Latest website: It stands to reason that Max "Remnant" would never survive an attack of that level.

But the special physique given to him by the strange mask seems to make his vitality more tenacious.

That little bit of fire is not extinguished, he will not go to hell.

"I need your spiritual power." Facing the dying Max, Sean raised his hands.

Moonlight 1902 and Fagar Taylor did not hesitate to connect their spiritual essence with Sean.

Although the priest's spiritual power was only a trickle at the moment, he still stretched out his hand.

After mobilizing the existing spiritual power of the entire team, Sean used the "Hessian Sheep" Divine Feather, and the black fungi quickly restored Max's body...

Soon, after almost exhausting all his spiritual power, Max's originally damaged body was almost restored to its original appearance.

The heart of Phosphorus, bound by the chains, retracted into the chest cavity, and the ribs closed together like flexible fingers.

"His..." Max let out a sound of inhalation like returning from hell, and his heart, which had been beating weakly, made a slightly stronger sound.

He survived, but he hasn't woken up yet.

Due to the torn clothes, half of his silver ticket stubs were exposed.

The number on it burned, clearly becoming 652 points——

"Remnant" Max was qualified to enter the "Castle District".

His teammates have died here, and the points for getting through the "House of Addicts" go to him.

Holly and Foley used their last strength to not only push him out of the Styx, but even to their destination - Peter Pan's castle.

Sean and the others stood silently without saying a word.

A bell rang 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 the group of people, wearing a cloak and playing the role of a groom, the paradise puppet turned his godless eyes to Sean and the others: "Congratulations to everyone who is qualified to enter the castle!"

It was then that Sean remembered to take out his ticket stubs - after passing through the "House of Addicts", each got 60 points.

The team's total score is 660, which has broken the threshold of being promoted to "Castle District".

——

The carriage followed the road around the mountain, bumping towards the castle on the top of the mountain.

Inside the carriage, Max was still asleep.

Due to the death of Holly and Foley, the atmosphere in the carriage was a little heavy, and everyone remained silent.

Realizing that Foley's last actions meant something, Sean was frowning and reading the little black book.

"What's written in it?" Moonlight 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 records something nearly ten years ago.

"It seems like some trivial matter of life - I don't get it yet."

Moonlight nodded.

Thinking of the scenes in "House of Addicts", Father Taylor lowered his voice and said, "There is one thing I haven't figured out..."

Sean, Moonlight, and Olivia all turned their heads.

The priest continued: "Obviously, the people in the addict's house are all the children from the lower city..."

Realizing what Taro was going to cover next, Sean and Moonlight tacitly constructed a soundproof enclosure out of esoteric to ensure their conversations could not be eavesdropped on.

"In terms of numbers, at least half of the kids in downtown are here.

"If all the children in Xiacheng had to go through that terrifying ritual of staying and turn into things like human and beast heads...

"Midnight Paradise has existed for at least ten years, so shouldn't there be a large number of people missing or abnormal in Xiacheng?

"Sean, you have investigated the missing people data in the lower city before, but the data is not abnormal...

"How is this going?"

After closing the black diary, Sean Zheng nodded his head, and seemed to recognize the unnaturalness that Taro had noticed: "I was thinking about this before too--

"If you're going to stay in Midnight Paradise when you're an adult, considering that most kids are invited to Midnight Paradise, isn't the population of the lower city out of date?

"Then, I thought of a possibility..."

Sean paused, looked at the pitch-black forest outside the carriage, and continued, "Moonlight, Olivia, do you remember how we followed Little Leon before?"

Both the pianist and the precision girl nodded.

"Do you remember that little Leon came to Midnight Paradise in a weird clone form?"

Moonlight suddenly raised a finger, clearly understanding what Sean meant.

The New Testament reporter nodded towards his partner and continued: "In order not to draw undue attention, Peter Pan is calling only a 'part' of the children."

Moonlight recalled the shadow of little Leon who turned over from the bed.

"Although it is not so simple and straightforward, this 'part' of going to Midnight Paradise can be directly regarded as the 'mind' of these children."

Every happy night, the "body" is still asleep on the bed, and even parents who come to check can't see the problem...

But the "mind" has gone to paradise.

"So..." Sean made a headgear gesture, "The so-called stay ritual is actually aimed at their 'mind'."

Therefore, even after ten years and many "staying ceremonies" have been held, there has not been a large number of missing persons in the Xiacheng District, nor a large number of monsters with human and animal heads walking on the street...

Those monsters are just a reflection of their hearts.

Father Taylor thoughtfully digested the information, and continued following Sean's train of thought: "You mean...

"These kids will still grow up in the outside world...

"But their minds will always stay in childhood, no matter what the outside becomes, their minds will still go to this so-called happy place at night, wearing hoods?"

"That's right." Sean Zheng nodded his head, "Let's imagine what kind of state these people who are 'stayed' are in..."

——Most people in Xiacheng District, although they already have the appearance of adults, they still think and act like children.

Willful, impulsive, irritable, selfish, wandering in the so-called 'eternal joy' and never thinking about progress~lightnovelpub.net~ Although I am not saying that adults are more noble than children," Sean continued, "Peter Pan Deprivation is actually a very important ability in their personality growth. "

"What ability?"

In front of me flashed Wordsworth's excited and hesitant face standing outside the House of Addicts.

"The ability to dare to pursue ideals."

Children only have a carefree life, and the pain of pursuing ideals is the price of growth.

People who experience the "staying ritual" lose the ability to construct and pursue their ideals.

Everything that happened in Midnight Paradise and the Addict's House slowly unfolded before the eyes of the group, which made them all ponder.

After a long while, Father Taylor asked the question of almost everyone in the car at the moment: "But, why do you do this?"