Shrouded Seascape

Luvlyn froze upon hearing Anna's shocking response. She was finding it difficult to digest the information that Anna had just divulged.

Taking advantage of Luvlyn's daze, Anna placed her right hand behind her back.

"Um, I need to confirm it again. Are you not lying when you said that your relationship with that thing goes beyond friendship?" Luvlyn asked in disbelief. She had seen a drawing of that monster in one of the submitted files.

What kind of person would like something like that? A lunatic?

"Is it really that hard to understand? You know, there's a particular custom among the sailors of the Subterranean Sea's Southern Seas. Before leaving for the sea, they'd bring in an ewe and keep it in the ship's hold.

"The ewe isn't just emergency food; it is there to meet the physiological needs of the crew as well. What difference is there between beasts, monsters, and humans? Does that really matter? When the lights are off, it's just a hole with two slabs of flesh."

Luvlyn placed a hand on her chest. Her face had no features, but her body language indicated her extreme shock. "Ugh! Goodness, that's so disgusting. That is such a nightmarish place."

"Disgusting? Actually, it's not that bad. Wait until I tell you about the customs on Volcano Island. They bring seals into the ship and—"

"Stop, stop, stop!" Luvlyn hurriedly interrupted, sounding a bit flustered. "Ms. Anna, our time is precious, so please don't waste it talking about such things."

"Sure." Anna nodded. "Let's talk about what you mentioned earlier. How about we talk about it face-to-face? Let me leave first, and I'll go visit you once I'm awake."

The air in the room suddenly became tense.

Clearly, Anna's lies and nonsense were all for this moment. Anna had no trust in the IMF at all, and she only had one goal—to escape from this dreamscape.

"I have something else in mind. How about you tell us the location of your companions and let us bring them back to Site 66? That should be enough sincerity on your end."

Luvlyn waved her hand, and Anna's surroundings became hazy.

Anna felt like she was in the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep.

"You can speak now. Your friends can hear you."

"All right, we can do that," Anna said, nodding with a smile. Taking a deep breath, she roared, "Mask, shock my hypothalamus, and wake me up! I'm trapped in a dream!"

As soon as Anna's words fell, the hazy sensation vanished. Clearly, Luvlyn had cut off her connection with the mask.

The cozy surroundings faded away as well, and Luvlyn's figure darkened. "Ms. Anna, you're making things very difficult for me. We really want to work with you."

"Work with me?" Anna sneered. "Both sides can only work together if they are equal. Plus, I can't sense any sincerity from your side."

Just then, Anna felt her brain swell and shrink. Her figure was destabilizing. It seemed that the mask had finally made its move.

However, Luvlyn wasn't going to let Anna leave so easily. She raised her hands, and soft clouds descended from the ceiling, enveloping Anna to stabilize her. Anna's form that was collapsing was coming together again.

Anna immediately realized that this was her final chance to escape, and she had to take advantage of this opportunity to leave. She opened the hand behind her back, and the relic that Charles frequently used appeared in her grasp.

A dreamscape was a three-dimensional canvas upon which one could paint whatever they wanted, and it would come to life.

The relic in Anna's hand activated, and her figure was whisked away, appearing outside the fading room. It turned out that she hadn't moved at all. She was still in the lowest level of Site 66.

However, Anna no longer hesitated and charged straight into the ceiling. As soon as she collided with the ceiling, it softened and enveloped Anna.

Luvlyn had reacted quickly to Anna's escape attempt.

However, a white light burst out of Anna's figure, and she reappeared on a nearby wall.

"Wake up!" Anna roared and smashed her head into the wall. Red blood flowed down Anna's long hair, and Anna was struck by an excruciating pain radiating from her head.

Anna's eyes widened in disbelief. She managed to hit her head on a wall, so how come she was still awake? It turned out that her assumption was incorrect. It wasn't that easy to leave this dreamscape!

"Ms. Anna, did you really think that you can escape from me so easily? It seems that you've underestimated me. I'm a master when it comes to manipulating dreams," Luvlyn said, arriving behind Anna.

Her figure enlarged slowly, and her faceless but bizarre figure became even more profound.

It was like she was the abyss personified.

However, Anna refused to give up just like that. She activated the relic in her hand again, and she was teleported into a cell behind her.

To avoid capture, Anna teleported nonstop. The occupants of each cell were surprised to see Anna appearing before them from out of nowhere.

What's going on? The clown has clearly shocked me, and I also managed to hit my head hard enough to awaken myself, so why am I still here? The fleeing Anna was in disbelief.

Anna was an expert at manipulating dreams, so she was aware of the ins and outs when it came to the dreamscape. Of course, she also knew how to escape her own dreamscape.

One would always reign supreme over their own dreams, so Anna was truly caught off guard by the development. Anna racked her brain but could only come up with one answer—Luvlyn's mastery over dreams was higher than Anna's when she was still a demigod.

The consecutive use of the relic in such a short period of time brought about a powerful wave of side effects. One of them was a stabbing pain in the stomach, and Anna could feel it keenly.

Anna took a moment to rest in a cell, but the ceiling parted, revealing Luvlyn's featureless face. "Found you. Escape is futile."

Anna's figure vanished once again, and many different thoughts popped up in her mind as the cogs in her brain went into overdrive in an effort to come up with a solution to her predicament.

If she's really more powerful than when I was still a demigod, then I have no chance of winning against her! Just then, Anna noticed something.

Wait, there's something wrong here.

The IMF and a demigod? Does the surface world really have such a powerful existence? Anna slammed on the brakes and stopped dead in her tracks. She had finally found the contradiction!

If Luvlyn were truly a demigod, why would she stop her from hitting that wall earlier? Since smashing her head into the wall couldn't free her from the dream, there had to be another reason behind Luvlyn's actions.

Smashing her head into the wall had brought her nothing but pain…

Just then, the giant, featureless face appeared from the ceiling once again.

Anna stared alternatingly between the face and the teleportation relic in her hand, and that was when she realized something—Luvlyn hadn't stopped Anna because she was afraid that Anna would wake up.

It was all because Luvlyn was afraid that Anna would notice that she wasn't in a dream!