Chapter 542

Before Miss Feilianna left yesterday, she had suggested that Iluna seek guidance from a witch who mastered the power of balance. Coincidentally, the symbol behind Miss Miss Jia Lin Na's chair in the Witch Council was exactly "Balance".

Iluna did not object immediately, and Miss Miss Jia Lin Na did not urge her, but instead glanced at Xia De.

After thinking seriously, Iluna gathered her long hair, also glanced at Xia De, and then whispered:

"Sorry, I like men."

The Witch Council was very mysterious and low-key; even the church could not be certain whether these women who called themselves witches truly mastered the power of the Fifth Era. And the general perception from the outside world was that the Witch Council was called the "Handkerchief Enthusiasts Association," so Iluna was somewhat worried about her safety.

"You can rest assured about that."

Miss Miss Jia Lin Na smiled:

"I don't like men."

Iluna looked even more worried.

"But I also don't like girls like you who have no figure; look at my maid."

She held Tifa's hand, and the maid smiled shyly at Iluna. Iluna looked at her with a stiff face, then looked down at herself.

"Rest assured, I guarantee to you with my reputation that Miss Miss Jia Lin Na is not a bad person."

Xia De finally spoke up. No matter what Miss Miss Jia Lin Na's purpose was, if Iluna could follow her to go further on the path of "Balance," this was actually a good thing. After all, judging from Darkness's performance, the potential of the Chosen One was indeed terrifyingly astonishing.

"Then... alright, Ms. Miss Jia Lin Na Cavendish, but I must emphasize that I will not address you as teacher, nor will I reveal any secrets about you to the church. As payment for the learning, if you need me to do anything, provided it does not violate morality, I will not refuse. Oh, also, you cannot mention my affairs to anyone either."

Iluna said, and Miss Miss Jia Lin Na nodded:

"That is fair. I will send you a letter in a few days to discuss your study plan."

Then she said to Xia De:

"Look, detective. Although I failed to kill Darkness with my own hands as required by the Council, at least I have gained a good student."

"I wanted to ask just now, why haven't I seen Luvia?"

Iluna asked curiously again:

"Didn't Xia De say in the letter yesterday that she would also go with us to find the human pus?"

"She... needs to rest now."

Xia De explained, and Iluna nodded without thinking much of it.

Miss Miss Jia Lin Na, sitting opposite Xia De, revealed a smile.

For an ordinary person to drip "human pus" into their own eyes is no different from suicide. But Xia De's 【Blood Echo】 had the effect of automatically filtering out dangerous components in body fluids, and plus, the human pus had abandoned all its power to barely escape and was now in its weakest period, which was why he dared to do this.

Of course, having Miss Miss Jia Lin Na's care by his side was also a very important reason.

The pus he collected was not much, enough to maintain the spell's effect for only about an hour. Therefore, after sending Miss Miss Jia Lin Na to Yodel Palace, Xia De moved within the city by carriage together with Tifa and Iluna.

Starting from the south of the city, a blood-red light connected a thin line with a halo in the air, representing the movement trajectory of the human pus.

Xia De was not sure if the power being weakened to the extreme would affect the other party's intelligence, but judging by the direction of movement, the human pus was actually heading toward the center of Tobesk City, where Yodel Palace was located.

"Could it be that because Darkness brought it to meet royal family members at Yodel Palace, it had already decided on its next host?"

He informed his two companions of his discovery, but Iluna waved her hand, telling Xia De not to worry:

"The Orthodox Church and the Cavendish royal family have an agreement; the church protects the safety of the royal family, and the human pus in a weakened state cannot break through the security guarantees set up by the church."

"Miss also did not receive any news; everything was normal at Yodel Palace last night."

Tifa also added.

That red halo entered the university district from the south of the city, but before continuing north into the core urban area, it abruptly turned directly to the east.

Thus, the carriage carried the three of them from the university district toward the eastern part of Tobesk. After almost crossing more than half of the city, Xia De saw the somewhat familiar streetscape of Rontgen Avenue:

"No way..."

He came here every Saturday afternoon.

The traces left by the human pus in the air went almost straight into Schneider's Psychological Clinic in the middle section of Rontgen Avenue. When the carriage passed by the clinic's entrance, due to shock and surprise, Xia De did not even have time to have the carriage stop in time.

Finally, the carriage carrying the three of them stopped at the intersection of Rontgen Avenue and Smith Commercial Street. After careful consideration, Xia De did not let Iluna and Tifa get out of the carriage to follow him:

"You wait for me for a moment; I need to go handle some matters."

He carried the 【Divine Gift Box】 on his back alone; he had to confirm what had happened between the human pus and the doctor.

"What's wrong? Did you find the target? Why not let us follow?"

Iluna was very puzzled, and Tifa was also unwilling to let Xia De act alone.

"It might be that I encountered some trouble, but the trouble is not big."

He said with some concerns, took out his notebook to write down the address of Dr. Schneider's clinic, closed the notebook, and handed it to Tifa:

"Can't my performance in the Dark Domain convince you? Do not follow me. If I don't return within half an hour, you can hand the address in the notebook to the church and let the church send a thirteen-ring sorcerer to resolve the trouble."

He took the umbrella that Iluna had just used from the side storage box.

"Xia De..."

"Rest assured, I can handle it well."

He jumped out of the carriage, opened the umbrella, and looked at Schneider's Psychological Clinic on Silver Cross Avenue.

Perhaps the demon on the doctor was not as powerful as the human pus, thus suffering a deeper level of possession; perhaps the doctor had long been in contact with the human pus and was actually a bad person; perhaps it was some other reason. But Xia De wanted to face the following matters himself; even if Bill Schneider really had a problem, he would resolve it all by himself.

"The doctor's luck shouldn't be that bad..."

When this thought appeared in his heart, Xia De suddenly felt that he should have expected this kind of thing to happen:

"The doctor wasn't in the city yesterday afternoon either; it wouldn't be such a coincidence that he went to the south of the city, right?"

Everyone at the psychological clinic knew Xia De, who often came to visit. Xia De inquired, and the doctor was indeed in the clinic, and it just so happened that the previous patient had just left, so he was probably writing clinical records now.

"He didn't suddenly go out of town; this is a good sign."

He thought to himself and met Dr. Schneider in the second-floor reception room. The gas lamps in the room were not turned on, and because it was still raining outside, the room appeared exceptionally gloomy. The doctor was sitting behind his desk frowning and writing something; the gas lamp in front of him was the only light source.

Bill Schneider looked no different from usual; on the contrary, after seeing Xia De, he was surprised and thought he had encountered trouble:

"Why are you here? Please sit down. Oh, the gas lamp in this room has a problem; let's go to another room to talk?"

"It's fine here. Doctor, I haven't encountered any trouble either."

Xia De closed the door behind him and looked at the doctor under the light of the gas lamp. He walked over in silence and extended his right hand to the doctor who had stood up:

"Long time no see, Doctor."

"What long time no see? Didn't we go together on Tuesday night to get you a mental crystal?"

The doctor asked in surprise, very confused by Xia De's attitude, but still shook Xia De's hand.

【Everything is normal.】

Xia De felt a slight sense of relief in his heart.

The two sat down on the sofa, and the drizzling rain outside hit the glass. The dim light pierced through the cloud layer and then through the fog layer, and by the time it reached the room on the second floor of the clinic, it was already quite weak.

Listening to the sound of the rain, separated by the coffee table, Xia De did not know what to say. Seeing Xia De like this, Dr. Schneider appeared even more worried:

"Xia De, I am the one who led you onto the path of transcendence; you can always trust me."

The doctor spoke very sincerely; perhaps to him, this was just an ordinary Sunday morning.

Xia De nodded hesitantly, reached into his pocket, and took out the 【Demon Hunter Seal】:

"Doctor, I have a ring here. Could you please wear this on your finger."

The doctor subconsciously bent over, reached out across the coffee table, and wanted to take the ring Xia De was holding in his palm. But halfway through, he saw what the item in Xia De's palm hovering above the coffee table actually was, and the expression on the middle-aged man's face suddenly froze.

He opened his mouth slightly to look at Xia De, then slowly retracted his arm, pressed both hands on his knees, and sat there with a hunched back. He lowered his head, and his whole person seemed to have aged ten years all at once.

Xia De pursed his lips, looked at the ring in his hand, and put it on his own finger. For a moment, neither man spoke, but neither was calm in their heart.

The sound of the rain seemed to be getting louder, the light in the room became increasingly dim, and the glow of the gas desk lamp seemed to be getting further and further away from them.

After a good while, the doctor stood up and came to the window under Xia De's gaze. Today was the first day of September; although it was not autumn in the strict sense, this rain had already brought a sense of desolation to the air.

Outside the window was the streetscape of Rontgen Avenue. Today was Sunday, and even though it was drizzling, the street was quite lively. Even with the windows closed, one could hear the noisy sounds on the street amidst the rain, but this noise had nothing to do with the two people in the room.

"Detective, what do you know?"

The doctor asked with his back to Xia De.

Xia De sat on the sofa without getting up, nor did he answer this question; instead, he asked his own question:

"Doctor, is the human pus here with you?"

The doctor looked out the window, while Xia De turned his head to look at the doctor. The weather in Tobesk was very strange; even though it was raining, the outside was still hazy with fog, like water stains spilled on a faded streetscape oil painting. At such a close distance, the doctor still dared to turn his back to Xia De; if Xia De had intended to use a spell to sneak an attack, the doctor would certainly be dead.

Hearing "human pus," the doctor's figure swayed, and he nodded gently:

"Yes, I... ate it."