North Shore of Conquest, Navaja.
In the deep of the night in Navaja, people had returned to their homes one after another, and most areas of the streets had fallen into silence. Another quiet night was about to arrive.
In a high-end hotel somewhere in Navaja, Dorothy sat before the desk in her room, looking seriously at the ""wen hai hang zhi"" before her. The page Dorothy had opened was almost filled with handwriting, a handwriting Dorothy was very familiar with; it belonged to her older brother, Grego.
Not long ago, Dorothy used the ""wen hai hang zhi"" to contact Grego, asking him to help inquire with Little Fox about the Pan Moth and the various abnormal signs in Navaja. Just now, Grego finally replied to her. After carefully reading the information, Dorothy couldn't help but feel a surge of surprise.
"Butterflies and Moths... I didn't expect the group causing trouble in Navaja to be from the Black Dream Hunter Group. The Moth God they believe in... and the Butterfly God who is opposed to the Moth God. This time, I really got a lot of valuable information..."
Looking at Grego's handwriting on the pages before her, Dorothy couldn't help but murmur. The amount of information she had gathered from Little Fox this time was beyond her expectations. Because the Black Dream Hunter Group and Little Fox were inherently hostile, she shared a large amount of intelligence about the Black Dream Hunter Group with Dorothy with almost no reservations, and she didn't even ask for anything in return, which made Dorothy feel a bit overjoyed for a moment.
'Now it seems... Little Fox is a follower of the so-called Butterfly God lineage. And judging from the titles 'Dream Knight' and 'Messenger of the Moon' that the Butterfly God possesses, she should be the Dream Knight, one of the four Knights of the Moon Shadow, a subordinate deity under the Mirror Moon Goddess, just like Wind Knight Arthur.
'In the fairy tale about the Lake Fairy that Dorothy heard as a child, the Lake Fairy also used fairies as messengers, and this Butterfly God is also called the Fairy Queen, which also aligns with the fairies in the fairy tale. So this Butterfly God should be a deity from the Mirror Moon Goddess lineage in the Third Era. I just don't know why a Moth has suddenly appeared now to oppose her.
'According to the Black Dream Hunter Group, the Moth is a further transformation of the Butterfly; the Moth God is the existence of the Butterfly God after changing form. However, Little Fox does not agree with this statement and calls the Moth God a false god. The truth of the matter is completely unknown.'
Looking at the description of the Butterfly God in the ""wen hai hang zhi"", Dorothy thought to herself. She now roughly knew three of the four Knights of the Moon Shadow. Wind Knight Arthur was the national hero and founding king of Prit, now suspected to have fallen and his divine position vacant. Blood Knight has an unclear relationship with the monster Agello and the Spider Queen. Regardless of what happened between these three, the one sitting on the Blood Dark divine position is now the Spider Queen of the Eight Point Nest. The Dream Knight can be confirmed to be the Butterfly God, who now seems to be embroiled in a dispute with the Moth God, and her situation is not clear. The relationship between her and the Moth God is also unknown.
Among the gods of ""Shadow"", the one Dorothy has the least information about is the Spirit Knight and the main god, the Mirror Moon Goddess. The state of the Mirror Moon Goddess is the most important; she doesn't know what happened to her that led to such significant changes in her lineage of deities.
After thinking about the matter of the Butterfly God, Dorothy shifted her attention to more realistic intelligence, which was the information about the so-called Pseudo-Moth in the ""wen hai hang zhi"".
'Pseudo-Moth... an Extraordinary creature cultivated by the Black Dream Hunter Group by praying for the power of the Moth, existing between reality and the Dream World, needing to absorb nourishment from the dream cocoon of mortals to grow. It now seems that the root of the abnormal influence throughout Navaja is this thing.
'To provide nourishment for the growth of the Pseudo-Moth, the Black Dream Hunter Group uses beautiful dreams as bait, secretly spreading the cult of Moth belief everywhere. The dream cocoon of those who believe in the Moth will be captured, and if the dream cocoon is absorbed for a long time, the body will suffer mental collapse, becoming like those patients in mental hospitals. This should be the essence of Sleeping Sickness.
'According to Little Fox, the method by which these Black Dream Hunter Group guys obtain Extraordinary abilities is different from the mainstream hidden world. They obtain Extraordinary power from the Pseudo-Moth, and the higher the growth level of the Pseudo-Moth, the stronger the abilities they can obtain. This alternative method of obtaining Extraordinary abilities might be the reason why the Black Dream Hunter Group, despite possessing the ability of the Dream Eater Path, cannot normally utilize the 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) Spirituality. Their group are at most'Shadow' Apprentices within the mainstream promotion system, and they don't have extra 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) Spirituality for divination.
'They directly obtain abilities from the Pseudo-Moth, not Spirituality, and the Pseudo-Moth's own Spirituality is not that easy to use. Essentially, they are not normal auxiliary 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) Extraordinary.'
Dorothy thought so. Little Fox's information solved her confusion as to why a group of auxiliary ""enlightenment"" Extraordinary gathered together did not change the pattern of the hidden world, because these guys are not normal Extraordinary at all.
'I wonder what level of growth this Pseudo-Moth in Navaja has reached. According to the results of the investigation in the past few days, Sleeping Sickness has been ongoing in this city for more than ten years. I don't know how many patients have been affected over the years. Even now, the number of patients in the whole city is three to four hundred. The total number of victims over these ten years is at least several thousand...'
Frowning, Dorothy thought gravely in her heart. The total population of Navaja is about 150,000, and the cumulative number of victims of Sleeping Sickness over more than ten years is several thousand. This proportion is already very exaggerated. If it weren't for the high infiltration of the Black Dream Hunter Group in Navaja, and if it weren't for the strong control of the Moth cult's beautiful dreams, this proportion of mental illness incidence would definitely not be hidden.
And since this Moth of Navaja has devoured the dream cocoons of thousands of people, its growth level cannot be low. It is very likely that it has already reached the Pseudo-Chrysalis stage.
Thinking about the current situation in Navaja, Dorothy's expression became more serious. Turning the dreams of thousands of people into food for an Extraordinary creature, the methods of the Black Dream Hunter Group are even worse than those of the Placenta lineage societies and the Eight Point Nest.
After analyzing all the information, Dorothy erased the handwriting on the ""wen hai hang zhi"" and closed it. Then she closed her eyes slightly and began to extract the Spirit Sight information from this intelligence, finally obtaining 3 points of ""Shadow"" and 2 points of ""enlightenment"" Spirituality.
After obtaining this information from Little Fox, Dorothy had a general grasp of the situation in Navaja. Facing the powerful Extraordinary creature like the Pseudo-Moth, she had no intention of backing down; instead, she became more determined to eradicate the Black Dream Hunter Group here from Navaja.
'This base of the Black Dream in Navaja... has been operating for more than ten years. While harming many people, it must also have accumulated a lot of resources. Regardless of whether it is for public or private reasons, I have to get rid of it, and now there happens to be the Church's power here, which is an opportunity for me. I need to take advantage of this opportunity to find that Pseudo-Moth.'
Dorothy thought so, and then she planned to start working overnight to find the Black Dream's base and the location of that Pseudo-Moth. If the Church's people were not here, she would not easily provoke this group of guys, but since this help is nearby, there is no reason not to use it.
Under the cover of night, Dorothy controlled her small Corpse Puppet to scatter out in the dark, spreading out into every corner of Navaja again, sneaking into every corner of the small city at night, and began to monitor various different groups of people.
These people were key observation targets that Dorothy had spent time selecting beforehand. Among them were devout families who faithfully believed in the Pan Moth, the director of a mental hospital, and the high-ranking mayor of the Navaja Municipal Hall. These were all individuals who might have secret contact with the Black Dream Hunter Group. As long as she kept a close eye on them, Dorothy was confident she could find the tail of the Black Dream Hunter Group.
It was late at night, which was very conducive to the activities of'Shadow' organizations like the Black Dream Hunter Group. Therefore, it was also a good time for Dorothy to conduct this kind of comprehensive surveillance. As long as she could catch the tail of the Black Dream Hunter Group tonight, then their specific intelligence would be sent to the Church fleet at the port tomorrow under a very normal and reasonable excuse.
'Although there are Church members here, the Church might not be very familiar with matters concerning the Dream World. If they can't deal with this group of guys, it will be troublesome, so I must also prepare some backup plans.'
While conducting the surveillance, Dorothy continued to ponder in her heart. Then, she had some other ideas. So, she manipulated the small Corpse Puppets in the believers' homes to begin a detailed search. The main targets of the search were items like Pan Moth scriptures. Dorothy carefully flipped through these scriptures, and also had the small Corpse Puppets seriously observe how these believers usually worshipped the Pan Moth.
"Moth... please flutter in my skull... bring me a dream free of worries tonight..."
Under the observation of the small Corpse Puppets, Dorothy saw that in a civilian house somewhere in the city, a pair of thin, weak-looking old couples wearing pajamas were worshipping the Moth altar hidden in the partition. After completing the simple ritual, they wobbled out of the partition. After closing the door, the two entered their bedroom and soon turned off the lights and went to sleep.
Watching the two fall asleep, Dorothy immediately sent her small Corpse Puppets to their home to search for more information about the Pan Moth faith. But just as Dorothy began searching not long after, an unexpected situation occurred.
In the dark room at night, the old couple who had just fallen asleep not long ago, lying on the bed, suddenly began to tremble unnaturally all over. It wasn't that they started emitting painful moans from their mouths. In the midst of these painful sounds, their originally closed eyes suddenly opened, revealing the whites of their eyes rolled up.
"Ugh ah ah ah..."
As if having an epileptic seizure, the two old couples trembled more and more violently. The entire bed seemed like it was about to be shaken apart by them. Seeing this scene, Dorothy couldn't help but be startled.
'What's going on? Why did this situation suddenly occur? Is this perhaps the state of being granted a beautiful dream by the Pseudo-Moth? But this doesn't look like a beautiful dream at all?'
Looking at the abnormal movement in the room, Dorothy couldn't help but frown and think. Immediately afterwards, the Corpse Puppets in the homes of other believers also began to show abnormal movements.
In the homes of all the believers observed by Dorothy, including some municipal officials, they one after another began to tremble abnormally and emit painful sounds in their sleep. The symptoms of each person were surprisingly consistent, as if they were having the same dream. And judging from their expressions, such a dream was definitely not a beautiful dream but a nightmare.
Looking at the scene before her, Dorothy immediately understood that this was definitely not how they usually slept, because the commotion was too loud and had already started to affect the neighbors, who were knocking on the door. Therefore, this was also an unexpected situation for these believers.
In the mental hospital, Dorothy also saw that the originally listless patients suddenly all got up from their beds. They silently knelt on the ground, facing the same direction, and stretched out their hands in worship.
'What exactly is happening in their dreams... now?'
Looking at this series of abnormal situations before her eyes, Dorothy couldn't help but frown and think in her heart. An ominous premonition was rising in her heart at this moment.
...
Navaja, somewhere underground.
In the dark and vast underground space, countless figures were kneeling here at this time. Most of these figures were dressed in tattered clothes, their bodies emaciated, their eyes listless, looking like dried corpses, just like the patients in the mental hospital.
The emaciated people knelt in the dark space, forming circle after circle. They uniformly raised their hands in a posture of worship, their listless eyes staring at the center of the circles. Standing in the center was a circle of normal figures wearing gray-black robes. Their robes were embroidered with spiral moth patterns, and they were muttering softly. In the circle they formed, a colossal object was suspended.
That was a giant chrysalis nearly ten meters high. This chrysalis was suspended vertically in mid-air without the help of any external force. The entire chrysalis emitted a faint Light and also appeared strangely semi-transparent, seemingly real and yet not, as if it existed here, and yet not here. Around the chrysalis, faint illusory forest scenes could be glimpsed flashing by.
On the giant chrysalis, countless similarly semi-transparent white cocoon-like objects were attached to it. These cocoon-like objects almost covered the entire surface of the chrysalis and were slowly wriggling on it, seemingly being rapidly absorbed and integrated into the chrysalis. The entire scene was sickening to behold.
Below the giant chrysalis, among the group of people wearing gray-black robes, Garcia was holding a wooden staff, her eyes fanatically staring at the giant chrysalis before her. She spread her hands and shouted fanatically.
"Chrysalis! Eat to your heart's content! Eat all the cocoons that haven't been eaten yet! Absorb all the dreams that haven't been absorbed yet! And then transform!
"Moth Scale Evolution, now is not the time for you to grow slowly. The crisis has arrived before us. Light is trying to pierce our dreams. We need you! So transform now! Cover the Light with your wings! Let the eternal dream continue!"
Garcia called out to the giant chrysalis. Immediately, the giant chrysalis absorbed all the attached cocoon-like objects in one go. After integrating all the cocoon-like objects, its surface became smooth.
After swallowing all the cocoon-like objects, the giant chrysalis was silent for a while, then a crack appeared on its illusory surface.
At this moment, an invisible force erupted from the chrysalis, rapidly spreading to the surface and throughout the town of Navaja. People affected by this force fell into deep sleep one after another.
Seabirds flying in the sky fell from the sky because they suddenly fell asleep due to drowsiness. Policemen on duty yawned and then couldn't resist the drowsiness and fell to the ground. Thieves who were stealing fell asleep directly on the rooftops. No creature could resist this force.
This invisible force, centered on the giant chrysalis, quickly swept across the entire Navaja. Meanwhile, in the hotel, Dorothy, who was alerted by the sudden abnormalities in her observation targets, suddenly felt a strong wave of drowsiness, a drowsiness so powerful that she could not resist it.
In this powerful drowsiness, she was about to fall into a deep sleep with almost no resistance. At this instant, she felt that the situation was not good.
'Damn... this is... Extraordinary interference...
'I can't... just fall asleep like this...'
At the very last moment before falling asleep, Dorothy used her last bit of consciousness to hug herself tightly with her hands. Then, without applying Electrification to increase her electrical resistance, she released electricity from her body.