[His divine kingdom]

But it should have disappeared by now. After all, that place was a special product of a conspiracy by Outsider. With Soren’s death and the separation of the real world and the Dream World, that special map should have vanished by now.

At this moment, the staff, which had been quietly lying on the stone table, suddenly floated up. In the surprised gaze of Ranen, it slowly floated to his hand, its tip pointing toward a direction in the mist.

What is this?

Ranen looked in the direction the scepter pointed, but all he could see was a sea of mist. Suddenly, it seemed like he heard something—voices, many voices calling out to him.

“Lord Ranen?”

Sphynx looked at Ranen, who had suddenly fallen silent. At this moment, it shuddered and inexplicably sensed a dangerous omen coming from Ranen.

“Sphynx,” Ranen said. “You mentioned before that certain non-human entities can use the mist of the Dream Rift to travel to another Dream Rift. I remember you also came through the Dream Rift. How do you manage to travel through it?”

Sphynx trembled but still mustered the courage to ask, “What do you think of the trait of being tsundere?”

“No particular opinion, it’s quite cute.”

‘Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh!’

‘Did you hear that, my foolish master? Your chances have greatly increased!’ Sphynx straightened its back. “I heard you calling for me, and I had this vague feeling that if I went in this direction, I would come to you. So, without hesitation, I came!”

“Feeling…” Ranen muttered, then focused on the front, stepping forward into the mist.

He stepped off the platform, with a bottomless abyss beneath his feet. But strangely, he felt as though an invisible path had unfolded in front of him, and the sensation of solid ground beneath his feet was unmistakable.

The voices were still ahead, and Ranen continued to move forward.

One step, another step.

*Thud, thud.*

It was as if he were walking in thick fog where he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. The only sound around him was his own footsteps. He had previously felt that Sphynx had followed him, but gradually, only one sound remained.

Rustling.

In the mist, there were sounds of friction, whispers, and the unidentifiable murmur of prayers, the sound of large creatures dragging something across the ground.

Ranen remembered what Sphynx had said earlier: certain non-human entities could travel through the mist. He realized, a bit too late, how dangerous his current actions were, as cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

Wait a minute, Sphynx has never mentioned that the mist is necessarily safe. What if he encounters high-level anomalies? What if there are beings like him, or even eldritch gods, wandering within the mist? What if he encounters them? Wouldn’t that be the end?

But it seemed too late to turn back now. Ranen looked behind him, only to find that the path he had come from had already vanished. No matter which direction he faced, there was only mist. He couldn’t even see where he had come from, and trying to go back might not even bring him to the same place.

If only he’d rolled for navigation earlier, maybe he could have remembered the direction in this mist.

Ranen thought to himself and casually pulled a dice from his pocket.

Since there was nothing else to do, he might as well try his luck.

Luck: Success.

Ranen let out a small sigh of relief and braced himself as he continued into the uncertain mist.

What he didn’t see was the direction he was walking toward.

The anomalies withdrew.

Countless anomalies hid within the mist, gazing at the figure with both fear and yearning. One of them, nearly brushing past Ranen, patted its chest.

“That was close, that was close. Almost ran into him.”

The staff, covered in strange patterns, seemed to deter the anomalies hiding in the shadows.

The frenzied mist swirled around Ranen’s face, obscuring his true appearance.

The anomalies dared not approach, yet they were drawn to that strange magnetic pull, unwilling to move away.

They could only watch from afar, observing the figure through the mist.

Gradually, Ranen noticed the sound growing louder, and the mist around him was slowly dissipating. A premonition tugged at him—he had arrived.

*Pop.*

A crisp sound of a bubble bursting echoed in his ear, and Ranen stepped out of the mist into… a strange yet familiar forest.

“Lord Ranen!” Sphynx followed closely, panting and sticking out its tongue. “You… you walk too fast.”

“You’ve been following me this whole time?”

“Yes, but you were walking too fast, I couldn’t keep up,” Sphynx replied.

Ranen didn’t pay much attention to it. He turned his gaze to the forest in front of him, clearly not a naturally formed one.

“Eh, is this your divine kingdom? It’s really…” Sphynx looked at the bizarre, twisted dark forest in front of it, and the praise it intended to give caught in its throat. It dryly added, “Unusual.”

Ranen ignored Sphynx’s flattery, his own emotions quite complicated.

He hadn’t expected that the entity calling him here was the hospital in front of him.

Yes, the hospital—the place where Ranen had once been trapped. He had originally thought that it had disappeared with Soren’s plot, but it seemed it still existed.

Wait a minute, if that’s the case…

“Lord Ranen!”

Ranen stiffened, turning his gaze. He found doctors, nurses, and orderlies standing outside the fence, staring at him eagerly.

These nurses and doctors were still in the form of the monsters Ranen had seen last time. Taken by surprise by so many terrifying eyes fixed on him, Ranen froze momentarily.

Among them was Anita, the same one he had seen before. She still had a massive frame, though there was an added weariness on her face.

“You didn’t lie to us; you really came!”

“Yeah…” Ranen chuckled awkwardly. He couldn’t exactly say that he thought everything here had vanished. He walked forward casually and asked, “Is everything normal in the hospital?”

“Not so much,” Nurse Mary gracefully approached; when not transformed into a spider, she was actually quite beautiful, with a leaden complexion that did not detract from her striking features. “The hospital has been very busy lately, extremely busy. Everyone is under a lot of pressure.”

Ranen heard about it but didn’t expect the events of the daytime hospital to affect the nighttime hospital as well.

Oh no—based on previous speculations about the hospital’s rules, everything in the nighttime hospital was merely a reflection of the daytime reality. It was only natural that it would be affected as well.  

“But your arrival, Director, has made everyone very happy. I believe they’ll be able to return to their work with renewed energy,” Head Nurse Mary said with a smile.  

The orderlies and nurses behind her didn’t dare make a sound, but their eyes were filled with exhaustion and bloodshot veins. Ranen thought about how, in reality, the ambulance sirens had barely stopped wailing throughout the city. His expression softened. “You’ve worked hard.”  

The nurses and orderlies were momentarily stunned before responding with excitement, “N-no, it’s not hard at all!”  

“Director, just having you here makes everyone happy.”  

“What can I do? It’s not like I can reduce your workload,” Ranen said softly. He glanced around at the hospital’s surroundings and keenly noticed something different.  

The last time he was here, there hadn’t been this many trees and plants in the hospital, had there?  

And these trees were unlike any he had ever seen before. Ranen had a vague sense that he could control them—just like he could now control the entire hospital.  

Trees… a forest.  

Ranen looked down at the staff in his hand. If he remembered correctly, its original description had been: “After all, a shepherd can’t be without a forest, can they?”

He still didn’t know why Arkham Hospital continued to exist, but judging by the reactions of the medical staff, his authority as director remained intact. He could still control the hospital—he could still freely command this land.

And these plants… he felt as if they were an embodiment of his will.  

Is this what Sphinx had referred to as a “divine kingdom”?  

If that is the case…  

Under the watchful eyes of all the medical staff and Sphinx, Ranen raised his staff and lightly tapped the thickest plant in the courtyard.  

What is a divine kingdom? Every action, every word of a god is reality itself.  

The twisted plant suddenly unfurled. It began to grow taller, rapidly shooting upward until it became the tallest tree in the courtyard—so prominent that the entire hospital could see its presence. Soon, white flowers bloomed on its jet-black branches.  

These were flowers unknown to reality, nonexistent in the outside world. Their petals curled slightly at the tips, their stamens a deep crimson. A mesmerizing fragrance quickly spread throughout the hospital, and anyone who caught a whiff of it reacted much like a cat intoxicated by catnip.  

*Thud. Thud.*  

One after another, they collapsed to the ground, falling into a deep sleep. Sphinx, who had been enjoying the scent with half-lidded eyes, was startled and nearly forgot to breathe.  

“Don’t worry,” Ranen reassured. “They were simply too exhausted and fell asleep. Once they wake up, they’ll be fully refreshed.”  

The moment he had envisioned the effects of these flowers, the tree in the courtyard had begun growing them on its own.  

At the same time, Ranen became certain—this was indeed his divine kingdom.  

He wasn’t sure how it had come into being, but perhaps it was related to his earlier “awakening” and his role as director, granting him authority over the nighttime hospital. He could feel it—the formation that had once maintained the nighttime hospital had now been infused with his power. Because of this, he could exert complete control over everything here.  

Like someone experiencing a lucid dream, he had truly become the undisputed master of this realm. No matter how powerful an anomaly entered his divine kingdom, Ranen was confident he could kill it.  

Only then did Sphinx finally relax and take a deep breath. And it had to admit—the scent was truly delightful. The longer it inhaled, the more at peace it felt.  

“Now the only thing left is figuring out how to bring players in,” Ranen murmured.  

Previously, the only way to enter the nighttime hospital was to step into the hospital in the real world during the day, after which the director could forcibly pull them into the nighttime version.  

Would that mean players had to use the hospital as an entrance? But that would be far too conspicuous. If players vanished from reality the moment they were pulled in, it would be obvious to everyone that something was off.  

If only he could pinpoint the players’ locations and use his authority as acting director to pull them in remotely…  

At that moment, a thought struck him.  

Positioning… It might actually be possible.  

Ranen suddenly remembered something—the ritual formation he had once used to communicate with an eldritch god!  

He had used it back when Carmen was in a severely weakened state, and as a result, he had even gained a follower. That version of the formation had been incomplete—lacking any prayer incantations, directional markers, or specific offerings—so it had only connected to the nearest eldritch deity.  

Back then, Ranen hadn’t understood why it had worked. But now he did.  

So what would happen if he modified the ritual—if he added a specific prayer, a directional focus pointing toward himself?  

“Sphinx.” Ranen turned to him. “I have a task for you.”

—-

Archie paced back and forth anxiously within the Dream Rift.  

This was the first time he had ever encountered such a situation—his own origin ability had actually run away on its own. And right in front of him, no less.  

He had finally made up his mind: no matter how shameless Sphinx’s questions got, he was determined to answer them in order to find Albert’s whereabouts and figure out what that faceless man really was.  

But just as he had gathered his resolve—Sphinx ran off!  

Words could hardly describe Archie’s emotions in that moment. There was the relief of not having to answer those indecent questions, the frustration of his own ability running off to someone else before his very eyes, and the growing anxiety over both his missing friend and the unknown enemy.  

Fortunately, an hour later, Sphinx finally returned.  

“You still know how to come back?” Archie snorted coldly.  

Sphinx licked the fur on its hand, completely unfazed by Archie’s mood.  

“Don’t use my face to make that kind of expression!” Archie snapped.  

“Come on, I am your ability, your origin ability. Do you think I have a choice in this?” Sphinx pointed at himself, looking utterly wronged. “You think I wouldn’t want to have a cute little kitty face? Even a majestic lion’s face would do—Ranen would definitely love me then!”  

Then, the corner of his mouth curled up in a mocking smirk. “Unlike someone—a stubborn tsundere through and through. Always acting tough, always making things difficult for himself. And what’s worse, you’re not even a golden-haired beauty—just a grown man with zero appeal when you act like this.”  

Archie took a deep breath and barely held back the urge to strangle it.  

‘No, Archie. It’s your ability. Attacking it is basically the same as attacking yourself.’

For a fleeting moment, he actually started to miss the silent, expressionless faceless man. At least that guy wasn’t this insufferable.  

“I have a question,” Archie said icily.  

“Oh, hold on a moment.”  

“What now? Off to attend another meeting?”  

Sphinx shot him a strange look. “What nonsense are you spouting? I am you, and you are me. You can’t talk about yourself like that!”  

Before Archie could make a move, Sphinx swiftly added, “Ranen is calling for you.”  

Archie froze, his raised hand instinctively lowering.  

“Relax,” Sphinx said meaningfully. “That man will give you all the answers you seek. Now then, he has entrusted me with the method for drawing the formation. I’ll pass it on to you—you just need to recite the prayer in the real world. You know what to do, right?”  

After receiving the formation’s structure from Sphinx, Archie exited the Dream Rift.  

He didn’t start carving the formation right away. Instead, he made his way to the bathroom, splashed cold water on his face, then looked up at the mirror.

The young man in the mirror had dark hair, faint dark circles from long hours of overtime, and bloodshot eyes, which softened the sharp, unapproachable edge that once defined his demeanor.  

The boy who had once only dared to stand in the back row of group photos had now grown into the police department’s infamous sharp-tongued consultant. Aside from his now fully developed brows and features, there was no trace left of his childhood self.  

And yet, he could hardly believe that the person he had become was now obsessed with Ranen—just like those crazed devotees.  

Archie placed a hand over his chest, where a lingering trace of his earlier excitement still remained. Yes, ever since he had learned from Sphinx that Ranen wanted to see him, his heartbeat had spiraled out of his control. No matter how much he tried to rationalize it, he couldn’t deceive himself.  

“It’s just a side effect of the previous suggestion,” he told the person in the mirror. “That’s right… it must be just a side effect.”  

Lowering his head, he dipped his fingers into the water and traced the outline of a formation on the sink.  

His thin lips parted:  

“The Overturner of Fate,

The Unspeakable Mystery,

The New Lord of Nature and the Forest.” 

In an instant, Archie’s vision blurred—his world flipped upside down. The shapes of objects stretched and distorted across his retinas, colors playfully shifting to places where they didn’t belong, swirling like a kaleidoscope before his eyes.  

His grasp on rationality began to slip, veering off its predetermined course. Just as he was about to lose control, everything suddenly snapped back to normal.  

And he—  

Was now standing before a warped, pitch-black forest.  

Something within it seemed to be calling to him. Instinctively, Archie stepped forward, entering the eerie grove in the courtyard. He realized he had seen this place before, yet he had no idea when it had become so overgrown. A single black tree stood among them, blooming with delicate white flowers—the only soft, gentle presence in this world.  

The fragrance lingered in the air, dispelling the residual chaos and madness clouding his mind. Archie continued forward, walking deeper inside—until his gaze finally landed on Him.  

At the heart of the twisted forest, the black branches wove together into a throne. The throne itself was dark, its backrest entwined with countless vines of varying colors.  

Seated upon it was a boy with inhuman beauty.  

The moment Archie laid eyes on him, his mind reeled as though struck by a heavy hammer.

In the depths of the dark forest, Ranen seemed like a completely different person from his usual self—solemn, dignified. The inhuman strangeness of his presence was fully unleashed, making it difficult to look directly into his green eyes, which gleamed with a golden edge.  

Archie nearly forgot to breathe. His heart pounded like a war drum, completely abandoning all the mental preparations he had made earlier.  

Ranen glanced at Archie’s stunned expression and nodded in satisfaction. The effect seemed to be working well—his effort of deliberately keeping a straight face hadn’t been in vain.  

Besides, since Archie had managed to come here without issue, it meant his earlier experiment had been successful. As long as any believer inscribed a summoning formation meant for communicating with an eldritch god and recited the corresponding prayer, Ranen could pull them into his divine kingdom.  

Of course, that was only possible if he was also in the divine kingdom at the time.  

“Archie,” Ranen spoke.  

Archie snapped back to his senses and instinctively took a step back. “My Lord.”  

“No need to be nervous. I called you here to test something, and it worked,” Ranen said.  

“Did it?” Archie showed no displeasure upon hearing that he had been part of an experiment. In fact, he even felt a trace of joy at being useful to Ranen.  

No, no, no—this is just the lingering influence of the previous suggestion!  

“Archie, Sphinx told me you had something you wanted to ask. What is it?” Ranen asked.  

Archie finally pulled himself out of his inner turmoil. “Do you know where Albert is? I received news that he’s gone missing.”  

Albert…  

With everything that had happened recently, Ranen had completely pushed Albert’s matter to the back of his mind.  

His last memory of the incident was Albert seemingly perishing alongside Soren. However, from Archie’s words, it sounded like no one had actually found Albert’s charred corpse at the scene.  

Then where had he gone? Had he escaped on his own?  

“Sphinx,” Ranen called. “If I remember correctly, I still have one question left.”  

“Of course.”  

At some point, Sphinx had appeared behind Archie, eagerly rubbing against Ranen’s leg. It even turned to glance meaningfully at Archie.  

Archie: ?  

Sphinx then asked, “Who is the believer you’re most concerned about right now?”  

Since when did Sphinx’s riddles become so straightforward…? Ranen thought for a moment before answering, “Edmund, I suppose.”  

If he had to name the one he was most focused on, it was undoubtedly Edmund, who was currently infiltrating the Bureau’s task force. Ranen was deeply worried about his exposure—and even more concerned that he might act recklessly.  

Sphinx gave Archie a disappointed look, as if it couldn’t believe how oblivious he was.  

“…” Archie glared back. ‘Mind your own business  

‘What does it matter to me who Ranen is most concerned about?’

Sphinx then said, “Albert is both far away and right before your eyes.”  

Ranen instinctively glanced at the trees in the dark forest.  

“No, no, not that close,” Sphinx quickly clarified, realizing it shouldn’t drag this out any further. “He’s inside your divine kingdom.”  

Albert is in this nighttime hospital?  

Both Archie and Ranen froze. Ranen steadied himself and activated his divine authority, quickly locating Albert’s whereabouts.  

To his surprise…  

Albert was lying in the intensive care unit of the hospital’s inpatient ward.  

When Ranen and Archie entered the ICU, they saw a humanoid figure, severely burned, lying on the hospital bed. His entire body was covered in green mucus, a respirator attached to his face, while the monitors beside him displayed weak yet stable vital signs.  

Archie could hardly believe that this near-death figure was Albert. If not for Ranen stopping him in time, he would have rushed forward immediately.  

“Calm down,” Ranen said, scanning the room. There were traces of pale green mucus not just on the bed but also on the floor and some of the medical equipment.  

Somehow, he had a feeling—this green mucus wasn’t toxic.  

In fact, it might be the very reason Albert was still alive.

His gaze finally settled on the space beneath another hospital bed in the ICU, where a hint of something green and tentacle-like was peeking out.  

Ranen remained where he was, unmoving. The vine hiding under the bed seemed to be lifted by an invisible hand and was placed right in front of him and Archie.  

“What is this?” Archie was stunned. This was his first time seeing a vine-like mass that could move on its own.  

It looked like a writhing cluster of snakes, secreting a green, slimy mucus. The sight made Archie, who had a slight obsession with cleanliness, instinctively frown.  

“Old Luke…” Ranen’s expression was complicated. “So you were the one who brought Albert here?”  

Case solved. He knew something was off about Albert ending up in this place.  

Judging from the mucus on Albert’s body and the traces left on the floor, it was clear that this vine-like entity was responsible. Ranen had no idea how it had managed to avoid the eyes of doctors and nurses while secretly transporting Albert here.  

“Luke?” A trace of shock flashed through Archie’s eyes. He recognized that name—it was written in his father’s notebook. “How did he end up like this?”  

But wasn’t Luke an investigator? Not only that, but he was also the one who had supposedly saved Archie as a child—only to later hypnotize him. How had he turned into this?  

The culprit, Ranen, cleared his throat uncomfortably. “A… small accident happened. I didn’t expect him to still be stuck like this.”  

This isn’t good. He needs to check on Luke’s daytime form later.  

But for now, that wasn’t the most pressing issue.  

Ranen walked over to the bedside and looked down at the dying man lying there. He instructed Archie to wake up the doctors and nurses—by now, they should have regained enough energy to function properly again.  

The only question was… in this state, could Albert even survive?  

Well, they’d have to at least try to resuscitate him.  

Ranen had mixed feelings about Albert.  

There was no doubt that Albert carried many secrets worth uncovering. No doubt that he had approached Ranen with a clear purpose, even going so far as to stand against him at one point. Yet after learning the truth, Ranen found that he couldn’t bring himself to truly resent the man.  

Of course, part of that was because Albert had never inflicted any real harm on him. But more than that, the sheer irony of his situation was too much—he had been a Bureau investigator sent to infiltrate the Outsider, only to be betrayed by the very justice he believed in.  

And after hearing from Archie that Albert had always been someone deeply devoted to righteousness, the absurdity—and tragedy—of it all became even more profound.

Ranen shook his head. Forget it—might as well try to save him. It wouldn’t hurt, after all.  

Soon, the doctors and nurses arrived with Archie and, upholding their medical ethics, immediately began emergency treatment. Once Albert was finally out of critical condition, Archie let out a breath of relief.  

“Apologies, Lord Ranen, for making you wait here with me.”  

“It’s fine. It’s nothing.”  

In truth, Ranen had simply been using this time to think about the players’ arrival tomorrow. But there was no need to mention that. Instead, he said, “I might need to trouble you with something else. When you have time, go to Arkham Hospital and keep an eye out—see if Old Luke or Albert appear there during the daytime.”  

Based on previous players’ experiences, those who fell into the hospital should have been dragged in completely. Only the medical staff had the ability to exist in both the daytime and nighttime versions of the hospital. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to confirm.  

Archie nodded. “Understood.”  

After leaving a few more instructions, Ranen took Archie with him and left the area.  

There were five hours left until the players arrived.