Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

990  True Commonality

Lumianʼs initial feeling was that Li Keji had noticed the difference between Queen of Stars Cattleya and Huang Jiajia, but after careful consideration, he overturned this guess.

This was because Li Keji said his other colleagues also seemed to have become different people, and it was unlikely that they had all been occupied and used by external consciousnesses.

”Why do you feel this way?” he asked Li Keji.

Li Keji stroked his belly and said, ”The previous ones ate the mushrooms I sent, but the current ones havenʼt!”

The current ones havenʼt? Does this mean theyʼve been replaced? Lumianʼs thoughts raced as he carefully asked, ”What about Bernie Huang? Have you seen her recently, and is she different from before?”

”Iʼve seen her, but I donʼt know if thereʼs been any change. She never ate the mushrooms I sent before,” Li Keji answered honestly.

In other words, Li Keji canʼt distinguish the difference between external consciousnesses and dream manifestations, nor does he have the observational ability to do so. However, he can determine whether the person in front of him has eaten the mushrooms he created… Taken together, did he mean that Huang Jiajia and others at Star Tutoring Classes had eaten them before, leaving corresponding traces, but recently they hadnʼt? Had Huang Jiajia and the others been replaced? Lumian had already been surprised when he heard Li Keji say that Huang Jiajia and the others seemed to have become different people, but now he felt more confused and alert.

He was currently inclined to believe Li Kejiʼs statement, thinking that the Mushroom King, who was confined to the psychiatric ward and hadnʼt yet given birth, had not been completely corrupted and wouldnʼt be experiencing hallucinations or have his personality twisted to enjoy lying. Moreover, in the dream city, based on Mr. Foolʼs subconscious cognition, Li Keji had a certain uniqueness and could indeed possibly discover anomalies.

Who replaced Huang Jiajia and the others? Why replace them? Lumian pondered these questions.

Suddenly, he thought of one person: Zaratulstra!

When Lumian first discovered that Zaratulstra had visited Star Tutoring Classes, his initial reaction was that this Angel wanted to do something to the dream manifestation of Maʼam Hermit. But later, as events unfolded with Li Keji being arrested and sent to the psychiatric ward, this led him to overturn his original suspicions and stop thinking in that direction.

Now, the new discovery made him reconsider his earliest guess.

Zaratulstra likes to exert force on both overt and covert lines simultaneously. On the surface, he was helping the Great Mother control Li Keji and eliminating the hidden dangers brought by mushrooms, while secretly taking advantage of opportunities like visits to target Huang Jiajia and other teachers at Star Tutoring Classes, replacing these dream manifestations? The benefit of doing this would be that the attention of covert saboteurs would be focused on Li Kejiʼs matter, overlooking the key point that Star Tutoring Classes itself was also a target… Lumian only now realized that Zaratulstraʼs plan was far more extensive than what he and his team had previously analyzed.

Based on this, he believed that Zaratulstra should have chosen the Conspirer pathway rather than being a Seer.

His experience, knowledge, intellect, and style are truly worthy of a real Angel… Lumian inwardly sighed, continuing to question Li Keji, wanting to understand more details.

But apart from knowing whether those colleagues had eaten the mushrooms he gave them, Li Keji shook his head in ignorance to all other questions.

Finally, Lumian could only caution, ”You must come up with a plan in these two days, otherwise the minions of the evil god will take action against you again, causing the child to be born in the near future.”

This referred to his and Grimmʼs previous agreement to take action again in a week to help the fetus in Li Kejiʼs body develop rapidly.

”Alright,” Li Keji answered, touching his belly.

Lumian looked at him deeply, forming a new idea: After Grimm confirms that Li Keji is truly pregnant and helps the fetus gain growth ”momentum” with the help of Mushu Hospitalʼs obstetrics department, Iʼll secretly return and complete the abortion!

…

At Xinhong District, in the rented apartment.

Lumianʼs team gathered again to hear him talk about Li Kejiʼs pregnancy and the suspected replacement of Huang Jiajia and others.