Anna already had answers to many questions, but she still liked to ask them and listen to Lu Li's replies.
"Hopefully not, but it will be difficult."
The dandelions swept away by the cyclone are only a large part, not all. Maybe there are dandelions that are absorbed by the water and left in the bluestone roads and puddles. Maybe there are dandelions that are blocked under clothes. Maybe there are dandelions that float into the roadside wooden houses——
Even if you burn down the entire block, you won't be able to completely eliminate them. Maybe some dandelions have already left the street and drifted to other places.
We can only hope that the joint organization has the means to detect dandelions, or that dandelions will rot and lose their weirdness in a short period of time.
Either way, the strange invasion of Allen City on the eve of the Exorcist Council is a disturbing thing.
I hope everything goes well in parliament tomorrow.
Back at the hotel, the guests at the dining table were all talking about the strange events in the next block. Many frightened guests had already taken their luggage downstairs and planned to stay away.
"Maybe we should go back."
Back in the room, Anna persuaded him again. Of course she knew the importance of the Exorcist Council, but nothing could compare to Lu Li's safety.
A sudden knock on the door interrupted Lu Li who was about to speak. Lilia walked in and asked what happened outside.
Lu Li briefly explained the strangeness of dandelions and asked Lilia to close the doors and windows after returning to her room.
After Lilia left, Lu Li said to Anna, who had just checked whether the window was closed tightly, "I want to confirm a guess."
"What is it?"
“About ‘Tinder’.”
Speculations about the "Tinder" plan have changed from fantasy to conclusive, and many derived questions still need to be considered.
Such as those exorcist arrangements outside of the asylum plan.
It can be analyzed from the perspective of optimism, pessimism, or even conspiracy theory. For example, optimism, the refuge point is just a back-up arranged by the Demon Slayer Association, just like the name of the plan itself, "Tinder", leaving the seeds of human elites until the flood
When it fades away, they will emerge from the mountains and underground and reappear the glory of civilization on the earth after the mess.
Pessimism is also the part of people who think they are abandoned and do not believe that the light will pierce the dark clouds after the disaster - they will not leave here.
As for conspiracy theories…
The Exorcist Association is as mysterious as it is weird. Among exorcists, night watchmen and investigators, except for investigators, who are relatively rare, the first two can be seen in slightly larger towns.
The members of the Demon Slayer Association rarely appear, and its attitude towards weirdness is ambiguous - the precedent for the use of evil spirits and other weirdness comes from them.
So, what if the Exorcist Association realizes that the invading weirdness is difficult to resist and takes the initiative to compromise?
Leave the fire behind, give up resistance, gather most of the power to fight against them together with yourself, and give it to the weird...
Conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories because they consist of worst-case outcomes and extremely malicious speculation about others, which are groundless but difficult to refute.
The trouble is, Lu Li's guess is closer to the last of the three opinions.
So if reality points to the conspiracy theory, then there will definitely be a weird invasion during the parliament.
"Like dandelions..." Anna murmured.
If Lu Li hadn't happened to live here, the dandelions might have spread uncontrollably to more than a dozen surrounding neighborhoods, infecting the entire southern part of the royal city.
"Then why don't we leave here?" Anna was puzzled.
"Dandelions are not difficult to fight."
For ordinary people who don't know anything, yes. Dandelions can kill them easily. But it won't be long before people know the rules of dandelions, which are like the rituals of evil spirits.
By that time, people only need to hide at home, in a closed place, or even wear a piece of clothing that can cover their entire body to ignore them.
No exorcist is stupid enough to be killed by a Dandelion who knows the rules.
"What if Dandelion is just the first wave? The kind of gangsters who come here to try and find trouble."
"So I'm waiting for the second wave." Lu Li replied calmly.
Whatever emerges, it would prove that part of the conspiracy theory comes true: the weirdos are aware of the gathering of exorcists and want to catch them all.
Regardless of whether this has something to do with the Demon Slayer Association, it is no longer safe to stay in the Royal City.
At nine o'clock in the evening, the pedestrians on the streets became much rarer than before, the hotel rooms were nearly half empty, and people were trying to stay away from the streets where the weird outbreak occurred as much as possible.
When Lu Li fell asleep, Anna covered him with a blanket, picked up the book on the pillow and put it into her suitcase, quietly guarding the sleeping Lu Li. If anything happened, she could take him away as soon as possible.
…
The five o'clock block has been completely cordoned off.
The surrounding neighborhoods are also controlled by the joint exorcist organization, but the ones stationed at the intersection have been replaced by royal city guards instead of exorcists.
"I feel like my body is about to freeze..." At the north intersection, the guards complained muffledly from the iron armor. "Who thought of letting us stand on the street wearing metal in the cold night?"
"Stop complaining, those exorcists inside are much more dangerous than us." His companion replied.
A gust of cold wind blew by, and the complaining guard trembled all over, and his armor made a clattering sound: "At least you don't have to freeze."
They could see a flash of fire lighting up at the end of the street extending forward.
The United Exorcists finally adopted Lu Li's suggestion and set fire to the entire neighborhood to prevent the spread of the weirdness.
Alliance members are going door-to-door to inform people living nearby, asking them not to panic and go out at will.
The wooden house that had been doused with kerosene quickly turned into a ball of fire, crackling and spreading to the buildings on both sides that were also doused with kerosene.
The exorcist, wearing a bird's beak protective suit, exited the five o'clock block and continued to move backwards, away from the heat wave that swept over his face.
The moisture in the air quickly evaporates and becomes dry. All filth is turned into ashes and smoke in the purifying flames.
People were looking up at the hell-like scene where the flames would never go out, with flames reflected in their eyes. Under unnoticed feet, a slender, dark claw spread silently towards the burning block.
…
crackling——
The sound of wood exploding kept coming from all around.
The moisture in the wooden wall was quickly dried, and a dandelion stuck in the moisture was freed.
Its down was stuck together, and it should have fallen weakly into the soil. But the heat wave blew it up, and it rose up to the burning eaves.
There were burning flames everywhere, but just when the surviving dandelion was about to be licked by the flames - the burning neighborhood suddenly fell into deathly darkness.
…
The sound of flapping wings could be heard outside the window.
Anna opened the curtains. A black crow stood outside the window, looking sideways at her, with a bamboo tube tied to its leg.
Open the window and let the crows in. The coolness comes in together with the smell of smoke from the walls.
Lu Li had already woken up, took the note from Anna and unfolded it.
There was only a short line of words scrawled beyond recognition.
【Escape quickly】
At some point, a piece of mist quietly spread from the withered wilderness outside the royal city.