Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 722 Parallel World

Mahjong Princess's passion for Zheng Fan remained unchanged. As for her counterpart from another world, who actually dared to try and replace her, well, that was a fitting end for her.

Zheng Fan used some effort to hold down Mahjong Girl, preventing her from playing a game with him on the spot before she calmed down again.

Lin Yilin arrived at the scene a little later. Que Ji had already transformed back into a sparrow and was sitting on Zheng Fan's shoulder. She still preferred to stay in her sparrow form.

Without interpersonal relationships, the human form is merely an empty shell forcibly reconstructed, and it is only thanks to Zheng Fan's support that it can easily maintain that state.

For the current Mahjong Princess, is the human form a high-energy-consuming mode, or is the sparrow form more relaxed?

After listening to Zheng Fan's retelling of the words of the Mahjong Queen from another world, Lin Yilin reopened her electronic resume. The Mahjong Queen's resume was now fully displayed. At the same time, a blank resume with page number three had appeared.

As expected, there wasn't just one Mahjong Queen; in fact, she was merely a vanguard.

"Is this resume a reminder to us?" Zheng asked rhetorically.

Lin Yilin said, "Judging from the current situation, the other party is indeed alerting us to the appearance of relevant targets. But if that's the case, what is the relationship between the mastermind and the Black World? If they intend to attack Dadu in this way, then the Black World has no reason to alert us."

“There are also internal conflicts within the dark world, and perhaps even clashes between different factions,” Zheng Fan mentioned.

“Even if they don’t get along, eliminating the majority is still a common goal for them. This doesn’t seem like a product of conflicts within the underworld; it suggests there might be someone else behind it.” Lin Yilin looked at the page numbers on the electronic resume and thought of the lost first page.

It's now almost certain that the first page of resumes has been displayed.

However, the other party hid themselves for some purpose.

The sender "Zero" is very likely the anonymous sender.

Just then, Niu Qianliu suddenly sent a message: [We have a lead.]

[An identical version of myself, and another possibility for the same individual—this description sounds very familiar. Since I can't detect any activity from the dark world for the time being, I tried investigating other worlds and made some discoveries.]

[During the previous Central Assembly incident, the Society lost observations of a large number of wandering worlds. Not all of them have been recovered yet, and among those lost worlds... are "parallel worlds."]

Zheng Fan peeked out and looked at the message sent by Niu Qianliu with Lin Yilin.

Parallel worlds...

Zheng Fan vaguely remembered Lin Yilin telling him about this world. It was an extremely dangerous, alien world. The Society had almost caused a major disaster by conducting research on it, so related research and even overlapping methods were strictly controlled and prohibited by the Society.

Lin Yilin: [If it's a parallel universe, then that does explain it. The Black World didn't make any major moves during the Central Assembly incident; in reality, it had been planning its next move for a long time.]

Niu Qianliu: [We have too little research on parallel worlds. This detached world is indeed special and complex. I wonder what the Dark World intends to do.]

Lin Yilin: [Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to declare full martial law and be prepared to face our other selves in another world.]

That's what they say, but the appearance of the Mahjong Princess in the parallel world was almost entirely without warning, except for the resume in Lin Yilin's hand.

“If it wasn’t an external intrusion, then it must have been internal,” Zheng Fan said. “Most places have already been thoroughly infiltrated; the underworld might have set up a backdoor somewhere.”

Lin Yilin nodded, then her eyes suddenly narrowed as a change appeared on the third page of the electronic introduction.

[Origin: Giuseppe Street]

Giuseppe Street?
This is a medium-sized neighborhood, adjacent to and under the jurisdiction of Tarkovsky Street. It stands out inconspicuously among the vast, greyish neighborhoods of the metropolis.

This left Lin Yilin unsure of what to do.

Upon seeing this, Zheng Fan said, "Xiao Yang and his group are on Tarkovsky Street right now; their recent tour just happened to be there."

Is this targeting Doris and the others? Then who will be coming this time?
……

The monastery band's rehearsal went smoothly today. After the rehearsal, during their private time, the band members, as usual, explored the streets of Tarkovsky.

Even in August, the streets of Tarkovsky are not hot, making it a good place to escape the heat.

"Gao Song, keep a close eye on your rabbit, be careful it doesn't run away," Mora reminded Gao Song, who was holding the rabbit. Gao Song replied, "Ranya is very obedient."

Tao Zhi said, "I think I saw Mr. Gundam over at Andre Bay... no, I should say Mr. Radish. He was fishing over there."

"Fishing? That sounds great! I want to go fishing too," Gao Song said, suddenly becoming interested.

"Don't just do whatever comes to mind. By the way, where's Doris?" Mora said helplessly, then looked around for the elusive Doris.

Even when everyone is out together, Doris can suddenly disappear without a word. Although she will suddenly return after a while, there is no need to worry about her safety. However, if Doris is caught by fans in private, it could easily cause chaos.

Doris is now very likely to become a national idol in the capital.

“She just slipped into a classical music store on that street, you know, that’s what she likes.” Tao Zhi pointed behind him. “She’ll catch up in a bit.”

"Doris really has no sense of being a big star anymore, sigh." Mora sighed.

The three of them continued forward, while Gao Song scrolled through his phone, keeping an eye on the group chat.

Tao Zhi suddenly paused for a moment: "It's so noisy up ahead."

A large crowd had gathered in the distance ahead, forming a considerable flow of people.

Mora: "A parade?"

Gao Song shook his head: "There aren't many people marching in the Gray Street area, and I've also heard that this kind of thing hasn't happened much in the Tarkovsky Street area."

Tao Zhi frowned: "They're calling... Doris!"

The three looked at each other in bewilderment, then quickened their pace and hurried forward, squeezing through the crowd without attracting attention. Finally, they spotted the familiar figure amidst the throng.

"Doris! I told you not to run around and expose yourself!" Mora immediately tried to take Doris out, but Gao Song grabbed her arm.

"Don't go over there!" Gao Song said sternly.

Mora froze, looking at Tao Zhi, who was sweating profusely: "How could she... Her voice sounds similar, yet not quite the same! Something's not right, she's not Doris!"

The stunningly beautiful woman before them turned her head to look at them expressionlessly. She wore a pure white long dress with black patterns carved on it.

She was surrounded by countless people, yet she seemed detached from the world, her expression slightly bewildered, as if she didn't know why she was so popular here, and why everyone seemed unafraid of her.

However, upon seeing Mora and the others, that insignificant emotion quickly dissipated.

Looking at Doris in front of them, Mora, Gao Song, and Tao Zhi felt a sense of suffocation.

This feeling was not unfamiliar; it was the same as when they had seen Doris manipulated by the old nun in that convent.

Exquisite and perfect, yet lifeless.

On Gao Song's phone, a new electronic resume sent by Lin Yilin popped up in the group chat.

【"Doris"】

[Identity: Lamplighter Without Light]

【Gender: Female】

[Origin: Giuseppe Street]

[Background: Born into a musical family in Giuseppe, the daughter of a family separated from her parents and sent to an orphanage. Later, she was selected by the Pure White Lighthouse Lantern Bearer Training Institute and assigned to the training center known as the "Convent," run by Lina Stovers. Her exceptional qualities were valued by Lina Stovers, who devoted herself to nurturing her, stripping her of all outward emotions and binding love deep within her heart—making her the theoretically perfect embryo for becoming a lantern bearer.]

[But on the day of her ascension, she lost control, slaughtering everyone in the monastery, including all the children and researchers involved in the experiments. Absorbing the lighthouse's source, she became a fallen lamplighter, devoid of light. Later, the capital sent a large force to hunt her down, but all who faced her perished. Until she entered the capital, bringing with her this out-of-control, lightless apocalypse.]

(End of this chapter)