Chapter 916: Monitoring

After stating his two hypotheses, Lu Mi added:

“I just felt that entering the basement of Mu Shu Hospital would be extremely dangerous. If the problem there was fabricated by the dream’s subconscious, stemming from Mr. Fool’s impressions of the ‘Tree of Desire’ and its subordinates, it shouldn’t have reached this level.”

He meant he leaned more toward the inference that the dream’s conscious symbol could not confront it directly.

Sitting in the front passenger seat, Yu Jianna glanced at the Mu Shu Hospital receding in the distance and frowned slightly:

“But the police, represented by Mr. Star, only found the corpse of the divine messenger—they seem to have detected no other anomalies in Mu Shu Hospital.”

“This suggests that while the dream’s conscious symbol cannot confront directly, it has ways to conceal and deceive,” Anthony offered his view.

“Or there might be a mole,” Franca, driving, muttered, having read many novels and watched many films about undercover spies. “The dream’s conscious symbol must contain part of the Celestial Sovereign’s essence. He’d surely be pleased to see the power of the ‘Tree of Desire’ infiltrating and doing something—so he deliberately overlooked certain details.”

“This also indicates that both Mr. Fool and the Celestial Sovereign are currently in a state of slumber—their true consciousness is blurred, capable of only limited reactions when directly stimulated. Normally, they offer occasional insights based on prayers or spiritual warnings. Otherwise, we would have been discovered and expelled the moment we encountered ordinary people in the dream.” Lu Mi drew this conclusion from the events of the past two days and numerous details mentioned by the Major Arcana cards.

Franca then warned her teammates:

“So don’t even think about livestreaming, or doing anything in public that might trend. If you do, the Celestial Sovereign’s dream identity will instantly see the video, be stimulated, and kick us out of the dream.”

“Yeah, even if the Celestial Sovereign doesn’t see it, his subordinates will notice.”

After a brief silence, Yu Jianna asked:

“What is livestreaming?”

Anthony was equally confused:

“Will many people see it?”

“Like the front-page headline of a newspaper?”

You clearly haven’t adapted as well as Lu Mi… Franca remarked, then, while driving, gave a simple explanation:

“Open your phones, go to the black-background, white-pattern app I downloaded for you earlier…”

“The most popular topic right now is ‘True Death Metal’…”

Yu Jianna and the others became attentive and serious, continuing their internet education.

…………

Near midnight.

Lu Mi brought Franca through the Mirror World to the Mingyue Mall they had visited at noon, arriving behind a reflective object inside the surveillance room.

Hidden behind the mirror, they saw through its surface a large screen divided into multiple panels, displaying scenes from different areas of the mall, and two security guards on night duty seated before it.

At this hour, the Mingyue Mall had long closed; many of the surveillance scenes were dark, only partially illuminated by the pale moonlight.

—In this dream metropolis, the moon was not crimson, but a faint silver-white, occasionally tinged with yellow.

Franca, eager yet cautious, extended her right hand through the mirror’s surface, gripping a slightly larger vanity mirror.

The vanity mirror immediately reflected the large screen, showing each segmented scene within its frame.

Then, the surface of the vanity mirror rippled with an illusory, invisible light.

“Mirror Labyrinth!”

The surveillance footage seen by the two guards instantly vanished, replaced by mirrored illusions.

Franca had once imagined returning to her homeland and still using her extraordinary abilities—now it felt like a rehearsal of that dream.

She stepped out boldly from behind the mirror object, placed the vanity mirror down, adjusted its angle, and joined Lu Mi at the surveillance console.

The two guards showed no reaction to their actions, as if they saw nothing at all.

The scenes in their eyes remained unchanged—the same as before any outsider had entered.

Lu Mi turned his gaze to Franca and whispered:

“Hurry.”

He didn’t know how to operate this surveillance system—otherwise he’d have done it himself.

Franca adjusted the mirrored images to avoid complete stillness in brightness and darkness, while studying the mall’s surveillance system.

Thanks to prior online research and preparation, she pulled up the surveillance footage from the supermarket area at noon in just two or three minutes.

Soon, the screen froze on the moment when she and Lu Mi and the others turned back from the supermarket entrance.

In the distance of this scene, near the imported goods section, a figure in a white dress was walking out of the frame.

The figure had a radiant face, small and delicate ears, a pale, slender neck, and an aura so pure it seemed untouched by dust. Her hair was loosely tied up, exuding a touch of languid grace.

“It’s definitely that resurrected corpse,” Franca said, pulling out the sketch she had drawn using “Dream Divination” and comparing it carefully.

Before Lu Mi could respond, she added:

“Her appearance, aura, and charm resemble more of a half-god-level ‘Sorceress’ than a ‘Little Cupid’ from the ‘Miser’ path.”

“How could a ‘Sorceress’ be resurrected in Mu Shu Hospital?”

Lu Mi nodded slightly, holding back speculation for now, and asked Franca:

“Can you trace the entire movement path of this corpse within the mall?”

“Yes.” Franca began operating the surveillance system.

Soon, the figure of the corpse appeared in every panel of the large screen, each corresponding to a different location.

As Franca followed the timeline and footage to track the corpse’s movements, she had already reviewed all the surveillance. She glanced at Lu Mi, who was intently observing details, and mused:

“It feels like she’s wandering aimlessly—she didn’t buy anything, just entered a shop, lingered a few minutes, then left. No, she doesn’t seem to be tailing anyone or searching for a specific item.”

Lu Mi compared every pedestrian in each surveillance frame and found no one else who appeared in all of them besides the corpse.

“She’s seeing this kind of city for the first time—touring and experiencing it?” Lu Mi thought of himself and the others.

“And because she has no money, she daresn’t buy anything?” Franca teased with a smile.

Lu Mi immediately shook his head:

“It’s not that simple.”

“We nearly encountered this corpse at noon. After lunch, the divine messenger’s corpse changed. And the resurrected divine messenger went to Mu Shu Hospital—the very place where this corpse was resurrected.”

“Unless it was arranged by that one, unless it was His script, such a coincidence proves a close connection between the two.”

Franca thought for a moment and said:

“If this corpse truly is a ‘Sorceress,’ I once had a similar experience:

“When I first became a ‘Witch,’ I received a valid divination insight about a certain event—but only the time and place. So I wandered aimlessly for a whole day along a covered arcade in Trill, until I finally encountered the event I was meant to find.”

Lu Mi, who had not yet experienced such a thing as a newly awakened ‘Sorceress,’ nodded slowly:

“You mean the resurrected corpse used divination to gain insight, then came here to wander?”

As he spoke, Lu Mi’s eyes darkened:

“Her gain was drawing closer to us, discovering the clue about where the divine messenger’s corpse was hidden behind a mirror—so the corpse changed immediately after lunch?”

“Is she a subordinate of the Celestial Sovereign, searching for the divine messenger’s corpse?”

“Are the Celestial Sovereign and the ‘Tree of Desire’ cooperating, using Mu Shu Hospital to acquire servitors and eliminate certain dream characters?”

Franca hummed in agreement:

“She indirectly encountered us—not because of divination’s insight, but because of the Law of Extraordinary Trait Aggregation.”

“Only high-rank ‘Sorceress’ and ‘Door’ path adepts can remotely influence the Mirror World and trigger the corpse’s transformation behind the mirror.”

“Perhaps this corpse fits both scenarios.”

Franca meant the corpse might be a half-god-level ‘Sorceress’ who had received the ‘Door’ path’s blessing.

Lu Mi accepted Franca’s theory, pondered for a few seconds, then said:

“But this corpse’s resurrection certainly wasn’t to find the divine messenger’s body. According to the nurse’s account, she was already resurrected before the divine messenger was killed.”

“She has a more important role—carrying out some critical mission?”

Franca hissed:

“Besides observing Mr. Fool’s surroundings these past few days, we must find a way to locate this corpse and, if possible, eliminate her secretly without the Celestial Sovereign noticing.”

In the real world, Franca would never say this—she didn’t know whether the resurrected corpse was Rank 4, Rank 3, or higher. She’d only suggest asking the Major Arcana cards for help. But in this dream metropolis, everyone was currently suppressed to Rank 7. A half-god-level ‘Sorceress’ only had slightly more unique abilities—no essential difference in strength. And Lu Mi himself was a half-god-level ‘Sorceress’; the team was numerous and could overwhelm her.

Lu Mi thought for a moment and said:

“Are there surveillance cameras on the streets outside? Can we trace this corpse’s final destination from them?”

“We could—but that would require hacking into government departments. If caught, it’s equivalent to confronting the dream’s conscious symbol,” Franca objected. It was too risky now—so much information was still missing!

Lu Mi suppressed his impulse, restored the surveillance footage, erased all traces of their presence, retreated into the mirror object, and then Franca ended the “Mirror Labyrinth,” taking the vanity mirror with her.

The two guards merely felt the surveillance screen flicker briefly, then returned to normal.

Franca and Lu Mi returned to the car parked on the adjacent street and met up with Yu Jianna and the others on standby.

As the vehicle drove toward the old district, Lu Mi and Franca shared their surveillance findings and their theories with the team.

As they spoke, Lu Mi suddenly fell silent.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Jianna asked.

Lu Mi said in a low voice:

“We thought to check the mall’s surveillance to find the corpse—could the corpse have thought to check surveillance for any strikingly beautiful woman passing nearby?”

Someone who could hide a corpse behind a mirror is almost certainly a ‘Sorceress’!

Franca’s expression changed instantly, blurting out:

“The surveillance room!”

(End of Chapter)