Chapter 969: New Problems

Anthony didn’t pull the curtains shut because he still needed to observe the situation outside.

This was to compare with his own condition.

After sitting for a while, he stood up, walked to the window, and admired the city’s radiant skyline, even at midnight.

At that moment, he felt intense dizziness.

He immediately realized the air around him had been violently drained—no, more accurately, he had been “thrown” out of the world, severed from the air.

Simultaneously, his thoughts grew chaotic and sluggish; his hands involuntarily reached for his throat, trying to pull out his trachea and reinsert it into the original world.

“This is very similar to Franca’s description…”

“Contacting Peng Deng also causes one to be kicked out of the dream…”

“More importantly, I contacted the target during the day, with no suggestion of supernatural forces or hidden strange events…”

“Contacting Zhou Mingrui this way never caused any issues…”

“Is Peng Deng more special than Zhou Mingrui?”

Anthony calmly examined his own state, reflecting on the process of this experiment.

When he felt he could no longer resist the tendency to become a puppet, he used the force trying to expel him to actively exit the dream.

He opened his eyes and saw the dark ceiling and the crimson moonlight filtering through the thick curtains.

This scene did not exist in the dream city.

Anthony had heard Franca describe reality; he quickly confirmed his belongings and physical state, then rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

He had originally intended to go to the restroom in the dream city too.

After a while, Anthony heard a knocking sound—knock, knock, knock.

Without asking, he naturally knew it was Lady Justice and Ms. Su Qian outside.

Anthony opened the door and, as expected, saw the holder of the Major Arcana card and the gentle, intelligent golden-haired dog.

Before he could greet them, Lady Justice asked softly:

“Why did you suddenly leave the dream?”

“I was kicked out,” Anthony replied, slightly puzzled.

Lady Justice shook her head:

“Though I can no longer influence the Fool’s dream, I’ve been monitoring its changes.”

“I detected no signs of you being rejected by the dream.”

“But…” Anthony did not question Lady Justice’s claim; he recounted in full detail how he contacted Peng Deng, how he isolated himself, and everything he had just experienced.

Lady Justice did not interrupt; she listened patiently and attentively to his account, then nodded gently and said:

“I believe what you felt was inner fear—your fear transformed the description of the ‘Two of Cups’ into something tangible, making you mistakenly think you were being expelled from the dream, so you chose to withdraw voluntarily.”

“As a ‘psychologist,’ you and I both know that this level of fear, without any warning, is not normal—that’s the anomaly caused by your initial daytime contact with Peng Deng.”

“Fear… the contact with Peng Deng triggered my fear of being kicked out of the dream, and it peaked at dawn, manifesting as a near-tangible hallucination?” Anthony recalled his experience, accepting Lady Justice’s hypothesis, and murmured thoughtfully, “Is this also a manifestation of being watched by that Celestial Lord? A symbol of some ability of His? Or is Peng Deng’s uniqueness unrelated to the Celestial Lord, and has another origin?”

“We’re not certain, because Peng Deng’s role and position in the dream city are too unusual—we placed him among the final steps of verification, but we never reached that stage before we lost all influence over the dream. Your experience is the first true contact with Peng Deng by our ‘Tarot Society,’” Lady Justice said, her emerald eyes shifting slightly, her lips half-open, then falling silent.

After two seconds, she said thoughtfully:

“Perhaps the very act of ‘placing Peng Deng in the final stage for testing’ carries its own problem—but there are too many possible reasons; ‘The Fool’ could easily have orchestrated this…”

“We also don’t know whether that Celestial Lord can unconsciously trigger your buried fear and make it erupt at a specific moment. We still know very little about the authority of the Seer’s Path, Rank 0, and even less about the corresponding entity’s symbolism.”

Though Lady Justice didn’t finish her speculation, Anthony grasped roughly what she might be thinking, and replied carefully:

“We must design a more refined experiment targeting Peng Deng alone to determine the source of the problem.”

“What we can confirm now is that he differs from Zhou Mingrui—the anomalies triggered by contact with them under identical conditions are not the same.”

Lady Justice smiled and said:

“Your contact with Peng Deng has given me valuable insights.”

“Hmm… don’t rush back into the dream yet. Stay outside for three hours, walk around the villa, eat something.”

“This isn’t because returning now would be dangerous—you weren’t kicked out, and we have no concern on that front. It’s simply a simple psychological adjustment: staying too long in the dream city makes it easy to confuse reality with illusion. Since you’ve already left, it’s best to re-experience reality, deepening your psychological awareness.”

“Yes, Lady Justice,” Anthony, as a ‘psychologist,’ naturally understood the meaning of her words.

In the new term he’d learned in the dream city:

Preventing small problems before they grow.

…………

After returning to the Tech Tower, Lu Mi resumed floor patrols with Old Xia, working until 00:30.

He directly “teleported” near Red Moon Hospital, then used the Mirror World to reach the outside of Li Keji’s room, waiting for a possible attack.

Of course, he didn’t stay in one spot, nor did he remain constantly at Red Moon Hospital.

He selected three time windows he deemed most suitable for assassination, only lying in wait during those periods; otherwise, he stayed home sleeping or playing on his phone.

During those three windows, he randomly chose one of six hiding spots each time, never repeating the same location consecutively.

This was to guard against Zaratustra and the Celestial Lord’s other subordinates suspecting someone might be using Li Keji to ambush them, and launching a counter-ambush.

At dawn, Lu Mi went out to buy breakfast.

Along the way, he deliberately turned into a quiet alley and met Jianna.

This was their agreed-upon arrangement.

Jianna handed Ludwig to Lu Mi—she had an interview today at Hol Film Company and couldn’t bring the child.

Lu Mi looked around, then told Jianna everything that had happened last night, asking her to relay it to Franca.

Lu Mi concluded:

“So far, daytime contact with Zhou Mingrui, revealing his supernatural power, still carries risk—but it doesn’t trigger precise strikes. Once Zhou Mingrui remembers your name and understands the danger, you risk rapid puppetization at night. This might be avoidable, but we can’t yet confirm if this is an isolated attack—I’ll observe Zaratustra’s behavior tonight.”

“Have Rosan contact Zhou Mingrui again, and remind him about Zaratustra’s issue—see if he’s forgotten anything. Don’t worry; after I left Zaratustra yesterday, Zhou Mingrui should already suspect you, Franca, and Rosan are working together. He doesn’t yet know about you and Anthony.”

As Jianna just said “Mm,” both of them received a friend request from “Anruid.”

They exchanged glances; Lu Mi gestured for Jianna to hold off, then accepted the request himself.

After “Anruid” described last night’s events and Lady Justice’s hypothesis, Lu Mi confirmed his identity and sent a voice message with a smile:

“Let’s talk in detail at the rental. I’ve had significant gains too.”

“Peng Deng seems even more unusual than we imagined…” Lu Mi then told Jianna about Anthony’s experience.

Jianna listened carefully, re-added Anthony, and waved goodbye to Lu Mi and Ludwig.

…………

Tech Tower, Administrative Department.

As Franca and Rosan went to the restroom together, they took the opportunity when no one else was inside to relay Jianna’s request.

Rosan asked, slightly nervous yet excited:

“How should I hint?”

Franca, leveraging her “Instigator” specialty, helped devise a set of phrases.

Over half an hour later, Zhou Mingrui, wearing a gray shirt, returned to the Administrative Department and asked Rosan if the company had any tasks requiring overtime—whether there was work or not, she should stay a bit longer.

Perfect question! Rosan praised Zhou Mingrui inwardly and smiled:

“The merger negotiations between our group and a major corporation have entered the formal process.”

“The CEO of that company is Zaratustra, who visited twice.”

As she said “Zaratustra,” Rosan watched Zhou Mingrui, trying to detect any change in his expression.

Zhou Mingrui suddenly realized:

“Earlier, Master Huang made me pick him up at the airport, act as translator and guide—unfortunately, we didn’t meet him.”

“When he visited the company, you weren’t there either—you were on sick leave, right? Yesterday he came again and stayed only on the 16th floor, didn’t visit other departments—you never saw him,” Rosan said deliberately.

This was the script Franca had given her.

Zhou Mingrui paused, then said thoughtfully:

“Perhaps some unseen force is preventing me from meeting him.”

After a few more exchanges, Zhou Mingrui left Rosan’s desk and headed for the door.

As he passed Franca’s station, Franca suddenly spoke:

“Watch out!”

Zhou Mingrui instantly turned his head toward Luo Fu.

Franca pointed to the wet patch on the floor:

“I just spilled some water—it’s slippery. Be careful.”

“Oh, you scared me,” Zhou Mingrui laughed.

He stepped around the wet spot, exited the Administrative Department, and his smile gradually faded:

“Luo Fu told me to watch out? Rosan just mentioned Zaratustra…”

“Are they together telling me to be careful of Zaratustra?”

“Hmm… they’re definitely working with Li Ming…”

Inside the Administrative Department, Rosan sent Franca a message:

“He’s cautious about that enemy—he hasn’t forgotten your warning.”

(End of Chapter)