Chapter 292

"Uh..." Franca deliberated for a few seconds before saying to Jenna, "On the matter of losing control and madness, whether you are from an orthodox church or a wild Beyonder, it's all equal. Those monks are equally likely to lose control and become monsters, or have mental problems, heading toward the path to the abyss."

Jenna's expression became more solemn the more she listened.

In the past, it wasn't that Franca hadn't told her similar words, but she lacked substantial feelings until she saw the secret cave in the depths of the darkness and the arms and thighs on the rock wall with her own eyes, and linked them with losing control and madness, only then did she truly experience the cruelty and terror of those two words.

Lu Mian followed up and said:

"That's why the 'Acting Method' is so important."

"However, you must always remember that you are only acting. As a theater actor, you should be very clear that you cannot immerse yourself in a role and not be able to pull yourself out. Even if you aren't a Beyonder, that will cause mental problems." Franca and Lu Mian sang in harmony to provide new recruit education.

After Jenna nodded solemnly, she spoke back to the disappearance of the Deep Valley Monastery gatekeeper:

"My plan is, on one hand, to reveal the location and situation of the secret cave to people from the 'Eternal Blazing Sun' Church through my own channels. How they communicate officially later is their business; we can't control it. Even if they choose to suppress this matter in the end, it counts as having a precaution, so there's no need to worry about big problems. On the other hand, at the next gathering, tell this intelligence to that client and see what reaction he has. Maybe he can even give some hard-earned money."

She chose to inform people from the 'Eternal Blazing Sun' Church instead of Beyonders from the Church of the 'God of Steam and Machinery' because she didn't know which side of the internal conflict was trustworthy.

"I have no opinion." After hearing Lu Mian and Franca talk so much, Jenna had deeply realized the huge risks hidden in this mission. Although she really wanted the 20,000 Felkin reward, she still controlled herself.

Franca turned to Lu Mian and said:

"That 'Harvest Festival' has already found a buyer, but the transaction hasn't been officially made yet. The price is 10,000 Felkins.

"I already gave you 4,000 before, and I'll give you another 1,000 in two days."

"The efficiency is quite high." Lu Mian praised with a smile.

"You, I can't even tell if you are praising me or mocking me." Franca muttered.

Jenna listened from the side and felt very envious:

The transaction that Franca and Xia Er talked about casually was worth 10,000 Felkins, while back then, even if her mother was treated according to the worst, worst possibility, her family would owe at most seven or eight thousand Felkins in external debt.

Is this a Beyonder? Jenna's understanding of this aspect became clearer and clearer.

Lu Mian looked at the curtains that had long been pulled shut, didn't let Jenna avoid it, and said straight to the point:

"I completed the final test last night and officially became a member of the boss's core layer."

"What kind of test?" Although feelings of grievance, unwillingness, and anger inevitably surged up, Franca, who had already vented once, was more curious.

Lu Mian started from Gardner Martin coming to the Breeze Dance Hall late at night and letting him go to 13 Market Avenue to stay for a night, and talked all the way to him avoiding the abnormal corruption and waiting for the sun to rise.

He concealed the existence of Termiboros, shaping himself as intelligent, decisive, keen, and firm, judging the essence of the problem from a few details, and maintaining the principle of 'not responding' under various influences.

Making up stories had always been Lu Mian's strength.

Franca listened with lingering fear and a suspicious face:

"Did you really not waver at all at that time?"

Jenna nodded secretly, feeling that if it were her, she would have already been unable to help but respond when the door opened, and Franca would at most persist until her face was covered in dripping blood.

Lu Mian laughed:

"There must have been wavering, but I trusted my judgment more."

Franca looked him up and down a few times, still not quite believing it, and asked:

"Did you really think of 'do not respond' yourself?"

"No." Lu Mian ended the story he just made up with a frank attitude.

"..." Franca and Jenna were both stunned.

Lu Mian took the opportunity to open another topic and said with a smile:

"Are you stupid? I must have obtained intelligence in advance. Otherwise, how could I, someone who just took off the hat of a mystical illiterate, have thought of it?

"If you also have the opportunity to keep vigil, besides 'do not respond,' remember to bring that mirror that can enter the underground mirror world. According to intelligence, the 'abnormality' of 13 Market Avenue might have different forms of expression for different pathways."

Franca suddenly realized and understood Lu Mian's source of intelligence.

She muttered:

"You kid, you won't find a girlfriend talking like this!"

She was almost provoked just now, let alone a real woman.

This also made Franca secretly let out a breath, feeling that this bastard kid Xia Er shouldn't have any luck with the opposite sex for the time being.

Jenna, besides being angry because of the mockery, also regained quite a bit of confidence.

She had thought the gap in IQ between her and Xia Er was already so large that it couldn't be made up.

Of course, Xia Er being able to firmly believe in the intelligence without appearing to waver in reality was also very admirable.

She pursed her lips and said:

"I am increasingly able to experience the terror of the mystical world."

The abnormality of 13 Market Avenue was even more terrifying and shocking than the scene in the secret cave of the Deep Valley Quarry.

By comparison, the time she was drugged and taken underground by the pervert Hedges was more like a criminal case.

"In the next few years, there will be more and more similar eerie events." Franca didn't miss any opportunity to teach Jenna, trying to make her more motivated and expectant about advancing.

Lu Mian talked about 'his' speculation that 13 Market Avenue only affected Beyonders of the 'Hunter' and 'Witch' pathways at non-specific times.

After discussing for a while, Franca and Jenna saw that it was late at night, took a stack of mystical magazines, left the Golden Rooster Tavern, and returned to White Coat Street.

…………

At three o'clock the next afternoon, Lu Mian, who had been pretending at the Breeze Dance Hall for a day, used public carriages, transferred constantly, and arrived at Lavigne Wharf in the Plaza District, preparing to listen to the sermon by Mr. 'Fool's' bishop.

That was a very busy inland river port, filled with steamships emitting white mist. A large number of dock workers relied on various tools and their own bodies to move boxes of cargo down and stack them on the flat surfaces erected on the tracks.

Besides these, the wharf was also filled with various giant machines that looked like behemoths. Some of them were over ten or twenty meters high, composed purely of steel components, driven by giant steam engines, and under the operation of technical personnel, lifted steel boxes that humans couldn't lift.

Lu Mian looked at it and felt that it was both chaotic and lively, both spectacular and dirty, both full of vitality and revealing undisguised cruelty.

He withdrew his gaze and took a walk around this wharf, not looking for those foreigners who were suspected to be from the sea to ask where the 'Fool's' church was, just like a tourist who came to visit on a whim.

Around the port, there were circles of buildings, filled with bars, hotels, warehouses, beer houses, cafes, restaurants, and dance halls, and the road was full of peddlers shouting.

Lu Mian also saw frosted glass windows with green shutters.

They belonged to licensed prostitutes.

After turning around for more than half a circle, Lu Mian found Mr. 'Fool's' church.

It was an independent building, looking ordinary on the outside, just like it had been renovated from a normal four-story house, with a bell tower and a spire built.

It was entirely black, and on the front exterior wall was carved a mystical symbol that Lu Mian was very familiar with:

That was the symbol of Mr. 'Fool,' a silver-white symbol composed of an incomplete 'Eye without Pupil' and a part of the 'Twisted Line.'

Looking at the gate that was two stories high, Lu Mian didn't rush in and continued walking like he was shopping.

As a 'Hunter,' when there was a choice, pre-mastering the details of the surrounding environment was an instinct.

After walking for more than ten meters, he picked a bar named 'Sea Breeze,' intending to listen to the views of those merchants from the sea, sailors, and citizens of this block on the 'Fool's' church.

'Sea Breeze' bar was decorated like a ship's cabin, with fish specimens, ship wheels, sail remnants, and other things hanging on the walls, and the air was filled with the smell of strong liquor and cheap cosmetics.

Those who were dressed as sailors were either sitting together playing cards, getting intimate with streetwalkers in the corners, or drinking heavily and bragging loudly at the bar.

Lu Mian looked around and discovered a man who couldn't be ignored.

He was sitting in a single sofa near the bar, his hands leaning back, resting on the back of the chair, occasionally picking up oatmeal beer to take a sip, while his legs were raised, resting on the edge of a small round table, his posture quite arrogant.

What caught Lu Mian's attention wasn't this person's state, but the performance of the sailors around him.

They were either deliberately avoiding that place or passing by with a fawning and awe-filled look on their faces. Even if they just chatted with that man for a few sentences and were joked with, it was a face of honor.

A big shot from the sea? Very famous? Lu Mian looked at the man as if inadvertently.

Thirty-something, wearing a linen shirt, brown vest, dark brown trousers, and black leather boots, his eyebrows and hair were scorched yellow, as if burned by fire, his eyes were deep blue but bright, and his facial features looked like those of a southern Intisian.

Sensing Lu Mian's gaze, the man revealed a smile and raised the oatmeal beer in his hand.

Lu Mian returned the smile, walked all the way to the bar, and ordered a glass of the strong liquor that pirates and sailors liked the most.

After taking a sip of the strong liquor filled with malt fragrance and burning taste, he didn't hide his curiosity, pointed to the nearby single sofa with his chin, and asked the bartender in a suppressed voice:

"Who is that?"

The bartender's expression suddenly became serious, and he asked in a low voice in return:

"You don't know him?"

In his view, not knowing that person seemed to be a very surprising thing.

PS: Seeking monthly votes for the last half day~ Tomorrow's noon chapter will be updated early at 12:05 AM, and the 7 PM one will be updated early at 12:30 PM.

(End of chapter)