Chapter 264
Merit leaned back against the chair, gasping for breath. In the living room, Tara, the man in black, and the bound youths stood frozen, as if they were puppets without a puppeteer, creating an eerie stillness.
She gazed at the beautiful red-haired girl before her, whose eyes had completely lost focus. As her breathing gradually steadied, a smile crept onto her face.
“Let me see… your past, you madman…”
Merit slowly raised her hand, reaching toward the space between Xia'er’s brows.
Though she knew this was the perfect moment to gather data from the other’s body, there was something more pressing to attend to—this could wait.
The instant her fingers brushed against Xia'er’s brow, the dreamlike constructs around her collapsed, dissolving into a tri-colored shimmer that vanished in an instant.
What’s happening?
What is going on?
The chair beneath her disappeared, and Merit found herself tumbling to the ground. This simple action seemed to stir the entire world.
A terrifying spiritual alarm blared in her mind.
She looked up in horror toward Xia'er, only to find that Xia'er remained motionless, but her right hand began to tear apart, revealing writhing tendrils.
This is…
A silvery light began to rip through the surrounding tri-colored glow, surging directly toward Merit’s brow. Before she could comprehend what was happening, an overwhelming, indescribable torrent of knowledge flooded into her mind.
Her body twitched nervously, her will to resist crumbling almost instantly. The sheer volume of knowledge buried her, leaving her unable to discern who she was anymore.
In the final moments before her consciousness faded, she realized why so many mid- to high-ranking members of the Holy Ascendancy would obey this mere first-tier girl…
Meanwhile, in Xia'er’s living room.
Xia'er, leaning back against her chair, slowly opened her eyes and looked at the two people at the dining table.
Tara had her hands under her head, sprawled across the table, facing Xia'er with a strange smile. A droplet of glistening saliva hung from the corner of her mouth, as if she were lost in a beautiful dream.
Across from Tara, the girl suddenly vomited a large mouthful of thick black blood, and then her skin began to shrivel.
Her once-lustrous hair fell out in strands, her skin and muscles seemed to dissolve together, hanging down like a non-Newtonian fluid. Her bones cracked loudly as they contorted.
Her legs were nearly fused together, moving not like a snake but more like a snail or slug, oozing and twisting, still melting away.
In just five or six seconds, a once-beautiful girl transformed into a horrifying creature draped in human skin.
Yet Xia'er frowned slightly at the sight of this monster.
This is…
Why does it look so much like the creature that appeared after I sacrificed the "Substitute Saint's Remains"? Though this one hasn’t melted away as completely.
Monsters are uncontrollable. Xia'er quickly raised her hand, standing up to grab Tara by the back of her collar, lifting her up.
“Tara, wake up!”
Tara, still lost in her dream, stirred slightly. After wiping the drool from her mouth, she saw the monster before her, and the spiritual alarm in her mind exploded, snapping her fully awake.
**Chapter 154: The "Instigator's" Ingenious Ideas.**
From the shadow beneath Tara’s feet, four white figures emerged, two of which lunged at the terrifying monster.
The other two white figures positioned themselves—one in front of Xia'er, the other rushing toward the door to seek help.
As soon as she did this, Tara’s vision blurred. Everything around her began to twist slightly, shrouded in a faint mist.
The living room started to reveal ghostly images of several gruesomely dead bodies. Tara turned to warn Xia'er, only to find Xia'er’s face smeared with blood…
The monster across from her wasn’t actively constructing a dream, but everything it created in the dream affected Tara’s psyche like an illusion.
“Guh…”
The terrifying, melting creature lifted its head, its fused single eye with two pupils locking onto Tara.
Eerie blue-purple flames burned within the connected pupils, and Tara froze in place, her expression growing increasingly vacant, as if she were being drawn into another realm.
Fortunately, the white figure sent to the door for help sprang into action.
A torrent of black and white shadows surged into the room from every crevice, binding the monster with chains of burning black and white flame.
Its shadow was swiftly torn apart, and its physical form bore horrific wounds that refused to heal, dark purple, viscous blood gushing from its injuries like sludge.
Meanwhile, Xia'er, sitting across from the monster, contemplated its impending demise.
She had merely wanted to glimpse her own memories, and her mind had collapsed, retaliated against by the potion?
She hadn’t even done anything… was this a form of passive defense?
What had she seen?
Regardless, she had gained a mental defense mechanism, alleviating her fears of experiencing a repeat of being overtaken by a quill in the simulation.
However, this wasn’t a perfect defense.
After all, the creature was only second-tier. Even if it had been retaliated against by the potion, it had merely become a rampaging second-tier monster.
What if a third-tier or higher extraordinary being attempted to invade her mind?
A fourth-tier being being consumed by the potion in front of her… not only would she be helpless, but the entire city of Bolun wouldn’t stand a chance against that deranged extraordinary being.
Under Xia'er’s command, the cultists who had rushed over began to search for the monster’s discarded clothing and other remnants, hoping to find valuable clues.
Finally, Xia'er’s attention shifted from the monster to Tara.
Since earlier, Tara had remained standing, motionless, as if affected by the monster’s presence.
“Tara? Tara?”
Only when Xia'er called her name twice did Tara slowly come back to herself. It seemed she had just realized she had stopped breathing. She looked up at Xia'er, breathing heavily.
“Did you get pulled into the dream? What did you see?”
Xia'er asked.
The monster’s ability hadn’t directly affected Xia'er, so she was unaware of what Tara had experienced.
Once Tara regained her composure, she began to describe what she had seen, and Xia'er gradually understood the chaotic scenes from her dream, which included figures and objects Tara had never encountered before.
Those unfamiliar people and items might have been constructs of the "Dream Thief." Xia'er instructed Tara to rest for a moment, then began to write down everything Tara had seen in the dream.
At the same time, Xia'er took out a piece of white paper and sketched a simple portrait of the "Dream Thief" to strengthen her memory, ensuring she would recognize her at a glance in reality.
After all, the appearance of the monster had blurred her impression of the "Dream Thief." Whenever she tried to recall, the figure in her mind twisted into that of a monster.
About half an hour later, Tara finally broke free from the illusion. No longer did those nonexistent matters cloud her vision. She began to draw what she had seen in the dream.
Around the same time, another group of cultists arrived at Xia'er’s home, bringing with them a somewhat familiar sack—one Xia'er had dragged away before, used for wrapping corpses.
The news they brought surprised Xia'er slightly.
In the address revealed by the coachman, there were no members of the Pleasure Society, but rather an ordinary person.
This ordinary person, upon seeing unfamiliar faces at the door on the second floor, swallowed poison and died right there in the room.
This left Xia'er feeling particularly puzzled.
From the behavior of the girl named "Leticia," it was clear that her destination should have contained members of the Pleasure Society. So why did the bishops of the Holy Ascendancy find nothing?
Moreover, she had the blessing of good fortune, so logically…
No, wait.
Was it that good fortune sensed danger if she truly reached their lair, and under its influence, alerted the other side, leading to their failure?
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