Sherry instantly suppressed her impulse to smash someone with her dog after hearing the soft mutterings of the tall, gaunt, and sinister man across from her.

She reacted immediately. The skills of observation and disguise she had learned since childhood allowed her to adopt an impeccable expression in an instant. While watching the middle-aged man opposite her, she slightly loosened Ah-Gou's chain, feigning confusion and a bit of nervousness. "Is something wrong?"

The sinister man across from her smoothed his brow upon hearing this and waved his hand at Sherry. "Don't be nervous, comrade. We don't fully understand all the rules of the Nameless Dream yet. It's normal for slight deviations to occur when entering the dream, but..."

He paused, and a hint of doubt gradually crept into his gaze as he looked at Sherry. "I didn't expect a comrade as young as you to appear here. Is it really okay for you to enter the Nameless Dream like this?"

"The connection with the Abyss has nothing to do with age," Sherry immediately said, shaking the sturdy black chain in her hand. Ah-Gou also cooperated with a submissive growl. "I'm a seasoned summoner. Don't be fooled by my appearance."

"...Alright, my apologies," the Annihilation Cultist across from her seemed to dispel his doubts. A stiff smile appeared on his sinister face. Then he raised his head, looked around, and his gaze quickly landed on the "dividing line" not far away. A thoughtful expression crossed his face. "Erosion boundary... Not bad, looks like we're not far from that 'wall'."

Seeing that his attention had shifted elsewhere, Sherry immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Then she noticed the strange words "erosion boundary" and "wall" that he had mentioned unintentionally. She controlled her facial expression, silently noted these words, and then casually mentioned, while continuing to use her long-unused but still-skilled acting skills, "That boundary was spreading outwards like crazy just now. It was actually quite scary."

"You caught the expansion of the erosion zone?" The sinister man raised his eyebrows. "Ah, that sounds unlucky - but as the Nameless Dream continues to develop, this kind of situation will only increase. According to those 'missionaries', the corruption and collapse of this dream is destined to happen, so we must find that Silent Wall as soon as possible... Don't waste time."

As he spoke, the Annihilation Cultist slightly raised his right hand, and a dark chain appeared in the air beside him. The smoke and dust at the end of the chain condensed into a "death bird" that looked half-rotten, pieced together from bones and shadows.

After this abyssal demon appeared, it immediately let out a sharp, unpleasant cry. Then it flapped its ragged bone wings and flew into the air, seemingly sensing the flow of some aura in the dream. After a moment, it landed on its master's shoulder. It was unclear how this chaotic and foolish demon completed its communication with its "master," but the latter quickly determined a general direction and looked up towards the depths of the forest. "Let's go this way first."

Sherry didn't say anything. She obediently followed the tall, gaunt, and sinister cultist with Ah-Gou, heading towards the depths of the forest.

But beneath her calm exterior, her brain was already racing. She was thinking about his purpose, thinking about how to inquire about things without arousing his suspicion, thinking about how to make herself look more like a normal Annihilation Cultist, and also thinking about what stance she should take to get rid of this guy as soon as possible if her disguise failed.

She felt her mind quickly becoming flexible - as if, after finally not having to think about those drowsy letters and numbers, all kinds of ideas had returned to her mind.

She cautiously controlled the distance between herself and the cultist -

Not too close, too close would arouse vigilance and suspicion.

And not too far away either. Too far away and the dog wouldn't be able to hit him - she had to make sure he was within Ah-Gou's firing range.

"My name is Sarah, what's your name?" After a few seconds of silence, Sherry made up a name and asked.

Having grown up conning and swindling people in the slums, she was well-versed in these little lies.

"Richard," the cultist walking in front said without turning his head. "The Holy Lord grants us a shortcut to 'essence'. Names are not important, young comrade."

"Oh... you're right, I was just asking," Sherry quickly nodded, then asked seemingly casually, "Are there many people 'in' this time?"

"A dozen other brothers and sisters from the church are acting with us. They come from different city-states - but I don't know the specifics. The saints above arrange everything. Like you, I'm just executing the orders conveyed by the envoy."

"...Hey, they see I'm young and don't tell me anything, just let me come in to scout out the situation," Sherry muttered casually, her tone of complaint sincere. "And I ran into the expansion of the erosion zone as soon as I came in. So unlucky today - luckily the Holy Lord protects."

The cultist who called himself Richard glanced back at her, his expression seemingly without any suspicion.

After all, the abyssal hound walking with this girl was the most powerful "proof of identity" - the only people in this world who could coexist with abyssal demons were Annihilation Cultists, and as long as this identity was clear, then this was definitely a "comrade."

At most, an inexperienced comrade with a few problems.

And after realizing this, Sherry's courage also grew slightly.

She began to take advantage of her "young and inexperienced" image, occasionally asking one question after another with veiled hints.

Ah-Gou's slightly puzzled voice sounded in her heart, "Sherry, why do I feel like you're quite excited?"

"Nonsense, how can I not be excited when I'm about to make a contribution!" Sherry kept a straight face, chatting with the cultist in front of her, while muttering to Ah-Gou in her heart, "If I swindle a few more useful things, the captain will definitely reward me later - maybe I won't have to memorize words for the next two days... Ah-Gou, Ah-Gou, do you think if I catch a living one and take it back, can it be used to replace my math homework?"

"How are you going to catch someone back from the dream?"

"Ah... okay, I forgot about that."

…

Deep in the district, vines and giant trees that seemed to grow and spread from the dream world intertwined and covered every building in sight, turning the entire district into a silent and dark, bizarre forest.

Dark-colored vines clung to the nearby high walls, tiny thorns wrapped around the lampposts, towering trees blocked the entrances to the alleys, the canopies covered the roofs of the buildings, and branches crisscrossed among the trees, directly passing through those silent buildings, as if merging into one, directly integrated into the solid cement walls, presenting a bizarre scene of integration, distortion, and symbiosis between the urban buildings.

And in this bizarre and silent scene, Duncan and Alice's footsteps seemed particularly abrupt, even… like a tearing, discordant noise in this "pervading dream", echoing in the deserted streets.

Duncan frowned, his gaze sweeping over the lifeless streets in front of him.

The towering canopies blocked the sky, and neither the "sunlight" that permeated from the sea outside the city-state, nor the faint, cold glow of the Worldscar that faintly emerged in the night, were able to penetrate the lush plants above the district at this moment, creating an unsettling, dim atmosphere on the streets. In this dimness, he and Alice had not seen anyone along the way.

This was, of course, abnormal.

There was a curfew in the city after dark, but even on curfewed streets, one should be able to see patrolling church guards.

But there was no one - not only was there no one on the streets, but when passing by some of the houses facing the street, Duncan and Alice did not see anyone appear in the houses.

Even if those houses were lit, and even looked like someone had been active in the living room just a moment before.

"There's no one to be seen in the districts covered by the 'forest', including on the streets and inside the buildings," Duncan turned his head and said to the wooden puppet head in Alice's arms. "It's as if everyone has disappeared, just like you guys."

"Like us?" Lucrezia's voice came from the puppet's mouth, sounding slightly distorted. "Could it be… that everyone in the city has been transferred into this 'dream'?"

"Hard to say, but at least the people are gone from the places Alice and I have walked through," Duncan shook his head. "Haven't you encountered anyone else from the real world entering the dream over there?"

"No," Lucrezia immediately replied. "I'm still acting with this elf who calls herself 'Shirleen', and we haven't met anyone along the way."

Duncan listened quietly, then turned his head to look at Alice. "Can you see any 'lines' nearby?"

"No," Alice shook her head. "I haven't seen any along the way."

Duncan nodded with a serious face.

Alice's eyes couldn't miss the lines of spirits. Even the most skillful concealment techniques wouldn't work. As long as the "person" was still in the real world, Alice would see those "lines" floating in the air. But now even this puppet says that it hasn't found anything… Then it can only mean that, at least within the scope of these mutated streets, "people" are indeed gone.

This was different from what happened to Talan Er or that elf girl, Prand, before.

Although it currently seemed that this incident was still related to the "Nameless Dream", it was clear that… the scale and power of this dream had developed to an incredible degree.

Duncan raised his head and looked towards the center of this mutated district in the dimness.

Suddenly, a shadow in the dimness caught his attention.

It was a structure that undulated between the buildings, like a huge vine, or some part of the structure exposed by the roots.

It lay dormant in the darkness, as silent as everything around it, but for some reason…

Duncan felt that the huge "vine" was a bit different.

(End of this chapter)