Chapter 21: Countermeasures

Looking at the "help letter" he had restored, Lu Mian fell into silence for a long time.

Although this didn't necessarily represent the content of that letter—after all, as long as one didn't care too much about grammar, those words could form other sentences, such as "The people around us need to get help as soon as possible, we are getting weirder," etc. —it still made him feel an indescribable heaviness, as if something was pressing on his heart.

In the past, he might have thought the letter writer was playing a prank, but in the current Cordu Village, abnormal things were really happening more and more, and this was only the part he had discovered.

"Can't act like I didn't see anything, and can't pretend nothing happened...

"Sister said that a mentally normal person should know how to avoid danger and shouldn't stand under a wall after discovering it's about to collapse..."

Lu Mian came back to his senses and quickly made a decision:

Must leave Cordu Village as soon as possible, with his sister!

As for the abnormalities here, naturally, there were official personnel to handle them, and the villagers here would definitely be protected by them. Lu Mian himself had neither the obligation to shoulder this responsibility nor the corresponding ability.

"In addition, I must speed up the exploration of the dream ruins and strive to obtain supernatural power in a short time to deal with possible accidents during the process of leaving here..." Lu Mian's mind became clearer and clearer, his heart filled with urgency.

What he feared most was that he and his sister hadn't had time to leave Cordu Village before the abnormality broke out. If that happened, he had to at least ensure he wouldn't drag his sister down, and the prerequisite for that was needing to become much stronger than he was now.

Thinking of this, Lu Mian put the small blue book back in its original place, took the paper with the words and sentences he had just written, and walked down the stairs quickly.

He specifically went around to the stove and threw the paper into the fire.

After going out, Lu Mian headed straight for the old tavern.

The tavern door was closed tightly. The owner and bartender, Maurice Béné, should have gone to Naroka's funeral.

However, as a part-time inn, it was impossible for all the doors to be locked during the day, not giving guests a chance to enter or exit.

Lu Mian went around to the small path and pushed open the back door of the tavern.

Coming to the stairs, he looked at the lobby and didn't see a single figure.

Stomp, stomp, stomp, Lu Mian went to the second floor and stopped outside the mysterious woman's room.

Seeing that there was no "Resting, please do not disturb" sign hanging on the door handle, Lu Mian took a breath and exhaled slowly, then curled his fingers and knocked on the wooden door lightly.

Knock, knock, knock...

He knocked three times in a row, but there was no response from inside.

Knock, knock, knock... Lu Mian increased the force of his knocking, but there was still no response.

He tapped a few more times, and the room was silent.

"Not here?" Lu Mian frowned, "Went to watch Naroka's funeral?"

He didn't waste any more time, went downstairs, exited the tavern, and headed straight for the cemetery next to the church.

On the way, he passed Naroka's house.

At this time, the crowd who had come to bid farewell to the body had all dispersed and were waiting at the cemetery.

Lu Mian looked from afar and happened to see Pons Béné, the parish priest's brother, coming out of the house.

"This..." He was surprised and subconsciously leaned toward the building next to him, shrinking behind a cover.

When a funeral is held, isn't it forbidden to enter the house to avoid affecting the constellation and taking away good luck?

Pons Béné stopped at the entrance of Naroka's house and talked in a low voice with the middle-aged man who was the old lady's youngest son, named Arnaud André.

After Pons Béné left, Arnaud locked the door and headed toward the cemetery.

"Naroka's death is really a bit strange..." Lu Mian frowned and muttered to himself silently.

He now felt that Naroka's death might not have been caused by that owl; it was more likely related to the secret, weird things the parish priest and his gang were doing.

That owl perhaps just followed its own mission, coming to Cordu Village to take away the deceased's soul, and then stopped to observe Lu Mian on the way.

Of course, Lu Mian had an even more terrifying guess:

The parish priest and his gang might have some kind of connection with that owl!

Their weirdness, the things they did in secret, might have had their initial source in the legacy of that wizard from back then.

"Before leaving Cordu Village, I can find an opportunity to tell Ryan, Lyra, and the others about these guesses. I hope they can find out the truth as soon as possible and solve the problem quickly." Lu Mian withdrew his gaze, muttering in his heart while walking toward the "Eternal Blazing Sun" church.

Throughout the funeral, Lu Mian appeared silent and serious, but he was actually observing every villager constantly, hoping to find abnormalities from their expressions.

Unfortunately, he gained nothing.

However, he also developed a certain illusion because of this:

Some people in the village might be wearing some kind of mask...

And the mysterious lady who gave him the Tarot card didn't appear at the cemetery.

…………

Near dusk, inside the semi-underground two-story building.

"Where is the paper you wrote?" Aurora glanced at her brother who walked in front of her and said casually, "Let me see."

Lu Mian said with a serious expression:

"I have something to tell you."

Aurora's gaze swept across his face:

"Did some wild animal in the village steal your paper again?"

"No." Lu Mian said in a deep voice, "I heard some things from those few outsiders."

Aurora restrained her smile and nodded, signaling him to continue.

Lu Mian started from Ryan and the others investigating a help letter, talked about the abnormality of the small blue book at home, talked about his suspicion of Madame Pualis, and talked about borrowing Raymond's small blue book to initially restore the content of the help letter.

Finally, he suggested:

"Let's leave the village as soon as possible, go to Dalie—no, Bigor, and live for a while."

Aurora didn't answer immediately, pondered for a full ten or twenty seconds, and then said:

"This is indeed the best choice for now.

"But there is a problem. While official personnel are conducting investigations, we suddenly leave Cordu in a hurry. Will it arouse their suspicion and make them intercept us for key screening?

"If I weren't a supernatural being, that wouldn't be a problem, but I am a wild supernatural being not recognized by the authorities, the kind that would be taken away by the Inquisition for purification."

Lu Mian, after all, lacked experience and had overlooked this problem earlier, not knowing what to say for a moment.

After a while, he said:

"Force our way out and then hide in another city, or another country?"

"Do you think too highly of me?" Aurora laughed dumbly, "According to my observation, those three outsiders should all be quite powerful. If there were only one, I might be able to handle it, but there are three of them. Moreover, how do you know there isn't a large force in ambush outside the village, just waiting for the suspect to be frightened and take the initiative to appear and flee?"

Lu Mian was left speechless.

He had to admit that compared to his sister, he was still too green and immature, and his thinking wasn't meticulous enough at critical moments.

"You, you're still too reckless." Aurora commented, "But it's normal. Which young person doesn't have a bit of edge?"

She paused and added:

"Tomorrow morning, you go to the administrator's place and help me send a telegram to the 'Novel Weekly,' asking when the writer salon mentioned before will be held."

Aurora is a columnist for the "Novel Weekly" and is quite popular with readers.

—Cordu Village only has one telegram each in the hands of the administrator and the parish priest, responsible for emergency contact with the outside world. It's not that villagers can't use it, but they have to pay enough Felkins.

Seeing Lu Mian's puzzled look, Aurora smiled and explained simply:

"The 'Novel Weekly' has always wanted to invite me to Trier for some activities, but I've refused them all, including the recent writer salon.

"Since I take the initiative to ask about this, they will definitely invite me over enthusiastically and might even reimburse the round-trip steam train ticket expenses.

"In this way, our departure is a very normal thing. Even if we are under secret observation, we won't be treated as suspects.

"By then, I have a way to briefly deceive them. As long as the two of us really haven't been contaminated by abnormal events, there is a very high probability of leaving Cordu smoothly."

"Okay." Lu Mian couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

A few seconds later, he asked curiously:

"Aurora, uh, sister, is 'supernatural being' the term for people who possess supernatural power?"

"Yes." Aurora didn't say much more.

She turned and smiled:

"You actually are willing to abandon your friends and flee Cordu directly."

"Whether others live or die has nothing to do with me." Lu Mian said "heh."

The most important thing right now is to ensure his sister's safety!

Aurora laughed "tsk tsk":

"Come, come, say that again. I love hearing it.

"How many times have you said similar things before? But every time, you either secretly provide help or pretend to remind them unintentionally."

"Those are all small things." Lu Mian defended.

The current abnormality threatens his sister.

"Alright, alright." Aurora looked like she wouldn't argue with a child, "Time to prepare dinner. It's your turn today."

Lu Mian said "hmm" and walked toward the stove.

…………

A dark night where the red moon was covered by clouds.

Lu Mian finished washing up and lay on the bed.

Obvious worry gradually appeared on his face.

Aurora's response wasn't bad, but Lu Mian was worried that the abnormality in the village would break out during the time he was waiting for the "Novel Weekly" to reply.

For this reason, he was incredibly eager to improve his strength, and obtaining supernatural power in the dream ruins was the path he could reach most easily at present.

What he regretted was that he hadn't found that lady all day today and couldn't get corresponding advice, so he could only try it himself first.

For him, the situation had reached this point, as if an arrow had been placed on a bow and the string had been pulled, and it had to be fired.

Without hesitation, Lu Mian collected his thoughts and slowly entered a sleep state.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 22 =====