Chapter 917: Mysticism Must Keep Pace with the Times

Mingyue Mall, inside the surveillance room.

Lu Mian took Franca, Jenna, Anthony, and Ludwig to that mirror-like object again, looking through the mirror surface at the two security guards and the large screen.

Compared to when they left before, there was no change here, and everything looked very normal.

Franca pondered for two seconds and said:

"Has she not come yet, or has she already come, before us?"

If that female corpse had come to check the surveillance before, she would most likely be able to discover Lu Mian and the others. After all, the characteristics of a "Witch" were quite distinct, and a beautiful woman plus a handsome man were even more eye-catching. As long as the resurrected female corpse was willing to spend enough time checking section by section, frame by frame, with the reminder of spiritual intuition, she shouldn't miss the corresponding scene.

Once that happened, Lu Mian and the others would have to consider changing their identities, modifying their appearances, and changing their residence.

For a family that was already poor, this could be called adding insult to injury.

Franca could only pray to Mr. 'Fool,' hoping that the female corpse would wait until midnight to come. After all, the other party wasn't like them, who had mastered the determined time and corresponding location and could check the surveillance with a purpose. It only took a few minutes, or even tens of seconds, to lock onto the people they wanted to find. She had to screen the surveillance videos of the entire mall for ten minutes before and after. If she was unlucky, the time spent might be measured in hours.

—The spiritual intuition of "Witches" was also suppressed to the Sequence 7 level. That female corpse obviously couldn't rely on this to do very precise screening.

"Both are possible." Lu Mian stared outside the mirror.

Separated by a layer of mirror surface and in different spaces, he couldn't directly see whether there was a "Mirror Maze" in the surveillance room at this very moment.

And the resurrected female corpse currently looked very much like a demigod of the "Witch" pathway, most likely possessing anti-divination abilities.

Jenna was also observing the situation in the surveillance room and asked suspiciously:

"Does the resurrected female corpse also know about things like surveillance, and does she know how to operate the surveillance system?"

She felt that the resurrected female corpse was a projection of some power from the outside world, similar to themselves, just entering in a different way. And she and Lu Mian and the others had to be reminded by Franca to know what surveillance was, what its function was, and how to avoid it. And besides Franca, none of them knew how to operate the surveillance system!

We can't do it, so why can you, a female corpse just resurrected?

Franca pondered and answered:

"Maybe the resurrected female corpse is also part of the dream, a 'Witch' that some avatar of Mr. 'Fool' once encountered. And the Celestial Worthy, with the help of Mushu Hospital, let this 'Witch' experience the process from death to resurrection, turning her into a subordinate, or puppet, that completely obeys Her."

As part of the dream, besides those whose identities were set as children, fools, lunatics, and illiterates, everyone "naturally" knew the concept and existence of surveillance.

"Even if she is part of the dream, she wouldn't naturally master the way to operate the surveillance system, unless she was engaged in this industry before, or studied it in advance like you." Jenna raised an objection.

"That's true." Franca suddenly had a flash of inspiration, took out her mobile phone, and planned to search on apps like Weibo, Zhihu, or Moments to see if there were any similar questions recently. Perhaps that resurrected female corpse was looking at her phone, using "waiting online" to urge netizens to answer how to operate a certain company's surveillance system, and trying to pull out the part of the video she wanted according to the netizens' prompts.

To Franca's disappointment, there was no signal in the mirror world, and she couldn't go online!

Lu Mian said:

"There is another possibility. The female corpse also has a guide, a guide like Franca."

"Uh..." Franca stuffed her mobile phone back into her pants pocket.

She understood what Lu Mian was saying:

A member of the "April Fools," the "Loki" who hadn't died yet!

Wasn't it said that "Loki" might be possessed and reborn by a certain angel of the "Seer" pathway?

Hmm, whether it was "Loki" or that angel of the "Seer" pathway, they were both subordinates of the Celestial Worthy!

"We didn't discover anyone like 'Loki' around the resurrected female corpse when we checked the surveillance before." Franca recalled and said.

"The 'Faceless' ability at the Sequence 7 level." Lu Mian had considered this problem long ago. "And this is inside the mall; he can change a set of clothes from time to time."

Franca nodded slowly, continuing to observe the surveillance room outside the mirror, hoping to wait for the resurrected female corpse and the possibly existing "Loki."

After watching for a few seconds, she asked on a whim:

"Does such a screen, such a surveillance scene, count as the mirror world?"

"From a mystical concept, I don't think it counts. It isn't a reflection or inversion of the current scene." Lu Mian answered subconsciously.

Jenna and Anthony were a bit confused by Franca's question.

"Mystical concepts also have to keep pace with the times to keep up with new social scenes." Franca muttered and then said, "Surveillance, although not a reflection or inversion of the current scene, belongs to the reflection of scenes elsewhere. It has some of the functions and characteristics of a mirror, it's just that the reflection and the display are separated in different places."

Lu Mian didn't know how to refute for a moment and could only express his own view directly:

"I think it's closer to a world inside a painting, perhaps also blending the information-based qualities of the 'Secret Supplicant' pathway at a high level."

"That's a hybrid of the mirror world, the world inside a painting, and the information world!" Franca's main energy was on observing the situation in the surveillance room and wasn't willing to think deeply about questions that couldn't yield accurate answers for now, so she quickly made a speculation.

Lu Mian half-closed his eyes and sensed it:

"Indeed, it has a bit of the characteristics of the mirror world, and one can travel through it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Anthony, who had been silent, said in a deep voice:

"Do you guys feel that those two security guards outside are a bit strange?

"Two or three minutes have passed, and they haven't moved at all, as if they've turned into statues..."

Statues? Franca's heart moved, and she took out a mirror, carefully stretching it out of the current mirror surface.

She quickly adjusted the angle and, with the help of light reflection and the most basic functions of a mirror, saw the side face of one of the security guards.

On the makeup mirror, which was slightly gloomy and only reflected by the screen light, that half face had no expression, partially hidden in the gloomy environment, and partially illuminated, the two alternating, changing from time to time.

His eyes were always staring at the surveillance screen, and a cold gray-white seemed to be hidden in the depths of his pupils.

He looked like he was still alive and still had spirituality, but that was all.

"Petrification of some organs?" Franca frowned and whispered.

Lu Mian didn't answer and looked around:

"The resurrected female corpse has indeed been here, after Franca and I finished watching the surveillance and left.

"I'll go out and search to see if there are any clues left. You guys guard against accidents."

Jenna and the others nodded one after another, having no objections.

Lu Mian pressed his hand onto the mirror surface and walked out as if passing through a layer of water curtain.

In his male image, he circled to the front of the two security guards and discovered that they had both turned into statues with temperature, staring blankly ahead without moving. This appeared exceptionally eerie in the surveillance room where only the screen light flickered.

Lu Mian's gaze moved away from the gray-white hidden in the pupils of the two security guards and cast toward the large screen where dozens or hundreds of pictures were presented simultaneously.

There was nothing abnormal, but the human-machine interaction interface below was frozen on a certain operation.

And Lu Mian remembered that Franca had already restored it to the starting state before leaving.

"Escaped in a hurry?

"That female corpse sensed the abnormality in the mirror world and urgently used the large screen itself to travel and leave?

"Will she circle back to see who sneaked into the surveillance room?"

As one thought after another flashed, Lu Mian turned sideways abruptly, looking at the mirror object he had come out of.

Almost at the same time, on the surveillance screen, in a certain dark place, a pale but alluring palm stretched out, stretching out of the screen.

In the area behind the mirror, when Lu Mian was exploring the surveillance system, Franca suddenly heard Ludwig making a clicking sound.

What is he eating again? Franca instinctively turned her head to look at the little boy.

She saw Ludwig opening his mouth, constantly sucking in the air, chewing, and swallowing.

Uh... Franca actually felt a bit of guilt for a moment.

"Why are you eating air?" she asked.

Ludwig answered with satisfaction:

"Delicious, there are many things with spirituality."

There are many things with spirituality in the air? Franca was stunned first, then had a strong premonition of danger.

The mystical pathogen of the "Witch"?

"Mirror Substitute!" she shouted out loud and actively activated her "Mirror Substitute."

Hearing Ludwig's answer, Jenna's spiritual intuition also received a signal of danger.

Without needing Franca's reminder, she followed suit and activated her "Mirror Substitute."

Anthony was a second slower than the two of them.

Just at this moment, at the edge of the illusory tunnel like a spiderweb, a figure was quickly outlined. She was wearing a white dress, with a loose bun, a bright appearance, and a clean temperament. It was none other than that resurrected female corpse.

This female corpse was holding a mirror in her hand, which had already reflected Franca's figure, and the other hand was burning with quiet black flames, quickly covering the mirror surface.

Silently, Franca's figure, which had just regressed into a mirror, erupted with evil black flames from inside to outside, rapidly losing its spirituality, falling to the ground, and cracking into fragments.

Seeing that the assassination failed, and there were four enemies, the resurrected female corpse retreated a step immediately and disappeared at the edge of the illusory and gloomy tunnel.

This caused the seven "Witch" black flames manufactured by Jenna and the "Chaos" used by Anthony to all miss.

In the surveillance room, Lu Mian turned around abruptly, and he had already used frost to condense a straight sword in his hand.

He used this crystalline straight sword to hack at the palm reaching out from the surveillance screen.

That palm shrank back abruptly, and Lu Mian's frost straight sword followed and fell onto the screen surface.

It weirdly virtualized, and together with Lu Mian, it merged into the large screen and drilled in.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 918 =====