Mystery: When the Fool Meets the Masked Fool

Chapter 503 Dark History and Dark History

Inside the red-brick coffee shop, Audrey and Estelle found a private room to rest. The room was understated and comfortable, with warm, dark brown leather booths and frosted glass partitions that effectively blocked out the faint piano music from the lobby.

The two sat facing each other, with two exquisite bone china cups on the mahogany round table between them, one holding steaming black coffee and the other holding milk tea.

In addition, there are some desserts, three in total: fruit caramel pudding, cream shortbread, and carrot cake.

Although they had done a lot of shopping throughout the day, they didn't have any shopping bags with them. Apart from some accessories that they liked and chose to wear, they had the rest of the items delivered directly to one of Audrey's properties after purchasing them.

That was where Estelle lived during this time.

It's highly unlikely that Estelle would live with Audrey. While Estelle herself might not mind, Audrey wouldn't do something so disrespectful to a guest.

Fortunately, Audrey's family owned a large number of properties, and many of them were vacant.

Furthermore, every month, a regular male and female servant will clean and air the premises, change the bedding and towels, and replenish the most basic consumables. This ensures that the place is always ready to receive guests, so that guests can simply move in with their bags.

"You mean, the creator of that shop is named 'Cerris Bruce'?" Estella asked, tilting her head as she stirred her coffee.

“That’s the right name,” Audrey nodded.

This is no secret; if Estádio really wanted to investigate, it probably wouldn't even take half an hour.

After all, Serres never intended to hide the brand from the very beginning, and never even used a pseudonym. The only pseudonym, "Viscount Fors," was created only after everything was completely over.

"Hmm... I think I know who it is..." Estelle stopped stirring her coffee, picked up the cup and took a sip. "He... he's probably a friend of ours... right?"

Estella herself sounded somewhat uncertain.

In theory, the nameless passenger on the Star Train was indeed a VIP of the Black Tower Space Station and a friend recognized by Estádio herself.

But the friendship of a masked fool can always be unsettling, even if he truly means no harm.

After all, it's really hard for a normal person to judge what "for your own good" means to a masked fool.

While it's not always possible for someone to stab you in the back, it's almost inevitable that you'll find a firecracker about to explode under your bed while you're sleeping.

Compared to a safer but less interesting dating process, the Masked Fools tend to express goodwill in ways that "won't bore their friends."

And they never care whether their friends actually need this "surprise".

Meanwhile, Serres, who was reading Russell's diary to Bonova with great emotion, inexplicably felt that someone was talking about him.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Serres?" Bonova asked humbly, noticing Serres' sudden stop.

“Don’t worry about it, let’s continue.” Serres waved his hand. “As your Uncle Chen next door, I will definitely make sure you learn Chinese. It’s my duty as a reliable adult.”

“Then I’ll trouble Mr. Serres to continue.” Bonova nodded.

Serres continued to read Russell's diary aloud with intonation and emotion, word by word.

"On January 14, I discovered a problem. If unconscious high-sequence items are not sealed, they will unconsciously attract low-sequence people from the same path to the vicinity, resulting in intersections. The higher the original sequence, the more likely this will happen."

"January 16th, the witch tastes really good."

His tone was filled with complex and empathetic emotions, expressing Russell's homesickness.

Bonova held a black-covered notebook, like a diligent student listening attentively in class, carefully writing down every word Serres said.

Mmm, the witch's taste is really good...

Outside the windows of St. Charlotte's Church, Rosell watched the events unfold inside with a blank expression. His repeated attempts to break the barrier covering the church had failed, and he looked as pathetic as a helpless husband.

Then, He watched as His daughter Bernadette tiptoed to the entrance of the church's main prayer hall, leaned against the door, and listened to Serres read aloud.

Russell's expression grew even more resentful.

Serres, you better not have a dark past, you'd better watch out... don't let me catch you...

…………

"Is Mr. Devil famous where you are?" Audrey asked curiously.

“Hmm… I guess so.” Estelle thought for a moment and said, “She is indeed very famous, after all, she is a Commander. There aren’t many unknown Commanders in the universe, especially Pleasure.”

"Hmm... an envoy willing to impersonate our family's signboard... actually, it's not a big problem. I believe the elders in the family would be quite pleased to see this."

"In short, I don't know much about Mr. Serres himself, only that he is a messenger of [Pleasure]. Hmm... you call him 'Mr. Demon,' which is quite an apt name," Estelle explained. "Serres does have a great reputation in our area, probably a mixed bag."

“He has a very obvious collecting obsession, from objects to ‘identities’, all of which fall within his collection scope.”

"He likes to infiltrate all kinds of organizations. From large, well-known organizations to small groups on different planets, he always gets involved. For a Masked Fool, changing his identity is quite easy. This means that if he wants to hide, almost no one can find him. Each of his identities has a different appearance, different habits, different personality, and even a different aesthetic of pleasure."

"Even if recruitment of new members is stopped, existing members are still at risk of being replaced. This led to a period where many organization leaders became paranoid, seeing everyone as Serres."

Audrey thought of Amon, and a more powerful Amon who wouldn't reveal his identity through his monocle.

Then she remembered their own tarot session.

So, it's possible that Mr. Devil joined the Tarot Club simply to collect information on the identities of "Tarot Club members"?

As someone who felt the strongest sense of belonging to the Tarot Club, Audrey felt inexplicably lost.

But she quickly readjusted her mindset.

Whatever Serres's initial purpose was, he is now a member of the Tarot Club, and that is enough.

Estelle's story continues:

"However, by the standards of the Masked Fool, he is indeed quite restrained." "Moreover, the fact that he is still recognized by the train crew and the Pure Knights after his identity was exposed shows that his character is quite reliable."

"The Pure Knights?" Audrey heard the familiar words.

I haven't heard this word in a long time.

"Yes, the Pure Beauty Knights. Serres has earned the Pure Beauty Knights' approval, which is why our space station is willing to befriend him. Hmm, Miss Audrey must be a Pure Beauty's destined traveler, right? I can sense it."

"Huh? You can actually sense that?" Audrey was surprised that Estella would say that.

"Of course, the senses that a Destiny Walker gives are completely different from those of an ordinary person. Just like the feeling of a master's artwork is very different from that of an ordinary person's graffiti."

"Then different types of travelers give people different feelings. Pure and beautiful travelers can make people feel very comfortable. This feeling is hard to describe. You will understand once you meet a few pure and beautiful knights."

“Oh…you probably don’t know about Pure Beauty Knight?” Estella remembered that Audrey’s side was a completely different, entirely new world.

“No, actually I know.” Audrey picked up a shortbread cookie and took a bite.

She told Estelle about the simulated universe.

"Ah, this..." Estella was at a loss for words.

Hard to judge, how could they steal this...?

"This simulated universe...is it yours too?" Audrey easily read Estella's emotions and asked cautiously, "Was it stolen?"

“I guess he took it openly and honestly?” Estelle said. “Well, we can’t stop an envoy from taking whatever he wants.”

“Moreover, Mr. Serres seems to have a good relationship with several of the creators of the simulated universe.” As she spoke, Estella’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.

When girls gossip, they automatically unlock super chatty mode.
“I occasionally see him chatting with Lady Black Tower, they seem to have a pretty good relationship. Oh… by the way, I once saw him sneak into our space station with a sack, grab a few Lady Black Tower dolls, stuff them into the sack, and run away.” Aista shared the gossip while eating pudding.

“I know that. There’s a Black Tower Doll in the simulated universe,” Audrey replied.

“I also heard that this gentleman tried to hack into Mr. Screws’s database, tried to copy Mr. Screws’s XP data, and even tried to add the ‘Fall in Love with Cooking Robot’ virus to Mr. Screws’s database, but he failed,” Estelle continued.

"Mr. Screw Gumm...is he a very elegant mechanical gentleman?"

"Yes, yes, that's him."

“Oh, I’ve seen it before,” Audrey said excitedly.

“I also heard that Mr. Serres was tricked into going to the operating table by Miss Nguyen May,” Estád said.

"Really?" Audrey hadn't expected Mr. Devil to have such an experience.

“Hmm… that’s how it is. Miss Ruan Mei has a habit of calling people ‘darling.’ Mr. Serres seems to fall for it. He was tricked into going to the operating table in just a few minutes. Hmm… but since it’s the Masked Fool, it’s hard to say who’s really deceiving whom…” Estella recalled the experimental report that was finally produced about that incident.

On that occasion, Miss Nguyen Mai simply placed the report on the table, allowing anyone who wanted to read it to do so, with the ability to understand it entirely up to the individual. Estádio did go and read it.

Normal human cells are composed of a cell membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus. However, under a microscope, it can be seen that every cell of Serres is a one-to-one miniature version of Serres himself.

Some were even making a peace sign.

If you continue to zoom in and delve deeper, you will find that each cell is a complete person, and each one even has a different personality. Some will shyly cover themselves when they are looked at under the microscope, while others will proudly show their bodies.

These life-size replicas of Serres are made up of even smaller "human-shaped cells".

No matter how many times you magnify it, you can only see smaller and smaller human-shaped cells.

Ultimately, they returned empty-handed.

Researchers have been trying to slice cells, but their equipment keeps breaking down inexplicably.

Under a microscope, it can be seen that whenever the repulsive blades specifically designed to cut cells approach those humanoid cells, they assume a boxer's fighting stance. As the blades get close, they swiftly throw punches, shattering the instruments that are enormous in comparison.

This made it impossible for the experiment to continue.

Estella gave a brief account of what happened:

"In short, it's hard to say whether Mr. Serres was deceived by Miss Nguyen May, or Miss Nguyen May was tricked by Mr. Serres."

“Toying with a genius, I think that must be quite an attractive thing for Mr. Devil,” Audrey analyzed. “I guess if the samples of Mr. Devil’s body tissue were still preserved, a civilization composed of miniature Mr. Devils might have evolved inside.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Estella nodded immediately. “The experiment was completely stopped because the little man inside Mr. Serres’s flesh sample built a rocket and almost left the petri dish.”

"Were those body tissues destroyed?" Audrey asked with some concern.

She shuddered at the thought of the countless demons covering the mountains and fields.

“Of course,” Estelle said matter-of-factly, “it was all rendered harmless.”

Being dissected and studied... that's probably one of Mr. Devil's dark histories, right? Audrey thought, no, toying with a genius, Mr. Devil will most likely see this as a great victory for himself.

Time passed by little by little, and soon, the red moon shone brightly, and the coffee shop closed.

After being apologetically reminded by the coffee shop staff, the two left.

Back home, Audrey stayed in her room, reflecting on what she had heard and learned about the universe that day, and felt very happy.

Just then, her phone vibrated.

Audrey opened her phone and saw a mention in the group chat.

Sweet Iced Tea Who Makes Big Money: "@Magical Girl, do you know how to get a title? The kind you can just buy. Also, are there any houses for sale in Queens?"

(End of this chapter)