Chapter 684: Harvesting

Amandina could no longer control the dream; she opened her eyes and woke up.

Father Cali, who was right beside her, also jolted awake. His human body once again became illusory and blurred.

Instinctively, as if out of control, he began to transform into a vengeful spirit, with tufts of hard, black, short hair even growing on his skin.

Father Cali's eyes reflected the figure of Lu Mian—Louis Berry, with black hair, green eyes, and a golden straw hat, held a revolver in one hand, aiming at his forehead.

Bang!

Lu Mian smiled and pulled the trigger, sending a golden, purified bullet shooting out from the muzzle, heading straight for the patch of pale white on the vengeful spirit's forehead.

"Harvest!"

At the same time, Lu Mian waved his empty left hand at Father Cali, as if saying:

"Goodbye, never see you again!"

The purified bullet exploded, and golden flames instantly ignited the entire body of the illusory Father Cali.

This time, Father Cali couldn't even let out a scream. His agonizing intent took on a tangible form, turning into an invisible gale that swept across the surroundings.

Lu Mian felt this pain, watching with a smile as the other party "burned to nothing" under the purification power imbued with the "Harvest" trait, turning into specks of dust that scattered onto the ground.

At this moment, Lu Mian felt his "Reaper" potion digest a little more.

Using the "Harvest" ability to reap the lives of enemies was originally the most basic acting guideline for a "Reaper"!

The higher the enemy's sequence and the stronger their power, the better the acting effect.

And after adding "Harvest," a fairly ordinary and common purified bullet ended the life of a "Vengeful Spirit" in just two shots.

Seeing Father Cali truly turn into ashes, Lu Mian found it inexplicably amusing:

Why do I always run into fallen "Eternal Blazing Sun" priests, and then have to clean and purify them?

Is this paying off debts for my past faith?

As the thought flashed through his mind, Lu Mian looked at Amandina, who was scrambling to her feet, and asked with a smile:

"What did he say?"

Amandina's first reaction was to check the wound on her shoulder. She exclaimed in surprise:

"There isn't even a trace left. It's completely healed?"

If not for her torn clothes and the lingering soreness in her shoulder, she wouldn't even feel like she had been injured.

*Miss Amandina, don't act like you've never seen the world. Although you are a believer of the "Eternal Blazing Sun" and wouldn't go to the "Mother Earth" church clergy for treatment unless you were extremely ill, there are many Feysacians in Matani Bang now. Haven't you had any deep contact with them? * Lu Mian inwardly scoffed, looking at Amandina with a cold expression on the outside, without answering.

Lugano, however, seeing the beautiful young lady's reaction, explained with a hint of pride:

"This is the ability of a 'Physician,' from the 'Planter' pathway."

Amandina thanked him with satisfaction. While rubbing her shoulder to ease the remaining soreness, she recounted the conversation between herself and Father Cali in the dream, word for word, to Lu Mian, Camus, and Rya.

At the end of the story, Amandina spat toward the spot where Father Cali's dust had scattered:

"He really became a spokesperson for the devil, using the devil's power to violate Luo Bote and the others, controlling their bodies and minds.

"Fortunately, he likes men, otherwise..."

Thinking about how she had frequently visited Saint Cien Church for so many years, and how she used to be a girl with little experience and far from adulthood, Amandina shivered inwardly, feeling both sympathy for Luo Bote and the others, and a sense of relief.

Lu Mian was thinking about another question:

That is, would the "Vengeful Spirit" pathway power of "Cesar" also come from the "Dream Festival," from the cold corpse inside that strange black tomb, rather than a direct gift from the "Mother Tree of Desire"?

This could better explain some things.

As far as Lu Mian knew, believers of evil gods needed to hold rituals and offer sacrifices to pray for gifts. The higher the status of the prayed-for gift, the higher the requirements for the sacrifice, and the larger the scale of the ritual.

As a member of the Pylos Harbor patrol, "Cesar" could cover up one or two sacrifices, but it was difficult to suppress all the sacrifice events, just as "Cesar" had only completed one serial murder case in Pylos Harbor.

Lu Mian had previously thought he was using the help of the "Mad Lady" to go to more chaotic places in the Southern Continent to complete sacrifices one after another. But now it seemed there was no need for such trouble; he just had to go to that strange ancient tomb during the "Dream Festival" every year and touch the cold corpse once.

"Cesar" and Father Cali had both attended the "Dream Festival" at least five times and had been "Vengeful Spirits" for a while, yet they hadn't broken through... Was this because that cold corpse could only grant up to Sequence 5? Did "Cesar" obtain a large amount of gold and get something from that devil of the Noss family just to wait for this year's "Dream Festival," complete the corresponding tasks, and obtain a higher-level gift? Lu Mian tilted his head and looked at Luo Bote, who had been dragged nearby, and asked for confirmation:

"Is he a 'Spirit Medium'?"

"Yes." Amandina answered, "Father Cali told me that Luo Bote also obtained extraordinary power by touching that black, huge stone. But why am I a 'Nightmare' and he is a 'Spirit Medium'?"

*Higher-level, composite power... just as the "Great Mother" can separately grant three different powers: "Apothecary," "Planter," and "Criminal"... * Lu Mian wasn't surprised by this situation at all, while Camus and Rya were as confused as Amandina.

Lu Mian couldn't be bothered to explain this complex issue involving high-level matters. He half-turned his body and said to Rya:

"Your dream projection should still exist. Be careful from now on.

"The question now is whether your dream projection being killed will affect your life."

Rya nodded, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face.

Lu Mian turned his gaze back to Luo Bote, thinking of the devil who had provided help to Father Cali:

"That should be the one from the Noss family who established contact with 'Cesar'...

"Devils don't do 'good deeds' for no reason. Whether it's establishing contact with 'Cesar' or responding to Father Cali's ritual, it must have its own purpose. Although seeing a priest of the 'Eternal Blazing Sun' church gradually fall should be an admirable and sufficiently interesting thing for a devil, that is not a sufficient reason for it to be closely involved...

"Does it also want to get something at the 'Dream Festival'?

"The cold corpse inside that black ancient tomb can grant gifts of the 'Prisoner' pathway, and 'Prisoner' is adjacent to the 'Criminal' pathway where the devils are..."

Lu Mian roughly grasped some of the threads of the matter and said to himself:

"A very important question now is, where did those tomb keepers go during the 'Dream Festival,' and why are they no longer protecting that black ancient tomb?"

No one could answer him.

Seeing him staring at the unconscious Luo Bote, Amandina hesitated for a moment and said:

"Can you spare him? Don't kill him; he is also a victim."

*In your mind, am I a serial killer? * Lu Mian responded with amusement:

"As long as Luo Bote doesn't seek revenge on me after waking up, and doesn't kill me to pay for Father Cali's life, I won't waste my spirituality on him."

*Huu... * Amandina let out a clear sigh of relief. She rubbed her shoulder again and muttered:

"You are really cold-blooded. I just thought you wanted to kill me along with Father Cali to deal with him.

"That shot really hurt!"

Lu Mian sneered:

"Between being possessed by a 'Vengeful Spirit' until death and getting shot in the shoulder, which one would you choose?

"I don't care how you see me, I don't care about any sacrifices, I only make the right choice. At least you were saved, weren't you?"

Amandina had originally just been habitually acting coquettish, but after hearing Lu Mian's reply, she asked with interest:

"In other words, in order to help important people, you can sacrifice a lot and make the right choice?

"If, and I mean if, I had my desires stimulated by a devil and urgently needed to vent, otherwise I would become a monster, would you sacrifice yourself to help me?"

Lu Mian laughed and said:

"Do you have any unnecessary expectations of me?

"Don't worry, I will help you find someone willing to sacrifice."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over Camus, Lugano, and the still-unconscious Luo Bote.

"Boring..." Amandina muttered softly.

Seeing this, Camus sighed inwardly, feeling that he had already detached himself from that imagined beauty.

Lu Mian looked at Luo Bote again and said to Amandina:

"Wake him up and communicate with him. I want to ask him for a favor."

*If he's unwilling, Camus is here, who specializes in interrogation. *

"Okay." Amandina responded crisply, quickly waking Luo Bote up and telling her fiancé about the current situation.

She consciously didn't mention that Father Cali had been killed, creating the illusion that the "Vengeful Spirit" might have fled the area.

"If I help, will you let me go?" Luo Bote struggled to stand up.

Lu Mian pointed at Camus and Rya:

"You don't believe me, but you don't believe the patrol?"

Luo Bote was silent for a few seconds and said:

"What favor?"

Lu Mian laughed:

"Do one thing inside the house of Tevanaco."

Buriu Hotel, second floor.

The man in a dark gray formal suit and the lady in a feathered hat both heard a slight chewing sound coming from the depths of the corridor. This was completely different from the shouting, screaming, and moaning echoing in the hotel, as if it shouldn't be happening during the "Dream Festival."

Suddenly, the chewing sound stopped.

Almost at the same time, the man in the dark gray formal suit felt as if he had been stabbed in the waist with a red-hot iron rod, and he jumped up.

With an extremely tense expression and sweat pouring down his forehead, he sprinted toward the first floor, covering the stairs in the blink of an eye.

He ran all the way out of the Buriu Hotel to the intersection before stopping, his face full of fear and lingering dread.

"What's wrong?" The woman in the light-colored long dress appeared abruptly beside the man, asking with a mix of confusion and solemnity.

The man in the dark gray formal suit panted heavily:

"Huu, huu, huu, didn't you feel it? That terrifying malice!

"My heart was dug out, my tongue was torn off, and my brain was stirred into thick soup."

PS: The physical book of *Circle of Inevitability 1* will open for pre-sale the day after tomorrow at 20:00. For details, you can check my Weibo~

(End of chapter)