Chapter 687: Hallucination

Outside Tizamo Town, before entering the forest.

Lumian and the others heard continuous gunfire and shouts erupting from the direction of the barracks—compared to the town and the plantations, this area had denser population and everyone carried weapons, resulting in many deaths each year.

Camus pulled his gaze back and sighed like a middle-aged man.

He knew he couldn't stop such events; the only way to save more lives was to make the "Dream Festival" end sooner.

That was why he chose to follow Louis Berry toward the black tomb.

Alone, he would have Lizhi ly chosen a secluded, empty corner to hide until dawn, until the "Dream Festival" ended, like Colobo—but after witnessing Louis Berry's strength and realizing this great adventurer was willing to take risks and approach the black tomb, he felt he still had to do something.

Lumian stared ahead, following the light-footed Amandina as she turned onto a narrow path within the forest.

He never thought he could end the "Dream Festival" entirely; his purpose for this journey had always been clear:

Find the gold that "Siso" had obtained and the item he'd acquired from the Nos family's devil, figure out what this core member of "Fool's Day" was plotting, and prevent his lingering intentions from becoming reality.

This was both the responsibility of the Minor Arcana of the "Tarot Society" and Lumian's cautious attitude toward the "Siso" matter—after discovering the dream projection left behind by "Siso," he feared the man might use prearranged setups and dream projections to partially revive during the "Dream Festival," returning as a vengeful spirit or malevolent wraith.

He wouldn't give "Siso" that chance.

After obtaining Father Cali's testimony, Lumian grew even more suspicious.

This was because "Siso" returned to Tizamo Town every year to attend the "Dream Festival," needing no other host; the special dream had no noticeable anomalies in normal times, appearing to require no daily monitoring.

Before "Siso"'s family perished in the fire, the special dream had existed for countless years, and the "Dream Festival" had been performed countless times—yet no one ever discovered the problem. Under such circumstances, the more people who knew the truth, the greater the risk of leaks—yet "Siso" still corrupted Father Cali, luring him to the black tomb to gain supernatural power.

This abnormal behavior led Lumian to believe that "Siso" Tevanako's real purpose in asking Father Cali for help was to monitor the dream projection:

The dream projection would gradually fade after "Siso" left Tizamo Town, eventually vanishing entirely; to keep it alive, "Siso" had to return and stay for a while once it faded to a certain point. Since the dream around the black stone was chaotic in normal times, the fading rate of the dream projection was likely irregular, requiring someone to watch daily and immediately send a telegram to summon "Siso" back if the fading intensified.

Of course, "Siso" would never reveal his true purpose to Father Cali; as a "demon," he would naturally fear Father Cali using the dream projection to eliminate him as a threat. When instructing Father Cali on what to do, he likely told him to monitor changes in the dream.

And how to monitor dream changes? By judging from the dream projections and the state of the tomb guardians beside the black tomb!

Lumian regretted he couldn't enter dreams himself, so he had Amandina question Father Cali—much of the information obtained was superficial, touching no substance, useful only for auxiliary analysis.

If he had interrogated Father Cali himself, he would already have roughly uncovered "Siso"'s goal, not just suspected it.

Currently, clues to both the gold and the devil's gift pointed to the black tomb; Lumian naturally had to go see it, do what he could—and if truly unable to handle it, retreat decisively to Tizamo Town, hide on the third or fourth floor of Brieu Inn, and let "Danger" clash with the ravenous Ludwig.

Amid constant rustling and frequent beast howls, Amandina led Lumian and the others through the rainforest trees, drawing closer to the edge of the dream.

Suddenly, Lumian raised his right hand and whispered:

"Stop."

He sniffed and smelled the scent of blood.

With the acute, refined sense of smell of the "Harvester," Lumian further discerned this blood did not belong to the forest animals hunting each other—it came from a human, rich in spirituality.

"What's wrong?" Amandina jumped, as if reliving the feeling of her first time entering this forest with Robert.

Camus quickly sensed the issue and pointed toward the source of the blood scent:

"Something's off over there."

Mosquitoes clustered in that area.

Though Lumian was eager to reach the black tomb before "Siso"'s lingering scheme activated, he knew well: the more urgent he felt, the more cautious he must be, the more he must notice every anomaly along the way, lest he step into a trap or miss critical clues and recklessly trigger conflict.

Aurora once said, perhaps quoting the Emperor Rosser: haste cannot drink hot broth.

Lumian walked steadily toward the source of the blood scent.

As the distance closed, he detected a pungent odor and the stench of decay beneath the blood.

The former came from Anning oil used to repel mosquitoes.

After circling several trees crawling with venomous insects, Lumian saw a corpse lying face-up on the humus soil.

The corpse had wide-open eyes, long black hair, and white paint smeared on its face—it was clearly Maxlo, captain of the Tizamo Town patrol!

Maxlo, who had "vanished" behind Lumian at the start of the "Dream Festival," now appeared in the forest—as a corpse!

"Maxlo!" Camus and Ria exclaimed in shock as they followed.

They had no time to grieve.

Lumian's gaze dropped to examine the cause of Maxlo's death.

The local patrol captain's chest and abdomen bore numerous deep wounds, as if struck by spears or trident-like weapons, yet the edges showed signs of tearing.

Large amounts of blood had already pooled on the ground, drawing circling mosquitoes; Maxlo's body also bore clear signs of decay, with yellow-green fluid seeping out, as if he'd been dead two or three days.

After confirming the corpse's surface condition and inspecting the surrounding battle traces, Camus spoke in a low voice:

"Attacked by death domain power…"

Death domain? Lumian's mind instantly flashed an image of a cold middle-aged man in a thin suit.

Rayasa, deputy captain of the Pailos Port Patrol!

He was a mid-sequence expert on the "Death" Path!

And at the start of the "Dream Festival," Rayasa had "vanished" alongside Maxlo.

Camus glanced at Ria, whose face showed pain, and hesitated:

"Under the influence of the 'Dream Festival,' they lost self-control and attacked each other—one died, the other fled?"

This was the most plausible theory fitting the "Dream Festival" scenario.

Lumian imagined a similar scene, but frowned in doubt:

"Why were they in the forest?"

Normally, shouldn't they have appeared at their real-world locations?

In reality, Rayasa and Maxlo had already returned to Tizamo Town with me…

Was something drawing them to the forest?

As the sole Pailos Port Patrol member supporting Tizamo Town, Rayasa had known from the start what was wrong here—was his true target the black tomb?

Lumian looked thoughtfully at Camus and Ria, asking casually:

"Did Maxlo and Rayasa get along well?"

"Very well," Camus sighed. "Maxlo was recruited into the patrol by Captain Rayasa and nurtured step by step."

Lumian fell silent, then told Amandina and the others:

"Let's keep moving forward."

Ria and Camus quickly gathered branches, briefly covering Maxlo's corpse, then hurried to rejoin the group.

After walking further along the forest path, Amandina suddenly slowed, pressing her hand to the side of her head.

"What's wrong?" Lumian asked sharply.

Amandina frowned:

"My head feels swollen. I'm having hallucinations."

"What kind?" Lumian raised an eyebrow.

Amandina herself sounded puzzled:

"I saw the scene from when I last touched the black stone—no, the black tomb—and felt as if I'd returned to that moment. You understand? Past events appeared in my mind, before my eyes, beside my ears, as hallucinations."

Lumian thought for a moment, speaking before Camus could:

"Let's walk a bit further and test it."

The hallucinations alone didn't make Amandina want to retreat; with an experimental mindset, she followed the relatively familiar forest path another dozen meters forward.

"How is it?" Lumian asked beside her.

Amandina organized her thoughts:

"The hallucinations are clearer, more distinct."

"The closer we get to the black tomb, the stronger the hallucinations?" Lumian proposed one possibility, then asked, "When Robert brought you here last time, did he experience anything similar?"

"No," Amandina was certain. "He was completely normal the whole time."

"Maybe he's been near it multiple times before—he's already accustomed to the hallucinations," Camus guessed.

"Who knows…" Amandina muttered, glancing at Louis Berry. "What do we do now?"

Pure hallucinations weren't yet a major issue… Lumian pondered briefly:

"Let's go further."

"Alright," Amandina, unsure what the hallucinations meant, endured her discomfort: "We'll reach the tomb in a few minutes."

She stepped forward again.

As they walked, Amandina suddenly extended her right hand, gripping a nearby forest tree, bending her back.

Before Lumian could ask, she described the hallucination's change, speaking in fragments:

"I saw—I didn't fall asleep immediately after touching the tomb. I—I was still awake!

"I—I saw a person appear ahead!"

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(End of Chapter)