Chapter 406: Patient

Lu Mian used the ability of his "Decency" brooch to distort the action of closing the door, transforming it into sealing the entire room.

Having completed this, he used "Lies" to alter his appearance and did not immediately launch an attack on the patient on the bed, instead walking over to look down at him from above.

The patient kept his eyes tightly shut, remaining in a state of deep sleep, his facial contours, hairstyle, and hair color indeed belonging to "I Have a Friend."

Seeing this fellow completely unaware of his intrusion, still snoring away, Lu Mian began to feel certain that he was a decoy.

According to the details in the letter from Ms. Magician, "I Have a Friend" was at least a Sequence 6 "Hypnotist" of the "Psychiatrist" pathway, and possibly a Sequence 5 "Dreamwalker." In this pathway, regardless of the sequence, one was extremely adept at observation; it was impossible for him to be unaware of someone walking right up to his side, sleeping so soundly.

The problem now was that this decoy showed absolutely no signs of where a trap might be hidden.

Under the dim moonlight piercing through the curtains, the patient on the bed suddenly opened his eyes.

Those flaxen-colored pupils instantly reflected Lu Mian's figure.

Almost simultaneously, Lu Mian saw the dark void once again, saw the starry sky that seemed to be countless blinking eyes, and saw the formless door composed of living, mysterious symbols.

In the depths of his heart and beside his ears, a voice that seemed to come from the depths of the void and the source of his heart rang out:

"Pass through it. Pass through this formless door, and you will obtain a change in life and gain infinite knowledge...

"Everyone possesses divinity and can hear the sounds emitted by the source of this world. If you want to hear it clearly, you must open this formless door and enter behind it..."

Lu Mian's head began to throb with pain. He "saw" the formless door slowly opening, feeling every word of that voice evolving into living, bizarre creatures within his heart.

The voice sounded again, carrying a hint of confusion and doubt, muttering to itself:

"Where is the end of the universe, and what does the beginning of the universe look like...

"Which deity created all of this, and who created Him...

"What does the outside of the universe look like, and what is different in other worlds...

"Where is the difference between humanity and divinity, and is a full cognition of the self humanity or divinity...

"Where is the dividing line between madness and sanity, and is the final destination for every living being madness..."

Such words carried both contemplation of mystical knowledge and a search for answers to philosophical questions, making Lu Mian's head ache more and more. He felt the long-absent pain of a steel rod being inserted directly into his head, churning his fragile brain.

Moreover, these questions brought about bizarre changes in his own spirituality and the surrounding environment:

Madness began to surge, seemingly testing the boundaries of sanity; the surrounding dimness seemed to be endowed with humanity, appearing to squirm visibly; the bed in front and the floor beneath his feet slowly outlined strange patterns. Even though Lu Mian himself did not see them, his body suddenly experienced an intense itch, as if he wanted to tear off this layer of skin entirely...

"Is there anything that transcends all finitude and conceptual thinking..." The voice was still questioning the void.

Deep within the squirming dimness, something indescribable was slowly taking shape.

Lu Mian was completely unable to resist or stop it, and could only wait in the intense headache for the arrival of a great terror.

Just at this moment, a blinding, brilliant bolt of lightning lit up before his eyes.

It was like a giant tree growing from the kingdom of a god, every silver-white "branch" emitting a *zzzt* sound.

*Boom—! *

It was only after the silver lightning struck the patient on the bed that Lu Mian heard the thunder that shook his eardrums and soul.

This thunder shook all the bizarre creatures formed from those words out of his body, significantly easing the throbbing pain in his head, leaving only the dizziness brought by the roaring sound.

The terrifying lightning ravaged the patient's body on the bed. Lu Mian, standing several steps away, felt as if his skin had been pricked by countless fine needles; he felt both dense, numbing pain and patches of paralysis.

Faintly, he heard holy chanting echoing, seemingly saying "I came, I saw, I recorded," and this ward became increasingly dark, as if pushed into a mysterious space isolated from the outside world by some force.

Lu Mian exhaled, casting his gaze toward the bed once more, seeing that the patient had turned completely black, like charcoal, with the smell of burning flesh constantly wafting out.

The body, stuck with broken hospital clothes, sheets, and quilts, began to turn ethereal, as if transforming into a pitch-black shadow.

The surface of the shadow split open with one crack after another, each crack filled with mysterious patterns and symbols, looking both like eyes and like hundreds or thousands of mouths constantly opening and closing.

Before Lu Mian could see this change clearly, his vision was filled with pure, clear, golden sunlight.

Beside his ears, that holy, illusory voice echoed again.

By the time his vision returned to normal, only a shallow black mark remained on the surface of the charred hospital bed, twisting bizarrely, like a snake-like creature pinned at a vital spot.

It really was a trap... Lu Mian felt no surprise at this.

He also judged from the elements of the "illusion," such as the starry void and the formless door composed of swimming symbols, that both this patient and the puppet of "Loki" originated from the gift of the same evil god, and the one acting as the decoy for "I Have a Friend" was clearly of a higher sequence.

"'Loki' and 'I Have a Friend' once took action against an organization that believed in a certain evil god?

"Is this the will of the 'Fu Sheng Fusheng Fusheng Fusheng Xuan Huang Xuanhuang Xuanhuang Tianzun'? What goal is He trying to achieve?

"Did this goal cause 'I Have a Friend' to choose to stay in Trier?

"Is this decoy also a naked mockery of the pursuers?

"I know you are looking for me, and I know what clues you can find, and I am even deliberately giving you a glimmer of hope?"

In Lu Mian's mind, thoughts flashed like lightning, attempting to analyze the current situation from the perspective of "I Have a Friend" to find clues as to where he was hiding.

He felt that with the danger level of the patient just now, "I Have a Friend" plus "Loki" shouldn't have been able to capture him alive and turn him into a member of their team.

And the fact that "Loki" had a puppet of a similar pathway indicated that the patient just now was not cooperating actively or consciously.

Combined with the decoy's confused and doubtful tone and his endless questions, Lu Mian suspected that he had been driven mad by certain knowledge and truths during the process of receiving the gift or using his abilities, becoming a true mental patient.

"I Have a Friend," relying on his professional status as a "Psychiatrist," constantly guided the patient to trust him, making him friendly, until finally, "I Have a Friend" reached the point of being able to "persuade" the other party to perform a ritual and pray to the "Fu Sheng Fusheng Fusheng Fusheng Xuan Huang Xuanhuang Xuanhuang Tianzun" to change his appearance.

Thinking of this, Lu Mian glanced at the window with iron bars, seeing that the deep dimness had faded, and the crimson moonlight was once again piercing through the not-so-thick glass, shining into the ward.

In contrast, the darkness at the edges of the otherwise normal Delta Asylum had become much denser, and the void was faintly curving, as if sealing into a sphere.

After taking action to resolve the dangerous patient, Ms. Magician did not use any other abilities, simply letting the entire asylum and the surrounding lawn enter a state similar to concealment.

This seemed to be telling Lu Mian: Solve the problems you can solve yourself; what I can help you with is preventing the commotion here from attracting the official Beyonders of Trier.

Lu Mian exhaled, starting from the search for "Loki," quickly filtering through everything related to the "April Fools" in his mind.

He gradually formed a guess, even forming a complete "story":

"'I Have a Friend' was once truly a doctor, nurse, or patient at Delta Asylum. One day, he discovered a strange patient, a patient who was always asking various philosophical questions.

"Under the guidance of the 'Fu Sheng Fusheng Fusheng Fusheng Xuan Huang Xuanhuang Xuanhuang Tianzun,' 'I Have a Friend' began to contact that patient, inevitably noticing that there were some gifted individuals of a certain evil god hiding around him. Thus, with the help of 'Loki,' the two drove away those problematic fellows and took control of the strange patient. 'Loki' even took the opportunity to harvest a puppet.

"After 'Loki' was resurrected, 'I Have a Friend,' having received a reminder, relied on the strange patient's trust in him to have him perform a ritual magic to pray to the 'Fu Sheng Fusheng Fusheng Fusheng Xuan Huang Xuanhuang Xuanhuang Tianzun,' turning him into a decoy, a walking trap.

"As for 'I Have a Friend,' he must have changed his appearance and disappeared."

Lu Mian, feeling annoyed, suddenly thought of something:

Jenna had relied on good luck to run into the decoy of "I Have a Friend."

But if it was just running into a decoy, and a decoy that represented a trap, what kind of good luck was that?

That was bad luck!

Unless, following this decoy could truly lead to "I Have a Friend," or Jenna had run into more than just the decoy at the time, and had also seen "I Have a Friend," only she hadn't recognized him or seen him directly!

And both explanations meant that "I Have a Friend" was likely still in this asylum!

Regardless of whether the trap had ultimately worked or not, pursuers often easily overlooked the problem of the asylum itself, feeling that "I Have a Friend" must have long since transferred his hiding place.

The darkest place, the easiest to be forgotten, is right under the lamp!

Thinking of this, Lu Mian stood up abruptly, pushed open the heavy ward door, and rushed into the asylum corridor.

With a *clatter*, he smashed through the window at the stairwell and landed on the lawn enclosed by the main building and the two side wings.

At the same time, he used "Face of Nisse" to transform himself into the patient from just now.

Immediately after, he shouted loudly at the starry sky on the lawn:

"Where is the end of the universe, and what does the beginning of the universe look like...

"Which deity created all of this, and who created Him..."

This voice echoed throughout the asylum, reaching every room.

Only a few seconds later, Franca's voice rang in Lu Mian's ears:

"There is movement in the doctor's duty room and nurse station on the first floor, and in the first ward of the west wing on the third floor."

Hearing his companion's notification, Lu Mian smiled.

He pressed both hands firmly into the void in front of him, letting crimson flames ignite instantly.

The flames spread rapidly, "illuminating" invisible spiderwebs covering the entire building.

The webs were layered, extending into every room, monitoring the movements of all humans.

This had cost Franca nearly half of her spirituality and a great deal of time to prepare and maintain.

The crimson flames transformed into three burning giant snakes, rushing along the webs toward the doctor's duty room and nurse station on the first floor, and toward the ward on the third floor.

(End of chapter)