Ark, after I died, the operators started to love me.

"The situation here is serious and complicated. Are you sure there are other participants besides you and me?"

Fiameta, carrying a grenade launcher half her height, solemnly confirmed with the fallen angel again and again.

Mostima patiently replied, "Yes, I'm sure Dr. Kal'tsit wouldn't lie to me. This is the source of Lungmen's distortion. Once we've dealt with the enemies here, we can enjoy the rest of our vacation and go back when the mission is over."

In principle, Red Liberi dislikes turning in quests at the last minute, but the Fallen Angel's words make a lot of sense, and Lungmen is indeed an interesting place, so staying a little longer isn't a bad idea.

"I hope you're not hiding anything from me."

Mostima said helplessly, "We're friends, we've been on missions together in the same squad for a long time, am I really that untrustworthy?"

Liboli turned his face: "You are Sakorta, I am Liboli, will you tell me everything?"

The fallen angel relented, letting out a sigh of relief: "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"a lot of."

"Then I won't say anything."

Fiameta kicked her in anger, but the fallen angel nimbly dodged it and pulled a pendant from the crease of her collar.

An exquisite cross, crafted from sterling silver and adorned with five-colored gemstones, its main body engraved with intricate hieroglyphics.

When she took out the item, the surrounding distortions seemed to recover somewhat, but only to a limited extent; the overall situation of the plot remained unchanged.

Mostima exclaimed, "Wow, you actually took this out! When we get back to the notary office, someone's definitely going to complain."

"There's nothing we can do about it. Lungmen is too far from the notary office, so your angelic halo is hard to work with. And the effects of the distortion on people are always present. We can't ignore this danger. Of course, the safer we are when we go out on missions, the better."

"Your theory isn't based on Federico's science, is it?"

The Federico mentioned by the fallen angel refers to the notary office's infamous "iron lump," a male Sakta who has been blacklisted by all the girls, codenamed The Undertaker.

“I consulted Federico. He is a very serious person, although sometimes his seriousness is unbearable. But what he says is very useful. Don’t forget that he is the angel who goes out and faces the most of these kinds of situations besides us. There are rumors that the Pope is preparing to let him succeed as a saint.”

“Your source is too slow. In the time we’ve been away, Federic has already become a saint.”

Fiameta's expression stiffened, her lips moved, and she said disappointedly, "As expected, your angelic empathy delivers information much faster, and you didn't tell me before, did you?"

Mostima immediately realized he had done something wrong.

Liboli had this idea long ago, ever since the day Remien had her accident.

She lacks empathy and, unlike angels, cannot quickly understand each other's feelings and thoughts, inevitably leading to negative emotions.

The fallen angel had tried his best not to reveal these things to her, but he still couldn't avoid an accident.

"Alright, I didn't take it to heart. You don't need to look like that. To be honest, it's rare to see sadness on your face."

After taking out the cross, their situation improved significantly. Even the collapsing entities stopped approaching and instead avoided the area affected by the cross.

However, at this moment, the fallen angel turned to look at the other side, where it was empty and there was nothing there but a low-lying bungalow with at most one or two antennas for receiving signals.

"What are you looking at?"

"I had a feeling that someone was over there, but I didn't find anything."

Fiameta looked in the direction his companion pointed, but found nothing.

"I'm probably overthinking it." (255595300 'Chihiro')

"No, this place is full of strange things. Even if you're overthinking it, we can't let our guard down. We need to speed things up."

And right where they had just been observing, Mike was still standing there, motionless.

3. The Mirage of 1064

I knew that Laterano must have a special way of dealing with things to get involved, but I never expected it to happen this way.

Mike became curious and followed the two women, partly to see if they had any more tricks up their sleeves, and partly to protect them and prevent any accidents.

He wasn't worried about Kal'tsit or the center-backs; all his attention was focused on the Lateran duo.

In his dark form, Mike recalled many things; he had always been that kind of person, and this could be considered a liberation of his true nature.

If he were given the chance again, his human form would still do the same absurd things.

But that doesn't mean Mike didn't like those girls.

This is probably what they mean by "old habits die hard."

The man chuckled, concealing all his thoughts.

The fallen angel Mostima suddenly stopped and couldn't help but turn around again, but still saw nothing.

"what happened to you?"

Red Liberi noticed his companion's unusual behavior and cautiously took out a small monocular telescope from his jacket pocket, carefully observing the direction Mostima had turned around.

The equipment she was carrying was no ordinary telescope; its internal structure was engraved with Lateran inscriptions, making it resistant to distortion. The lenses were custom-made by the Columbia Joint Survey Association and were not yet available on the market; even if one wanted to buy one, it would have to go through designated channels.

Unfortunately, no trace of Mike was found.

The fallen angel frowned and whispered, "I have a feeling that someone is watching us."

"No way?"

The place was quiet; there wasn't a sound.

In some open wilderness areas, birds and beasts are always present, but no life has been found in the area where they live so far.

Fiameta pulled a pistol from its holster with her left hand and said nervously, "Don't scare me, this isn't the time for pranks."

"I do not have."

Mostima shook her head, but her actions frightened Liboli even more.

Perhaps there really is something here, but they just can't find it.

"Don't scare yourself. Besides us, there's also Dr. Kal'tsit. If there's any problem, she should notify us immediately."

"Nonsense, can you even contact Dr. Kal'tsit right now? Absolutely not. In places where the distortion is so severe, even communication devices will fail."

Fiameta recalled some of the records she had seen at the notary office, and the most distorted parts were always accompanied by things that were hard to imagine.

For example, seeing phantoms of the past, or the dead standing vividly in front of you.

Most of the distorted victims disappear or vanish into nothingness.

Mostima grabbed Liberi's hand holding the cross: "Look, this thing is still working. You don't believe me, but you should believe the Pope."

If even the Pope's words are wrong, then this land is probably beyond saving.

Thinking about this, Fiameta felt much better and complained, "We should apply for better equipment."

Mostima chuckled and sighed, "Who knew the situation outside Lungmen would be so dire?"

Mike scratched his head a dozen meters behind them, as if his presence had caused them considerable trouble.

Little did he know that Mostima's senses were so sharp that he could detect him following from such a distance.

However, this time he chose a blind spot where the other person couldn't see him, so there shouldn't be any problems.

"So don't worry, if there really was a problem, we should have had an accident long ago."

Mostima's next words sent chills down Liberi's spine, making him even doubt whether the fallen angel before him was real or had already been replaced.

"Don't put such a terrifying thing on me."

The fallen angel smacked his companion on the forehead with annoyance: "You're starting to sound more and more like that Remian guy. I heard she went to a monastery that we lost contact with a long time ago to carry out a mission and hasn't come back yet. Maybe we should check on her when we get back this time."

"Makes sense."

This conversation helped Fiameta regain some composure, but she remained worried.

As they walked along a long-abandoned path, in the blink of an eye, the weeds that had covered the roadside disappeared, replaced by bustling street shops, a constant stream of pedestrians, and local residents carrying shopping baskets and looking around.

The two of them walked among the crowd, almost indistinguishable from these phantoms. Sometimes people would cast curious glances at them, because Lateranos were really rare in other places, even Lungmen.

The well-trained duo did not panic after noticing the anomaly. Mostima even picked up items from a street shop with great interest, examined them carefully, and then put them down, highlighting her curiosity.

"Have you noticed anything wrong?"

"This was over 30 years ago, when the area was quite bustling."

"But isn't this Lungmen's resource zone? I heard it's almost abandoned."

"More than 30 years ago, Lungmen was not as prosperous as it is now. Even Lord Wei failed to take it back from Ursus. This land bears a strong mark of the North."

After saying this, the fallen angel turned around again. In front of the shop she had just passed, although it was empty, the shop owner seemed to be talking to someone.

A slight thought crossed her mind, and she continued walking forward, but at a much slower pace.

“We may have encountered an uncommon, but not too difficult, distortion.”

"Are you saying that everything we've seen is an effect of the distorted source?"

“Yes, what we see are memories, or something else. This only proves one thing: we are now very close to the source of the distortion, entering the other party’s illusion.”

Fiameta suddenly remembered something: "If that's what you're saying, we might run into Dr. Kal'tsit here. We've entered the illusion, and she's definitely in the illusion too. If we stay here for a while, we might be able to find her."

……

The more unusual the situation, the more important it is for everyone to act collectively.

Mike wholeheartedly agreed with Red Liberley's assessment.

When he entered the illusion, he felt that everything there was distorted: the conversations of passersby, the goods displayed on the street, and the sun overhead, which was not very bright and had little heat.

He deliberately didn't follow them, but instead stood by the roadside shop and chatted with the shop owner for a few words. He then picked up a short-term food item and saw the specific time on the packaging.

1064 years.

At this point in time, Lungmen was still under the control of Ursus, and a considerable number of Lungmen residents spoke Ursus language to varying degrees.

In addition to the Chinese characters for "Yan Guo" (炎国), the food packaging bags also had brief Ursus script.

The source of the distortion was an Ursus man, or at least his memory—a beautiful memory.

4. The most romantic thing about Kal'tsit

It might be cruel to interrupt him, but it is 1103 now, not 1064.

One generation will eventually grow old, but there will always be someone who is young.