Chapter 685: Dance

Upon hearing her companion's words, the woman in the light-colored long dress grew solemn.

"I've felt something similar, but not as clearly as you."

The man in the dark gray suit slightly calmed himself and turned back to say:

"Let's hurry to that place—there are still many anomalies here beyond our understanding."

The woman in the light-colored long dress nodded.

The two oriented themselves, quickened their pace, and swiftly left the intersection.

…………

Lu Mi, wearing a golden straw hat, led Amandina, Robert, and the others around the side of Saint Cien Church and back into the small square.

At that moment, Camille saw shadowy figures wandering in the cemetery on the other side.

His heart skipped a beat; he focused his gaze and saw pale skeletons draped in tattered cloth and human-shaped phantoms formed of fine dust. Many tombstones lay overturned, and numerous graves showed clear signs of damage.

"Undead awakened?" Camille frowned slightly and asked Amandina ahead of him, "Can the 'Dream Festival' really stir bones and ashes?"

Do the dead, no matter how they died, have to go through the 'Dream Festival'?

Amandina nodded lightly:

"Isn't that normal? Robert's supernatural ability from the 'Dream Festival' is from the 'Gravedigger' path, under the 'Death God' domain—this proves the 'Dream Festival' itself has this kind of, uh, quality."

Here, Amandina secretly rejoiced and took pride in her knowledge surpassing that of the seasoned patrol members, and thus reassured Camille:

"Don't worry—the skeletons and phantoms in the cemetery are perfectly calm, nothing like the humans in the 'Dream Festival.' As long as you don't get close, they won't attack, and they won't wander far—they only linger beside their own graves."

"Of course they're calm," Lu Mi said with a laugh from the front, "they have no emotions or desires to suppress, so they don't form violent projections in this dream."

The dead have no emotions!

Of course, exceptions exist for those who died with hatred and vengeance—but anyone buried in Saint Cien Church's cemetery would have been purified.

"That joke isn't funny," Amandina said, wanting to comfort her silent fiancé, yet feeling she had no right to after witnessing his disgrace and killing his lover—her words would sound hollow. So she turned to Louis Berry instead.

In her mind, she muttered:

Hmph, as my fiancé's legally wedded wife certified by the church, punishing his lover is my rightful privilege—maybe I went a bit too far, but against that desecrator, that devil who preyed on minors, excess was a divine revelation!

The more she thought about it, the more justified she felt.

Lu Mi walked swiftly along the shadows by the road, then said:

"Do people killed during the 'Dream Festival' awaken as undead?"

"Yes, but it takes a very long time. I've only encountered them near the end of the 'Dream Festival'—they're cold and aggressive," Amandina recalled.

Lyra seized the chance to ask:

"When will the 'Dream Festival' end?"

Amandina smiled and replied:

"Haven't you noticed? The wall clocks and pocket watches here are still ticking. When dawn approaches, the 'Dream Festival' ends."

"Is there any way to leave the 'Dream Festival' early?" Lu Jianuo asked, concerned.

Amandina glanced at Robert, still silent:

"No way. Normally, you can leave by sleeping in a Tewanaco house or by being stimulated at the dream's edge—but once the 'Dream Festival' begins, you can only wait for it to end naturally."

Lu Jianuo fell silent in disappointment and unconsciously stepped two paces closer to Lu Mi.

Camille watched Amandina's light footsteps and, after a few seconds of silence, said:

"Aren't you going back to Palm Estate to protect your parents? Aren't you worried they might die during the 'Dream Festival'?"

Amandina pursed her lips, her smile tinged with complexity:

"Last year's 'Dream Festival,' I specifically returned to protect them—only to find they were having a surprisingly 'happy' time, with no danger at all…"

"My mother likes to take the lowest, filthiest, yet toughest slaves, scolding them while she does it. I don't know what psychological need this fulfills, or what repression drives it—but because of this, the male slaves won't kill her; instead, they'll envy her, and any female servant or slave who approaches her gets pinned down by the men and dragged into their circle."

"As for my father—he earned his Legion of Honor for his ventures in the Southern Continent. Even awake, he's always afraid of being attacked or facing slave uprisings. He built several bunkers on the estate, stockpiled food and weapons, and constantly trained in combat, shooting, and military tactics. Even during the 'Dream Festival,' the servants and slaves struggle to breach his defenses—each layer falls, another rises, and the best they can do is drive him into one of his bunkers."

"Unless some supernatural being is their enemy and specifically comes to kill them, they're very safe. If I stayed at the estate to protect them, I might be the one in greater danger—ha, I mean myself. I can't bear those men's 'affection' or those women's jealousy, and I don't want to kill too many people."

The unspoken implication: she feared more than anything encountering the hidden malice of loved ones in the 'Dream Festival,' where self-control vanishes—she'd rather wander outside and witness others' hidden sides than return to experience it. Lu Mi roughly understood Amandina's mindset.

He dropped the subject and turned to the silent Robert:

"What's different about your spirit communication during the 'Dream Festival' versus normal times?"

"Are the spirits more violent, harder to communicate with?"

Robert had already donned his white shirt and black trousers. After a few seconds of silence, he said:

"No difference."

Was it because the special dream absorbed passion and desire only from living beings, and spirits normally lack self-control anyway, making reality and the 'Dream Festival' indistinguishable—or was the spirit realm here false, the spirits false, part of the dream, shaped by certain people's perceptions and perfectly matching Robert's imagination, hence why he felt no difference? It must be the latter. 'Spirit Communicators' aren't limited to spirits in their immediate vicinity—they can draw power from distant ones. Robert never said he couldn't perform spirit communication in the dream… Lu Mi's thoughts swirled as he formed a hypothesis.

He led Camille and the others through the intersection and quickly returned to the Tewanaco house.

He asked about spirit communication because it was directly tied to what he planned to do next!

Standing on the second floor of the 'Siso' house, Lu Mi addressed Robert, whose demeanor was cold and features slightly effeminate:

"Have you ever performed spirit communication here?"

"I tried. I could connect with spirits nearby, but nothing special happened," Robert answered honestly.

Amandina added:

"He tried in reality, in dreams, and during the 'Dream Festival.'

"We were all curious about this place's uniqueness and wanted to understand why—but the spirits themselves don't know anything about it."

Lu Mi nodded, pulled out his gold-cased pocket watch, opened it to check the time, then said to Robert:

"In two minutes, come up to me and help me perform a specific spirit communication. All of you may come up."

Robert, relieved not to face it alone, exhaled slightly.

On the third floor, in 'Siso's' bedroom.

Lu Mi spread his arms and danced the 'Dancer's' 'Soul-Calling Dance' once more.

Earlier, when he observed this house with his 'Eye of Secrets' in reality, he'd sensed a strange connection between it and the black monolith. Just now, Father Cali had revealed that the black monolith was in fact an ancient tomb—the source of Lu Mi's, Robert's, Amandina's, and even 'Siso' Tewanaco's supernatural powers, and the origin of the 'Dream Festival.'

If so, dancing the 'Soul-Calling Dance' inside 'Siso's' house might attract something peculiar, strange, and specifically tied to the black tomb—perhaps revealing vital information about the tomb or the corpse within.

This was far safer than using the 'Eye of Secrets' directly, or dancing the 'Soul-Calling Dance' at the black tomb itself.

Moreover, Lu Mi had no intention of letting the summoned strange entity directly possess him—he asked Robert to help precisely to make the spirit communication safer and more effective.

—'Spirit Communicators' communicate with spirits in a local area or with spirits of specific description; they can't, like 'Dancers,' use the 'Soul-Calling Dance' and the house's unique properties to draw distant, hidden spirits. But 'Spirit Communicators' can borrow spirit power to achieve varied supernatural effects and engage in deep, detailed communication. 'Dancers,' by contrast, can only choose one trait or ability, or gain limited fragments of memory.

In twisted, clanging, bizarre dance movements, Lu Mi's spiritual energy merged with the environment's unique force and spread outward.

As the intense dance neared its climax, something finally seeped from beneath the 'Siso' house, coalescing upon the glass-paneled window.

It resembled a human shadow draped in a black robe.

It bore some resemblance to the gravekeeper Lu Mi had seen at the dream's edge, yet differed in key ways.

The shadow's face hidden beneath its hood seemed to gaze at Lu Mi, eager—but it sensed the 'Fool's' seal and the lingering aura of the 'Blood Emperor,' and dared not truly possess him.

Lu Mi gave no command, continued dancing the 'Soul-Calling Dance' until Robert and the others arrived.

He slowed his movements, then stopped.

During this, he pointed at the black-robed shadow and said to Robert:

"Hurry and communicate with it."

Robert nodded slightly, then pulled a vial of moon oil from a hidden pocket in his clothing.

(End of Chapter)