Chapter 168: Repayment

Lu Mi had previously assumed that the tenant, like Charlie, had dreamt of Susanna Mattis and had his vitality slowly drained until he died in the room. He had assumed that the hotel owner, Mr. Ev, was responsible for covertly moving the body to some corner of the underground Trier. Who would have thought that the man had become a perverted superhuman, still roaming the Honest Man Market District, targeting one attractive young woman after another?

From the fact that no Beyonder characteristic had precipitated long after Hedersey's death, Lu Mi confirmed that his power came from a "Gift," and it was clearly of the same origin as Susanna Mattis and Mr. Ev.

In other words, not long after posting Susanna Mattis's portrait, Hedersey had somehow become a believer of the "Mother Tree of Desire" and had accepted two or three Gifts in just a few months, suddenly possessing quite decent strength and mastering quite a few mystical means.

For Beyonders who advance by consuming potions, this is unimaginable speed, unless they have mastered the Acting Method and are at a very low level.

Of course, in Hedersey's case, the Gift also showed its bad side. The recipient would be influenced by the power, gradually becoming unlike themselves, becoming increasingly extreme and radical in certain aspects, and often committing acts that normal people would consider irrational and likely to invite disaster.

Mr. Ev's stinginess and Hedersey's desire for women both belonged to this category.

Lu Mi suspected that almost all powers derived from Gifts carried similar problems to a greater or lesser extent, as they would slowly cause the recipient to lean toward the bestower, leading to corresponding alienation.

The reason he hadn't been influenced by the powers of the "Dancer" and "Ascetic" was that they didn't come directly from the hidden existence named "Fate," but originated from the contamination within his body, filtered through a seal. Moreover, Lu Mi had always been vigilant about this, not only refusing to change his conduct and lifestyle to match the characteristics of the "Dancer" and "Ascetic" to improve his control over the power, but sometimes even doing the opposite.

In addition, he always advanced by one sequence and achieved preliminary digestion before obtaining the corresponding Gift, striving to keep the powers within him in balance.

"How did you find out?" Lu Mi lowered his head, pressing his voice to inquire of Jenna.

Jenna, while twisting her body to the beat, took advantage of the loud music to curl her lips and say, "That pervert clearly couldn't live without women. He couldn't possibly kidnap one every day and drag her underground, or he would have been caught long ago—damn it, he must have had a few already, didn't those incompetent black-skinned dogs discover anything? So, how did he solve his problem normally? Relying on himself clearly couldn't truly satisfy him, so I had Forsyth ask the dancers and streetwalkers of the Savard Party, and I soon had the answer."

"How could that damn pervert have such vigorous energy, coming several times a day! Why doesn't he go find some rich old ladies? Both sides would be satisfied!"

Jenna recounted her investigation process with a sense of pride, showing off her own clever brain.

She had been brooding over the fact that she had been fooled by Lu Mi in the afternoon, making her look very stupid.

It was indeed true; before becoming a believer of the "Mother Tree of Desire" and obtaining the Gift, Hedersey had been a regular at places like City Wall Street, Breda Street, and Nightingale Street. After obtaining the "Gift," his entire brain was filled with women... Lu Mi discovered that Jenna occasionally had a brain.

He then fed back a piece of information: "That pervert's abnormal desire should be an influence of his superhuman power."

"Superhuman power..." Jenna glanced up at Lu Mi.

She had thought he would play dumb, just as in the underground Trier, where both sides tacitly avoided mentioning the Beyonder abilities Hedersey had displayed. Who would have thought he would be so frank now.

Pausing, Jenna, who was dancing the twist close to Lu Mi, whispered in confusion, "Why would superhuman power make him become such a pervert?"

This was not quite the same as the superhuman powers she knew—before losing control, they would at most have a tiny bit of influence.

Lu Mi laughed. "Abnormal superhuman power."

"Do you think I don't know it's abnormal?" Jenna was angered by him again.

Lu Mi chuckled softly. "As for why it's abnormal, go back and ask Forsyth. If even Forsyth doesn't know, tell her to ask the boss."

The reason he revealed this information to Jenna was that he was worried there might be follow-ups to the problems involving Mr. Ev, Susanna Mattis, Hedersey, and the others.

If the official Beyonders never investigated the truth, the only external help he could rely on, besides Mr. K's finger, would be the Beyonders of the Savard Party.

Jenna let out a "heh" and stopped chatting about this topic, focusing on dancing the twist with Lu Mi.

Just as this part of the music was about to end, she suddenly reached out and touched Lu Mi's chest.

"Haha, not a bad physique!" Jenna laughed and stepped back, turning to walk toward the semi-high wooden stage in front of the dance floor.

She looked like she had finally taken a little revenge for her underground encounter, and her whole person became cheerful.

Lu Mi sneered and left the dance floor, picking up his glass of rye beer again.

While listening to the singing, he gently swayed his body, taking the opportunity to observe the situation throughout the Mill Dance Hall.

Scanning the room, he discovered a group of people with various appearances and temperaments, suspected to be gang thugs, gathered on the same side as him but closer to the performance stage.

They were surrounding a muscular man nearly 1.9 meters tall.

That muscular man was somewhat like "Giant" Simon, with muscles that bulged, filling out his black shirt and formal suit. However, he wore wear-resistant dark blue trousers made of canvas on his lower body, paired with a pair of black leather boots without laces. The overall combination looked somewhat uncoordinated.

His brown hair was curled in tufts, lush and messy. His brown eyes were slightly close-set, his features were ordinary, his facial contours were quite rigid, and both his hands and legs were a bit longer than normal human proportions.

"Hammer" Aite... Lu Mi withdrew his gaze, thinking this should be one of his targets.

In Trier, there weren't many people who could reach nearly 1.9 meters in height.

At this distance, Lu Mi wasn't worried that "Hammer" Aite and his men would recognize him. After all, the entire dance hall environment was dim, relying solely on the gas wall lamps around and a chandelier above for lighting, which was convenient for people to "communicate" while dancing. Unless they were particularly familiar or had just met, they wouldn't be able to identify him.

Besides, Lu Mi had also done some disguising. What he hadn't expected was that Jenna could recognize him at a glance.

After Jenna finished singing another song, "Hammer" Aite took that group of men, left the dance floor, and went upstairs.

Lu Mi continued his observation. Suddenly, he saw a familiar figure enter the door.

It was Mr. Ev, the landlord of the "Golden Rooster Hotel," whose clothes were washed until they were white.

His blue eyes scanned the room, his expression looking somewhat anxious and worried.

"Is he looking for Hedersey? That pervert didn't return after going out this afternoon, so they suspect he met with an accident and are looking for clues at every dance hall and every place with streetwalkers?" Lu Mi withdrew his gaze thoughtfully and looked at the dancers on the dance floor.

Based on the various characteristics presented by Hedersey's spirit body, he felt that Mr. Ev was much weaker than the other party, likely only possessing Gifted power equivalent to Sequence 9, concentrated on greed, perhaps also including gluttony.

As for Hedersey, he was likely equivalent to Sequence 8, with a small probability of being Sequence 7. Lu Mi leaned more toward the former, because the few Sequence 7s he had encountered were all quite comprehensive; they wouldn't have been solved in one go after he had made preparations and set up traps.

Of course, if Lu Mi hadn't patiently observed and discovered that Hedersey had the ability to incite others' desires, and had thought of countermeasures in advance, the one solved quickly might have been him.

In that environment, if it weren't for Jenna, he could have relied on his own orientation to resist the influence, not completely forgetting the existence of the enemy. But with that "flamboyant woman," it would have been very difficult for him to restrain himself, and he would have had to rely on pain to awaken himself.

Lu Mi saw Mr. Ev successively talking to the dancers who were moonlighting as streetwalkers, and then being scolded away by them with the same look of disdain and disgust. He couldn't help but laugh inwardly:

"Is he pretending to negotiate a price to inquire about Hedersey's whereabouts?

"As a result, he was too stingy, always cutting the other party's asking price by half or more, so he got scolded?

"Heh, Charlie was worried that Mr. Ev, this old widower, wouldn't be willing to spend money to find a regular prostitute and would catch some disease. It seems he overthought it; Mr. Ev isn't even willing to spend money on irregular streetwalkers!

"The negative influence of the Gifted power is truly too strong...

"Uh, if there are women in that group, and they are at the same level as Hedersey, possessing the same Gifted abilities, they should also be in a state of constant hunger. Mr. Ev wouldn't need to find other streetwalkers. Heh, he would only hate himself for being a man, and even if he were about to fail, he would still be forcibly incited to desire.

"Are those women's best disguises dancers and streetwalkers?

"That's not right. If there were such women, Hedersey wouldn't need to go out and harm others... Could it be that all the ones at this level have advanced or died, and the new ones haven't filled the vacancies yet? Or is it that the number of men and women isn't equal, and Hedersey belongs to the excluded one?"

Lu Mi pondered as the band played another intense dance tune.

Jenna, who had finished singing, jumped off the semi-high wooden stage again and came to Lu Mi, inviting him to dance.

This caused a burst of boos from the surrounding crowd.

Lu Mi knew Jenna must have something to say, so he deliberately turned around half a circle, provoking those who were booing.

He then entered the dance floor, approached Jenna, and danced the twist.

Jenna looked up at him and asked with a smile, "What are you, a Savard Party member, doing at the Mill Dance Hall?"

Lu Mi chuckled. "Aren't you thinking I like you? Of course, I'm here to listen to you sing."

Jenna made a sound of disdain.

"Your target is 'Hammer' Aite, right?

"You want to replicate the Magot incident?"

"Not bad, you're clever." Lu Mi praised her with a provocative tone.

Jenna smiled triumphantly.

"I can help you and provide you with important information."

Lu Mi withdrew his nonchalant state and asked thoughtfully, "What do you want?"

Jenna hummed and cursed, "Are you looking down on me? I didn't say thank you in the afternoon, but I won't forget that it was you who saved me. It just so happens that I have an understanding of every dance hall in the Market District, and I just went to see Aite to talk about future performances. I should be able to help you."

Without waiting for Lu Mi's response, she gritted her teeth and continued, "'Hammer' is in the room at the very end on the second floor, toward the 'Golden Rooster Hotel' direction. He has ten thugs with him, four at the door, half inside, half outside, two by the window, and two always following behind him. They all have guns.

"It wasn't this tight before, and there weren't this many people. It's all because you killed Magot.

"That room has an attached washroom. There's no one inside. As long as the window is fully opened, one person can barely squeeze through.

"You can crawl to the second floor from the dance hall kitchen's ventilation duct, avoiding those guarding the stairs. Then you enter the adjacent room and jump from the windowsill there to a protrusion outside the washroom. It's very narrow; you must have enough agility to succeed."

(End of chapter)

Jenna smiled triumphantly:

"I can help you and provide you with important intelligence."

Lu Mian put away his nonchalant state and asked thoughtfully:

"What do you want?"

Jenna snorted and scolded:

"Are you looking down on me?

"Although I didn't say thank you this afternoon, I won't forget that you saved me. It just so happens that I have an understanding of every ballroom in the Market District, and I just went to see Aite to talk about the performance later, so I should be able to help you."

Without waiting for Lu Mian to respond, she gritted her teeth and continued:

"'Hammer' is in the innermost room on the second floor, toward the 'Golden Rooster Hotel' direction. He has ten thugs around him, four at the door, half inside, half outside, two by the window, and two on the sofa, with two always following behind him. They all have guns.

"It wasn't this tight before, and there weren't this many people; it's all because you killed Margot.

"That room has an attached washroom. There's no one inside, and if the window is fully opened, one person can barely squeeze through.

"You can climb to the second floor from the ballroom kitchen's ventilation duct, avoiding those guarding the stairs, then enter the adjacent room and jump from the windowsill there to a protrusion outside the washroom. It's very narrow, and you must have enough agility to succeed."

(End of chapter)