Lost

[I Love My Family Group]

Ai Miye: Hawkins? I think I can understand the words in here. I can understand them!

Hawkins: That's because you signed the contract. These words will automatically turn into meanings you can understand and be conveyed to your consciousness. So, child, you still need to study properly. I'll find you a good teacher to teach you how to read later.

Ai Miye: That's amazing. Does that mean we can all talk through it from now on?

Hawkins: You can, but it's best not to rely on it too much. Otherwise, your mouths will be very sad.

Though they were clearly standing face-to-face, they insisted on communicating only through the Chat Group, exchanging glances now and then. Ai Miye could not help laughing.

Hawkins looked at Asmodeus and smiled. "Asmodeus, aren't you going to give it a try?"

"Will bugs really grow in my eyes?" Asmodeus asked with some concern.

Hawkins said helplessly, "Asmodeus, you're such a big man. How can you be so timid?"

"Sorry, I'll go right away." Asmodeus blushed at the teasing and hurried toward the statue.

Following Ai Miye's example, he used his fingerprint to sign the contract. The next moment, he screamed, "Ah! Bugs really grew!"

"Hahaha!" Ai Miye could not help laughing at the sight.

However, Asmodeus quickly learned how to use the Chat Group. He stood beside Ai Miye without speaking, merely exchanging glances with her from time to time and occasionally letting out a muffled snicker.

[I Love My Family Group]

Hawkins: Asmodeus, I have a task for you.

Asmodeus: Mr. Hawkins, what task?

Hawkins: I can revive you endlessly, so danger isn't really that dangerous to you. Now, I need you to go outside and scout the way.

Asmodeus: Scout the way?

Hawkins: Yes.

Hawkins: You can tell us what happens here. Oh, right, there's a camera function here. As long as you agree to upload what you see, we'll be able to see the scene through your eyes.

Ai Miye and Asmodeus fell silent for a moment. Then Hawkins saw two video feeds open—one showing what Ai Miye saw, and the other showing what Asmodeus saw.

[I Love My Family Group]

Ai Miye: We really can see it. That's incredible!

Asmodeus: Mr. Hawkins, I'm willing to scout the way. If I die, please make sure to revive me.

Hawkins: Ai Miye can testify for me. If you die out there, I'll definitely revive you. Also, we're family now. You don't need to call me Mr. Hawkins. You can call me Hawkins, or Big Brother Huo.

Ai Miye: Big Brother Huo? What a strange way of addressing someone.

In this world, ordinary people only had given names and no surnames, so "Hawkins" was a single whole.

Next, Asmodeus made his preparations. Hawkins opened a passage to the outside world. Asmodeus gently hugged Hawkins, then hugged Ai Miye, before finally turning and walking into the passage.

Hawkins and Ai Miye both stared intently at Asmodeus's video feed. The scene abruptly changed, and Asmodeus immediately began to fall at high speed. He could not help screaming.

Ai Miye hurriedly asked in the Chat Group, "Big Brother Asmodeus, are you okay?"

Asmodeus was still falling. At first, he had been screaming, but he soon steadied himself and answered, "I'm okay, but I might fall to my death. Big Brother Huo, you have to revive me!"

Hawkins smiled. "Don't worry. I'll definitely revive you. Go die in peace."

The Dream Realm!

Hawkins had not expected that he and Ai Miye would be sent to the Dream Realm in the flesh. Ai Miye's ancestor's strength clearly needed to be reevaluated.

A Curse Caster capable of forcibly transporting targets from the real world into the Dream Realm was unquestionably unimaginably powerful. No wonder Devil's Horn could provide such immense energy.

Hawkins estimated that if Ai Miye's ancestor had obtained Devil's Horn back then, he and Ai Miye would have been in danger.

Though he possessed quite a few abilities, he truly was only a novice when it came to Curse Casters. Even immense Curse Power could not change that, so he would not underestimate an enemy like Ai Miye's ancestor.

After thoroughly reflecting inwardly, Hawkins saw something stretch out a "hand" from the darkness. Asmodeus's face went deathly pale. Then his body was seized, and in an instant, it scattered into countless motes of light.

Ai Miye covered her mouth and stared wide-eyed as the video feed plunged into darkness, then she immediately looked at Hawkins.

"Don't worry, I'll revive him right now!" Hawkins reassured her.

Perhaps because the ring served as an anchor, this revival consumed only one-tenth of the Curse Power it had previously required.

Asmodeus emerged from the revival passage and immediately cried out in panic, "That scared me to death! It was terrifying! What was that thing?"

"I don't know, but luckily you were the one who went out. If it had been me, things would have been bad." Hawkins said gravely.

The form of that hand had actually been very blurry. It could not even be confirmed to be a hand, because the hand formed from that shadow merely resembled one, while there were many differences as well.

For example, its joints were ball joints, and its fingertips looked somewhat like heads.

Hawkins looked at Asmodeus and said seriously, "Asmodeus, I may need you to try again. I have to find out what that thing is. Otherwise, we'll never be able to leave this place. Ai Miye and I will both get hungry. There's no food here, and the longer we delay, the worse things will become for us. So... sorry for the trouble!"

But the hand from before had felt utterly terrifying to him. If he had taken Asmodeus's place and suffered such a dreadful surprise attack, he likely would not have fared much differently.

Asmodeus's face was somewhat pale. When he encountered that hand, he experienced a terror unlike anything he had ever known.

It was like the most terrifying thing in the world. When that hand reached for him, his body had completely slipped beyond his control. If he had needed to relieve himself at the time, he would definitely have wet himself on the spot.

But after hearing Hawkins's words, he nodded tremblingly and agreed, "All right. I'll try again."

Although he nodded in agreement, tears would not stop streaming down his face. His body went limp, and he actually collapsed onto the ground.

"Are you all right?" Hawkins quickly asked when he saw this.

Asmodeus scratched at his hair and took several deep breaths before speaking. "I'm very scared. More scared than when I was killed by pirates. That feeling was too terrifying."

"Then... maybe forget it," Ai Miye said hesitantly.

Instead, Asmodeus shook his head and refused. "No. I have to go. I can still be revived even if I die. It's fine."

"Asmodeus, you're very brave!" Hawkins said with relief.

He had not expected that reviving Asmodeus as an experiment would yield results even better than anticipated.

With Asmodeus scouting the way, the chances of returning to reality were undoubtedly far greater than if Hawkins took the risk himself.

Asmodeus could fail countless times, while Hawkins could not fail even once. One failure would mean true death. The Eternal Sea Chart's revival did not include him.

If he died, he would become the Curse Spirit of the Eternal Sea Chart, trapped inside it just as Asmodeus had been trapped within the ring, until the Eternal Sea Chart gained a new owner.

"Mm, then go." Hawkins nodded.

Asmodeus passed through the passage out of Eternal Space and began to plummet at high speed the very next moment. He gritted his teeth and refused to close his eyes, constantly watching his surroundings instead.

But Hawkins soon discovered through the video feed that the place where Asmodeus was falling was not the same place as before.

"He appeared somewhere else?"

Hawkins was somewhat puzzled, then opened the earlier video and compared the two feeds.

Sure enough, Asmodeus had not appeared in the same location. In other words, Asmodeus's sacrifice had actually been meaningless.

But this also raised an even greater problem. If Hawkins wanted to leave the Dream Realm, the difficulty would be even greater.

[I Love My Family Group]

Asmodeus said ashamedly: Big Brother Huo, something feels wrong. This time, I don't seem to have encountered that hand.

Ai Miye guessed: Could it be that hand is no longer interested in you?

Asmodeus asked doubtfully, "Then what should I do? Should I wiggle around like a worm?"

He was an expert fisherman in House Town, so he thought of fishing bait. He felt that if he wriggled about like bait, perhaps he could lure that hand out.

This time, he had made sufficient mental preparations and was determined to probe out the truth about that hand for Hawkins.

Hawkins said helplessly: No need. The place where you appeared is different from where you appeared last time, so I suspect that every time we leave Eternal Space for the Dream Realm, we arrive in a different location. There's a high chance this would be meaningless.

Ai Miye said in alarm: Then aren't we unable to leave the Dream Realm?

Asmodeus also said in surprise: Then should I keep going now? Or should I just kill myself?

Hawkins answered: Keep going. I'll think of another way.

Hawkins closed the Chat Group and turned back into the house.

He sat in the rocking chair, opened the two video feeds, and observed them carefully. Gradually, he found a clue.

Because Asmodeus had emerged from Eternal Space for the first time and immediately started falling, he instinctively closed his eyes. By the time he opened them again, he was already some distance from where he had emerged.

The second time, Asmodeus had been fully prepared, so he did not close his eyes immediately after emerging. He even forced them open, allowing him to see the scene at the point of departure.

The place where he emerged had actually been the same, but the direction of his fall was different.

If the first time had been a downward fall, then the second time had been an upward "fall." Because they were two completely different directions, Hawkins had initially mistaken them for different locations.