Heidi followed the staff member in dark blue uniform towards another ward inside the medical facility, listening to them explain the situation along the way.

"The 'patient' woke up first and found you unconscious beside the bed. She ran to the corridor for help, and that's how we knew something had happened in the ward..."

"As you instructed, we had the church's guardians and stationed priests check the area around the ward, but found no signs of supernatural contamination. Only that you remained unconscious... We moved you to a ward closer to the small chapel..."

"The elven girl is still in the facility. Her mental state is good, but she doesn't seem to remember what happened in the dream, nor can she explain how she suddenly fell asleep. We're having her stay a little longer, in case you have questions for her."

"Her family is here as well, you can ask them about anything..."

The staff member suddenly stopped, a hint of hesitation on their face, and turned to Heidi, "I'm sorry, I forgot you just woke up from your own slumber. You need rest now..."

"I don't need rest, I've slept long enough," Heidi waved her hand. Her gaze kept flickering across the other person's face, but fortunately, she quickly controlled her expression and gaze, then asked as casually as possible, "Before you came in, were there any strange noises in my room?"

"Strange noises?" The staff member frowned, thought for a moment, and shook their head, "No. Did something happen?"

*Not a speed demon, invading the ward through a fissure in the timeline – then leaving after spouting a load of mystical nonsense.*

Heidi recalled what had just happened in her mind, but quickly shook her head, saying with a forced expression, "No, just asking to make sure nothing unusual happened in the room while I was asleep."

*Continuous gunshots? Someone approaching? Referring to the Annihilation cultist who tried to get close to the bed by relying on the "hint entrance" she opened during the dream backlash?*

"Those mentally challenged solar remnants are useless as well, they can't even deal with that 'witch'… Tsk, the lower-level believers are all morons, those called 'messengers' are just a bunch of brainless dregs, and the so-called children of the sun are just unthinking puppets… Those solar believers, from top to bottom, can't find a few with intact intelligence, almost killed by them..."

This figure was in a hurry, with a slightly faltering gait, seemingly somewhat panicked. He avoided the prying eyes that might be present at the alley entrance, and burrowed into one branching path after another, wandering for a long time in the maze-like alleys that could easily make one lose their way, finally slipping into a house.

"I know, I know, we almost ran into big trouble," the man grumbled somewhat irritably. He knew the Abyssal Demon had no heart and couldn't understand human language, but after years of symbiotic life with the demon, he had unconsciously developed the habit of talking to his own Abyssal Demon, as if this cloud of shapeless smoke was truly his trusted family and friend, "Who knew that cursed captain would suddenly appear... Damn it, what does this have to do with him..."

"I remember... I was reading at home," Flotie frowned, thinking. "The sun went out before, and Grandma told me it was dangerous on the streets, so she told me to stay in the room. Later, the sun came back on, and I was really bored, so I found a book to read - after all, the sun was lit up, but I don't know what happened. I suddenly felt very sleepy after reading for a while, so I fell asleep..."

Heidi instantly made a guess in her mind. She thanked the old woman for the apple she handed over, then sat down on the chair next to the bed, looking very seriously at the elven girl named Flotie, "Your name is Flotie, right? Do you remember how you fell asleep?"

The smoke jellyfish constantly swelled and contracted in the air, conveying increasingly uneasy signals to its symbiote, and the man seemed to gradually feel something.

-- His sharp spiritual intuition was finally triggered, and in a wave of fear stronger than the last, his perception finally broke through the self-protection in his subconscious and began to perceive… the gaze that was so close.

He put down the wine glass in his hand, leaned back on the sofa and raised his head, staring at the ceiling with unfocused eyes, his tone filled with indignation.

"She's my grandmother!" the elven girl on the bed interjected.

Heidi muttered, her eyes sweeping over the book Flotie was holding in her hand. A string of gorgeous letters came into her eyes on the pale purple cover –

"Reading?"

In the clean and dimly lit ward, the elven girl who had previously fallen asleep was sitting quietly on the bed, leaning against the quilt and pillows, holding a book in her hands and reading attentively, while a plump and amiable-looking elven old woman was sitting on the edge of the bed, carefully peeling an apple.

"I'm here to check on her," Heidi returned a smile, nodding to the amiable-looking elven old woman as she walked towards the bed, "Hello, may I ask if you are..."

"Of course, who would dare to," Flotie stuck out her tongue, "Who in their right mind would dare to look around when the sun goes out?"

The faint sound of chains rubbing reached his ears. Behind the man, a jet-black chain slowly emerged from the air. One end of the chain was connected to him, and the other end bound a jellyfish floating in the air, seemingly condensed from smoke.

Heidi: "..."

The man threw his thick coat on the armrest of the sofa, then walked to the liquor cabinet, took out a bottle of spirits and poured himself a glass, brought it to the sofa and sat down, drinking half of it in one gulp. Only then did he breathe a long sigh of relief in the slight sense of security brought by the oil lamp.

"But I heard from the staff here that you fell asleep in order to wake Flotie from a nightmare," the old woman handed the peeled apple to Heidi, her warm and sincere attitude not at all like she was just being polite, "And Flotie also said that she felt someone protecting her in her sleep - when danger approached, there were continuous gunshots that dispelled her fear."

Relying on the superb skills she had honed as a young psychiatrist, Heidi ignored the momentary differences in expression between Flotie and her grandmother, and instead looked at the elven girl with a serious face, "In short, you didn't try to observe its surface or look at the sky during the solar eclipse?"

Deep within the Boundless Sea, in a city-state far from Pland and Gale Harbor, a figure wearing a thick white coat hurried into a small alley.

The strongly effective alcohol stimulated his taste buds and nerves, soothing the terrifying pressure that seemed to entangle him like bone-burrowing maggots. He felt his courage and vitality return to his body, and his somewhat cold hands and feet cooled down again.

"Glug," the man swallowed, his gaze gradually lowered.

Flotie immediately corrected from the side, dissatisfied, "Not two, several!"

Various thoughts ran through Heidi's mind, some of which even made her feel a little horrified, and accompanied by these complicated and fluctuating thoughts, she was led to the end of the corridor.

He grumbled, got up and picked up the wine glass, took two more heavy gulps, felt his heartbeat gradually calm down, then turned his head and looked at his symbiotic demon.

At this moment, dusk was approaching, and the afterglow of the sun was quietly fading from the city. The gas lamps on the street had not yet been lit, and darkness had already arrived one step ahead, gradually enveloping the houses in the city-state.

"^_^ Reading," the plump elven old lady babbled from the side, "Her head is full of unreliable fantasies. I think she's bound to be contaminated by these things sooner or later. The gods won't protect love between two women..."

The hissing sound of a match being struck came, and the oil lamp in the room was lit.

"Keep talking," he heard a phantom voice echoing in his mind, as if it were his own thoughts, "I hate people who are in the habit of talking to themselves."

Perhaps she should also tell her father, and that... Captain Duncan?

The staff member in charge of leading the way made a simple handover and left silently. Heidi took a deep breath in front of the ward, quickly sorted out her state and emotions, and then reached out and pushed the door open.

"Be quiet, we're safe now. We'll find other opportunities later. If those mystical preachers are right, more elves will soon be affected by the 'Primordial Flaw'. We'll always have a chance to find a way to enter that dream again..."

"...Besides those few gunshots, I really only have a little bit of an impression," Flotie recalled carefully, saying hesitantly, "I just remember lying in the darkness all the time, feeling drowsy and not being able to see clearly around me, nor being able to hear sounds, and in the darkness there were many, many shadows, like other people, all standing around me..."

Heidi's expression immediately became serious, "Many, many shadows?"

He suddenly stopped.

A hint of embarrassment appeared on Heidi's face, "I feel like I wasn't much help, this 'doctor' even fell asleep."

Heidi shook her head at the old woman, "Don't worry, it's not the contents of this book that caused it."

Heidi was expressionless, and then asked, "Do you remember what happened while you were asleep? Even a little bit of an impression is fine - except for the 'gunshots', I know about that part."

He looked at the wine glass in his hand.

The old woman glanced helplessly at her granddaughter, turned her head and smiled at Heidi, "This child is a bit too familiar... Thank you very much for your help to Flotie, Dr. Heidi."

As soon as she finished speaking, Flotie looked surprised, "Dr. Heidi, you read this too?!"

When Heidi walked into the room, the elven girl immediately looked up, and then a bright smile bloomed on her face, "Ah! Dr. Heidi! You're awake?"

The remaining wine swirled slightly in the glass, reflecting the swaying light of the oil lamp. Under the eerie green light, a gloomy and majestic face was reflected in the cup, staring deeply at him.

The chaotic and ignorant demon manifested its form, swelling and contracting unconsciously in mid-air, conveying restless and uneasy signals to the man.

She should report directly to the church, or the city-state's central cathedral, when she gets back.

The "staff member" in front of her was just an ordinary person in charge of liaison, and the mystical doomsday preacher gave Heidi an overly strange feeling. Out of caution, it was best not to spread the news about the "preacher" to ordinary people.