Trap

The light dissipated, and the night sky returned to tranquility.

The beach radiated with sweltering heat. The fine sand had been transformed into a glass surface a hundred meters in diameter, reflecting the silvery and crimson hues of the night sky, making the shore unnaturally bright.

The center of this glass mirror was now empty. The powerful deep one, having resisted a rank six ability, did not even have time to utter a cry under the illumination of the crimson light before it was completely reduced to ash, dissipating into the sea breeze.

Only Miss Valente remained on the shore, her mouth slightly agape, staring blankly at Lynch's back.

Back in Zur-Baha-Sahr, when Lynch had forcibly banished Mordiggian—who had possessed her body—back to the Dreamlands, Miss Valente had already understood that Lynch possessed powerful trump cards. However, she had lost consciousness at the time and had not seen it with her own eyes.

But today she had seen it, and up close. It made her blood boil and her senses go numb; only one thought remained in her mind.

So strong. He is practically a god of war walking in the mortal world.

"No, it is the red moon."

Detective Lynch Levive retracted his fist. Facing the oncoming sea breeze, he turned around, smiled, tipped his hat, and bowed slightly to Miss Valente.

"Fighting for you, my lady."

"Glory to you, my hero."

Miss Valente tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, blossomed into a radiant smile, and reached out to Lynch.

Lynch paused, immediately understanding. He took her hand and, like a Lande gentleman, helped her to the edge of the reef to sit down. He then turned to check on the four reporters, leaving Miss Valente to inspect her own injured shoulder.

The knife wounds and bruises from his memory did not exist. The four were merely unconscious; whether they were in a coma or simply asleep was unclear, but their breathing was steady, so there should be no major issues.

"What exactly happened? Do you have any ideas?"

Miss Valente stroked her shoulder for a moment. Under the effect of her rapid healing ability, the minor skin wounds soon returned to normal. Having calmed down from the excitement of witnessing Lynch's power, doubt reclaimed her consciousness. She frowned and mused:

"What just happened was truly too strange."

"I cannot be certain, but I have a guess." Lynch did not attempt to wake the four young people, but sat down beside them and said thoughtfully, "One of the authorities stolen by the Lord of R'lyeh is the dream. I suspect that we were dragged into a dream by that deep one leader just now."

"When?"

"It must have been after I saw the four of them and before they went mad. I suspect it started the moment those deep ones climbed out of the water. I remember hearing them chanting prayers as they emerged and wondering to myself why they would need to chant just to come ashore."

"Ah, yes, I heard that too."

"Hmm?" Lynch paused. "It could travel that far?"

"It came through the telepathic conch. Have you forgotten? We were communicating at the time about the Dockworkers’ Mutual Aid Association."

Hiss. So that was it.

Lynch immediately realized that the deep ones' dream ability likely took effect through their chanting. Using some unknown method, they had learned in advance that people were lying in ambush on the shore, so they began using their ability as soon as they landed, pulling everyone on the beach into a dream. Miss Valente had been pulled in precisely because she was listening to the sound through the conch.

"That is indeed a possibility." Miss Valente mused, "So... everything I saw and heard afterward was a dream?"

"It should be. By the way, what did you see? You were supposed to be providing support from the carriage, so why did you come over?"

"Was it not you who suddenly called for help over the conch and urgently summoned me? Oh, right, that was all a dream. But while my consciousness was dreaming, my body followed through with actions—a bit like sleepwalking. I thought you had encountered some danger, so I rushed over at top speed, only to see those deep ones. The leader among them said you had a message to pass on to me. I was just about to listen carefully when I realized from its reaction that someone was behind me. I turned around and fired a shot, but later realized it was you, so I changed my target to the deep one."

Then everything makes sense. It seems everyone pulled into the dream was influenced by what the user of the ability wanted them to see and hear. That was why I saw a Miss Valente who looked like a copy; the other party's goal was likely to make me kill her with my own hands.

Lynch sighed and chuckled softly. "But you were truly daring to turn around like that. Were you not afraid that my sword strike might have been real?"

"The facts prove you did not." Miss Valente wrinkled her nose and smiled quite triumphantly. "So, what about you? What did you see?"

Lynch briefly recounted what he had seen. The smile on Miss Valente's face gradually faded. "These deep ones not only want to frame our family for colluding with pirates, but they also want to incite us to attack each other. It is truly vicious. I suspect today's incident was a conspiracy aimed at you and me from the start."

"That is unlikely." Lynch shook his head. "Our coming here was a matter of pure coincidence. Not to mention these fish-headed people, even West from the Black Cat Theater could not have been certain we would come today. It is unlikely they performed this entire act just for us."

"So... excluding us, they were actually aiming for these four reporters?"

"That is likely the only possibility." Lynch sighed. "I do not know what the four of them saw, but to me, it appeared as your image—and specifically your image from yesterday's reception rather than today's attire. It was precisely because of that that I mistakenly believed you had been copied. Since it was not a copy but a dream, it implies they had premeditated the use of your image; at the very least, it was decided yesterday."

Miss Valente pondered for a moment and nodded slightly, acknowledging Lynch's analysis.

"In other words, they intended from the beginning to make these four fools see a scene where you were colluding with the deep ones. They only decided to lure you in when they discovered you were also listening, hoping to incite a conflict between us." Lynch struck his palm with a fist and said in a low voice, "So, on the surface, it was aimed at these four, but in reality, it was still aimed at us, preparing to splash dirty water on the Valente family. We were just lucky enough to stumble upon and break their conspiracy."

"The family's business rarely involves ocean trade, and we have absolutely no connection to deep ones or pirates." Miss Valente bit her lip and mused, "They could not have targeted our family for no reason. Using my image from yesterday suggests they must have snuck into the reception, or someone who attended showed them what I looked like. Sigh, this likely has something to do with yesterday's reception. Could it be that the foreign princess has come to take revenge on me?"

"Huh? Just for such a small matter? And if she wanted revenge, she should be looking for me. Why would she look for the Valente family?"

"No, one cannot rule out that they might believe that if the Valente family were distracted and unable to care for you, you would no longer have the ability to find that gemstone. But we do not need to guess. Why not just ask them? They must know who is behind this."

"True. Whoever gave them the tip-off must be inseparable from this trap." Lynch raised his cane and poked Maya in the stomach. "Stop pretending. We have let you eavesdrop for long enough. Get up and get to work. First, clarify what you saw just now."

Thump. Maya sat bolt upright, gave Lynch an awkward smile, and shuffled to the side, moving a bit further away from Miss Valente. "A group of monsters was shouting and dancing there. Then she arrived, chatting and laughing with the monsters, and then we blacked out. It looked so real. Was it really just a dream?"

It seems it was the same as what I saw, just with subtle differences. Lynch nodded and pressed further. "You saw it too—these are clearly not ordinary pirates. Your source clearly intended to get you killed along with us. There is no need for you to cover for them. Tell us, where did the information come from? It could not have really come from the Count of Lorand's residence, could it?"

The reporters looked at each other, shivering. Finally, Maya answered, "No, it came from city hall. An aide to the mayor introduced us to a high-ranking member of the Dockworkers’ Mutual Aid Association, and that person revealed it to us."

It was actually someone from the mayor's office? And there was an inside informant from the Dockworkers’ Mutual Aid Association reporting the news. Could this really be related to the railway project?

Lynch and Miss Valente exchanged a look, and he pulled Maya to her feet.

"Let's go. We should leave quickly before the police manage to find their way here, or you will likely be interrogated for a long time. Take us to that dockworker informant immediately. I suspect he knows something."