"Traveler, time to get up!"
Paimon tried to yank the blanket off Lumine, but Lumine clung to it tightly.
"You're perfectly fine, so why are you still lazing in bed?!"
"So much happened last night! We need to hurry and check on everyone else!"
No matter what Paimon said, Lumine wouldn't let go of the blanket, absolutely refusing to get out of bed.
Since today will just reset after it ends anyway, I might as well sleep in!
Besides, if I go out, I might see something weird again. At least Paimon is normal this time. Otherwise, I would have slit my throat and restarted long ago.
Lumine had made up her mind: unless tomorrow arrived or she had a new dream tonight, she wouldn't take a single step out of this room!
"Traveler, get up already!"
"We've been cooped up for so long! Everyone will start to worry!"
Then why don't you just go out by yourself?
Lumine rolled her eyes at Paimon.
Just then, a knock came at the door.
"Coming!"
Paimon temporarily gave up her tug-of-war with Lumine over the blanket and flew toward the door.
As soon as she opened it, Paimon saw Dunyarzad supporting Dehya.
"Good morning, you two."
Seeing Paimon at the door, Dunyarzad and Dehya immediately smiled and greeted her.
"Good morning."
Seeing Dehya's condition, Paimon quickly asked with concern, "Dehya, are you alright?"
Hearing Paimon's question, Dehya immediately replied, shaking her head, "I'm fine, don't worry. Just a little tired, that's all."
"It's so strange," Dehya continued. "I didn't even overdo my training yesterday, but today my whole body feels weak."
"Right now, forget protecting Miss Dunyarzad—I'm the one who needs protecting," she added with a self-deprecating laugh. Seeing that Dehya still had the energy to joke, Paimon knew her condition wasn't too serious.
"Sorry, I don't know what's gotten into the Traveler today. She..."
Paimon was about to explain when she suddenly saw Lumine. At some point, Lumine had gotten out of bed, made it neatly, smoothed down her sleep-tousled hair, and was now sitting properly, waving at them. Paimon's eyes widened in disbelief, and she felt utterly speechless.
If I'd known all it took was for someone to visit, why did I exhaust myself trying to wake her up?!
"Dehya, Dunyarzad, please come in and have a seat."
Paimon shook her head and gestured for them to sit.
As Dunyarzad plopped down beside her, Lumine flinched, her hand instinctively reaching for her Dull Blade.
Dehya and Dunyarzad froze, their eyes fixed on the Dull Blade now pointed at their throats.
"Traveler, what are you doing?!" Paimon's startled cry snapped Lumine back to her senses.
Lumine quickly sheathed her sword, her face filled with apology as she looked at Dunyarzad and Dehya.
She couldn't be blamed for overreacting. Once, while she was having a normal conversation with Dunyarzad, the girl's mouth had suddenly split open over two hundred degrees and swallowed her head whole. The experience had left her with deep psychological trauma.
Honestly, if she weren't considering the possibility that they were finally out of the dream, Lumine would have kept her distance from Dehya and Dunyarzad altogether.
At that moment, Dehya and Dunyarzad let out a small sigh of relief, but they both instinctively chose seats farther away from Lumine.
"Traveler, what's wrong with you? You've been acting so strange today," Paimon asked, puzzled by Lumine's extreme reaction.
"Could it be because of last night's dream?"
"Did the Traveler have another strange dream?" Dehya and Dunyarzad asked curiously after hearing Paimon's words.
"She did have a very strange dream last night," Paimon explained. "And it wasn't just the Traveler—we all had the same dream."
"Oh, right. You probably don't remember anything from the dream, so let me explain."
Paimon quickly recounted the events of the previous night's dream to Dehya and Dunyarzad.
When she finished, both women were stunned. They sat frozen in place, their expressions stiff.
After a long silence, Dehya looked at Paimon with a mix of shock and disbelief. "Paimon, are you saying the reason I'm so exhausted is because the Akademiya forcibly commandeered my brain through the Akasha Terminal?"
"That's right," Paimon confirmed. "I heard the Akademiya needed extra computing power for a research project, so they launched this plan."
After hearing Paimon's explanation, Dehya and Dunyarzad exchanged a look, their expressions turning grim.
"Oh no... If that's the case, something must have happened in the Restricted Zone!"
"Even I, a mercenary, am this weakened... The patients inside the Restricted Zone... they must be..."
Dehya trailed off, but her worry was plain for anyone to see.
"Thank goodness Miss Dunyarzad didn't switch to the newer Akasha Terminal the Akademiya distributed later. The consequences would have been unthinkable!"
Dehya felt a surge of relief. Her insistence on opposing Dunyarzad's decision back then had been the right call. Otherwise, Dunyarzad would be in grave danger right now!
Suddenly, Dehya noticed something and looked at Paimon with suspicion.
It was no surprise that Lumine was barely affected, but what about Paimon? She remembered Paimon wearing the same model of Akasha Terminal.
Yet here Dehya was, on the verge of collapsing, while Paimon was still bursting with energy.
Could Paimon have been playing dumb all this time?
After a moment, Dehya set aside her doubts and turned her gaze to Lumine.
"I can't believe something like that happened last night. Even though Miss Dunyarzad and I don't remember the dream, I want to thank you on everyone's behalf."
"If it weren't for you, so many more people would have been in danger."
Paimon waved her hands dismissively, looking a little embarrassed. "You don't have to thank us. We just did what we had to do."
"But the Akademiya really crossed a line this time. The vast majority of people wearing Akasha Terminals are Sumerians!"
Paimon couldn't believe the Akademiya would be so depraved as to turn on its own people.
"To those Akademiya scholars, people like us—the 'untalented'—are probably just disposable."
Dehya's eyes turned cold as she spoke.
The Akademiya scholars had always been arrogant, looking down on everyone outside their institution with equal disdain. But no one could have imagined they'd actually target ordinary citizens.
What a bunch of bastards.
Dehya wanted nothing more than to storm the Akademiya, sword in hand. Only the last shred of her reason held her back.
"Traveler, Paimon," she said, her tone softening. "You've been cooped up in your room all this time, so Miss Dunyarzad and I were worried and came to check on you."
"Now that we know you're okay, we can rest easy."
"But there is one thing I'd like to ask. Could you please go to the Restricted Zone and tell us what's going on there?"
Just as Dehya finished speaking, Dunyarzad added, "We're very worried about the situation in the Restricted Zone. Dehya is still too weak to go, and I need to stay here to take care of her."
"Dr. Edward is also tied up for the moment, so you're the only ones we can ask."
Paimon immediately agreed. "Okay, leave it to me and the Traveler!"
"Traveler, let's go!"
Paimon urged Lumine toward the door, but when she got no response, she looked back in confusion. Lumine was staring at the floor, lost in thought.
"Traveler!"
Paimon flew right in front of Lumine's face, trying to snap her out of it.
"Traveler, we need to go!"
At the mention of leaving the room, Lumine's body trembled slightly. The image of the world turning gray and desolate flashed before her eyes again.
She froze for a moment, then shook her head violently.
No. I'm not going out. Absolutely not!
Only then did the other three notice something was wrong. Dunyarzad quickly asked with concern,
"Traveler, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
"If you're not feeling well, you should get some rest."
"Dr. Edward is checking on Madam Faruzan right now, but he should be back soon. If you're feeling unwell, please try to hang in there for a little longer."
"As for the Restricted Zone, I can just send some of the other mercenaries from my household. You should focus on resting."
Hearing Dunyarzad's caring words, Lumine's resolve wavered slightly.
"Traveler, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me like this!" Paimon said, looking at Lumine with worry.
Faced with their concerned gazes, Lumine hesitated. She knew her behavior must seem strange to them. She had tried to explain what was happening to her before, but after realizing it was pointless, she had given up.
Just then, the Akasha Terminals flickered to life.
Since they didn't yet know the Akasha Terminals were connected to what was happening to Lumine, Dehya and Dunyarzad hadn't removed them.
Because of this, they saw the latest notice released by the Akademiya.
After briefly reading the notice, Dehya and Dunyarzad's pupils constricted, their faces flooding with extreme sorrow and fury.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing the change in Dehya and Dunyarzad's expressions, Lumine and Paimon immediately realized something terrible had happened and quickly asked.
After Paimon's question, Dehya and Dunyarzad remained silent for a long moment before finally speaking slowly.
"The Akademiya's latest notice is out. It's about the specific casualties in the Restricted Zone."
"The death toll this time is... over ninety percent!"
Even though Lumine and Paimon had braced themselves, they were still stunned by the number.
-
In Dr. Edward's room, everyone was now gathered, their expressions grim and terrifyingly serious.
Lumine was no different. Though she kept telling herself it was all a dream, that none of it was real, she couldn't stop her heart from trembling.
Over ninety percent innocent victims...
The Restricted Zone had been home to tens of thousands of people. She couldn't even begin to imagine the scene of utter despair that now defined the area.
"Recently, the Akademiya's credibility has plummeted, and many people have turned against them, refusing to use the Akasha."
"The Akademiya's ongoing research requires immense computational power, but the current number of people in Sumeru City wearing Akasha Terminals is nowhere near enough."
"So the Akademiya made an insane decision: to sacrifice everyone in the Restricted Zone, draining their mental energy to the absolute limit to make up for the missing computational power."
"This way, they could solve both the computational power shortage and the medicinal herb shortage in one fell swoop. What a brilliant plan!"
Faruzan's eyes blazed with intense fury. The Akademiya's actions had completely crossed her bottom line.
Her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. The Akademiya had become so unrecognizable to her that she felt ashamed to have ever been a Darshan Master there.
"And now, the Akademiya has issued a notice blaming all the deaths on the plague they supposedly contracted. It's utterly shameless!"
"Almost no one remembers last night's dream, and the innocent victims have no visible injuries. The Akademiya's explanation is practically impossible to refute, no matter how much people disbelieve it in their hearts."
"To think the Akademiya would commit such a monstrous act... Those damned Sages! I will never forgive them!"
Faruzan was incandescent with rage. Ever since she learned of the Akademiya's deep collaboration with "The Doctor" Dottore, she had braced herself for some insane research. Yet, she had still thought too highly of the Sages.
They're nothing but beasts in human skin, she seethed. Willing to wantonly take lives for their own research—selfish, self-serving monsters!
Tens of thousands of victims... Even if a civil war broke out in Sumeru right now, it probably wouldn't kill this many people.
Faruzan refused to believe the Akademiya's Sages were ignorant of the potential death toll. Clearly, they had already completely abandoned these people—those bastards!
Of course, what worried everyone most was Dr. Edward's current state. After all, the people in the Restricted Zone were his patients.
At that moment, Dr. Edward stood with his head bowed, his expression hidden from view.
He had remained utterly silent since the moment the news broke. It was the first time anyone had seen him like this, and they could only imagine the immense grief crushing his heart.
Dr. Edward must be desperate to unleash his emotions, Lumine thought, but he's bottling everything up to keep us from worrying.
They even noticed his body trembling slightly. As everyone knew, such a reaction only occurred in moments of extreme joy or rage. Clearly, Dr. Edward was consumed by the latter.
Lumine glanced at him, her eyes filled with complex emotions. Scenes from the past flashed through her mind, one after another. Finally, with a silent sigh, she rose to her feet.
Whether she was still trapped in this dream or not, she couldn't stand by and do nothing—not after everything Dr. Edward had done for her.
Let me tear down the Akademiya one last time!