Chapter 783: The True Face

When Archbishops Yuri and Magnum regained consciousness, Gawain ceased his direct communication with Daniel and quietly resumed his role as a harmless, otherworldly wanderer silently observing from the sidelines.

In a way, he felt that he—the “extra presence” who had accompanied the Sleepless Ones from the very beginning yet remained unnoticed—might actually be the most terrifying element in this bizarre place…

Meanwhile, Daniel learned from Archbishop Yuri about his experience during the recalibration of his mind.

“You said… you saw a projection of the Overnarrator deep within your own memories?” Daniel’s expression grew grave as he locked eyes with Yuri. “And the part of your memory symbolizing your ‘potential self’ has already begun to praise the Overnarrator?”

Yuri nodded solemnly, his face darkening. Magnum, standing beside him, chimed in with agreement: “I encountered something similar—damn it, I went back decades to when I was a priest in the War God’s church. The chapel was packed, and suddenly everyone started praying to the Overnarrator… I swear, from the moment I abandoned the War God’s faith to become a Nightmare Mentor, the worst nightmare I’ve ever woven is nothing compared to this!”

Listening to the two archbishops recount their experiences, Gawain realized they were both Sleepless Ones who had been “converted” partway through their lives. One had once been a noble of Typhon, the other a priest of the War God’s church. Clearly, they had severed ties with their pasts completely and, through their own strength and long-standing loyalty, had risen to the upper echelons of the Sleepless Ones.

This was strikingly similar to Daniel’s own path—before becoming a dark priest, he had been a high-ranking mage who left the Typhon Mage Association, also “converted” midway.

“Now I need to confirm something,” Daniel said, fixing his gaze on Yuri and Magnum. “Have you already been tainted by the Overnarrator?”

The two archbishops exchanged a glance but showed no objection.

Deep within their memories, at the very bottom of their subconscious, they had personally experienced the strange corruption of the Overnarrator. They neither underestimated this incomprehensible power nor blindly trusted their own judgment about their condition.

After all, if the corruption came from one’s own subconscious, it would be impossible to detect it oneself.

As the security chief of the Mind Network, Daniel was highly skilled in mental alertness and contamination prevention. It was only natural for him to conduct such an examination.

But before that, Yuri was the first to voice a question: “Archbishop Daniel, how is it that you remain unaffected by this place’s abnormal environment?”

Daniel’s expression remained unchanged—he had already discussed this with Gawain and prepared an appropriate answer.

“As security chief, I’ve developed a habit,” he explained. “I never fully immerse my mind in any single layer of consciousness. During this exploration, I kept part of my thought processes in a shallower layer. When the town began to change, the part of my mind outside detected the anomaly and woke the rest of me.”

Daniel wasn’t bluffing—this was a protective strategy he and Gawain had devised earlier when discussing the town’s strange phenomena. The only lie was that he didn’t actually have this habit or perform any such mental partitioning during this mission.

Still, after returning, maybe he really should cultivate this habit.

The Mind Network was no longer safe. Until the Overnarrator threat was fully neutralized, as someone who frequently dealt with network contamination, he had to protect himself.

Yuri and Magnum seemed to accept Daniel’s explanation without suspicion, nodding in agreement. Magnum, the short but loud Sleepless Archbishop, then asked, “How do you plan to check if we’ve been tainted by the Overnarrator?”

He glanced down at himself with some displeasure. “In this damn place, I have to move around looking like this…”

“Our virtual disguises don’t seem to work here,” Yuri said, shooting Magnum a look. “You should accept your true form. Clinging to virtual masks isn’t befitting of an archbishop.”

“I know, I know… you talk too much!” Magnum grumbled.

Daniel paid no mind to their banter. He simply nodded and answered Magnum’s question: “Checking for contamination is straightforward, but I’ll need your cooperation. You must open your minds and let me examine your surface memories. Don’t worry—I’ll only look at the surface, which is enough to confirm whether there’s any belief in the Overnarrator.”

He hoped to use this opportunity to reasonably inspect their surface memories and gather intelligence. Surface-level checks wouldn’t be too sensitive or intrusive, but still required a valid reason—and this seemed perfect.

Using “ruling out Overnarrator contamination” as justification, the two archbishops would likely not refuse.

Gawain smiled faintly, clearly pleased with Daniel’s approach.

But things didn’t unfold as Daniel and Gawain expected—

Before Daniel finished speaking and before Yuri and Magnum could respond, a voice suddenly echoed from a nearby alley. It was Selina Gervin’s voice:

“No need to confirm, Archbishop Daniel—if they were contaminated by the Overnarrator, they would already have become residents of this town.”

Daniel’s expression nearly flickered, but he maintained his composure and turned toward the voice. Yuri and Magnum also turned, curious, and saw a lantern flickering at the mouth of a nearby alley.

Selina Gervin wasn’t affected by this strange environment either?!

A question suddenly surfaced in Gawain’s mind. He turned his gaze with some surprise and saw the figure holding the lantern emerge from the alley.

It was Patty.

Patty Grant—the daughter of Lady Grant, the child who ran through the City of Dreams, the one who called Gawain “Uncle Cersei” in the dream world.

She looked exactly as Gawain remembered: wearing a pure white dress, her light brown hair flowing behind her, her eyes large and clear, her limbs whole and healthy in the dream world. Yet her expression was completely different from what Gawain recalled: calm, serene, bearing a maturity beyond her years, with a depth in her gaze that spoke of worldly experience.

In her hand was Selina Gervin’s lantern. Behind her followed four high-ranking priests wearing owl masks, walking steadily toward them.

Gawain blinked, steadying himself amid the shock flooding his mind, and realized one thing:

This was not Patty. It was Selina Gervin wearing Patty’s face.

In this “town after the bell tolls,” everyone’s virtual disguises from the Mind Network had been stripped away, revealing their true forms from the real world. So why would Selina Gervin—an ancient soul who had lost her physical body and existed as a consciousness in the network—appear as Patty Grant?

Was Patty Grant just a disguise Selina Gervin used? Or perhaps…

In a brief instant, countless clues and fragmented pieces of information exploded in Gawain’s mind, finally connecting into a coherent whole. He thought of Patty Grant’s crown, of Selina Gervin strolling and playing with Patty Grant along the tree-lined paths of the City of Dreams, of the mysterious lantern that appeared in the Kant region, and of the Sleepless Ones’ activity traces near Cecil before the Southern Integration War…

Ultimately, he recalled something he had recently been investigating—a passage from Selina Gervin’s files:

Selina Gervin, Archbishop (Deceased), Female, Soul Entity.

Current Location: Ansu/Correction/Cecil Empire—Southern Territory.

So that was it.

Gawain exhaled softly, letting the many thoughts settle. He didn’t rush to any conclusions about Selina or Patty’s state, but he already had several reliable hypotheses. As his mind raced, the Selina—wearing Patty’s form—approached Daniel and the others.

Gawain’s concealment was still active; no one present except Daniel knew there was a silent observer standing nearby.

Daniel and the two archbishops stared at Selina holding the lantern, their surprise unmistakable. Clearly, not only was this Daniel’s first time seeing her like this, but Yuri and Magnum had never seen the “Dream Saint” in this form either. Magnum was the first to speak:

“Archbishop Selina, what is this…?”

“Have you not also returned to your true forms?” Selina replied calmly before they could finish.

Her tone was steady and adult-like, but coming from a girl no older than thirteen or fourteen, it sounded especially strange.

In reality, Patty should be nearly fifteen this year, but due to injuries and illness, she remained smaller and frailer than her peers. This affected her image in the Mind Network and indirectly influenced Selina Gervin’s “true form” here.

“True form…” Daniel muttered under his breath, struggling to keep his expression neutral.

“My situation is complicated. Don’t dig too deep,” Selina said, shaking her head. Then she lifted her gaze to Yuri and Magnum. “You’re lucky—you’ve only been exposed to the Overnarrator’s erosion, not fully contaminated.”

“You don’t seem affected either?” Yuri looked at Selina and the four owl-masked priests behind her, puzzled. “How did you manage that?”

Selina glanced at Yuri, then down at her small body, a trace of self-mockery flickering in her eyes.

“The Overnarrator’s corruption invades the deep layers of consciousness… As a patched-together soul, a mind running in the network, I have no deep consciousness.

“It’s precisely this peculiarity that allowed me not only to resist this town’s erosion but also to protect others who have been affected.”

As she spoke, Selina looked back at the four high-ranking priests behind her and sighed.

“Unfortunately, I was too late. Two have already had their deep consciousness corrupted, becoming devotees of the Overnarrator, becoming part of this town. Even with my power, I can no longer find them.”

The eerie danger of the phantom town sent a chill through Daniel and the others.

Meanwhile, Gawain carefully observed Selina and the owl-masked priests behind her as she spoke. Upon close inspection, he found no sense of dissonance that would suggest they had been replaced by the Overnarrator. Though somewhat relieved, he remained cautious, unwilling to let his guard down completely.

He couldn’t help but marvel—whatever “strangeness” was brewing inside Sandbox No. 1 was truly eerie and dangerous. Especially since it directly threatened the human mind, making it impossible to guard against. It was a threat that demanded constant vigilance, never allowing anyone to let their guard down. Even he, who seemed immune, dared not relax when facing the higher-level narrators and their influence.

“Archbishop Selina, we’re trapped in this ‘town after the bell tolls,’ and we’ve lost contact with the monitoring team back home,” Yuri reported grimly, having confirmed that the girl before him was indeed the real Archbishop Selina. There was no sign of relief in his voice, only the harsh reality of their situation. “We can’t sense the boundary of reality, and we can’t disconnect from the network directly. Things don’t look good.”

“I don’t need to sense the boundary of reality,” Selina said in a steady voice. Though her calm tone sounded oddly mature coming from such a small girl, no one paid it any mind. “But I can feel a twisted barrier between this town and the normal network. That must be what’s keeping us here.” She paused, then added, “I suspect the key to this twisted barrier lies in the center of the town, where the church stands…”

“That makes sense,” Daniel said, eyes lighting up with realization. “During our first exploration, the church only appeared after the bell tolled—and this is the town after the bell tolls! We didn’t find the church ‘outside,’ but maybe it’s here!”

“Let’s move,” Selina breathed out softly. “The church isn’t far, but we’ve already wasted too much time.”

With that, she turned, lantern in hand, and headed toward the town square.

The two remaining Sleepless stepped forward to follow, and Gawain silently fell in behind them, casting a quiet glance at Selina.

…Those little legs move pretty fast, he thought, unable to suppress a small smile.

(End of chapter)