Chapter 706: Fragments of Fate (Requesting guaranteed monthly votes)

Time ticked away second by second. The reporters waiting outside the conference hall showed no signs of impatience or dissatisfaction; they had experienced similar situations many times before.

Finally, the heavy doors of the Rose Conference Hall opened. Industrial Minister Mo Lan Avigny, dressed in a crisp suit with refined features, deep gray eyes, and graying black hair, walked out alongside the head of the Loen Kingdom delegation.

*Click, click. * The loud flashes of cameras went off one after another. Mo Lan Avigny waved gracefully at the reporters.

Lu Mian did not force his way to the front. He hid in the crowd, observing Mo Lan Avigny from a distance of several meters.

Under the cover of his camera, his azure eyes rapidly turned silver-black.

"Eye of Disaster"!

Within Lu Mian's vision, a river of fate composed of illusory water droplets emerged from Mo Lan Avigny's body. Each droplet was a complex symbol connected end-to-end.

Taking advantage of the opportunity while Mo Lan Avigny gave a brief speech announcing a series of industrial cooperation agreements between the Republic of Intis and the Loen Kingdom, Lu Mian carefully distinguished the past, present, and future of this Industrial Minister, discerning the fate fragments hidden within each droplet of the river.

There was a vast amount of blurriness here. The further back in the past, the harder it was to distinguish. Lu Mian focused his browsing on the fragments from the previous two weeks.

He saw Mo Lan Avigny living in a dedicated villa provided by the government, saw the Industrial Minister attending gatherings at a fixed café every week to discuss various matters, "leading by example" in the café politics trend of Trier.

Lu Mian also saw Mo Lan Avigny attending salons, balls, and banquets; listening to operas and concerts; watching plays and art exhibitions; playing polo and poker; hunting in the suburbs; flirting with courtesans; and having extramarital affairs with several women. He used his status to provide convenience to the Industrial Credit Bank of Intis, thereby allowing the husband of one of his mistresses to become the deputy general manager of the bank's South Continent branch—a position many dreamed of, dignified, high-paying, and possessing significant power, with the only downside being the need to leave Trier for two or three years in the South Continent, initially unable to bring a spouse or children.

This perfectly matched Lu Mian's stereotypical impression of the upper-class figures in Trier.

During his rapid inspection, Lu Mian skipped the more blurred parts and discovered two fate fragments worth noting:

One was when Mo Lan Avigny was reading documents alone in his study; he suddenly wrote a note, then reached his hand into the mirror beside him. His hand seemed to have no physical substance, passing completely through the glass surface to place the note inside.

The other was when Mo Lan Avigny had a brief contact with a lost person while hunting in the Silone Forest. What attracted Lu Mian's attention was that this fate fragment was permeated with thin, white mist, making it appear blurred.

This was somewhat different from the blurriness of most other fate fragments.

The first fate fragment confirmed Mo Lan Avigny's identity as a "Mirror Person" from another angle. One had to know that among the twenty-two "Paths of God," even "Witch" demigods below Sequence 4 could not pass information and items through mirrors. If Mo Lan Avigny were a demigod-level "Witch," it would be impossible for him to exist as a male.

Regarding this situation, Lu Mian could only think of two possibilities:

First, the only beings more adept at using mirrors and possessing more uniqueness in the field of mirror magic than "Witches" were "Mirror People"!

Second, Mo Lan Avigny was originally a demigod-level "Witch" who later consumed a higher-sequence "Hunter" potion, successfully transforming into a male. This meant this Industrial Minister was at least a Sequence 3 Saint, or possibly even an Angel.

Combining the intelligence gathered by Franca and the others, the data provided by "007," and the fact that Mo Lan Avigny had never displayed "Hunter" characteristics in the few clearer fate fragments, Lu Mian believed the other party was indeed a "Mirror Person" and not one of those ordinary "Mirror People" without supernatural abilities.

The second fate fragment was worth Lu Mian's attention because it was relatively special and might contain important information, but Lu Mian could not decipher it yet.

He then shifted his focus to Mo Lan Avigny's future fate, that is, the vast number of fate branches.

Without any surprise, Lu Mian saw one of them stained with a faint black.

This fate branch, with a silvery background, was like many of its peers. The clearer parts "previewed" the process of Mo Lan Avigny finishing the interview and taking his private carriage back to the Industrial Ministry building. The difference was that after entering the Minister's office and sitting for a while, Mo Lan Avigny walked into the full-length mirror near the coat rack and disappeared.

Lu Mian could not see any further into the future.

He could only infer, based on what he had observed, that if Mo Lan Avigny walked into the Mirror World before noon today, he would encounter a life-threatening disaster.

But the probability of Mo Lan Avigny doing so was low; among so many fate branches, only this one represented such a possibility.

Of course, if Lu Mian were not afraid of exposure, he could indeed mobilize half of his spirituality to use the "Push Fate" ability to forcibly push Mo Lan Avigny's future into that fate branch. However, this had no meaning:

Mo Lan Avigny dying in the Mirror World would only mean they couldn't access his corpse to perform a spirit mediumship!

"The 'Black Witch' should also be able to enter the Mirror World, but if she performs the mediumship, we won't be able to obtain the corresponding information. Even if Franca has completely gained her trust, some things, if one isn't at a certain sequence, won't be disclosed..." Seeing Mo Lan Avigny strike a pose to end the interview while his bodyguards began clearing a path through the reporters, Lu Mian stopped using "Eye of Disaster" and, acting the part of a reporter, *clicked* to take a black-and-white photo.

Then, he gradually withdrew from the ranks of reporters, circled through a public restroom, stowed his camera into the "Traveler's Bag," and put on "Lying" to revert to the appearance of Charles Dubois. He then entered the attached restaurant of the Champs Hotel as a guest.

Franca was waiting for him there.

As they followed the waiter to their reserved table, Lu Mian saw a man and a woman drinking coffee.

The woman had black hair and brown eyes, with a delicate appearance and a somewhat flamboyant temperament, which could be seen from her attire. The man had an ordinary appearance, wearing a double-breasted flannel coat, houndstooth trousers, button-up leather boots, and a soft-brimmed top hat—the attire most favored by bankers and financiers in Trier in recent years.

Lu Mian noticed this man and woman not because he was attracted by their wealth, but because he recognized the delicate-looking woman with foreign features.

Of course, she didn't know him; he had only seen her photo in *Ghost Face* magazine:

She was Perle, a theater actress from Loen and a Trier courtesan.

Duval, the inventor of Duval broth and owner of a well-known restaurant, had spent a lot of money on her and even attempted suicide because of her, though he did not succeed.

At this moment, Perle and the middle-aged man suspected to be a banker hadn't started their meal yet, just drinking coffee.

The middle-aged man took the coffee cup Perle had finished, pointing at the remaining coffee grounds, explaining something. The courtesan was listening very attentively.

Relying on his excellent senses, Lu Mian listened briefly as he passed by and soon understood that the middle-aged man suspected to be a banker was playing coffee ground divination.

This was a form of divination quite popular in the upper class, closer to a game.

"The coffee grounds left in your cup are circular, which means you have signs of encountering love recently..."

Hearing the middle-aged man's words, Lu Mian couldn't help but scoff inwardly:

"Are you finally going to say, 'And I am the love you are about to encounter'..."

If it were any other woman, even if she knew what the man was truly trying to express, she might be secretly startled by the divination result pointing to love, feeling that this might indeed be a hint from fate—the various states naturally formed by coffee grounds all had corresponding fate revelations, and this was recognized by everyone, with no possibility of tampering with the interpretation.

But considering Perle was a veteran courtesan and had a bold style, Lu Mian had reason to believe she had actively manipulated the way she drank the coffee to make the remaining grounds circular!

After walking a bit further, Lu Mian saw Franca.

This "Pleasure Witch" was dressed very ladylike today, very well-suited for such an occasion, making Lu Mian almost fail to recognize her.

Of course, Franca still wasn't wearing a real long dress, but culottes instead.

Looking at Franca, whose hair was no longer in a ponytail but elegantly pinned up, Lu Mian chuckled softly.

"Jenna did your hair?"

"Yeah!" Franca didn't get angry; instead, she was quite pleased with herself.

Before the two could exchange their observations, a nearby waiter walked over and handed them two identical menus.

"The lunch set is 7 gold coins. If we order à la carte, plus some decent red wine, it'll cost at least 50 gold coins for the two of us." Franca lowered her voice, speaking to Lu Mian in Ancient Futhark. "In the Market District, that could feed your godson for a long time."

She felt the Champs Hotel restaurant was very expensive, yet she was quite interested in trying it out.

"Any recommendations?" Franca asked the waiter in Intis.

The male waiter had been stealing glances at Franca. Upon hearing the question, he said quite enthusiastically:

"Would you like to try the Felt fish?

"In Trier, except for some private banquets, you can only eat Felt fish here."

"What's special about it?" Lu Mian asked with some curiosity.

The waiter looked at Franca and said:

"The Felt fish's body looks half-charred. It can only be found in a certain section of Trier's underground river. It is said that a long time ago, it was normal. One day, it was caught by someone named Felt, who set up an oil pan by the underground river, preparing to fry it. Halfway through, the fish found an opportunity, jumped out of the oil pan, and jumped back into the river, living on and giving birth to many descendants, all of which are half-charred.

"The skin of this fish has a charred aroma and an oily texture, while the meat inside is very tender..."

Trier underground river... half-charred... living... Lu Mian extracted the keywords, suddenly suspecting that this might be caused by the leakage of "Hunter" power from the Fourth Epoch of Trier.

He smiled at Franca.

"Shall we have one each?"

"Sure." Franca had wanted to try it anyway.

PS: Requesting guaranteed monthly votes~

(End of chapter)