In the end, the doll Luni is also pulled by Alice to accept the Captain's Flame Mark.

At this point, with the exception of the more "rudimentary" tin men and puppets who do not have a full mind, everyone in this "witch's mansion" has been branded with the spirit fire before falling asleep.

When dinner came, the bright electric lights and gas lamps on the walls illuminated the spacious dining room, and the members of the Lost Fleet gathered around the long tables to share fish, bread and wine in preparation for the deeper, more unpredictable night to come.

Subtle green flames jumped in the depths of their eyes, making their gaze seem to be staring at the two dimensions of reality and illusion at the same time, and their conversations were temporarily mixed with some of the captain's strength, causing a low buzzing vibration in the air, and the faint green flames infected the gas lamps on the walls, making all the flames reveal a trace of green glow, making the entire walls and floors of the restaurant appear as if they were spirits in the firelight.

If an unwitting ordinary person accidentally breaks into this restaurant at this time, I am afraid that he will immediately be impregnated with the strange atmosphere and power that fills the place—it will be very difficult to maintain sanity and self.

The clockwork figure Lunee lights the decorative candlestick, the candlelight flickering on the dining table, and the bright yellow flames reflect on the silver and ceramic cups and plates, glowing with mesmerizing warmth.

Maurice and Lucrecia whispered about the ancient legends related to elven society, and their discussions were mixed with many technical words that were difficult for ordinary people to understand; Shirley is gobbling it up, and she'll always be the first to fill her stomach at the table; Vanna prayed before the meal, she was still the most devout of her, and she would meticulously fulfill the sacraments to the goddess at all times; Nina quietly looked up after a few bites of food, and with a glance she looked at the wine that was not far in front of her.

"I want to drink fermented grape juice ......"

The fragments of the ancient sun made a claim to the usurper.jpg.

Duncan glanced at the girl and raised his eyebrows: "Why didn't you say you wanted to drink wheat juice?" ”

Nina's eyes lit up suddenly, and she raised her hand to the beer on the other side: "Is it really okay?" ”

Duncan looked at her expressionlessly: "What do you say?" ”

"Oh......" Nina muttered, honestly picking up the lemonade on the other side, looking disappointed.

A mechanical table clock not far away clicked, and the hands slowly moved forward.

Towards the end of dinner, Duncan suddenly broke the silence: "Actually, I've been thinking about a problem. ”

"What are you thinking?" Across the table, Fanna put down her knife and fork and asked curiously.

"What does the Dark Lord think of his followers?" Duncan said seriously, "He suggested that I grab a few Annihilators to establish a connection to the deep sea, and it doesn't sound distressing at all - but don't you think it's strange that he keeps his sanity and seems to care about the world?" ”

"I think it's reasonable," Morris said unhurriedly, wiping the corners of his mouth, "especially if the Nether Lord is sane, and his advice to you is all the more reasonable. ”

Duncan raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "Oh? ”

"There was no communication between the Nether Lord and the real world until you successfully established a connection with that Old God, in other words, those so-called Annihilation Cultists were actually only unilaterally believing in their 'Lord', and they used this unilateral belief to draw power and constantly summon demons from the deep sea for their own use," Morris shrugged, "Think about it from another angle, if you are the Nether Lord and suddenly a group of noisy mortals appear out of nowhere, claiming to be your descendants, Then run into your yard, steal your fruit, dig up your fruit trees, cheat your servants, and finally try to pry open your door and live in your room......"

Duncan thought about it and felt his blood pressure go up.

"Well, I think I understand......" he sighed, "it makes sense. ”

The mechanical table clock in the corner of the dining room suddenly chimes loudly, and the sound of bells interrupts the conversation around the table, and the hollowness echoes abruptly in the huge mansion.

Duncan listened to the bell ringing, silently counted each of its ringings, and whispered, "It's nine o'clock." ”

No one responded to him.

There were only a few empty chairs left on either side of the table, as if there was no one there in the first place.

Duncan slowly frowned as he looked at the suddenly empty dining room, and although the mutation was happening right under his nose, he still couldn't confirm the exact "process" of all this.

Everything happened suddenly, as if the whole world had "switched" in a very short time, like a card flipped in an instant, and the numbers on the card became a pattern on the back - Nina and Morris had entered another dimension with the flipped cards, while Duncan remained at the table.

Staying at the table with Duncan was Alice.

Miss Doll's eyes widened instantly, and she looked taken aback: "Wow! ”

"The effects of the Nameless Dream have reappeared...... Duncan slowly stood up from his chair, "even the rabbit doll is gone." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a slightly nervous voice came from the side: "Old master, I'...... I'm still here. ”

Duncan and Alice turned their heads at the same time, looking in the direction the voice was coming from.

The clockwork doll Lunee was standing a short distance behind them—she was standing there at dinner.

Now, the clockwork doll has been left on the "side" of the real world.

Alice looked at her in surprise: "Luni! How did you get left here too?! ”

"I don't know," said the clockwork doll, shaking her head, and then looked across the empty table with concern in her tone, "Mistress she...... You okay? ”

"They've reached the other side of the dream." Duncan said, and at the same time couldn't help but look Luni up and down, his brow furrowed slightly.

Luni was left "on this side...... Why is that?

When Nameless's dream happened, she and Alice would have been left on the real-world side, and now Luni has been left on this side as well, and while awake...... What exactly is the mechanism behind this?

Is it because ...... "dolls"?

"Luni, do you dream?" In thought, Duncan suddenly asked.

"I ...... I don't know," Luni paused for a moment, and replied honestly, "Occasionally, I would fall into a trance while the hostess maintained my body, recalling some things from the past, but the hostess said that it was not a dream, just that memories were overflowing the soul container...... Probably, I don't dream? I don't know what it's like for humans to dream. ”

"What about the rabbi? Does that rabbit named Rabbi really dream? Duncan asked again.

"The rabbi can dream, and in fact it is still very powerful in dreams—many years ago, the hostess was often plagued by nightmares for a while, which even interfered with her research later, so the hostess made some preparations, and took the initiative to let herself fall into dreams to face the shadows that invaded her spiritual world—she won, and captured a shadow from the deepest part of her nightmare, that shadow came from the spirit world, and the hostess said that it was a creature of fear, and then beat the shadow and beat it, And finally sew it into a rag doll, which is the rabbi ......"

Duncan listened to the clockwork puppet in front of him tell these past with an indifferent face, and after a moment, the corners of his mouth twitched: "It seems that Lucrecia has also experienced a lot of wonderful things over the years...... Well, I kind of understand what's going on. ”

Alice scratched her head: "Huh? ”

"The Dream of the Nameless only seems to affect those creatures that can dream," Duncan looked at the two puppets in front of him, "and you, as puppets, don't actually dream—or even if you are 'dreaming', your dreams are not 'compatible' with ordinary people." ”

Duncan made some serious additions at the end of the sentence, because he suddenly remembered that Alice had described to him some of the experiences that seemed to be "dreams" when she was asleep, so in a way, Alice could also dream - but like Luni, her dreams were not the same as those of ordinary people, if anything...... It's more like a "puppet's trance".

This "trance" clearly does not meet the "criteria" for entering the dream of the nameless.

Alice listened as if she didn't understand, and then her not-so-bright head suddenly lit up, and she seemed to think of something, and looked at Duncan with wide eyes: "Then Captain, why did you stay 'here' like us?" Don't you dream either? ”

"Of course I ......" Duncan subconsciously spoke, but then he was stunned for a moment, his expression a little strangely stunned.

Myself...... Have you really dreamed since you came into this world?

In the normal sense, it belongs to mortals, intertwined between reality and memory...... Dreamland.

As if a switch that had been ignored for a long time was suddenly pressed, and a corner of chaos that had not been noticed in the subconscious suddenly revealed its existence, Duncan noticed the problem for the first time, and he quickly recalled, remembering every time he fell asleep in this world after he passed through that door, and ...... "dream".

He remembered that he had a dream - he had entered subspace in his dreams, and he had foreseen future disasters in his dreams, in which he had seen the sun go out, the dying hollow hanging high in the sky, and grotesque luminous luminaries descending from the sky......

Other than that, he doesn't remember dreaming of anything else, because his body doesn't need to sleep much now, and the habit of lying in bed every day is often just a means for him to maintain his "humanity......

Yes, I can dream, although rarely, although ......

Duncan suddenly raised his hand and pinched his eyebrows hard.

No, dreams shouldn't be like this, they shouldn't be like that—what about ordinary dreams? What about the sights that are experienced during the day and reflected in your sleep after falling asleep? Those things that can be called sweet dreams, those insipid dreams, those funny dreams, those dreams full of memories, those ...... What about the dreams of ordinary people?

Duncan struggled to recall, but suddenly found that all of his dreams were either pointing to subspace or to some prophesied "illusion" that seemed to transcend time and space...... It's all nothingness.

Even, not just in this world.

He recalled.

Zhou Ming recalled.

He remembered the days before he opened the door of his bachelor's apartment, the days before he was trapped in that fog, the days long ago—when it seemed like another life—when everything was still business and the whole world was not in the fog.

Zhou Ming raised his head in confusion.

He...... Is it really like an ordinary person, dreaming?

(End of chapter)