11-2

84 Shock

"Unfortunately," The World broke Alice's delusion, "that island no longer exists."

Alice stared at the "world" with wide eyes and blurted out: "You moved the entire island?!"

"…No," The World denied, "It's the island that's gone."

"?" Alice didn't understand this. After staring at the "world" for more than ten seconds, she turned to Klein.

In the gray fog, Klein met Alice's eyes, hesitated for a few seconds, and let out a long sigh:

"Why..."

The sigh echoed above the gray fog. For a moment, no one dared to make a sound. Only the sighing sound repeated over and over again.

Alice glanced at the other members of the Tarot Club and found that they were indeed caught up in a brainstorming session. She couldn't help but put her hand on her forehead.

He is really good at pretending... Although his goal should have been achieved, I now know that there is something wrong with the disappearance of the island...

Alice curled her lips and waved at the "world".

"Okay, you don't need to tell me anymore."

Then she lay down.

The surroundings fell silent again. The "magician" Fors hesitated for a moment, raised his hand and said:

"I need a cursed object from an ancient vengeful spirit, as well as its remaining spirituality. Please keep an eye out for me."

After she received affirmative responses from the members, Emlyn the Moon glanced around, leaned back in his chair, and said to Derrick the Sun,

"Do you have any Beyonder characteristics corresponding to Sequence 5 artificial vampires in Silver City?"

Vampire... Alice looked up at Emlyn, completely understanding his reluctance to be compared with those pus-oozing monsters in the darkness.

However... before Derrick the Sun could answer, Alice asked Emlyn the Moon:

"By the way...did you make me angry before?

"I seem to have forgotten about this..."

Emlyn tensed up all of a sudden. When Alice slowly sat up straight, she saw Emlyn, who was tense and didn't know what to say.

Alice looked at him, thinking of Hazel who had also offended her, and stared at Emlyn, sighing with some regret.

That regretful look made Emlyn feel creepy, and he shouted out instinctively:

"I am willing to make up for my mistake!"

"But I don't want you to do anything..." Alice lazily lay back, "It's better to let you suffer a big disaster. At least that will make me feel better."

Emlyn the Moon opened his eyes wide. He wanted to say something in rebuttal, but he couldn't because there was really nothing he could do.

Audrey, the Justice, looked at Emlyn, the Moon, with sympathy. Emlyn chose to give up in silence and looked at Derrick, the Sun, again.

Derrick paused for two seconds before answering:

"Silver City does have the extraordinary characteristics you need, but...

"Mr. Moon, do you want to turn into a monster covered in pus?"

Alice blinked and looked at the "Moon" Emlyn thoughtfully.

Actually, this is not a bad idea... No, no, if he were to hold a Tarot Club like that, it would be too horrible!

I don't want to see that kind of thing every week...

Recalling what she had seen and heard in the "God-Forsaken Land", Alice gave up the idea in horror.

Ah... Emlyn's expression was a little dull. He didn't understand for a moment whether the other party was mocking him or reminding him of something. He even suspected that Derrick was giving Alice some advice.

Seeing this, Derrick the Sun quickly added,

"They all have serious mental pollution residues, and without the potion formula, we in Silver City will not waste our energy to eliminate the problems inside."

This is... a bit troublesome... "Moon" Emlyn gently took the lead and said,

"I understand."

He did not discuss the possible transaction in depth, and planned to consult the high-level vampires first to clarify the issue of mental pollution within the Beyonder characteristics.

The transaction ended here, and the members of the Tarot Club began to communicate freely.

Justice Audrey looked at the World Gehrman Sparrow first and said hesitantly,

"Can I know where the characteristics of the 'Chaos Mentor' come from? If it involves secrets, you don't have to answer."

She was preparing to persuade her father, Earl Hall, and also to avoid unnecessary trouble. After all, the extraordinary people of the "Black Emperor" path might have certain relationships with the royal family and the military.

Klein laughed secretly and let The World answer:

"It came from a curly-haired baboon."

Alice glanced at Klein, thinking seriously whether this was a true statement or an insult.

This was also Audrey's confusion, but "The World" had no intention of explaining further, so Audrey could only accept this statement and turned to talk about her own experience:

Didn't I go to a place where there is a custom of dragon worship in order to pursue the trace of the spiritual dragon?

"But haven't you discovered that the giant dragon of the mind lives in the collective subconscious ocean of the local residents, and chose to leave in order to ensure its own safety?" Cattleya responded.

"You're going back again?" Alice asked curiously.

Audrey "Justice" shook her head:

"No, I've been away from there for a long time, but I just heard a rumor recently.

"An archaeological team entered a village in that area. One of the members suddenly went crazy at night. This mental illness seemed to be contagious. Other members also went crazy one after another. They killed each other or committed suicide. In the end, no one survived."

A contagious mental illness... Alice took a breath and exclaimed in agreement:

"Wow!"

Everyone was used to this. Just as the Hanged Man Alger was about to speak, the Hermit Cattleya said:

"This is consistent with the characteristics of a psychic dragon."

"I don't doubt it, but I'm a little curious whether the Mind Dragon is still in the original area." Audrey expressed her thoughts.

"No." Alger, the Hanged Man, and Cattleya, the Hermit, responded at the same time.

"How do you know this?" Alice raised her hand.

"This is very dangerous," Alger, the "Hanged Man," answered her, "It will allow the church to track it down."

"But," Alice retorted, frowning, "what if it takes advantage of that?"

"Hermit" Cattleya sighed and said,

"Whether the Psychic Dragon is still there or not, the Church will definitely go there first if they want to find clues."

Alice nodded thoughtfully and asked curiously,

"In this case, do I just need to search an area in the church and then return?"

This... "The Hanged Man" Alger glanced at Alice and agreed with her opinion:

"This is indeed a good idea, but we can't rely on it, because..."

"I know!" Alice interrupted him. "The church might also think of this and go back to search again - this is a matter of anticipation and anticipating the other party's anticipation!"

This tongue-twister-like sentence went around in Alger's mind for two rounds before he understood it. He nodded and didn't continue speaking - there was nothing else to say.

The World spoke at this time:

"The customs of dragon worship are very helpful in stabilizing the state of the psychic dragon. You can ask people to pay attention to this aspect. If there are major changes, it means that the psychic dragon will create similar traditions in other places."

He suspected that it was the anchor of the giant dragon of the mind... Alice figured it out instantly. She tilted her head to look at Audrey and heard her ask doubtfully:

"That custom helps stabilize the dragon?"

"Yes." The World Gehrman Sparrow did not give any explanation, but simply answered in the affirmative.

Audrey subconsciously turned her head and looked at the top of the long bronze table, considering whether to consult Mr. Fool and the price she could pay.

Seeing this, Klein the Fool looked around and chuckled, saying:

"Why do you think the gods preach?"

This…isn't it that God loves the world…uh, wait.

"Justice" The standard orthodox answer suddenly popped up in Audrey's mind, but she soon realized that there was definitely something wrong with this answer. After all, there was a ready-made counterexample in the Tarot Club.

——Miss Destiny is obviously not one of those people who believes that God loves the world.

Then, she, like members such as "The Hanged Man" Alger and "The Hermit" Cattleya, thought of the second answer:

"steady state!"

No way... At this moment, the "magician" Fors felt that her brain was not enough. No matter how good she was at making up stories, she couldn't make up such a thing!

So that's the case. No, it's possible that Mr. Fool only mentioned one of the reasons. He is secretly eroding the authority of the Lord of Storms... Is this related to divinity? I can ask the Queen later... Cattleya pushed the heavy glasses on her nose with some speculation.

It was not the first time that Alger, the Hanged Man, had heard something of this magnitude at the Tarot Club. He no longer felt the trembling fear. Instead, he began to think seriously about why faith could stabilize the state of a demigod-level creature.

The other members, including "Sun" Derrick, were a little terrified, feeling as if they had heard something blasphemous. They did not dare to think too deeply or speak out. Only occasionally, a few brave and experienced ones would glance at Alice covertly, hoping that Miss Fate would be as outspoken as before.

Alice noticed these glances. After thinking for a while, she decided to release another piece of heavy news to help divert everyone's attention:

"Will Auceptin chose to abandon his umbilical cord blood at the last moment and restart again... So, he now has a new 'mother'.

"I'm not sure about His current situation, but you'd better stay away from His new 'mother'.

"After all, there's no way I could have allowed Him to be born safely."

The attention of the Tarot Club members was indeed diverted. They suddenly remembered Alice's generosity today and understood the source of the blood of those mythical creatures.

Audrey, "Justice", was extremely curious about what had frightened a Sequence 1 angel to the point of cutting off her tail to save her life, but she tactfully did not ask. Instead, she asked the question that Alice wanted her to ask:

"New 'Mother'? It sounds like you already know who this is?"

Alice nodded and replied, "Congressman Mori Macht's daughter, Hazel Macht."

This was undoubtedly the domain of Justice Audrey. She immediately recalled the information related to Congressman Morrie Macht and Miss Hazel Macht, and soon she remembered one thing:

"I remember, this Hazel Macht you mentioned is not..."

"Not married, not dating anyone," Alice spread her hands. "Obviously, this is a pure accident."

All the female Beyonders present showed expressions of horror. Magician Fors swallowed and said,

"Ms. Destiny, this step doesn't require the consent of 'Mother'..."

Alice thought for a moment and replied,

"I'm not too sure, but according to my guess, when your sequence reaches a certain level, you will probably be able to detect this in advance and make corresponding stops or changes."

After listening to Alice's explanation, Magician Fors' mood did not improve much. She asked hesitantly,

"That is to say, it is possible for me to..."

She seemed to have remembered something horrible and couldn't continue speaking.

The Hermit Cattleya also looked at Alice. Alice spread her hands and said as a matter of course:

"That's your business."

So far, her goal had been successfully achieved, at least for the female Tarot Club members - they all began to worry that they would get pregnant with an inexplicable child.

But this matter had little to do with Alger, the Hanged Man. He thought about it and asked the World,

"Can you share that mural with everyone?"

Mural? What mural?

Alice almost immediately thought of Ouroboros. She turned to look at the Hanged Man, Alger, and looked him up and down.

"That's fine with me," replied The World.

Although he was confused by Alice's gaze, Alger, the Hanged Man, did not ask aloud. Instead, after obtaining the Fool's consent, he displayed the scene of the Angel King eating the Creator of the City of Silver.

The picture was dark in tone, with blurry figures in the background and a long table as the main subject.

On the long table lay a figure carrying a glorious cross, surrounded by three shadowy figures.

One of them was handsome and vigorous, one was majestic and heroic, and one had a white beard and looked very wise, but all three pairs of eyes revealed an indescribable sense of evil, and their behavior was the same:

One of them tore off the figure's arm and stuffed it into his mouth, biting it until his mouth was full of blood. One of them held up the head and sucked the brains. The other dug out the still-beating heart and gnawed on it hungrily.

Opposite them, there was a long and wide gash between the chest and abdomen of the figure, and a sinister and dark-skinned baby was sitting cross-legged, chewing a piece of intestine, with blood dripping down.

The bloody scene made Alice stunned on the spot. She stared at the scene blankly and suddenly recalled a religious painting in her memory.

The Last Supper! (End of this chapter)

85 Split Personality

As one of the works of the famous painter Leonardo da Vinci, Alice certainly knew this painting.

The painting that embodies the "Hanged Man" is actually not the same as "The Last Supper". This scene clearly shows three angel kings, three of the current seven gods, sharing the food of the creator of the City of Silver.

The Tarot Club members who had already heard the story of the Angel King sharing the Creator from Alice also recognized the content of the painting to some extent. Only Cattleya, the Hermit, blurted out:

"Angel Kings?!"

Alice then remembered the forgotten Hermit Lady. To be fair, she turned to Hermit Cattleya and told her the story again:

"In the distant past, there were three angel kings who betrayed their Lord, benefited from the passing of the Creator, and were promoted to true gods.

"The painting you see now should depict the content of that time."

The Hermit Cattleya's body trembled. She looked at the painting and identified the "Lord of Storms", "Eternal Sun" and "God of Knowledge and Wisdom" in it. She murmured,

"Is this... the truth about the three gods being born from the spirit of the Creator?"

There was silence and no one responded to her.

——Even though it was the second time I heard this story, no one could bring it up in a joking manner like Alice did.

No one had the courage to discuss how the gods ascended to the throne, or to speculate on the truth of the stories in the scriptures. Everyone was stunned, except for Emlyn the Moon, whose thoughts began to wander:

Damn me...how on earth did I dare to talk to her like that?

No, it is Him, yes, it is Him!

Looking at Alice's calm expression, Emlyn wished he could go back to the past and slap his then-self.

In silence, "Sun" Derrick asked Alice:

"Miss Fate, that baby is..."

"The real Creator," she answered without hesitation, "He was also your former Creator, but He is crazy now..."

After a pause of a few seconds, she added:

"I don't know the specific relationship between them, but the 'True Creator' should only be a part of your Creator - He is crazy after all."

"Sun" Derrick nodded silently and said nothing.

No wonder Mr. Fool calls the "True Creator" the "Fallen Creator"... After listening to Alice's words, "Justice" Audrey inexplicably remembered this incident.

The surroundings fell silent again. Alger, the "Hanged Man", dispersed the screen in silence and asked,

"Have you investigated the matter of the former chief's mausoleum?"

The Sun Derrick finally came to his senses. He responded somewhat ashamedly:

"No, I have been assigned patrol missions all the time and have never had time to investigate."

Alger was not surprised by this, but was puzzled by another thing:

"Why don't you ask a friend with whom you have some rapport for help?

"We can not tell them the real purpose, but break the whole thing into small tasks that will not attract attention, and let them collect intelligence from different aspects. This way, nothing will be exposed, and they will not be put in danger."

Alice felt that she had learned something new.

Isn't this... an assembly line? Oh no, that can't be said. After all, gathering information and tasks usually requires thinking...

"The Sun" Derrick said at this time: "I have no friends."

Alice was surprised to hear this. She frowned and asked based on her understanding of the City of Silver:

"I remember that there shouldn't be a lot of you. There should be even fewer people of the same generation. It should be inevitable that you will run into each other, right?

" "How come you don't have a single friend after all these years?"

After hearing Alice's question, "Sun" Derrick lowered his head and explained,

"After my parents passed away, I didn't talk to anyone for a long time. And then, I joined the Tarot Club..."

He didn't say anything else, but Alice had probably figured it out. She suddenly remembered the cases she had seen of people becoming addicted to the Internet after experiencing a major setback, so she looked at Derrick and taught him in the earnest tone she remembered:

"Little 'Sun', you can't do this.

"Young people should not be discouraged by a small setback and stay at home all day chatting with strangers.

"What if you get cheated? Real life is the basis of everything. You need to make more friends!"

"Okay, okay!" Derrick responded in a panic.

Phew…Klein, who knew where the words came from, tried hard to hold back his laughter to prevent others from noticing his flaw.

"Justice" Audrey glanced at Alice, then at Derrick, and felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

The Hanged Man Alger spoke calmly:

"It's not good for you to be like this.

"You can't save Silver City by yourself. You must unite a group of people and have some friends who can help you at critical moments."

"But this will make them suspicious…" Derrick said hesitantly.

Alger immediately said seriously,

"Being suspected is better than being killed.

"Silver City is at a dangerous crossroads. You must think carefully about what to do.

"This kind of thing cannot happen without sacrifices. There may even be a lot of sacrifices. Do you hope that their sacrifices will be useless or valuable?"

I hope the sacrifice is someone who has nothing to do with me... Alice muttered to herself but didn't say anything.

Alger the Hanged Man did not speak again, leaving Derrick the Sun to continue struggling alone. Gehrman Sparrow the World took the opportunity to ask Audrey the Justice:

"Can you treat more serious mental illnesses now?

" Audrey "Justice" was excited and answered eagerly:

"Okay, no problem.

"Mr. World, do you have a friend who needs medical treatment?"

I'm just short of cases! she thought with a hint of excitement.

Although she knew that Miss Justice was not gloating, Alice still looked at her unhappily and said dissatisfiedly:

"He needs treatment."

Audrey was slightly stunned.

The World sighed and laughed hoarsely, "It is true that I need treatment."

The entire magnificent palace suddenly became extremely quiet.

"The Hanged Man" Alger, "The Hermit" Cattleya, and "The Magician" Fors all knew that Mr. World was a crazy adventurer, but they never imagined that he had developed a serious mental illness and was about to go completely crazy!

Is this the price of power? Fors shuddered, and became more and more afraid of Gehrman Sparrow.

The crazy adventurer can still communicate and reason, but the madman is really helpless! The

"Heart Nightmare Candle" didn't completely cure his mental illness? Has it become so serious? The "Moon" Emlyn, who had expected it, felt that the "world" could go crazy at any time.

"Sun" Derrick didn't think too much about it. He was just concerned about Mr. "World". He wanted to say that there was a "psychoanalyst" in Silver City who could provide treatment, but then he thought that this would reveal too many problems, so he had to force his mouth to close and look expectantly at Miss "Justice".

Miss Destiny really cares about Mr. World... But Mr. World looks... Audrey Justice was surprised, stunned, and confused. She said carefully:

"Mr. World, based on my observation, you don't seem to have a serious mental illness.

"If you are just a little anxious and under a lot of pressure, you can recover through self-regulation and proper relaxation at this stage, and you don't need direct treatment."

The World Gehrman Sparrow chuckled again:

"You didn't notice it because your previous mental illness has been cured.

"I am just making an appointment now. If similar symptoms appear again in the future, I hope I can get timely treatment."

Why does it sound so much like you are cursing yourself... Alice looked at Klein hesitantly and finally said nothing.

"I see..." "Justice" Audrey nodded in relief.

After thinking for a few seconds, Audrey said sincerely, "If you are within the range where I can move, then there is no problem."

"Okay." Klein, who was herding the Traveler, breathed a sigh of relief and let the World answer. "Then you will determine the location and prepare a way to avoid exposing your identity."

"Justice" Audrey said "hmm", and a scene naturally emerged in her mind:

she and Mr. "World" were in two boxes in some place, talking and treating each other through a wall or wooden board.

No, wait, with Miss Destiny here, this kind of hiding seems completely unnecessary...

Audrey suddenly realized this and began to think hard about it.

At this time, the "world" Gehrman Sparrow reminded again:

"Try not to think about the mural in reality, let alone draw it."

Audrey and other members of Justice subconsciously glanced at the top of the bronze table and found that Mr. Fool did not deny this statement. They were all dignified and did not dare to be careless.

This also made the idea of ​​"Hermit" Cattleya to write a letter to "Mysterious Queen" Bernadette for advice on this matter temporarily put on hold, and prepare to meet in person to consider whether there is a suitable way to avoid the impact.

This statement seemed familiar. Alice frowned and looked at the "world". The other party shook his head and said,

"I can't be sure it is "Him", but there should be a connection."

He...?

The members of the Tarot Club looked at each other, wondering who the "He" they were referring to.

Not necessarily Adam, but at least a member of the Twilight Hermits... Alice suddenly had the answer in her mind. She thought of the auxiliary materials for the potion, which she had no idea about, and suddenly an idea flashed in her mind:

"...Tell me about what happened on the island later."

The tone was very serious, and it didn't sound like she wanted to hear a story. Klein realized that she really needed something, so he controlled The World to nod.

The Tarot Club's exchange session was almost coming to an end. After a brief chat, Klein announced the end of the Tarot Club.

Only Alice and Klein were left above the gray fog. Before Klein could say anything, Alice unceremoniously extended her hand and said,

"'Tyrant' card!"

Klein looked at her silently, then said nothing and handed her the "Tyrant" card.

Alice saw Roselle on the top at a glance. She turned over without thinking and read from Sequence 9 onwards.

The "Tyrant" card was no different from the other two "Blasphemy Cards" Alice had seen. It contained nothing more than a portrait of Roselle, the name of the potion, the potion formula, and a rough description of the sequence. The only slightly bizarre thing was the deification ceremony.

"Having hundreds of thousands of followers who obey and believe in God out of fear, challenging a true god alone and surviving, taking a magic potion in an atmosphere of fear and obedience..." Alice recited the contents of the ritual word by word, "...this is the true path of the 'provocateur', right?"

Klein held his forehead with his hand and tried to persuade Alice,

"I think the core of this ritual should be a lot of fear and obedience, not provocation..."

Alice raised her hand to stop him from continuing, and then asked:

"Then tell me what is the core of the 'Destiny' path to godhood ritual."

"…" Klein was choked.

In fact, if he really wanted to, he might be able to pull out the core of the "Destiny" path's godhood ritual, but this seemed to be of no use to the "Destiny" path, because Klein could not think of a way to be lazy about this matter.

...Could it be that I really find a higher being to choose me?

But fate... who better to represent fate than the "Wheel of Fortune"?

And from what Alice said about the "Winner" ceremony, people who do this don't end up well...

A mess of thoughts flashed through Klein's mind. Before he had time to think deeply, he heard Alice slamming the table and shouting at him:

"Where's Roselle's diary?"

Klein subconsciously handed the diary over. He watched Alice quickly lower her head to flip through the diary. For some reason, he had the illusion that he was really a babysitter.

Alice didn't know what Klein was thinking. She learned the names of several noble ladies and ladies of Intis from the diary, and she also determined that there was a page in it that was the diary of Emperor Roselle before he wrote "Witches taste really good" - because it expressed the emperor's yearning for witches after hearing the rumors.

Alice silently flipped through the few useful parts and then let out a breath.

"A mental patchwork monster…" She muttered, "Taking a potion similar to one's own mental body can effectively reduce the difficulty of advancement, but it will also be affected by the mental imprints left in it, causing one to develop split personality and other conditions without realizing it, and gradually evolve into a mental patchwork monster, just like the original High-Sequence Expert was resurrected in his body…"

This is the original content of Roselle's diary. Alice almost repeated this passage, then looked at Klein, tilted her head, and asked with a little confusion:

"Tell me, why don't I have a split personality?"

Before Klein could answer, she found the answer herself:

"No... maybe, I had experienced this before." (End of this chapter)