n

n

nChapter 981 Wrapping Up

nAt a table near the stage, Zhou Mingrui had been observing Zaratulstra and the unknown beautiful woman ever since they walked out from the screen.

nUnlike the majority of people who were drawn to the woman with blood on her face, a dazed look in her eyes, and an strangely alluring beauty, he was more focused on Zaratulstra’s state and actions.

nOf course, during this process, he still used his peripheral vision to keep an eye on the woman, to see her condition and what she would do next.

nAfter just a few seconds, he noticed a strange child appear from behind Zaratulstra, take the hand of the blood-faced woman, walk off the stage, and head towards the resting area for the face-changing performers. Meanwhile, Zaratulstra also looked confused, slowly following them off the stage and approaching the stairs leading to the second floor.

nZhou Mingrui noticed that Zaratulstra’s pace quickened as he walked, his expression gradually becoming relaxed and showing a hint of joy.

nJust then, he heard a “bang” and saw Zaratulstra’s head explode like a watermelon dropped from a great height.

nAs red and white matter splattered in all directions, the applause, cheers, and chatter in the hot pot restaurant seemed to have been muted, disappearing instantly.

nEverything froze or solidified in that moment, except for the fragments of Zaratulstra’s head mixed with red and white liquid, blossoming like fireworks.

nThud!

nZaratulstra’s corpse fell not far from the stairs.

nZaratulstra is dead… shot to death… In that moment, Zhou Mingrui was extremely confused and bewildered, feeling as if a movie special effect had intruded into daily life, making it all seem very unreal.

nIn all his life, this was the first time he had witnessed someone being shot to death.

nHe usually had full confidence in public safety and felt very secure.

nThe next second, Zhou Mingrui thought of the Li Ming, Luo Fu, and Luo Shan group who had been constantly reminding him to be careful of Zaratulstra. He also remembered that Luo Fu, who had been eating hot pot here just a few minutes ago, had gone to the restroom.

nWhat a coincidence, she just happened to not be in the dining hall…

nIt couldn’t have been her, could it?

nJust as this thought flashed through Zhou Mingrui’s mind, he heard screams and felt the entire hot pot restaurant in an uproar.

nJust as this thought flashed through Zhou Mingrui’s mind, he heard screams and felt the entire hot pot restaurant in an uproar.

nPeople had finally reacted.

nA bloody shooting had just occurred right before their eyes!

nSome people immediately called the police, some tried to leave the hot pot restaurant, fearing there might be more gunfire, while others, both nauseated and terrified, wiped the stains from their faces…

n“What happened?” Zhou Mingrui suddenly heard Luo Fu’s voice.

nThis beautiful woman wearing a black T-shirt with sequins and black-framed glasses had returned to her original position.

nLuo Shan abruptly stood up, pointing at where Zaratulstra had fallen, and said in a terrified and stammering voice, “S-someone died!

n“Zaratulstra was shot dead!”

nSeeing Luo Shan’s reaction, Zhou Mingrui doubted his earlier judgment: Luo Shan seems completely unprepared for Zaratulstra’s shooting…

n“Huh?” Franca, taking advantage of her height, stood on tiptoes to look towards where the body lay.

nAfter seeing the corpse with its head blown apart, her face gradually turned pale, and she hurriedly averted her gaze.

n“It’s really Zaratulstra?” she asked Luo Shan.

nAt this point, Luo Shan also suspected it was Luo Fu’s doing, because inviting Zhou Mingrui to this hot pot restaurant and sitting near the stage were both Luo Fu’s instructions. And just minutes before Zaratulstra was shot, Luo Fu had gone to the restroom and wasn’t at her seat.

nBut Luo Fu’s reaction and the change in her complexion made Luo Shan uncertain.

nLuo Shan nodded with a grave expression. “Yes.”

nShe was indeed scared. Since becoming a Beyonder, at most she had only killed monsters in the Shaman’s world and subtly influenced a few people in reality through her paintings. She had never truly fought with any human, let alone killed one.

nShe knew Luo Fu and the others’ purpose and target, but she hadn’t expected them to use such drastic measures.

nAs she spoke, Luo Shan leaned closer to Franca, wanting to sniff her to check for any lingering gunpowder smell, like they did on TV. But she only caught a whiff of a pleasant, intoxicating fragrance.

nFranca’s face seemed to pale even more as she murmured, “How did he just die…”

nAmidst the commotion in the entire hot pot restaurant, Zhou Mingrui’s gaze moved from Luo Shan and Luo Fu’s faces to the resting area for the face-changing performers.

nHe hadn’t forgotten about the beautiful yet dangerous woman who had walked out of the screen along with Zaratulstra.

nInside the hot pot restaurant’s rest area.

nLumina was led by Ludwig to a corner, where he drew a curtain, as if they were about to change clothes.

nThe face-changing performers present were all attracted by Lumina’s beauty, aura, and dazed expression. No one questioned why she had come in.

nAfter blocking the surrounding gazes, Ludwig took out a mirror from his pocket.

nInside the mirror, Jenna was already waiting.

nJenna reached out with both hands, grabbing Lumina and Ludwig, and pulled them into the mirror world.

nLumina didn’t resist; she remembered this was Li Lu’s mother.

nWhat confused her was that she thought she was Li Lu’s mother, so why did Li Lu have another mother? Yet her memories and consciousness told her this was the truth.

nSmack!

nAs the mirror fell towards the ground, it burst into quiet and eerie black flames, then shattered into pieces.

nHaving already traversed to a mirror near the Dechuang Garden, Jenna began cleaning the makeup off herself and Ludwig, and removed the Lie earring from Lumina’s ear.

nTheir action plan for this operation was divided into three parts:

nThe first part was to attempt an assassination;

nThe second part was to immediately switch to an encirclement attack if the assassination failed;

nThe third part, if the encirclement attack still couldn’t kill Zaratulstra, was to “bring” the enemy before Zhou Mingrui in a way involving mysticism and Beyonder powers. This would likely result in both Zaratulstra and the person who “brought” Him being kicked out of the dream on the spot. Then, Franca, who hadn’t appeared or participated in the battle before, would seize the opportunity to covertly assassinate Zaratulstra’s dream image—now an ordinary person without an Angel’s rank and temporarily unprotected by bodyguards. This would force this character off the stage, no longer able to be used by the real Zaratulstra to approach Huang Tao and obtain money and resources through company mergers and restructuring!

nMoreover, this might even prevent Zaratul from re-entering the dream city for a considerable time, until He had a new identity. Lumian and the others would use this window of opportunity to make more attempts.

nBecause there was a possibility of being exposed to the audience at the end, and also the possibility of the plan failing with Zaratulstra successfully escaping, so except for Lumian who could transform into a female form and Franca who would only carry out the covert assassination in the final stage, Jenna, Anthony, and Ludwig all used the Lie earring to adjust their appearances to some extent, applying near-perfect makeup. Additionally, they used Lumian’s Mystery Prying Glasses to add suggestive power to their disguises, making everyone who saw them believe this was their true appearance.

nThe Mystery Prying Glasses itself was not above Sequence 7, so the mystical effects it produced were not discounted.

nIn the hot pot restaurant, Mr. Huang, who was on the phone with his daughter, heard the gunshot and commotion in the hall and specifically walked to the stairway to look down.

nHis face, which had been wearing a faint smile, instantly darkened when he saw Zaratulstra’s nearly headless corpse.

nHe moved the phone from his ear to in front of his eyes, staring at the call interface displaying the words “Bernie”.

nAfter a few seconds, Mr. Huang brought the phone back to his ear and said in a gentle voice, “Something’s happened at the scene, I need to deal with it. I’ll call you back later.”

nAs soon as he hung up the phone, Zaratulstra’s subordinates rushed past him in fear, panic, and anger, surrounding the corpse.

nEdward—the vice president of Intis Group—followed behind them, approaching Mr. Huang and saying in a low voice, “Besides Zaratulstra, one bodyguard and one negotiator are missing.”

nMr. Huang nodded slowly, looking at the chaos in the hall, and sighed. “Call the police, let them handle it.”

n…

nAs soon as she resumed her daily appearance in the dream city, Jenna took Lumina and Ludwig back to room 2303 of the Dechuang Garden.

nShe had used her Ice Mirror Charm once again; now only one use remained.

nShe then placed Franca’s Traveler’s Bag on the coffee table.

nFranca had gone to the women’s restroom under surveillance, used a mirror placed on the water tank to lurk in the surveillance blind spot, shot and killed Zaratulstra, then immediately drank the healing agent provided by the Tarot Club to delay the negative effects of using the special ability of the Inevitable Gun. This would allow the severe illness to manifest after she had been questioned by the police. Of course, before that, her complexion would still show some changes.

nAfter doing this, she quickly handed over the Traveler’s Bag and all items related to Beyonders to Jenna, letting Jenna take them away from the scene to prevent the police from discovering any clues.

nJenna took out a bottle of healing agent and handed it to the confused Lumina, saying in a gentle voice, “First, let’s treat your wounds.”

nLumina took the agent and trustingly opened the cap, tilted her head back slightly, and drank it.

nWatching this scene, Jenna was actually quite anxious inside.

nShe discovered a problem that hadn’t been anticipated before.

nLumian had exited the dream in female form, leaving behind Lumina, but the identity woven by Madam Justice was Li Ming, a male.

nNormally, when an outsider was kicked out of the dream, their remaining manifestation would maintain daily life based on the woven identity and memories not involving Beyonders, just like “Luo Fu”. But now, Lumina and the Li Ming identity were clearly different, even in gender.

nThis would cause a conflict between Lumina’s self-perception and the actual identity situation!

nDoes this count as actively creating a dream loophole? Seeing that Lumina had quickly recovered, Jenna carefully asked, “Can you still… transform into a male?”

n