Gilan entered the movie world once again, his heart filled with murderous intent.
He did nothing pointless to alter the original sequence of events. Instead, he followed the dream's progression: after leading Maive and Brennan to the village, he suggested they split up.
Gilan wandered around for a while, then returned to the stone-paved plaza at the village entrance. As expected, the only person there was the young woman, Maive.
"Miss Maive, I didn't find any valuable clues." Gilan approached with the Double-Barreled Shotgun in hand, then asked, though he already knew the answer, "Where's Dr. Brennan?"
"I didn't find anything either." Maive shook her head, then turned to Gilan, worry on her face. "Dr. Brennan was already gone when I arrived. He left a message on the ground, but I don't know where he went."
As she spoke, she gestured toward the ground nearby.
Gilan turned to look. The writing that had been blurry in his dream was now perfectly clear—
"Path to the right of the plaza, big banyan tree, red-brick house, map, beware the Axe Man!"
The short phrases had been written in dirty blood. The handwriting was somewhat messy, as if written in haste. At the end were the initials "B.F.," clearly short for the name "Brennan Franker."
"When Dr. Brennan split off from us, he took the path to the right. It looks like he found some important clues over there..." Maive furrowed her lovely brows as she analyzed the situation. "But he probably ran into some kind of accident or danger, so he could only leave a quick message before fleeing."
Gilan studied the words written in blood, his gaze lingering on the last phrase.
He was almost certain that Dr. Brennan had encountered the terrifying Axe Man!
"I think Dr. Brennan found a map of the village." Gilan pointed at the fourth phrase written on the ground, then looked up at Maive. "Let's go. We'll follow his clues first. If we can get the map, it'll be easier to find Dr. Brennan."
"Mm, I think you're right, Mr. Gilan."
Maive smiled sweetly and nodded.
Gilan led the way, carrying the Double-Barreled Shotgun, with the young woman following behind as they headed down the path to the right of the plaza.
The road here was just as bad as the one to the left, muddy and lined with stone-and-wood houses. The only difference was that many banyan trees grew along this path.
The lush leaves spread overhead, and countless aerial roots dangled like strands of hair and beard. Some had even reached the ground, where they had taken root and become supporting trunks. At first glance, they looked like huge nets wrapped around the stone houses.
The two had been walking through the fog for several minutes when they suddenly spotted a contorted figure approaching.
"God... God... forgive us... have mercy on us..."
The figure made a strange, unpleasant sound, as if several people were speaking at once—or like the hoarse wail of someone on the verge of death.
Gilan and Maive stopped.
"Oh my God!" Maive covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes wide. "What in the world is that?!"
Gilan's pupils contracted. A disfigured, half-naked monster staggered toward them.
It had three heads—or rather, three men's heads fused together.
Their faces were like batter churned into a mess, their eyes, noses, and mouths jumbled and asymmetrical, yet all joined to the same neck and torso.
Two pairs of emaciated arms sprouted from its shoulders and ribs, wrapped around its torso like lovers' embraces. Even its thighs bulged with two extra masses of flesh, from which grew another pair of deformed legs. They coiled around its waist like entwined bodies unwilling to part.
"Woman! What a beautiful woman!" The fused monster spotted Maive. Its six crooked, unevenly set eyes fixed on her, brimming with bestial lust and malice.
All three mouths split open at once and howled:
"The Cliff family has no heirs! Come, hurry and bear children for the Cliff family! Hurry!"
Maive looked at the disgusting, hideous monster before her and nearly vomited.
She forced down her nausea and reached for the brass Pull Door hanging around her neck, but a deafening boom rang beside her first—
Bang!
Gilan raised the Double-Barreled Shotgun and pulled the trigger. The buckshot struck the monster's head with pinpoint accuracy, blowing its twisted face to pieces.
But after letting out a scream, the monster kept flailing and lunged at Maive.
BANG!!
Another gunshot rang out. It looked as if a chunk had been bitten out of the monster's torso, leaving a hole the size of a washbasin. Its entire body was flung backward and toppled to the ground.
Even then, it continued writhing in the mud, making lewd movements like a squirming maggot.
Only after several breaths did the monster finally fall still in its pool of blood.
"It's... it's the influence of Mother of Fertility!" Maive covered her mouth, her lovely face deathly pale. The monster had clearly terrified her. "This village must be steeped in the worship of the Old Gods. The Second Era-God, Mother of Fertility, symbolizes birth and reproduction. That must be why they were fused together by some mysterious force and turned into such a grotesque creature."
Gilan listened quietly to the young woman's explanation, taking in these secrets.
He kept working as he quickly reloaded the shotgun.
Click.
The gun snapped shut with a sharp sound.
For some reason, Maive felt a sense of security and a strange, inexplicable stirring as she watched the blond young man. Acting on instinct, she stepped closer to him.
Gilan, however, furrowed his brows.
Could this woman have been affected by that so-called mysterious power of Mother of Fertility too?
After the thought crossed his mind, he glanced at the monster's corpse.
This time, Gilan didn't avoid Maive. Instead, he crouched directly down and reached out to touch the corpse.
Iridescent colors appeared. The twisted monster rapidly decayed, then finally crumbled into dust and drifted away.
The iridescent "4" in Gilan's eyes jumped, changing to "6."
Maive, standing nearby, showed no surprise at all, as if she hadn't seen what happened.
Gilan carefully watched the young woman's expression and immediately understood.
It seems the people in the movie world don't question monsters decaying—or perhaps they automatically ignore the process... I went out of my way to avoid doing it in front of them for nothing.
"Let's go."
Gilan stood up and spoke calmly.
"Of course, Mr. Gilan." Maive smiled and nodded, staying close at his side.
The two continued deeper into the village.
But soon, they encountered several more villagers who had gone mad. Maive pulled out the brass Pull Door, keeping them from approaching, while Gilan seized the opportunity to shoot them all in the head.
By then, his ammunition had finally run out. But the Iridescence's decay effect had added another four points to the colorful number in his eyes, bringing the total to "10."
After they walked another hundred or so meters, an unusually tall banyan tree gradually came into view on their left. Gilan recalled the bloodstained words Dr. Brennan had left behind, stopped, and looked around beyond the tree.
Before long, he spotted a stretch of red-brick wall behind the banyan tree.
"Found it!" Gilan exclaimed, his heart lifting.
He exchanged a glance with Maive, then set off, stepping over the dense, hard roots as he squeezed into the thicket behind the banyan tree.
Soon, they reached a two-story red-brick house.
The front door stood wide open. Seeing this, the two of them cautiously entered.
As soon as he stepped inside, Gilan saw a map hanging on the wall of the entryway.
"The third edition of the Oldraf Village map, drawn by the Scribe, Espi."
Maive, standing beside him in her white dress, softly read the words aloud.
She smiled with delight, her beautiful eyes fixed on the map, then said:
"Wonderful! There's an exit at the far end of the village that leads outside! Dr. Brennan saw this map, so he must have gone ahead. Maybe we'll find him there!"
"Mm." Gilan's lips lifted slightly as he silently committed the map to memory.
We finally found the Scribe's home... That means whatever the Exorcist Orlando was looking for should be in the basement of this house!
Thinking this, he turned to Maive.
"Miss Maive, find somewhere to sit and rest. I'll check the other rooms. There might be useful supplies or equipment."
"Of course, Mr. Gilan." Maive was in high spirits and smiled sweetly. "You're truly a gentleman."
Gilan returned a perfunctory smile, then turned and headed farther inside.
The first floor of the house had only three rooms. He quickly found the basement entrance in the stairwell beside the main bedroom. Carefully pushing open the wooden door, Gilan descended with his gun at the ready, alert for danger.
The plank stairs creaked beneath his steps, while dust and sand kept trickling down from both sides.
There was nothing dangerous in the basement, however, and Gilan made it down safely.
Feeling around in the dark, he found a box of matches on the table and lit the candlestick nearby. In the glow of the flame, the cramped basement came into view.
Aside from a workbench, there were only a few odds and ends.
Gilan waved away the dust in front of him and began searching carefully. Before long, he found a paper-wrapped parcel in the workbench drawer, marked in thick lettering: "Exorcist's commission payment."
"That's it!"
Gilan's eyes lit up, and he eagerly tore open the parcel.
Inside were two gold bars the size of fingers and a hardcover notebook.
He picked up the notebook. Iridescent colors appeared at once, revealing the corresponding text:
"Espi's Secret Notes. It contains excerpts from an ancient secret art known as the White Cross Body-Forging Technique. It is said to have originated with the Healing Knights three hundred years ago. Those knights, renowned for their extraordinary martial prowess, gained their superhuman physiques and combat skills through this body-forging technique, making them invincible on the battlefield."