Long illness makes a good doctor

Lumian gazed at Franca's Eyes, which had turned back to lake blue due to her advancement, and saw the lights reflected within them, some bright and some yellowish.

"Yes," he echoed with a sigh.

Franca fell silent again.

After a long while, she murmured as if in a dream, "You know what? I can never go back..."

"What happened?" Lumian asked casually.

Franca begins her story again from the moment she and Jenna woke up in the Underground Area of Mushu Hospital, as if she needs to use more of the preceding narrative to build up the Courage to tell the rest of the story and to prolong the time for mental preparation.

Lumian wasn't in a hurry; he listened quietly, occasionally asking a couple of questions about the details.

When Franca explained how she chose to use the special properties of Dream to force her way up in order to gain the attention of the "Primordial Witch" and pave the way for her escape, Lumian raised an eyebrow.

Although he had already learned through the Convergence Law of Beyonder Characteristics and the "Witch's" spiritual intuition that Franca had ascended to the "Witch of Despair," and deduced from the earlier narrative that this was the method with the highest probability of success under the circumstances at the time, he still felt that it had a certain design element:

The conditions for becoming the "Witch of Despair" were met at that very moment!

Of course, this only applies if he wasn't present. If he were, he would have directly Burning the Corpse Oil Candle, Mysticism with the terrifying will within that special city, and forcibly destroyed the obstacles.

After recounting how she fell into the illusory Abyss as the Mirror World collapsed and the last part of the corridor crumbled, Franca paused for a few seconds before trying to describe in a straightforward tone how she slowed her descent, how she felt her spirit and soul approaching the Abyss, and how she chose that wisp of White Fog and fell into it.

Her body began to tremble, but she still managed to tell Lumian about the blurry Light Gate, the transparent "Cocoon," the rapidly spinning illusory Planet, the slightly solemn voice, her Past self inside the "Cocoon," and the corresponding reasonable Lumian.

Lumian had long suspected that the "Transmigration" was not what Franca and the other members of the "Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society" thought, and suspected that it contained a terrifying truth that they could not accept. Therefore, during their time in the Dream City, he and Jenna tacitly treated Franca well and expressed their importance to her more clearly and explicitly. However, he did not expect the truth to be like this.

It wasn't a spatial Transmigration, but a temporal Transmigration... Can space be traveled back and forth, and time be reversed? No, if it could, Resurrection Aurora wouldn't be so difficult... Lumian's mood suddenly turned sorrowful.

He felt that he had permanently lost several very important people and some things he missed dearly. The sadness, the melancholy, the regret, and the Pain were like a sharp carving knife, chiseling an epitaph into his heart stroke by stroke.

He immediately understood that this was his Older Sister Aurora's feeling; Soul Fragments resonated with Franca's story and Franca's intense emotions.

My Homeland, I can never go back to it.

"That's exactly it. I suspect that the Western Continent is where the ' Underworld Daoist ' and ' Celestial Master ' reside. It's what my hometown will look like thousands or even tens of thousands of years from now..." Franca's body was still trembling slightly.

Lumian closed his eyes briefly and deliberately smiled, "I suddenly feel incredibly lucky. At least I still have hope of Resurrection Aurora, while you've lost even that last Wishes."

Franca's mouth gaped open, and she was a little stunned.

Enraged, she laughed coldly, "Damn it! Can't you ' Hunter ' say anything nice? How can a human mouth utter such vile words!"

"I thought you were going to kick me away." Lumian gave him a smug look.

Franca suddenly understood his true intention, and with a "humph," she said, "I do have that urge; you're perfect to be a punching bag right now."

She paused, then turned her gaze back to the window, looking at the warm, tranquil night, and said, "When you said before that at worst we could fail the mission and just send another group, or that we could all face the Apocalypse together, and that I couldn't possibly die Underground at the Mushu Hospital, I didn't entirely agree with your ideas and style, but I still felt that my life had some meaning..."

"I said that on purpose, to make you feel needed and valued, to help you out of that Aura of Death, Despair state." Lumian chuckled. "Although I didn't know exactly what you had gone through at the time, I could still tell how you were feeling."

Franca turned around abruptly, looked at Lumian, and let out a soft "heh":

"When it comes to a ' Hunter,' we should look at what he does and how he does it, not what he says. I know you did send Rosanne and Jenna to invite Zhou Mingrui to the Underground Area."

Before Lumian could respond, she showed a hint of curiosity that contrasted with her previous Aura of Death demeanor:

How did you get into that psychological trauma?

That's near the bottom of the Illusory Abyss!

Lumian smiled and said, "I met Lü Yong'an when I went down to the second basement level. She must have been an external consciousness that entered through some method, rather than Dream Image like Green's that had been Corruption and influenced."

"So, when we met at the Crimson Moon Hospital, she probably saw through my disguise as a fake Divine Child, yet she still cooperated with my actions completely. Heh, maybe to the ' Great Mother,' whether I am a real Divine Child or a fake Divine Child, as long as I bear the title of Divine Child, I will eventually become real, and this time I had the chance."

"At the time, Lü Yong'an told me that the only way to enter the illusory Abyss and save people was to ask for my mother's help."

"You didn't beg, did you?" Franca was completely overwhelmed with concern and worry, temporarily forgetting her despondency, low spirits, and the Pain and Despair that were slowly eroding her soul.

Her gaze unconsciously drifted to Lumian's stomach.

"Of course not." Lumian deliberately brought up Lü Yong'an's matter first in order to stir up Franca's emotions and prevent her from being completely immersed in grief.

Having been ill for a long time, he knew what to say and what to do in such situations.

More importantly, he himself is also a "Witch of Despair," and he has experienced the process of immediately Attunement Acting Method after his promotion, digesting the part of the Potion that "made him Despair," and he has learned from the treatment report of the world's strongest "Psychiatrist" how to stabilize his mental state and avoid Loss of Control.

This is why he frankly told Franca his true thoughts and state of mind before saving her. He wanted to be the most stable anchor point; otherwise, what "Hunter" would directly reveal his innermost thoughts?

Franca couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief:

"So how did you destroy the illusory Abyss and open the passage?"

Lumian laughed:

"Corpse Oil Candle."

As he spoke, he took out the bottle of pale yellow and reddish semi-solidified Candle, sighed, and said, "' The Flames of Destruction ' burned too fiercely; this Candle can only be used once more."

Franca, having heard Lumian recount her experience of using Corpse Oil Candle for the Mysticism Ritual, and knowing that the object of the Mysticism was likely a terrifying will standing at the pinnacle of the "Hunter" and "Witch" Pathway, suddenly widened her eyes and exclaimed, "You're going a bit extreme..."

She didn't continue, because she realized that such an extreme measure was to save herself.

Lumian recounted his feelings during the Mysticism Ritual, the arrival of a terrifying will, and the Mutation in the Residual Aura of the "Blood Emperor," concluding with, "I couldn't have entered that Gray Fog originally, but an exaggerated Lightning happened to Gray Fog it."

"That was..." Franca recalled for a moment, "... Incantation that Lady ' Justice ' somehow transmitted. It sounded like a name, and it had to be pronounced in Ancient Hermetic."

She didn't dare utter the Incantation, fearing that even if she didn't use supernatural language, it would still attract lightning strikes in her Dream, just not as terrifying.

"Incantation capable of creating such exaggerated Lightning in Mr. ' The Fool's ' Dream?" Lumian pondered for a moment and said, "Does it involve True God, or even some Great Ones? Or is it related to Mr. ' The Fool's ' understanding?"

"Hmm." Franca was more concerned with another question, "How are you feeling right now?"

Lumian raised his right hand, palm up, revealing a small patch Paleness Paleness skin and, beneath it, specks of old, dark red.

"The Mutation aura of the ' Blood Emperor ' and the seal of the ' Underworld Daoist ' have begun to merge; they can actually fuse together..."

"There are no outward manifestations yet, and it hasn't brought about any other Change..."

Lumian examined his own condition and said, "Also, I feel like there's something extra on my body, but I can't find it, and it hasn't affected me at all... This seems more like a side effect of the Mysticism Ritual, a kind of hallucination..."

"Try to break free from the Dream these next couple of days and let ' Magician ' examine Lady," Franca reminded Lumian, urging him not to ignore the issue and to confirm the situation as soon as possible.

Lumian nodded, then said, "Go to the company and resign these next two days. The reason you kept your position was to Zarathustra out from the shadows, so you could escape the Dream in a crisis. But for now, you can't leave here."

Franca then remembered her current state—before she fully digested the "Despair" Potion, she would Loss of Control and turn into Monster the moment she left the Dream and returned to reality.

"Hmm." She didn't try to be brave; she realized she was still in trouble.

Then she turned around and prepared to leave the window.

"Aren't you going to keep looking at the night view outside?" Lumian asked casually.

Franca pursed her lips and said, "The more I look at it, the more I miss it; the more I look at it, the more reluctant I am to part with it..."

She stopped, turned halfway to the side, and once again cast her gaze upon the night view outside the window.

After gazing for a few seconds, she said in a soft, emotional voice, "If I were Mr. ' The Fool,' I might wish to stay asleep forever, in this beautiful dream, and never wake up..."