Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2503

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Chapter 2503 Anomaly

It seemed impossible, but Saint did actually fall asleep. In fact, it only took her a few minutes — five minutes exactly, actually — to fall into the embrace of sleep, almost as if there was a stopwatch built into her head.

Sunny was secretly impressed. He had heard that seasoned soldiers developed the ability to fall asleep on a dime, but never experienced it himself.

By the time Sunny joined the Southern Campaign, he had already become a Master. People he had spent most time with were Awakened, as well, and Awakened had a complicated relationship with sleep… especially so in Antarctica, where the Nightmare Gates opening everywhere had made it so that every time they fell asleep, they risked never waking up again.

He stared at the sleeping form of Saint, then shook his head and picked up a carton of chocolate milk.

"Anyway, let's arrange the… wow. Why is this so good? What was I... oh, right. Let's arrange the documents first."

Using the materials Effie had gathered, they unfolded a map of Mirage City on the altar and quickly assembled a version of the investigation board hidden in the Devil Detective's wardrobe on its surface.

After studying it for a few moments, Morgan raised an eyebrow.

"There is a lot of information… but it should all be useless, no? Even I know that the Nihilist leaves no clues behind."

Sunny shook his head.

"No, it won't be useless. In fact, it will be quite useful. Because the situation has changed — even if there were no clues before, there will be now.

We just need to find them."

Morgan shrugged.

"Alright."

Effie, meanwhile, studied the photos of the victims and asked in a dubious tone:

"There is something I don't understand, though. These people… they were all Mordret's vessels, right? But what were they here in Mirage City? Every one of them had a role to play, just like we play the roles of two police detectives. Did the Nihilist kill them because of their roles, or were they killed because they… were Mordret? How is that even possible? He should not have access to his Aspect here."

Sunny contemplated for a while, then responded in a hesitant tone:

"Maybe it's both."

He looked at the photos.

"First of all, I think I know why these people received roles in Mirage City. It is not very obvious, but when you think about it, something does not make sense. Where do all these people come from? The entire population of Mirage City, I mean. Not the Others themselves, but precisely the shapes they

take."

He looked at Effie."Your counterpart knew that the Devil Detective went insane when his former partner, the previous Homicide Division captain, was killed. That was the local version of Jet, by the way, but why? Jet has never entered the Great Mirror. Actually, Detective Sunless and Officer Athena had existed in Mirage City long before we arrived. How come?"

At that moment, Morgan spoke:

"I can explain that. I noticed more than a few familiar faces here, so I considered this issue thoroughly, as well. And the conclusion I came to is that the Great Mirror uses the reflections of anyone who has ever set foot in Bastion as reference material… or maybe inspiration."𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

She pointed to the photos of the victims.

"Jet visited Bastion before, so her reflection ended up in Mirage City. So did you and Athena. So did I, for that matter. So, there were Others wearing our likeness in Mirage City."

Sunny nodded.

"That is what I suspected, as well. Then, here comes the interesting part. What if a person appears who has not one reflection, but many?"

Like Mordret.

Sunny remained silent for a moment, then pointed to himself.

"And a second question. What happens if a being whose consciousness inhabits several bodies enters the Great Mirror? I only sent one incarnation to Bastion, but what if all seven entered the Palace of Imagination?"