Chapter 110: Report (Seeking monthly votes)

Several days later, an investigation report regarding Kordu Village was submitted separately to the Eighth Bureau under the Intis Intelligence and Homeland Security Committee, the "Heart of Mechanics" of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, and the Inquisition of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun.

Several high-ranking figures read this report immediately:

"Preliminary situation: In the past year, multiple cases of missing persons have occurred in the Grabaka Province of the Feynapot Kingdom and the Upper Hull State of the Republic of Intis, near the Dales region. Several unofficial Beyonders also mysteriously disappeared, and these events vaguely point to the shepherds migrating between these three regions. Among them, those from Kordu Village are our primary focus.

"Therefore, after receiving that strange distress letter, we attached great importance to it, selected elite personnel, and headed to the region in the form of a joint investigation team.

"The following is the complete written statement from the investigators:

"The anomalies in Kordu Village are divided into two layers: one is reality, and the other is the dream.

"Reality portion:

"Kordu Village has actually been destroyed by a massive but ultimately unsuccessful evil god sacrificial ritual. Except for a very small number, no one survived.

"The vast majority of the villagers became nutrients for a failed evil god artifact, while the remainder were reorganized in strange ways, turning into different monsters.

"That evil god sacrificial ritual brought about changes in the terrain; the river dried up and changed course, and the village square and church were pushed to nearly forty meters high by a small-scale orogenic movement, turning into a giant blood-colored pillar.

"That failed evil god artifact is at the top of the giant pillar, but when we discovered it, it had already been destroyed. This may have been caused by self-disintegration or may have stemmed from the interference of other forces.

"The houses in Kordu Village also underwent reorganization. Some formed a circle of twisted thorn 'city walls' around the blood-colored giant pillar, while others spread outward layer by layer in a circular fashion...

"Inside these severely damaged buildings, we only found some coins and the most common small blue books. We did not discover any written materials or items that could clearly point to Kordu Village; the reason is unknown.

"Only the home of the target, Lu Mian Lee, contained books, newspapers, magazines, and other items with clear directional indicators.

"Within the ruins of Kordu Village, surrounding the blood-colored giant pillar, there are two areas inconsistent with the overall anomaly: one makes people uncontrollably fall into a deep sleep and enter a dream, and the other has vigorous vitality, is overgrown with flowers, grass, and trees, and contains a cradle that rocks by itself.

"Regarding the latter, we suspect it is closely related to Madame Pualis of Kordu Village (see the dream section for a specific explanation).

"On the edge of the other side of the blood-colored giant pillar, we excavated four relatively well-preserved corpses. Their locations likely correspond to the original church cemetery.

"The first corpse is female, no older than twenty, strangled to death;

"The second corpse is a young male, also no older than twenty, who died by drowning;

"Around the third corpse were coffin fragments; she was female, over sixty years old, and died of mechanical asphyxiation. Combined with other traces, we speculate she was smothered to death with a pillow;

"The fourth corpse is male, not yet decomposed, had his tongue cut out while alive, and had obvious ligature marks on his neck.

"See the dream section for relevant speculations regarding the above corpses.

"..."

"Upon entering the ruins of Kordu Village, we should have been affected by the power radiating from within Lu Mian Lee, causing memory confusion regarding the date, and we no longer thought about when to leave.

"We fell asleep one after another. After entering the dream, our bodies maintained a state of only weak vitality, and we did not need to replenish food for several days. If this state were to be maintained for another ten days or half a month, I am not sure if we would wake up due to hunger or starve to death in the dream.

"The entire ruin is in a cycle that may return to its initial state at any time. The trigger is likely Lu Mian Lee's self-cognition and the various restrictions he set. The former refers to the fact that if Lu Mian Lee's subconscious believes it will restart, it will inevitably restart. The various restrictions stem from his hope that no one will destroy the current state of Kordu Village and the development of the dream; once related events occur, it will immediately lead to a restart.

"..."

"We questioned the villagers of several surrounding villages, and they had no perception of the anomalies in Kordu Village.

"Through their answers and the information we previously grasped, we confirmed three things:

"One, there is no legend of a dead wizard in Kordu Village (this refers to a story Lu Mian Lee told in the dream: there was once a wizard in Kordu Village; after he died, an owl flew over, watched at his bedside for a while, and flew away, and the wizard's corpse subsequently became heavy, requiring nine cows to pull);

"Two, no lizard-like small spirits have appeared in the Dales region;

"Three, the Lent Festival is a traditional folk custom and originally had no issues at all.

"..."

"Dream portion:

"This is a dream from Lu Mian Lee, a dream so real that we could not even perceive that we were dreaming.

"We visited some psychologists and dream experts, and synthesizing their opinions, we have certain speculations about this dream:

"It is a mixture of various things Lu Mian Lee has personally experienced, all the novels and stories he has read, and his fantasies and speculations based on the aforementioned things. At certain key nodes, it shows obvious coincidences and characteristics of wishes coming true.

"In this dream, the situations we encountered did not all happen in reality, nor were they entirely illusory.

"Various disrupted facts, details of people's daily interactions, and illusory plot points that left a deep impression on Lu Mian Lee were reorganized in a very chaotic and highly symbolic way, presenting themselves before our eyes.

"This is both a characteristic of the dream and may stem from Lu Mian Lee's subconscious avoidance or fear of certain issues.

"In the following sections, we will describe in detail every detail we experienced:

"..."

"We actually should have noticed that we were in a dream very early on. The most obvious point is that none of us remembered the need to change clothes until Lu Mian Lee made a reminder or the clothes were severely damaged.

"This is a highly abnormal performance, but humans cannot think that much in a dream.

"After confirmation, we did not send a telegram; the corresponding reply likely came from Lu Mian Lee's subconscious and the knowledge he grasped.

"Combining the various events of the dream and the situation in reality, we have the following speculations:

"Our consciousness and cognition enriched the dream to a certain extent and also exposed some of our secrets to Lu Mian Lee.

"There exist at least two different evil god faiths in Kordu Village: one is the power represented by Madame Pualis, wife of the administrator Bauste, which is close to the nature of the 'Mother Goddess of Earth'; the other is the one followed by the former parish priest Guillaume Bénet and the vast majority of the villagers, and it was He who ultimately caused the destruction of Kordu Village.

"At the Lent Festival celebration, the 'Spring Spirit' had its head cut off and was forcibly sent away, symbolizing that the power represented by Madame Pualis was driven out of Kordu Village. Both sides likely had a bloody battle. At the same time, the beheading of the 'Spring Spirit' incarnation, Ava Licier, also symbolizes that when this young girl discovered the anomaly in reality and attempted to escape or report it, she was secretly strangled by Guillaume Bénet's group.

"The event where Raymond Clegg was thrown into the river and his spirit body appeared in the church basement symbolizes that he, like Ava, was considered a whistleblower and forcibly drowned.

"Jean Morier discovered his wife Sybil having an affair with the former parish priest and was so angry he became mute, symbolizing that as a devout believer of the 'Eternal Blazing Sun,' after he noticed the anomaly in the village and attempted to report it, his tongue was cut out; his subsequent disappearance represents that he was murdered.

"The death event of Naroka, like Ava, Raymond, and Jean, has strong symbolic significance. One, she should have secretly followed Madame Pualis and wanted to let her dead husband's spirit return home through a spirit messenger, so her performance after death was entering the Other Shore World. Two, she was likely murdered by her young son, Arnault André; the reason is also highly likely that he discovered the problems with Guillaume Bénet's group and wanted to tell Madame Pualis.

"Combining our search of the ruins, the Lent Festival celebration and the words that Madame Pualis could leave at a specific time symbolize that this lady and her husband Bauste, butler Louis Longde, and maid Cassie had already left Kordu Village before the Twelfth Night ritual and are currently still alive, with their whereabouts unknown.

"This reflected in the dream as this lady refusing to provide help at a critical moment.

"But according to the situation presented by that eerie area with vigorous vitality, we suspect that Madame Pualis left behind some things before leaving, indirectly participating in that Twelfth Night ritual.

"The black-robed figure in the wizard's tomb should symbolize the alienated personality that appeared in Lu Mian Lee due to contamination, but for some reason, the degree of contamination Lu Mian Lee displayed was not deep, to the extent that in the self-contest, the more courageous him easily achieved victory...

"The lizard-like strange creatures in the mouths of Aurora Lee, Michel Galiq, and others likely symbolize the process of them being contaminated bit by bit, alienated bit by bit, and finally turning into another self.

"..."

"Questions:

"1. Why could Lu Mian Lee know what abilities Guillaume Bénet, the shepherd Pierre Berry, and others possessed? If he had secretly seen them in reality, it would be understandable if he wasn't discovered once or twice, but there must be an internal reason for being able to grasp so much intelligence without being dealt with.

"2. Why could those villagers and Aurora Lee perform no differently from real people, making it difficult for us to perceive that we were in a dream until Lu Mian Lee believed they should appear abnormal?

"3. What does the Other Shore World symbolize?

"4. What do the large number of children Madame Pualis raised in the castle and the cradle containing invisible things symbolize?

"5. Why would Lu Mian Lee imagine the process of villagers being contaminated as lizard-like small spirits parasitizing their bodies?

"6. What does the event of Lu Mian Lee and Aurora Lee attempting to escape Kordu Village but entering the Other Shore World symbolize?

"7. Why did that Twelfth Night ritual fail?

"8. Why could Lu Mian Lee let us enter his dream? He clearly does not possess the ability in this regard.

"9. Why did he suddenly obtain normal Beyonder abilities?

"10. Why could he survive, and why could he make the ruins of Kordu Village fall into a cyclic state despite not having strong strength?

"11. The time Aurora Lee appeared abnormal in the two cycles was completely different; what is the reason for this, and what does it represent?

"12. What does the legend of the dead wizard symbolize?

"13. What does the wizard's corpse lying in the coffin in the underground tomb symbolize?

"14. What does the owl symbolize?

"15. What does the change in constellations symbolize?

"16. Where is the source of the matter?

"..."

"Conclusions and suggestions:

"This is a typical disaster caused by worshipping an evil god. There are currently six survivors:

"Lu Mian Lee, former parish priest Guillaume Bénet, Pualis de Rochefort, Bauste, Louis Longde, and Cassie.

"The latter five are all believers of the evil god and must be found and thoroughly eliminated as soon as possible.

"Regarding Lu Mian Lee, it is not recommended to kill him directly. Before clarifying the problems on him, his death may lead to more serious alienation. The best treatment is to capture him and seal him in a certain place.

"Reporters: 'Heart of Mechanics' member Ryan Cos, Eighth Bureau Major Lyra Belot, Inquisition 'Purifier' Valentine de Lacourt."

PS: Seeking monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 111 =====