Chapter 929

After finishing the matters related to the resurrected female corpse, Ms. "Magician" affirmed the current strategy of Lu Mian and the others, saying that a big reason why the previous coin holders couldn't find a way to wake up Mr. Fool was that they were too anxious to contact the target figures, so much so that they were locked onto by the True Creator not long after, kicked out of the dream, or received comprehensive restrictions, only able to make certain contributions in the accumulation of intelligence.

At the end of the letter, Ms. "Magician" told Lu Mian and the others that some coin holders could currently still enter this dream city, just unable to communicate with Mr. Fool and unable to interfere with any events, but they could act as human cameras, helping to search for information on certain occasions.

The content displayed on the ice crystal screen ended here. Lu Mian flicked his wrist, burned the letter paper, turned to the side, and said to Ludwig:

"The origin of the resurrected female corpse."

Ludwig was staring longingly at the snack shop on the street and said somewhat reluctantly about the information he obtained from the corpse:

"Panatia, a member of the Witch Sect, nicknamed 'Despair Nightingale,' was one of the creators of the 'Backlund Smog' incident. She became a marionette of the great noble Antigonus of the Tudor Empire in a hidden town leading to the Land of Night. At that time, Antigonus was in a crazy state, mentally closer to the True Creator you mentioned..."

"For the top level of the 'Marauder' pathway, 'Despair Nightingale' is indeed equivalent to the True Creator's marionette." Lu Mian listened carefully to Ludwig's account and nodded slowly.

His gaze cast toward the window of the sedan, looking at the personnel entering and leaving the police headquarters, thinking and saying:

"Fooling, grafting, dreams, reality—I don't understand these too well. I can only believe Ms. 'Magician's' explanation first. What I am confused about now is, why did the True Creator have to bring 'Despair Nightingale,' this marionette, to the dream city, instead of using her virtual image here?

"It can't be to send us Beyonder characteristics and special mirror world fragments, right?"

"Yes." Franca expressed agreement. She also felt that the True Creator's choice in this matter was incomprehensible.

Since Panatia is the True Creator's marionette, her corresponding dream image should also be very easy to turn back into the True Creator's marionette. And in her subsequent tasks, the role she played didn't have a requirement that she must be a real "Witch"—just from the script restored by Panatia, a phantom "Witch" belonging to the dream city could also be competent for the corresponding duties.

The True Creator choosing a more troublesome rather than simpler processing method must have a hidden reason.

This reason might be very critical.

Anthony, sitting in the back row, followed by talking about his pondering of the character's psychological state:

"If the description of the information and Ms. Susie's reminder are correct, Mr. Fool's dream image is very cautious and very careful. Then sending a 'Witch' to approach him with reasonable excuses and step-by-step methods, using daily, not excessive interaction to cultivate feelings and resolve unfamiliarity and defensiveness, is actually not the best choice, because 'Witches' are too beautiful, which will make people who think their conditions are ordinary instinctively draw a line in their hearts, feeling that that is not something they can obtain."

Lu Mian, Jianna, and Franca, three "Witches," looked at Anthony at the same time.

Anthony paused for two seconds before continuing:

"If it were me arranging it, I would find a way to turn one of Zhou Mingrui's current female colleagues into a marionette. That female colleague would be best being very ordinary, not a Beyonder, and not considered beautiful, but still have her own charm from certain angles and expressions.

"After she gets familiar with Zhou Mingrui, arrange for her to drink the 'Assassin' potion, not abruptly, but step-by-step enhancing her charm, letting love gradually arise..."

Lu Mian's eyes shifted a few times, and he didn't speak.

"You 'Spectators'..." Franca sighed sincerely.

Indeed better at writing scripts than the True Creator.

She had just thought about it seriously and felt that if it were herself before crossing over, she wouldn't have been able to resist!

"Then why did the True Creator have to bring his own 'Witch' marionette to the dream city, and also use the 'Great Mother's' power to let her obtain a new life?" Jianna repeated the confusion of Lu Mian and Franca earlier.

After a short silence inside the sedan, Lu Mian said thoughtfully:

"Don't you think there are too many 'Witches' appearing in this matter?"

"You mean?" Jianna vaguely guessed what Lu Mian wanted to say.

That was the dream symbol he had been emphasizing several times every day recently.

Lu Mian hooked the corners of his mouth slightly:

"As a team that came to the dream to wake up Mr. Fool, the number of 'Witches' among us is abnormally high, more than half. And the main opponent gave up simple and chose troublesome, also bringing a 'Witch' marionette belonging to Himself here.

"The Major Arcana cards said that Mr. Fool has authority in terms of fate, and the True Creator must also have it.

"The lucky coins ultimately gathered in our hands, bringing us to this dream city—is this symbolizing the choice of fate, symbolizing that the one who will wake up Mr. Fool will be a 'Witch,' and similarly, the one who will help the True Creator achieve victory will also be a 'Witch'?

"I felt before that the pathway chosen by the lucky coins this time was too monotonous. The appearance of the resurrected female corpse deepened my suspicion."

"Then why must it be a 'Witch'? And it must be an external 'Witch' with real consciousness?" Jianna muttered to herself following this line of thought.

Thinking clearly about this question might reveal how to wake up Mr. Fool.

Lu Mian laughed in a low voice:

"I can only think of two reasons for now:

"First, a real 'Witch' symbolizes real disaster. Real disaster will bring great changes to the dream city. If there are changes, there will be opportunities—perhaps good, perhaps bad. But this can't explain why there aren't so many 'Hunters,' as 'Hunters' are also symbols of disaster.

"Second, some key matter leading to the ending of Mr. Fool's awakening can only be completed by a 'Witch' who is not low in sequence."

"Maybe both reasons exist." Franca, while feeling heartache for the air conditioning cost and wanting to change to ice cubes for cooling, but also worrying about being discovered by Beyonders in the police, continued to observe the people entering and leaving the police headquarters.

Just like this, they discussed while observing, persisting until noon.

In this process, Lu Mian and the others saw that police officer Dunn and his fiancée Daly holding hands and coming out to find a restaurant for lunch, and also saw key figures like Old Neil hanging the name of Interpol.

The observation results for them were basically consistent with the descriptions in the information.

"Didn't see Mr. 'Star'..." Franca withdrew her gaze, preparing to drive the car onto the road.

"He should be outside investigating that case in the mall monitoring room." Lu Mian had noticed this aspect when scrolling through his phone before.

Franca didn't say much more, drove the vehicle to the new city area full of high-rise buildings and modern atmosphere, and parked opposite a building that was a hundred meters tall.

Their next observation target, and also a key suspect, Peng Deng, worked here.

Just as Franca parked the car, Lu Mian and the others saw the target walking from afar.

That was a young man with an ordinary appearance, holding iced coffee in his hand, looking down at his phone.

Every time Jianna thought the other party would hit a pedestrian or an obstacle on the road, Peng Deng, who hadn't even raised his head, could always skillfully bypass it.

Almost at the same time, the information about Peng Deng flashed through Lu Mian and the others' minds:

"Peng Deng, 24 years old, Zhou Mingrui's fellow villager, classmate in kindergarten, elementary school, and junior high school, schoolmate in high school, currently an interior designer, living in the Heyun residential area next to Xindu Garden.

"He has a girlfriend named Nie Zhen, living in the High-Tech Zone, planning to move in with Peng Deng after the current lease expires.

"Currently sharing a rental with Peng Deng is a foreign migrant worker named Grisha, who has a strange temperament, is paranoid, and has a rude style..."

Lu Mian observed Peng Deng, who was wearing a light-colored shirt with sweat seeping out from his back, carefully, not letting go of every action and every detail of his expression.

It wasn't until Peng Deng walked back into the building that Lu Mian withdrew his gaze and asked Anthony:

"Did you discover anything?"

Anthony shook his head.

"Normal. If it were this simple to discover problems, the Major Arcana cards would have had gains long ago." Lu Mian didn't feel disappointed.

He said to all the team members:

"It's not certain whether Peng Deng will go out in the afternoon. We'll go observe his girlfriend and his roommate for a while first. Tomorrow is the weekend. It's possible to come into contact with Mr. Fool at the tutoring center in the afternoon. We must go through all the personnel we listed and need to observe as soon as possible."

Jianna and the others had no objections.

Franca tried to start the car, but couldn't complete the ignition no matter what.

The *boom-boom-boom* sound was difficult to convert into a steady hum.

"Fuck! The car is broken..." Franca couldn't hide her frustration and patted the steering wheel.

At this moment, only one thought appeared in Lu Mian and Jianna's minds:

"We have to pay for damages..."

Immediately after, Lu Mian frowned:

"Could it be too coincidental?

"We just observed Peng Deng, and the car broke down..."

"Yeah, there was no sign before." Franca also began to feel that this matter was a bit suspicious.

Approaching Peng Deng with bad intentions leads to misfortune?

But the Major Arcana cards who observed Peng Deng before didn't mention having similar situations.

"This is an anomaly point, record it first..." Lu Mian said to Anthony.

He pushed the door and got out of the car, habitually wanting to check it himself first to see if he could repair it, but after standing in the sun, he remembered that he knew nothing about the structure of internal combustion engine cars. The only thing he could do was pat the hood *peng-peng-peng* a few times to see if he could rely on vibration and luck to make the vehicle change for the better.

"I'll find the rental company's phone number." Seeing this, Franca picked up the phone placed on the bracket.

Just at this time, an enthusiastic voice came from the side of the road:

"Hello, Li, and, An, what's wrong with you?"

Lu Mian and Anthony, who followed him out of the car, looked toward the side of the street and found that the one greeting them was Stiano, whom they met yesterday, this foreign international student suspected to be the corresponding image of a high-level figure in the Steam Church in the dream.

"The car is broken." Lu Mian pointed to the gray sedan.

Stiano, carrying the travel backpack, had his eyes light up:

"Maybe I can help you repair it."

(End of chapter)