Chapter 706: Fragments of Fate (Requesting Base Monthly Votes)

Time slipped away second by second, and the reporters waiting outside the conference hall showed no impatience or dissatisfaction—they had experienced similar situations many times before.

Finally, the heavy doors of the Rose Conference Hall opened, and Minister Morlan Avigny, dressed in a crisp suit, with dignified features, deep gray eyes, and dark hair streaked with white, stepped out alongside the representative head of the Kingdom of Ruin.

Click, click—bright flashes erupted one after another as Morlan Avigny gracefully waved to the reporters.

Lumian did not force his way to the front; he remained hidden among the crowd, gazing at Morlan Avigny from several meters away.

Beneath the cover of cameras, his blue eyes swiftly turned silver-black.

"Eye of Catastrophe!"

In Lumian's vision, a river of mercury-colored liquid, composed of illusory droplets, emerged on Morlan Avigny's body—each droplet a complex symbol linked end to end.

Taking advantage of Morlan Avigny's brief speech announcing a series of industrial cooperation agreements between the Intis Republic and the Kingdom of Ruin, Lumian carefully examined the minister's past, present, and future, deciphering the fragments of fate embedded in each droplet.

Much of it was blurred; the further back in time, the harder to distinguish—Lumian focused primarily on fragments from the past two weeks.

He saw Morlan Avigny residing in a government-provided villa, observed him attending weekly gatherings at a fixed café to discuss various matters, embodying Trill's café-politics trend "by example."

Lumian also saw Morlan 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; having extramarital affairs with several women; and using his position to facilitate the Intis Industrial Credit Bank, thereby securing his lover's husband the post of Deputy General Manager of the bank's South Continent branch—a position many dreamed of: respectable, high-paying, and powerful, though the sole drawback was the need to leave Trill for two or three years in the South Continent, with no possibility of bringing spouse or children during the initial period.

This perfectly matched Lumian's stereotype of Trill's upper-class figures.

In his rapid review, Lumian skipped the blurrier segments and identified two noteworthy fate fragments:

One showed Morlan Avigny alone in his study reading documents when he suddenly wrote a note and reached his hand into the mirror beside him—his hand passed through the glass as if it had no substance, placing the note inside.

The other showed Morlan Avigny hunting in the Siron Forest, briefly encountering a lost individual; what drew Lumian's attention was that this fate fragment was shrouded in pale, wispy white mist, rendering it unusually blurred.

This differed subtly from the blurriness of most other fate fragments.

The first fragment indirectly confirmed Morlan Avigny's identity as the "Man in the Mirror," for among the Twenty-Two Paths of God, the "Witches," most adept at mirror magic, could not transmit information or objects through mirrors until they reached the Half-God rank of Sequence 4—and if Morlan Avigny were a Half-God Witch, he could not possibly exist as a male.

For this situation, Lumian could only think of two possibilities:

One: Only the "Man in the Mirror" surpassed even the Witches in mirror manipulation, possessing unique specialization in mirror magic!

Two: Morlan Avigny was originally a Half-God Witch who later consumed a higher-sequence "Hunter" Elixir, successfully transforming into a male—meaning this minister was at least a Sequence 3 Saint, possibly even an Angel.

Combining intelligence gathered earlier by Franca and others, data provided by "007," and the fact that in the few clearer fate fragments, Morlan Avigny had never displayed any "Hunter" traits, Lumian believed the man was indeed the "Man in the Mirror"—and not an ordinary one without supernatural abilities.

The second fate fragment warranted Lumian's attention because of its unusual nature—it might conceal vital information, though he could not yet interpret it.

He then shifted his focus to Morlan Avigny's future fate—the multitude of branching streams.

Without surprise, Lumian saw one stream tinged with faint black.

This mercury-colored fate stream, like many others, showed a relatively clear "preview" of Morlan Avigny's return to the Ministry of Industry in his private carriage after the interview—but unlike the others, after entering his office and sitting for a while, Morlan Avigny voluntarily stepped into the full-length mirror near the coat rack and vanished.

Beyond that, Lumian could see nothing of the future.

He could only infer from current observations that if Morlan Avigny entered the Mirror World before noon today, he would encounter a life-threatening disaster.

But the probability of Morlan Avigny doing so was low—among so many fate streams, only this one represented such a possibility.

Of course, if Lumian were willing to risk exposure now, he could mobilize nearly half his spiritual energy and use the ability "Push Fate" to forcibly steer Morlan Avigny's future into that stream—but it would be meaningless:

Morlan Avigny dying in the Mirror World would only prevent them from accessing his corpse, thus blocking the spirit communication!

"The 'Black Witch' should also be able to enter the Mirror World, but if she performs the spirit communication, we won't obtain the corresponding information—even if Franca has fully gained her trust, certain things remain undisclosed to those below a certain sequence…" Lumian noticed Morlan Avigny signaling the end of the interview, as his bodyguards began clearing a path through the reporters; he ceased using the "Eye of Catastrophe," and with perfect acting spirit, snapped a black-and-white photo.

Then he gradually withdrew from the crowd, circled through the public restroom, stashed the camera inside the "Traveler's Satchel," donned the "Lies," and reverted to his appearance as Xia Er Du Buwa, entering the annex restaurant of the Champs Hotel as a guest.

Franca was waiting for him there.

As he followed a waiter to their reserved table, Lumian noticed a man and woman drinking coffee.

The woman had black hair and brown eyes, a beautiful face, and an exaggerated air evident in her attire; the man had an ordinary face, wore a double-breasted flannel coat, chicken-foot-patterned trousers, buttoned leather boots, and a soft-felt top hat—the latest fashion among Trill's bankers and financiers.

Lumian noticed this pair not because of their wealth, but because he recognized the beautiful woman with a foreign air.

Of course, she did not know him—he had only seen her photograph in the magazine "Grimace":

She was Perle, a drama actress from Ruin and a Trill courtesan.

Dival, the inventor of Dival Soup and owner of a renowned restaurant, had spent considerable sums on her and even attempted suicide over her—unsuccessfully.

At this moment, Perle and the suspected banker had not yet begun their meal, only drinking coffee.

The middle-aged man picked up Perle's empty coffee cup, pointing at the leftover grounds, explaining something; the courtesan listened with intense focus.

Using his superior senses, Lumian caught snippets as he passed and quickly realized the middle-aged man was practicing coffee-ground divination.

This was a popular upper-class divination method, more akin to a game.

"The coffee grounds you left form a circle—this indicates you've recently encountered signs of love…"

Hearing the man's words, Lumian internally scoffed:

"You're going to end this by saying I'm the love you're about to meet, aren't you?"

For any other woman, even if she suspected the man's true intent, she would still be startled by the divination's implication of love, convinced it might be fate's guidance—the natural shapes of leftover coffee grounds each carried corresponding fate omens, universally accepted and impossible to falsify.

But considering Perle was a seasoned courtesan with bold tendencies, Lumian had reason to believe she had deliberately brewed her coffee to produce circular grounds!

After walking further, Lumian spotted Franca.

The "Joyful Witch" was dressed today as a proper lady, perfectly suited to the occasion—Lumian almost didn't recognize her.

Of course, Franca still did not wear a real long dress, only a skirt-pants combination.

Looking at Franca's hair, no longer in a ponytail but elegantly coiled, Lumian chuckled softly:

"Did Jianna style your hair?"

"Yes!" Franca did not blush or anger—she beamed with pride.

Before they could exchange observations from earlier, a nearby waiter approached and handed each of them identical menus.

"The lunch set is 7 Felling. If we order à la carte with decent wine, we'll spend at least 50 Felling. In the Market District, that could feed your godson for weeks," Franca whispered in Ancient Fusaic.

She found the Champs Hotel restaurant expensive but was eager to try it.

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

The male waiter had been sneaking glances at Franca; upon hearing the question, he eagerly replied:

"Have you tried the Felt Fish?"

"In Trill, except for certain private banquets, only we serve Felt Fish."

"What's special about it?" Lumian asked, slightly curious.

The waiter looked at Franca and said:

"The Felt Fish appears half-burnt. It can only be found in one stretch of Trill's underground river. Legend says it was once normal—until a man named Felt caught it, set up a frying pan by the riverbank, and began frying it. Halfway through, the fish somehow leapt out of the oil and back into the river, surviving and reproducing—its descendants all born half-burnt."

"Its skin is crispy and oily; the flesh inside is incredibly tender…"

Underground river… half-burnt… alive… Lumian extracted the keywords and suddenly suspected this might be the result of Fourth Era Trill's "Hunter" power leaking out.

He smiled at Franca:

"One each?"

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

ps: Requesting base monthly votes~

(End of Chapter)