Chapter 562

Chapter 413: Dream Inquiry

North Coast of Conquer Sea, Navaha.

In the afternoon, Dorothy walked slowly alone on the streets of Navaha, her expression focused. At this moment, she was using the small zombie puppets spread throughout the city to investigate the homes of patients suffering from hypersomnia and quickly discovered useful clues. In the home of a patient that had already been abandoned, Dorothy found an unusual altar in a sealed wardrobe through one of her small zombie puppets.

Afterwards, Dorothy continued to use the small zombie puppets to search other patients’ homes. The result was that in certain hidden corners of their houses, she found this moth-shaped mark to varying degrees. Wealthier families often set up hidden altars for the marks in spacious homes, while poorer families simply carved scratches at the head of the bed. In families where all members had been hospitalized, the homes appeared nearly abandoned, and those still residing in them showed signs of fatigue and decay.

After seeing the conditions of several patients, Dorothy was almost certain of her previous suspicions: this rampant hypersomnia in Navaha was not merely a disease, but a secret belief aimed at the so-called “Panmoth.” According to current intelligence, it seemed that believing in the so-called Panmoth would gradually lead to hypersomnia, ultimately resulting in insanity and being sent to a psychiatric hospital.

This secret belief was disseminated privately among friends and family, which explained the phenomenon of relatives clustering together to fall ill. Now, the mental states of those family members who had not yet been sent to the hospital were also evidently poor.

Then the question arose: what exactly was this so-called Panmoth? Why did believing in it lead to such a situation?

“Panmoth… the Panmoth that brings beautiful dreams, there is a hidden secret worship of moths in this small town. What do the moths here refer to?”

Walking along the street, Dorothy munched on a potato pancake she had just bought while contemplating. The name Panmoth sounded somewhat similar to the deities like the Spider Queen, Gluttonous Wolf, and Abyss Serpent, and for a moment, she pondered whether it might be the name of yet another deity, one associated with dreams.

“The words by the altar are meant to ask the Panmoth to bring beautiful dreams… the ones trying to steal information from Vania must have unknowingly drawn into the dream and invaded the dream cocoon… the patients diagnosed with hypersomnia…”

“A multitude of signs indicates that the society entrenched in Navaha is related to dreams. Dreams are also linked to the ‘Shadow’ and ‘Enlightenment’ aspects of spirituality. Now that the main ‘Enlightenment’ extraordinary beings have disappeared, they are likely the extraordinary beings supporting ‘Shadow’ and ‘Enlightenment’… Is this not the Dream-Eating Path of the Little Fox, with the society here connected to the Little Fox?”

“Strangely… even in this time when not only the main ‘Enlightenment’ extraordinary beings have vanished, but even the supporting ones are pitifully scarce. Only chance individuals like Teacher Adele and Audric can accidentally become supporting ‘Enlightenment’ extraordinary beings. There’s no inheritance, and advancement relies on archaeology, yet here in Navaha, a well-formed supporting ‘Enlightenment’ society has emerged, which is simply unbelievable.”

While chewing on the potato pancake, Dorothy thought about the situation reported back from Vania. There were two individuals sent to investigate, one had died due to a large number of poison recognition backlash, while the other had fled immediately after their companion encountered trouble. The act of sending out two underlings for such an investigation did not indicate a high level of concern for the so-called supporting ‘Enlightenment’ extraordinary beings.

“Sending out two subordinate supporting ‘Enlightenment’ underlings to execute such a task seems to imply that for these guys, extraordinary beings capable of entering dreams are not seen as too rare. They are just regular supporting extraordinary beings placed in mid-sized to large societies. However, if we consider this, it seems illogical. If supporting ‘Enlightenment’ extraordinary beings are not something special for that society, wouldn’t they be able to use a golden-tier leader to resist punishment for subpar ranks and exploit abundant divination resources to overwhelm other societies?”

“And if they don’t even have a golden leader, then there’d be a fundamental power gap with other large societies. It wouldn’t be possible for them to compete with other societies. Without a strong protective force, wouldn’t so many supporting ‘Enlightenment’ extraordinary beings be seen as easy prey by other societies? They would have been dissected and divided long ago; it’s impossible that they’re still here intact.”

Finishing her potato pancake, Dorothy thought deeply and felt an intense curiosity about the hidden secret society within Navaha. She was determined to investigate this society further through more methods.

Now, Dorothy planned to continue monitoring the homes of the patients that still had family members, to see what their secret religious activities were all about. Such secret missionary activities certainly had a hierarchy, with the ultimate superior undoubtedly being that society itself. As long as she continued to observe for a while and clarified the organizational structure of this cult, she would quickly be able to trace back to the society’s members.

Another point to consider was that with such an abnormal number of mental illness cases in the area, the Church and even the secret departments of Castia had not intervened. On the surface, it seemed the local government was controlled by that society, which led them to withhold reports about the situation and even instructed the psychiatric hospital to take down its sign. Thus, continual investigation into the local government could also help expose the society’s hidden activities, and Dorothy had set up some small zombie puppets in the city hall to monitor any unusual situations.

Under normal circumstances, after a full day of investigation, Dorothy would have likely found their main headquarters by now. However, the deterrence posed by the Church’s fleet was clearly causing these individuals to halt or slow down their usual activities, significantly obstructing Dorothy’s progress in following the clues. Although she had gathered a number of investigative findings, she still hadn’t found their stronghold, and Dorothy estimated it might take some more time to obtain concrete results.

“Ah… it’s getting late now. I’ll head back to the hotel and continue monitoring. Along the way, I should also figure out what this so-called ‘Panmoth’ is all about?”

After finishing her snack, Dorothy clapped her hands and murmured to herself while looking at the darkening sky before turning back toward her hotel.

After enjoying a dinner featuring Castia’s specialties at the best restaurant near the hotel, Dorothy returned to her hotel room. Sitting at her desk, she took out her magic box and drew forth the “Navigation of the Literary Sea.” Flipping to the communication page specifically for Gregor, she pondered slightly and then began using another notebook to write down the first message to her brother as a detective after her travels.

…

In Northern Tivyán, in a quiet street in front of a residential complex.

In the evening, a carriage stopped at the side of the road. Wearing a checkered vest, Gregor skillfully jumped down, holding his briefcase, and after smilingly bidding farewell to the coachman, he walked towards the residential complex.

Having just finished a grueling overtime schedule, Gregor got off work early as usual today. After taking the designated carriage to his residential area, he hurried toward his home, planning to change his clothes before finding a place to enjoy a good dinner.

“Ah… it feels a bit wasteful to eat out every day. Maybe I should just eat in the office canteen and return later? But that would be too late… mainly because I can’t cook or make my own food.”

“I wonder how Dorothy managed her meals in Tivyán throughout the day. She probably just went to the school canteen; after all, the pocket money I give her isn’t that much. She hasn’t asked me for more each month, so she’s probably trying to save… just like she used to be in the village, such a sensible and frugal child…”