Chapter 719

"How did it suddenly explode?" Lu Mian, holding a calcium carbide lamp, stared at the blood color still slowly seeping into the depths of the soil and muttered to himself, frowning.

He didn't ask those two questions to make Ye Busi die; he just wanted to test the boundaries step by step.

Anthony responded with stable emotions:

"The core principle of hypnosis is that it cannot directly endanger the target's life.

"In other words, when encountering questions that would substantially endanger his own life, Ye Busi would either not answer or be stimulated by it, wake up, and no longer be affected by the hypnosis."

"I was already prepared for him to break free from the hypnosis just now." Lu Mian indicated that he had thought of this possibility.

At that distance, the "Hum-Ha Technique" was something Ye Busi couldn't dodge, and Lu Mian's "Traveler's Bag" still had three ritual dog skins and one ritual cow skin.

—After becoming a "Monk," he could make the ritual furs needed for the "Animal Creation Technique" himself, so he had added corresponding divine strangeness to those he had used before.

Jenna recalled what had just happened and pondered:

"Ye Busi was preparing to answer at that time...

"That is to say, he didn't think that answering those two questions would endanger his life. Heh, the result didn't develop as he expected."

Franca nodded:

"Yeah, if there were really danger, he could have completely not answered.

"I just thought he had signed some contract, and once he leaked the location of the 'School of Truth' headquarters and the name of the direct 'Overseer,' he would suffer a soul attack originating from his own shadow.

"Damn, could it be that the contract had its terms quietly tampered with by his 'Overseer' when it was signed? So, Ye Busi didn't know that answering those two questions would be dangerous. My god, this is too pitiful, right? The superior deceives the middle, the middle deceives the lower; is this the 'Scammer' pathway or the 'Broker' pathway?"

After Franca finished sighing, Lu Mian pondered for a few seconds and spat out a word:

"Overseer."

"'Overseer'?" Franca instantly understood Lu Mian's meaning. "Supervising the situation of subordinates in some way is one of the abilities of an 'Overseer,' and Ye Busi was not aware of this point, triggering a taboo when answering key questions?"

Just as she said this, Jenna became alert:

"Could that 'Overseer' have already noticed this place and might come over at any time?"

"That wouldn't happen. After discovering that Ye Busi had abnormalities, I had Franca leave the statue of the 'Primordial Demoness' here." Lu Mian said, revealing a smile. "Even if our guess just now is correct, that 'Overseer' should have only discovered that Ye Busi had a problem and couldn't locate the specific location. The problem now is that our subsequent action plan might need to be modified."

Jenna and Anthony understood Lu Mian's meaning:

They themselves were temporarily in no danger and didn't need to worry about being tracked by that "Overseer," but since Ye Busi, who was responsible for protecting Mo Lan Avigny behind the mirror, had an accident, that "Overseer" would know, and even with their butt they could guess that someone wanted to deal with Mo Lan Avigny, so they would inevitably make certain responses. The previously formulated plan was mostly no longer in line with the actual situation.

Franca sighed "Ah" and looked at the bone statue on the ground, sighing sincerely:

"When the 'Black Demoness' gave me the statue, I was resistant. Now, I want to say, please give me a dozen!"

While self-deprecating, she bent down to pick up the statue of the "Primordial Demoness," wiped the surface seriously, and praised it twice.

Lu Mian self-reflected:

"I should have been monitoring the changes in Ye Busi's fate tributaries with the 'Eye of Disaster' all along. That way, I might have been able to stop him in advance and not let him answer."

He didn't expect that there would be a situation where the person himself didn't know whether it would trigger a taboo—this didn't involve faith itself, didn't involve higher-level occult knowledge. Ye Busi should have known what should be said and what shouldn't, otherwise, in daily life, he would have died eight hundred times already.

Franca recalled and said:

"The member of the 'School of Truth' that Jenna and I encountered back then had a similar situation when answering 'which organization, why utilize the gatekeeper disappearance case'."

"Looking at Ye Busi's answer just now, the answer 'School of Truth' shouldn't be a taboo, and why utilize the gatekeeper disappearance case, I don't think that man who hadn't reached the 'Ambitionist' level could know."

Looking at it this way, it really is an 'Overseer' ability, so the taboo is dynamic. Environment, emotion, state, and other factors jointly determine the bottom line of answering questions. It won't be so rigid that it follows the same rules under any circumstances. Heh, it really fits the concepts Ye Busi himself talked about."

Lu Mian nodded lightly and laughed:

"At least we got the loot in advance, otherwise it would really be a huge loss."

He thought for a moment and said:

"Franca, you will use that contact charm to find the 'Black Demoness' in a while, report the fixed entrance to the mirror world we created, what just happened, and Ye Busi's answer, and see what reaction she has and what suggestions she will give.

"Um, she should be a Tamara of the 'Apprentice' branch, and she has a natural contradiction with Mo Lan Avigny, who split from the 'Justiciar' branch."

After Franca agreed, Lu Mian turned to Jenna:

"You go to the safe house first to write a letter to Lady 'Judgment.' The 'Judgment' pathway is a pathway of order. I think the matter of these people from the 'School of Truth' should be reported to her immediately.

"I will take you there."

"Okay." Jenna was already used to Lu Mian assigning tasks at such times.

Lu Mian turned to look at Anthony:

"You and I will go outside the Palais de Philanthropie to wait for Mo Lan Avigny, observe his situation, and see if he shows any abnormalities."

The Palais de Philanthropie is located in the Boulevard District and is the presidential palace of the Intis Republic. Mo Lan Avigny was there today attending a ministerial meeting hosted by the President.

Anthony nodded lightly, indicating no problem.

Observation is the strong suit of a "Spectator."

…………

In that quarry cavity with the fixed entrance to the mirror world.

Franca, who had dark vision, leaned in a corner and took out a makeup mirror and a charm that looked like it was made of gray-white rock.

Franca held the charm, injected spirituality, and recited the opening incantation in Hermes:

"Eye!"

The charm that looked like it was made of gray-white rock ignited with black flames, and then Franca pressed it against the glass surface of the makeup mirror.

The mirror surface suddenly became void, no longer having a sense of hardness.

The charm wrapped in black flames penetrated inside and fell straight down, not knowing where it went.

Not long after, Franca suddenly felt that there was something more around her.

Then, she saw a large cluster of pitch-black hair drill out from the makeup mirror.

The pitch-black hair floated up, blocking Franca's line of sight.

Franca first felt a weight on her palm, then saw the black hair fall, and Clarice appeared opposite her.

The black hair of this "Black Demoness" was still neatly coiled, and those strange pitch-black long hairs were nowhere to be seen around her.

Although it wasn't the first time she had seen Clarice, Franca still praised the other party's charm from the bottom of her heart.

She was a femme fatale who could lead people to fall and make their souls sink with just her beauty.

Clarice looked at Franca and asked in a soft and pleasant voice:

"Any gains?"

Franca calmed down and talked about how she thought there might be leaked pollution in underground Trier, so she carried the statue of the "Primordial Demoness" and went around specific areas, finally successfully discovering the target location, and talked about how she used the statue to pray to the Primordial, obtained a response, and established a fixed entrance to the mirror world.

Clarice rarely showed an expression of approval:

"You have keen intuition and good wisdom, to actually think of this possibility and successfully grasp it.

"Perhaps one day, you can also become a demoness named after a color."

"Yellow Demoness"? Franca self-mocked.

She then talked about the plan of herself and Lu Mian and the others, only concealing the part related to the "Tarot Club" and describing the "Mirror Image Imprint" as the ability of a certain item.

Clarice listened quietly without interrupting.

Franca finished in one breath how Lu Mian encountered an attack during the investigation, captured Ye Busi in reverse, and relied on the "Spectator" to ask for a lot of intelligence.

The "Black Demoness" nodded lightly and said:

"Those lovers of yours are all good, especially that 'Hunter'."

Speaking of this, the "Black Demoness" laughed softly:

"The taste of a 'Hunter' is also very good; the higher the sequence, the more valiant."

This... Emperor, your secret history has even been read by high-ranking demonesses... Maybe every demoness has a copy! Franca didn't know whether to mock Emperor Roselle or feel sad for him.

"It is good." Franca agreed with a smile, trying hard not to let herself show guilt.

The "Black Demoness" continued:

"But you and he both made mistakes.

"You should have stopped in time when you asked to a similar degree, gone to ambush Mo Lan Avigny first, captured him, and then interrogated him in depth."

"Yes." Franca did not deny the "Black Demoness's" criticism.

Looking back, the headquarters of the "School of Truth" and the name of the corresponding "Overseer" were not intelligence that needed to be mastered urgently right now. At that time, they could have completely turned Ye Busi into a dog, let Lugano and Ludwig watch him, while they themselves took advantage of the "Overseer" not yet noticing the abnormality, ambushed behind the mirror, and waited for Mo Lan Avigny to "voluntarily" come in. Afterward, there would be plenty of time to deal with the two captives.

However, this was also Lu Mian's style.

Franca had long discovered that Lu Mian was accustomed to asking for intelligence clearly on the spot and would not leave it for later without special reasons, seemingly afraid that accidents would occur in the middle, leading to the intelligence that could have been obtained finally not being obtained.

The "Black Demoness" Clarice didn't say anything more and nodded:

"You wait here for me; I'll go investigate the situation. This may take some time."

"Yes, Ms. Clarice." Franca didn't hide her smile.

…………

Boulevard District, outside the magnificent Palais de Philanthropie.

Lu Mian took Anthony and once again mixed into the reporters' team.

(End of chapter)