Chapter 960: Inside and Outside the Dream (Second update, requesting guaranteed monthly votes)

It's that Zarathustra again... Is he going to the Dream Cram School to wait for Zhou Mingrui, or does he have another purpose? Lu Mian led Ludwig out of the seating area, and while waiting for the staff to open the door to this amusement facility, he smiled and said to Anderson:

"Have you talked to him?"

Anderson shoved his hands into his pockets, smiled, and said:

"He said he wants to deeply influence a person and eliminate some people."

Is the person he wants to deeply influence Zhou Mingrui? And who are the people he wants to eliminate? Why would Zarathustra talk to Anderson about this? Was one of his purposes for going to the Dream Cram School to find Anderson—to find the mute Anderson who represents the "Fantasy Society"? Does this symbolize a cooperation between the Celestial Worthy and that evil god of the "Fantasy Society"? Lu Mian walked toward the door that had already been opened and said, appearing casual:

"People like Danitz?"

What he wanted to ask was whether Zarathustra wanted to eliminate dream characters like the Envoy Danitz, or outsiders like himself?

Anderson gave a thumbs-up and walked down the few steps at the entrance:

"I couldn't figure out for the life of me why he dealt with Danitz first. What role could he possibly play? Maybe he just had better luck; you have to take out the lucky ones first."

With everyone suppressed to Sequence 7, luck was indeed very important... Listening to Anderson, it seemed the Envoy's death was the work of Zarathustra and the mute Anderson together? Anderson's participation meant he himself was involved and had the opportunity to secretly sabotage things and influence the progression of events. That was why we discovered the Envoy's corpse ahead of time, instead of it being sent to the morgue at the Dawn Hospital to "resurrect" according to the predetermined plan? Lu Mian nodded thoughtfully.

He felt that Anderson had used the dream image of the mute to interfere with Zarathustra's actions, causing the other party to only achieve the goal of eliminating Danitz without successfully utilizing the Envoy's corpse.

—Lu Mian wasn't sure if Zarathustra was more Zarathustra or more "Loki" right now, so he used the dream name to refer to him directly.

Damn it, it was you, Anderson, who did it. No wonder you reported it to the police immediately... This also explains why we happened to run into the Envoy's death; it wasn't a coincidence... Lu Mian grumbled to himself, walked past Anthony, and didn't go back to retrieve his phone. Anderson did the same.

Taking advantage of the fact that there were very few people playing in the small square, he looked at the advertisements displayed on the shopping mall's big screen and asked in a strolling manner:

"What are you trying to do by opening the Color Painting Hotel?"

"If someone stuffs a sum of money and a hotel that's still under renovation into your hands the moment you arrive, would you refuse? When faced with sugar-coated bullets, isn't it a normal choice to eat the sugar coating and throw the bullets back?" Anderson asked with a smile.

"But many times, the sugar coating is also poisonous, or you might not have time to throw the bullets back. You can't just accept it if someone forcibly stuffs a child into your stomach, right?" Lu Mian, the temporary divine child of the "Great Mother," said with feeling.

Anderson froze for a second, then smiled and said:

"If it's really stuffed inside, you have to accept it even if you don't want to. If you can't get rid of it later, you can only cultivate a good father-son or father-daughter relationship."

Lu Mian changed the question:

"What does the mastermind behind those people stuffing money and hotels into your hands want to do?"

Anderson tilted his head to look at him and said with a smile:

"Didn't I come to find you guys?"

Lu Mian's thoughts raced, and he vaguely understood the meaning behind Anderson's words:

One of the goals of that evil god of the "Fantasy Society" was to hold back the Celestial Worthy and maintain the balance of the dream. It was precisely because Anderson grasped this key point that he took the initiative to contact them and speak so bluntly.

Anderson looked forward again and walked toward the food distribution center behind the mall:

"I saw a sentence on the internet before, it's quite funny."

"That sentence is: You fear your brother's suffering, yet you also fear your brother driving a Land Rover."

"Very interesting." Lu Mian felt that Anderson didn't need to hint so obviously; he could understand perfectly well.

Anderson continued:

"Hotels, after all, will always have guests from different places."

Speaking of this, he suddenly pointed to the spray painting on a shop sign:

"Paintings are complex. They are both information and a door to the fantasy realm. If a complete, real order can be established in the world within the painting, wouldn't it also become a world that is nearly real?"

What was he hinting at? Hinting at the possible goals of that evil god of the "Fantasy Society"? Lu Mian lacked key information and could only roughly understand what Anderson was saying, unable to figure out the true meaning of these words.

Starting from the knowledge he currently possessed, he felt that the evil god of the "Fantasy Society" also wanted to occupy more pathways, just like the "Great Mother" and the "Mother Tree of Desire." And what He had his eyes on were the "Reader" and "Savant" pathways that symbolize information, the "Apprentice" pathway that represents the concept of a "Door" and the spatial dimension of the otherworld itself, as well as the "Lawyer" and "Arbiter" pathways that could bring real order to the world within the painting.

While Lu Mian was thinking, Anderson pointed to a shop and laughed:

"I told you the world would have loopholes. Look there."

Lu Mian looked over and found that it was a small shop called "Loen Delicacies," mainly selling sweet iced tea and Desi pies.

"How could Loen have delicacies? This is definitely a loophole," Anderson said with a teasing look.

Lu Mian nodded:

"Yes."

On this matter, the two Intisians easily reached a consensus.

And Ludwig started clamoring:

"I want to eat!"

…………

Opera House District, Sijie, inside an apartment.

"Witch" Nisenya sat in front of the vanity mirror, carefully and meticulously drawing her eyebrows and applying powder by the light of the gas wall lamp.

Suddenly, behind her, on a chair near the window, a figure emerged.

It was Franca, looking relaxed.

Franca watched Nisenya quietly without making a sound.

After chatting with Lady "Magician" and Lady "Judgment" about why she was kicked out of the dream and the issue of the vice president of the Dawn Hospital, she rested for a day. Before returning to the dream, she specifically came to see her subordinate to ask what progress she had made recently.

One cannot be the kind of superior who disappears completely after assigning tasks, never asking or caring, as if they had gone missing!

After more than ten seconds, Nisenya finally noticed something and adjusted the orientation of the vanity mirror without a trace.

Seeing that it was her direct superior, she quietly let out a sigh of relief, turned around, and said:

"Good evening, my lady."

"Good evening. How have you been lately?" Franca didn't directly ask about the Emperor Party.

—She hadn't contacted "007" yet because "007" was currently undergoing special training and seemed to have a chance to obtain a spot to become a demigod.

Nisenya's expression changed a few times, showing some struggle and pain, and then she said with a hint of resignation:

"I have become Gruet's mistress."

Gruet was one of the confidants of Louis Gustave, the leader of the Emperor Party.

This progress is a bit fast. It hasn't been long since you became a "Witch"... Franca didn't ask about Nisenya's current feelings and said in a calm tone:

"Did Gruet say anything?"

Seeing that her superior didn't ask about her inner journey and actual experience of being a mistress, Nisenya's inner entanglement, embarrassment, and shame subsided quite a bit.

She recalled and said:

"He said that Louis has been troubled lately and seems very irritable. The reason seems to be that he can't contact an important person."

"Which important person?" Franca pressed.

"Gruet doesn't know either, only that there is such an important person, an important person who gives Louis a lot of confidence." Nisenya shook her head.

Can't contact Emperor Roselle in the mirror? This thought suddenly flashed through Franca's mind.

She nodded gently:

"Find a way to figure out who that important person is, and grasp the substantial movements of the Emperor Party."

After saying this, her figure quickly faded and disappeared from the chair.

Nisenya watched quietly as this lady left, raised her right hand, and slowly stroked from her cheek to her lips.

Franca returned directly to that luxury villa, not going to report to the "Witch of Despair" that she had completely digested the "Pain" potion.

Not to mention whether the Demoness Sect would reward her with the "Despair" potion when she hadn't made any new contributions, even if they did, she couldn't possibly hold the ritual, so it was better to drag it out first.

After dinner, as it approached midnight, Franca stood up and walked toward her room.

Lady "Judgment," who was on the shorter side, accompanied her to the room and exhorted:

"Returning to the dream for the second time, acting with the previous identity, the current experience is that it won't be much different from the first time. But by the third time, we discovered that some attempts that wouldn't have caused one to be kicked out of the dream before would now lead to being kicked out. It seems to have been simply marked by that Celestial Worthy.

"So, you have to pay attention to whether there are subtle changes compared to last time to determine if becoming a target of attention starts from the second entry into the dream or the third. Also, don't make any overly aggressive probes in the next few days. You were just kicked out, so you need to wait a bit."

"Mm, I'll be careful." Franca remembered that the information had mentioned this aspect.

After going upstairs and reaching the door, Lady "Judgment" added:

"There are many things we can't give you to bring into the dream because we have used them in the dream, and they have also been marked.

"If you want to make money, another way is to send someone to apply for a job at the Hall Film Company under the Hall Group. Although Miss 'Justice' can no longer enter the dream, as a 'Dream Weaver' and a Major Arcana card, she can still exert a little influence on the dream."

"Understood." Franca responded with a smile, "Thank you."

She immediately entered the room, lay back on the bed, and held the lucky gold coin in her palm.

She had tried it yesterday; if she didn't put the lucky gold coin by her side, she would just fall asleep normally and dream normally, occasionally flashing fragments of the dream city, as if they were things seen and heard by "Luo Fu."

Franca closed her eyes and evened out her breathing.

PS: This is today's normal update. There will be a first addition for monthly votes at 7 PM. Requesting guaranteed monthly votes~

PS2: Writing at night, my brain isn't clear. In the last chapter, I wrote "God-Forsaken Land" instead of "Ruins of the God-War." Correcting it, though essentially, there isn't much difference.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 961 =====