He Really Is Quite Damnable!

Lynch followed Frye and the others as they immediately charged into the abandoned building. The moment they entered, they saw the man in the black robe at the far end, speaking to his followers.

Before Lynch and his team could say a word, the man had already turned to look at them with a wary expression.

"He's the one who's always in contact with me!"

Lynch raised his voice to shout, then lifted his revolver and quickly charged forward.

The man looked nervous and began to run outside. Lynch pursued him relentlessly, but just as the two were about to close the distance, he hesitated for a split second.

If he didn't give a warning now and instead stalled for time until Dunn killed the man, would he be able to avoid further contact with the True Creator?

This thought lasted only a moment before Lynch shook it off.

That shouldn't be possible; his name was certainly etched into the mind of Mr. Z.

He could let Dunn kill this man, but he had no way to kill Mr. Z.

He didn't even know where the man was. If he killed this subordinate but let Mr. Z escape, he would surely become a public enemy of the Aurora Order. Thinking about it, it just wasn't worth it.

Lynch sighed, deciding not to sabotage the man, and instead made a gesture toward him.

The man gave an imperceptible nod, and then the figure vanished from before Lynch's eyes.

"Quick, warn Dunn! That guy escaped!"

Lynch turned and roared at Leonard and the others.

The next second, they appeared back in reality.

A cup was thrust in front of him. "Spit it out, quickly!"

Lynch spat the water out of his throat, and only then did Dunn heave a sigh of relief.

"Hide in that building! That person ran outside!"

Lynch nodded and ran toward the abandoned building, but just as he turned back, he saw a figure appear behind Dunn—it was the man in black.

The man in black had his revolver aimed at Dunn.

Dunn didn't seem to notice, so Lynch immediately lunged behind him.

The man frowned at him, only to see him make a small gesture once more before disappearing from that spot.

It was still a dream!

"He escaped. Is it still not enough even with two layers of dreams? This person is very capable, or perhaps he is very familiar with the Sleepless pathway."

Dunn frowned, shook his head, and handed the cup to Lynch once again.

Lynch spat out the water just as he had in the previous layer of the dream.

"Captain, two layers of dreams?"

After spitting it out, Lynch wore a bewildered expression on his face.

Dunn smiled gently.

"Yes, Leonard reminded me of that. I thought it would be enough to catch that guy, but you lunged forward. Perhaps it was because you died and vanished in the dream that it alerted him..."

"I'm sorry, Captain. I was too impulsive and ruined your important task!"

Lynch wore an expression of chagrin.

"That's not your fault. I should have warned you. Given your personality, how could you not be worried when you saw I might be in danger? I should have given you a hint!"

Dunn patted him on the shoulder. Seeing that Lynch still looked uneasy, he thought for a moment and said, "Come to think of it, I do need to criticize you for this. I told you that you are a civilian staff member; you should have left immediately when I told you to. If this had been real, you certainly would have died!"

Lynch pursed his lips and said hesitantly, "Captain, I just felt that you are more useful than I am. I'm not even a Beyonder yet. If I could save you, it would surely allow you to capture the person, but instead, I ruined your mission."

"Don't talk nonsense. There is no such thing as one person being more useful than another!"

Dunn said sternly.

Then, he shook his head with a wry smile.

In reality, he might have caught that guy at the time, had he not been so stunned by Lynch's actions.

He had seen many teammates die, but it seemed Lynch was the only one who had so straightforwardly thrown himself in front of him.

Even though he knew Lynch had once lost his life in a dream for Klein, he had assumed that was simply because the two of them were close.

But now, Lynch had only been with the Nighthawks for a little over a week.

"I need to take responsibility for this!"

Lynch said sincerely.

"You don't need to take full responsibility, only a small part. We did catch him just now, but that guy is as slippery as an eel and managed to run off. We didn't even get a clear look at his face. Lynch, do you know what he looks like?"

Old Neil took out a pen, clearly intending to draw the man's likeness based on Lynch's description.

Lynch's lips moved.

"Do you really think my memory is good enough to remember? Besides, he never showed his face in front of me. However, I can describe his height and clothing for you."

Lynch blinked with a look of pure innocence.

Old Neil sighed in disgust.

"Nonsense, I know all that!"

It seemed Lynch really couldn't be of any more help.

"Right, what about the civilians inside? I saw them burning themselves in my dream just now."

Lynch asked hurriedly.

Even though he knew that by now, those people had already been pulled into the dream.

"They're still fine, all asleep, though one of them died."

Frye said calmly.

They arrived beside Upton, whom the Big Meat Church had dragged to the very front and hanged on the gallows.

Even in death, the guy's face bore an expression of excitement and anticipation, as if he had arrived in the kingdom of the True Creator.

"Heretics!"

Dunn sighed after watching for a moment.

"Let those police officers come in and take these civilians away; the bishop is going to be busy for a while."

The bishop of the Church of the Goddess would need to guide these people back to the right path, implying that the god they worshipped was not a heretical one, but the Goddess.

Once these people believed in the Goddess, perhaps they could slowly return to normalcy.

"Lynch, regardless of everything else, your merit is enough to exchange for a bottle of Sleepless potion. Are you willing to become one of us?"

For Lynch, this was simply the best news of the day.

"Can I really?"

"Of course!"

Lynch nodded frantically at once.

Finally, he could become a Beyonder; he had been envious of Klein to death during this period.

"Then let's make it tomorrow! We will help you consume the Sleepless potion. You need to rest today; I imagine you might need some time to recover from Upton's death."

Lynch: ...

He had prepared himself for Upton's death three days ago.

But seeing that everyone seemed to think he would be a bit heartbroken, he nodded anyway and began to look for tears in his clothes, attempting to show Dunn the holes in the suit—one of the original owner's more worn-out outfits that he had specifically changed into that morning.

Dunn felt as though he hadn't yet emerged from the illusion of being moved by Lynch's selfless greatness before he saw that illusion shatter.

"Old Neil taught you this!"

He firmly shifted the responsibility onto Old Neil, believing that such a good kid like Lynch couldn't possibly think of asking for reimbursement on his own.

It had to be Old Neil; ever since Klein started following Old Neil, he had also learned to ask him for reimbursement for buying crystals and practicing divination expenses.

Now, Lynch had been corrupted as well.

Old Neil stood to the side, wanting to speak but holding back.

He hadn't even had the chance to teach him yet.

But this technique really did bear his mark, and he began to wonder if Lynch had seen him doing it during one of his own reimbursements.

After all, he had seen the scene where Lynch saved Dunn; a kind person surely wouldn't think of these things on their own.

Such a good kid, he shouldn't be the type of person who thinks about fleecing the organization.

Perhaps it really was something he picked up from watching him do it some other time.

Sigh, he really was a bit of a wretch!