to distract your attention, letting you ignore her actions!"

Seeing Zhou Mingrui gazing at him, Lu Mian slightly raised his chin and said sonorously:

"The guesses of the Major Arcana cards were not wrong, and their attempts were not wrong!"

Dream city, inside a cinema.

Franca was sitting in the second row, looking at the screen in front, where "The Great Pirate 3" was playing.

At this moment, her body was shadowy, as if a sketch had been erased by an eraser. Around her, the few audience members had all become blurry, but were slowly fixing and gradually becoming clear.

Franca had checked before; because "The Great Pirate 3" was about to be taken off the screen, there were only two cinemas left playing it in the noon slot, so she specifically took a taxi to this one, which was the furthest from the Yangdu High-Speed Railway Station.

And her search information had already been lost in the current chaos and disorder of the internet.

Hearing the thunder in the high sky fade away quickly and seeing Gehrman Sparrow standing at the bow of the pirate ship appear on the screen, Franca suddenly stood up.

She walked to the very front of the screening hall in a few steps, and before the few audience members could protest, she took a breath, stretched out her right palm, and pressed it onto the screen.

Her figure quickly blurred, tilted forward, and entered that screen.

PS: There will be an update tonight~

(End of chapter)