Chapter 301: Interpretation

Lu Mian had been waiting for the interpretation of the dream symbols for some time, urgently hoping to obtain enough hints before "re-encountering" Father Guillaume Bénet.

Only in this way could he "interrogate" the target more purposefully.

This time, after Lady "Magician" grabbed his shoulder, what he saw was no longer thick, layered color blocks and bizarre creatures.

He first felt dots of starlight rising, and immediately found himself in a twisted and secretive dark tunnel. Both spirit and flesh seemed to show signs of chaos. He didn't know if he was moving forward, backward, or upward, accompanied by a falling sensation.

This state lasted for a very short time, but Lu Mian couldn't say exactly how long. It seemed he had temporarily lost his accurate perception of the passage of time.

When he recovered and opened his eyes, he even suspected that he was in the Wind Dance Hall the previous second and had arrived at his destination the next.

What came into his view was a primeval forest that almost obscured the sky. Inside an open space surrounded by huge trees stood a brownish-yellow hunter's cabin.

"Go in," Lady "Magician's" voice came to Lu Mian's ears, but he didn't see the figure of this demigod.

Following the instructions, he took a step, stepped on a large number of leeches rolling closer, passed through various poisonous insects flying in the air and crawling on the surface of grass and trees, and arrived in front of the hunter's cabin, pushing open the ajar wooden door.

Inside were rows of bookshelves and a wooden table placed between the bookshelves, which seemed to be in two worlds with the surrounding primeval forest and the exterior of the hunter's cabin.

Behind the wooden table sat a figure. He was wearing a white shirt and an open black coat, his body leaning against the back of the chair. The whole person seemed to be obscured by thick fog, appearing very blurry, making Lu Mian unable to see his appearance clearly, only barely distinguishing the clothing situation, the position of facial features, and the specific gender.

"Sit," the figure said in a voice that was somewhat magnetic yet slightly ethereal.

"Hello," Lu Mian bowed politely before sitting down. "How should I address you?"

The figure thought for a moment and said:

"You can consider me a poet."

A poet? Lu Mian didn't understand what significance this code name had, but he chose to respect it:

"Hello, Mr. Poet."

The poet nodded slightly:

"'Magician' has already told me about the entire dream and related intelligence, but I still hope to hear you tell it in detail again."

Addressing "Magician" directly... Is he also a member of the Tarot Club? A holder of a certain Major Arcana card? Lu Mian looked at the poet opposite him again with speculation.

Relying on the outline sketched in the thick fog, he had a further impression:

The black hair was longer than an ordinary person's, indeed looking like an artist; the pupil color was emerald green, the gaze not sharp; the face shape was thinner, the height not low; the sitting posture was not upright, appearing very casual...

These elements combined with the thick fog made the poet seem to come from the depths of the dream.

"Okay," Lu Mian responded to the other party's words.

He told the nightmare about Cordu Village exactly as it was, and added various traces discovered in the ruins and the large amount of information harvested in the last month.

Compared to the past, while he still had emotional fluctuations when recalling these things, they were no longer so intense. During the whole process, he only appeared in a deep-breathing state once.

Anthony Reid stood by the door without moving, saying himself:

The next second, Lu Mian discovered that there were strange insects crawling in and out of the edges of the other party's eye sockets.

Those insects were intertwined with transparency and opacity, as if carrying circles on their backs.

Such a scene almost made Lu Mian forget his narration, just like facing the headless monster created by "Supervisor" Olsen, inevitably producing a feeling of horror.

He steadied himself, forced himself to ignore the strange insects crawling into the eye sockets, and expressed the content he wanted to say completely.

After he finished speaking, the poet was silent for a moment and said:

"It is indeed a dream full of symbolic significance.

"Let's start with the simplest one, the dead wizard in the tomb."

Doesn't this symbolize that Aurore became a believer of Fate and eventually died? Lu Mian hadn't had time to raise this question before the poet seemed to perceive his thoughts and took the initiative to explain:

"This is a very typical dual-structure symbol, meaning it contains two layers of meaning.

"The first layer, that wizard symbolizes the power of Fate, or rather, pollution, and also represents Termiboros. The coffin and the concept of 'death' are equivalent, both symbolizing that the power of Fate is sealed and has lost its vitality, and the tomb represents the seal itself.

"In the dream, we can see that the wizard has indeed died and never left that tomb, which matches the state of the seal on you.

"Because in this matter, your sister Aurore also accepted the gift of Fate and is currently one of the suspected leaders, representing the power of Fate to a certain extent. In addition, she has also died, so the wizard's matter has a second layer of symbolic meaning.

"These two layers of symbolic meaning are superimposed together through the core point of 'the power of Fate,' making it easy for the interpreter to overlook one of the layers."

So that's how it is... Lu Mian, whose mood was gradually becoming heavy, was convinced by Mr. Poet, recognizing the essence of the wizard legend from another angle.

The poet maintained his previous sitting posture, and there were no strange insects crawling in and out of his eye sockets:

"After unraveling the complete symbolic meaning of the dead wizard, there is a preliminary answer to what the owl and the other you represent:

"The other you symbolizes both the personality you alienated due to pollution and Termiboros's attempt to achieve his goal by influencing your thoughts. If there were only the former symbol, the other you shouldn't be able to leave the tomb;

"The owl being able to freely enter and exit the dead wizard's tomb indicates that it can bypass the seal to a certain extent. At the same time, it also showed several characteristics: constantly monitoring your changes, not appearing at critical moments, and guarding beside the dead wizard.

"Combining our interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the dead wizard, the owl represents another believer of Fate, responsible for monitoring your state. Its attitude toward the dead wizard is relatively vague; it neither showed the protection it should have, nor did it provide help for the angel's descent in the final ritual.

"Bypassing the seal should mean that it is in the outside world and can communicate with Termiboros in some way. I cannot be sure about this point yet; you cannot ignore other possibilities."

The one symbolizing that "Sufferer" turned out to be the owl. I thought it was the other me or Aurore... Lu Mian felt both relieved and somewhat disappointed.

Taking advantage of Mr. Poet's temporary pause, he raised a question:

"The underground altar is real, but what does the 'Sufferer' aura in the dream symbolize?"

"The first layer symbolizes that the power of Fate once appeared there, but if there were only this layer, it is unlikely that the symbolic element would appear in the form of a 'Sufferer' aura," the poet made an interpretation after a few seconds. "The second layer, if the believer of Fate symbolized by the owl monitoring you is already a 'Sufferer,' then it represents that it does not want others to come into contact with the altar of Fate, which also symbolizes the power of Fate.

"In addition, we also saw that you suffered the least damage at that time, which indicates that the 'Sufferer' did not want to kill you, and might even protect you to a certain extent, which is very similar to the 'psychological treatment' you experienced in the Trier Market District."

From the very beginning, that person had plans for Termiboros? Of course, before the intention was truly exposed, he would also cooperate with Termiboros to do some things... Termiboros tried to influence me several times but failed. Is there a reason for this? Lu Mian couldn't help but sympathize with the Fate angel sealed in his chest.

The poet continued:

"I suspect there is a third layer of symbolism. It represents that there is a real Sufferer in Cordu Village, a Sufferer not at the extraordinary level."

A real Sufferer... Lu Mian was shocked to hear this.

He had many associations but couldn't find the correct answer.

The poet himself wasn't too sure about this point either, so he didn't provide more explanation, turning instead to interpret the symbol Lu Mian was currently most concerned about:

"Regardless of whether the lizard-like sprite appeared in reality, its symbolic meaning in the dream is quite obvious:

"First, it showed a desire for the cemetery, a love for entering and exiting those tombs, but it didn't truly enter the dead wizard's tomb. This symbolizes that it belongs to another force, has a certain connection with the power of Fate but is absolutely not equivalent, more like it is seeking and harvesting something involving Fate through this."

Another force... Lu Mian recalled the transparent "lizard" that appeared at the scene of the "Shadow Tree" incident.

The poet sat up a little straighter:

"Second, it symbolizes hidden pollution and unconscious change.

"In the entire dream, only two people had lizard-like sprites crawl out of their mouths: one is your sister Aurore, and the other is the assistant priest Michel Galigou. What impression do you have of the latter in reality?"

Lu Mian thought for a moment and said:

"Similar to the dream, but not so exaggerated.

"He was a fairly pious believer of the 'Eternal Blazing Sun.' Because he was squeezed out by Guillaume Bénet, he had the paranoid idea of presiding over a sermon and listening to a confession himself. Later, he performed more and more obviously, completely ignoring other things..."

Speaking of this, Lu Mian suddenly froze.

He thought of Aurore, the other person who had a lizard-like sprite crawl out of her mouth.

Didn't she also ignore writing to "Hela" for help?

Mr. Poet nodded:

"Your sister Aurore should also have had similar performance.

"Third, the force or god represented by the lizard-like sprite does not want to see the angel of Fate truly descend. It symbolizes the role of a destroyer."

Seeing Lu Mian somewhat puzzled, the poet further said:

"If it weren't for the person who had a lizard-like sprite crawl out of their mouth knocking you out and bringing you to the final sacrificial place, making you a container, the descent ritual would likely have succeeded.

"Think about it, in that ritual, if the person standing in front of Aurore wasn't you, but someone else, would she have briefly sobered up and pushed him off the altar?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 302 =====