Chapter 35

"About the same intensity as 'last time'..."

Lu Mi looked at the corpse of the skinless monster and muttered to himself in a low voice.

Before time flowed backward, he and this monster had fought back and forth, and it was only by crushing it with his intelligence that he managed to resolve it seemingly easily, but now it was just a matter of one axe strike.

Of course, this was also because he had "previously" experienced it, had a very good understanding of the ambush just now, and had made a prediction in advance.

But regardless, the comparison between "before and after" was enough for him to feel that what he had gained after becoming a Beyonder was a qualitative improvement.

Lu Mi pondered for two seconds and moved the corpse and head of the skinless monster to a corner, but he did not bury them with stones, wood, or mud, leaving them and the blood-covered ground exposed.

Then, Lu Mi quickly searched the partially collapsed building, accurately found the remaining 197 Fers and 25 Coppés, and sorted them into different pockets.

He also flipped through that small blue book again and didn't find anything unusual.

After doing all this, he sneaked toward the depths of the ruins, but after only moving forward twenty or thirty meters, he circled around, returned to the place just now, and followed the movement trajectory of the skinless monster during its lifetime, nimbly climbing onto the partially collapsed roof.

After completing the necessary preparations, he hid himself.

Time passed second by second, and Lu Mi waited quite patiently, just like an experienced hunter waiting for prey.

I don't know how much time passed before a figure came from somewhere in the ruins.

It was shaped like a half-human, half-beast, with knees bent forward, greasy black hair hanging down, and a hunting rifle on its back. It was exactly the monster that had allowed Lu Mi to obtain a "Hunter" Beyonder characteristic "before."

The hunting rifle monster moved forward cautiously, as if performing a routine patrol.

Suddenly, it sniffed its nose and discovered a large amount of blood on the ground in the distance.

It hurriedly changed direction and approached the building that had partially collapsed due to fire.

Following the bloodstains, the hunting rifle monster found the corpse and head of the skinless monster.

It squatted down and began to examine them carefully.

On the partially collapsed roof, Lu Mi shook his head upon seeing this and muttered silently to himself:

"It didn't even smell my scent at this distance?

"Even if it was covered by the smell of blood, it shouldn't have been completely unaware!"

While muttering, he raised his axe and slashed hard into a stone crevice he had deepened in advance on the side.

Clatter!

The partially collapsed roof shook, and heavy stones crashed down with a roar.

The hunting rifle monster reacted extremely quickly, immediately twisting its waist and pushing off with its legs, jumping toward an area that had not yet collapsed.

Lu Mi smiled.

He suddenly pounced down from the roof that had not yet collapsed, like an eagle grabbing prey in mid-air.

Amidst the whistling wind, Lu Mi and the hunting rifle monster met in the air; one was high above, raising the axe with one hand, while the other was facing away from the height, struggling to turn around and attempting to block.

Lu Mi clenched his left hand into a fist and struck downward. When the monster extended its arm to block, he had long been prepared, opening his palm, softening his strength, and grabbing the opponent.

Accompanied by the backward pull of Lu Mi's left hand, the axe held in his right hand slashed down fiercely.

Amidst the sound of a "pfft" and the scattering blood, the person and the monster fell to the ground at the same time.

Lu Mi, having a "cushion," was unaffected and raised his hand to strike another axe blow.

No matter how unwilling the hunting rifle monster's head was, it had to leave its body at this moment and rolled twice.

Lu Mi stood up, looked at the monster, and sneered in a low voice:

"You've become weaker!

"Only a terrifying shell remains; is it actually stuffed with a scarecrow inside?"

Having become a "Hunter," he was very confident in resolving the hunting rifle monster again, but he hadn't expected it to be so easy.

Looking at the corpse on the ground, Lu Mi waited patiently for the Beyonder characteristic to precipitate.

But he waited for a long time without seeing any deep red light spots emerge.

"None?" Lu Mi muttered to himself in confusion.

He actually didn't feel surprised at all.

Because that Beyonder characteristic of the hunting rifle monster had been obtained by him "last time" and had become a potion that entered his body.

Sure enough, since time flowing backward didn't turn me back into an ordinary person and didn't make the Beyonder characteristic in my body disappear, it meant that a "Hunter" Beyonder characteristic was missing here; the hunting rifle monster had simply returned to a living state but lacked the support of essential things... The problem now is, why do I still maintain the state from before time flowed backward? Lu Mi couldn't think of an answer for a moment, so he had to scavenge the few copper coins on the hunting rifle monster and walk toward the outside of the ruins.

…………

After dawn, Lu Mi didn't pretend to have a headache in front of his sister like he did on March 30th before, bringing up supernatural-related topics; he got up early and prepared food.

Toasted bread, fried soft-boiled eggs, sliced smoked meat, and more were placed on the dining table one by one.

"Yo, so diligent?" Aurora, who came downstairs and saw this scene, was quite surprised. "I thought you drank so much alcohol yesterday that you wouldn't be able to get out of bed this morning."

Lu Mi said casually:

"Just one glass of apple cider and one glass of absinthe, how is that a lot?"

"What's there to be proud of? Except for wine, which you can drink a little, other alcoholic beverages are unhealthy and will affect our brains." Aurora shook her head and smiled. "No wonder you're getting dumber, my alcoholic brother."

Lu Mi, who had never been able to win an argument against his sister, muttered in a low voice:

"Why is wine an exception?"

"Because I like to drink it." Aurora had an expression that said, "Counter me if you have the ability."

Lu Mi had nothing to say.

After breakfast, he didn't rush to go out and started kneading flour.

This made Aurora click her tongue in wonder:

"Did you commit some big disaster? So well-behaved...

"Tell me, your sister won't beat you, at most an extra combat lesson."

"No." Lu Mi took the opportunity to open the topic. "I just feel that the atmosphere in the village is getting weirder and weirder, and some people are behaving more and more abnormally. Aurora, do you have this feeling?"

According to his observation, his sister indeed had no memory related to the time that had been flowed backward, but the abnormalities in the village definitely didn't just appear in the last few days; there should have been certain signs before March 29th. As a "Reader," Aurora might have noticed something, just not enough to pay attention to it.

Aurora's expression became a bit more serious:

"Even you can notice that something is wrong?

"Tell me, who are the people that make you feel this way?"

Aurora really knew that some people had certain problems, just didn't expect the problems to be so serious... Lu Mi said while washing his hands and deliberating:

"Madame Pualis, the parish priest, Pons Bénet, and the shepherd Pierre Berri who returned to the village early."

"Madame Pualis does have some problems. Since she and the administrator came to Cordu, I knew she wasn't quite right, but she behaved very restrainedly. Besides having continuous extramarital affairs, there was nothing that could be called evil." Aurora recalled and said, "I have seen on her..."

Aurora stopped, seemingly not wanting to involve Lu Mi in the supernatural world.

Continuous extramarital affairs? Before discovering that Madame Pualis and the parish priest were having an affair, Lu Mi thought she was a decent lady. Who knew the parish priest wasn't her first lover.

Of course, this fit Lu Mi's current stereotype of Madame Pualis.

"As for the parish priest, he has a strong thirst for supernatural power just like you, but he has never received a gift from the 'Eternal Blazing Sun' church." Aurora thought while saying, "That guy Pons Bénet, whose brain is full of muscles, can't do anything weird... The few sheep that the shepherd Pierre Berri brought back this time seem a bit wrong, but I can't see what's wrong with them, and I don't dare to look into it deeply..."

As expected of a Sequence 7 of the "Reader" pathway... Before time flowed backward, I communicated too little with my sister about this aspect, and actually missed the important clue that Pierre Berri's sheep might be problematic... Hmm, at that time, I didn't have much suspicion about Pierre Berri either, just thought it was a bit strange that he rushed back early to participate in Lent... Lu Mi was about to speak when a ding-dong sound rang at the door.

Their doorbell had been pulled.

"Who is it?" Lu Mi asked while walking over.

"There's a telegram for Aurora!" the person outside responded loudly.

"A telegram?" Aurora looked puzzled. "Who sent me a telegram? There's nothing urgent recently..."

Lu Mi was also puzzled:

On March 30th before time flowed backward, the family hadn't received any telegrams!

No, on March 30th, I went to the village square very early to wait for Raymond. Maybe my sister received a telegram but didn't tell me... Lu Mi quickly found a possibility and opened the door.

Outside the door was indeed Bertrand, a subordinate of the administrator in charge of telegrams. While handing a piece of paper to Lu Mi, he said:

"1 Fer."

Bertrand, with brown hair and brown eyes, was not from Cordu village; he followed the administrator from Dariège and was a young man who was enthusiastic on the outside but greedy on the inside.

Lu Mi took out a 1 Fer silver coin and threw it to Bertrand, then lowered his head to read the telegram.

The content of the telegram wasn't complicated, and he quickly browsed through the general content:

"The writer salon mentioned before is in June. If you are willing, Miss Aurora, you can set off for Trier now to leave enough time for sightseeing. We guarantee this will be a very wonderful journey."

The signature was, The Editorial Department of "Novel Weekly."

This... Lu Mi's eyes widened suddenly.

This is a reply from "Novel Weekly"?

"When did I say I wanted to participate in a writer salon?" Aurora leaned over and took a few looks. "Is the editorial department of 'Novel Weekly' going crazy? It's annoying to meet so many people at once!"

At this time, Bertrand had already moved away from the door.

Hearing Aurora's words and combining them with the content of the telegram, the stunned Lu Mi suddenly had a bold guess:

The telegram in his hand was indeed a reply from "Novel Weekly," but it was replying to the telegram he would send in a few days!

More accurately, the telegram he sent before time flowed backward received a reply after time flowed backward, but in the current experience, that telegram hadn't been sent yet!

(End of chapter)