It stands to reason that Max, the "remnant soldier", would never survive an attack of that level.
But the special physique given to him by the strange mask seems to make his vitality stronger.
If that little bit of fire remains, he will not go to hell.
"I need your spiritual power." Facing the dying Max, Sean raised his hands.
Moonlight 1902 and Fagal Taylor did not hesitate at all and connected their ectoplasms with Sean.
Although the priest's spiritual power was only a trickle at the moment, he still stretched out his hand.
Summoning the team's existing spiritual power, Sean used the "Sheep of the Black Forest" divine feather, and the black fungi quickly restored Max's body...
Soon, after almost all his spiritual energy was exhausted, Max's damaged body almost returned to its original appearance.
The chained phosphorus heart retracted into the chest, and the ribs closed together like flexible fingers.
"Hiss..." Max made a sound like he was coming back from hell, and his heart, which was originally beating weakly, made a slightly stronger sound.
He survived but has not yet woken up.
Due to the damage to his clothing, half of his silver ticket stub was exposed.
The number on it burned and clearly turned into 652 points——
"Remnant Soldier" Max obtained the qualification to enter the "Castle Area".
His teammates have been buried here, and the points for surviving the "House of the Addicted" are all attributed to him.
Holly and Foley used their last strength to not only push him out of the River Styx, but even push him towards their destination - Peter Pan's castle.
Sean and the others didn't say a word, just stood quietly.
There was a bell ringing behind him, and Sean turned around and saw a black carriage pulled by two gray horses slowly driving along the forest road ahead.
The carriage stopped in front of a group of people. The paradise puppet, wearing a cloak and playing the role of a groom, turned his dull eyes to Sean and the others: "Congratulations to everyone for being qualified to enter the castle!"
Only then did Sean remember to take out his ticket stubs - after passing the "House of Addicts", each person received 60 points.
The team's total score is 660, which has exceeded the threshold for promotion to the "Castle District".
——
The carriage bumped along the path around the mountain towards the castle on the top of the mountain.
In the carriage, Max was still asleep.
Due to the deaths of Holly and Foley, the atmosphere in the carriage was a bit heavy, and no one said a word.
Realizing that Foley's last action had a profound meaning, Sean was frowning as he read the small black book.
"What's written in it?" Yueguang asked deliberately, as if to dilute the solemn atmosphere.
Sean turned the book and looked at the cover: "It seems to be Foley's diary.
“Looking at the date, it was recorded nearly ten years ago.
"It seems like some trivial matter in life - I haven't figured it out yet."
Moonlight nodded.
Thinking of the scenes that happened in "The House of the Addicted", Father Taylor on the side lowered his voice and said: "There is one thing I didn't think clearly..."
Sean, Moonlight, and Olivia all turned their heads.
The priest continued: "Obviously, the people in the House of Addicts are all young people from the lower city..."
Realizing what Tyro was about to get into, Sean and Moonlight tacitly constructed a soundproof enclosure out of ectoplasm to ensure their conversation could not be eavesdropped.
“In terms of numbers, at least half of the children in Xiacheng District are here.
"If all the young people in Xiacheng District had to go through that terrible stay ritual and turn into something with a human body and an animal head...
"Midnight Paradise has existed for at least ten years, so shouldn't there have been a large number of people missing or abnormalities in Xiacheng District long ago?
"Sean, you have investigated the missing persons data in Xiacheng District before, but the data is not abnormal...
"How is this going?"
Closing the black diary, Sean nodded solemnly, seeming to recognize the unnaturalness that Taylor noticed: "I was thinking about this issue before -
“If you have to stay in Midnight Paradise when you become an adult, and considering that most children will be invited to Midnight Paradise, wouldn’t the population of the lower city be lost?
"Then, I thought of a possibility..."
Sean paused for a moment, looked at the dark forest outside the carriage, and continued: "Moonlight, Olivia, do you still remember how we followed little Lyon before?"
The pianist and Precision Girl both nodded.
"Do you remember that little Leon came to Midnight Paradise in a strange clone form?"
Moonlight raised a finger in sudden realization, obviously understanding what Sean meant.
The New Testament reporter nodded toward his partner and continued: "In order not to attract undue attention, Peter Pan only summoned 'part' of the children."
Moonlight recalled the shadow of little Leon who rolled over from the bed.
"Although it is not so simple and straightforward, this 'part' of going to Midnight Paradise can be directly seen as the 'soul' of these children."
Every happy night, the "body" is still sleeping on the bed, and even if the parents come to check, there is no problem...
But the "soul" has already gone to paradise.
"So..." Sean made a gesture of wearing a hood, "The so-called stay ritual actually targets their 'souls'."
Therefore, even after ten years and many "stay ceremonies", there has not been a large number of missing people in Xiacheng District, nor have there been a large number of monsters with human bodies and animal heads walking on the streets...
Those monsters are just a reflection of their hearts.
Father Taylor thoughtfully digested the information and continued along Sean's train of thought: "You mean...
"These children will still grow up in the outside world...
"But their minds will always stay in their childhood. No matter what happens on the outside, their hearts will still go to this so-called happy place at night, wearing hoods?"
"That's right." Sean nodded solemnly, "We can imagine what the state of these 'stayed' people is like..."
——Most people in Xiacheng District, although they already have the appearance of adults, still think and act like children.
Willful, impulsive, irritable, selfish, wandering in the so-called "eternal joy" and no longer thinking about progress.
"While I'm not saying that adults are nobler than children," Sean continued, "what Peter Pan takes away from them is actually a very important ability in their personality growth."
"What ability?"
Wordsworth's excited and hesitant face flashed before his eyes as he stood outside the House of the Addicted.
“The ability to dare to pursue your ideals.”
Children only have a carefree life, and the pain of pursuing ideals is the price of growth.
People who have gone through the "stay ritual" have lost the ability to build and pursue their ideals.
Everything that happened in Midnight Paradise and the House of Addicts slowly unfolded in front of a group of people, which made them all fall into deep thought.
After a long while, Father Taylor asked the question that almost everyone in the carriage had at this moment: "But, why do you do this?"
