“Sir… I actually know a very good Psychologist. Would you like me to introduce him to you?”
Despite the shock in his heart, Xia De still asked politely. The man in the wine-red suit opposite him was very likely the Ring術士 of Mercury Blood that Miss Annette had just mentioned. He had just heard the news, and then he was caught. His luck seemed to have truly run out.
But he didn't panic. Xia De knew what he needed to do.
“No, I’m looking for you. This book told me to.”
The man shook the small book in his hand at Xia De. The book was only palm-sized, a size typically used by travelers for entertainment.
The book’s cover looked like wrinkled leather, with nothing but the title and a single sentence. Xia De had, of course, never seen the language used for the title and sentence, but he still deciphered it:
【Puppeteer's Script】
【Perhaps people believe they can control fate, unaware that everything is already within fate.】
“Do you need me to explain?”
The middle-aged man shook the book in his hand. He was still sitting by the stone table, at least ten steps away from Xia De at the edge of the grape arbor, but Xia De dared not try to escape:
“Our partner, the Blood Spirit School, hasn’t sent anyone over yet. They only sent us the angel-level relic, Puppeteer's Script, which they found in the ‘delivery room.’ Of course, this isn’t the complete script; it’s just a divided part of the script that can be used ten times. I suppose it’s Secret Keeper Level. It’s said to have been written by a mad manipulator during the chaotic fourth epoch, but the parts people receive are all blank. Under very strict conditions, one can use their own blood to write content on the pages, paying a price to influence reality.”
He explained like a chatterbox, his eyes scrutinizing Xia De, while Xia De looked at his charred left arm.
The Detective wanted to retreat, but the tingling sensation on his scalp made him unable to move.
“You don’t believe it? Although the people from the Blood Spirit School haven’t arrived yet, this is enough. Fate is favoring Mercury Blood, and our goal will surely be achieved. Perhaps you think the synthesis of Mercury Blood is crazy, but with this, it’s not illusory. This is very convenient for finding things.”
This matched Old John’s intelligence. The stingy shop owner’s information was actually completely correct.
The man gestured for Xia De to sit opposite him, but Xia De didn’t move:
“So, what does this have to do with me?”
He felt his mind racing, thinking of ways to escape.
The man was still chattering, as if he had prepared these words for a long time:
“Not long ago, the Old God ‘Vampire Duke Loyaer’ statue, one of the necessities for the synthesis of Mercury Blood, was stolen. We tried to use the script’s pages to retrieve the statue, but we didn’t expect the statue’s owner to be too strong, completely unaffected by the incomplete script. The dwarf rat Peter also died while searching.
So, we wanted to take a step back and find and punish the guy who discovered the statue, but in a very rare situation, when I wrote the ending of death for you, I failed to write it.”
Xia De heard the woman in his mind laughing.
The man in the wine-red suit waved his charred left arm at Xia De:
“As I was about to finish writing that sentence, a drop of blood from a wound on my finger accidentally dripped during the writing process, changing the written text. The relic does not accept corrections, so it automatically modified the smeared part, turning into me paying the price to make you seem blessed by the Old God of fate before midnight tonight.”
Among the five Orthodox Churches, none of them had “fate” as their primary divine duty. Therefore, the “God of Fate” that Ring術士s usually referred to was a fallen Old God.
The smile on his face became twisted, a hatred born from long-standing animosity towards an enemy. Although Xia De didn't even know of this person's existence a few minutes ago, the struggle between them had already lasted for several rounds:
“How lucky you are, young man. Can you tell me exactly how you made that drop of blood fall? The Silver-Eyed One made me responsible for finding the lost statue. Do you know how much I paid for you?”
The man’s voice gradually became low and suppressed, but Xia De still didn’t speak. He truly hadn’t expected anyone to hate him so deeply.
“I’ve been looking for you all night, using the eighth opportunity of this book to increase the probability of us meeting. But you were too lucky tonight, and I’m very curious, why did you run around everywhere when you came to the banquet?”
Although the man in the wine-red suit had a distorted expression, his questioning tone was not feigned:
“I set multiple locations for you and went to look for you, but you kept moving, even running near the stables, almost making me fight with others. Are you really here for the banquet, or for a race?”
Xia De opened his mouth, not knowing how to answer. He couldn’t explain this matter.
“When I was playing rhode cards here, that should have been your chance, right?”
He was flustered inside, but his tone remained calm. Escaping seemed impossible, but perhaps he could use the spell False Immortality to feign death and get by.
“But there are too many people here. For the Blood Feast Lord’s descent ritual, I cannot disturb the Orthodox Church before the ritual begins… Your luck was even so good that when I was almost about to catch you, you frequently encountered Ring術士 teams from the Orthodox Church. Young sir, do you know how much I paid for your good luck tonight?”
His tone suddenly became cold. He shook his sleeve to cover his charred left arm, and his yellow eyes, like those of a snake, looked at Xia De:
“See, you still came to see me after all. Luck is just luck, and what I possess is power! Damn it, in a moment, I must see what your heart looks like! Do you know how much I paid for you?”
This statement made Xia De feel a bit of a tingling sensation on his scalp.
The man placed the small book on the stone table, then gestured for Xia De to sit opposite him.
Xia De certainly didn't want to do that, but as the man's increasingly terrifying aura manifested, blood-red chains seemed to dance behind him. The chains writhed like snakes, and the stinging sensation in his heart forced Xia De to walk towards another stone stool by the stone table.
The man in the wine-red suit didn't seem human; instead, he gave off a wild and dangerous feeling, like a wild animal. The current situation was almost a dead end.
“Still too weak…”
The oppressive atmosphere made him breathless, but there was no despair in his heart. He would never lose faith in survival until the very last moment.
“Alright, sir, take out all the relics on you. Take your time, don’t make any rash moves.”
After Xia De sat down, the man said, then took out a pen from his chest:
“The script still has two uses left. For you, I am very willing to waste one opportunity. But I will not pay the price to let you die directly; I want you to feel greater pain!”
He uncapped the pen and wrote on the Puppeteer's Script, reciting the content as he wrote, like reciting poetry:
“Oh, you across from me,
Please abandon your arms.
Remove your weapons,
Discard your strength,
You,
Will have nothing.”
