[I Love My Family Group]
Ai Miye: Hawkins? I think I can understand the words in here. I can understand them!
Hawkins: That is because you signed the contract. These words will automatically be converted into meanings you can understand and conveyed to your consciousness. So, child, you still need to study properly. Later, I'll find good teachers to teach you all how to read.
Ai Miye: That's amazing. Does that mean we can all use it to talk 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 the two of them stood face-to-face, they insisted on communicating only through the Chat Group, exchanging glances from time to time. Ai Miye could not help laughing.
Hawkins looked at Asmodeus then and smiled. "Asmodeus, aren't you going to give it a try?"
"Will real eyes grow bugs?" Asmodeus asked worriedly.
Hawkins said helplessly, "Asmodeus, you're such a big, strong man. How can you be so timid?"
"Sorry, I'll go right away." Asmodeus blushed at being told off 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 did grow out!"
"Hahahaha!" Ai Miye could not help laughing when she saw that.
But Asmodeus quickly learned how to use the Chat Group. He stood beside Ai Miye without saying a word, merely exchanging glances with her now and then and occasionally letting out muffled snickers.
[I Love My Family Group]
Hawkins: Asmodeus, I have a task for you.
Asmodeus: Mr. Hawkins, what task?
Hawkins: I can resurrect you infinitely, so danger is not quite as dangerous for you. Now, I need you to go outside and scout the way.
Asmodeus: Scout the way?
Hawkins: Yes.
Hawkins: You can tell us what you find here. Oh, right, there's also a camera function. As long as you agree to upload what you see, we'll be able to see through your eyes.
Ai Miye and Asmodeus fell silent for a moment. Then Hawkins saw two video feeds open up—one showing what Ai Miye saw, and the other what Asmodeus saw.
[I Love My Family Group]
Ai Miye: We really can see it. This is amazing!
Asmodeus: Mr. Hawkins, I'm willing to scout the way. If I die, please make sure to resurrect me.
Hawkins: Ai Miye can bear witness. If you die out there, I will definitely resurrect you. Also, we're family now. You don't need to call me Mr. Hawkins. You can call me Hawkins, or Brother Huo.
Ai Miye: Brother Huo? That's such a strange way to address 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 falling at high speed, unable to stop himself from screaming.
Ai Miye hurriedly asked in the Chat Group, "Big Brother Asmodeus, are you okay?"
Asmodeus was still falling. He had screamed at first, but quickly steadied himself and replied, "I'm fine, but I might fall to my death. Brother Huo, you have to resurrect me!"
Hawkins smiled. "Don't worry. I'll definitely resurrect you. Go die in peace."
The Dream Realm!
Hawkins had not expected that he and Ai Miye would be transported into the Dream Realm in their physical bodies. Ai Miye's ancestor's strength clearly needed to be reassessed.
A Curse Caster capable of forcibly transporting targets from the real world into the Dream Realm was 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 grave danger.
Though he possessed quite a few abilities, he truly was only a novice when it came to Curse Casters. Even his vast Curse Power could not change that fact, so he would not underestimate enemies like Ai Miye's ancestor.
After thoroughly reflecting on this in his heart, Hawkins saw something stretch a "hand" out from the darkness. Asmodeus's face turned deathly pale. Then his body was seized, and in an instant, it scattered into countless specks of light.
Ai Miye covered her mouth, staring wide-eyed as the video feed fell into darkness, before turning to Hawkins.
"Don't worry, I'll resurrect him right now!" Hawkins reassured her.
Perhaps because the ring served as an anchor, this resurrection consumed only one-tenth of the Curse Power it had before.
Asmodeus stepped out of the resurrection passage and immediately freaked out. "That scared me to death! It was terrifying! What was that thing?"
"I don't know, but luckily it was you who went out. If I had gone out, that would have been disastrous." Hawkins looked grave.
The shape of that hand had actually been extremely vague. It was not even certain that it was a hand, because the hand formed by that black shadow merely resembled one. Yet 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 once more. I have to figure out what that thing is. Otherwise, we'll never be able to leave this place. Ai Miye and I will both go hungry. There's no food here, and the longer we delay, the more unfavorable it becomes for us. So... sorry for the trouble!"
But that hand had felt utterly terrifying to him just now. If he had replaced Asmodeus and encountered such a horrifying ambush, the outcome probably would not have been much different from Asmodeus's.
Asmodeus's face was somewhat pale. When he encountered that hand, he had experienced a fear 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 definitely would have lost control on the spot.
Yet 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 okay?" Hawkins hurriedly asked when he saw this.
Asmodeus scratched at his hair and took several deep breaths before speaking. "I'm terrified. More terrified than when pirates killed me. That feeling was too horrible."
"Then... maybe forget it," Ai Miye said hesitantly.
Instead, Asmodeus shook his head and refused. "No. I have to go. I can still be resurrected if I die. It'll be fine."
"Asmodeus, you're very brave!" Hawkins said approvingly.
He had not expected that experimentally resurrecting Asmodeus would yield even better results than anticipated.
With Asmodeus scouting the way, their chance of returning to reality was undoubtedly far greater than if Hawkins took the risk himself.
Asmodeus could fail countless times, while he could not fail even once. One failure would mean true death. Eternal Sea Chart's resurrection did not include its owner.
If he died, he would become Eternal Sea Chart's Curse Spirit. Like Asmodeus trapped within the ring, he would be imprisoned inside Eternal Sea Chart until it gained a new owner.
"Mm. Then go," Hawkins said with a nod.
Asmodeus passed through the passage leading out of Eternal Space and immediately began plummeting. He gritted his teeth and refused to close his eyes, continually watching his surroundings instead.
But Hawkins soon discovered through the video feed that the place where Asmodeus was falling was not the same as before.
"He appeared somewhere else?"
Hawkins was somewhat puzzled. Then he opened the earlier video feed and compared the two.
Sure enough, Asmodeus had not appeared in the same location, meaning his sacrifice had actually been completely meaningless.
But this also brought an even greater problem. If Hawkins wanted to leave the Dream Realm, it would be even more difficult.
[I Love My Family Group]
Asmodeus said guiltily: Brother Huo, I feel like something is wrong. This time, I don't seem to have encountered that hand.
Ai Miye guessed: Could it be that the hand is no longer interested in you?
Asmodeus asked in confusion, "Then what should I do? Should I wiggle around like a bug?"
He was an expert fisherman in House Town, so he thought of fishing bait at this moment. He felt that if he wriggled about like bait, perhaps he could lure that hand out.
This time, he had made ample mental preparations, determined to probe out the truth of that hand for Hawkins.
Hawkins said helplessly: No need. The location where you appeared is different from where you appeared last time, so I suspect that every time we leave Eternal Space and enter the Dream Realm, we emerge in a different place. There's a high chance that doing this would be meaningless.
Ai Miye said in alarm: Then doesn't that mean we have no way to leave the Dream Realm?
Asmodeus also said in surprise: Then should I keep going now? Or should I just kill myself?
Hawkins replied: 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 both video feeds, and observed them carefully. Gradually, he began to see a pattern.
Because Asmodeus had fallen the instant he first emerged from Eternal Space, he instinctively closed his eyes. By the time he opened them again, he had already drifted some distance from the place where he emerged.
The second time, Asmodeus had already made full mental preparations. He did not immediately close his eyes after emerging, and even forced them open, allowing him to see the image of the starting point.
The place where he emerged was actually 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 the directions were completely opposite, Hawkins had initially mistaken it for Asmodeus appearing in a different location.