LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 920: Like Reality
Following Lumian's suggestion, Franca quickly reviewed the surveillance footage from the 4th floor of the mall in the past three minutes.
During this process, Jenna and Anthony hid in the area being burned by the Flames of Destruction, to avoid the remaining mystical pathogens and decay forces.
The former also had clusters of quiet black flames flare up in other parts of the surveillance room, assisting Lumian in eliminating necessary traces, though she could only create six to seven clusters at a time.
Taking advantage of the fact that he still had an unused Mirror Substitution, Ludwig took the opportunity to eat some snacks—the flesh and blood carrying mystical pathogens and decay forces.
Soon, Franca pulled up the corresponding surveillance footage.
The scene, which should have been dark, quiet, and empty, now showed two figures engaged in a fierce battle, with red flames quickly igniting the area and dense smoke billowing up.
However, the fighting scene and the original background seemed somewhat out of sync, as if forcibly edited in with outdated special effects technology. Both Lumian and his opponent's figures were quite blurred, showing signs of interference.
"Your battle in the surveillance world did become part of the surveillance footage, but nothing like that actually happened in the real world, the 4th floor of the mall is perfectly fine…" Franca pulled up the current camera feed from the 4th floor to make the comparison.
She took a deep breath and said, "Wh— The surveillance world is clearly not just the mirror world, it has the characteristics of an information world as well…"
Lumian nodded slightly and added, "Our mystical knowledge of parallel spaces and illusory worlds is still quite superficial. The abilities, authorities, and knowledge in this area seem to be scattered across Demonesses, Mystery Pryers, Apprentices, Painters and other pathways, with Apprentices being the main line, and I'm not sure if the Painter pathway can match Apprentices."
"The pathway good at summoning should also have some understanding of parallel spaces and illusory worlds." Franca half-turned her body and said, "This surveillance footage can't be used by the police and Celestial Immortal's subordinates to recreate your image, so we don't need to deliberately destroy the surveillance equipment."
At this point, with Jenna's assistance, Lumian had already erased the various traces they had left in the surveillance room, and Franca also began to use the Demoness's black flames to clean up the fingerprints she had left on the equipment.
"Let's head back, we need to hurry with the spirit channeling." Lumian withdrew his gaze.
"Okay." Franca retracted her hand covered in black flames.
Lumian immediately led his teammates back through the mirror world to the rented car, and as soon as Franca fastened her seatbelt, preparing to start the engine, she suddenly shivered.
She began to feel cold, as if all the heat in her body had been drained away. Her head became dizzy, her vision occasionally darkening and sparking with golden stars, almost fainting.
Franca understood that this was the negative effect of the Inevitable Gun—if the Certain Death and Sure Hit effects were triggered, the user would inevitably fall gravely ill, and without effective treatment, could even die. Even if treated, the severe illness would persist for some time.
Similarly, every time Anthony used the Winter is Coming revolver, he had to find an Apothecary or Doctor for treatment, otherwise he would contract an intractable disease that Low- to Mid-Sequence Beyonders were powerless against.
Seeing Franca's face turn nearly transparent, Lumian reached into the Traveler's Bag and took out two vials of healing agents.
These were supply resources provided by the Tarot Club, reportedly extremely rare items not sold publicly, produced by The Fool Pharmaceutical Company.
For this mission, the Major Arcana card holders had given Lumian's group a total of twenty-five general-purpose healing agents, with the majority kept with Lumian as the team leader, while Jenna, Franca, and Anthony each carried two, but Ludwig had none.
Children needed supervision, otherwise he would secretly drink them all!
Franca's trembling hands opened the cap of the healing agent and gulped it down.
The icy liquid slid down her throat and into her stomach.
Soon, the chilled feeling rapidly disappeared, and a light sweat broke out on her skin.
"Much better…" Franca exhaled, "Just a bit dizzy in the head, my forehead is a bit hot, and my body feels weak."
Anthony, who had yet to suffer symptoms, had also finished his healing agent.
"I'll drive." Lumian said.
"You can, can drive?" Franca really didn't feel confident in her current state to be driving, but Lumian, who had never learned, made her even more worried. "Should we just take a taxi?"
Lumian chuckled. "I carefully observed you driving today, I've basically mastered the basic operations. And now it's late at night, there aren't many cars.
"And more importantly, I also have the driver's license that Madam Justice gave."
"Alright, Li Ming." Franca weakly unbuckled her seatbelt and pushed open the door.
Li Ming was Lumian's alias in the dream world.
As soon as Franca's feet touched the ground, her knees buckled, nearly causing her to fall. Luckily, Lumian was waiting outside the driver's seat and quickly grabbed her arm.
"So this is what being severely ill feels like… and this is with the negative effects suppressed to Sequence 7…" Franca leaned on Lumian as she slowly walked to the passenger seat, muttering while preparing to provide guidance later.
Lumian chuckled."If this were the real world, I'd probably have to carry you."
Franca imagined such a scene and suddenly said, "No, let's go with a piggyback ride!"
Lumian glanced at her but didn't say anything further.
Jenna, who had already come out of the passenger side, looked at the two approaching, her gaze slightly dark but also with a hint of relief as she listened to their conversation.
After everyone was seated and the doors closed, Franca gave a simple explanation,
"This is the steering wheel, you turn it in the direction you want to go. This is the accelerator, to control the speed. This is the brake, to stop the car or decelerate in an emergency… Basically, don't overtake, change lanes only when there are no other cars, stop at red lights, go at green, turn when you need to… It's very simple with an automatic transmission…"
Lumian stepped on the brake, released the parking brake, and shifted the lever to the appropriate gear.
The gray sedan slowly started moving, gradually picking up speed.
After passing two traffic light intersections, Lumian already had a very skilled driving technique.
Franca looked at him with her mouth slightly open, weakly saying, "You've learned it just like that?
No need for me to guide you on the side?
"It's very simple." Lumian chuckled, using Franca's own words to respond.
He then released one hand, pointing to his head. "You have to trust the spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination of a Hunter."
Franca suddenly felt that being the one who could drive in the team was no longer something to be proud of.
In this way, Lumian successfully drove the car back to the rented old neighborhood, and then, with Jenna's guidance, after spending quite some time, finally parked the car, allowing Franca to feel proud again.
They had rented an older model car to save money, without any parking assist systems.
Back in the rental unit, Lumian led the team into the mirror containing the reanimated female corpse.
Except for Lumian and Ludwig, the others didn't dare to look closely, fearing new corruption, but even with just a brief glance, they all noticed that a faint dark glow was slowly emanating from the decrepit corpse, gradually converging towards the right eye.
"Evocation of Beyonder characteristics?" Jenna blurted out.
Franca, being weaker, was a step slower in her reaction, saying in amazement, "This dream is too realistic!"
Beyonders will also evoke their characteristics?
Before Lumian and the others could respond, Franca had a sudden idea.
"If I obtain Beyonder characteristics in this dream, concoct them into a potion, and perform a ritual to drink them, will I be able to successfully advance in the real world?"
At this question, the area behind the mirror fell into an unusual silence.
"I can't answer that for you." Lumian pondered for a few seconds. "Maybe you should consult the Major Arcana card holders, or take these Beyonder characteristics and exit the dream to see if it 'follows' you to reality."
After arriving in this city, Lumian's group no longer needed Madam Justice's help to exit and re-enter the dream. They could simply take the train, and use lucky coins to complete the task directly.
"Frequent entering and exiting of the dream might also draw the attention of the Celestial Immortal," Anthony reminded Lumian.
Lumian offered a curt acknowledgment.
"There are other ways, let's try to avoid exiting as much as possible. We'll contact the Major Arcana card holders early tomorrow morning."
Although the Major Arcana card holders were subject to various restrictions in the dream, with some unable to even enter this place, there were still ways to communicate through the dream.
As they were talking, the dark Beyonder characteristics had gathered in the reanimated female corpse's right eye, dyeing it a blackish-blue hue.
During this process, Lumian, Franca, and Jenna—the three Demonesses—had already created multiple clusters of black flames to incinerate the corpse and the mystical pathogens spread from the characteristics.
According to the Demoness of Despair's potion formula, Lumian collected the black eyeball, the corpse's bile, and a strand of the coarse, partially restored gray-white hair, and handed them to Franca to put in the Traveler's Bag.
Having endured all this time, Ludwig finally found an opportunity, pointing at the corpse and asking, "Can I have a few bites?"
He had already obtained the Mirror Substitution ability through Deprivation, and by eating a few more pieces of the corpse's flesh and blood, he would have a chance to permanently fix this ability to himself.
Of course, limited by the dream and the current Sequence 7 level of Deprivation, he could only use Mirror Substitution for two to three weeks, unable to gain it permanently.
"Go ahead." Lumian nodded.
Ludwig excitedly ran over, crouching next to the corpse's head, targeting the delicate, small ear.
"After her death, the Demoness's charm is concentrated in the ear, to the point that even Ludwig is attracted?" Lumian had just had this thought when he saw Ludwig lean down and bite off the ear with a crunch, chewing it noisily, his mouth covered in blood.
"…" Franca and the others fell silent, turning their bodies away, no longer looking.
After Ludwig finished eating both of the Demoness's ears, reluctantly returning to Jenna's side, Lumian began to set up the ritual.
Due to the lack of a subject to pray to, he could only perform the spirit channeling in the simplest way, carefully guarding against the strong corruption from the Celestial Immortal on the target.
Soon, the vague silhouette of the female corpse appeared.
Lumian asked in a deep voice,"What were you trying to do, waking up in the morgue of Mushu Hospital?"