"Jessica, your mom isn't home either?" Roland asked the little girl.

"My mother didn't want to see me go crazy with hunger, so she cut off a piece of meat from herself to satisfy my hunger, and went to the clinic to buy a sobering medicine from Dr. Yusevka, which was said to suppress the symptoms of madness, and if I was lucky, I could buy a little food at the clinic, but I waited for three days, and my mother still didn't come back." Jessica replied worriedly.

She said it very plainly, but Roland heard the despair and tragedy, if it were not for the desperate situation, how could a woman bear to cut off her own flesh for her daughter to eat, and how dare to leave the house and go out for help at the risk of being torn apart by the monsters wandering the streets.

"Jessica, the eldest brother is a priest of the goddess of fate, who is good at healing diseases, you open the window a little, and I will help you see a doctor."

"Thank you, big brother, you're so nice!" Jessica was happy and regretful, "If only I had met you earlier, it wouldn't have looked as ugly as it is now." ”

Amused by the little girl's childish demeanor, Roland reached through the window and stroked her forehead, using the Paladin's professional ability to "remove disease" to treat her.

The silver light flowed through his palm to Jessica, and the little girl narrowed her eyes comfortably and muttered, "It's so warm......"

Just a few seconds later, Roland finished casting and removed his palm. Jessica also opened her eyes and looked at him happily: "Your spell is very powerful, I feel much more comfortable." ”

Roland was silent, and looked closely at Jessica's face: the bulging eyeballs had retracted, and the threads in her pupils had disappeared, but the other anomalous symptoms on her body, such as the scales behind her ears and the webbed membranes between her fingers, had not disappeared.

Does this mean that the madness has not been eradicated, or is Jessica born with such a physical trait?

Roland was pondering this question when a shrill roar suddenly came from behind him. Looking back, there was a strange creature running across the street, crawling on all fours and barking its teeth like a wolfdog, but its face still had human features, and the skin on its body was all festering and peeling, revealing muscles covered with dark red veins, and its fangs were bared when it howled, and a disgusting stench emanated from its mouth.

Roland has encountered this half-human, half-dog monster along the way, and knows that although this thing looks ugly, it has psychic powers, and its roar can make people fall into a moment's distraction, and take the opportunity to pounce on it and bite the throat of its prey.

However, this ability that affects the mind is useless to Roland, and he can't break through the "psychic barrier" at all.

Just as Roland was about to draw his sword, Jessica suddenly spoke: "Big brother, don't be afraid of that rabid dog, it doesn't dare to approach the place where the 'lamp of reason' shines. ”

Roland held his sword and observed for a while, but the human-faced monster did not dare to approach the area where the lights were shining, and wandered in vain for a while before retreating back to the dark corner of the street.

Roland pressed his sword back into its sheath and turned back to ask Jessica, "That guy is called 'Rabid Dog'?" But he looked like a man, at least once he was. ”

"As you say, rabid dogs are indeed human, but when they are bewitched by the nightmare of Akron, they lose their sobriety and become madmen, and they are no longer human." Jessica sighed faintly, "I was born in Akron, and since I was a child, I have witnessed many people go from sobriety to madness, including my neighbors and playmates......"

Roland couldn't bear to look at her sad look, and quickly changed the subject: "You just mentioned the 'lamp of reason', which is the street lamp outside the door that emits psionic brilliance?" ”

Jessica nodded slightly, "The 'Lamp of Reason' is a spiritual artifact created by Master Holmonx, the leader of the 'Sober One', lit with psionic energy, which can dispel darkness and nightmares, and fanatics will be very painful if exposed to the light of the Lamp of Reason, so they always stay away from the refuge guarded by the 'Lamp of Reason'. ”

Roland turned his head to look at the silver-glowing street lamp in the doorway, and listened to Jessica explain what it was for.

"The lamp of reason is fueled by psychic energy, and the more psionic energy it is infused, the more blazing the light becomes, and the better the effect of resisting the fanatic, but as the awake person stays in Akron longer and longer, the mind gradually becomes crazy, and the light becomes darker and darker, and when the lamp of reason is extinguished, the shelter will not be able to resist the invasion of the fanatics, and the survivors will either be killed by the fanatics or can only choose to abandon their sanity and join the ranks of the fanatics, becoming the half-human, half-beast monsters you see on the streets."

"You lit the lamp at the door alone?" Roland asked Jessica, pointing to the streetlight.

The little girl nodded, "If there are many sober people in the shelter, everyone will gather their psionic energy to light the 'lamp of reason' together, and we did the same when my parents were still at home, and now I am the only one left in the house, so I can only maintain the lights on my own." ”

Roland opened the "Pupil of Destiny" to scout the "Lamp of Reason", and confirmed that this lamp consumes at least 10 points of spiritual energy every day to maintain the current brightness, and couldn't help but be slightly moved.

"Jessica, you can light the 'lamp of reason' on your own, which shows that your spiritual energy is very strong."

Jessica smiled shyly and proudly, and replied softly, "Dad and Mom often say the same thing, and the two of them light the lamp together, which is not as bright as the light I light alone." ”

Roland has already scouted Jessica, and the little girl doesn't have any psionic profession, which means that she has at least 10 psionic abilities purely by sheer talent, which is definitely a rare genius in the world!

Through Jessica's narration, he guessed that most of Jessica's parents had already suffered an accident, and leaving such a genius girl alone in Akron could only have two endings: either die alone in hunger and thirst, or extinguish the lamp of reason and become a crazy monster. Roland can't bear to end her life in a tragic way, and secretly decides to take Jessica out of Nightmare City, but before that, he must first lift the fog that covers the city and find his lost companions.

"Jessica, when you mentioned 'madmen' many times, you probably meant those who lost their minds and turned into monsters, and since they are afraid of the light emitted by the 'Lamp of Reason', why don't you try to attack the 'Lamp of Reason' from corners where the light does not shine, such as using long-range weapons such as slings or crossbows."

Jessica listened to Roland's question, shook her head and chuckled: "Big brother, the madmen in Akron are all crazy people, they can't think in a complex way, only a 'sober person' like me and a traveler from the outside world like you can think normally in this city, but as long as we stay in this city, we can't get rid of the nightmare chase, and sooner or later we will become madmen who have lost their minds......"