New Gods of North America.

Chapter 704 Madman
After the morning meeting, everyone went about their own business: some rested, some went to audit taxes.

Wayne first sent Luke Matthew, who had come early in the morning to urge him to hurry up, away, telling him to run errands at the city hall and sort out the land issue for the cannery. Then he went to find the fake bearded man.

The fake bearded man's answer wasn't too surprising: "That's not how I use my extraordinary abilities... You have to tell me the approximate timing beforehand and destroy Jason's physical form so I can confirm his 'travel' or 'jump' location."

"When you first eliminated Jason, you probably didn't figure out the pattern either, so how did you find him again?" Wayne tried to find a way to save him.

“We conducted a thorough search of the town, or waited for him to reappear—we actually spent quite a while on that.”

The man with the fake beard was lying on the sofa fully clothed, and he still seemed not to be fully awake. "And how did you break his 'cocoon'? The exorcists in the monastery also tried to experiment. Jason has both physical and spiritual properties in the 'cocoon' state. The exorcists ultimately chose to perform a limited seal."

"Hmm... this is just a little trade secret of ours." So, it turns out that thing shouldn't be "unpacked" directly?
The man with the fake beard seemed quite experienced in this regard: "You just said that you found his location in the river last night. Setting up a magic circle or ritual in the water is quite troublesome, and it's unlikely to be that efficient, so he must have used a special extraordinary ability, right?"

The other party can be considered an "ally" who shares secrets with the detective agency to some extent; keeping too much secrecy is detrimental to cooperation.
Wayne did not answer directly, but nodded slightly in agreement.

"Is she one of those two young ladies? No wonder."

The man with the fake beard wasn't asking a question, but rather answering his own: "Such extraordinary abilities with unique destructive power certainly need to be kept secret. However, I suggest you use them as little as possible, because the more unique the nature of an extraordinary ability, the more likely it is to attract the attention of higher beings."

"Why?" Wayne was genuinely concerned and curious at this moment.

Wayne hadn't mentioned a word about the strange thing that happened to Peter the Spider last night, but unexpectedly, the other party still directly pointed out the key words.

"Knowing too much can easily drive you crazy... Extraordinary beings like me, who are capable of making large-scale 'observations,' are particularly unfortunate. I don't recommend that you have too much unnecessary curiosity about higher beings."

As he answered, the man with the fake beard glanced at his pocket watch, then quickly pulled out a flat tobacco box from his pocket, took out a thin test tube, uncorked it, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.

The same thin test tubes were neatly arranged in a row in the flat cigarette box. Three of the seven cigarettes were already empty. Wayne guessed that they were taken once every half day or once a day.

However, the fake beard didn't really play the riddle-solver role, and he did offer a brief explanation:
"According to a theory that has not yet been accepted, higher beings above a certain rank cannot directly 'descend' into the real world. Therefore, anything with the corresponding potential, whether it is a ritual, a magic circle, or an extraordinary ability, may become their target of attention. This is also the reason why some low-level cultists receive 'favor'."

"However, based on my own experience, such 'favor' is often not a good thing. Although there are many superior beings in various fields who can be called 'gods,' there are actually many more who are recognized as 'evil gods' or 'demons,' and some can even be classified as 'unknown.' If you really encounter one, it will almost never end well."

Well……

Putting aside the so-called "cult members," we do have one in our detective agency who's the "favorite daughter of an evil god"...

Moreover, if we're talking about "breaking free from the cocoon," the person who actually took action last night wasn't Lina, but Wayne himself.

Wayne's hand subtly shrank back. So his extraordinary, "explosive" ability was this special? But when he first unlocked it, the "instruction manual" hadn't mentioned it...

Coupled with his own minimalist visual perception, according to this fake bearded man, his extraordinary "observational" ability can easily make people lose their minds.

With just these two things combined, Wayne felt that the Empire was facing both internal and external troubles.

If we end up living together in a church-run mental hospital or monastery, I might even become fellow patients with this fake bearded guy...

"According to you, becoming an Extraordinary is too dangerous. Some Extraordinary abilities, in my opinion, don't carry such risks, like self-healing abilities." Wayne was slightly unconvinced; surely this guy couldn't possibly see all three of his Extraordinary abilities as having hidden dangers?
The man with the fake beard continued to shake his head: "That depends on the specific type of self-healing. Don't you think that some types of self-healing abilities might actually be using spiritual power to 'supplement' or 'replace' one's own body? If it's used to a certain extent, I think it's questionable whether what's ultimately repaired is still a 'person'."

"..."

Wayne always felt as if he had been inexplicably labeled as a "lamb to the slaughter" by this fake beard.

The man with the fake beard seemed completely oblivious to this. He carefully put the empty test tube back into his cigarette case and continued talking with his head down:
"However, these are just my personal opinions. I actually have a rather pessimistic view of most extraordinary abilities. The more you 'observe,' the more inevitably you will be affected by those rifts in the subspace, leading to some crazy ideas. You don't have to worry about it too much—in fact, I think most extraordinary people don't live long enough to need to care about those things."

Wayne was truly speechless at this point, and could only sigh, "You're being far too pessimistic..."

The fake bearded man grinned, revealing a standard eight-tooth smile that made him look almost like a mannequin: "They always say that, and some exorcist priests even think my words are heretical. That's why I said long ago that I've gone mad, but I've gone mad in a sanity-like way, and I can still maintain it for now with the help of potions."

"..." Wayne felt that Jason's enthusiasm for "watching" the movie a second time had been greatly dampened.

However, Jason is such a large, living, extraordinary specimen; he's neither too difficult to deal with nor of a high rank, so missing out on him would truly be a pity.
Wayne quickly put aside his distractions and decided to deal with the immediate issue first: "Based on what we know so far, do you have any specific suggestions on how to continue searching for Jason?"

“We’ve never actually tried to eliminate him again while he’s in his ‘cocoon’ state. It feels like he might need to sleep for even longer this time… You know Merlin, right? Why don’t you have him arrange for someone to keep an eye on him?”

In other words, the probability of "watching it a second time" is actually not very high?
Wayne thought for a moment: "See if you can stay in the dock area for a few more days. You can move around freely during the day, but it would be best if you could come back at night. If there is no progress after a few days, our operation will be officially terminated for the time being."

The man with the fake beard quickly replied, "It should be possible. However, I need to find time to go back and confirm the specific duration of our stay. According to the plan, we will prepare to leave Virginia once Mr. Clementa returns."

Wayne vaguely recalled what the fat man had said before; it seemed that after leaving Virginia, their next stop was Illinois.
“Our detective agency has an office in the western mountains of Virginia, and you might run into them on the road. While they may not be able to help you much, my people can provide assistance if needed.”

"I will pass on the message to Mr. Clemensus."

The fake beard didn't reveal any more details, and Wayne didn't feel comfortable asking any further.

(End of this chapter)