Chapter 951: Action Outline

Lu Mi waited until the Dream Tutoring Center opened its doors before sending Anderson Hu De a WeChat message via voice input:

“Teacher Anderson, do you offer painting classes at your tutoring center? A friend of mine would like to know.”

Late last night, after receiving Jianna’s message, Lu Mi had been considering how to probe Anderson Hu De; given that Rosan had been contained and her personality distortion preliminarily resolved, he believed the matter was not urgent and did not require screenshotting and immediately sending Anderson the legal owner and shareholder information of the “Colorful Painting Hotel” to “tease” him about his secret business and observe his subsequent reaction, waiting for any potential fallout.

He planned to begin with painting as a preliminary probe, ideally without arousing Anderson’s suspicion.

Anderson did not reply to Lu Mi immediately, and Lu Mi did not linger in the restroom; after slipping his phone into his pant pocket, he returned to the surveillance room.

He stared at the several large screens ahead, his mind flashing through the “experiments” he had conducted and those still needed:

1. Observe the dream-image of Mr. “The Fool,” Zhou Mingrui, and the people around him;

2. Make initial daytime contact with Zhou Mingrui, leaving a lasting impression;

3. Contact people close to Zhou Mingrui, in multiple stages—eliminate one suspect before approaching the next, and so on;

4. Make another daytime contact with Zhou Mingrui, deepening his impression;

5. Establish a conversational relationship with Zhou Mingrui during the day, subtly hinting at the existence of extraordinary powers and his own goodwill;

6. Make initial nighttime contact with Zhou Mingrui;

7. At night, subtly hint to Zhou Mingrui about the existence of extraordinary powers and his own goodwill;

8. Based on the results of the previous experiments and the information gathered, formulate a formal awakening plan.

This was Lu Mi’s team’s action outline; the first four parts had been completed, with no member expelled from the dream or restricted—Part Three was dispersed across all subsequent steps, and team members who made contact had to self-isolate for one full day and night before proceeding.

The later steps carried increasing danger, and Lu Mi had no intention of avoiding them, because determining the degree and source of danger was itself one of the experiments’ purposes.

Only by knowing what could be done, what could not, what would cause immediate expulsion, and what would take time to trigger could their team officially enter Part Eight of the action outline and formulate a targeted awakening plan.

At this stage, Lu Mi was not worried or afraid of failure—he feared only failing to discover the cause of failure.

It was with this mindset that he approached many matters with a “testing” attitude: whether the “Information Shredder” was useful, whether Stiano was trustworthy, what connection Anderson Hu De had to the “Painter” Path, whether Green had become one of the “Great Mother’s” footholds in the dream, and so on, and so on.

Once he obtained the results of these “tests,” he could contact the Major Arcana cards, cross-check the data, and perhaps uncover some useful, interesting details.

If they had sought confirmation from the Major Arcana cards from the start, forming preconceived notions and mental biases, they might have avoided certain “tests” altogether, never gaining their own results, and instead relying solely on the conclusions provided by the Major Arcana cards—possibly missing critical information.

As Lu Mi pondered his next steps, he noticed a new figure appearing in one of the surveillance feeds on the tenth floor.

The camera was aimed at Aurora Corporation’s entrance, where a man emerged wearing a long black robe and a wide, deep hood—completely out of place among the nearby white-collar workers.

Suddenly, a pile of objects fell from inside his robe onto the floor.

The man dropped sharply to his knees, the hem of his robe covering the fallen items.

When he stood again, the floor was clean, with no trace of debris.

After watching the man exit the surveillance frame and then seeing him enter the elevator via the elevator camera, Lu Mi murmured silently:

“The dream-universe counterpart of some gentleman from the Aurora Society?”

The security guard beside him followed his gaze and laughed:

“Don’t worry, those guys at Aurora Corporation are always like this—nothing to fear, nothing at all.”

“I thought he was doing performance art,” Lu Mi said, then noticed Rosan stepping out of the elevator and entering Intis Group.

…………

Administrative Department, main office.

Rosan stared, puzzled, beside her desk, noticing several items missing.

“I threw away all those drawings for you,” Franca said, approaching with a smile.

Rosan suddenly understood:

“I’d completely forgotten—later, I’ll draw some new ones…”

She paused, glanced left and right, then lowered her voice:

“Can I… still draw after this?”

“Of course—it won’t interfere with your ability,” Franca whispered reassuringly, then raised her voice: “Director Zhang wants you to show me the workflow.”

Zhang Qing’s full title was Deputy Director of the Administrative Department at Intis Group.

“Sure,” Rosan said, pulling Franca close and openly chatting about company rumors.

At the end, Rosan said:

“I forgot to tell you last night—there’s a new, really bold young security guard. He even dares to talk back to those MNC people. He’s really handsome, but don’t tell anyone—he’s got a seven-year-old son, and he’s only twenty-two!”

Technically, I’m one of the child’s mothers… Franca’s lips twitched slightly as she echoed:

“So he had a kid in junior high?”

After chatting about this for a while, Franca returned to her seat and, following Rosan’s guidance, settled into work.

Once she familiarized herself with the office system, she turned her chair and stood up, intending to help Rosan with some tasks.

She saw Rosan holding a pencil, intensely sketching on a blank sheet of paper.

What is she drawing? Franca tiptoed silently to Rosan’s side.

She realized Rosan was sketching her own portrait—the drawn Rosan had hollow eyes, a cold expression, and a curled-up smile.

This… Franca’s gaze sharpened; she immediately extended her right hand and slapped Rosan’s shoulder:

“What are you drawing?”

Rosan jumped, quickly stopping her sketching.

Seeing it was Franca, she visibly relaxed, pressing her chest:

“You scared me to death! I thought Boss Zhang caught me slacking off.”

As she spoke, Rosan glanced at the sketch on the desk—her expression instantly turned terrified:

“How… how did I draw this?”

Franca paused for two seconds, then offered a smile that deeply reassured Rosan:

“Don’t worry—finish the last few strokes. I’ll handle it.”

Hesitantly, Rosan leaned forward again, quickly adding the final strokes to make the portrait more lifelike.

The moment she finished, the figure in the sketch began to appear as if about to come alive.

Franca seized the drawing and covertly ignited black flames in her palm.

The Rosan in the sketch immediately twisted in agony, her expression filled with venom and hatred—as if being burned alive.

In the blink of an eye, the drawing curled up, spontaneously combusted, and rapidly turned to ash, falling into the trash bin.

Simultaneously, Franca activated “Mirror Labyrinth” using the transparent partition beside the desk, Rosan’s phone screen, and a mirror being used by a nearby colleague for touch-up makeup, masking any trace of her extraordinary ability from surveillance footage.

Rosan stared, stunned, as Franca dealt with the drawing; after several seconds, she said:

“I feel lighter… my mood’s better…”

Franca nodded:

“Think of it as another release of negative emotions and desires.”

After a two-second pause, she added:

“Right now, we can only treat your symptoms, not the root cause—in short, we can only manage the surface, not cure the illness.

“So you must remain vigilant about your state, regularly examine yourself, and if you notice anything wrong, come to us immediately for another round of treatment—never delay, or that behavior will recur, and the consequences will be unpredictable.

“Power is a double-edged sword—it can harm others, and it can harm yourself. This will accompany us for life.”

Rosan listened quietly, then fell silent for a moment before smiling faintly:

“I understand. I hope… I hope I can hold on for a few more years—ideally until I retire. No, let me enjoy five more years after retirement.”

Seeing Rosan’s smile, Franca suddenly found it painfully bright, stinging her eyes.

She spoke softly, soothingly:

“If you can hold on, you must—some diseases were once fatal, but with active treatment and extended life, advances in technology have now made them curable or controllable.

“In the future, we may grow stronger, or encounter even stronger individuals who can resolve the contamination of power.”

Rosan slowly nodded, smiling at Franca:

“I’ll try. Yes, you too—let’s both try!”

Franca fell silent for a moment, then deactivated “Mirror Labyrinth” and returned to her seat.

She picked up her phone and found a message from Jianna, whose nickname was “Nana and Lili,” describing the dangers she faced while delivering the drawing to Star Dream Convenience, the help she received, and the final outcome.

Franca felt a wave of dread after reading it, regretting deeply that she hadn’t accompanied Jianna.

She had anticipated great danger, but assumed Jianna, who could voluntarily exit the dream, would merely waste one opportunity—she never imagined the Fantasy Society’s demon god representative’s power could prevent their return to reality.

Jianna had nearly died for real.

“Thank goodness Amon and his father are on our side… Jianna’s ordeal at least yielded vital intelligence—next time we encounter someone or something from the ‘Painter’ Path, we must be cautious about being unable to exit the dream…” Franca, thinking of Lu Mi’s imminent or ongoing probe of Anderson Hu De, quickly forwarded Jianna’s message to him and reminded him to delete it using the “Information Shredder.”

After confirming Lu Mi was safe and had been warned, Franca glanced at Rosan and understood why her condition had suddenly relapsed.

It coincided precisely with the moment the drawing became abnormal and Jianna nearly died.

…………

Surveillance room.

After deleting the messages from Franca and Jianna using the “Information Shredder,” Lu Mi reminded Anthony.

He continued watching the surveillance feeds, searching for any anomalies.

At that moment, Xu Xinyang, captain of Security Team Two, entered the surveillance room and patted the shoulders of his two subordinates:

“After work this afternoon, let’s go visit Old Wang and Old Ding—they’ve passed the critical period.

“After the visit, those not on duty can gather for a drink—it’ll be a welcome for Xiao Li joining our team.”

“Old Wang and Old Ding?” Lu Mi could guess who the captain meant, but still feigned confusion.

Xu Xinyang, a burly man with a square face and sun-darkened skin, chuckled helplessly:

“Didn’t you see the news? A few of our guys got struck by lightning. Thank God it wasn’t anyone from Team Two—damn it, how the hell did they get struck by lightning?”

"Oh, I remember now." Lu Mi asked, "Which hospital are Old Wang and Old Ding in?"

Xu Xinyang replied simply:

"Mushu Hospital."

(End of Chapter)