Heidi looked confused, then horrified.

Because she knows who the father of this "sea witch" is - this horror joke is not funny at all!

"I am a believer of the God of Wisdom, Lahm, ma'am," she said hastily, as if she was afraid that if she spoke too late, the misunderstanding would deepen, and she would really establish some kind of secret connection with the terrible warp shadow. "I am just an ordinary psychiatrist. You must be mistaken!"

Lucrecia only frowned slightly, her eyes calmly falling on the chest of the "psychiatrist". The seemingly ordinary amethyst pendant still exuded a faint familiar scent - she might have mistaken other things, but her father's scent...

She even felt that her father's eyes were quietly looking at her through the pendant.

"Where did you get this pendant from?" Lucrecia suddenly asked.

"This... is a gift from my father. He bought it from an antique shop," Heidi explained quickly without thinking much about it. "It's not a special item. It just happens to have a little spiritual protection effect..."

"Antique shop?" Lucrecia was a little confused. "And your father is..."

"Oh, this girl is the daughter of Morris Underwood," Taran El, who had been silent, finally spoke up. He felt that the atmosphere was a little wrong. "Relax, Ms. Lucrecia. This lady is indeed a psychiatrist. She is helping me get out of here."

Lucrecia was stunned for a moment after hearing what Taran El said, and then she looked at Heidi with a subtle expression on her face: "Maurice Underwood?"

"Yes... yes," Heidi nodded, "that's my father's name..."

Lucrecia had a blank expression on her face, but her mind recalled the last time she met the new crew members of the Lost Homeland through the crystal ball, and recalled the respected scholar - her father's current "knowledge advisor".

It’s a small world.

The coldness in her eyes melted away, and her smile regained its sincerity, and her gaze towards Heidi also softened: "Hello, Miss Heidi."

"Hello... hello," Heidi was confused. She felt as if she had experienced several ups and downs in her life in such a short time, but she had no idea what had happened. She could only nervously respond to the greeting of the "witch" in front of her, "You... know my father? And you also know Master Taran El?"

"This world is smaller than you think," Lucrecia did not answer directly. She just said it perfunctorily and then looked at the elf scholar opposite her. "From your own perception, how long do you think you have been trapped in this dream?"

"Not sure. My perception of time is problematic right now. It could be a few days? Or maybe longer."

Lucrecia frowned. "Judging from the cognitive deviation, it's already a bit dangerous... I guess you have tried various awakening methods including the falling method?"

Taran El spread his hands and said, "Yes, the 'sudden death method' is not useful yet."

"If conventional subconscious awakening methods don't work, then other methods won't work either. This is not a normal dream - nor is it an external curse or mental attack." Lucrecia waved her hand. "I have checked your condition in the real world and set up a place in the laboratory to control mental pollution. These situations can be ruled out... Miss Heidi, can you tell me the information you have now?"

Heidi was stunned for a moment when she heard this, and it took her two seconds to react. She quickly told the "witch" everything she knew, even starting from when she accepted the invitation from the City Hall in Plande - she did not dare to leave out any details.

Lucrecia listened patiently to the other party's long string of information, and her expression changed several times.

"From a dream far away in Plande, I entered the dream of Taran El... The distance between these two city-states is not simple, and the entrance to the dream has now disappeared..." The "witch" looked solemn and said slowly, "It seems that if the guidance is not smooth, even you, a psychiatrist, will be trapped in this place."

"So, have you two experts come to a conclusion now?" As the only "patient" at the scene, Taran El seemed quite calm. At this time, he just asked curiously, "What is going on with this dream?"

"...Before I draw any conclusions, I need to confirm one thing first," Lucrecia did not answer directly, but asked seriously, "How did you fall into a deep sleep? I found the draft you left behind in the tower. It seemed that you were planning to send it to the academy via 'Quick Mail'. Did you encounter an attack in the tower? Or did you 'see' something while observing the sun?"

Taran Eyre was lost in memory.

After a long while, he spoke uncertainly, "I was not attacked... I only remember that I saw many vague shadows and lines in the sun through the equipment on the tower, so I wanted to record them all, but those things were too chaotic and blurry, and I couldn't see them clearly anyway, so I could only draw a rough outline, and then..."

His voice suddenly became extremely hesitant, and his eyes showed deep confusion and bewilderment. It seemed that the more he recalled what he saw at the moment he fell asleep, the more he could not confirm his memory.

Finally, Taran El stopped, and could no longer recall what he experienced in the last second before he fell asleep. He slowly raised his head in confusion, his eyes swept across Heidi and Lucrecia in front of him, and then looked around at the lush, incredibly dense forest.

He gradually became still, and finally there was no more movement or sound. Even his breathing and the slightest movement of his eyeballs completely stopped. The breeze blowing through the woods could no longer blow his hair or the corners of his clothes.

Taran El turned into a "sculpture" solidified in a dream.

As he became still, everything in the dream finally began to change. A strange, low roar resounded throughout the world, as if something infinitely huge was slowly collapsing. The towering trees gradually lost their color and began to disintegrate from the crown downwards. The lush plants on the ground also gradually weathered and dissipated, turning into floating smoke.

Heidi looked at all this in amazement, and then suddenly turned to look at Lucrecia: "Is this a 'veil'? Not a real dream?!"

"It seems that you have learned well in school, Miss Heidi." Lucrecia raised her eyebrows. "Yes, just as I guessed, this is not a real dream, but just a protective 'curtain' woven above the dream. What we see is not Taran El, but just a mental entity he temporarily created to protect himself. Therefore, we can't wake him up from here anyway - the real dream is hidden deeper."

"Why is this happening?" Heidi was amazed. "I... have never seen such a real protective curtain. It completely blocks the dreams below..."

"I haven't seen it either, and Taran El is not an expert in the spiritual field. Although he has done some targeted training, in theory he can't weave such a perfect 'protection'," Lucrecia shook her head. "But one thing is certain, the weaver of this 'curtain' is trying to hide the things deep in the dream... If this was really done by Taran El, then he must have sensed a huge danger after entering the dream..."

She stopped suddenly.

Because the "collapse" of the forest gradually stopped.

Not only did it stop, but after a few seconds, the collapse of the entire forest actually began to reverse - those towering trees were reorganizing themselves, the dissipated colors quickly returned to the earth, and the "curtain" that was about to break actually began to regenerate at an astonishing speed!

"The curtain has regenerated!" Heidi exclaimed suddenly.

Lucrecia was surprised and immediately looked at Taran El's mental entity - but the latter still stood there quietly like a sculpture, with no sign of reactivation.

The protective veil of this dream has been regenerated, but the "weaver" of the veil is not Taran Eyr - another force is protecting the deeper truth of this dream!

The moment she realized this, Lucrecia suddenly realized two things:

First, in addition to the "elf girl" mentioned by Heidi and Master Taran El, there is at least a third "dreamer" in this dream, and this dreamer is the real controller of this "disguised dream" in front of him.

Second, the invaders are still nearby and the source of pollution is here!

The protective "curtain" of the dream is spontaneously reorganized. It senses a huge danger and suddenly reverses when it has already begun to dissipate. Judging from the scale of the entire forest and the movement when it reorganizes, the source of the danger is definitely far beyond imagination.

Neither the Annihilation Cultists that Heidi had expelled before, nor the invaders that Taran El had already dealt with, were the real reasons for the closure of this dream!

At the same time as Lucrecia reacted, Heidi suddenly realized the reason why the curtain regenerated: "Something is hidden in this dream, and the invader is still there!"

"Pay attention to any abnormalities around you!"

Lucrecia gave a reminder immediately, and then began to quickly search for all suspicious things in her sight, sensing the breath flowing in the air, trying to find where the "source of pollution" that this curtain was trying hard to resist was hidden.

The air, the scent of flowers, the sound of the wind blowing through the trees, the sound of water flowing in the distance, the sunlight shining through the treetops...

Everything is so real, everything is so natural, and nothing seems unusual.

Which one is abnormal in this dream?

Wait...sunshine?!

Lucrecia's heart suddenly shook.

There are countless towering trees and lush tree crowns in this forest, and the purpose of these tree crowns is to block the sunlight.

But even with so much obstruction from the treetops, the "sunshine" still shines throughout the entire forest, making every inch of the forest exceptionally bright.

"The sun is an intruder!"

She reacted instantly and reminded Heidi loudly, and Heidi subconsciously raised her head and looked at the dream sky through the gap between the tree canopies.

Between the layers of treetops, gaps of varying sizes had appeared at some point in time. Between the gaps was the sky and the sunshine, as well as the sun that illuminated dreams.

Huge, dark, twisted tentacles coiled and intertwined, tangled into a ball, interspersed with countless pairs of huge pale eyes, like a horrible monster floating in the sky, hovering over the forest.

The bright sunshine is like a shell of light, transparently covering the surface of this deformed object, quietly illuminating the entire dream.