Chapter 388: Caution

The back alley at night was quiet and deserted.

Lu Mian avoided the garbage piles where rats and cockroaches appeared, moving sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes changing direction, sometimes taking a big detour, as if shaking off an invisible pursuer.

Finally, he arrived at White Coat Street and entered the "abandoned" safe house whose lease hadn't expired yet.

Then he followed the process, pulled the thick curtains, and examined every corner of the room.

Compared to the past, he not only burned the bedbugs to death and drove away the rats, but even didn't let go of various flying insects the size of rice grains, striving for this place to be "clean."

After finishing this, Lu Mian sat at the table, flattened the paper, and began to write a letter:

"Respected Ms. Hela:

"When I participated in the 'April Fool's' group discussion in the guise of my sister 'Muggle,' I discovered that 'Sisso,' 'Mad Lady,' 'Bard,' and 'Salted Egg Superman' had obviously abnormal reactions to 'Muggle's' appearance after a long time, while 'I Have a Friend' was suspected to be the psychologist 'Muggle' had looked for during that last period.

"At the same time, they were all cooperating with 'Loki' to act, wanting to bewitch members of other groups to go underground to search for the legacy of the 'Ancient Sun God.'

"I believe 'Loki' is the de facto leader of 'April Fool's.' If other people have problems, he must also have abnormalities. So I bought a copy of the 'Ancient Sun God' data from him and asked someone to help divine that the mechanical typewriter used was at the 'Alone' bar on Old Street, Observatory District, Trier.

"After on-site investigation, I discovered that it was a stronghold of the Bureau of Discipline, but I seemed to have been targeted by 'Loki' and encountered an attack in the evening, almost becoming his marionette, barely escaping by relying on my own abilities and the items on my body. But this also caused my real-world identity to be exposed before his eyes.

"When writing this letter, I have already hidden in the safe house prepared before, but I am not sure if I have truly shaken off 'Loki's' tail.

"I feel that the possibility of him having a problem has become very great. If this matter isn't clarified, one day in the future, he might bring a huge disaster to the research society.

"I hope to get your help."

Lu Mian wasn't embarrassed, directly stating his intentions.

He just wanted to use himself as bait to fish "Loki" out and let "Hela," who could borrow the power of "Concealment," hide in the dark to give that "April Fool's" leader a fatal blow!

Facing such a bizarre and hard-to-kill guy, perhaps only "Hela," whose Sequence was higher than his and Franca's and who had a way to "Conceal," could not be discovered in advance and find the target's true body.

Folding the letter, Lu Mian quickly set up an altar and summoned that pure silver skull head with pale flames emerging from its eye sockets.

Franca returned invisibly to Apartment 601, 3 White Coat Street, and persuaded Jenna to go home temporarily to avoid it for two or three days.

Jenna, after repeatedly confirming whether she really couldn't provide help, cursed and opened the door to leave, rationally giving up on acting tough.

Franca quickly changed her clothes, relying on the disguise props she got from the "Bliss Society" member Lentas to change her appearance.

While putting on makeup, she cursed the mother of fate:

"Damn, shouldn't have let Jenna leave first! She's better at using these things than me, and her makeup level is also higher."

This was the basic skill of an actor apprentice.

Simply doing a good job of disguise, Franca sometimes turned invisible, sometimes hid in the shadows, and turned around the Market District for a small half-circle.

During this process, she not only made efforts for anti-divination but also used counter-surveillance techniques learned from Lu Mian.

Finally, she returned to White Coat Street and entered the building with the house number "6."

The safe house she prepared for herself was located here, and she could see her original residence diagonally across.

Phew... Franca, who had completed all the processes, breathed a sigh of relief and lay on that Runic-style armchair.

At the same time, she muttered to herself:

"I've known Charles for less than three months, why does it feel like I've experienced more things than in the past year...

"Damn, is this guy a disaster star reincarnated?"

Inside the safe house on White Coat Street, Lu Mian only waited for nearly a quarter of an hour before seeing that pure silver skull head emerge from the suddenly appearing darkness, biting a simply folded letter in its mouth.

"Thank you." Lu Mian said habitually and took the letter.

If "Hela" wasn't willing to deal with members of the "Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society" who were only suspected, he could only give up the plan, hurry to find Franca, take her to transfer to the outskirts like the Hill District, Elato District, etc., using "Spirit World Travel," and then sneak back.

He felt that only in this way could he truly shake off "Loki's" tail or locking on, and after that, he couldn't be active in the open anymore, unless he changed to another district.

Lu Mian unfolded the paper and found "Hela's" reply was very concise:

"Okay."

Lu Mian's lips curled up, and crimson flames emerged from his hand, igniting the reply.

Immediately after, he restored the table surface to its normal state and used the "Lie" earring to change back to his original appearance.

Lu Mian then extinguished the calcium carbide lamp, lay on the bed, closed his eyes tightly, and pretended to be asleep.

Time passed second by second, the night grew deeper, and the surroundings of White Coat Street gradually became quiet.

The crimson moonlight passed through the thick curtains, bringing some brightness to the room.

Don't know how long passed, a gray-black, small figure drilled in from a hole in the corner of the wall.

That was a rat that looked ordinary.

The rat slowly, silently came to the table, climbed up, walked back and forth on the surface, sniffing east and smelling west, as if patrolling its territory to see if it had been invaded by anyone.

After a while, it ended such an act, shrank into the dark area that the dim moonlight couldn't illuminate, and turned its body toward the sleeping bed.

This rat looked at Lu Mian with deep eyes, revealing a very human-like feeling.

Just like this, it seemed to have turned into a statue in the darkness, motionless, maintaining the state of staring at Lu Mian.

After nearly ten minutes, slight, hard-to-detect footsteps came from the corridor outside this apartment.

Tap, tap, tap, the footsteps grew closer.

Suddenly, the footsteps disappeared, as if they had never appeared, or stopped at some position, no longer moving forward.

That rat then left the dark area that the crimson moonlight couldn't directly shine on, slid along the table leg, and returned to the hole it had drilled out from.

It disappeared quickly, the room grew quieter, and only the slow and long breathing of a human could be heard vaguely.

Lu Mian never opened his eyes, his body state was very relaxed, as if he had truly fallen asleep.

6 White Coat Street, inside an apartment.

Franca lay on the armchair, her body swaying back and forth with the chair.

She thought annoyedly about what to do next. Having such a bizarre and terrifying enemy hiding in the dark, peeping dangerously, was something that made it hard for people to feel at ease and relaxed, whether sitting or standing.

"Must solve it as soon as possible. There's no reason for a thousand days of being a thief, and no thousand days of guarding against a thief. One slip and it's over...

"How about, give up the mission, change to another place? Or, go all the way, use the excuse that the mission is likely to fail, and directly ask Ms. 'Judgment' for help to find 'Loki.' This has feasibility, but I will bear a debt that is hard to pay off until I become a demigod. Even if Charles shares half, it's a very heavy burden...

"Can also directly ask Ms. 'Hela' to convene an emergency gathering, accuse 'Loki' and others of killing 'Muggle' on the spot, and ask to find members who can be trusted to interrogate each other to see which side is lying. Uh, whether 'Loki' and they really have problems can't be fully confirmed, but me colluding with outsiders and introducing spies is a nailed-down thing..."

Franca grew more and more irritable the more she thought about it, directly using her hometown's slang, no longer deliberately converting it.

Suddenly, she had a strong premonition of danger.

Almost simultaneously, she felt an extremely eerie coldness erupt inside her body.

Her body quickly became stiff, and in her lake-blue eyes, a figure was reflected, the same figure:

The black short formal suit often worn by small clerks, neatly combed-back brown hair, a face with a bit of Southern Continent blood, and eyes that flickered with a bit of gloomy green but were dull and stiff...

"Wraith"! Such a noun flashed in Franca's mind, knowing what kind of attack she had encountered.

Her thoughts began to blur, and her right hand was lifting upward as if fighting against an invisible object.

Franca surged the spirituality within her spirit body, wanting to erupt the black flames of the "Witch" from the inside out.

This targeted the spirit body and could burn the "Wraith," and the "Witch's" resistance to this kind of flame was clearly stronger than other pathways. She could completely use injury in exchange for escaping, or even severely injure the enemy.

Just at this moment, a voice with a bit of magnetism sounded in Franca's ear:

"It's useless, give up."

This voice was like arrows piercing Franca's spirit, interrupting her attempt to condense black flames.

As soon as the voice fell, her mind seemed to be covered with thick fog, and a piece of thick frosted glass seemed to appear before her eyes.

That voice continued:

"I didn't use full strength in the evening, it was to probe. That guy who has a high-level existence sealed in his body and pretends to be 'Muggle' must have some special abilities. If I went all out without collecting information, the one who died might be me.

"After probing, things are even more interesting. I just went to his place and turned around, feeling it wasn't safe enough, so I planned to turn you into my marionette first and perform a surprise attack.

"Hehe, you think you can shake off my locking on? We both have something special. As long as the distance is within one kilometer, I can sense your location with the help of the Great Existence's power.

"I've long wanted a 'Witch' as a marionette, the taste must be quite good..."

Franca's spirit body was affected by this voice again and again. Her efforts to activate the "Mirror Substitute" and condense black flames in advance were therefore interrupted again and again, her thoughts grew increasingly stagnant, and her joints felt like they were filled with glue.

"He, 'Loki' can, sense, my location?

"What special, why can he..."

Franca hadn't thought of a possibility or made a complete resistance when that magnetic voice said with a smile:

"Can't delay time anymore, I have to speed up the progress to avoid accidents."

Speaking of this, the voice turned respectful, chanting in a language Franca was unusually familiar with:

"Fu Sheng Fusheng Fusheng Xuanhuang Celestial Venerable;

"Fu Sheng Fusheng Fusheng Xuanhuang Heavenly Lord..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 389 =====