Chapter 922: As If Real

Franca quickly reviewed the surveillance footage from the fourth floor of the mall over the past three minutes, following Lumian’s instructions.

During this, Jianna and Anthony hid in the area being burned by the “Flame of Destruction,” avoiding residual esoteric pathogens and decay forces.

The former also ignited quiet clusters of black flame elsewhere in the surveillance room to help Lumian erase necessary traces; the only problem was she could only produce six or seven clusters at a time.

Ludwig, relying on his unused “Mirror Double,” seized the moment to snack on the flesh—carrying esoteric pathogens and decay forces.

Soon, Franca pulled up the corresponding surveillance footage.

In what should have been a dark, silent, empty scene, two figures fought fiercely; crimson flames rapidly ignited the area, sending thick smoke billowing upward.

Yet there was an odd discord between the fight footage and the original scene, as if forcibly inserted with outdated special effects—both Lumian’s and his opponent’s figures were blurry, showing signs of interference.

“Your battle in the surveillance world has truly become part of the surveillance footage, while in reality, nothing like this happened—the fourth floor of the mall remains intact…” Franca pulled up the current surveillance feed from the cameras covering that section of the mall and made a comparison.

She drew a breath and said:

“This… the surveillance world isn’t just a mirror world—it clearly has traits of an information world…”

Lumian nodded slightly and said:

“Our knowledge of esoteric concepts related to other dimensions and illusory worlds is still extremely rudimentary. Abilities, authorities, and knowledge in this area appear scattered among the ‘Witch,’ ‘Watcher,’ ‘Apprentice,’ and ‘Painter’ paths; the ‘Apprentice’ is the core, and I’m unsure whether the ‘Painter’ path can match the ‘Apprentice’ ones.”

“Paths skilled in summoning should also have some understanding of other dimensions and illusory worlds,” Franca said, turning half her body. “This surveillance footage won’t allow police or the Heavenly Lord’s followers to reconstruct your image—we don’t need to deliberately destroy the surveillance equipment.”

At this point, Lumian, with Jianna’s help, had erased all traces left by himself and his teammates inside the surveillance room, and Franca began using Witch’s black flame to clean the fingerprints she’d left on the equipment.

“Let’s go back—we need to hurry with the spirit communication,” Lumian said, withdrawing his gaze.

“Mm,” Franca retracted her hand, covered in black flame.

Lumian immediately led his teammates back through the mirror world to the rented car. Franca had just fastened her seatbelt and was preparing to start the engine when she suddenly shivered.

She began feeling cold, as if all her body heat had been drained away; her head grew dizzy, her vision flickered black, speckled with golden stars, and she was on the verge of fainting.

Franca understood this was the negative effect of the “Spear of Necessity”—if either the “Certain Death” or “Certain Hit” effect was triggered, the user would inevitably fall gravely ill; if no effective healer was found afterward, they might even die, and even if one was found, the illness would persist for some time.

Similarly, every time Anthony used the “Winter Is Coming” revolver, he had to seek treatment from a “Pharmacist” or “Physician,” or he would inevitably contract an incurable disease beyond the reach of low- and mid-rank adepts.

Seeing Franca’s face turn instantly pale, almost translucent, Lumian reached into the “Traveler’s Satchel” and pulled out two vials of healing potion.

These were operational resources provided by the “Tarot Society,” said to be extremely rare items produced by the Fool’s Pharmaceuticals, never sold to the public.

For this operation, the Major Arcana cards had given Lumian and his team twenty-five vials of general-purpose healing potions; most were kept by Lumian as team leader, while Jianna, Franca, and Anthony each carried two, and Ludwig had none.

Children need supervision—or they’ll sneak and drink them!

Franca’s hands trembling, she opened the vial’s cap and gulped it down.

The icy liquid slid down her esophagus into her stomach.

Soon, the chilling sensation vanished rapidly; a thin layer of sweat secretly formed on her skin.

“Much better…” Franca exhaled. “Still a bit dizzy, forehead’s hot, and I’ve got no strength.”

Anthony, who hadn’t yet fallen ill, also finished his healing potion, acting as if nothing had happened.

“I’ll drive,” Lumian said.

“You—you can drive?” Franca truly didn’t think her current state was suitable for driving, but Lumian, who had never learned to drive, made her even more uneasy. “Shouldn’t we just take a taxi?”

Lumian smiled:

“I carefully observed you driving today—I’ve mastered the basic operations, and it’s midnight now, with almost no traffic.”

“More importantly, I have the driver’s license given to me by Lady Justice.”

“Alright, Li Ming,” Franca weakly unfastened her seatbelt and opened the car door.

Li Ming was Lumian’s alias in the dream world.

As Franca’s feet touched the ground, her knees buckled and she nearly fell—but Lumian had already waited outside the driver’s seat and caught her arm in time.

“So this is what being gravely ill feels like… and this is even with the negative effect suppressed at Rank 7…” Franca leaned on Lumian as she slowly walked toward the passenger seat, preparing to offer guidance later, muttering to herself.

Lumian chuckled:

“If this were the real world, I’d probably have to carry you.”

Franca imagined that scene and suddenly said:

“No—carry me on your back!”

Lumian glanced at her and said nothing more.

Jianna, who had already exited the passenger seat, watched the two approach, listened to their conversation, her eyes darkening slightly, her expression quietly relieved.

After settling into their seats and closing the doors, Franca gave a brief explanation:

“This is the steering wheel—turn it in the direction you want to go; this is the accelerator, for controlling speed; this is the brake, for stopping, or emergency deceleration… Basically, don’t overtake, change lanes only when there’s no traffic, stop at red lights, go at green lights, turn when needed—automatic transmission is simple…”

Lumian pressed the brake, released the handbrake, and shifted the gear lever to the correct position.

The gray sedan slowly moved forward, gradually accelerating.

After passing two traffic lights, Lumian was already driving with great proficiency.

Franca stared, mouth slightly open, weakly saying:

“You’ve already learned?”

You don’t even need me to guide you?

“It’s simple,” Lumian replied with Franca’s own words, smiling.

He then loosened one hand and pointed to his head:

“You have to trust the Hunter’s spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination.”

Franca suddenly felt that being the one who could drive in the team wasn’t so impressive after all.

Thus, Lumian successfully drove the car back to the rented old neighborhood, and under Jianna’s direction, spent a considerable amount of time finally parking it—this restored Franca’s pride.

—They had rented an older model car to save money, without parking-assist systems.

Inside the rental apartment, Lumian led his teammates into the mirror containing the resurrected female corpse.

Except for Lumian and Ludwig, Franca and the others dared not look closely, fearing new contamination—but even a quick glance revealed a faint dark glow emerging from the ragged corpse, slowly gathering toward its right eye.

“Esoteric characteristic excretion?” Jianna blurted out.

Franca, weakened, responded a beat later, astonished:

“This dream is too real…”

Do adepts really excrete characteristics?

Before Lumian or the others could respond, Franca had a sudden thought:

“If I gained an esoteric characteristic inside this dream, brewed it into a potion, performed the ritual, drank it, and successfully advanced—what changes would occur in my real-world self?”

Upon hearing this question, the area behind the mirror fell silent, unnaturally still.

“I can’t answer that,” Lumian said after a few seconds of thought. “You’d need to consult the Major Arcana cards—or take this esoteric characteristic, exit the dream, and see if it ‘follows’ into reality.”

Since arriving in this city, Lumian and his team no longer needed Lady Justice’s help to exit and re-enter the dream—they could now use the lucky coin directly.

"Frequently entering and exiting the dream seems to attract the Heavenly Lord's attention," Anthony reminded Lumian.

Lumian grunted:

“There are other ways—we’ll try not to exit. We’ll contact the Major Arcana cards first thing tomorrow.”

Although the Major Arcana cards faced various restrictions within the dream, some even unable to enter, there were still ways to pierce the dream and contact them—requiring a specific location.

As they spoke, the dark esoteric characteristic gathered inside the resurrected corpse’s right eye, turning it black with a faint blue shimmer.

During this process, Lumian, Franca, and Jianna—the three “Witches”—had already generated multiple clusters of black flame, burning the corpse and the esoteric pathogens it released.

Following the requirements of the “Despair” potion recipe, Lumian collected the black eyeball, the corpse’s bile, and a strand of coarse, long hair turned gray-white and unchanged from its original state, handing them to Franca to store in the “Traveler’s Satchel.”

Ludwig, having endured long enough, finally seized his chance and pointed at the corpse:

“Can I eat a bite?”

He had already obtained the “Mirror Double” ability through “Deprivation”; eating more of the corpse’s flesh might fix this ability onto himself.

Of course, limited by the dream and the fact that “Deprivation” was only at Rank 7, he couldn’t permanently acquire “Mirror Double”—only use it for two or three weeks.

“Go ahead,” Lumian nodded.

Ludwig eagerly ran over, crouched beside the corpse’s head, targeting its delicate little ear.

As Lumian briefly wondered, “After death, the Witch’s allure concentrates in the ears—even Ludwig is drawn to it?” he saw Ludwig crouch down, crunching off the ear with a bite, then greedily gnawing it, his mouth smeared with blood.

“…,” Franca and the others fell silent, turning away.

After Ludwig devoured both of the Witch’s ears and reluctantly returned to Jianna’s side, Lumian began preparing the ritual.

Since he lacked a petitioning object, he could only perform the most basic form of “spirit communication,” carefully guarding against strong contamination from the Heavenly Lord on the target.

Soon, a faint, blurred shadow of the corpse appeared.

Lumian asked in a low voice:

“When you woke up in the morgue of Mushi Hospital, what were you trying to do?”

(End of Chapter)