Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 306 Chapter 305 Witch
Grandma's smile sent chills down your spine.

That smile could never be an expression made by a human.

"That's not human anymore, that's not human at all..."

Simon gave Triss a somewhat forced smile. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I said something unpleasant."

“It’s alright…” Triss smiled and waved her hand, then asked innocently, “So, among those who joined you, their relatives, friends, and partners all became the puppets of that Puppet Master?”

Simon was immersed in that feeling of fear and resentment, his body trembling slightly, but he quickly calmed down under the influence of the witch Triss.

"Yes."

Simon nodded heavily, looking at the beautiful Triss with a worried expression.

“We still don’t know the criteria that the Puppet Master uses to select puppets, nor do we know how many such puppets there are in the whole of Backlund… We have tried to investigate and monitor what those puppets do, trying to find traces of the Puppet Master’s existence or figure out their purpose, but after a long period of observation and surveillance, we still haven’t figured anything out.”

“Those people…those Mystic Puppets, some of them have already acquired new identities, broken free from the network of identities of their old ones, and gained a new ‘life’ somewhere in Backlund, but others are still following the original path of their identities. People who don’t know that they are monsters simply cannot distinguish them.”

Seemingly recalling something, Simon's already not-so-good expression worsened. "People like us are only a minority. We can sense that our relatives, friends, and partners are dead, and that the creatures that move in front of us with those familiar faces are monsters in human skin."

"But there are many more people whose parents, partners, and children were silently replaced without their knowledge, remaining completely unaware as they share a room with those secret puppets..."

The secret puppets hidden in human society, and such a large group of secret puppets, yet the Royal Family of Rune and the three major orthodox churches have not reacted at all. Can't they distinguish between these things and humans?
Triss didn't think so. Unless such a puppet was made so perfectly that even the saints of the church and those terrifying sealed artifacts couldn't detect it, it would be impossible for ancient beings like the three major orthodox churches and the Loen royal family, which could be traced back to the fourth or even the third era, not to mention turning their high-ranking members into puppets as well.

This is even more unbelievable than the entire population of Backlund turning into puppets.

Yet, even within this supposedly righteous church, there are high-ranking extraordinary individuals who have become puppets? Did the church truly not know? Or did they simply turn a blind eye?
After all, even these extraordinary beings who are not even demigods could identify those people as puppets for unknown reasons. The Church of the True God and the Royal Family of Rune could not possibly be inferior to these wildly growing extraordinary beings.

Thinking of this, Triss smiled and said, "Take me to meet your other companions."

"I think our goals are aligned."

This situation is quite interesting to think about. If even Backlund, the capital of Rune, is so riddled with holes, what is the state of the rest of the Kingdom of Rune, or even the entire Northern Continent, like now?
If you find a cockroach in the sunlight, it means that there are already too many cockroaches to fit in the dark.

This is something that a saint of the Diviner path could not accomplish; at the very least, one would need to be an angel, and specifically a high-ranking Diviner angel with connections to the Church and the Royal Family of Rune.

Why had she never seen such a person in her previous life before waking up here?

Is this a variable? A new variable created by her arrival?
Curiosity drove Triss to a mysterious force that silently compelled this former witch of despair to continue her investigation, to uncover the hidden truth behind everything that was different from her previous life.

And this may be the real reason why everything started anew for her after her death.

Simon's expression went slightly blank and he seemed to struggle as he listened to the charming woman say that they shared the same goal.

The lucky one's expression gradually turned painful. He seemed to be trying to break free from Triss's charm and manipulation, but as a lucky one, he still failed despite his good fortune. Even if a Sequence 7 lucky one is lucky, without external interference, it is difficult to resist the charm of a witch of despair.

"I'll take you to them."

Simon heard his own voice say this.

"it is good."

Triss responded with a faint smile.

Simon, in a daze, soon walked out of a mirror in Backlund that Triss had marked beforehand, together with her.

After confirming that there were no pursuers or official extraordinary individuals who had discovered them, Triss, led by Simon, wandered through the streets and alleys of the East District. After turning countless corners, Triss and Simon arrived at a low-rise residential area located beside a dirty little river.

The East End is a relatively inexpensive area in Backlund with a diverse range of tenants.

Thanks to the laws and corresponding aid implemented by the Kingdom of Rune and the major churches over the past century, the people of Backlund may not live very well, but they still possess the ability to survive and have enough to eat.

Those who are unemployed, struggling to make ends meet, and barely surviving will be taken over by the church. The church will be responsible for assigning them jobs, distributing wages and food, and sending them to places where there are job vacancies. This will help them reintegrate into society more quickly and effectively and get through the most difficult period.

The vast majority of people in the East District may not live glamorous lives, but with the intervention of the church and the Loen government, there are almost no homeless people or beggars on the street, and people occasionally die of hunger or cold.

In this era, living a glamorous life may require money, connections, resources, and a series of other things, which can be very difficult. But if you are just trying to survive, as long as you are willing to work hard, you can always make it.

This is also the reason for the emergence of the East District. Although the facilities here are more rudimentary and dilapidated, the prices and many basic expenses are relatively cheap, providing a place for many outsiders who come to Backlund to make a living to rest and earn a living.

Simon found a low-rise residential area in the East District with cheap rent but a relatively good environment. After Triss and Simon entered the residential area, they avoided the crowds coming and going and soon found a house that looked extremely dilapidated in the southwest corner.

Simon didn't knock; instead, he opened the door familiarly and went inside.

"Aunt Dave..."

He had just shouted something and was looking around cautiously when he suddenly froze on the spot.

In this small room of only a dozen square meters, pots, pans, and clothes were piled up haphazardly. In the corner was a kettle that was making a "whooshing" sound. The water inside had been boiling for a long time, but no one had picked it up.

There was a bowl of water and a few slices of bread on the table. It seemed that the owner had left in a hurry, without even packing his clothes and food.

Simon looked around inside and outside the gate, but couldn't find Aunt Dave. She was really gone.

“How could this be…” “They did anti-divination and anti-prophecy, a very skillful operation. Even the things left behind can no longer be used as a medium for divination and prophecy.”

Triss pushed open the door and walked in from outside.

The witch glanced around the room, shook her head with a hint of regret, and sighed:

"Ah, what a careful and cautious group of people. After I kidnapped you in front of them and they knew you were no longer trustworthy and were likely in grave danger, they made sure everyone in the strongholds you knew left to avoid being psychic and having their information leaked. They also took appropriate measures to prevent enemies with divination skills from tracing the clues and capturing those people."

Although Triss's tone was full of regret, her gaze bypassed the bewildered and somewhat flustered Simon and landed on a spot outside the wooden window frame, which was quite common in this East End slum.

Simon's lips were pale, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

"Do you think those people might try to monitor these places to determine if there are pursuers, official extraordinary individuals, or even Backlund's puppets investigating them?"

Triss looked at Simon, who was now useless, and asked with a smile.

Now that it's confirmed that those people intend to abandon these locations, the methods Simon knows for contacting them should no longer be effective.

After all, no one knows how many secrets their captured comrades will reveal. To avoid total annihilation, cutting ties is the most sensible choice.

Triss appreciated this, and also admired their decisive nature.

"Madam, you mean..."

Simon's face was deathly pale, his lips trembling, while Triss's lips curled slightly upwards.

"coming."

With a gunshot not far away, a bullet that seemed capable of obliterating even spirits pierced through the glass and struck Triss, who had turned her head to look out the window at some unknown time.

The bullet pierced precisely between her eyebrows. Simon cried out in alarm, but before he could say anything more, Triss's body shattered with a crack, turning into a mirror that had been pierced through.

This is a witch's mirror doppelganger. This doppelganger will automatically shatter when it suffers a fatal blow, helping the original to escape certain death.

The mirror shattered with a crack, sending fragments flying in all directions. Here, Simon's luck played a crucial role; the shards of mirror grazed the lucky man's body, leaving only minor scratches. The stunned man was unharmed.

Triss is no longer here.

It's quite far from here, but you can clearly see the dilapidated high-rise residential buildings located next to the river where the stolen goods are stored.

The unexpected bullet only hit the mirror, causing Sirius, who fired the shot, to freeze slightly.

When he saw Simon, Sirius breathed a sigh of relief, but when he saw the woman who had grabbed Simon, the breath he hadn't had a chance to exhale was pulled back and stuck in his throat.

controlled.

Seeing that he had missed his shot and that the strange woman had disappeared, Sirius decisively threw down his gun, got up and quickly left the sniping position. During this time, he quickly concealed himself and took out a talisman from his jacket pocket, which he then ignited rapidly through spiritual friction.

The talisman shimmered like stars twinkling in the night sky under the flames of spiritual friction, with a hazy, fragmented quality.

These tiny, star-like lights quickly covered Sirius's entire body. After doing this, he had finished changing his clothes, put on a hat, and was about to go downstairs.

Are you doing anti-divination?

Triss's figure was reflected in the stairwell, and she could see the glass window of the attack site not far away.

The witch's slender, long, exceptionally well-proportioned, and beautiful hand reached across the mirror, while her bright, captivating face, reflected in the mirror, and her seemingly smiling eyes stared intently at the man before her.

She smiled, a captivating smile that drew Sirius's gaze involuntarily to her.

Sirius swiftly drew a revolver from his holster and aimed it at Triss Chick, who had already emerged from the mirror.

"Why are you so hostile towards me?" Triss's lips curled slightly, her eyes shifting slightly. "We are allies, not enemies."

This time, her response was two shots, delivered without hesitation.

Triss's figure shattered once again like a mirror, the Magic Mirror Stand was activated, and at the same time, a black flame ignited from Sirius's body.

This is the witch's black flame.

Witches possess extraordinary abilities with frost and fire, and after ascending to the realm of pain, they also gain the power of mystical pathogens.

Unbeknownst to many, Triss had already spread a considerable amount of mystical viruses originating from the witch, along with dense, pleasurable spider silk, throughout the air.

As a seasoned witch of despair, Triss is quite skilled at weaving traps and subtly influencing the enemy's status.

Facing an extraordinary being who was clearly stronger than himself, after two unsuccessful attempts to "harvest" the opponent's mirror clone, Sirius's figure instantly transformed into a flaming spear.

At this moment, he could no longer care whether he was in the East District, whether he would attract attention, or the problem of his spiritual energy being rapidly depleted. He hurled the flaming spear into the distance just before the witch's spider silk could completely entangle him.

He must avoid the witch's mystical virus and the shackles of spider silk, and leave the East District.

(End of this chapter)