Chapter 346: Gauntlets

"Not the Loen army..." Anthony Reid's eyes went blank, muttering to himself.

On the night he was attacked, he had dreamed of it many times. Under repeated self-psychological suggestion, the cruelty and ferocity of the Loen soldiers became clearer each time, leaving a deeper impression on him each time, gradually evolving into a nightmare he couldn't shake off. Who knew that today, someone would tell him that they weren't Loen soldiers!

And from the subtle expressions, body language, and emotional

This made him feel like a joke; he had suffered for so many years, yet he had even gotten the identity of the murderer wrong.

As a "Psychiatrist," Anthony Reid keenly sensed that he had developed a sense of disillusionment, his emotions becoming unstable and receiving a strong shock.

He instinctively began to use "Pacify" on himself.

While Anthony Reid struggled to "save himself," Franca explained further:

"Either that battle had a very high security classification that my Loen friend cannot access yet, or someone else attacked you."

Franca leaned more toward the latter possibility. After all, to the Loen Kingdom, that was just a small battle that wiped out a company, and there were no important figures of sufficient weight among Anthony's comrades-in-arms, so there was no need to set a security classification at all.

"Who could it be?" Jenna had already raised this question after seeing the content of the telegram, but neither she nor Franca could think of a reasonable answer for the time being.

She even speculated whether some "Instigator" had deliberately provoked infighting within the Intis army to digest their potion, making one of the units disguise themselves as Loenese and launch a night attack on Anthony Reid and his comrades.

But the difficulty of this was simply too high; no matter how powerful an "Instigator" was, there was little hope of success, unless Anthony Reid's company had discovered evidence of serious crimes by certain people, or had formed a deep blood feud with another army due to disputes on the battlefield.

"Yeah, who could it be..." After self-"Pacifying," Anthony Reid, whose emotions had calmed down, repeated in a deep voice.

He could fully understand the Loen army attacking him and his comrades; although there was hatred, it wasn't excessive. After all, the two countries were at war, and this was a very normal thing. But why did the attack come from other forces and other people?

Franca deliberated and said:

"Did your company ever abandon friendly forces on the battlefield, or seize spoils of war that shouldn't have been seized?"

Anthony Reid recalled for a moment and shook his head firmly:

"No."

"Definitely not," Lu Mian added in a very certain tone. "Hugues Artois was involved in this matter; it clearly wasn't a conflict from friendly forces or external sources."

"Did you ever disobey Hugues Artois's orders, or cause him to lose anything?" Jenna thought for a moment and said.

Anthony Reid shook his head again:

"If there were, I wouldn't have been confused for so many years."

Apartment 601 suddenly became quiet. Lu Mian remembered something mentioned in the last letter from Ms. Magician and said thoughtfully:

"Could it have been a sacrificial ritual? A blood sacrifice to some evil god."

Ms. Magician had mentioned that the "Sinner," a secret organization that believed in evil gods, likely appeared in the later stages of that war. The reason was that the war gave evil gods more opportunities to infiltrate this world. Could the encounter of Anthony Reid and his comrades be one of the opportunities that came with it?

"Blood sacrifice..." Franca and Jenna simultaneously remembered that Hugues Artois had received support from multiple evil god forces.

Had he started colluding with evil god believers during the war a few years ago and sacrificed a company under his command?

Anthony Reid was silent for a moment and said:

"Evil god believers disguised themselves as the Loen army and slaughtered us with the cooperation of Hugues Artois?"

"This is the most reasonable explanation at the moment," Franca said with agility. "But who was the beneficiary? It certainly wasn't Hugues Artois; he hadn't received a Gift until his death."

For a moment, no one could answer Franca's question.

After several seconds, Lu Mian said:

"This is one of the directions that needs to be investigated subsequently. This is very likely related to Hugues Artois receiving support and becoming a member of Parliament."

Hearing this, Jenna recounted the intelligence she had gathered from the "Purifiers" exactly as it was, and finally said:

"The problem now is that General Philip, who was the biggest suspect, is already dead, and all clues lead to a dead end with him."

"He died quite timely," Franca laughed, "Heh." "Was he cleared away in advance?"

Lu Mian touched his chin and said slowly:

"In the occult world, some deaths don't mean they are truly dead."

Ms. Justice had mentioned that there was a sequence called "Deceased" among the evil god Gifts, which allowed them to use death to break away from their original fate.

Similarly, if General Philip used a "Substitution Art," the one who died might not be the real him.

Franca, who had cooperated to deal with Guillaume Bénet, understood immediately:

"'Substitution Art'?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out," Lu Mian laughed. "Next, our goal is to investigate that General Philip and confirm his death. Even if he is truly dead, he might have left behind certain clues; it's just that the 'Purifiers,' constrained by limitations, failed to discover them."

Seeing that his partners had discussed the direction of action in just a few words, Anthony Reid, whose original understanding had been overturned and who hadn't fully recovered, felt infected and gained a bit more confidence.

He nodded gently:

"No need to be too anxious; this matter is certainly very complicated. I will first conduct preliminary intelligence gathering on General Philip and his family and friends."

After Anthony Reid left, Lu Mian saw that Franca was going to Fountain Street to find Gardner Martin again, so he walked out of Apartment 601 with her.

While descending the stairs, he briefly mentioned the content of his exchange with "Hela."

The more Franca heard, the more excited she became:

"Great, great! You're about to become a 'Muggle,' let's go contact 'April Fool's' together!"

"What are you looking forward to?" Lu Mian glanced at this fellow.

Franca laughed, "Tsk tsk":

"In my hometown, there's a saying: if you've been rained on, you have to tear up someone else's umbrella. Haha, just kidding, but don't you think this is a very interesting thing? Although your appearance is a bit on the hard side, with simple adjustments, you can become very beautiful. Once the 'Pyromaniac' potion is digested, really don't consider getting a bottle of 'Pleasure'? Hey, forget it, forget it, there's still a certain risk of losing control before Sequence 4."

After laughing and joking for a while, Franca, who had reached the street side, restrained her smile and said seriously:

"Besides, you are one of the few people I can trust right now. If I can get your direct cooperation in investigating the 'April Fool's' problem, I will feel much more at ease. It's a pity..."

"It's a pity..." Lu Mian was also very regretful.

He turned to ask about Emperor Roselle and expressed his confusion about the attitude of the members of the "Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society."

Franca's expression suddenly became strange, as if she were using all her strength to keep herself from laughing.

After a moment, she let out a breath and said:

"This matter is quite complicated and can't be explained clearly in a few words. When I have time tomorrow or the day after, I'll explain it in detail. In short, prepare yourself mentally."

"How complicated can it be?" Lu Mian muttered, waved goodbye to Franca, and walked toward the Chaos Street.

After returning to Room 207 of the Auberge du Coq Doré, although he had already discovered the problem with Aurore's witchcraft notes and didn't need to study them anymore, he still habitually pulled out the copied papers and looked at them with a wandering mind.

Near midnight, Lu Mian's heart stirred, and he looked up above the acetylene lamp.

The light there was tinged with a faint ghostly blue.

The "Doll" messenger, wearing a pale gold dress, appeared abruptly, looking coldly at Lu Mian as if she were trying her best to endure some emotion.

With two *pa-pa* sounds, she threw a pair of iron-black gauntlets with multiple short spikes onto the table. The sound of the collision was closer to wood on wood rather than wood on metal.

At the same time, a piece of paper folded into a square drifted toward Lu Mian.

"Thank you." Although the "Doll" messenger disappeared quickly and had no intention of communicating, Lu Mian still politely said thank you.

He didn't touch the gauntlets for the time being and unfolded the paper to read Ms. Magician's letter:

"The 'Shadow Branch' and 'Lucky One' Beyonder characteristics have been crafted into a magical artifact.

"How is it? Has it completely changed its appearance, making it easy for you to carry? This is a masterpiece of master level.

"It hasn't been named yet. In layman's terms, it can be called 'Lucky Shadow Gauntlets,' and with more style, it can be called 'Torture.' You can also name it yourself.

"Any target hit by it, regardless of whether they are injured or have blocked with a weapon, will have a desire or emotion triggered. As for which one, it originally depends on your luck, but with 'Lucky One,' you can simulate or imagine the corresponding desire or emotion in advance to make the target react in the way you hope. The success rate is very high, about seventy or eighty percent.

"After a target has a desire or emotion triggered, when you hit them a second time, no new desire or emotion will be generated, but you will have the opportunity to make the previous desire or emotion explode. For most targets, this is an unbearable giant wave that will bring great burden to their bodies, thereby causing them serious injury, or even causing them to lose their ability to resist for a short time.

"The probability of detonating a desire or emotion in every strike is not high, but if you hit the target a few more times, it will always be triggered, unless you have been cursed with bad luck that offsets the 'Lucky One' trait.

"The most powerful thing about these gauntlets is not their attack ability, but their defense. They are very sturdy and can block a strike from a 'Reaper' without damage (Note: 'Reaper' is Sequence 5 of the 'Hunter' pathway). Of course, the premise is that the strike hits the gauntlets exactly. In this case, it even has the hope of using its own shattering or breaking to help you block a strike possessing divinity, roughly at the Sequence 4 level.

"Its negative effect is that carrying it will cause your self-control to decline, and the fluctuations of various desires and emotions will become stronger, requiring excellent endurance to resist. And after you wear it, because it comes from that 'Shadow Tree,' you will suffer from the gaze of the other party and certain hidden existences. Although they cannot truly harm you due to various reasons, they can drive some dangerous creatures to come to your side to exert influence or launch attacks on you.

"Therefore, the time for each use of these gauntlets cannot be too long, and you must move to a new location immediately after use. If you fail to do these two things and are targeted by hidden dangers, remember to maintain a good state. As long as you can block one or two strikes, those dangerous creatures that cannot truly descend will be rejected by the world and banished back.

"Ah, by the way, your two psychiatrists want you to come for your final follow-up visit at the usual time and place tomorrow afternoon."

PS: It's the last half day, please vote for monthly tickets, it's a waste if you don't vote~ Hmm, there will be an update at 0:05.

(End of chapter)