Bear School Astartes

In the direction Lann turned to look, a half-transparent humanoid outline flickered, creating slight disharmony with the truly empty air around.

The other party did not speak or move, and the dissonance quickly faded away.

It seemed that by standing still, he could hide even more perfectly.

However, the observation and energy required for ’discovering a hidden one’ and ’continuously staring at an already exposed hidden one’ are not on the same level.

Having already discovered the other party, Lann merely frowned slightly under the hood, and then the Demon Hunter’s extraordinary senses made it a bit strenuous, yet effective enough to lock onto the other’s presence.

The other party did not move, so Lann merely stood up from his crouched position, just looking at them without making any hostile moves.

The residents of this alley should have all died from the Grey Blood Plague.

The door smashed open by the Idiotic Giant swayed with a creaking sound.

Finally, after less than a minute passed, at the spot Lann kept staring at, a figure emerged as if shedding the camouflage of a chameleon.

It was a person dressed in tattered clothes, almost shredded both the lining and the coat.

But the neatly tied leg guards were still intact, the high standing coat collar that always covered half the face, and the strange weapon at the waist still indicated this was a Yan Nan Hunter.

After appearing, there was no panic; instead, he first lit the small lantern hanging at his waist in the dark alley.

At this moment, Lann noticed that the other’s head was wrapped with many bandages, like a burn victim, or perhaps as if not wanting to see something.

”I haven’t seen you before; that’s quite rare.”

The unfamiliar hunter said, not to mention how he saw with bandaged eyes, but just the tone itself...

Lann said blandly, ”Have you met everyone in Yan’an?”

Although Yan’an doesn’t have many people by modern standards. But knowing everyone would be a bit...

”Of course, I know them.”

Yet the hunter in front had a light tone, speaking words that should be improbable.

He placed one hand on his forehead, one hand on his hip, leaning his back against the stone brick wall at the alley’s end.

He seemed to relax.

And Lann looked at him, tilting his head slightly.

This person seemed somewhat special.

”You are a hunter who still remains lucid, right? It seems, unknowingly, you’ve already strayed onto a different path. It appears we have many similarities.”

The unknown hunter’s mouth was also covered with bandages; his voice was a bit muffled but still clear enough.

Lann listened and noticed he seemed slightly happy about his own appearance.

’A hunter who still remains lucid,’ a title Lann was not unfamiliar with.

Last time he was in Yan’an, under Master William’s guidance, when he slew [Spider Rom], the artificial ascendant causing time to continuously rewind, the Crow Hunter had already told him.

Some hunters could perceive the time reversal and maintained precious lucidity in the endless hunting night.

And was this one in front of him also among them?

And if he was indeed this kind of ’lucid hunter’ that he knew of, it would also imply...

Lann’s mind was rapidly organizing the information based on existing intelligence.

Meanwhile, the unknown hunter seemed ready to give Lann a hint out of happiness.

But due to the occupational habits of the Yan Nan Hunters, his deep laughter sounded like a malicious chuckle.

”This place belongs to the hunter’s nightmare. Hunters lost in blood and hunting end up here.”

”While you haven’t yet been trapped here, leave if you can.”

”Soon, you will see those unlucky ones who can’t leave, hunters lost in the blood, drooling like beasts. Such is the fate of fools.”

”So don’t be too confident; if there’s still time, turn back while you can. Unless...”

Saying this, the unfamiliar hunter before Lann changed his tone strangely.

With a tone as if enjoying a show yet becoming cautious, he spoke.

”Do you hold some interest in this nightmare?”

Lann did not immediately answer him, but instead, lowered his head in contemplation, just for a few breaths.

Once he raised his head: ”Did you say this is actually a dream realm?”

After the other first mentioned it was a ’hunter’s nightmare,’ the experiences in the ’future’ Yan’an, and his current place, Old Yan’an...

Was it not time travel, but rather the so-called ’memory in a dream’?

In other words, outside this ’dream,’ the real timeline was still being constantly rewound by Rom, and now, it is the Yan’an Night of the Hunt, free from the rewind!

Dream realm.

Lann was not unfamiliar with the concept of Yan’an.

Although last time, when he came to this city, it was after finally slaying the [Spider that Enmeshed Time], during discussions with Master William, he only got a little information.

But Master William was undoubtedly the one who could see the furthest in the whole Yan’an... if he could still be called human.

From conversing with him, the amount of information was vast.

After all, in his eyes, even those hunters who managed to remain lucid were nothing more than a bunch of flies blindly crashing around in the fog.

At the end of the conversation back then, Master William revealed to Lann the root cause of the disaster in Yan’an—

The Ancient Gods’ longing to birth their offspring had become a nightmare, dragging the entire Yan’an into a nightmare.

And now this situation...

”A dream within a dream? Nested dreams?”

The Demon Hunter spoke uncertainly, simultaneously removing the hood of his cloak to reveal his appearance, showing sincerity.

”Exactly, you understand quickly.”

The unknown hunter nodded and let out a few cold laughs.

”Ha, nothing’s surprising in this ancient nightmare, even if it means returning to the past, isn’t it?”

He was one of the rare ones who showed no reaction upon seeing Lann’s face.

This was probably due to the bandages covering his eyes.

But if he couldn’t see Lann’s face, how was he moving around so freely here?

Lann could only assume the other possessed an extraordinary kind of ’sight’, possibly the kind of Spiritual Vision described in Byron Vis’s academic theory.

However, his Spiritual Vision was evidently different from Lann’s own; at least Lann’s Spiritual Vision couldn’t see through things—covering his eyes with a layer of cloth left him having to compensate with the intensity of other senses.

After the initial exchange, the Demon Hunter moved forward carefully and cautiously approached the other.

”My name is Lann.”

A very normal self-introduction, but because it was so normal, the unknown hunter chuckled slyly.

”In this endless night of hunting, it’s surprising the thick blood hasn’t made you forget such trivial nonsense... Heh, call me Simon.”

”Being able to maintain normality amidst endless chaos, even if just trivial normality, is a good thing, isn’t it?”

After the introductions, Lann whispered softly.

Simon responded with a low, indifferent chuckle.

”You mentioned ’lucid hunters,’ I’ve heard that term from a hunter dressed in crow attire.”

Lann walked over to Simon, and amidst the sounds of armor plates scraping against each other, leaned against a wall, half-sitting on a tombstone by the wall.

Only at this moment did they consider each other on equal footing.

”Do you know the Crow Hunter, Erin?”

When Lann mentioned this figure, Simon’s face, partly covered in bandages yet always displaying a mocking smile, visibly tensed up at the corners of his mouth.

”You know Erin? Is she still outside? How are things out there?”

A string of questions burst out of Simon in a hurry.

Lann disclosed some relatively unimportant matters in an orderly manner, enhancing trust with Simon.

”At least before I left, she was doing well, staying with Henryk and the Gascogne family.”

”Henryk and the Gascogne family?” But this news only seemed to provoke Simon’s skepticism, ”I know Erin has been trying to take down that stubborn old dog Henryk, but she hasn’t managed it yet, let alone stay with him?”

Simon referred to Henryk as ’old dog’ without any malice, it was merely a teasing term.

In fact, during the endless night of hunting, unless there was deep love or hatred, hunters generally became very detached.

The thick blood, dangerous hunts, and ceaseless nights eroded the mental structure of a person.

Madness seemed to be the unavoidable final destination for hunters.

But Simon’s remark made Lann furrow his brow.

”This time Henryk hasn’t gone mad because the Gascogne family is still alive.”

Lann looked at Simon with a peculiar gaze.

”Yan’an has seen the rise of a blood moon; the regression has ceased. However, someone is merely prolonging the night... When was the last time you had contact with someone outside the nightmare?”

”A blood moon? The regression outside the nightmare has stopped?” Simon appeared even more astonished than Lann.

He held his forehead: ”My resonance bell is broken, so this... how long have I been here?”

Simon apparently found himself blurry on the concept of time.

But he quickly regained his spirits, reminiscent of Erin back then, with added excitement.

”A change! That’s good news!”

”But change could also bring disruption, preventing us from finding the secrets we need from the Dream Realm.” Lann slightly furrowed his brows.

Secrets, Yan’an was filled with unknown secrets.

The Ancient Gods had drawn this city into the Dream Realm, and these secrets were the key pieces of information.

The lucid hunters journeyed back and forth through death to unravel more secrets, hoping eventually to escape the Dream Realm.

In Yan’an, many things couldn’t be solved with violence.

Where are the Ancient Gods? What form do the Ancient Gods take?

If these secrets remain unknown, how can one ever leave the dream of the Ancient Gods?