Chapter 864: Help

Holding the white candle, Fu Lanke thought for a while but couldn't figure out what exactly was going on. She could only walk toward the outside of the area where the "Pillar of the Krismana Night" was located, saying solemnly:

"Regardless of whether the Resurrection Island has a special way of utilizing and manifesting power, or whether Harrison is a 'Marauder' pathway Beyonder relying on stealing heavenly secrets to use the power of the 'Death' pathway, or if he belongs to the 'Death' pathway and is using the imprint or gift of the Celestial Worthy to manifest the ability to steal, we cannot underestimate him. We must report this up immediately."

Lu Mian walked beside Fu Lanke and nodded, saying:

"If I don't use a Sealed Artifact, I'm not confident I can win against him, or at least, I'm not confident I can capture or kill him. And he might not lack a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact either."

"It's fortunate we ran into him today. If it were a different occasion and I were alone when we 'happened' to meet, it would be much more dangerous." Fu Lanke let out a breath and changed the subject. "Does this mean the followers of the Celestial Worthy are truly involved in the Vortex Plan? What benefits can they get?"

"Allowing some evil god to descend?" Lu Mian made a guess based on the knowledge and intelligence he had mastered in the past. "Or letting the apocalypse arrive early?"

Fu Lanke's expression, reflected by the dim candlelight, shifted a few times, and in the end, she could only let out a long sigh.

Lu Mian stepped forward, kicking away a white bone palm that had reached out silently.

He said very calmly:

"This is definitely a very large vortex. We cannot just expect the Major Arcana card holders to provide help; we must also improve our own strength as quickly as possible, lest we be affected by the vortex and lack even the ability to resist."

"Correct." Fu Lanke expressed her agreement.

Lu Mian continued to look straight ahead, his voice unchanged as he said:

"You must digest the 'Pain' potion as soon as possible, and I must also let Ludwig truly become a member of the team as soon as possible."

Fu Lanke was stunned for a moment, unable to help but look at Lu Mian's profile.

She hesitated for two seconds, then deliberated before asking:

"Are you saying this because of guilt? There's no need; we can think of other ways."

"Guilt is only part of the reason, and not even the most important one." Lu Mian continued walking without any change in his expression.

Fu Lanke frowned slightly, looking at Lu Mian, and raised a question she had had before meeting Harrison:

"Why did you suddenly come to find me today, and so proactively? I thought you would only fulfill the agreement once I couldn't bear the state of our relationship anymore and came to find you myself."

Lu Mian laughed:

"If I said Jianna told me to come find you, would you believe me?"

Fu Lanke suddenly felt a bit stifled, not even knowing which reason it was, or if it was all of them.

She said gloomily:

"She told you to come, so you came?"

Lu Mian smiled, as if he were talking about a very ordinary matter:

"Without the influence of mystical powers, if I absolutely do not want to do something, then in this world, only one person can force me to do it."

Fu Lanke knew who the person Lu Mian was talking about was, and she also understood what Lu Mian wanted to express.

The blockage in her heart dissipated quite a bit, and then, due to associating it with certain things, her expression became quite complex—there was anger, bitterness, and also joy.

She clenched her right fist, which wasn't holding the white candle, and punched Lu Mian's shoulder with a "bang," quite forcefully:

"You brat, you've exposed yourself!"

Lu Mian took the punch head-on, as if he had expected it long ago.

The two remained silent and walked for a while longer. Fu Lanke adjusted her emotions and asked curiously:

"Actually, I wanted to ask before: at that time, Jianna had already found you and stated her thoughts, and you said the best response was actually to delay, to delay until you became a 'Knight of Blood and Iron.' But under those circumstances, how could you delay? There was no way to delay anymore!"

Lu Mian glanced at Fu Lanke:

"Find Anthony. Did you forget that there is still a 'Psychiatrist' in our team?"

Fu Lanke laughed dryly:

"How could we find a 'Psychiatrist' teammate we see every day for this kind of thing? How awkward! Jianna and I definitely couldn't find Anthony for this aspect of things."

Lu Mian ignored Fu Lanke's defense and continued:

"Through the help of a 'Psychiatrist,' or even the ability of a 'Hypnotist,' it's definitely possible to delay the problem for a period of time. But this matter is essentially an emotional problem, not a psychological problem, nor a mental problem. Relying on a 'Psychiatrist' can delay it, but there's no way to delay it forever. It will explode sooner or later, so it's better to resolve it sooner."

Fu Lanke said "Mm."

After walking a few more steps, she looked at the darkness ahead, her tone peaceful yet tinged with joy as she said:

"Do you know why I only punched you once just now?"

"I don't." Lu Mian was very frank.

Fu Lanke smiled, feeling quite gratified as she said:

"In the past, you always gave me a feeling of, hmm, goals are important, power is important, people with close relationships are important, but you yourself are not important, and it doesn't matter what happens to you.

"This time, I originally thought you were making various decisions in that state as well, but just now you said you weren't completely passive and had your own thoughts. Even if it was only a little bit, I'm very happy."

Lu Mian did not respond, but he did not refute it either.

…………

Trier, Opera District, inside a room located in a basement.

Anthony met the "Knight of Swords."

This holder of a Minor Arcana card was still wearing a white shirt and a black vest, his brown hair was slightly messy, and his eyes looked quite depressed.

At this time, the "Knight of Swords" was sitting at a long table, and several playing cards were placed face down in front of each chair corresponding to different people.

Glancing at the card game that seemed to have just ended, Anthony, who had already met the "Knight of Swords" in the Racle region of the Southern Continent, politely greeted him.

The "Knight of Swords" responded simply, and only after Anthony found a chair without playing cards in front of it and sat down did he lower his voice and say:

"I would like to ask you for two favors. One is to provide psychological treatment for a period of time to help me stabilize my mental state."

"No problem." Anthony nodded gently.

He knew that Lady "Justice" and Lady "Audrey" (Susie) were not in Trier recently, seemingly because clues of a dragon had appeared on the west coast of the Sonia Sea, and a member of the "Judgment" branch of the Tamara family in the Kingdom of Loen had surfaced, expressing an intention to cooperate. Therefore, the two ladies had left Trier for some time and would need more time before they could return. Among the Minor Arcana card holders in Trier, he was the only one left with the ability to help the "Knight of Swords" with psychological treatment.

The "Knight of Swords" maintained that depressed state and continued:

"The second favor: we discovered that some members of the Rose School of Thought's Pleasure faction seem to have brought a quite important item to Trier. There are traces of a demigod among them.

"We have already confirmed where these Pleasure faction members are living, but without figuring out what that item is and whether there are still powerful figures hidden in the dark, we don't want to launch an attack rashly.

"It is best not to use the official forces for this matter. If that item is useful to us but is obtained by the official forces, it will be quite troublesome.

"A servant comes out to purchase supplies every two or three days from the villa where they live. Of course, there are definitely Pleasure faction members watching in the dark, and their strength and level are uncertain.

"We will be responsible for distracting the Pleasure faction members watching the servant in the dark. You find an opportunity to hypnotize the servant, ask two or three questions, and then hypnotize him to forget what was asked.

"The time for questioning will be very short, and the risk will also be very high. We cannot guarantee you will be absolutely safe; we can only say that we will put your safety as the top priority.

"You can refuse, but if you agree, we will give you a sufficiently generous or sufficiently special reward."

"Sufficiently special?" Anthony asked with slight confusion.

The "Knight of Swords," Maric, took out a shiny Loen gold pound from his pocket and said in a low voice:

"I think you should recognize it."

Anthony instantly remembered the lucky gold coin obtained by Jianna and Ludwig.

He pondered for a moment and said:

"Fine, I will help you 'hypnotize' that servant and be responsible for asking questions, but you need to design the questions yourselves. I don't know what you are concerned about."

"Deal." The "Knight of Swords" revealed a slight smile, but his eyes remained depressed.

Anthony looked at him and said:

"Shall we conduct the first psychological treatment now?"

"Sure." The "Knight of Swords" nodded gently.

Anthony smiled peacefully:

"First, I must state that a 'Psychiatrist' is not omnipotent. Sometimes I can only help you find the right path, and sometimes I can only allow your emotions to be relieved to a certain extent, so that you can re-examine the things that trouble you in a relatively normal state.

"Just like temperance is for the sake of release at a critical moment, if you never release, I can only help you delay for a period of time; it will always be uncontrollable eventually."

…………

Two days later, inside a bustling market.

Anthony saw his target, a man with obvious Southern Continent ancestry.

He pretended to be picking out fresh meat and slowly moved toward the target.

According to the agreement, the "Knight of Swords" and his group were now starting to distract the Pleasure faction member in the dark. If they failed, they would use the "Wraith" possession method to notify him that today's mission was urgently aborted.

Not long after, Anthony walked to the target's side.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he bent his back, picking up a gold louis from the ground.

He hesitated for a moment, then asked the servant purchasing supplies beside him:

"Sir, did you drop this?"

The servant looked over blankly, his eyes dazzled by the light of the gold coin. At the same time, Anthony's pupils quietly turned vertical and were stained with a pale gold color.

The servant, whose attention was completely attracted by the gold louis, swallowed his saliva and said:

"Yes, it's mine."

With this, Anthony completed the "hypnosis."

He handed the gold coin to the servant and asked as if chatting:

"What are they doing in the villa? Why don't they ever come out?"

The servant was stunned for a moment and said:

"They are reveling, reveling together.

"They are giving birth, they are giving birth!"

(End of chapter)