Fantasy Writers 1860

At the same time, the thugs, including the scarred man, were suddenly filled with a grand and beautiful vision:

Under Her Majesty's rule, Britannia's per capita annual income reached 1032 gold pounds, and everyone enjoyed the sustenance of half the world, from Emilia's grain to Argentina's cattle and sheep; from Peru's silver to California's gold; from Shun's tea to East India's coffee...

With railways stretching for thousands of miles, territories spanning the globe, cutting-edge warships being launched, and industry booming... even the commoners of the Eastern District, faced with such achievements of the Empire, how could they not stand tall with pride?

But a completely opposite picture also filled their minds:

A homeless man, barely clothed, freezes to death on the street; a young child works in a magic factory; a worker dies violently in a mine; a woman is abandoned at the back door of a brothel; a emaciated boy; bread mixed with sawdust; the broken bodies of parents; the tragic state of relatives and friends…

These two completely different images simultaneously filled their minds, lingering, intertwining and colliding, tearing their mental world apart.

At first, they just stood there, stunned, even the thought of running away vanished. Soon, they began to have splitting headaches, as if their souls were being torn in two.

In Dorian's view, those people just stood there for a while, and then inexplicably began to squat on the ground, clutching their heads in pain, emitting cries of agony or groans of agony, completely losing their ability to move.

"My...fantasy manuscript?" Dorian looked down at the manuscript in his hand, which still looked unremarkable.

"Who are you? And what is this 'Illusion Manuscript'?" he asked the werewolf in front of him urgently, but the other party acted as if he hadn't heard him and walked straight toward the scarred man who was lying on the ground screaming in pain.

She pinned the latter to the ground with one wolf claw, rendering him immobile, and the pistol clattered to the ground on the stone pavement.

She slowly crouched down, picked up the pistol, and fired several shots at the other thugs next to the scarred man. After running out of bullets, she casually tossed the gun aside and walked back to Dorian with an elegant smile on her face.

She took a small step forward.

In that instant, the streetlights around her suddenly turned on again, like stage lights gradually illuminating as the main character enters.

With each step she took, the street lamp beside her would suddenly light up. As she moved, one street lamp after another was lit up. By the time she reached Dorian, all the street lamps had been reignited.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Lily, Lily Lockhart, captain of the Special Operations Team at the Royal Institute of Cultural Policy." She smiled kindly. "Please wait a moment."

After saying that, Lily spread her hands out in front of her, as if she were holding something.

A ball of light began to appear between her hands and gradually solidified into the shape of... a book. At the same time, the wolf features on her body were rapidly disappearing, and the color of her hair changed from silver-white to ordinary black.

Animal-eared girls are so cute! Why do you want to change back?

Although Dorian longed to utter such a cry, reason prevailed at the last moment, preventing him from having this untimely idea.

Finally, the girl transformed into a black-haired girl with her hair pinned up at the back of her head, wearing a half-high silk hat and a men's suit.

In her hands, she held an old-fashioned book bound by a rusty iron chain.

The book's cover bore the title "The Book of Were-Wolves" in Gothic script adorned with ornate lines.

"The Book of Werewolves was written 800 years ago in the Black Forest region. It records the author's experiences with werewolves and other related legends. Its effect is that it can possess the user and transform them into a werewolf," Lily said calmly.

"This is what you called... the draft?"

The Dorians were dumbfounded. What kind of unexpected development was this? Wasn't this a scene from a plagiarism movie?

"The one in your hand is it." Lily pointed to the manuscript in Dorian's hand, without saying a word more.

"There exist phantom books in this world that shouldn't exist, containing incredible and extraordinary power. Some phantom books exhibit extraordinary power before they become phantom books; these are called phantom manuscripts."

"So, you've come to me, the author?" Dorian glanced at the gang thugs who were still writhing on the ground in pain.

"Yes. Protecting authors of fantasy books is one of the responsibilities of the Royal Academy of Literature." Lily nodded gently.

"So... what kind of supernatural power do the jokes I wrote have that makes them seem... unhappy?" Dorian pointed to the twitching and twisting thugs on the ground.

"【Legal Perspective: False Consensus】. If a user of the illusory book experiences a 'false consensus'—one characterized by logical contradictions, a disconnect between perception and reality, and the self-deception of power—it will force these false consensuses, disconnects, and contradictions to be 'exposed,' forcing them to confront them immediately, with no escape."

"The stark contrast between false consensus and reality creates a sharp contrast in people's minds, causing mental shock and cognitive dissonance." She was as straightforward as ever, not saying a single unnecessary word.

"This is merely a spell effect. For a phantom book, its true power lies in its domain ability, which will only manifest when it becomes a true phantom book, but..."

Just then, Lily suddenly stopped, her expression solemn, and the top hat on her head seemed to move slightly.

"Footsteps, someone's coming this way... drawn by the gunshots earlier."

Dorian heard no footsteps nearby.

Even in her normal human form after de-transforming, is her hearing still this sensitive?

"It's not a good time to talk here." Lily glanced at the shadowy end of the alley.

"I'll escort you back first. If you have the time and interest in the future, you can go to 332 Kingdom Avenue in the Loia district and tell the receptionist that you want to register for the writing competition."

Loia District? Dorian knew this place; it was practically the city center of Lentinion. The Royal Palace, the Clock Tower, the Parliament, the Visminter Cathedral, and various government offices were all located there.

More importantly, it's quite far from my district of Sheffield-Brende, and it would probably be difficult to walk there.

But other public transportation options require money...

"Looking forward to our next meeting..." Lily didn't notice Dorian's slightly embarrassed expression. She simply bowed gracefully, then expressionlessly hoisted Dorian onto her shoulder and quickly left this place of trouble as if carrying a sack of potatoes.

Dorian: "?"