Chapter 968: Different Treatment

As time passed second by second, Lu Mian saw office workers leaving the Technology Building one after another, while carts selling fried rice, fried noodles, braised dishes, fried skewers, barbecue, etc., came to places not so conspicuous on the edge of the highway.

Cars drove by with their lights on, still busy.

Nothing for now... Lu Mian couldn't see Zhou Mingrui's figure anymore, but he didn't feel any abnormalities.

At this time, Old Xia walked in:

"Go turn around again, lest Team Xu says we are hiding in the office slacking off."

"Okay," Lu Mian nodded.

Then, he saw Old Xia turn his body in a somewhat awkward manner.

"What's wrong with you? Did you hurt your waist?" Lu Mian stopped his footsteps, still close to the window.

Old Xia turned his head sideways, his expression as usual, and said:

"I didn't, what, ah..."

In the process of speaking, his lips stopped moving, and his accent changed.

Without waiting for Lu Mian to respond, Old Xia withdrew his gaze and continued to walk toward the door.

His knees, his ankles, his arms, his shoulders, were as heavy and stiff as if they had been filled with lead blocks, interspersed with a sense of stagnation.

Lu Mian suddenly recalled seeing a puppet show in the basement of the "Alone" bar in Trier, feeling as if an invisible thread was tied to all of Old Xia's joints.

"The current Old Xia is more like a puppet, not a human...

"He was, marionettized?

"My thoughts, how did they also seem to, stutter...

"Am I also, being marionettized?"

Lu Mian was shocked, lowered his head, and tried to lift his right arm.

Within his vision, his arm lifted and stopped, lifted and stopped, just like encountering slow internet speed when watching a video.

Sure enough... Lu Mian's first reaction was that the Celestial Worthy was marionettizing him, but there was no painful and uncomfortable feeling like a fish leaving flowing water or a person leaving the air as described by Franca.

He immediately thought of another possibility:

Zarathustra or other subordinates of the Celestial Worthy were hiding in the dark, trying to deal with him!

Lu Mian moved his neck slightly and cast his gaze outside the window.

He found that the vehicles driving on the road stopped at the same time, but there was no such thing as a car not being able to stop and rushing forward.

After a brief solidification, these vehicles continued to drive.

After two seconds, they stopped again.

This made Lu Mian feel like he was watching surveillance footage, watching it frame by frame!

Not only the vehicles, but the vendors selling fried rice and fried noodles and their customers also presented similar, abnormal stuttering.

"Dream, city, such a large, range of, marionettization, only, Celestial Worthy, or, Mr. 'Fool', can do it...

"Abnormality, is coming..."

Lu Mian concentrated his spirit and prepared to actively exit the dream.

Although he didn't know why his encounter was different from Franca's, the current situation and the changes around him made him feel that this wasn't something he could get rid of or resist with his personal ability.

The only solution was to actively exit the dream before becoming a marionette himself.

Of course, Lu Mian didn't put it into practice immediately because he didn't need to use the "Information Shredder" to delete important contacts on his phone; this had already been done in advance. He still had some time to experience the current changes to see if he could observe some hidden information.

Ten seconds later, Lu Mian's thoughts suddenly became fluent, and he no longer had the feeling of his brain being filled with paste.

"Okay? Not marionettizing anymore?" Lu Mian was looking outside, finding that the vehicles on the road no longer had strange pauses.

Those vendors and pedestrians also returned to normal.

"Why are you still not moving, what are you thinking about?" Old Xia turned sideways again and urged Lu Mian.

Lu Mian's eyes moved slightly, and he said playfully:

"Oh, my stomach hurts, I'm going to the toilet."

After saying this, he ran, passed Old Xia, and rushed into the public restroom on this floor.

Old Xia looked at his back and scolded with amusement:

"Lazy cows and lazy horses have a lot of shit and urine!"

Lu Mian entered a cubicle, locked the door, and quickly used "Spirit World Shuttle."

He "teleported" to another public restroom, appearing in the air on the men's side.

Seeing that there was no one in front of the cubicle, Lu Mian landed lightly and locked the door.

This was the hotel where Zarathustra stayed. Lu Mian had come here to turn around before going to "guard" outside Li Keji's ward at Red Moon Hospital—although the plan to take the initiative to attack and assassinate Zarathustra was temporarily shelved by him and changed to using Li Keji to ambush possible enemies, he would still do a little preparation when time was abundant, so as not to Zarathustra choosing to use indirect ways to clear Li Keji. By then, the backup plan might be turned into a formal one.

Lu Mian took out a mirror and placed it on the water tank.

Then, he pressed his right hand on it.

His figure leaned forward suddenly, quickly blurred, and entered the glass mirror surface.

With the help of the world within the mirror, he shuttled to the glass window of Zarathustra's suite.

Under the night, this was undoubtedly a real mirror.

Lu Mian didn't bring his face close to the glass mirror surface, but peered at the situation in the room from a distance.

He wasn't sure if Zarathustra had returned to the hotel yet. Maybe he was still out socializing. He didn't dare to use divination to find the other party's current location, fearing to alert a real "Seer."

The next second, he saw a human figure. That figure was wearing a black formal suit, with white hair slightly messy, hanging on the main lamp, swaying gently, like a hanged corpse.

Zarathustra!

This... Lu Mian was a bit shocked:

"Zarathustra was hung up by Mr. 'Fool,' just like he hung the Envoy?

"Did the hint I gave Zhou Mingrui this afternoon really work?

"I originally only thought about being able to kick Zarathustra out of the dream, and was even prepared to pay the price of one of my own opportunities to enter the dream..."

While Lu Mian's thoughts were flying, he saw twisted, squirming, transparent maggots falling from Zarathustra's body.

These insects faded and disappeared as soon as they fell on the bed and ground, as if they were just phantoms themselves.

Lu Mian then saw a human figure walk out from the void.

That figure was wearing a black formal suit, with completely white hair, relatively dense whiskers on his face, and deep blue eyes that were almost pitch black.

Zarathustra!

Another Zarathustra!

The still-living Zarathustra!

Zarathustra raised his head and looked at "himself" hanging on the chandelier with an expressionless face.

The hanging figure quickly faded and became transparent, just like the maggots that fell before, until it disappeared.

"Was the one hung up just now Zarathustra's historical void image?

"Zarathustra sensed the danger in advance and summoned a historical image to replace himself? Otherwise, at the Sequence 7 level, the historical image can't be maintained for long..." Lu Mian withdrew his gaze and didn't look at Zarathustra again, lest he be detected by the other party.

The information provided by the Major Arcana cards about the "Seer" pathway to Sequence 3 "Ancient Scholar" was relatively detailed. To Sequence 2 "Miracle Invoker," it was just a simple talk about what a wish is and what a miracle is. Further up, the Major Arcana cards almost didn't mention it. Grafting and Fooling were only mentioned later to explain specific things.

Lu Mian stood in the void and dark area behind the mirror, combined with his own and Zarathustra's different encounters, and had a certain speculation about what just happened:

"It's preliminarily confirmed that it was the abnormality brought by my hint to Zhou Mingrui during the day.

"On my side, pedestrians and cars within the range were affected by marionettization, not just me... This shows that my hint to Zhou Mingrui did attract the Celestial Worthy's gaze, but because it was a hint made during the day, the Celestial Worthy couldn't accurately lock onto me and could only roughly circle a range?

"In the collective marionettization, if I used extraordinary abilities to resist or struggle, I would be quickly locked onto by the Celestial Worthy. And if I chose to exit the dream to avoid danger, the Celestial Worthy's goal would also be achieved, making me consume an opportunity to enter and exit the dream... Truly treacherous..."

"My reminder to Zhou Mingrui was also perceived by Mr. 'Fool,' and the name Zarathustra was also mastered by Him. Thus, Zarathustra encountered a targeted rapid marionettization, but this was borne by the image in the historical void..."

"Why is Zarathustra so calm now? Is this 'Faceless'? Or, He is sure that before new changes appear, Mr. 'Fool's' gaze will only come this once, and if He dodges it, it's really dodged?"

"Tomorrow, let Luo Shan probe Zhou Mingrui to see if he still remembers Zarathustra's threat. If he remembers, and Zarathustra hasn't encountered marionettization or been kicked out of the dream again, then it should be that the Celestial Worthy provided help, using the death of a historical projection to resolve this event..."

"Can we also use similar methods not to be kicked out of the dream?

"Or, the threat in others' mouths and the stimulation in person are still different, so Franca's and Zarathustra's encounters are also a bit different..."

Thinking of this, Lu Mian looked toward the outside of the mirror secretly again.

He saw Zarathustra walk to the door as if nothing had happened, open the door, let several entourage members in, and discuss the business negotiation matters for tomorrow with them.

Lu Mian felt a burst of regret.

He had just thought about whether to take advantage of the opportunity when Zarathustra's historical projection was hung up and the main body appeared, to make a surprise assassination!

His curse still had the characteristic of not being transferred by the "Paper Figurine Substitute," as long as what was affected was indeed the main body.

Looking at those entourage members, weighing the possibility of extraordinary people among them, Lu Mian left the glass window that could serve as a mirror silently and shuttled back to the toilet.

He had only left for two seconds when Zarathustra and his entourage in the room either turned their bodies halfway or tilted their heads, casting their gazes toward the glass window reflecting the night at the edge of the living room in unison.

…………

In a cheap hotel.

Anthony, who was self-isolating after contacting Peng Deng, sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for the possible abnormality.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 969 =====