The carriages leaving the inner city traveled further out along the avenue.
"We still have a chance. Sir Lu Li...my wife...Mim has used her true identity. The Giant Tree Academy will soon find out that we are missing, and then look for..."
Professor Hagrid was talking quietly.
Just not now.
The carriage that kidnapped Lu Li and Professor Hagrid drove smoothly through the long street and left the outer city. It set foot on the cave that leads to the surface and the old sewer, called the Road of Sighs.
The oil lamp hanging on the side of the car gave off a dim yellow glow, and the coldness poured into the car, dissipating the turbid air.
There is also primitive darkness that seeps into the carriage. They are like mosquitoes gathering around the lamp in summer, lingering and beating.
After nearly two months, Lu Li set foot on the surface again.
When Lu Li was thinking about whether Professor Hagrid's wife and children were taking them away from Midnight City, the carriage slowed down and drove down a muddy dirt road without paved stones.
They are not far from their destination.
Ten minutes later, the carriage stopped.
The carriage door opens from the outside, revealing this pagan camp located on the outskirts of Midnight City.
Lu Li, who was being escorted by Sithorn, raised his head and looked around. The dim visibility at noon allowed him to glimpse the outline of the giant tree in the distance, as well as the shining alchemy tower at the top.
Looking back to the surroundings, the pagans in black cloaks were like thick fog, gathering around the fires that dispersed the original darkness in the square.
Lu Li and Professor Hagrid passed by a simple square and were escorted deep into the camp where sparse wooden houses stood.
A church stands in the darkness, and the copper bell on the tall tower is replaced by a giant eyeball. The pupils of the eyeball emit a dense red light, which scatters down the long street as it rotates.
They were detained separately. Professor Hagrid took him to a house on the roadside, while Lu Li passed by the church and was taken to the deepest part of the camp, to a house that was dormant in darkness.
bang
The door closed, leaving behind Lu Li and an oil lamp tied to the wooden post.
The footsteps gradually moved away, and Lu Li shook his wrists. The binding was so tight that it was almost impossible to break free.
Before leaving clear scratches, Lu Li stopped, relaxed his body, and let himself fall into sleep.
The unchanging atmosphere made people crazy. Lu Li wandered in the chaotic dream, looking for the surrounding light balls.
No one was sleeping in the camp. Lu Li, who was worried that his traces would be discovered, no longer set foot in the camp square, recalling the surrounding details and wandering outside.
It's just that the surroundings of this pagan camp seem to have been cleared out long ago, or it may not be time for rest, and there is nothingness in the chaotic dream.
After finding nothing, Lu Li returned the same way, but when he was deep in the campground on the way, he found a hazy light.
Someone has just fallen asleep.
The hazy light waiting for the new birth condensed into a ball of light, the dream became stable, and Lu Li merged into it.
Noise rang out beside him, and Lu Li's consciousness descended into the bustling street.
This is the core of the dream, and the surrounding scenery is blurry and confusing due to the simplicity of the dream, making it impossible to delve into it.
Lu Li drifted towards dream consciousness and saw various strange things along the way: passers-by shopping on the street neatly tore open shillings to pay for goods. In the fighting ring, the winner whose left arm was chopped off by the enemy raised a bloody ax and chopped off his other arm.
Only one arm. The streets are symmetrical like a mirror image, with an equal number of men and women, an equal number of old people and children...
Lu Li found the owner of the dream, a pagan with a vague face. He sat behind the coffee shop window, picked up the coffee cup, drank half of it and left the other half.
Using the somnambulism technique he mastered in the Emerald Dream, Lu Li hypnotized the pagans into sinking their consciousness into the deepest layers, leaving their bodies with only instincts and following their subconscious.
But in an instant, the dream collapsed, and Lu Li's consciousness was squeezed out.
Were they found to be strange, or are pagans not suitable for sleepwalking?
While staying in the chaotic dreamland, Lu Li found that the mist appeared again.
The heretic fell asleep again.
It's like a fruit gradually ripening and a ball of light taking shape. It's just hard to tell whether it's a sweet ripe fruit or a dark and rotten conspiracy.
Lu Li approached the light group and merged into the unknown dream.
The majestic, holy church floating in the void like a scale emerged, and the prayers of the pagans echoed in the empty auditorium.
"The master who maintains the balance of all things, your humble followers sense your tentacles and ask you to send down your advice."
Due to Lu Li's guidance, he thought his main consciousness had arrived.
"Find Lu Li who was taken to the depths and rescue him..."
Lu Li touched the dream and sent down a "divine revelation" that made the pagans ecstatic.
The dream scene suddenly changed and returned to a dark and simple house.
This was still a dream. Lu Li saw fanatical believers rushing out of the house and running into the depths.
In the dream, everything went smoothly, and there was no pagan to stop it. But when the believers came to the long street where the eyes were patrolling, the red light swept across, and the running silhouette melted and collapsed like a candle.
The dream was shattered by death, and Lu Li woke up leisurely.
It seems that there is no possibility of self-rescue. We can only wait for Midnight City to discover the disappearance of Professor Hagrid or the suspicious plant, so we report it.
As Lu Li's thoughts were spinning, the sound of footsteps suddenly sounded outside the house. Then, the door opened, revealing a silhouette holding an oil lamp.
"My Lord commanded me to save you."
The cultist who had been sneaked into the dreamland by Lu Li not long ago appeared outside the door, his face no longer blurry, with a sleep-talking piety, and a dagger.
The dagger separated the hemp rope and no longer restrained Lu Li, sliding down as he stretched his body.
"How do I leave?"
"Escape from the camp..." The sleepwalking obedience was suddenly broken, and the awake pagan showed his fangs: "No! You are a sacrifice to my Lord!"
But he was too late.
rustling
Lu Li tied the knocked-out pagan to a wooden post, put on his black robe, extinguished the oil lamp and left the house.
The surging darkness and coldness followed, and Lu Li sneaked quietly, keeping in mind the dangerous eyeballs of the church tower. When it swept past with blood-red light, Lu Li had already hid in the shadows of corners or unlocked houses to hide himself.
No pagans came here, so Lu Li successfully sneaked to a windowless hut near the square with the door closed.
He remembered that Professor Hagrid was imprisoned here.
After listening quietly under the eaves for a while, he made sure that there was only Professor Hagrid's weak breathing in the house and that no guards were staying. Waiting for his eyes to scan again, Lu Li opened the door and crawled into the house along the gap.
At the edge of the dim halo of the oil lamp, Professor Hagrid was tied to a wooden post, the same as Lu Li not long ago.
"Your Excellency Lu Li...!"
Upon hearing the noise, Professor Hagrid raised his head and whispered in disbelief.
The dagger separated the hemp rope, and Professor Hagrid stumbled and fell. The limbs numbed by ischemia need time to recover.
"Sir Lu Li, please escape first and seek rescue..." Professor Hagrid said.
"The camp is surrounded by pagans, and there is no way to leave." Lu Li shook his head gently.
Without the Doomsday Apocalypse, Lu Li's strength and stamina were unable to support him in escaping from the camp.
"Can you still summon Merchant Anthony?" Professor Hagrid asked again.
"Only if you have eyeballs."
"...Then use my eyes"
Professor Hagrid was about to make a decision when Lu Li interrupted him: "Eyeballs are the fruit of a strange plant. Our eyes are useless."
They don't have much time left, and no one knows how long it will take for the pagan camp to find them out of trouble.