The words whispered by the tall, thin and sinister man opposite him as if talking to himself made Shirley instantly control the urge to swing the dog at people.

She reacted immediately. The ability to read people's expressions and disguise that she had learned since she was a child made her expression flawless. While looking at the middle-aged man opposite her, she slightly loosened Agou's chain and acted confused and a little nervous: "What's the problem?"

The sinister man on the opposite side smoothed his brows upon hearing this and waved his hand at Shirley: "Don't be nervous, compatriot. We don't know the complete rules of the Nameless Man's dream yet. It is normal to have some deviations when entering the dream, but..."

The other party paused for a moment, and looked at Shirley with a hint of doubt in his eyes: "I didn't expect that a compatriot as young as you would appear here. Is it really okay for you to enter the dream of the nameless person like this?"

"The connection with Youshen has nothing to do with age," Shirley immediately shook the dark and solid chain in her hand, and the dog beside her immediately cooperated with a docile growl, "I am a senior summoner, don't be deceived by my appearance."

"...Okay, I'm sorry," the Annihilation Cultist opposite seemed to have dispelled his doubts. A stiff smile appeared on his sinister face. He then raised his head and looked around. His eyes soon fell on the "dividing line" not far away. He looked thoughtful, "Erosion border... Good luck, it seems we are not far from that 'wall'."

Seeing that the other party's attention was diverted to other places, Shirley breathed a sigh of relief, and then she noticed the strange words such as "eroding border" and "wall" that the other party mentioned inadvertently. She controlled her facial expression and silently memorized these words. Then, while continuing to use her performance skills that she had not used for a long time but was still skilled, she casually mentioned: "Just now, this border was spreading outward crazily. To be honest, it was quite scary."

"You caught up with the expansion of the erosion zone?" The sinister man raised his eyebrows. "Ah, it sounds really unlucky - but as the dream of the nameless continues to develop, this kind of situation will always become more and more common. According to those 'preachers', the corruption and collapse of this dream is bound to happen, so we have to find the silent wall as soon as possible... Don't waste time."

As he spoke, the Annihilation Cultist slightly raised his right hand, and a pitch-black chain appeared in the air beside him. The smoke and dust at the end of the chain condensed into a "death bird" that seemed to be half-rotten, made up of bones and shadows.

After the deep demon appeared, it immediately let out a sharp and unpleasant cry, and then flapped its tattered bone wings and flew into the air, as if sensing the flow of some breath in the dream. After a moment, it landed on the shoulder of its master. No one knew how this chaotic and unintelligent demon communicated with its "master". The latter quickly determined a general direction and looked up into the depths of the forest: "Go this way first."

Shirley didn't say anything, and took Agou with her to follow the tall, thin and sinister cultist, walking towards the depths of the forest with him.

But beneath her calm appearance, her brain had begun to work rapidly - she was thinking about the other party's purpose, how to inquire about things without arousing his suspicion, how to make herself behave more like a normal Annihilation Cultist, and also thinking about how to get rid of this guy as soon as possible if her disguise failed.

She felt her mind quicken in activity—as if all sorts of ideas were coming back to her now that she no longer had to think about those drowsy letters and numbers.

She carefully controlled the distance between herself and the cultist.

You can't get too close, as that will arouse vigilance and suspicion.

You can't be too far away, or your dog won't be able to hit the opponent - you have to make sure the opponent is within the range of your dog.

"My name is Sarah. What's your name?" After a few seconds of silence, Shirley made up a name for herself and asked.

Having grown up in the slums and being cheated and deceived, she is very familiar with these little lies.

"Richard," the cultist in front said without turning back, "The Lord has granted us a shortcut to the 'essence'. Names are not important, young compatriot."

"Oh... you're right, I just asked casually," Shirley nodded quickly, and then asked casually, "Are there many people 'coming in' this time?"

"There are more than a dozen other brothers and sisters from the church working with us. They come from different city-states. But I don't know the details. The saints above arrange everything. Like you, I am just following the orders conveyed by the messenger."

"...Ah, they saw that I was young and didn't tell me anything. They just let me in to investigate," Shirley muttered casually, complaining in a sincere tone, "and the erosion zone expanded when I just came in. I'm so unlucky today - fortunately, the Holy Lord protected me."

The cultist who called himself Richard turned his head slightly and glanced over here, his expression showing no suspicion at all.

After all, the Abyss Hound walking with the girl is the strongest "identity proof" - the only people in this world who can coexist with the Abyss Demons are the Annihilation Cultists, and as long as this identity is clear, then they must be "compatriots" without a doubt.

At most, he is a compatriot who lacks experience and has a lot of problems.

And after realizing this, Shirley herself became a little bolder.

She began to use her "young and inexperienced" identity to ask questions one after another in a roundabout way.

Agou's slightly puzzled voice sounded in her heart: "Shirley, why do I feel like you seem quite excited?"

"Nonsense, how can I not be excited to make a contribution!" Shirley chatted with the cultist in front of her without showing any emotion, and whispered to Agou in her heart, "It's useful to talk a few more words, the captain will definitely reward me later - maybe I don't have to memorize words for the next two days... Agou, Agou, do you think I can catch a live person to use for my math homework?"

"How do you catch someone in a dream?"

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

※※※

Deep in the block, vines and giant trees that seemed to have grown and spread from a dream world entangled and covered every building in sight, turning the entire block into a silent, dark and eerie forest.

Dark-colored vines climbed up the nearby high walls, tiny thorns entangled the lamp posts, towering trees blocked the entrance to the alley, and the treetops covered the roofs of the buildings. The crisscrossing branches among the trees went straight through the silent buildings, as if they were integrated into the solid concrete walls, presenting a weird scene of fusion, twisted and coexisting with the buildings in the city.

In this strange and deadly scene, the footsteps of Duncan and Alice seemed particularly abrupt, even... as if they were a tearing and discordant noise in this "pervasive dream", echoing on the deserted street.

Duncan frowned and glanced at the lifeless street in front of him.

The towering treetops blocked the sky. Whether it was the "sunshine" that diffused from the sea outside the city-state, or the cold glow of the creation of the world that vaguely emerged in the night, they were all blocked by the lush plants above the block, giving the street an unsettling dim atmosphere. In this dimness, he and Alice did not see any human figures along the way.

This is certainly not normal.

There is a curfew in the city after dark, but even on the streets under curfew, you should be able to see patrolling church guards.

But there was no one there - not only was there no one on the street, but when Duncan and Alice passed some houses facing the street, they did not see any figures in the houses.

Even if the lights were on in those houses, and the layout even made it look like there were people moving around in the living room just a moment ago.

"There's no one to be seen in the neighborhood covered by the 'forest', including on the road and in the buildings," Duncan turned his head and said to the puppet head in Alice's arms, "It seems that everyone has disappeared, just like you."

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

"It's hard to say, but at least all the people who walked through the place where Alice and I passed were gone," Duncan shook his head. "Did you meet other people who entered the dream from the real world there?"

"No," Lucrecia answered immediately, "I am still working with this elf who calls herself 'Shirin', and I haven't met anyone else along the way."

Duncan listened quietly, then turned to look at Alice: "Can you see the 'line' around here?"

"No," Alice shook her head. "I didn't see any along the way."

Duncan nodded gravely.

The spirit lines could not escape Alice's eyes. No matter how advanced the concealment skills were, as long as the "person" was still in the real world, Alice would see the "lines" floating in the air. And now even this doll said that it hadn't discovered anything... That could only mean that, at least within the scope of these streets where the changes had occurred, the "person" had indeed disappeared.

This was different from what had happened to Taran El or the elf girl Plandre before.

Although it seems that this incident is still related to the "Dream of the Nameless One", it is obvious... the scale and power of this dream have developed to an incredible level.

Duncan raised his head and looked towards the center of the mutated neighborhood in the dim light.

Suddenly, a shadow in the darkness caught his attention.

It was a structure that snaked and undulated between the buildings, like a giant vine or some structure with exposed roots.

It lurks quietly in the darkness, as silent as everything around it, but somehow...

Duncan always felt that the huge "vine" was a little different.