A heavy, deep sound suddenly echoed in the bedroom, like wind howling through a culvert.
When Lu Li realized what it was, the Dreamwalker unfolded behind him, its halo and feline body fading and disappearing into thin air.
An unusual noise ca from the window, where a grotesque Bat Monster hung upside down, its crimson eyes peering through the window, sharp high-frequency sound waves piercing into the bedroom.
"My master... is bathing."
The Lizard Maid responded, engaging in so incomprehensible communication, "You cannot... You have no right to intrude."
Creak—
The bathroom door pushed open at this mont, and Claire, dripping with warm water and wrapped in a bathrobe, stood at the doorway, "What happened."
The Lizard Maid couldn’t understand why the Head Maid, who had gone out, was in the bathroom and answered with her head lowered, "Master, the Bat Guards are trying to break into your bedroom."
The wind howled in the washroom, and Claire’s tone was icy, "I need a reason."
Shrill sound waves pierced the glass, resonating in the bedroom, with the whistling and heavy breathing of the Bat Guards leaving the windowsill, rging into the night sky.
"What did it say?"
The outline of Lu Li, squatting by the doorfra, beca visible as Claire and the dreamlike haze disappeared beside him.
"It is rely following the mistress’s orders to monitor us."
Lu Li didn’t clearly hear the Lizard Maid’s explanation, as the terrifying solitude suddenly engulfed him.
The Dreamwalker had protected Lu Li from misfortune several tis, but now, stepping into the threshold, the Dreamwalker beca his nightmare — candlelight illuminating every corner of the bedroom, yet an indescribable darkness enveloping his soul and body.
A thick barrier separated Lu Li from the world, a sensation of being isolated as if the world had abandoned him, exiled beyond the stars, drifting silently in a cold dark space.
Lu Li’s resolve was not stronger than those who held the Cursed Title, especially after losing the Doomsday Apocalypse.
Within a cage built of fear and loneliness, Lu Li realized why the renowned legends seed to warm themselves with kindling in winter, why they were so humble in the face of hope—
Lu Li released the Dreamwalker, and the deprived safety and warmth suddenly returned. He told the Lizard Maid, "When Claire returns, tell her my humanity is too low, have her find a dying monster, and if I lose consciousness then, have her control to kill it." Then, resisting the longing for the warmth of the wooden cabin, he voluntarily stepped into the cold, snowy night.
...
Claire returned with good news to find Lu Li curled up at the foot of the bed as if ill, unresponsive to the outside world.
"The Bat Guards ca; the guest consud humanity to conceal your departure."
A fierce wind ravaged the bedroom. Claire wanted to catch the Bat Guards to atone, but was stopped by the Lizard Maid, "Master, this would expose you and the guest."
The wind gradually cald, Claire regained her composure, "You are right... Have the gardener provide a batch of living monsters. If it refuses, tell him it is to find his mother. No, don’t go, I’ll take Lu Li to the great cetery."
Claire called the Lizard Maid again. They appeared to have a smaller target this way.
As for the Bat Guards possibly returning, she couldn’t worry about that now.
Cradling the seemingly asleep Lu Li, Claire left the terrace again, flying towards the gardener’s domain.
In the great cetery, a fierce wind poured into the crypt, Claire disrupting the gardener’s transplantation of the Little Gardener’s body, amidst the latter’s agony from surgical failure, saying to the gardener, "I need a lot of living monsters."
The gardener cleaned up the failed surgery: the struggling Little Gardener was dismbered by those pale slender arms with a dagger, becoming a pile of lifeless limbs.
"This concerns the mother."
Claire’s addition made the gardener pause from his tasks, leading Claire to the burial ground — where the captured monsters piled up.
"Lu Li?"
Claire gently shook Lu Li, unable to wake him, so she followed Lu Li’s instructions, weakening the monsters to near death, imprinting cat paws on their bodies.
The faint but persistent damage eroded the monsters’ remaining vitality. As they perished, humanity poured like a clear spring into Lu Li’s withered soul.
Lu Li awoke on his own from the dream, weary and frail, allowing Claire to continue harvesting humanity.
"When..."
The gardener’s dull voice was cut off by Claire, "Is that frightening?"
"Unlike low Sanity Value syndro, low humanity makes you lose everything."
As if a newborn separated from the womb, as if driven from a warm ho, as if exiled from the world.
Yet even so, the brief loss of humanity had its benefits — allowing Lu Li to realize more clearly the importance and preciousness of humanity.
Even if asured against this cold, despairing universe, it remains rare.
"Kill... you all!"
A roar suddenly sounded from behind, the wind converging around Claire, blocking the attack from outside.
"Are you insane?"
Claire coldly questioned the gardener who suddenly went mad attacking her.
"My... mother! Who is she! Tell... !" The limbs stitched onto the deford torso swung with the gardener’s rage, like a mutated sea urchin driving people crazy.
"Lu Li needs rest, after he recovers, we’ll talk."
But Claire wasn’t afraid of the gardener.
"He’s already recovered, and is in good condition." Lu Li put a stop to their conflict.
"Like the comfort when the pain of a stomach cramp disappears?"
"Pretty much."
Lu Li asked the gardener to wait a little while longer, released the Dreamwalker, and told Claire, "Imagine the soul of the farr you saw."
An ethereal, glowing outline erged. It was the curled-up soul of a man, fragile and despondent, clearly visible yet making one feel as if it was a nebulous mist.
"Can you recognize it?"
"I don’t know it, but it feels familiar."
Lu Li searched his mory for that hint of familiarity.
And the dream-drenched surroundings began to reveal images and conversations:
"Since Dean Asamons is still not back from his trip, I’ll be hosting the banquet this year." Professor Chris at the main seat gestured to the figures beside her, "Now, would you all introduce yourselves to the low-grade cuties?"
"Senior Mysticology Professor, you can call Helmut." The gaunt figure in ancient, ornate musketeer attire removed his top hat.
"Divination Professor, Undead." The pale, decadent man beside Helmut, exuding a poet-like lancholy, pulled off his head, revealing centipede-like grotesque wounds and stitches.
The scene froze, the undead’s decadence rging with the curled soul floating nearby.
Lu Li identified the farr’s identity.
This also helped them narrow down the scope.
The Dreamwalker receded, and Lu Li asked Claire to continue helping him harvest humanitywhile he ventured into the dream, following the clues forward.
In the canopy layer was an honor corridor, where portraits of past professors from the Giant Tree Academy hung.
Lu Li appeared in the mory corridor and gazed at the first painting: the never-seen-before Dean Asamonsi in the Midnight City Illusion.
He had distinct long hair and a hooked nose.
Just like the gardener’s soul.
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