Chapter 472: Three Heads, Six Arms

Lu Mi seized Yu Jianna and plunged into the darkness that once housed the Breeze Dance Hall, ahead of the "Guesthouse" rooms and the fairies in blue berets escaping from the old bones' entanglement.

His vision vanished, then reappeared to show countless points of spiritual light ahead.

They gathered like brilliant stars, densely packed, like a black velvet curtain studded with diamonds or infinite grains of sand beneath water.

In the center of these spiritual points, an ancient, heavy, and mysteriously illusory door twisted into prominence.

It was entirely iron-black, its surface as if drenched in vast quantities of blood, streaked with dark red rust.

…………

In the underground Trier, within the mine shaft impossible to detect.

The "Painter," in an intangible state, watched the yellowed skulls all crawl into the giant oil painting on the rock wall; the previously blank area of the Breeze Dance Hall spontaneously traced lines of iron-black and dark red, forming a pair of doors that should not exist in reality.

"It's not time yet, not the right node…" The "Painter" with tasseled pant legs stared, unable to believe such a change had occurred.

Although he and his accomplices had long tried to paint this imagined door, they knew it was doomed to fail—each attempt would yield at most one-fifth of the work before needing to start over; they persisted only to accumulate experience, so that when the ritual began, they could paint the most critical parts in the shortest time.

Moreover, they had already completed the main body of the "Guesthouse" painting; with nothing else to do, why not try a few more times? Maybe a miracle would happen?

Now, the miracle arrived—when they hadn't even tried!

The "Painter" gazed in rapture at the transformation before him, filled with anticipation and shock.

He couldn't help but look up at the cave ceiling, whispering silently:

"Can the entrance appear without ground-level coordination?"

"Was it caused by the disturbance within the painted world just now?"

"If the surface doesn't respond in time, even if the entrance appears, we still can't bypass the seal to enter…"

…………

Lu Mi and Yu Jianna fell like they had plunged into a downward dark pipe, helplessly hurtling toward the void strewn with spiritual points and the blood-drenched, rust-covered pair of doors.

Almost simultaneously, Lu Mi's left chest burned intensely, and faint, terrifying murmurs echoed from immeasurably high above and infinitely far away.

He knew this feeling all too well—it meant the fate pollution within him, that is, Thelmiopolis, was attempting something, and the "Fool"'s seal reacted instinctively.

But unlike before, since Lu Mi had not tried to crack the seal even slightly to steal fate's power, he did not enter the agonizing state of a blade piercing his skull and his body nearing loss of control; he merely felt slightly dazed.

In his daze, Lu Mi saw Miss Safali, saw the "Room 7" dressed in a white strap dress, saw the other "Rooms," differing in appearance and attire but sharing nearly identical aura.

They seemed to have detached from the painted world, overlapping with the false Market Avenue.

All of these "Rooms" glowed faintly at their left chests, as if they too bore seals upon them.

Lu Mi's head spun, and a scene—whether real or false—appeared before him:

Miss Safali and the other eleven "Rooms" stepped into the void, surrounding him, their forms linked by invisible, hidden threads entwined between them.

Yu Jianna, whom Lu Mi gripped by the arm, plummeting endlessly through the void, suddenly sensed something and turned her head.

She saw Lu Mi's shoulders writhing with flesh, two illusory heads emerging from them.

One head resembled a ten-year-old Lu Mi, face caked in grime, eyes brimming with cruelty; the other was nearly thirty, hair blood-red, eyes iron-black, violent and mad.

This… Yu Jianna felt as if she had entered a nightmare, helplessly watching her companion transform into a monster.

Lu Mi's body swelled massively, gripping Yu Jianna as if she were a doll no bigger than his palm.

From his back and ribs, two more illusory arms sprouted.

Lu Mi did not ignore his own transformation—he saw his current form reflected in Yu Jianna's eyes:

A giant with three heads and six arms!

It bore a striking resemblance to the monster in the ruins of Kordu Village!

Yet Lu Mi felt no loss of reason; he was utterly certain the "Fool"'s seal still held, and Thelmiopolis still resided within.

A phantom collision echoed as Lu Mi, falling, slammed into the ancient, heavy, mysterious door, shaking it violently, creaking as if about to open.

At that moment, all spiritual points on the black velvet curtain blazed brightly, stabilizing the iron-black, blood-and-rust-stained door.

Witnessing this, experiencing this, Lu Mi suddenly understood what the "Guesthouse" was, why he was called "Room 1," and what the cultists truly intended to do:

The concept of the "Guesthouse" likely emerged only after the disaster of the Shadow Tree.

The exiled Maipu. Mail had, at some point, established contact with other cultists of evil deities, informing them of Lu Mi's existence and his condition.

They then mimicked the condition of a Cultist of the Evil God sealed within Lu Mi, creating the "Guesthouse" and Rooms 2 through 13, inviting different Cultists of the Evil God to dwell within, establishing a systematic resemblance to forge mystical connections among them.

At the critical moment, when Lu Mi entered the painted world, certain operations upon the other "Rooms" of the "Guesthouse" would be equivalent to operations upon Lu Mi himself.

Thus, once the "Guesthouse" took shape and all "Rooms" were assembled, Lu Mi could not avoid being affected.

Since the "Rooms" had just manifested the rank of their occupants, Lu Mi inevitably underwent a corresponding transformation.

And the occupant within him was an angel—Thelmiopolis!

Through the "Guesthouse" ritual, grounded in the law of mystical similarity, Lu Mi now, though lacking the angel's power or true mythic form and with no damage to the seal, had miraculously, if briefly, gained the angel's rank!

This explained why Vazan. Sansong and others did not leave their "Rooms" to confront Lu Mi directly.

Even Thelmiopolis was sealed—they too must remain sealed; this state must be maintained until the ritual ended!

Of course, the cultists were not kindly helping Lu Mi experience the state of a fate angel; their goal was to use this to open the door to the Fourth Era's Trier.

To open the door with the angel's rank!

Thus, the "Guesthouse" must also mirror certain areas of the Market District, possessing environmental similarity.

Lu Mi suspected the ground beneath the Breeze Dance Hall was a weak point of the seal—once, problems had occurred, with many old bones obedient to Aristar. Tudo's aura crawling out, pollution leaking and affecting Building 13 on Market Avenue.

This made Lu Mi wonder whether his initial arrival in the Market District and his stay at the Golden Rooster Guesthouse had been drawn by the underground's "attraction" to the "Hunter."

Based on this crucial insight, the Breeze Dance Hall in the painted world remained blank, shrouded in deep darkness, while the surrounding streets and humans frequently seen nearby were copied in appearance.

When the true ritual began, the surface Market District and the underground Market District would invert—real becoming false, false becoming real—thus exposing or outlining the seal beneath the Breeze Dance Hall, weakening it to its extreme.

Then, Lu Mi with the angel's rank could "open" the door to the Fourth Era's Trier!

Maipu. Mail's return to the Market District must have been him using his "Actor" ability, impersonating different people, entering different houses, helping the "fairies" master the specifics of these streets to complete the giant painting of the "Guesthouse."

Yet he avoided Lu Mi and Seeing Fu Lan Ka's rooms, fearing they would detect him early, leaving him insufficient knowledge of the details inside.

Gazing at the mysterious door beneath him, Lu Mi tried to pull away, but could not break free—as if a colossal magnet behind the door was pulling the angel-ranked Lu Mi, forcing him helplessly toward its interior.

Thanks to the countless spiritual points in the surrounding darkness, the ancient, blood-and-rust-stained door did not swing open backward.

Lu Mi sensed this was because the "Guesthouse Ritual" had not yet fully activated.

He and Yu Jianna had intruded prematurely into the painted world, disrupting the cultists' arrangements!

Now, to complete the "Guesthouse Ritual" and achieve the surface-underground inversion, at least two critical conditions remained unmet:

First, originally, Trier had to be destroyed and nearly all its people killed to open the underground seal; now, with the real-false inversion, the temporary acquisition of the angel's rank, and the discovery of the seal's weakness, the requirements could be significantly lowered—but even so, a riot causing chaos in surface Trier was still necessary;

Second, the painted world was still in the afternoon, the sun merely westward, the sky still bright, while reality was deep night, moonlight dim, darkness thick.

…………

Market District, Market Avenue.

Angouleme de Francois, dressed in a double-breasted brown coat, wrote the secret of the old cemetery of Saint Robes Church on paper and placed it in the safehouse provided by "Sleeve Sword," hoping she would see it in time.

This "Purifier"'s steward, accompanied by his robot, headed toward Yimrei and Valentine, who waited near the Breeze Dance Hall.

At that moment, he heard the thunderous roar of artillery.

He instinctively turned his head and saw multiple skies over Trier illuminated by firelight.

Military mutiny? Angouleme frowned.

Right now, most "Purifiers" across all parishes had been deployed to prevent strikes, marches, and protests after sunrise.

Who knew the barracks had problems!

Was the timely leak of the general strike intelligence meant to scatter our forces, leaving us unable to muster manpower to handle this crisis now? A "Iron Cross" conspiracy? Angouleme instantly suspected.

…………

In the Elato District, the Sacred Heart Convent, thrown into chaos and darkness, suddenly extended into a wilderness.

The voice of the "Lady of the Moon" sounded from nowhere, clearly amused as she spoke to the "Magician" and the "Justice":

"You probably didn't guess who's providing us shelter this time…"

Before she finished speaking, a baby's cry rang out.

"Wah!"

The infant's wail brimmed with vitality, unleashing endless golden sunlight.

The entire Sacred Heart Convent instantly became a blazing sun piercing through the chaotic storms and twisted space.

In real Trier, countless citizens still asleep awoke to the sunlight.

Seeing Fu Lan Ka and Anthony Reed in Apartment 601 instinctively lifted their heads, gazing at the suddenly bright sky:

A brilliant, radiant golden sun hung high in the sky, positioned slightly westward.

(End of Chapter)