Great, we're doomed now!

Speaking of which, Gatanothor was the person he was closest to on the entire planet. He thought of him constantly, and Gatanothor must have uttered the words "Bayel" more than once in his 30 million-year-long dream.

As dusk deepened, a faint golden light spilled onto the gravel path, casting a long shadow behind Ye Shou.

Footsteps came from behind. Liuli stopped two steps behind him. Her gaze first fell on Ye Shou's back, and then followed his line of sight to the flower buds.

“Everyone in the family must stay in the mansion,” Ye Shou said, his voice low but clear. “Don’t go out recently.”

Liuli's eyebrows twitched slightly, but she quickly returned to normal.

"Yes." She didn't ask why; questions could be left for later, but obedience had to be the top priority.

Furthermore, just by looking at Ye Shou's serious expression, you can tell that this is no small matter.

She turned to leave, paused, and then turned back.

"Is Zijra... really that scary?"

"Those who haven't experienced it firsthand can hardly understand it deeply."

Ye Shou didn't turn around: "You'll see soon enough."

-

The next day, Liuli spent the morning in her study working on documents. A dozen quill pens were writing in mid-air simultaneously, the dense rustling sound like rain. By the time she filed the last contract, it was already noon, so the maid stood up and went to the window to get some fresh air.

The moment she opened the window, a burst of cheerful laughter came from downstairs.

Liuli frowned: This is too presumptuous.

It wasn't the kind of restrained, hushed laughter the maids occasionally shared; it was a wild, unrestrained laugh—far too unrestrained for this mansion.

As far as she knew, all the maids were of good birth and upbringing and would never be so presumptuous.

On the lawn of the garden, three maids were chasing each other. They were dressed in light maid outfits, their skirts billowing in the wind, their hair disheveled but they didn't care. Their faces were filled with a great sense of happiness, as if they were immersed in something extremely joyful... a dreamy, innocent smile like that of children.

Liuli noticed that there was another maid holding a pair of pruning shears, constantly poking at something in the air, while another was squatting by the fountain pool, reaching her hand into the water to retrieve her own reflection.

"Ha ha ha ha

Joyful and unrestrained laughter echoed in the garden, a stark contrast to the mansion's usual quiet and dignified atmosphere.

Liuli didn't panic for the moment. She immediately thought of Qijiela... but in her opinion, it was like his mind had regressed to that of a child, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

The maid calmly walked out of the door. Sure enough, the mansion was just like the garden, with servants running around or doing their own thing everywhere. She happened to see Shirogane Kei and Asuna standing on the veranda. The two of them seemed unaffected by Gijera and were now looking helpless in the face of the chaos.

Gui tried to grab one of the maids, but the maid ran away while turning back to smile at her, saying things like "So pretty" and "So happy," completely ignoring what Gui was shouting.

"Wake up!" Asuna raised her voice, but almost no one paid any attention to her.

"What's going on...?"

"Miss Liuli!"

Miko Yotsuya ran from the other end of the corridor, her shoes clicking rapidly on the wooden floor. Her voice was louder than usual, but she remained relatively calm.

"Something's happened in the kitchen!"

"As expected... How is it going?"

"They were like...like they ate poisonous mushrooms."

Seeing that Zi was frowning, as if she was carefully choosing her words, she paused and added, "I've already had my stand-ins tie them up, so they won't hurt themselves."

"here you go."

Liuli nodded, her expression remaining largely unchanged.

She walked through the corridors and through the front hall, noticing more unusual things along the way:

The middle-aged maid in charge of cleaning knelt on the ground, wiping the same floor tile over and over again with a rag. After wiping it, she would look down at the tile and grin foolishly, as if it were some kind of amazing work of art.

The young maid stood at the end of the corridor, talking to herself against the wall. Her voice rose and fell, her face flushed and shy, but there was only a blank wall opposite her.

Ignoring the "Lord Kuze" that the other person was muttering to himself, Ruri walked straight to the upper floors of the mansion.

Upon arriving at the main room, Liuli cautiously knocked on the door first, and only breathed a sigh of relief and went in after hearing a voice of permission from inside.

"Ruri," the Kuze couple said, standing by the window, seemingly observing the situation in the garden. They were clearly quite worried. "It seems there's a lot of noise outside. Has something happened?"

With a calm expression, Liuli bowed slightly.

“It’s just a minor issue, I’ll handle it,” she said. “Please stay indoors with your husband and don’t go out for the time being.”

"You've always been reliable... Does Ye Shou know about this happening at home?"

"Lord Ye Shou had already instructed me to handle this with caution."

"I see."

The couple turned to look at her, nodded, and didn't ask any further questions.

"Then it's hard work for you."

Liuli respectfully withdrew and walked down the long corridor to the next floor. The moment she turned around, the gentleness on her face disappeared.

As her footsteps swayed beneath her gently swaying skirt, invisible spirits appeared and disappeared from the void around her. The carpet beneath her feet automatically disintegrated into long ropes, which, like agile pythons, coiled around the wrists and ankles of the out-of-control individuals, forcibly pressing them to the spot.

The bound people did not struggle; they still wore innocent and happy smiles... seemingly completely unaware of their situation.

The maid felt a chill run down her spine.

In this state, even if humanity were to be engulfed by apocalyptic disaster, they would likely face annihilation without any resistance...

She quelled the entire mansion with remarkable ease and also gathered the few who remained conscious.

Kei, Lucy, Asuna... it's not hard to see that these are all people who are close to Yoru. Ruri guesses that the reason they are unharmed is probably because everyone has been marked with the "Holy Grail Mark".

According to Ye Shou, Zijera works on the spiritual level, and the mark happens to have the effect of protecting the soul.

After things settled down for the time being, Lucy used a drone to scout out the situation outside and discovered that the scene on the street was exactly the same as that in the mansion.

People danced and sang, lost in their dreams, their faces showing the contentment and peace of children and even infants. Some were singing, some were daydreaming, and some were squatting on the ground drawing something with their fingers.

It's as if everyone suddenly has no more worries~

In the lobby, Kei and Asuna stood in front of the television, the news feed on the screen constantly changing.

This is AI handling breaking news from around the world; you can't see a single human presenter.

People couldn't help but think:

Such a big news story, yet not a single reporter could catch it... Even they couldn't handle it, the situation must be really serious!

From New York to London, from Tokyo to Singapore, the scenes in each city are pretty much the same. Although not as chaotic and dangerous as zero-dollar shopping, they are comparable to large mental hospitals, except that people are all immersed in their own world and do not affect or harm others.

Gui's lips moved slightly: "My father..."

She didn't finish speaking, but Asuna had already reached out and grasped her hand... Asuna herself didn't look good either. At this moment, she was staring at the chaotic images on the screen, her fingers clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white, but she still tried to hide her unease and attempted to comfort Kei.

But just then, a phone call came in. When Gui turned his hand over, he saw that it was his father, and he couldn't help but be delighted.

Bai Yin's father seemed to be working outside, and had just found a relatively quiet place. He immediately called his child to let him know he was safe and told the two of them to stay in the room and not open the door.

"Drip drop~"

"Ding Ding~"

"Dululu..."

Miko and Asuna received several phone calls, all from family members, just like Shirogane's father, to let them know they were safe. You could hear the unease in their voices, but thankfully everyone was able to stay alert. As long as they didn't wander off, protecting themselves wasn't a problem, which was a stroke of good luck amidst misfortune.

"Great!"

After hanging up the phone, Kei and Asuna jumped up excitedly, the two girls holding hands, a huge weight lifted from their hearts.

After hanging up the phone, Jianzi seemed thoughtful: "Our family is all fine... This can't be a coincidence, can it?"

"Ugh?"

It's true... all of humanity was dragged into a dream, but they and their families were protected by some unseen force, which seems a bit...

"Could it be..." Asuna was the first to think of a possibility, looking thoughtfully at the back of her hand.

"If we are being 'protected'... is he also secretly providing protection for our families?"

"!"

Without her saying anything more, everyone already knew "his" name, and the atmosphere in the room immediately eased, with the previous tension and unease disappearing.

Why didn't you tell us beforehand?

"That's just his style... really."

The girls felt a warm feeling welling up inside them, probably because they hadn't realized how important they were to someone... After all, there's an idiom, "love me, love my dog," right?

Liuli glanced at them, feeling a little jealous:

Unlike them, the maid had no family to protect, and whether those people lived or died was none of her concern.

—After glancing back at Lucy, Ruri finally felt at peace.

Seeing her relieved expression, Lucy felt completely bewildered...

The hacker girl then turned around and gestured with her chin toward the AI ​​terminal standing in the corner of the hall.

“Contact all those outside,” she said, her voice low but each word clear. “Check their status. If you can reach them, tell them to find a safe place to take refuge. If you can’t reach them, don’t worry about them.”

She paused for a moment:

"The focus is on the scientists at TPC."

-

The unrest continued for a long time, until the distant city skyline gradually sank into the twilight...

The blooming zigzags gradually closed, the sweet, cloying scent in the air began to dissipate, and the people on the street gradually quieted down, their expressions dazed and completely unaware of what was happening.

At that moment, Liuli's bracelet vibrated, projecting a virtual screen that displayed a barrage of news notifications, scrolling down like a waterfall.

[Urgent: Multiple cities worldwide report large-scale mass disturbances]

[WHO activates highest-level response as unknown pathogen spreads rapidly]

Panic spreads, multiple countries declare state of emergency

Experts urge: Do not panic, stay indoors, keep doors and windows closed, and await further instructions.

...Liuli looked out the window again.