Chapter 382

At the end of the disaster in Cordu Village, Lu Mian was not only affected by the seal within his body and the surrounding dissipated Fate power, falling into an endless cycle, but he also had a real dream, which even caused official investigators Ryan, Lia, and others to uncontrollably fall asleep and become part of his dream after entering a certain area.

Lu Mian, who was still an occult illiterate at the time, didn't think there was any problem with this. Later, when he asked Mr. "Poet" to interpret the symbolic meaning of each element in the dream, he learned that the dream itself did not originate from Termiboros's power, nor was it caused by Mr. "Fool's" seal; it had another source, representing a kind of protection and comfort.

From that time on, he had been thinking about the source of this real dream, but never found an answer; after all, there were too many possibilities. Now, through Franca's further description of the "Night" pathway and his experience at the gathering, he suddenly had an inspiration:

The "Night" pathway not only makes people have nightmares and is the embodiment of nightmares, but it can also create real dreams!

Could it be that Lady "Hela" discovered that Aurore had an accident, rushed to Cordu Village but was a step late, and could only use the power of the sealed artifact to let me enter a real dream to comfort my heart and spirit?

No, she didn't need to hide this from me and pretend to be ignorant. What was there to hide?

Moreover, if she did it, there wouldn't be any obvious leakage or residue of sleeping power...

Could it be that long-term use of that incantation involving secret power to attend gatherings caused Aurore to be more or less contaminated or marked by that sealed artifact, and when her body disintegrated, the sealed artifact sensed the change and instinctively provided a certain feedback? Although this didn't save Aurore, it brought me a real dream?

Hmm, Lia and Valentine were forcibly put to sleep in the blood-colored mountain, which was the area around the sacrificial site. That was near the giant with three heads and six arms. This matches my previous speculation; the source of the dream power is closely related to Aurore...

Franca saw that Lu Mian hadn't spoken for a long time, as if he were thinking seriously, and didn't interrupt him immediately, waiting until his eyes changed and he detached from his own world before asking:

"What did you think of?"

"Do you remember the Cordu Village disaster I told you about? Around the blood-colored mountain that the sacrificial site turned into, there was an area ruled by the night that made everyone who entered uncontrollably fall asleep and have a real dream," Lu Mian explained simply.

The more Franca heard, the more astonished and fearful she became:

"Could it be, could it be that Lady 'Hela' also has problems?"

"I don't think so," Lu Mian shook his head and gave a summary of his speculation.

Franca let out a long, unmasked sigh of relief:

"This is indeed more consistent with the situation on the scene.

"Hmm, didn't you notice? The first part of the incantation is the standard three-part honorific name. This shows that the sealed artifact either has living characteristics or was once a living creature. For such things, it's normal to instinctively influence those who pray to it and react accordingly."

Lu Mian thought carefully and found that this was indeed the case.

The two exchanged for a while and agreed that Lu Mian would find time to go to the "Alone" bar to take a simple look.

Returning to the Auberge du Coq Doré, Lu Mian pulled the curtains, sat at the table, and began writing a letter to Lady "Magician" by the light of the calcium carbide lamp.

The focus of the letter was the performance and answers of the "Armor Shadow," and he also inquired about the situation of the "Ancient Sun God" and the relationship between this ancient deity and the "Aurora Order."

Considering it was already late at night, Lu Mian waited until he woke up "naturally" and had breakfast before sending the letter out.

At noon, Lady "Magician" finally replied, so Lu Mian, who had specifically returned to Room 207 of the Auberge du Coq Doré, didn't make a wasted trip.

"The answer and state of the 'Armor Shadow' have given us a further understanding of the situation in (blank)."

Just after reading the first sentence, Lu Mian froze there.

His gaze fell on the blank part of the sentence, not understanding if Lady "Magician" had deliberately made a joke or if the letter itself had been distorted by some kind of power.

Combining his own understanding of the "Magician," Lu Mian initially speculated that after this lady wrote the whole sentence smoothly, she discovered that there was some information that couldn't be known to him for the time being, and she was too lazy to black it out and re-divine, or change the paper and rewrite it, so she simply erased the word with some kind of power.

What is there that I can't know? Isn't it just another world? Lu Mian muttered and read the following sentences:

"This is a good harvest, but it can't be used for the time being, although Mr. 'Hanged Man' will be very happy.

"After a while, when he is ready, he might let you summon the 'Armor Shadow' again. He is responsible for providing gold in exchange for the opportunity to ask questions.

"The questions will be thought of by him, your role is communication, and the role of Cup of St. Germain is translation. Hmm, don't forget to ask Mr. 'Hanged Man' for a reward."

Mr. "Hanged Man"... Lu Mian repeated this code name, his gaze moving to the bottom of the letter paper:

"The question of the 'Ancient Sun God' is very complex, and I don't know much about it either. For now, I can only tell you that He was the ruler of that history in the Third Epoch. He ended the Second Epoch ruled by brutal ancient gods and brought dawn to us humans.

"The relationship between the one worshipped by the 'Aurora Order' and Him is equally complex, and understanding it itself carries risks. You can just treat it as the inheritor of half of His legacy, while the other half was carved up by some of the Seven Gods. This directly led to the 'Age of Gods,' which is what we often call the Fourth Epoch."

If there were still a small amount of history, legends, documents, and items left in the Fourth Epoch, then the Third and Second Epochs before that only existed in the scriptures of the major churches, almost like myths. Lu Mian only knew that the Third Epoch was called the "Cataclysmic Epoch" and the Second Epoch was called the "Dark Epoch."

At this moment, from Lady "Magician's" few words, he actually felt the grandeur and charm of that ancient history:

Brutal ancient gods, the Ancient Sun God who ended the dark age of humanity, the ruler of the Third Epoch who fell for unknown reasons, and the "Age of Gods" born on His corpse...

Why would such an ancient deity give birth to a child like Amon? Who is Amon's mother? Is there still a connection between Amon and the one worshipped by the "Aurora Order"? The more Lu Mian thought about it, the more he felt that the "Ancient Sun God's" parenting had major problems.

He had a certain fondness for this deity, not only because He ended the rule of the ancient gods and gave humanity dawn, but also because He was suspected of being an earlier transmigrator, coming from the same world as Aurore and Emperor Roselle.

Similarly, Lu Mian began to understand why Mr. K and the "Aurora Order" hated the believers of evil gods so much; the one they worshipped inherited the legacy of the "Ancient Sun God."

A flame popped up, igniting the letter paper in Lu Mian's hand.

He tidied up a bit, put on the silver earrings turned from "Lie," and adjusted his appearance so that no one would associate him with Lu Mian Lee.

After doing this, he took off "Lie" and put it into the hidden pocket of his clothes.

—According to his experience using it during this time, the appearance changed by "Lie" wouldn't disappear after leaving "Lie." This was a reshaping at the flesh level; to change back to the original, one had to use "Lie" to adjust again.

Carrying his satchel, Lu Mian walked out of the Auberge du Coq Doré.

On the way to Market Avenue, he heard the ding-ding-ding of the bell, which meant it was one o'clock in the afternoon.

Lu Mian took out the gold-cased pocket watch he borrowed from the Breeze Cabaret and calibrated the time against the distant clock tower.

This pocket watch would slow down by one minute every few days.

After more than half an hour, Lu Mian arrived at Old Street.

He walked toward the "Alone" bar as if taking a stroll, his gaze naturally sweeping over the "Different" cabaret.

There were no guests there yet, and three doormen wearing monocles on their right eyes were leaning lazily in different places, chatting or daydreaming from time to time.

A postman in a blue embossed uniform parked his bicycle on the side of the road and walked toward the mailbox of the "Different" cabaret with a stack of letters.

His right eye was also wearing a monocle.

Lu Mian felt his scalp tingle, withdrew his gaze, and walked into the "Alone" bar.

This bar still had poor lighting; even at noon, it appeared quite dim, and there were no other guests for the time being.

The bartender at the bar counter wasn't the one from last time; it was actually Lia, the Investigation Department investigator Lu Mian knew!

This lady was wearing a white shirt, a bow tie, a black knee-length skirt, and her hair was simply pinned up with small silver bells. Her attire was different from before, and she had a unique charm.

"Du Songzijiu and tonic with ice." Lu Mian sat on the high stool in front of the bar and tapped the counter.

He then laughed:

"Why did you change the bartender?"

Lia glanced at him and joked:

"Sir, no one stipulates that a bar can only hire one bartender; he would be tired to death."

"Alright." Lu Mian paid 8 Rick coins and waited for the gin and tonic with ice to be delivered to him.

After drinking for nearly ten minutes, he asked casually:

"Do you have a typewriter here? I suddenly remembered I have a document to do."

Lia wiped the glass and said:

"In the room next to the theater in the cellar, there is a typewriter for scripts. The usage fee is 2 Rick, and each sheet of paper is 1 Kopek."

"That's quite expensive..." Lu Mian muttered as he got up, carrying his glass into the cellar.

He had some psychological trauma from that puppet theater, so he didn't approach it and turned directly into the side room.

There was indeed a brass-colored mechanical typewriter placed here, and a man sitting next to it reading a newspaper in silence.

Lu Mian typed out a short document according to his prior preparation.

The wear and tear of certain letters on it were exactly the same as those in "Loki's" material.

Lu Mian nodded imperceptibly, paid the usage fee and paper fee to the man who hadn't made a sound, and then quickly left the slightly eerie basement room.

Just as he returned to the bar hall, he suddenly felt dazed, and he vaguely heard the sound of a bell ringing in his ears.

Lu Mian recovered quickly and looked at Lia, finding that she had no abnormal reaction.

"Did you hear the bell?" Lu Mian placed the glass on the bar counter.

Lia frowned:

"It's not the hour yet; why would there be a bell?"

Lu Mian suppressed the doubt in his heart, drank the remaining wine, and left the "Alone" bar.

Passing by the "Different" cabaret, he found that there were only two monocled guards at the door, and the postman was nowhere to be found.

Lu Mian didn't look much and quickly left the street.

On the public carriage returning to the Market District, the two o'clock bell rang on time. Lu Mian instinctively took out his pocket watch and opened it to take a look.

He was stunned to find that the pocket watch he had just calibrated an hour ago had slowed down again.

It was one minute slow.

(End of chapter)