Yesterday, before Miss Felianna left, she suggested Iluna seek out a Witch who wielded the power of Balance. Coincidentally, in the Witch Council, the symbol behind Miss Jialinna's chair was precisely “Balance.”
Iluna didn't immediately object, and Miss Jialinna didn't press her, instead glancing at Xia De.
After careful consideration, Iluna gathered her long hair, also glanced at Xia De, and then quietly said,
“Sorry, I like men.”
The Witch Council was very mysterious and low-key; even the Church couldn't confirm whether these women who called themselves Witches truly wielded the power of the fifth epoch. The common perception outside was that the Witch Council was known as the “Handkerchief Enthusiasts Association,” so Iluna was a bit worried about her safety.
“Don't worry about that.”
Miss Jialinna smiled:
“I don't like men.”
Iluna looked even more worried.
“But I also don't like girls with no figure like you. Look at my maid.”
She held Tifa's hand, and the maid smiled shyly at Iluna. Iluna looked at her with a straight face, then looked down at herself.
“Don't worry, I guarantee on my honor that Miss Jialinna is not a bad person.”
Xia De finally spoke. Regardless of Miss Jialinna's intentions, if Iluna could follow her further down the path of “Balance,” it would actually be a good thing. After all, judging from Darkness's performance, the Chosen One's potential was indeed astonishingly terrifying.
“Then... alright, Ms. Galina Cavendish, but I must emphasize that I will not call you teacher, nor will I reveal any secrets about you to the Church. As payment for learning, if you need me to do anything, as long as it doesn't go against morality, I will not refuse. Oh, and you also cannot mention anything about me to anyone.”
Iluna said, and Miss Jialinna nodded:
“That's fair. I'll send you a letter in a few days to discuss your study plan.”
Then she said to Xia De:
“See, Detective. Although I couldn't personally kill Darkness as the Council requested, at least I gained a good student.”
“I wanted to ask earlier, why didn't I see Luvia?”
Iluna asked curiously again:
“Didn't Xia De say in his letter yesterday that she was also coming with us to find Human Pus?”
“She... needs rest now.”
Xia De explained, and Iluna nodded, not thinking much of it.
Miss Jialinna, sitting opposite Xia De, smiled.
For ordinary people, dripping “Human Pus” into their eyes was no different from suicide. But Xia De's Blood Echo had the effect of automatically removing dangerous components from body fluids, plus Human Pus had barely escaped by abandoning all its power and was now at its weakest, which was why he dared to do this.
Of course, having Miss Jialinna's supervision was also a very important reason.
The pus he collected was not much, probably only enough to sustain the Miracle for a little over an hour. So, after sending Miss Jialinna to Yodel Palace, Xia De, Tifa, and Iluna moved through the City by carriage.
Starting from the south of the City, a blood-red light formed a thin line with a halo in the air, representing the movement trajectory of Human Pus.
Xia De was unsure if extreme weakening of power would affect the other party's intelligence, but looking at the direction of movement, Human Pus was actually heading towards the center of Tobesk City, where Yodel Palace was located.
“Could it be that because Darkness brought it to meet a member of the Cavendish Royal Family at Yodel Palace, it had already decided on its next host?”
He told his two companions about 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. It's impossible for Human Pus in a weakened state to break through the security measures set by the Church.”
“Miss also didn't receive any news; everything was normal at Yodel Palace last night.”
Tifa added.
The red halo entered the University District from the southern part of the City, but before continuing north into the core urban area, it suddenly turned directly east.
So the carriage carried the three from the University District towards the eastern part of Tobesk. After almost crossing half of the City, Xia De saw the somewhat familiar streetscape of Lunqin Avenue:
“No way...”
He came here every Saturday afternoon.
The trace left by Human Pus in the air went almost straight into the Schneider Psychological Clinic in the middle of Lunqin Avenue. When the carriage passed the clinic's entrance, Xia De was so shocked and surprised that he didn't even have time to stop the carriage in time.
Finally, the carriage carrying the three stopped at the intersection of Lunqin Avenue and Smith Commercial Street. After careful consideration, Xia De did not let Iluna and Tifa get off and follow him:
“Wait for me for a moment; I need to deal with some matters.”
He carried god's gift box alone. He wanted to confirm what exactly happened between Human Pus and the doctor.
“What's wrong? Did you find the target? Why aren't you letting us follow?”
Iluna was very puzzled, and Tifa was also unwilling to let Xia De act alone.
“There might be some trouble, but it's not big.”
He said with some apprehension, took out his notebook, wrote down the address of Doctor Schneider's clinic, closed the notebook, and handed it to Tifa:
“Has my performance in the Darkness Domain still not convinced you? Don't follow me. If I don't come back within half an hour, you can give the address in the notebook to the Church and have the Church send a Thirteen Ring Sorcerer to resolve the trouble.”
He took out the umbrella Iluna had just used from the side storage compartment.
“Xia De...”
“Don't worry, I can handle it.”
He jumped out of the carriage, opened his umbrella, and looked at the Schneider Psychological Clinic on Silver Cross Avenue.
Perhaps the demon on the doctor was not as powerful as Human Pus, so he suffered a deeper level of possession; perhaps the doctor had long been connected with Human Pus, and he was actually a bad person all along; or perhaps it was some other reason. But Xia De wanted to face the upcoming events himself; even if Bill Schneider really had a problem, he would solve it alone.
“The doctor's luck shouldn't be that bad...”
As this thought appeared in his mind, Xia De suddenly felt that he should have anticipated such a thing happening:
“The doctor wasn't in the City yesterday afternoon either; could it really be such a coincidence that he went to the south of the City?”
Everyone at the psychological clinic knew Xia De, who often visited. Xia De inquired and confirmed that the doctor was indeed in the clinic, and coincidentally, the previous patient had just left, so he was probably writing medical records now.
“He didn't suddenly go out of town; that's a good sign.”
He thought to himself, and met Doctor Schneider in the reception room on the second floor. The gas lamp indoors was not lit, and because it was still raining outside, the room appeared particularly gloomy. The doctor was sitting behind his desk, frowning and writing something, with the gas lamp in front of him as the only light source.
Bill Schneider looked no different than usual; on the contrary, after seeing Xia De, he was surprised and thought he was in trouble:
“Why are you here? Please sit down quickly. Oh, the gas lamp in this room has a problem; shall we talk in another room?”
“This is fine. Doctor, I'm not in trouble either.”
Xia De closed the door behind him and looked at the doctor in the light of the gas lamp. He walked silently towards the doctor, who had stood up, and extended his right hand:
“Long time no see, Doctor.”
“What do you mean 'long time no see'? Didn't we go together to get you a Psychic Crystal on Tuesday evening?”
The doctor asked in surprise, very confused by Xia De's attitude, but still shook Xia De's hand.
【Everything is normal.】
Xia De breathed a slight sigh of relief.
The two sat down on the sofa, with the pattering rain hitting the window glass. The dim light broke through the clouds and then the fog, becoming quite faint by the time it reached the room on the second floor of the clinic.
Listening to the rain, separated by the tea table, Xia De didn't know what to say. Seeing Xia De like this, Doctor Schneider appeared even more worried:
“Xia De, I led you onto the path of the extraordinary; you can always trust me.”
The doctor spoke very sincerely. Perhaps for him, this was just an ordinary Sunday morning.
Xia De hesitated and nodded, reaching into his pocket and taking out the demon hunter seal:
“Doctor, I have a ring here. Can you wear this on your finger?”
The doctor instinctively bent down, reached across the tea table, and tried to take the ring Xia De held in his palm. But halfway through his reach, he saw what the item in Xia De's palm, suspended above the tea table, actually was, and the middle-aged man's expression suddenly froze.
He slightly opened his mouth and looked at Xia De, then slowly retracted his arm, pressed both hands on his knees, and sat there hunched over. He lowered his head, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant.
Xia De pursed his lips, looked at the ring in his hand, and put it on his own finger. For a moment, neither of the two men spoke, but their hearts were not calm.
The sound of the rain seemed to grow louder, the indoor light became dimmer, and the light from the gas lamp seemed to move further and further away from them.
After a while, the doctor finally stood up and, under Xia De's gaze, walked to the window. Today was the first day of September; although not strictly autumn, this rain had already added a touch of bleakness to the air.
Outside the window was the streetscape of Lunqin Avenue. Today was Sunday, and even with the light rain, the street was very lively. Even with the windows closed, the noisy sounds from the street could be heard through the rain, but this noise had nothing to do with the two people in the room.
“Detective, what do you know?”
The doctor asked, his back to Xia De.
Xia De sat on the sofa without getting up, and did not answer the question, but instead asked his own question:
“Doctor, is Human Pus with you?”
The doctor looked out the window, while Xia De turned his head to look at the doctor. Tobesk's weather was strange; even with the rain, it was still misty outside, like a faded streetscape oil painting with water stains. At such a close distance, the doctor still dared to turn his back to Xia De; if Xia De had intended to ambush him with a Miracle, the doctor would surely be dead.
Hearing “Human Pus,” the doctor's figure wavered slightly. He nodded gently:
“Yes, I... ate it.”
