Wen Wen observed for a while and knew where the problem lay.
This guy had a dark cloud over his forehead, not because of some impending disaster, but because he was very sleepy, like staying up all night at an internet cafe.
He was so tired that he could fall asleep even while standing still.
But this guy would rather splash cold water on himself or pinch himself to stay awake, refusing to easily fall into sleep.
There could be many reasons for someone not wanting to sleep, but since Wen Wen was investigating sleep-related cases, the first possibility he considered was that this man's reluctance to sleep might be related to the sleep incidents.
After finishing his meal, Wen Wen staggered over to the owner, patted him lightly, and then calmly left the Aifei Region specialty restaurant, waiting in a secluded alley.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, the owner walked towards Wen Wen like a puppet, suddenly waking up only when he reached Wen Wen.
"Who are you? What do you want to do?"
To his senses, he had just been in his store and suddenly appeared before Wen Wen after blinking.
But to others, this owner seemed to have walked to the alley with full consciousness.
Such a trick was trivial for Wen Wen now.
"Don't be alarmed, I just have some questions to ask you."
Wen Wen asked in a deep voice, "You look very tired, desperately in need of sleep, but why are you resisting it?"
"I just don't want to sleep, that's all."
The owner thought Wen Wen was a nutcase, causing a fuss just to get him out of his store for such a trivial matter.
But his journey here felt eerie, so he didn't express his dissatisfaction. The source of this content ɪs novel⟡fire.net
"Yesterday, I went out with friends and didn't sleep all night, so I'm very tired."
"There's a custom in our hometown that no matter how tired you are during the day, you can't sleep, or you'll be pulled into hell for punishment."
The owner spoke these words to Wen Wen in a humorous tone.
Actually, he himself knew that this custom was nonsense, but he had long since formed the habit, so he avoided sleeping during the day.
"Can't sleep during the day, or you'll be dragged into hell..." Wen Wen furrowed his brow; he had never heard of this custom before, and he continued to ask, "Where's your hometown?"
The owner answered without thinking, "It's in the Yinkos Region."
"Yinkos Region..." Wen Wen repeated it a few times, his eyes suddenly lighting up; the Yinkos Region was right where that mysterious pyramid was located!
Before the Federation was founded, the Aifei Region was the most backward place, with many primitive tribes, so some Africans there still had ancient primitive customs, possibly passed down from thousands of years ago.
If you link the customs of the Yinkos Region with those murals, everything makes sense.
The mysterious deity imprisoned in the pyramid liked to drag people into hell for punishment, but the murals didn't specify how; they only showed figures lying down.
And in the Yinkos Region near the pyramid, there is a custom that forbid sleeping during the day, or you'll be caught into hell.
Thus, the mysterious deity's way of dragging people into hell is likely through sleep!
People in the Yinkos Region, out of fear of the mysterious deity, have developed this strange custom.
The people suffering comas in the US-Canada District were also dragged into 'hell' using the same method.
The instigator is a Catastrophe-Level Expert, which is why no matter how they investigate, they find no clues.
The appearance of the Sand Sea Priest also supports this point; he keeps searching the US-Canada District, indicating that the mysterious catastrophe is likely within the US-Canada District range.
These were Wen Wen's speculations; however, aside from this speculation, Wen Wen had no other direction to pursue at this stage, so he decided to follow this line of investigation first.
After sending the owner back, Wen Wen returned to the local Hunter Association, ready to share his speculations with Moyadi and Mefna, but as soon as he stepped in, these two bumped into him.
"So, you've finally found something?" Wen Wen raised his eyebrows and asked, seeing joyful expressions on their faces, indicating they discovered something.
Moyadi happily said, "We have made a breakthrough."
For days, Moyadi and Mefna had gloomy faces, but today their attitudes changed dramatically, suggesting they've found something.
"Quick, tell me." Wen Wen urged.
Moyadi smiled and said, "Initially, I thought it was an illusion technique, because they showed signs of illusions cast on their bodies; at least the sudden sleep was achieved through a sophisticated illusion technique. The traces of illusions on them were very faint, detectable only by illusionists of my level."
Mefna continued, "I believed that the perpetrator used dream manipulation to achieve all this; firstly, everyone was in a sleep state, and secondly, each person's dream was harmonious, so I thought it was definitely high-level dream manipulation."
"However, both of our theories had some gaps; pure illusion technique couldn't make them sleep endlessly, and simple dream manipulation couldn't keep the victims in this state."
"Later, we shifted our mindset, no longer obsessed with whether it was illusion or dream manipulation, but considered how such an effect could be achieved."
"Through repeated experimentation, we finally replicated the state of sleep attack victims on a subject."
The two led Wen Wen to a side room, where a young man was sleeping.
Wen Wen sensed the young man's state and found it very similar to those in comas.
Moyadi pointed at the young man and said, "This is a volunteer; we used him to replicate the state of the sleep attack victims."
"I used an illusion technique to force him into a sleep state, and Mefna pulled him into a deep dream, weaving a custom dream for him, making it impossible for him to wake up from the dream."
"Then Mefna led me into his shallow dream, where I used an illusion technique to cover up the shallow dream, creating the illusion that the victim was in a light dream."
"Afterward, Mefna and I eradicated each other's remnants, ultimately creating such a sleeper."
"This sleeper's state is identical to those victims' we have reason to suspect that the perpetrator used this method to create victims."
Wen Wen nodded in satisfaction, "Since you've discovered the method to make sleepers, you also know how to rescue him, right?"
Mefna smiled, placed her hand on the young person's head, and he woke up shortly after.
"As long as I destroy the dream I created, he can naturally wake up."
"So, can you now rescue the victims of the sleep incidents?" Wen Wen asked expectantly, wanting to save Delia and Hu Youling first.