Circle of Inevitability

As Jenna asked the question, she glanced at Franca.

Franca nodded slightly.

Luo Shan recalled her past experiences, her emotions calming a bit. "Thrice."

"When and where was the first time?" Jenna asked in a friendly manner.

Luo Shan cast her gaze towards the slightly ethereal buildings around them, seeing the glass windows representing each household glimmering in the faint light from the frozen storm.

"It was in the lobby of the apartment complex. A vending machine suddenly appeared there, filled with beautifully designed beverages. I got a random one, and it turned out to be…"

Seeing Luo Shan suddenly pause, Franca, floating in front of a building, took a step forward with an eager expression, wanting to probe further.

Several Spirit Bodies of the apartment residents were wandering beside her, some wearing glasses, some with beautiful watches, some with shiny accessories on their clothes.

Jenna grabbed Franca's arm, giving her a look to not be hasty, and asked softly herself, "What did you get?"

"Shaman… What abilities did it give you?" Jenna asked casually.

Luo Shan's mood lifted a bit.

"It allows me to choose an area and, by setting up totems and performing rituals, establish it as my domain. Then I can communicate with the sky, earth, water, trees, and creatures there, borrowing power from their spirituality to cast various spells."

That sounds so powerful… It's more impressive than any Sequence 9 I know of, almost on par with some Sequence 7 pathways… Jenna thought in amazement.

She curiously asked, "Can a Shaman only fight within their fixed domain? Can't they change territories?"

"They can change, but it requires a complex process and takes a long time, about three days," Luo Shan explained enthusiastically. "Outside their domain, a Shaman's power rapidly weakens, becoming weaker the further they are from their territory."

There are still significant limitations… Is the personal domain a manifestation of spatial authority? Jenna further inquired, "You guard the barrier to prevent those monsters from invading because they would destroy your domain?"

"That's part of it," Luo Shan sighed. "Another aspect is that a Shaman's power allows me to sense different spaces, higher worlds, letting my spirit make initial contact with them. This causes my soul to be noticed by the monsters, becoming a target for their invasion.

"This place you're in now is a unique space formed by the fusion of my spiritual world, the Shaman's domain concept, and the corresponding spirit world of Dechuang Garden. Those monsters want to use it as a stepping stone to invade reality, while also attacking my spirit and mind. If the barrier is breached, my soul will be controlled or even replaced by them."

A Sequence 9 has such high risks? No wonder Shaman sounds so powerful… Xinhong District doesn't have this issue while Dechuang Garden does because a Shaman lives here… Does Shaman essentially act as a beacon for those monsters to invade reality? Jenna roughly understood the basic situation of the Shaman sequence.

Luo Shan added with a self-deprecating smile, "I'm no longer just a Shaman. Now, even if this barrier is breached, it won't affect me much.

"The only problem is that everyone living in Dechuang Garden would be killed in their dreams, their abdomens torn open, their internal organs ripped out…"

As she spoke, Luo Shan fell silent.

After several seconds, she whispered, "This is my doing. I have to take responsibility…"

"If this wasn't a problem you brought about, and you encountered this situation, would you choose to guard the barrier in place of the Beyonder who fled?" Jenna deliberately used this question to reinforce Luo Shan's sense of guardianship.

Luo Shan's lips moved slightly. "I don't know… Maybe… Probably…"

Jenna didn't press Luo Shan for a definite answer, instead asking with concern, "You have to guard the barrier every night and still work during the day. Isn't it too exhausting?"

"No, you can think of this as my mind world or my dreamscape. Being busy here doesn't affect my physical rest. I just need to take a nap during the day," Luo Shan smiled.

This state made her feel like the protagonist of a novel or comic, saving humanity in an inner world at night while continuing to be a corporate drone during the day.

Jenna exchanged another glance with Franca before asking, "What was the name of the second beverage you drank? Was it also from the vending machine?"

"The second one I drank was Reporter," Luo Shan recalled. "Once, after being injured while guarding the barrier, I woke up feeling like I had a bad cold, coughing severely. I took a day off and went to Mushu Hospital. The doctor prescribed cough syrup, but the pharmacy gave me the Reporter beverage instead. I suddenly felt it must be the follow-up beverage to Shaman, so I didn't tell the pharmacist they'd given me the wrong medicine…

"Later I drank Reporter again, but that one was fake. Among that batch of drinks, only the Instigator for Zhou Mingrui was real… I shouldn't have listened to that voice…"

Mentioning this incident, Luo Shan's expression twisted, seeming very regretful.

Jenna didn't immediately inquire about the origin of that voice, instead discussing less sensitive matters. "What are the abilities of Reporter?"

"Observing, investigating, and uncovering the truth of the world, along with extreme speed," Luo Shan's mood became low again, speaking vaguely without giving specific examples.

She slowly raised both hands to cover her ears, mumbling as if in a trance, "After drinking the Reporter beverage, I sometimes felt I had changed. I began to hate this world, hate the details that didn't match my imagination, hate the people and things I was dissatisfied with. I wanted them all to explode, wanted to remake them, make everything here conform to my fantasies.

"And to remake these things, I had to pray for help from the truth of the world, from the true world above…

"Then, I heard that voice…"

Jenna pursed her lips, changing the subject once again. "After Reporter is Painter, what comes after Painter?"

"After Painter should be Literature Enthusiast, someone skilled in imagination. I haven't gotten that one yet…" Luo Shan briefly answered Jenna's question, then moved her hands up to pull at her hair. "That voice made me malicious, fierce, cruel…"

As she spoke, Luo Shan suddenly burst out, crying as if her heart was being torn apart, "I don't want to be like this! I'm not this kind of person!"

Crystalline tears were already streaming down her cheeks.

Seeing this, Jenna floated closer and said in a gentle voice, "I know you're not that kind of person.

"That kind of person wouldn't continue to guard the barrier, preventing monsters from invading Dechuang Garden and killing the adults and children here…"

"No, many of these monsters were drawn by me. Originally, they weren't so powerful…" Luo Shan was still in painful self-reproach.

She tugged at the collar of her shirt, seeming unable to breathe.

Jenna moved in front of her and continued, "Everyone makes mistakes. The difference between good people and bad people is that good people know how to make amends…"

Suddenly, Luo Shan raised her head.

The top two buttons of her shirt were undone, clearly revealing the painting on her neck and chest.

The painting looked like a tattoo, a vibrant, colorful flower.

The flower suddenly enlarged, opening its petals in a spectral form, revealing dense teeth and hidden pus inside.

The invisible scent it had been emitting, combined with the manifestation of its true form, made Jenna freeze, too dizzy to control her body.

The colossal flower suddenly enveloped Jenna's body.

Seeing this, Luo Shan's face showed a cold smile, silently mouthing, "That fool is just right for making people like you let your guard down…"

Just then, there was a cracking sound, like a mirror shattering.

Luo Shan's expression changed slightly. She was about to attack Franca and find out where the real Jenna was, when her body suddenly stiffened, as if frozen.

Stuttering, her Astral Projection quickly faded, leaving this space.

In reality, in room 1502.

Franca stood by Luo Shan's bed, thrusting the Wintry Blade into the sleeping Luo Shan's shoulder.

She had already actively left that spirit world-like space earlier, when Luo Shan answered that she had drunk the beverage three times.

The version of her before and after that moment was created and manipulated by Jenna using mirror magic, utilizing the surrounding glass windows, eyeglass lenses, and other mirror-like objects!

Upon realizing that Luo Shan's mental state was truly unstable and that she had acted against Zhou Mingrui, Franca and Jenna decided to initiate their contingency plan: one creating illusions to occupy Luo Shan, the other returning to the real world to find Luo Shan's body and fundamentally control her!

This might also eliminate the risk of them being kicked out of the dream.

After stabbing Luo Shan with the Wintry Blade, Franca immediately took out her phone and called Anthony: "Come to Dechuang Garden, Building 5, Room 1502 now. We need you to treat someone with personality alteration due to corruption.

"Remember to bring Ludwig."

Although the current plan was for Jenna, Franca, and Lumian, Anthony to operate in two separate groups with minimal contact, deleting chat and call records with the Information Shredder at all times, urgent situations called for flexibility. Anthony was the only person they could trust to treat Luo Shan now.

Of course, Franca or Jenna could use repeated Charm to make Luo Shan fall in love with them for a period of time, following their will, and do the same to her altered personality, thus controlling the stability of her mental state. But with other options available, there was no need for such distortion, which might lead to a "the disease is cured, but the patient 'died'" outcome.

After Anthony replied "Understood", Franca sighed in relief and used invisible spider silk to bind Luo Shan, who was struggling to wake up.

Then, she removed her hair tie, letting her long hair cascade down and strangely extend, touching Luo Shan's body.

This brought about a stone-like rigidity at the points of contact.

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