Chapter 461: The Price of the Gift (Seeking monthly votes at the start of the month)

After Franca and Jenna, who were sitting on the edge of the bed, finished speaking, there was silence in the room, and the atmosphere was quite solemn.

After a few seconds, Lu Mian smiled self-deprecatingly:

"At least when those monks of the Deep Valley Monastery do bad things, they are still sneaky. This shows that they still have scruples, showing that the Church of 'Steam and Machinery' didn't have problems as a whole. There are still a large part of clergy, or even the vast majority of clergy, who are normal."

"I think so too." Anthony Reid raised his hand and drew a triangle on his chest.

Lu Mian continued:

"The matter has developed to this extent, and it is no longer something our small team can participate in. Handing over the problem of the Deep Valley Monastery to the 'Purifiers' and the 'Heart of Machinery' to handle is the best choice."

What he didn't say was that there also had to be the "Tarot Club" watching in the dark. After all, who knew how many hidden dangers remained in the two major churches that hadn't exploded? What if they were triggered by someone in advance, delaying the timing of investigating the problem of the Deep Valley Monastery?

"Good." Franca agreed.

She herself had such a plan.

After confirming the plan, Franca and Jenna left the Golden Rooster Hotel and turned back to White Coat Street.

Lu Mian opened the curtains, looked at the red moon in the high sky, and said to Anthony Reid, who was preparing to walk toward the door, seemingly casually:

"Your best choice now is to go to the Suhit Steam Train Station as soon as you wake up tomorrow and buy a train ticket to leave Trier. The sooner the train, the better."

Anthony, wearing a military green camouflage uniform, stopped his footsteps, turned around slowly, and looked at Lu Mian's back:

"Hmm?"

Lu Mian poured a glass of light beer that served as clear water, took a gulp, and still looked out the window:

"You have known a lot of things following us during this period. You should be able to see that the problems hidden in Trier are very large, and the impending disaster will be very serious. If you don't seize the time to leave, perhaps you will never be able to leave again.

"As for revenge, as for searching for the fake-dead Philip, you can wait until the disaster is over. No one stipulates that you cannot return after leaving Trier."

Anthony Reid was silent for a few seconds, walked slowly to Lu Mian's side, and also looked at the night sky outside:

"Why don't you leave?"

Lu Mian smiled and said:

"Aren't you a 'Spectator'? Haven't you seen that we all have missions, so how can we leave Trier just because we want to?"

Anthony turned his head and stared at Lu Mian's face and eyes for a long time without speaking.

Lu Mian held the light beer, his gaze still cast out the window, his focus already empty and very blurry.

After a while, he sneered:

"And, I have the ability to survive in such a disaster. I can also protect Franca and Jenna, but I can only protect two people. Do you think you can compare to women who are both beautiful and have a deeper relationship with me?"

His "protection" referred to taking Franca and Jenna to "teleport" to the Fool's Church at the Lavigny Pier.

Anthony didn't respond and looked at the dark sky outside again.

He slowly took a box of cigarettes from his clothing, pulled one out, put it in his mouth, and lit it with a match.

After taking a few deep puffs and exhaling white smoke, this "Psychiatrist" said as if talking to himself:

"I was born and raised on the west coast of the Inter-Sea. There are many industrial cities there, where believers of the 'Steam and Machinery' are more than believers of the 'Eternal Blazing Sun.'

"The wind in the Inter-Sea is very strong. It is not very hot in summer, but it is very humid. It will snow in winter, and it is white everywhere. And the surrounding areas either have a large number of forests or have been pitted by coal mining and iron mining.

"After I was lucky enough to become a Beyonder, my biggest dream was to retire safely, save a sum of money, buy a piece of land next to the forest in my hometown town, hire a few people to help me farm, and when I was free, secretly go hunting in the forest, go to the seaside to blow the wind, or go fishing at sea. Heh, you might not know, the fish in the Inter-Sea cannot be eaten; they have heavy industrial pollution. Unless there is really no way, the locals don't touch them."

Speaking of this, Anthony Reid's voice lowered a bit:

"If I were to return to the west coast of the Inter-Sea now, return to my hometown town, I might never be able to enjoy that kind of life. That is not a problem of money; it requires a sufficiently relaxed state of mind.

"I still often have nightmares about our camp being ambushed and corpses everywhere. Every time I can hear my heart beating violently. I can imagine that if I leave tomorrow, I will definitely have similar nightmares when I see news and pictures about the Trier disaster in the newspaper. I will dream of Trier being burned by fire, with corpses everywhere.

"That time, I ran away in panic. This time, I don't want to be like that again."

Anthony Reid smoked the cigarette again.

Without waiting for Lu Mian to mock him, he added himself:

"I know very well that what I can do is limited, and all this actually has nothing to do with me, but I have stayed in Trier for several years. I know many informants, I know the neighbors around, I know the children who exchange some news with me for candy or copper coins. I don't want to hear their death news in a few days, and see their painful faces as soon as I close my eyes.

"I will try my best to cooperate with you and work hard to do some things until there is really no way, and then consider evacuating.

"You don't need to understand. This might just be a paranoid decision made by a patient with serious psychological problems."

Lu Mian laughed and said:

"As if who doesn't have psychological problems."

Before I finished the treatment, my psychological problems were much more serious than yours!

Anthony Reid revealed a bit of a smile:

"So, you also chose to stay, didn't you?"

He turned his body, smoking the cigarette that was only a short stub left, and left Room 207.

Lu Mian admired the night view of Trier, listened to the late-night noise of the messy street that never seemed to change, and drank the light beer in his glass.

Only then did he sit down, pull the curtains, and start writing a letter to the "Magician" lady:

"There are new clues...

"There are three investigation directions now:

"One is the Deep Valley Monastery and the Sacred Heart Monastery;

"Two is that I use the close connection that may exist between me and the 'Hostel' to enter the underground, go to the side of the river where Jenna encountered that monk, and move forward purely by instinct to see if I can walk directly to the 'Hostel';

"Three is to take action against Gardner Martin. Since the 'Iron and Blood Cross Order' is cooperating with the Carbonari, and the Carbonari has a certain connection with the Deep Valley Monastery matter, then they may be in the same group and know something."

After sending the letter, Lu Mian paced back and forth in the room, both a bit worried, irritable, and slightly excited.

Soon, the "Magician" gave a reply:

"We will be responsible for the first direction. I didn't mention the second direction just now because this will be very dangerous for you, and Gabriel's reminder to you was obviously detected. The people in the 'Hostel' will definitely guard against problems in this regard.

"The third direction can be tried, but you need to be well-prepared before taking action against Gardner Martin."

Silently, crimson flames emerged, igniting the paper in Lu Mian's hand. He intended to sleep quickly to restore his mental state and find Franca, Jenna, and Anthony to discuss the action plan as soon as dawn broke.

…………

3 White Coat Street, Apartment 601.

Franca didn't change into cotton pajamas and pajama pants, but was still dressed for going out.

Seeing her walking back and forth without stopping, Jenna asked suspiciously:

"What are you worrying about?"

Franca sighed and said:

"I intend to go find Gardner now. Although Xia Er didn't mention it just now, I can feel that he will suggest dealing with Gardner in these two days. This is an obvious breakthrough. Sigh, I have to seize the time to digest more Pleasure."

Jenna looked at Franca's side face, pursed her lips, and changed the topic:

"Don't you have many lovers? If there is one less Gardner Martin, there are others."

Franca couldn't help but clear her throat and laughed dryly:

"They're long gone, long gone. My lovers now are just Gardner and his lovers."

Jenna laughed and said in a teasing tone:

"If there's no Gardner Martin, you can find Xia Er."

"No, no!" Franca waved her hands repeatedly, "I can't pass this psychological hurdle of my own."

While speaking, she walked toward the door:

"I'm going to Spring Street."

Jenna restrained her smile and reminded solemnly:

"You must not show any abnormalities later."

"I understand." Franca's expression became serious, "I won't let Gardner have a feeling that I'm doing end-of-life care."

After speaking, she opened the door and walked out.

Watching her back disappear as the door closed, Jenna sighed lightly.

She then cast her gaze toward the gray-white cloth bag on the coffee table and muttered silently:

"I don't know when I can encounter Will and give him this bag of things..."

…………

In the middle of the night, Jenna suddenly woke up from a dream.

She dreamed of Will, dreamed of him in a quarry hollow somewhere underground.

Although this was just a dream, Jenna clearly knew which area of the underground it corresponded to and how to arrive.

Jenna nodded slowly with realization, changed into the female mercenary outfit she wore before, carried the gray-white cloth bag, left Apartment 601, and entered the underground from the entrance on White Coat Street nearby.

She followed the inspiration of the dream and the guidance of spirituality, sometimes going down, sometimes turning, sometimes squeezing through gaps, and finally saw the quarry hollow in the dream.

In the center of the mine, Will, dressed the same as during the day, was holding an orange pumpkin lamp, waiting not too happily, just like a student who had finally escaped to play but was caught by parents and teachers.

"Is this what you wanted?" Jenna handed over the gray-white cloth bag filled with various pigments and multiple oil painting brushes.

After Will caught the bag, he didn't open it, but took out the item known as the lucky gold coin, sighed, and said:

"This is your reward.

"This is your luck, and it is also your misfortune. This means that you will experience a lot and will also bear an important responsibility.

"You might not understand now, but one day in the future, you will understand."

Ever since the Market District was brought into disaster by evil god believers, I have had no way to retreat... Only by moving forward in this dangerous mystical world can I protect the people I want to protect... Jenna muttered silently for two sentences, took the Loenese gold pound, looked at it for a few times, and said:

"How should I use it?"

"Just carry it." Will waved his hand and disappeared into the depths of this quarry hollow, carrying his pumpkin lamp.

When Jenna put away the lucky gold coin and returned to the ground, she was stunned to find that she didn't remember the road she came from.

She had arrived following the guidance of spirituality just now, but now she was completely awake and didn't have that feeling.

Having no choice, Jenna had to find the road herself. The general principle was "up."

After walking for a while, she suddenly felt the earth shake violently, as if a big explosion had occurred in the distance.

Earthquake, or some other anomaly? Jenna frowned slightly and accelerated her pace of distinguishing the road and constantly going up.

Just as she turned around the rock wall ahead, her feet suddenly emptied.

The ground there had already subsided, and at this time, it collapsed completely.

In the sound of splashing, Jenna couldn't stop her momentum and fell toward the depths along with the collapse of the ground.

She hurriedly adjusted her body, using the "Assassin's" ability to make herself fall like a feather, lightly.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 462 =====