Circle of Inevitability - Chapter 995: Dream?

“Mommy…”

“Mommy…”

Lumian heard crying calls coming from the surrounding darkness, shrill and pitiful, as if clawing at his heart and soul.

Suddenly, black flames that suppressed madness and destruction ignited on Lumian’s body.

These flames spread to the surroundings, burning away the darkness and everything hidden within it.

The crying calls abruptly became piercing, then quickly dissipated.

Lumian let out a cold laugh.

“If you had called me ‘Daddy’, I might have felt a bit reluctant and affectionate, but ‘Mommy’? Who are you trying to fool?”

Just as he finished muttering this to himself, the surrounding darkness shattered inch by inch.

Lumian then awoke, opening his eyes to see the ceiling with its hanging chandelier, hidden in the deep night.

Was I just dreaming?

The fetus in Li Keji’s belly died at the hands of its ‘mother’, its resentment unresolved, it latched onto me, and I thoroughly burned it away?

Your ‘mother’ is Omebella, what does that have to do with me, Lumian?

Lumian grumbled a few words, reached for his phone, selected “Intis Group Grimm”, and used voice input to say: “I heard the cries of my child, who encountered a disaster leading to death.

“Someone must have helped Li Keji abort.”

After sending this WeChat message, Lumian copied the content and sent it to Lu Yong’an as well.

Within ten to twenty seconds, Lu Yong’an replied: “Should we go to Crimson Moon Hospital now?”

Lumian brought the phone to his mouth, shook his head and said, “It’s too late, the matter is already over.

“Rushing over now could very likely lead us into a trap set by the enemy.

“Since the matter can’t be undone, let’s wait until tomorrow, or the day after, until we’re sure there’s no ambush around Li Keji, then go investigate the situation, find the culprit, and think of ways to remedy this.”

“Wise of you, Child of God.” Lu Yong’an replied in a formal tone.

At this time, Grimm also responded, expressing the same meaning as Lu Yong’an. Lumian chose to copy and paste what he had said.

After reassuring Grimm, Lumian was about to go back to sleep when he suddenly saw a new message from Lu Yong’an: “Child of God, I just saw someone standing outside the hospital from my window.”

“Who?” Lumian understood that the reason Lu Yong’an mentioned this must be because she recognized the person, or they were very important.

After a few seconds, Lu Yong’an replied: “It’s Zhou Mingrui.”

Zhou Mingrui? Such a strong initiative, only learning about the Oracle’s corpse appearing in Mushu Hospital’s underground morgue during the day, and wanting to sneak in to investigate at night? Isn’t this too rash? Or is it just a preliminary observation? Lumian became fully alert, all traces of sleepiness gone.

He brought the phone to his mouth again and used voice input to say: “Don’t worry about it for now, notify me when Zhou Mingrui enters the hospital.”

…

Outside Mushu Hospital, Zhou Mingrui, still wearing a sky-blue T-shirt, pretended to make a phone call while casually surveying his surroundings, focusing on the emergency center.

After learning about Da Nizi’s death and confirming the relevant details through public reports, Zhou Mingrui felt that Mushu Hospital seemed to have significant issues, especially the underground morgue.

So, when night fell deeper, he took a taxi here, planning to pretend to seek emergency treatment while actually taking a tour of Mushu Hospital to see if he could discover anything.

He hadn’t planned to investigate the underground morgue today; he didn’t want to take potentially significant risks before gathering sufficient information.

While saying words like “okay,” “no problem,” “alright,” “can do,” and “that’s it,” Zhou Mingrui’s gaze swept across the emergency center, across the patients and family members coming and going, but he couldn’t see anything unusual.

This wasn’t actually his first time at Mushu Hospital. He had come for treatment twice before, as it was one of the closest hospitals to Intis Group and his residence. It had only been open for a few years, so whether for emergency or outpatient services, there weren’t many people, no need to queue for long, and no worries about not being able to make appointments online.

The district-level hospital closer to his residence, he felt, wasn’t very reliable, while the other well-established hospitals were always overcrowded.

The only difference from last time is that Mushu Hospital’s reputation is growing, and more people are coming for treatment… It’s a good thing I recovered midway from having some health issues after listening to heavy metal and was thinking of coming here for treatment because there weren’t many people… Zhou Mingrui recalled his experience of seeking emergency treatment half a year ago, as well as the incident a few weeks ago when he took sick leave to come to Mushu Hospital, but his illness got better before he even reached his destination.

Thinking of this, he suddenly had a realization.

That sick leave made me miss the formal meeting with Zaratulstra…

And I didn’t actually enter Mushu Hospital…

My hearing that song ‘Advance’ wasn’t a coincidence, the melody and sound of that song were mixed with mystical powers?

Does this mean that Zaratulstra and Mushu Hospital really have issues?

But when I came half a year ago, nothing happened, I didn’t notice anything unusual…

Are the problems at Mushu Hospital gradually worsening?

As Zhou Mingrui muttered to himself, his gaze moved up from the emergency center to the entire building.

Suddenly, he heard his own heartbeat.

Thump!

Thump!

Zhou Mingrui inexplicably felt fear, making his heart feel as if it had been violently squeezed by an invisible hand, uncontrollably speeding up its beating.

Thump!

Thump!

He felt as if something he feared and dreaded most was hidden in that building, as if it were the source of his fear.

There really is a problem… Zhou Mingrui’s pupils rapidly dilated.

Half a year ago, he had also come for emergency treatment at night, and had also looked at Mushu Hospital’s main building, but at that time he didn’t have any feeling that terrifying things were hiding inside.

Zhou Mingrui steadied himself, closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing.

When his heartbeat calmed down, he looked at the Mushu Hospital building again.

Thump!

Thump!

He once again experienced a sudden burst of fear, instinctively believing that deep inside Mushu Hospital were things he didn’t want to face and was afraid to encounter.

Zhou Mingrui subconsciously wanted to turn and leave, but ultimately endured.

Just do a preliminary observation, just do a preliminary observation…

Avoiding won’t solve the problem, avoiding won’t solve the problem…

As he muttered to himself, Zhou Mingrui’s right palm, not holding the phone, naturally hung down, clenching and unclenching, unclenching and clenching.

After about ten seconds, he hung up the phone, took a step forward, and walked towards the entrance of the emergency center.

…

In Room 2303 of Dechuang Garden.

After Franca and Jenna fell asleep, they quickly gained lucidity.

This was something that inevitably happened when Beyonders entered Luo Shan’s Shaman world, and neither of them was surprised.

But in the next second, what met their eyes was not the frozen storm, wandering Astral Projections, and semi-transparent barriers, but a dimly lit corridor.

The walls of the corridor were painted white, giving off a slight green tinge under the dim light.

“Where is this?” Franca blurted out in astonishment.

Where has Luo Shan’s Shaman world gone?

Amidst her surprise, Jenna thought of a possibility. “Could something have happened to Luo Shan? Because of confirming that Huang Jiajia and others were more fake?”

That would make Luo Shan further face the fact that this was a dream.

“But didn’t Anthony say that Luo Shan’s emotions had stabilized to some extent?

“Did she experience some shock after going home?” Franca responded with confusion.

“Anyway, let’s find Luo Shan first. This might be the Shaman world after some change.” Jenna looked around and concentrated on listening.

Faced with a situation different from usual, Franca instinctively put her hand into her Traveler’s Bag, preparing to take out her Beyonder items.

Suddenly, she paused. “No, that’s not right!”

Seeing Jenna turn her gaze towards her, Franca said with a serious expression,

“The Traveler’s Bag is still here, and the items inside are still there.”

Jenna’s gaze instantly froze, understanding what Franca meant: Only Astral ProjectionS could enter Luo Shan’s Shaman world to fight monsters, and Astral Projections obviously wouldn’t carry a Traveler’s Bag and corresponding items. Even if they did, it would only be something conjured by the dream, with no actual ability!

“This isn’t Luo Shan’s Shaman world? What exactly have we encountered?” Jenna furrowed her brow.

She tried to leave this place through Cogitation, to make her Astral Projection return to her body.

But this had no effect.

“We’re not Astral Projections on an excursion, entering Luo Shan’s dream or Shaman world. We’ve been directly transferred to this place,” Franca gave her conclusion, “How is this possible? I didn’t feel anything at all…”

Just as she finished speaking, she suddenly heard Luo Shan’s voice coming from a room ahead.

“No, no, I refuse!”

A few seconds later, the door of that room was pulled open, and Luo Shan, wearing pajamas, rushed out.

Luo Shan saw Franca and Jenna, stopped in her tracks, and asked in surprise, “You’re here too?”

Franca and Jenna first lowered their heads, examining their own clothes, finding that they were both wearing nightgowns, then Franca addressed Luo Shan, “Where is this? Why shouldn’t we be here?”

“This is my dream… Did I dream about you?” Luo Shan looked bewildered and confused.

Franca and Jenna exchanged a glance, then carefully asked, “What did you dream about?”

“I dreamed that someone was whispering strange words in my ear, and I dreamed of many fragmented scenes. There was a pregnant woman with a big belly, it seemed like the flesh on her face and one eyeball had been clawed off, with head-like lumps growing on both sides of her shoulders. There was also a man whose heart had been dug out, and the cries of infants…

“Finally, I dreamed of this corridor, dreamed that I was in a room, and a voice told me…” Luo Shan suddenly stopped as she recalled her dream.

“Told you what?” Jenna pressed.

Luo Shan hesitated for a few seconds before saying, “It said, said it could help me masquerade as the genuine article, replace the me outside, so that even if the dream shatters, I could live on truly…

“I-I couldn’t accept that, how could I, how could I harm an innocent person?”

Hearing Luo Shan’s words, Franca and Jenna’s pupils dilated simultaneously.

The former swallowed hard and asked, “Do you remember the strange words at the beginning of the dream?”

Luo Shan tried her best to recall. “It seemed, seemed to be ‘Truth can become false, falsehood can become true. The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings…'”

At this moment, Jenna and Franca both seemed to turn into statues.

Franca suddenly “woke up” and said in a deep voice, “Quickly, let’s confirm where this place is!”

“Isn’t this my dream…” Luo Shan said softly.

“Are you usually this lucid in your dreams?” Jenna asked rhetorically while looking for identifiable signs.

“That’s true…” As Luo Shan muttered in confusion, Franca and Jenna simultaneously discovered a bulletin board on the wall ahead.

The two strode forward, rushing over, and with the help of the dim light, they immediately saw large characters in a certain part of the bulletin board: “Mushu Hospital.”