Chapter 37: Dangerous Jungle

Lu Mian thought for a moment and said:

"Is it because the power of the gift carries a corresponding brand that the body, mind, and spirit move closer to the bestower?"

He made this inference based on the spiritual remnants left behind by the original Creator and previous owners of Beyonder characteristics.

Although the gift is pure power and contains no characteristics, it should still be stained with the colors of its owner.

The lady held a Tarot card, nodded in approval, and said:

"Your logical ability is quite good.

"You should thank Aurora for giving you a sufficient basic education."

You don't need to remind me of that... Lu Mian muttered in his heart.

The lady continued:

"Even if the bestower themselves does not wish to influence the recipient, it is difficult to avoid the result of the other party moving closer to Him in body, mind, and spirit, because if the bestowed power does not contain the bestower's will, it is difficult for the recipient to control it and it will soon dissipate.

"Therefore, the gifts from the orthodox gods in this regard are basically temporary and controlled within a certain degree."

So the evil gods don't care what the recipient eventually turns into? Lu Mian nodded thoughtfully and asked curiously:

"Beyonders, I mean, can people who possess Beyonder characteristics still accept gifts? Will the two conflict and lead to loss of control?"

The lady smiled at Lu Mian and shook her head:

"There will be a certain amount of conflict, but it won't be large.

"Think about it, the bestowed power will cause your body to transform toward the bestower, and your body originally exists in a state adapted to its own Beyonder characteristics. Once a change that is too large occurs, it will definitely conflict with the Beyonder characteristics until a new balance point is found.

"Because this kind of conflict does not involve the mind and spirit, under normal circumstances, it will not cause you to lose control, unless your spirit was already on the verge of collapse during that time.

"The only problem is that you might have to learn to watch yourself grow a third eye or a fourth hand with a calm mindset.

"Of course, this is on the premise that the bestowed power exists in you for a long time and the corresponding level is also very high; otherwise, those tiny changes in the body can be ignored."

Lu Mian let out an "Mm":

"What if the gift comes from oneself or an adjacent pathway?"

The lady nodded:

"That indeed will not cause conflict."

She then smiled:

"But that doesn't mean physical changes won't occur."

What does that mean? Lu Mian was about to ask again, but the lady smiled and said:

"I thought that after you learned about the Ring-bearer, you would be impatient to ask about things related to the time loop. As it turns out, you are actually focusing on knowledge that you don't even know if you'll be able to use in the future.

"This isn't like you!"

Lu Mian revealed a self-deprecating smile:

"I actually wanted to ask you from the beginning if there was a way to help us break this time loop, but I remembered some things you once said:

"You said that the price for you helping to solve the corresponding problem would be the destruction of the entire Cordu Village, and everyone would die. If I want to strive for a better result, I can only rely on my own exploration.

"Before, I actually couldn't understand, but now I've probably guessed the reason.

"Is it that for someone who isn't a Ring-bearer, the only way to break the loop here is to destroy it directly?"

The lady nodded with satisfaction:

"That is indeed the case."

"Then why didn't you make it clear before?" Lu Mian couldn't help but ask back.

It's not like this is something that would lead to destruction just by saying it!

Or rather, has this lady already gotten used to the way of speaking where she hides half of what she says?

The lady immediately laughed:

"If I had told you back then that the entire village was trapped in a time loop, would you have believed me?"

Lu Mian pondered for a while and said:

"No..."

Before having "personal experience," who would believe such an absurd and bizarre claim that sounds like a story plot?

"Therefore," the lady laughed, "why should I explain it clearly? If I did, I would have to spend a lot of time explaining it to you."

"..." Lu Mian fell silent.

He took the opportunity to consult:

"Do you know what the key to breaking this loop is?

"In which direction should I strive?"

The lady shook her head once again:

"Here, divining certain things is very dangerous."

"Ah?" Lu Mian didn't understand for a moment.

The lady had no choice but to add:

"If I knew where the key was, I would definitely tell you. If I solve it sooner, I can end this journey sooner."

She then sighed:

"When will I be able to have a proper vacation without work..."

Work? Seeing that he couldn't get any "revelation" from this mysterious lady, Lu Mian had to tentatively ask:

"Is it that as long as the parish priest isn't killed, time won't start looping?"

"No." The lady gave an accurate answer. "The loop has multiple trigger points, including time reaching the twelfth night. As for the others, explore them yourself."

The twelfth night... there's still quite a lot of time to investigate... Lu Mian thought for a moment and said:

"Because I triggered the special nature within me, I can retain my memory and Beyonder characteristics every time the loop resets?"

Seeing the lady nod, he asked further:

"If that's the case, then as long as I can ensure I stay alive, I can continuously loop and continuously conduct investigations. Sooner or later, I'll be able to find the key to ending all of this..."

This belongs to an application of the "exhaustive method" that Aurora once talked about.

"Theoretically, that's correct." The lady's eyes revealed emotions that left Lu Mian confused and unable to distinguish, "But you should have also discovered that only Cordu Village and the surrounding area are looping; other places are not. In other words, the time in the outside world is passing normally, and the date is completely inconsistent with Cordu Village.

"Those three investigators send a telegram to the outside world every once in a while, describing the state of themselves and the village. Once they mention the date, the Intis officialdom will be able to detect the abnormality here.

"Even if the investigators don't manage to send a telegram or mention the corresponding date in every loop, as time passes, the authorities will definitely be able to discover the problem. At that time, what method do you think they will take to solve the Cordu Village loop?"

Lu Mian fell silent, and it was a good while before he said:

"They should be like your alternative plan: destroy it directly."

"This can effectively prevent the abnormality from spreading and affecting other people." The lady said with quite a bit of emotion, "In the future, if you have the opportunity to go to the Sonia Sea, you can ask about Bansi Harbor. That place was destroyed directly by the Storm Church because it suffered from a certain kind of pollution; not a single person escaped."

This statement further strengthened Lu Mian's determination to find the key point of the loop himself.

He mocked himself once again:

"It seems there isn't much time left for me."

At most, there are only three or four loops left, and I can't reach the twelfth night in every loop.

The lady stood up and said peacefully:

"At least you still have a chance to save yourself; some people don't even have that."

After leaving the old tavern, Lu Mian stood on the road, looking at the not-so-many pedestrians and the houses one by one. He only felt that everything in Cordu Village was very normal; everyone had joy, anger, desires, and emotions, and they were no different from people in other places.

But it was this village that looked peaceful and noisy, harmonious and rowdy, that hid unimaginable terror. The time here and every person here were trapped in a loop, continuously living through the same few days.

And apart from a few people like the parish priest Guillaume Bénet, the shepherd Pierre Berry, Pons Bénet, and Ava Lizier, Lu Mian was temporarily unable to determine who was abnormal and who was innocent.

Even for a guy like Raymond Craig, who was usually silly and simple-minded, he couldn't be one hundred percent certain that there was absolutely nothing wrong with him.

And the abnormal behavior of most young people at the end of the Pentecost might have been due to the influence of the parish priest's supernatural abilities on the spot, rather than them having problems beforehand.

For a moment, Lu Mian had the feeling that Cordu Village was a primeval forest, full of dangers everywhere, and he couldn't tell who was the prey and who was the hunter.

Caution and patience were the first elements for survival in this kind of environment; ability, courage, wisdom, and experience all had to be ranked behind them.

This was both similar to and significantly different from his wandering life.

As these thoughts emerged, Lu Mian inexplicably felt signs of the "Hunter" potion digesting.

"Is this the first step of the 'Acting Method'?"

"It's quite fast. I thought it would take a month or two to get started..."

Thinking of this, Lu Mian was suddenly excited:

Can I digest the "Hunter" potion within one or two loops?

By then, combined with the hunting in the dream ruins, he might be able to quickly become a Sequence 8 "Provoker," obtain more powerful strength, and increase the success probability of solving the time loop problem.

Lu Mian pondered while moving forward, and soon arrived at the village square.

His current plan was to find the parish priest to "chat," test him, and see if he could discover any abnormalities or obtain some clues.

Just at this moment, he saw a figure walking toward the church.

That figure was wearing a dark brown long coat with a hood, a rope tied around his waist, and a pair of brand-new leather shoes with soft texture under his feet. It was none other than the shepherd Pierre Berry.

He... Lu Mian quickly approached and asked deliberately:

"Pierre, why are you back?"

At this time, Pierre Berry's black hair was still greasy and curled, and the beard on his face looked like it hadn't been shaved for a long time.

Hearing Lu Mian's question, he answered quite happily:

"Isn't the Pentecost coming soon? I haven't participated for several years, and no matter what, I can't miss it this year..."

Gentle laughter overflowed in his blue eyes, completely different from the shepherd who had left a deep impression, or even a shadow, on Lu Mian.

Uh, changing the place and asking a different person, the answer was already somewhat different from the last loop. Although the essence hadn't changed, some of the wording was different... Lu Mian listened carefully, looked down at Pierre's new shoes, and said with a smile:

"Did you strike it rich?"

"Not really, I can only say that this employer was very good and shared quite a few things with me." Pierre was very happy. "I'll treat you to a drink tonight."

"Good." Lu Mian agreed and pointed to the church. "Are you going to pray?"

"Yes, it's been too long since I prayed to God in the church." Pierre sighed.

There was nothing wrong with this sentence originally, but the more Lu Mian heard it now, the more he felt something was wrong.

Herding sheep isn't completely staying away from human towns. There are plenty of villages around the plateau grasslands. The high mountain grasslands are desolate, but shepherds go down the mountain every once in a while to replenish supplies. How could they not find a church?

Of course, if Pierre Berry had gone to Feynapot or Lenburg for this transfer, then he really wouldn't be able to find a church of the "Eternal Blazing Sun." It was just that Lu Mian was biased, feeling that every sentence Pierre Berry said had problems.

Pierre Berry turned and asked:

"Are you going to the church too?"

"No." Lu Mian shook his head in denial. "I thought there would be people chatting in the square. Who knew no one would come."

He then waved his hand:

"I'm going home first."

"See you tonight." Pierre Berry waved back.

Watching the shepherd walk toward the church, Lu Mian returned to the village.

He changed his mind about chatting with the parish priest. His next destination was:

The home of the shepherd Pierre Berry!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 38 =====