Chapter 110: Report (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Several days later, a report on the Kerdou Village incident was submitted to the Eighth Bureau under the Intis Intelligence and National Security Committee, the “Mechanical Heart” of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, and the Inquisition of the Church of the Eternal Sun.

Several high-ranking figures read this report immediately:

“Preliminary circumstances: Over the past year, multiple disappearances have occurred in the Glabaka Province of the Feneport Kingdom and the Upper Hel Region of the Republic of Lunbao, near the Dariji area; several unlicensed Exalted Ones also vanished mysteriously, and these incidents subtly pointed toward shepherds moving through these three regions—among them, those from Kerdou Village were our primary focus.

“Thus, after receiving that strange distress letter, we took it seriously, deployed elite personnel, and formed a joint investigation team to travel to the area.

“Below is the full written testimony of the investigators:

“The anomalies of Kerdou Village fall into two layers: one in reality, one in dreams.

“Reality portion:

“Kerdou Village was in fact destroyed by a grand but ultimately failed demonic ritual; few survived.

“The vast majority of villagers became nourishment for a failed demonic creation; the remainder reorganized in strange ways, becoming different monsters.

“The demonic ritual altered the terrain: rivers dried up and changed course; the village square and church were lifted nearly forty meters high by minor tectonic uplift, becoming a blood-red monolith.

“The failed demonic creation rested atop the monolith, but when we found it, it had already been destroyed—possibly due to self-destruction or interference from other forces.

“The village houses also reorganized: some formed a twisted thorn-like ‘wall’ around the blood-red monolith; others spread outward in concentric rings…

“Within these severely damaged structures, we found only coins and the most common Little Blue Books; no written records or objects clearly pointing to Kerdou Village were discovered, for unknown reasons.

“Only in the home of the target, Lu Mi, were there books, newspapers, magazines, or other items with clear identifying value.

“Within the ruins of Kerdou Village, two areas diverged from the overall anomaly: one induced uncontrollable sleep and entry into dreams; the other teemed with life, covered in flowers, grasses, and trees, and held a baby crib that rocked itself.

“We suspect the latter is closely tied to Madame Pu Alishi of Kerdou Village (see dream section for details).

“Along the opposite edge of the blood-red monolith, we unearthed four relatively well-preserved corpses; their locations likely corresponded to the original church graveyard.

“The first corpse was a female, no older than twenty, strangled to death;

“The second was a young male, also no older than twenty, drowned;

“The third corpse, surrounded by coffin fragments, was a female over sixty, killed by mechanical asphyxiation; combined with other traces, we deduced she was smothered with a pillow;

“The fourth corpse was male, still unfallen, his tongue cut out before death, with clear ligature marks on his neck.

“The inferences regarding these corpses are detailed in the dream section.

“…

“Upon entering the ruins of Kerdou Village, we were immediately affected by the power leaking from Lu Mi’s body, causing confusion in our memory of dates and losing all sense of when to leave.

“We gradually fell asleep; upon entering the dream, our bodies remained in a state of minimal vitality, requiring no food for several days. If this state persisted another ten days or half a month, I am uncertain whether we would awaken from hunger or die of starvation within the dream.

“The entire ruin exists in a cycle that could Suishi revert to its original state, likely triggered by Lu Mi’s self-perception and the constraints he imposed. The former means if Lu Mi’s subconscious believes a reset must occur, it will; the latter stems from his desire to prevent disruption of Keerducun ’s current state and dream progression—any such event triggers immediate reset.

“…

“We questioned villagers from surrounding hamlets; they noticed nothing unusual about Kerdou Village.

“Based on their answers and prior data, we confirmed three facts:

“One, there is no legend in Kerdou Village of a dead wizard (this refers to a story Lu Mi recounted in the dream: once, a wizard lived in Kerdou Village; after his death, an owl flew to his bedside, stared for a while, then flew away—his corpse instantly grew heavy, requiring nine oxen to move);

“Two, no lizard-like sprites have ever appeared in the Dariji region;

“Three, Lent was a traditional folk custom, originally without issue.

“…

“Dream portion:

“This is Lu Mi’s dream—a dream so real we could not perceive we were dreaming.

“We consulted several psychologists and dream experts; combining their opinions, we formed the following hypothesis:

“It is a fusion of Lu Mi’s personal experiences, every novel he read, and his own speculations built upon them, exhibiting clear coincidences and wish-fulfillment traits at key moments.

“Within this dream, the situations we encountered were neither entirely real nor wholly illusory.

“Disordered facts, everyday interpersonal details, and Lu Mi’s vividly remembered fictional scenes were reassembled chaotically and richly symbolically before our eyes.

“This is both a feature of dreams and possibly a manifestation of Lu Mi’s subconscious avoidance or fear of certain issues.

“We will now detail every specific experience we underwent:

“…

“We should have noticed we were dreaming much earlier; the clearest sign was that none of us remembered needing to change clothes until Lu Mi reminded us or our garments were severely damaged.

“This is highly abnormal behavior, yet humans in dreams rarely think that far.

“We confirmed we did not send telegrams; the replies we received likely originated from Lu Mi’s subconscious and the knowledge he possessed.

“Combining events in the dream with reality, we deduce the following:

“Our consciousness and cognition somehow enriched the dream and inadvertently exposed our own secrets to Lu Mi.

“At least two distinct demonic faiths existed in Kerdou Village: one represented by Madame Pu Alishi, wife of the administrator Beoester, resembling the ‘Mother Earth Goddess’; the other followed by former parish priest Guillaume Benet and most villagers, whose influence ultimately destroyed Kerdou Village.

“During the Lent festival, the ‘Spring Sprite’ was beheaded and forcibly expelled, symbolizing the expulsion of the force represented by Madame Pu Alishi; a bloody conflict likely occurred between the two sides. Simultaneously, the beheading of the Spring Sprite’s avatar, Ava Lizhi, symbolized how this girl, upon discovering the anomaly and attempting to flee or report it, was secretly strangled by Guillaume Benet’s group.

“Raymond Clegg was thrown into the river, his spirit appearing beneath the church—symbolizing that, like Ava, he was deemed a traitor and forcibly drowned.

“Jean Moreau discovered his wife Sibyl was having an affair with the former parish priest, became mute from rage—symbolizing how, as a devout follower of the Eternal Sun, he attempted to report the village’s anomaly and had his tongue cut out; his subsequent disappearance represents his murder.

“Naroka’s death carries the same strong symbolism as Ava’s and Raymond’s and Jean’s: one, she secretly followed Madame Pu Alishi, seeking to use a soul emissary to bring her dead husband’s spirit home—thus, after death, she entered the Afterworld; two, she was likely murdered by her young son Arno Andre, most probably because she discovered problems with Guillaume Benet’s group and intended to inform Madame Pu Alishi.

“Combined with our search of the ruins, the statement that Madame Pu Alishi and the Lent festival could depart at specific times symbolizes that this lady, along with her husband Beoester, steward Louis Lund, and maid Cassie, had already left Kerdou Village before the Twelfth Night ritual—still alive, whereabouts unknown.

“This reflects in the dream as the lady refusing to offer help at critical moments.

“Yet, based on the strange area teeming with life, we suspect Madame Pu Alishi left behind certain things that indirectly participated in the Twelfth Night ritual.

“The black-robed figure in the wizard’s crypt likely symbolizes Lu Mi’s altered personality due to contamination; yet inexplicably, Lu Mi’s level of contamination was shallow, allowing the more courageous version of himself to easily prevail in his internal struggle…

“The lizard-like creatures in the mouths of Aurora Li, Michel Gargu, and others likely symbolize their gradual contamination and transformation into something else—a different self.

“…

“Questions:

“1. How did Lu Mi know what abilities Guillaume Benet, shepherd Pierre Berry, and others possessed? If he secretly observed them once or twice without being caught, that’s understandable—but possessing so much intelligence without being dealt with must have an internal reason.

“2. Why could the villagers and Aurora Li behave indistinguishably from real people, making us unable to detect we were dreaming until Lu Mi believed they should show anomalies?

“3. What does the Afterworld symbolize?

“4. What do the numerous children Madame Pu Alishi raised in the castle and the baby crib filled with invisible matter symbolize?

“5. Why did Lu Mi imagine the villagers’ contamination as lizard-like sprites parasitizing their bodies?

“6. What does Lu Mi and Aurora Li’s attempt to flee Kerdou Village and instead entering the Afterworld symbolize?

“7. Why did the Twelfth Night ritual fail?

“8. How did Lu Mi manage to draw us into his dream? He clearly lacks such ability.

“9. Why did he suddenly gain normal Exalted abilities?

“10. Why did he survive? Why, despite weak power, could he trap the Kerdou Village ruins in a cycle?

“11. Why did Aurora Li’s anomalies appear at entirely different times during the two cycles? What does this signify?

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

“13. What does the wizard’s corpse lying in the coffin within the underground crypt symbolize?

“14. What does the owl symbolize?

“15. What does the change in constellations symbolize?

“16. Where did the origin of all this lie?

“…

“Conclusion and recommendations:

“This is a classic disaster caused by demonic worship; six survivors remain:

“Lu Mi, former parish priest Guillaume Benet, Pu Alishi de Rochefort, Beoester, Louis Lund, Cassie.

“The latter five are all demonic worshippers; they must be located and eradicated as soon as possible.

“Regarding Lu Mi, direct killing is not advised; before understanding his condition, his death may trigger more severe anomalies. The best course is to capture and seal him somewhere.

“Reported by: Ryan Cos of the ‘Mechanical Heart,’ Major Lyra Belot of the Eighth Bureau, and Valentine de La Cotte, ‘Purifier’ of the Inquisition.”

PS: Requesting monthly votes~

(End of chapter)