Chapter 453: Fate's Teasing

*Goddess bless... Is this believing in the Night, or which evil god... Judging from the actual performance, it should be an evil god... * Lu Mian listened to Anise's answer and made a preliminary judgment in his heart.

At the same time, he sighed silently:

*"No wonder people who believe in evil gods like to develop parents, spouses, and children into fellow believers. Otherwise, even if they are cautious, many details can't be hidden from family members who are familiar with each other and live together day and night..."*

Anthony Reid held the cigarette that was burning quietly in his hand and thought for a few seconds:

"How did Philip die exactly?"

The intelligence he had collected so far showed that Philip died of a sudden illness, but this was only the external claim, and the actual situation was unknown.

Anise answered with a drifting tone:

"He had heart cramps in the middle of the night, and before he could be sent to the hospital, he couldn't make it."

Anthony Reid pursued steadily:

"What about his corpse?"

"Accepted purification, burned into ashes, and sent to the family cemetery in the Erato District," Anise said these were all publicly displayed intelligence.

Lu Mian turned his head to look at Anthony Reid:

"Ask about the destination of the Beyonder characteristic."

He felt that Philip was definitely a Beyonder. After all, the probability that the other party could grow into a general step by step in the army and came from an original noble family wasn't a Beyonder could be said to be very small.

After the "psychological doctor" finished the question, Anise said quite blankly:

"What is a Beyonder characteristic?"

Anthony Reid analyzed the character's psychology and knowledge situation and changed the way of asking:

"Where did the things that were analyzed from Philip's body go? Or, were there any special items on him and around him, and where did they go?"

Anise recalled and said:

"Waiting for the manservant to arrive to carry him downstairs to take a carriage, he told me with difficulty, saying, if he died, don't be surprised if there were any strange changes on his body, collect the things that appeared, and leave them for the children.

"Later, later, the funeral was too chaotic, and I was too sad, that thing disappeared, and I could never find it again..."

*Couldn't find it again... * Lu Mian had suspected before that General Philip was faking his death, and now he was more inclined to this guess.

He even felt that the other party's Beyonder characteristic hadn't truly been analyzed. The phenomenon Anise saw and the items collected were illusions manufactured by corresponding abilities or rituals, which naturally disappeared afterward.

Anthony Reid, who had discussed this matter with Lu Mian several times, clearly also had similar thoughts. He asked with a peaceful voice, not causing any stimulation:

"What did that thing look like?"

Anise's heart-mind body answered with a voice:

"It was his fist, it became without skin, the joints were like black metal, very sharp, easily cutting off the back of the chair..."

*Beyonder characteristic combined with a certain part of the body, becoming a potion main material... * Lu Mian had very rich experience in this.

Anthony Reid asked for a while and confirmed that Anise didn't know much, and didn't even know which sequence of which pathway General Philip originally belonged to.

Seeing this, Lu Mian wandered around the master bedroom and cast his gaze on a photo frame placed on the surface of the desk.

Inside was a group photo of Philip's family, not using the color photo technology that had appeared in recent years.

In the family photo, General Philip was wearing a high-ranking officer's dress uniform with many medals. He wasn't very tall. Judging from the surrounding reference objects, he was about 1.7 meters tall.

He had thick hair, slightly curled, his eyes weren't big, but had a sharpness like an old eagle staring at prey. The beard around his mouth was trimmed very neatly, and the tips were even coated with paraffin. The bridge of his nose had characteristics, as if it had been broken by someone and hadn't healed well, so that the middle section bulged out a section.

Lu Mian looked carefully and recorded Philip's specific appearance and external characteristics.

If this person was truly faking his death to break away from the original fate, then according to Ms. "Justice's" statement, this should only involve the loss of the old fate and the acquisition of the new fate, and wouldn't change his own appearance.

That is to say, the one now should be a stranger who looked exactly like General Philip. If they met later, Lu Mian hoped to recognize him at a glance.

"Let's go." Anthony Reid ended the "mind reading" and said to Lu Mian with slight disappointment.

Lu Mian didn't have the frustration of suffering a setback and nodded gently:

"Go to that charity organization."

The purpose of the charity organization named "Dream Seeker" is to provide some help to outstanding young people who have come to Trier to pursue their dreams but are temporarily in a predicament. For this reason, even their staff are hired from such young people, and they are provided with free apartments.

Those apartments are located in the building rented by the "Dream Seeker" charity organization; the bottom two floors are workplaces, and the top two floors are staff dormitories.

Ossa, who actually controls this charity organization, also lives there, stating that he is truly helping dream seekers, not taking the opportunity to amass wealth.

Leaving Livo Street, Lu Mian and the others rushed to District 2, which is the Art District and Financial District.

District 2 is very close to District 3, where they are currently located, and not long after, they arrived at a place not far from Saint-Varo Street.

The "Dream Seeker" charity organization is located at Building 11 there.

Just after getting off the carriage, before even approaching the target street, Lu Mian and Anthony Reid saw crimson fire rising in the dark night.

The fiercely burning flames turned a building into a giant torch in the dark night.

Lu Mian's eyes narrowed, having a bad guess.

After he and Anthony Reid looked at each other, they sprinted toward Saint-Varo Street.

Thump, thump, thump, the two passed through an alley with barricades and saw that the building that had turned into a fiery hell was indeed Building 11, the office location and staff dormitory of the "Dream Seeker" charity organization!

The flames, making crackling sounds, kept leaping into mid-air, completely sealing off the four-story building and burning it to a charred black. At every window, there was no one calling for help, nor did anyone try to jump down; it was as quiet inside as if everyone had already died.

Residents living on this street woke up, either fleeing in a hurry, wanting to help the firefighters, or watching the excitement from afar.

"We came too late..." Anthony Reid looked at the burning building and sighed.

Lu Mian stared for a moment and shook his head slowly:

"No.

"Perhaps it's just that fate doesn't want us to have any gains; even if we had come earlier, we would have seen similar things."

Things plotted by so many evil god gifted ones will inevitably encounter various interferences when investigated, some direct, some indirect, some seemingly normal, some quite weird, and some as if they are not favored by fate.

Lu Mian paused and added:

"This at least shows that we are on the right path."

Anthony Reid was silent for a few seconds and said:

"This indirectly proves that General Philippe is related to evil god worship, and the encounter of my comrades and me very likely stems from this point..."

As he spoke, his voice grew lower.

Dozens of meters away from the burning building, Lu Mian's face was reflected by the firelight, looking ahead, and asked calmly:

"Do you still want to pursue this?

"This matter is becoming more and more dangerous, I don't know how many times more dangerous than when you encountered the attack with gunfire everywhere back then.

"You are still afraid of that night's encounter to this day, afraid of the sudden sound of gunfire; do you really have the guts and determination to pursue this?"

Anthony Reid was silent for a moment; this middle-aged man who had weathered the storms had not made a sound for a long time.

Before his eyes were the houses swallowed by crimson flames, the firefighters wearing red and blue uniforms and masks, and the chaotic and noisy citizens.

After an unknown amount of time, this "psychologist" whose hairline had receded quite a bit and whose face was a bit chubby said in a very low voice:

"Perhaps I already died in that attack, and the one living now is just an evil spirit chasing the truth and trying to take revenge.

"I can be destroyed, but I cannot give up. After you told me last time that there were still clues and hope, that's how I've been thinking."

Lu Mian laughed, turned his head, and looked at Anthony:

"Welcome to the hell of revenge."

…………

After returning to the Market District, Lu Mian immediately wrote a letter to Madam "Magician" telling her about the action process and final results of tonight.

He felt that the current matter had exceeded the scope that the few of them could handle; no matter what clues were obtained, they would eventually find them cut off, as if fate were like this.

This caused Lu Mian to be a bit afraid to investigate further, fearing that their actions would instead destroy the little hope that remained.

Not long after, the "Doll" messenger brought neatly folded paper:

"All the interweaving of fate is performing a drama.

"If there are clues later, tell me the important ones first, and investigate the less important ones by yourself. You have Termiboros sealed in your body; this is a heavy stone that can stir up ripples in the River of Fate and won't be easily influenced, but others cannot.

"In addition, we will also make other attempts."

Other attempts... Lu Mian felt that the "Tarot Club" should have already done a lot of things in secret, but like them, they had ultimately failed to pursue it further.

With the strength of the "Tarot Club," he suspected that this matter even had direct interference from angels or even evil gods.

After burning the letter paper in his hand, Lu Mian lay on the bed, brewing sleepiness while thinking about which direction he could still pursue:

"Related to the 'Hostel,' the groups prone to problems are painters, novelists, and people with a love for reading..."

As thoughts flashed through his mind, Lu Mian thought of a person:

The playwright Gabriel who once lived in the Golden Rooster Hotel.

This person had moved to Saint-Michel Street in District 2, where a large number of painters and writers lived; it was an artistic place very suitable for communication and creation.

"Mr. K and the official organizations have currently only screened out famous painters and writers; there are too many who just treat painting and writing as hobbies and haven't made a living from them yet, so it's impossible to investigate them one by one in a short time... Many of the outstanding young people coming to Trier to seek dreams are artists... Even the archived files of the 'Dream Seeker' charity organization have been burned..."

Lu Mian quickly made a decision, planning to visit Gabriel at dawn to ask if he had encountered any strange, unpublished writers or painters, or if he had heard any strange remarks from these groups.

PS: First addition for monthly votes, asking for base monthly votes~

(End of Chapter)