American Horror Story, Starting from Falls Town

Chapter 235 Dark Forest
Back in his office at the Dolphin Hotel, Gerald took out his treasured bourbon and poured some for Roy and Saltana respectively.

"Mr. Blake, what were you trying to say to me just now?"

"About the mirror world, and the monsters we caught."

Roy took a sip of bourbon before beginning to explain the concept of a pseudo-human.

Gerald's brow furrowed more and more as he listened, because Roy's description was so horrifying that it sent chills down his spine.

"There really is such a life form? Mr. Blake, is everything you're saying true?"

Roy shook his head; how could he possibly confirm that with Gerald?

"I learned these things from others, and I haven't verified them myself. But one thing I'm sure of is that our world isn't the only one with life; there are many strange and incomprehensible worlds that exist. These worlds occasionally intersect with ours, leading to a series of unexpected events."

Saltana, standing to the side, wore a thoughtful expression.

"Roy, do you mean that Hell and Heaven also fall into this category?"

Roy nodded.

“You’re right. Hell and Heaven were indeed the two earliest alien worlds to interact with our world, because our interactions with each other allowed us to understand the cultures of these two worlds.”

This is a purely scientific explanation of hell and heaven, without any religious interpretations.

Gerald rubbed his temples, feeling a sense of shattering in his worldview.

“If you say that, you will definitely be attacked by religious people.”

Roy curled his lip.

"How do you know that religion isn't a form of colonization?"

Religious colonization has occurred more than once in human history, which gave Gerald even more of a headache.

"Alright, that's enough! Mr. Blake, what exactly are you trying to say?"

“Every civilization in every world is like a hunter walking in a dark forest. If a hunter discovers traces of other creatures in the dark forest, do you think he would attack them? There are countless worlds and countless civilizations in the universe. Each civilization is both the hunter and the prey. In this environment, the best choice is to hide yourself rather than expose yourself by carrying a lamp.”

Roy gave a brief explanation of Liu Cixin's Dark Forest Theory, which made Gerald and Saltana fall into deep thought.

After a long while, Gerald finally showed a bitter smile. He had already realized that Roy was trying to remind him that he must be extremely cautious in his exploration of the other world.

“Mr. Blake, your ideas are very insightful, but there are some things that are beyond my control. NASA continues to send Earth signals into space to this day, and some people just believe that aliens are friendly.”

Roy rolled his eyes.

"Don't they ever think about what they've done to their own backward kind? Humans can't even understand their own kind, yet they expect aliens to understand them?"

Gerald downed the bourbon whiskey in one gulp.

“Mr. Blake, thank you very much for your reminder. I will report this matter to my superiors carefully, but as for the outcome…”

Roy was already mentally prepared for this.

America has an unparalleled talent for courting disaster; the federal government will surely drive her to her demise.

Fortunately, both Heaven and Hell consider Earth their territory, and if an alien invasion were to occur, neither of these two forces would stand idly by.

But thinking about it this way, it's a bit sad that humans can't even control their own destiny.

Roy shook his head, not wanting to think about it any further.

"Let's not talk about that, Mr. Orin. If there's nothing important, I'll go back and rest. Also, I'm planning to go back to Falls in the next couple of days. There shouldn't be anything else going on here in Los Angeles, right?"

Gerald gave a wry smile.

"There should be none for the time being."

"Chief, since there's nothing else, I'd like to ask for a few more days off!"

Upon hearing that Roy was leaving, Saltana immediately asked for leave.

"I approved it."

Gerald approved Saltana's leave directly. On the one hand, Saltana was his most capable subordinate, and on the other hand, it was because her connection with Roy was the foundation for the stable cooperation between the FEA Los Angeles office and Roy.

Otherwise, if Roy couldn't cooperate with the FEA in any state, Gerald wouldn't get any of the benefits.

Roy could tell what Saltana was thinking just by looking at her eyes.

"Elbow, Roy! I need to have a serious talk with you about this Dark Forest theory!"

Roy: Where does this dark forest you're talking about grow?

"Should we invite Amy and Dalia?"

"Of course!"

Just as Roy, Saltana, Amy, and Dalia were deeply studying the laws of the dark jungle, a small incident occurred in the town of Falls, thousands of miles away.

It was already two o'clock in the morning, and the residents of Waterfall Town were long asleep, but one person suddenly sat up.

This person is Jennifer, or rather, Lilith, who controls Jennifer's body.

"Finally, Jennifer has fallen into a deep sleep. This little girl seems to be getting more and more wary of me."

Lilith stretched and relaxed, then put on her beautiful clothes and applied exquisite makeup.

It's not that Lilith is going out on a date, but for this woman, clothes and makeup are her equipment, and she will not allow herself to appear in public without makeup.

The person she's about to meet is especially important, so Lilith can't possibly put in too much effort.

After making all the preparations, Lilith put on her high heels and left Nidi's house, heading out of Fallstown.

The only sound on the quiet streets of Fallstown was the clatter of Lilith's high heels, which sounded empty and eerie. Fortunately, there was no one else on the streets at the moment.

Half an hour later, Lilith arrived at a manor outside Fallstown. The manor's large iron gate opened automatically, as if welcoming Lilith's arrival.

Soon, Lilith entered the mansion in the center of the estate and, guided by the lights, entered an incredibly luxurious living room.

"Welcome to my castle, Ms. Lilith."

In the center of the living room, a tall and beautiful woman was lounging on a sofa, looking at Lilith with a languid expression on her face.

"It is a pleasure to receive your invitation, Your Majesty Belial!"

Belial didn't care about his image at all, but Lilith didn't dare to be presumptuous and bowed deeply to him to show her respect.

"Tsk tsk tsk! If you had been so polite in front of God back then, you wouldn't have ended up like this now, right? Just call me Elizabeth, calling me by that name too often can cause trouble." Lilith looked up at Elizabeth. Although she had long suspected that the history teacher at Oak School was suspicious, she never expected that he was actually the King of Sloth, one of the Seven Demon Lords of Hell.

It's like when you're in school and suddenly discover that your teacher is a big shot who has been awarded the title of academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

"So, Your Majesty, is there something you wish to instruct me on?"

Lilith carefully considered her words, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.

Elizabeth scrutinized Lilith, a hint of amusement in her eyes.

This made Lilith a little flustered. Things were different now. When she was first born, she was indeed very temperamental and even dared to speak loudly to God.

Unsurprisingly, she was eventually expelled from the Garden of Eden by God and became the first witch.

During her time away from Eden, Lilith enjoyed a period of glory, such as becoming the wife of Samael, the King of Wrath. Although they later divorced, she gave birth to a large number of Hellbloods.

Almost all witches can be considered descendants of Lilith.

She was betrayed by her own daughter, Ophelia, lost her physical body, and slept for thousands of years until recently when she was revived in Jennifer's body.

As the saying goes, a tiger fallen into the plains is bullied by dogs. The current Lilith is no longer as powerful as she used to be, otherwise she wouldn't be hiding in Jennifer's body and pretending to be dead whenever something happens.

Just as Lilith was beginning to feel the pressure, Elizabeth set up a barrier and finally spoke.

“Lilith, I’m so glad you made the right choice and chose me instead of Samael.”

Upon hearing the name Samael, Lilith's expression changed slightly.

"That guy will never amount to anything!"

Well, the stories between ex-husbands and ex-wives always seem particularly interesting to outsiders. Even Elizabeth showed a gossipy expression, which left Lilith speechless.

Can a great demon king be so humane?

However, it is only under the influence of demons that humans have developed complex human nature; otherwise, in the Garden of Eden, all humans would still be foolish and dull.

Elizabeth smiled.

“But Samael has been quite active in recent years, aren’t you worried?”

Lilith stared intently at Elizabeth.

“If His Majesty the King of Sloth is willing to be my patron, I will have nothing to worry about.”

Elizabeth laughed heartily.

There are significant differences in strength among the Seven Demon Lords of Hell. Belial, Leviathan, and Lucifer can be considered the Upper Three Pillars.

Leviathan was the first creature born in Hell, representing the purest forces of Hell.

Belial, on the other hand, originated from the earliest emotions and represents the most primitive thoughts of all intelligent beings.

As for Lucifer, he was once the vice-ruler of Heaven, and his status was quite different from that of all the demon kings. He was the governor sent by God to Hell, and his identity was the most complicated.

Thus, it can be seen that the forces in Hell are actually divided into three major camps: Leviathan, the populist force of Hell; Lucifer, who leans towards the colonial forces of Heaven; and Belial, the neutral faction that does not belong to either side and only cares about itself.

According to the nine-square grid of forces, Leviathan is chaotic evil, Lucifer is lawful evil, and Belial is neutral evil.

Under the influence of the three upper pillar demon kings, the four lower pillar demon kings also chose sides.

Among them, the greedy king Mammon and the wrathful king Samael stood on Leviathan's side. These two are also the most active demon kings on Earth in recent years.

Asmodeus, the Queen of Lust, favored Lucifer; she only wanted to have children and did not want to disrupt the existing world order.

The last gluttonous king, Beelzebub, who was known as the prime minister of hell, had a rather ambiguous attitude, constantly moving between different factions, and no one could guess what he wanted to do.

"Lilith, that's wonderful! I don't think you'll regret making this decision later, so I've prepared a gift for you!"

With that, Elizabeth snapped her fingers, and a figure immediately appeared beside her—Lilith's daughter, Ophelia, who lay motionless on the carpet.
Lilith's eyes widened; she never expected that what she had been searching for would come so easily.

The daughter he had been searching for so long appeared right in front of him.

"Your Majesty Elizabeth, how did you find her?"

"Hehe, I've always been lucky. This guy just walked right into my face."

Lilith was speechless. The lucky ones could do whatever they wanted, which made her, a veteran unlucky one, very envious.

However, Lilith knew things wouldn't be that simple; Elizabeth's conditions were definitely not that easy.

"Your Majesty Elizabeth, is there anything I can do for you?"

Elizabeth really liked Lilith's ability to read the room, which saved her a lot of trouble.

For the Queen of Sloth, even uttering a single less word would bring her joy.

"It's simple, I want you to sign this contract! The world is undergoing earth-shattering changes, which means revolution is imminent, and I need some allies to deal with the potential disaster. Perfect, we've both chosen to bet on Roy, so why not cooperate?"

A piece of parchment and a quill floated to Lilith's face. Without even looking at the contents of the contract, Lilith gritted her teeth and signed her name.

"Aren't you going to read the contents of the contract?"

“If Lady Elizabeth wanted to harm me, she wouldn’t need to go to such lengths! And as you said, we’ve all placed a heavy bet on Roy. What do you call him in human terms? Oh, ‘angel investor’! We should cooperate.”

"Very good! I like people like you who are efficient and decisive. You can leave with your daughter now. I will let you know if anything happens."

Lilith immediately took her daughter Ophelia and left Elizabeth's manor.

Only then did Lilith breathe a sigh of relief; talking to a great demon like Belial required her to stay on edge at all times.

The past ten minutes or so were no less intense than Lilith and Roy's all-night battle; her back was still drenched in cold sweat.

"I don't know how Roy has managed to get along with the King of Sloth so peacefully until now!"

Lilith recalled how Roy and Elizabeth looked together; they were so unrestrained that she would probably be terrified if she were there.

"You should really interrogate your own good daughter!"

Lilith looked at Ophelia and sneered. She had been waiting for this day for a very long time, so long that she herself had forgotten how many years it had been.

Lilith murmured to herself as she touched Ophelia's face.

"Ophelia, my dearest daughter, I will love you dearly!"

Here's another picture of teacher Elizabeth.

(End of this chapter)