章節 79: Chapter 79: Information Exchange (Part 2)
Chapter 79: Information Exchange (Part 2)
After Alger finished introducing the Four Kings and Seven Admirals, Audrey said expectantly, "Thank you so much for sharing. It makes me long for the sea. I wonder when I'll be able to truly travel."
"No, Miss Justice, it's not as wonderful as you imagine," Alger calmly poured cold water on her enthusiasm. "In my view, it's a combination of bloodshed, chaos, killing, desire, and fear."
Audrey nodded slightly and changed the subject: "There's been a series of murders in Backlund recently - 11 cases in total, though one was confirmed to be a copycat. The killer targets women who used to be prostitutes but now have regular jobs. He cuts open their abdomens and removes all their internal organs."
"That sounds demon-related. Could it be the work of the Bloody Cult?" Alger immediately guessed.
"I don't know. The killer hasn't been found yet," Audrey said, looking displeased about this.
"That's normal," Alice tapped the table. "Who would have thought the killer wasn't a person, but a dog?"
"A dog?" Audrey looked at Alice in shock, thinking of her own dog Susie.
"A few days ago, I saved a girl from a dog that seemed to be on the 'Demon' pathway," Alice shrugged. "To be precise, the creature suddenly ran away..."
Recalling Alice's earlier question, Audrey had a sudden realization. She asked with concern, "What about the girl? How is she?"
"She went to the Church of the Night," Alice said, spreading her hands.
"That's... wait, something's not right!" Audrey was relieved at first but then noticed an inconsistency. "If that's the case, why don't the authorities have any leads?"
"Perhaps they're waiting for me to claim the bounty," Alice replied. "I guess the Church is also curious about why the 'Demon' suddenly ran away... Anyway, not announcing the news doesn't prevent them from continuing to catch the killer."
Audrey fell silent.
Although everyone was curious about this, Alice clearly had no intention of elaborating.
"I know about this ritual," Derrick, who had been ignored, suddenly joined the conversation.
Alice looked at him curiously and asked, "You know?"
Derrick nodded: "It's mentioned in our 'Demonology' textbooks. It's quite ancient - a ritual demons use to assist in their advancement, often appearing when advancing from Sequence 6 to Sequence 5."
"Not a ritual to please demons, but one demons use to help themselves advance?" Audrey asked, quite surprised.
Derrick answered very seriously: "Yes, Sequence 6 of the 'Abyss' pathway is called 'Demon' - that's also the origin of their species name."
"'Abyss' pathway..." Alice repeated this name thoughtfully. After learning that "Demon" was just the name for Sequence 6 of this pathway, she realized that "Abyss," casually mentioned by the Little Sun, was likely the name for Sequence 0 of this pathway.
*It seems there's a lot of lost knowledge in the City of Silver...* Alice's eyes flickered as she asked further: "Mr. Sun, do you know the specific contents of this ritual?"
Derrick nodded and explained:
"The minimum is 13 people, the maximum is 49. The more complete the ritual, the better the chance of advancement.
"There must be at least three days between killings, otherwise it's easy to lose control. But the interval can't exceed nine days, or the ritual will reset.
"After each killing and each part of the ritual, the demon will eat the victim's internal organs. From this point on, they will constantly be in a state of irritability and bloodthirst, wanting to harm others, until that desire is satisfied again."
Alice's expression gradually became serious.
A demon dog in a state of irritability and bloodthirst - Alice knew without thinking that its decisions would likely have little rationality.
In other words, ordinary danger perception might not be enough to deter that demon dog!
However, this only helped Alice confirm this matter once again. As early as witnessing Megoes' bizarre death, Alice understood that the unknown influence left on her was far from simple.
The unexpected encounter with the mercury snake and the subsequent warning made Alice suspect that the level of that influence definitely surpassed Sequence 1 angels, which meant...
At least a true god.
Why "at least"? Well, even true gods have differences in strength.
"How terrifying..." Audrey sighed sincerely.
As the discussion about the serial killings came to an end, Audrey organized her thoughts and continued to ask:
"Mr. Hanged Man, Miss Fate, I've always been a bit confused about something."
"I've attended several gatherings of extraordinary individuals and noticed that very few people sell potion formulas. Even when they do, it's hard to make a deal. Why is that?"
Alice, who had never paid attention to this issue, thought of Mr. Fool and Old Mr. "Eye of Wisdom" who acted as notaries. After brief consideration, she came up with an answer: "If a gathering doesn't have a trustworthy notary, most people don't have the ability to distinguish between real and fake potion formulas."
Alger chuckled and said, "That's right. Potion formulas are easy to fake. No one dares to risk their life. Do you think you could prepare two sets of extraordinary materials and first experiment on an animal?"
"Ahem." Alice interrupted Alger's words with a tactical cough.
Alger paused slightly, saw Audrey's guilty expression, and finally remembered what their "Miss Justice" had done. He closed his mouth.
Audrey, who had initially raised the question, guiltily changed the subject: "Couldn't it be done through establishing an oath?"
"Do you want to invite the seven orthodox deities to attend the gathering, or do you want to invite evil gods to enjoy you as a sacrifice?" Alice couldn't help but ask.
Audrey closed her mouth again.
"There's actually another reason," Alger said. "Without understanding the 'acting method,' potions can easily cause loss of control and turn people into monsters. The corresponding materials are difficult to obtain and quite expensive. So, as long as the seven churches don't allow such transactions to receive official certification, there's no need for deliberate control to prevent potion formulas from spreading on a large scale, let alone becoming commonplace."
"I see..." Audrey murmured.
Derrick opened his mouth, actually wanting to ask which seven were the orthodox deities, but ultimately restrained himself cautiously and instead said:
"The City of Silver recently organized an exploration of the dark depths and discovered a half-ruined temple. The deity statue worshipped inside was of a naked man nailed upside down to a cross, with his body surface smeared with a lot of blood."
"Do you know which deity this is?"
This concludes the second update for today. I'll try my best to write five updates in total. If I get pulled away for New Year's Eve dinner or something, I'll make up the rest on the first and second day of the New Year (collapses).
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