Chapter 674: Bigger Troubles

After hearing Father Cali's shout, Lyra immediately raised her hunting bow, aiming an arrow wrapped in silver-white lightning at the clergyman clad in a deep black, intricately embroidered robe.

Unlike moments earlier when facing the café owner Bunia, her eyes now burned with unmistakable fury, devoid of even a trace of hesitation.

The priest is committing sacrilege—he is apostatizing!

At that moment, a long, powerful hand appeared before Lyra's hunting bow, blocking the arrow.

"You…" Lyra turned her head toward Louis Berry, puzzled by his interference.

Lumian spoke calmly, as usual:

"Look again."

During their exchange, Father Cali flashed a wild, exuberant smile, turned his body, hugged the holy scripture, and walked step by step back into Saint Cien Church.

Beneath the crimson moonlight, the golden dome atop the church and the statues and decorations on its outer walls appeared strangely dimmed.

Once Father Cali's figure vanished behind the church's open doorway, Lyra regarded Lumian with a somber expression and asked:

"Why?"

Lumian smiled:

"After realizing this place might be a dream, I've been pondering one question."

As he spoke, cries and piercing screams rose from Tizamo Town and the surrounding plantations, echoing beneath the dark night sky.

"What question?" Lyra pressed.

Lumian replied with a counter-question:

"We can now reasonably confirm we are participating in the 'Dream Festival.'

"If you successfully attack Father Cali now, what happens when the Dream Festival ends and everyone awakens?"

Before Lyra could answer, Lumian smiled again and continued on his own:

"If you shoot through his arm, when he wakes, he'll feel phantom pain in that spot—as if suffering from arthritis, accompanied by muscle tears;

"If you smash his head with a hammer and knock him unconscious, when he returns to reality, he'll likely suffer headaches, dizziness, and nerve spasms.

"If you rape him and cause him to become pregnant, when he awakens, he'll probably feel nauseous, acid reflux, bloating, and sense a fetus growing inside him;

"If you bind him and repeatedly electrocute him, burn him alive—will he wake up believing he's been possessed by vengeful spirits, constantly restrained, numb or aching all over?"

Lyra listened calmly, not even questioning how a man could become pregnant—each detail chilled her more than the last.

Because Louis Berry's descriptions of post-dream symptoms matched almost exactly the collective hysteria symptoms collected by the Patrol Team in Tizamo Town!

Lumian turned his head, glanced at Lyra, and smiled as he asked:

"What if you'd just shot and killed Father Cali with that arrow? What happens when the dream fades?"

"He'd die outright? No…" Lyra negated herself.

Tizamo Town had never seen a single night where many people died suddenly in their dreams.

Lyra immediately recalled an abnormal phenomenon here:

From mid-December to mid-March, eighty percent of Tizamo Town's annual deaths occurred, with a mortality rate significantly higher than in Pailos Port and surrounding towns.

Lyra swiftly revised her answer:

"He'd die gradually over the next three months—irreversibly?"

Lumian nodded slightly:

"I even suspect the primitive tribe in the jungle launched those few attacks over these three months primarily to kill those who died in the dream, ensuring they die in reality too—without exposing anomalies.

"From last December to this December, they only carried out one attack because it was extremely successful: everyone who should've died did, and some who shouldn't have died did too—no need, no motivation to risk another trip to Tizamo Town."

Lyra listened carefully, thought for a few seconds, then said:

"Is the origin of the 'Dream Festival' that tribe?"

"Possibly. More likely, they guard or worship its source and act according to revelations," Lumian replied simply.

Lyra nodded slightly:

"No wonder you stopped me from killing Father Cali—everyone in Tizamo Town must be victims."

That's also why I didn't retaliate against those two attackers earlier—I just punched the giant python to death… When the dream ends, will that python crawl right up to me and die? If so, it'll make a perfect meal for Ludwig… Lumian glanced around the silent, empty square buried in darkness and said:

"Now let's find Gami—see if he's still awake."

…………

Tizamo Town, Police Headquarters, third floor: five rooms and one bathroom belong to the Patrol Team:

One room is used daily for office work, one stores documents and supplies; the remaining three are apartments for local patrol members—one each.

With Gami and Colobo's arrival, Maxlo temporarily moved to Loban's room, freeing up one room for the Pailos Port colleagues.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

As the bell echoed, Gami jolted awake.

He stared out the window at the deep darkness and dim crimson moonlight, momentarily disoriented, unsure of the time.

Gami was about to pull out his pocket watch to check the time when he noticed Colobo—supposed to be sleeping on the temporary bed—was gone.

His alertness spiked; under the crimson moonlight, he silently rolled off the bed, returning his watch and weapons to his person.

He moved slowly, stepping out of the room—finding the corridor, swallowed by darkness, utterly silent, without a single sound; outside the police headquarters, sharp cries and wails occasionally rose from certain parts of Tizamo Town and nearby plantations.

As he walked, Gami, relying on his familiarity as a "Peacekeeper" with his "jurisdiction," sensed something odd.

He suddenly lunged to the ground, rolling forward.

A sharp crack echoed—the wooden door of the room Gami had been about to pass through split cleanly in two and flew outward.

A massive sword slashed from within, carrying fierce, violent wind, cleaving empty air in the corridor.

As he rolled, Gami turned his body and saw his attacker.

It was Loban, a patrol member over one meter ninety tall, with short pale-gold hair and light blue eyes.

The Farsak man's expression bore a cruel smile; his eyes overflowed with unrestrained greed.

In the dim moonlight, his face was shadowed heavily, radiating an indescribable grotesqueness and malevolence.

The moment Gami saw Loban, two flashes of lightning ignited in his eyes.

"Mind Piercing!"

Loban screamed in agony, instinctively dropping his massive sword and clutching his head with both palms.

Seizing the opportunity, Gami drew his large-caliber revolver, crouched low, and aimed at his teammate.

Gazing at Loban's familiar face twisted in pain, Gami hesitated—uncertain of what had truly happened—and lowered the barrel slightly.

Bang!

One bullet fired, striking Loban's knee—flesh and bone shattered, blood sprayed.

This wound could be healed by a "Physician" of the Church of the Earth Mother!

Loban's body swayed, then collapsed heavily to the floor; he instinctively tried to curl up but couldn't due to the searing pain in his knee.

Gami lowered his revolver, stood, and sprinted toward the end of the corridor.

As he descended the stairs, he passed a storage alcove and heard faint movement inside.

Gami's mind stirred; he whispered:

"Colobo—is that you?"

After a brief silence, Colobo's voice erupted—terrified, panicked, trembling with dread:

"Don't come closer! Don't approach!

"Leave me alone!"

Gami frowned, sensing Colobo's mental state seemed unusually unstable.

Though he'd occasionally been fearful—of this, of that—and since meeting Louis Berry, often kept his eyes shut, he'd never displayed such hysterical behavior. He was the type who, despite intense fear, still pushed through and made the right choices.

What's wrong with Colobo? Gami wondered.

Because Gami had stopped and made no move to approach, Colobo fell silent again inside the storage alcove—as if trying to vanish by pretending he didn't exist.

After over ten seconds, Gami decided to check Colobo's condition—if it was serious, he'd evacuate first and seek out Louis Berry.

Suddenly, he heard two sets of footsteps rapidly approaching from below.

Gami spun sideways, leveling his revolver at the staircase—and saw Louis Berry wearing a golden straw hat, and Lyra holding her hunting bow and arrow.

Seeing the thick, black muzzle of the gun, Lumian chuckled, calm and unhurried:

"Welcome to the Dream Festival."

"Dream Festival…" So this is the Dream Festival? Gami instantly understood the state of Loban, Colobo, and the others—he looked at Louis Berry's smiling face and Lyra's grave expression, and asked gravely:

"Why are we still conscious?"

From Louis Berry and Lyra's demeanor, he judged they weren't dominated by extreme emotions or desires—but his revolver never lowered.

"Perhaps because we slept in that house in Tewanako and entered this special dream beforehand," Lumian stated simply.

Lyra took the chance to tell Gami her theory: dream events might partially manifest in reality.

Gami first felt relief he hadn't blown Loban's head off, then said solemnly:

"Tizamo Town has more than just three of us as the extraordinary—when attacked by them, if we persist in refusing to kill, it will severely impair our combat effectiveness."

Lumian smiled:

"Who said we can't kill?

"If anyone threatens me, anyone can die."

Lyra and Gami fell silent.

After a few seconds, Gami nodded, pointing toward the storage alcove at the stair corner:

"Colobo's extreme reaction is fear—he won't threaten us. Let him stay hidden there. Don't disturb him."

Lyra had just agreed when Lumian's expression suddenly shifted.

He asked:

"Is Colobo also in this dream?"

Has Colobo, who arrived in Tizamo Town less than a week ago like me, been forced to join the Dream Festival?"

"Yes," Gaimu asked, puzzled. "What's the problem?"

Lu Mi's expression darkened slightly as he said:

"It means there may be a larger, more serious problem."

It might be even more terrifying than the Dream Festival itself!

Before Gaimu and Lyra could press further, Lu Mi said directly:

"Wait here for me."

Before his words had fully faded, he used "Spirit Realm Transit" and vanished into the staircase.

Instantly, Lu Mi's figure materialized on the second floor of the Buriu Inn, outside his own suite door.

The next second, he heard a scream filled with agony and terror.

It came from Lu Jianuo.

(End of Chapter)