Chapter 924

Inside the rented apartment.

Jianna finished cleaning the table, picked up the soy milk and meat buns she had specifically saved for Franca, and said to Ludwig beside her:

"You can read and study now."

Ludwig's expression shifted a few times, and he argued forcefully:

"What use is there in me studying?

"If I want to master knowledge, I eat a scientist; if I want to master abilities, I eat a Beyonder!"

Jianna smiled faintly and said:

"Studying is indeed not important for you, but having you study is very important for us."

"..." Jianna's candor left Ludwig, who was already poor with words, completely unable to respond.

Jianna deliberated for a moment and added:

"Although we don't know the specific process, and you have likely forgotten it, the fact that you were sealed by the Church of Knowledge is as solid as steel. And what is the biggest difference between you and the clergy of the Church of Knowledge? It's the attitude toward learning!"

Ludwig was left somewhat bewildered by her words, and feeling both reluctant and helpless, he sat down at the table and spread out his textbook.

Jianna returned to the master bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Franca struggled to sit up halfway, stuffed a pillow behind her back, and said in a hushed voice:

"You're fooling Ludwig again. Trying to defeat the Church of Knowledge with 'learning' is equivalent to competing with them on their best track and under their favorite rules. How could you win that way? The best method is still to play to your own strengths.

"Hehe, a 'Witch' really must be good at deceiving people."

Many "Witches" have had experiences of deceiving others' feelings to digest the "Pain" potion, and among them, some even invested themselves into it, eventually having to harden their hearts to separate. Thus, the part that caused them pain also came into being.

Jianna let out a laugh:

"I have to give him a reason, and he just wants to find a reason."

Jianna paused and said thoughtfully:

"Besides, I feel that studying is still useful for Ludwig. You saw it during the fight last night; he was completely a monster in that state. But the details of how we get along usually make me feel that, other than being able to eat, loving to eat, and needing to eat, he is a normal little boy in all other aspects.

"This is thanks to the Church of Knowledge's seal, but it should also be due to the changes brought about by him mastering rules, morality, and common sense of human society through learning."

While speaking, Jianna brought the plastic cup of soy milk to Franca's lips, let her take a sip, then handed over the meat bun, watching her bite into the part with the filling.

Franca had never enjoyed such treatment before, and her heart immediately felt wonderful.

She nodded thoughtfully:

"You mean that learning is one of the ways for Ludwig to integrate into human society, and learning has given Him some humanity?"

"Mm." Jianna chatted casually with her while feeding Franca breakfast. In the end, she even used a wet wipe to clean Franca's mouth and washed her face.

After finishing these tasks, Jianna took the trash and left the master bedroom.

After being busy for several dozen seconds, she sat down beside Ludwig, as if supervising a child's studies.

After watching for a while, she took two bags of items out of her "Traveler's Bag" and placed them on the table.

They were two bags of crudely packaged scorched rice.

As Ludwig looked over in astonishment, Jianna said with a smile:

"If you can pass my assessment later, these will be yours.

"Do you like spicy or original flavor?"

"I like both!" Ludwig buried his head again, his gaze exceptionally focused.

"I prefer the original flavor." Jianna tore open the package, stuffed two pieces into her mouth, and began to chew.

Ludwig looked at her with a start, his mouth half-open, his expression blank.

Isn't this my reward?

"I'll eat some before you finish studying. Don't worry, I'll leave some for you." Jianna revealed a smile.

Franca, on the bed in the master bedroom, heard this conversation and couldn't help but laugh.

She suddenly thought that although Jianna usually appeared very mature, by actual age, she was really just a girl who had just graduated from university. It was perfectly normal for such a girl to like snacks, and now she finally had the opportunity.

The smile on Franca's face gradually became soft, and new dialogue came from the living room outside:

"This is corn potage flavored puffed food."

"This is cucumber flavored potato chips."

"This is chocolate wafer biscuit."

"..."

"There aren't many of these snacks because they aren't as cheap as staple food, but they are all prepared for you. They are rewards for you studying and testing well."

"You, you eat less! I will work hard!"

Franca leaned against the pillow and slowly had a strange feeling:

She was the father recuperating from illness, and outside were the gluttonous, study-hating child and the mother supervising the child's homework.

If one ignored words like "corpse fingers are also your reward today," the daily life of this family of three was truly too warm and wonderful.

…………

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Horns sounded continuously behind and to the side of the gray sedan, urging Lu Mian to drive faster, but Lu Mian was calm and composed, completely ignoring the noise around him, letting the vehicle move forward steadily at the lowest speed allowed on the current road section.

Novice driver, safety first!

Anthony sat in the passenger seat, constantly scrolling through his phone, looking through local news.

"What are you looking for?" Lu Mian swept a glance at his companion from the corner of his eye.

Anthony shouldn't have reached the stage of being addicted to the internet yet; after all, he had only just learned how to go online.

Anthony turned his head and said solemnly:

"I still feel that there are a few details in last night's fight that feel more wrong the more I think about them."

"For example?" Lu Mian focused on driving.

Anthony deliberated and said:

"The second security guard who self-destructed, the state he presented before the explosion was very much like the 'Marionettist' himself, yet he just self-destructed like that."

"The ability to swap positions between a marionette and the main body? You suspect that there was indeed a demigod-level 'Marionettist' at the scene assisting the True Creator's marionette?" Lu Mian understood what Anthony wanted to express. "But we paid attention to the situation within a radius of several dozen meters and didn't find any traces. Could it be that that demigod-level 'Marionettist' was in a state where we couldn't see, hear, or touch them?"

"That is the most terrifying point. And if there really was such a 'Marionettist' present, why didn't he save the resurrected female corpse later, and why didn't he spread our appearance and image characteristics afterward?" Anthony put his gaze back on his phone.

Lu Mian nodded slowly and said:

"You are scrolling through reports and private rumors related to last night's incident to see if any of our information has leaked?"

"Yes." Anthony's fingers slid continuously on the screen. "The currently circulating theory is that a conflict at work led one of the security guards to get a detonator, blowing up his colleague and also blowing himself up..."

Anthony hadn't finished speaking when he suddenly stopped.

He frowned slightly:

"I saw a strange local news item. This morning, next to a garbage dump near the Moon Mall, a madman was found—a madman who had completely lost his reason and couldn't communicate. Then, he was sent to the hospital for treatment."

"Near the mall? A madman?" Lu Mian also sensed the strangeness of this news and asked keenly, "Which hospital was he sent to?"

Could this madman be the "Marionettist" who hid last night?

Did he not intervene in the subsequent fight because he had an accident himself?

What happened? Why would he have an accident?

"The news didn't say." Anthony continued to scroll through reports in this regard.

Lu Mian maintained his speed and took another ten-plus minutes to reach the destination.

Finding a parking space and struggling to park the car, he and Anthony walked together toward the "Star Dream Grocery Store" located at the corner of the street.

This shop didn't have its lights on; it was narrow and dim inside. The moment Lu Mian entered, it was like coming from the morning into the night.

He glanced at the tall shelves on both sides filled with peculiar goods and walked to the cashier counter at the very back.

A woman wearing a black dress sat behind the cashier counter. She leaned against the wooden cabinet behind her, looking down at her phone, with a tablet computer playing a TV series placed directly in front of her.

Lu Mian said politely:

"Hello, I want to mail a letter."

He was actually saying he came to mail a letter in a grocery store.

The woman in the black dress playing with her phone didn't find it strange and asked without raising her head:

"Mail to where, to whom?"

"Mail to the Church of Saints, to Senior Deacon Leonard Mitchell." Lu Mian took out the letters for the Major Arcana cards.

The woman in the black dress continued to look at her phone, her voice gentle and calming as she said:

"On the third shelf of the right-hand rack, there is a black mailbox inlaid with silver. You can just put the letters inside.

"Come back tomorrow to pick up the reply."

"Thank you." Lu Mian quietly breathed a sigh of relief and turned toward the shelves.

What he saw at a glance wasn't a toy mailbox, but a book that looked like it was forged from brass and a silver mirror with black eye-like orbs on both sides.

Lu Mian scanned quickly and discovered other goods like classical quill pens and various peculiar dice. If it weren't for the shopkeeper playing with her phone and watching a tablet, he would have felt he had returned to the real world, returned to Trier.

The style of these items was quite different from the dream city; they were more like things from the Northern Continent!

After putting the letters into the silver-inlaid toy mailbox, Lu Mian turned his body to the side and asked the shopkeeper:

"Can I look at the goods here?"

The shopkeeper's voice carried a hint of a smile:

"These are all for sale."

For sale? As a "Witch," Lu Mian first picked up the silver mirror with ancient patterns and a black gemstone on each side.

In the mirror, Lu Mian's face quickly emerged:

Light blue eyes, clear and deep, a slightly thin face, nearly perfect, lips neither thick nor thin, light in color but moist, faintly carrying a glow...

This was his female image.

It directly reflected my "Witch" state... This mirror really has magical aspects... Lu Mian had just had this thought when he saw water ripples on the mirror's surface, outlining lines of blood-colored ancient Futhark words:

"I am the great Arrodes. I can answer any question you have, but you must also answer me an equal number of questions, in the presence of at least one witness.

"If you refuse to answer or lie, you will suffer punishment."

Arrodes, the great Arrodes? Lu Mian knew this name.

Franca had mentioned it; this was Mr. Fool's magic mirror. It answered questions most accurately, but every one of its questions would cause the diviner social death.

Mr. Fool's magic mirror is actually located in this grocery store in the dream? What does this represent, what does it symbolize? Lu Mian couldn't help but glance at the shopkeeper again, that woman in the black dress playing with her phone.

After deliberating, Lu Mian said calmly:

"My question is, regarding the matter of waking up Mr. Fool, what do you want to remind me of?"

PS: Recommending a book, "Strange Tales Book."

A story of traditional immortal energy and spiritual energy, the new book by Sanhua Niangniang.

(End of chapter)