Circle of Inevitability

Unable to drive, Jenna and Anthony chose to take public transportation with the child to Dream Tutoring Classes. They made a comprehensive travel plan and prepared spare change for unexpected situations, rather than relying solely on mobile payments.

After they left, Lumian helped Franca back to the master bedroom and glanced at the large ice blocks in four basins, chuckling. "This isn't much worse than air conditioning."

The only issue was needing to refreeze the water periodically, which consumed some spirituality. But for Demonesses, creating frost was an ability that used very little spirituality.

Plus, it effectively solved the problem of limited refrigerator space.

"Yeah, air conditioning is so expensive," Franca leaned against the pillow and sighed sincerely. "I never imagined being a Demoness would be so practical in daily life."

Lumian sat on the edge of the bed and casually asked, "How are you feeling now?"

"Much better. This morning I was so weak I could only walk slowly," Franca answered honestly. "Since becoming a Beyonder, this is the first time I've been so seriously ill. As expected of the negative effects of a demigod-level item."

Lumian tsked. "But I heard from Jenna that she had to feed you breakfast, and when you needed to go to the washroom, er, restroom, you called her to support you."

Where was the slow walking?

Franca wasn't embarrassed at being exposed, and chuckled. "Can't I enjoy being carefully looked after as a patient?"

Lumian pressed his hand to his own forehead, then felt Franca's.

"Your temperature has indeed come down, but you can continue enjoying being cared for until you're fully recovered."

"Does that mean I can boss you around?" Franca suddenly got excited.

She recalled her university days, when every day a lucky roommate would be ordered to get food for the whole dorm, and she was the luckiest one.

Seeing Franca's eager expression, Lumian smiled and took out a yellow peach from the Traveler's Bag.

"Didn't you say yesterday that you missed the taste of yellow peaches? I happened to pass by a fruit wholesale market on my way back and bought a bag."

"I just mentioned it casually…" Franca was a bit surprised, her eyes curving slightly.

Lumian formed a small fruit knife from frost, and swiftly peeled the yellow peach clean over the bedside trash can. He then cut off a piece, skewered it with the ice knife, and held it to Franca's lips.

Looking at the juicy and tempting flesh, the crystal clear fruit knife, and Lumian's slightly smiling face, Franca suddenly felt the atmosphere was different from when Jenna cared for her in the morning.

The morning felt like a sick father watching a gentle mother urging a gluttonous child to study, while now it feels like a sick wife…

"You're not eating? If you don't eat it, I will." Lumian appeared to take back the piece of peach and put it in his own mouth, with the attitude of brotherly interaction.

Franca snorted and quickly opened her mouth to bite the piece of peach.

She chewed and swallowed, then said rather nostalgically, "It's the taste from my memories."

As she ate the peach Lumian fed her, she brought up their previous topic.

"What do you think is hidden in B1 of Mushu Hospital?"

Lumian considered carefully before saying, "My contact with Naboredisley and other Devils left me a deep impression of one sentence—the entrance to the Abyss is not only in some place in the real world, but also in everyone's heart. We can all fall into the Abyss and become devils not on the Devil pathway. So I suspect the Mother Tree of Desire, standing at the top of the Devil, Wraith, and Baby Cupid pathways, is using Her control over the Abyss to turn Mr. Fool's psychological dark side into Mushu Hospital.

"Then, the Great Mother and the deity worshiped by Order of All Extinction used the psychological dark side to infiltrate a bit of Their power, gradually eroding the dream. The influence of the Abyss is from bottom to top, from the depths of the heart to the surface. Reflected in the specific symbol of Mushu Hospital, this means remodeling from the underground floors to the ground level."

"You mean the underground floors of Mushu Hospital have become a small-scale Abyss, a more complex and terrifying Abyss?" Franca swallowed the peach in her mouth and asked thoughtfully.

Lumian nodded, skillfully cutting another piece of peach and bringing it to Franca's lips.

"Currently we can see the power of the Mother Tree of Desire, the Great Mother, and that deity of Order of All Extinction. The others are unknown for now."

"These evil gods should only be able to influence part of the dream. It seems they intend to help the Celestial Worthy?" Franca bit the piece of peach with her teeth and asked puzzledly.

Lumian considered for a moment before saying, "That's how it is now, but it may not be the case later.

"Madam Magician told me privately that these evil gods don't actually like the Celestial Worthy that much. If given a choice, Their instinctive desire is to use the Celestial Worthy to pass through the barrier, but not let the Celestial Worthy truly awaken. Perhaps in this dream battle, if Mr. Fool is strong, They will definitely help the Celestial Worthy. If the Celestial Worthy gains a big advantage, they might secretly sabotage the Celestial Worthy's plans.

"Moreover, They Themselves are chaotic and insane, and may do things we can't understand at any time. The Marionettist who should have appeared last night didn't truly show up, perhaps for this reason. In short, what the evil gods would most like to see is both Mr. Fool and the Celestial Worthy continuing to sleep, indulging in this dream city."

Hearing this, Franca was suddenly moved.

She cast her gaze towards the window filled with brilliant sunlight, towards the distant high-rise buildings, and said in a low voice with self-mockery, "If my dream was like this, if the people I care about were all here, I might also indulge in it, not wanting to wake up…"

…

At Dream Tutoring Classes, in front of the reception desk.

Jenna held Ludwig's hand and handed the flier given by Oracle Danitz to the dark-skinned male receptionist.

"I'd like to know more details about your courses."

The dark-skinned male receptionist's eyes lit up and he put on a smile. "Ma'am, what does your child want to learn?"

"Could you first introduce all the courses?" Jenna hadn't decided yet what class to enroll Ludwig in.

The male receptionist was stunned for a moment, then muttered,

"Before, I would introduce first, then ask the customer what they wanted to learn, but I was criticized by several customers. They told me to ask about their needs first, then give targeted introductions… How is this wrong again…"

Without needing Anthony's observation results, Jenna began to feel this receptionist wasn't very bright, and seemed a bit stupid.

She pondered for a moment and said, "Our child only has time on weekends. Please introduce the weekend courses."

According to the information, Mr. Fool had enrolled in this tutoring center's weekend Business English course!

The male receptionist breathed a sigh of relief, took out some materials, and began detailing the weekend courses his company offered.

After listening for a while, Jenna found that only the Beginner English class had a similar schedule to the Business English class.

She turned her head to look at Ludwig's pained expression, then picked up the Beginner English class materials and said, "It's still 6,666 after the discount? Can it be cheaper?"

Even at just 6,666, it was a very large expense for Jenna and the others. They had borrowed some more money through another app yesterday to scrape together enough without affecting their daily lives.

"Well, only our principal has the authority to give further discounts. I'll get her." The dark-skinned receptionist hurriedly went down the hallway to the office to fetch the principal.

She was a beautiful woman with dyed brown hair, an oval face, and clear blue eyes like spring water. She wore an elegant women's blouse paired with a dark pleated knee-length skirt, exposing her fair, long, and straight calves.

"Principal Ai is exceptionally learned and talented. Not only is she good at English, but also French. She can also paint, appraise antiques, play various musical instruments…" the dark-skinned receptionist went on and on with his introduction.

Jenna could see that Principal Ai was a bit embarrassed and uncomfortable with the praise. At the same time, she noticed Ludwig's expression change, as if he had encountered a natural enemy.

"You want to take the Beginner English class?" Principal Ai interrupted the receptionist's introduction and turned her gaze to Ludwig.

"Yes." Jenna nodded sincerely.

Principal Ai looked at Ludwig and said, "Starting at this age has already missed the best phase for language acquisition, but as long as you're willing to learn, any time is a good time. It's never too late.

"Hmm, 5,000—the lowest cost price. We can't delay the child's education."

This should have been a sales pitch to get people to enroll, but Jenna actually heard sincerity in it. She felt Principal Ai was genuinely considering the child's education.

As expected of an archbishop of the Church of Knowledge, former treasure hunter and Pirate Admiral… Jenna recalled the contents of the file and nodded painfully.

"Alright, we'll enroll in the class at this time slot."

Seeing what Jenna was pointing at, Principal Ai couldn't help but frown. "Anderson's class…"

"Is there a problem?" Jenna asked curiously.

"Anderson is very suitable for teaching young children, but he tends to let them develop bad study habits. If we weren't short-staffed, I wouldn't let him teach the beginner class…" Before Principal Ai could finish speaking, a man turned into the hallway.

He had blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a white shirt and black vest, with his hands in his pockets.

He smiled at Principal Ai and said, "Edwina, did you just mention my name?"

In the dream city, Edwina was Principal Ai's English name.

Principal Ai composed herself and pointed at Ludwig.

"This little friend wants to enroll in your beginner class."

"Is that so?" Anderson walked up to Ludwig and squatted down without concern for his image, questioning his potential student, "Do you like learning English?"

"No." Ludwig shook his head quickly.

Anderson continued asking, "Then do you like learning French?"

"No." Ludwig continued shaking his head.

"How about Mauritian Creole?" Anderson persisted.

Ludwig shook his head again. "No."

"Then do you like learning to paint?" Anderson changed the question.

Ludwig shook his head without hesitation. "No."

"So what do you like?" Anderson wasn't upset at all.

"I like eating." Ludwig was very honest.

Anderson smiled and stood up, saying, "How about this—study cooking with me, and at least you can be a chef in the future."

If it were someone else, they would definitely think Anderson was mocking their child for having no talent for studying. But Jenna just wanted to say he had a keen eye, immediately seeing Ludwig's essence.

"You know how to cook?" the dark-skinned receptionist asked very hostilely.

Anderson laughed. "I'm very good at roasting rabbit. Danitz originally wanted me to teach him, but…"

At this point, Anderson sighed.

He's the Oracle's roommate, the first to discover the Oracle's disappearance? Jenna's spirits suddenly lifted.