Chapter 120

Lu Mian nodded and turned to ask:

"You said your spirituality is very high?"

Aosta was dazed for a moment, gradually revealing an expression of lingering fear and terror.

He calmed down for a while before saying:

"This should be a characteristic of a 'Mystery Pryer'. I can sense those unknown creatures hidden deep in the darkness, and I can also perceive that the real world is surrounded by a thick curtain. Behind the curtain are pairs of emotionless eyes looking at us..."

Speaking of this, Aosta began to pant heavily.

Lu Mian didn't urge him, waiting for this fake wizard to calm himself down.

After nearly a minute, Aosta let out a long breath and said:

"It's fine in the Market District and Observatory District, but in underground Trier, I often feel that at the end of certain roads, where my eyes can't see, there is some kind of creature calling me, asking me to go over."

"I don't know what I would become if I really walked into that darkness."

A very good occult sensor... Lu Mian mocked the 'Hunter's' spirit vision on one hand, while on the other, he felt that the 'Mystery Pryer' wasn't as useless as Aosta said.

Aosta continued:

"Sometimes, seeing those tourists holding white candles entering the catacombs, I have some near-delusional thoughts, believing this is a ritual that creates a wonderful connection with some hidden existence, helping the corresponding tourists not be swallowed by the darkness or taken away by the deceased."

Lu Mian was quite surprised to hear this and couldn't help but sigh in his heart:

"In an occult sense, 'Mystery Pryer' is very powerful... just not good at fighting..."

And according to Aosta's description, he suspected that having to hold a lit white candle to enter the catacombs was truly a ritual, the purpose of which was to let the tourists avoid the various dangers hidden there.

The catacomb administrators should be very clear about this, but in order to make money, they not only said nothing but also encouraged people above to list visiting the catacombs as a tourist project.

Thinking of this, Lu Mian remembered something his sister Aurora often sighed about:

"The alienation of people by money."

I wonder, at lower levels, which brings more alienation to people: potions, gifts, or money... Lu Mian muttered silently with a mocking attitude.

He turned to ask Aosta:

"Did you sense any place in the Market District hiding dangers lurking in the darkness?"

Aosta's expression changed a few times, and he said in a low voice:

"I don't dare to approach that burned-down house in the Honest Market."

On the edge of the Honest Market, near White Coat Street, there was a six-story building that had been burned to a charred surface by a fire and was uninhabited. The district councilors had been calling for its demolition to transform the place into a commercial building, but for some reason, the corresponding motion had never received the attention of the City Hall, so that after more than a decade, the six-story building, which looked like a scar on the city, still stood in place.

I didn't feel anything when I passed by this morning... Lu Mian turned his body and walked toward the door:

"I will visit you again. I hope you won't let me down."

Aosta, who had already bandaged his shoulder wound, accompanied him with a smile:

"No matter what, I will give you an answer."

After leaving Aosta's room, Lu Mian suddenly quickened his pace, his figure flashed, and he squatted in the shadow of the stairs leading to the rooftop, silently watching the tightly closed wooden door.

After nearly half an hour, confirming that there was no movement from the other side, he took the "Little Trier Newspaper" and slowly walked down the stairs.

At this moment, he finally heard his stomach growling.

Looking at the barricade in front of him, piled up with stones, logs, mud bricks, and debris, but with a path cleared in the middle, Lu Mian found a nearby bakery and spent 3 Ricks to buy half a kilogram of croissants.

He also tried Trier's unique fruit soda.

The liquid kept bubbling, and the red currant syrup spread like clouds after melting, costing 13 kopeks.

If the soda bottle was returned, 3 kopeks would be refunded.

…………

Chaos Street, "Golden Chicken Hotel".

Lu Mian hadn't even walked into the bar located in the basement when he heard the noisy, playful sounds.

At night, just past nine o'clock, nearly twenty people were squeezed into the small space. They were either sitting at the bar or gathered around a few small round tables drinking, but all of them had their eyes fixed on the bartender.

The bartender, who had a ponytail and an artistic temperament, was introducing the machine placed on the bar to a male customer with a strange face:

"This is called a fool-meter; it can test your intelligence index."

"Do you want to try it?"

The male customer wearing a dark jacket asked with great interest:

"How do I try it?"

The bartender pointed to the exposed rubber hose with a serious expression:

"Blow into here, keep blowing until bubbles come out in the glass jar above."

"Whether you can blow out bubbles and how big you can blow them relates to the final test result."

The male customer didn't hesitate, picked up the rubber hose, and started blowing.

When light green bubbles emerged in the glass jar above the machine, everyone in the bar stood up, clapping wildly and shouting happily:

"Welcome, you fool who is stupid enough to bubble!"

The male customer was stunned at first, then realized the reason, and his face turned bright red.

He glared fiercely at the bartender, then looked at the nearly twenty guests, finally restraining his anger, and muttered:

"Really interesting, this prank is really interesting. I'll bring a few friends to try it tomorrow."

Is this the function of friends? Lu Mian sneered inwardly, pulled over a high stool and sat down, saying to the bartender:

"Give me a glass of fennel absinthe as usual."

The bartender showed a friendly smile:

"This glass is on me. Your machine is great; many people heard about its magic and came here specifically to drink. My business is almost twice as good as before."

"By the way, my name is Paval Nisen, the owner of this bar and an amateur painter. What should I call you?"

"Xia Er." Lu Mian didn't hide his smile.

He felt the difference between Trier citizens and Cordu villagers once again.

In Cordu Village, if anyone encountered this kind of prank, they would only think about finding a chance to beat them back, while Trier citizens, under the premise of being unable to retaliate for the time being, liked to find new 'victims' and watch them get fooled to eliminate the pain of being hurt themselves.

"Your brain is quite good, better at pranks than many Trier people." For the native bartender Paval Nisen, such praise counted as the highest evaluation.

He then pushed the slender high-stemmed glass filled with light green psychedelic liquid to Lu Mian.

Lu Mian took the absinthe, took a light sip, and felt the faint bitterness stimulate certain nerves, making him feel alive.

He closed his eyes and felt it for a while, then said:

"I have a few friends who came to Trier earlier than me, but I don't know their contact information. Is there a way to find them?"

Paval Nisen wiped the glass:

"If you're especially rich, find the 'Trier Daily' to post a missing person ad. If you don't have much money, find a bounty hunter or information broker and see if they are willing to take such a commission. If you don't have much money, go back to your room and sleep. Perhaps one day, walking on the street, you will meet your friends."

"Any good recommendations? A trustworthy bounty hunter or information broker?" Although Lu Mian didn't have money worries for the time being and might receive 'donations' from kind people at any time, posting an ad in a major newspaper really wasn't something he could afford—that would be at least 3,000 Fels—newspapers with low circulation were cheap, but had no effect.

Moreover, it wasn't as if the parish priest Guillaume Bénet and Lady Pu'alis wouldn't read the newspaper, so this would inevitably alarm them.

Paval nodded and said:

"Anthony Reid, who lives in Room 5 on the 3rd floor of the hotel, you can visit him tomorrow."

"He was originally a retired soldier and later became an information broker. His credit is very good."

Lu Mian remembered the corresponding room number and name, raised his absinthe, shook it lightly, and signaled to the bartender.

…………

Returning to Room 207, Lu Mian didn't let himself rest.

After pulling the tattered curtains, he danced the "Dance of Summoning" in the cramped environment.

He wanted to see what strange creatures could be summoned in the "Golden Chicken Hotel" and on Chaos Street, to prepare for possible attacks, pursuits, or active raids he might encounter later.

According to Aosta, apart from that burned-down building, there were no particularly dangerous places in the Market District, and that place was quite far from Chaos Street, so it couldn't be affected by a "Dancer" who was only equivalent to Sequence 9. After all, this wasn't the ruins of Cordu Village, and there was no fate power spread everywhere.

Excluding the more dangerous ones and those that a "Dancer's" status couldn't summon, Lu Mian believed that the strange creatures that would appear later, even if their strength surpassed his own, would almost certainly not be able to forcibly possess his body—the blue-black symbol representing the great existence and the black thorn pattern from fate were enough to deter them, making them not dare to act rashly.

In the dance that was sometimes manic and sometimes twisted, Lu Mian's spirituality combined with the leveraged natural power and spread outward, very covertly.

Not long after, he felt gazes watching him, and several transparent or blurry figures floated around the room.

Some of them looked like humans, seemingly belonging to obsessions remaining after death, while others were strange in shape, either like bottles or like layered meat balls, suspected to be from the corresponding Spirit Realm.

Lu Mian didn't recognize any of them and couldn't distinguish their respective traits and abilities.

Just then, a figure drilled out from the surface of the tattered curtain.

It was slightly transparent, a female with blue-green long hair mixed with pieces of green leaves, wrapping around her body and covering important parts, while the rest directly exposed fair and smooth skin, making one's heart beat faster and imagination run wild as soon as they saw it.

This figure had emerald eyes, rosy lips, and an exquisite and charming face. Just by glancing at Lu Mian, it made him inexplicably excited.

PS: During the double points period, asking for base monthly votes~

(End of chapter)