Chapter 510: The Initial Patient

Lugano, who was listening, looked at Lumian suspiciously, not understanding why he, who had just said he was preparing to leave, was chatting leisurely with Pierre again.

Wait a bit longer, and the official Beyonders will be here!

Moreover, the more they knew, the greater the intensity of the subsequent investigation. It might even stimulate the source of the madness and make it deal with them now!

Pierre recalled for more than ten seconds and said uncertainly:

"The initial patient seems to be a guest who rented a room in our bar..."

"An outsider?" Lumian asked calmly.

Having already told the official Beyonders about the madness through Franca's channel and having decided to find an opportunity to "teleport" away later, his spirit was no longer as urgent as before. Thus, he wanted to understand the situation of the madness more before leaving and find a reasonable explanation for those contradictions.

This behavior of collecting information, analyzing problems, and finding clues and answers was one of the ways to play the "Conspirator." Lumian had nothing better to do, so he took this opportunity to digest some potion.

As for the pollution that might be caused by understanding this matter, Lumian wasn't that worried:

Could the information on madness compare to the sealed data of "0-01"?

Moreover, as long as he didn't go crazy on the spot, he could find a way to solve it with his superiors afterward!

Pierre thought in a daze for a few seconds and said:

"Should be... I don't remember what her name was, nor do I know where she came from. I only know she suddenly went crazy, ran from the hotel upstairs into the bar, tried to bite people, and barked like a dog."

An outsider who was infected spread the madness to Dadel Town? Then why did the abnormal phenomenon of town residents not thinking of fleeing here appear? This also belongs to a manifestation of madness? Lumian asked thoughtfully:

"Did she bite anyone, and what happened later?"

"She didn't have time to bite anyone before we solved it, caught her, and then sent her to the Health Department." Pierre recalled.

Sent to the Health Department? Lumian nodded slowly:

"Was the next one to go crazy someone from the Health Department?"

"Yes, yes!" Pierre was very certain this time.

Lumian thought for a moment and turned to ask:

"What did that guest look like?"

"A young woman, her face was a bit white, she had no spirit, and there was no light in her eyes. What she looked like specifically, I, I don't remember..." Pierre couldn't help but raise his palm and rub his head.

Hearing this, Lumian suddenly had a thought:

If the source of everything abnormal in Dadel Town was a true madman, then many contradictions could be explained!

The initial source itself was crazy and would instinctively spread madness involving extraordinary levels to the surroundings, which was why she wouldn't consider whether it was a closed village or a prosperous town serving as a transportation hub.

At the same time, "she" would also use this ability to spread extraordinary madness under the drive of her subconscious to imply that town residents couldn't leave, controlling all channels that might spread this matter. However, because she herself was in a state of madness, she didn't consider it thoroughly enough and didn't give the town residents an order not to talk about the madness with passengers on the steam train.

Of course, it might not be that she didn't consider it thoroughly. Lumian felt that it was more likely that the instinct of a madman would hope to involve more people, letting them also be infected with madness, so the contradictory phenomenon appeared: on one hand, not allowing those who knew about the madness to leave or seek help from the government, but on the other hand, not prohibiting town residents from discussing the madness with passing travelers.

This was a limited, relatively safe way of spreading. Passengers who knew about the madness were equivalent to approaching the source of the plague. Like Lugano, who had a change in fortune and increased the possibility of contracting madness, and like him and Lumian before, who forgot the choice of fleeing, the more they communicated, the more they went down a dead end, firming up the idea of entering Dadel Town to investigate.

This was a precursor to being infected with madness, belonging to being unknowingly subjected to suggestion.

Thinking of this, Lumian suspected that the young woman might be a survivor of the village that had been wiped out before, a potential infected person who had escaped the official cleanup operation.

She fused this memory with the madness and spread it out, which was why the town residents of Dadel could know that such a village had appeared with a similar plague and suffered an overall cleanup by the government.

Normally, they wouldn't have the qualifications to understand this kind of thing, nor would they have the channels to understand it!

Having a preliminary guess, Lumian looked at Pierre and the bar waiter and asked with a smile:

"Where is the village you mentioned that was destroyed by the government because of the madness?"

"Seems, seems to be somewhere in the Upper Hornacis Province..." Pierre recalled the rumors he had heard.

Upper Hornacis Province... This is quite far from the Upper Coastal Province, and there is no direct steam train. You have to transfer through several provinces on the west bank of the Mid-Sea or Trier... How did you people who have hardly left Dadel Town hear about that rumor? Did some bard or passenger from the Upper Hornacis Province pass through this transportation hub? Lumian was increasingly inclined toward the previous guess the more he pondered.

He didn't ask any more and said to Pierre tentatively:

"This madness has research value. We will enter Dadel to investigate the source and try to cure you."

"But this requires a period of preparation, and it is night now."

"Wait until dawn, and we will enter Dadel. We won't leave until the problem is solved."

Lumian repeatedly emphasized "will enter Dadel" and "won't leave for the time being" to test the reaction of Pierre and the bar waiter.

The expressions of the two changed a few times and didn't become as hysterical as before.

After a few seconds, Pierre said with a pleading expression:

"You must come to the town tomorrow!"

"No problem." Lumian returned a smile.

He was now more certain that this was a kind of instinctive infection and influence, without a mechanism to deal with changes. As long as he didn't touch the key points, and even actively provided cooperative information, he could effectively deceive the source of the madness.

Seeing Pierre and the bar waiter walking toward other windows of the steam train, Lumian called out to them:

"Wait a moment."

After the two turned their heads in astonishment, Lumian pointed to the table between the two sofas:

"You can take the tableware away now."

Pierre and the bar waiter looked at the dining table blankly, finding a pile of empty plates, with only residue like bones left.

Finished eating already? The person who delivered the meal hasn't left yet!

Pierre and the bar waiter, although knowing that they had stayed here for a period of time because of the madness, still felt this was unrealistic.

Did they eat too fast?

Is this raising three lions?

*Hiccup*... The little boy Ludwig picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth, his expression very satisfied.

After these two town residents collected the tableware, took the food box, and left the platform, Lumian smiled at Lugano, who was standing:

"Take another look, no need to be so urgent."

I am very urgent. How can I run after the official Beyonders come? Lugano's heart felt like it was being burned by fire.

Lumian observed his reaction and muttered silently:

He really behaves like a wild Beyonder with a low sequence and not much knowledge... Doesn't reflect any specialty similar to Ludwig... Is he really a normal wild Beyonder, just accepting a mission to follow me?

At the same time, Lumian concentrated his attention and looked at Lugano's fortune again, finding that the miserable green traces had disappeared, and there was no disaster of blood.

This meant that the "Physician" no longer had the possibility of contracting madness, and he shouldn't be involved in the official action of dealing with the abnormality in Dadel Town later.

After a while, Lumian heard a huge noise and saw the night outside suddenly become bright.

That was light shining down from mid-air.

Lumian looked up and found two behemoths floating in the dark night.

Those were two airships with dark gray paint, frantically turning their propellers.

This was much smaller than the one Lumian had seen when he was in Trier. The concentrated light shone down from the position below the front side of them, concentrating on the edge of Dadel Town.

At the same time, a large amount of barking rang out in the town again, and there seemed to be movement in every place.

The official Foss regional government is here? Lumian withdrew his gaze, waiting for the result.

Shouting, barking, gunfire, and various lights represented by sunlight appeared intermittently, lasting for nearly an hour before completely subsiding.

Not long after, a team of police entered the compartment, asking Lumian and the others, who had changed their appearance and held fake identity documents, about the details of their contact with the town residents of Dadel.

Lumian didn't mention the madness, and told everything else truthfully.

He was ready to grab Ludwig and Lugano's shoulders and "teleport" away at any time.

The police recorded and compared the train tickets and identity documents before leaving the carriage.

Lumian waited patiently until dawn, when those police returned and provided three contracts, asking them to sign.

The content of the contract was that the movement last night came from a special action by the military, and everyone had the duty of confidentiality and couldn't leak it.

Does it count if I leaked it before signing? Lumian laughed secretly and signed a fake name calmly.

This fake identity of his had just been activated and didn't have any occult connections yet.

After the police walked out of the carriage, Lumian, who had deliberately experienced the official handling process once, intended to grab Ludwig and Lugano's shoulders and "teleport" away.

He wasn't sure if the contract signed with a fake name would be discovered, so he had to avoid corresponding risks.

At this moment, Lumian saw a tall figure appear behind Lugano.

That was his messenger, the charred "Penitent" Bayinfeir, wearing a dark clerical robe and burning with a bit of black flame.

Bayinfeir let a folded letter float toward Lumian.

Lugano was stunned to find paper emerging and instinctively looked behind him, while Lumian opened the letter and scanned the content:

"According to the feedback I received, this should be a sealed artifact escape event.

"That sealed artifact is in the shape of a young woman. She first appeared in a disaster in the Upper Hornacis Province. She is in a normal state most of the time, just appearing spiritless, pale, and confused. But once she enters a state of madness, she will cause people around her to gradually contract the same madness, with no determined transmission pattern.

"Her state when she goes crazy is not necessarily the same, and the manifestations of madness are the same.

"Although she is confused like a spirit without wisdom in her normal state and acts on instinct, she possesses power like a verbal curse. Whoever she says will die will die..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 511 =====