Mystery: A Spark

After a heart-to-heart talk, Audrey, though still somewhat secretive, managed to vent her complex emotions to her mother and was subsequently allowed to go out freely.

Mrs. Hall had originally intended to provide Audrey with two extraordinary bodyguards, but Audrey refused.

Because when she was in the East District, she experienced a feeling she had never had before.

free.

Therefore, she didn't want anyone watching her when she went out, especially since those two bodyguards might not be a match for her.

At Audrey's insistence, Mrs. Hall finally gave up the idea of ​​sending bodyguards, but she repeatedly told Audrey to ensure her own safety and never go to dangerous places.

Audrey readily agreed, since she had only come to the community health center to treat the children's mental illnesses, not to embark on an East Side adventure.

After having her secretly followed several times and discovering that Audrey was indeed only active on the outskirts of the East End and not going to places of unknown origin, Mrs. Hall was relieved and stopped sending people to follow her, giving her daughter maximum freedom.

Besides the Mutual Aid Association and Miss Justice, the Tarot Club also held several events as usual during this month.

However, there's not much to say, as the members of the Tarot Club have been living a relatively peaceful life during this period.

The reason I'm highlighting today is because something big is about to happen that will change everything in Rune.

……

After receiving the ideas provided by Arthur, the Steam Church and the Storm Church quickly began an exchange.

Not many people know the content of this exchange, and neither of the two companies has taken any significant action since then.

"Mechanical Heart" and "Substitute Punisher" continued to do what they were supposed to do, handling extraordinary events in their respective jurisdictions as usual.

During this period, the Steam Church also tried to use the sealed artifact Arodes, but since the master of the demon hound had never revealed his whereabouts before, he did not get any useful answers.

The tentative investigations yielded no results, because there was simply no way to investigate.

However, the two churches weren't truly without anything to do.

After more than half a month of investigation yielded no results, they increased the protection of key figures in the Devil Murder Case and key figures in the original Zilingus assassination case.

That is, the detectives who participated in the investigation of the murder case, and Duke Negan, the leader of the Kingdom's conservatives.

Although Bonova dealt with the demon dog back then, it was naturally inconvenient to reveal this fact.

Therefore, the official explanation for this case is that the demon murder case was solved through the joint efforts of the police and detectives.

The bounty that Bonova didn't want was naturally divided between the two parties.

If that demon dog really does have an owner, then these detectives are very likely to become targets.

The failure of Zillingus' assassination attempt also indicates that a force has its eye on Duke Negan.

Therefore, it is reasonable for these two churches to increase their protection of these people.

However, for an apostle of desire hiding in the shadows, these measures taken by the church were of no use.

First, the most famous detective, Isengard Stanton, was attacked and injured. Fortunately, the members of "Mechanical Heart," who were protecting him from the shadows, arrived in time, and the Apostles of Desire retreated.

Then all the detectives involved in the investigation of the demon murder case received threatening letters, which caused them to rally out of fear.

However, this also gave the apostles of desire the ability to manipulate desire, which almost caused great casualties.

Fortunately, with Kaslana and Klein keeping things in order, the scene was only somewhat chaotic, and no bloodshed occurred.

Soon, Detective Isengard Stanton, having recovered from his injuries, came over. He confessed his origins in the Church of Knowledge and stated that he had informed the military, the Night Watchers, and the Machine Heart, intending to join forces with Kaslana and Klein to force the Apostle of Desire to come out.

Meanwhile, the official extraordinary individuals had already discussed with Eisinger Stanton and sealed off the area around Minsk Street.

Once Isengard Stanton manages to hold off the Apostles of Desire, they will come to his aid and eliminate them.

With no other options, Kaslana and Klein agreed to Isengard's idea.

With the help of the sealed artifact "2-081", Isengard was shocked to find that the Apostle of Desire was actually upstairs from them, and might have even been listening to the three of them discussing how to deal with it.

Just as Isengard and his companions were about to take action, the Apostle of Desire detonated the seeds of corruption that had been planted in Kaslana's heart, allowing her to launch a sneak attack and severely injure Isengard Stanton.

Kaslana also temporarily lost her fighting ability due to the eruption of the Fallen Seed.

However, this situation was actually a trap set by Isengard. He possessed a healing ability and intended to use his severe injuries to lure the Apostle of Desire, entangle it, and allow the official Extraordinary to come and kill it.

But what Isengard didn't expect was that Klein also possessed a healing ability. The two healing abilities overlapped, which resulted in no one bothering the Apostle of Desire, allowing it to escape when it sensed danger.

Although this blunder thwarted the trio's plan to kill the Apostle of Desire, it gave the Steam Church's sealed artifact, Arodes, a chance to prove its worth.

After Arrodes's investigation and the full-scale investigation by the three major churches and the military, they successfully identified the Apostle of Desire as Patrick Jason, a shareholder of a small bank.

Or rather, Jason Beria.

What no one knew was that Patrick Jason was just bait; the real Jason had already gone to a villa near the Cathedral of the Holy Wind and brought death to Duke Negan, the conservative leader of the kingdom.

……

Inside a luxurious villa, beside a glass greenhouse filled with roses, Pallas Negan's slightly bloated body lay quietly on the ground.

Around them were several members of the Duke's Guard, who were also dead.

They were controlled by the apostles of desire, and thus went mad, shooting Duke Negan, before being killed by the "Wind Chosen" sent by the Church of Storms to protect the duke.

The villa was in complete chaos. Despite the protection of so many people, Pallas Negan, a high-ranking official of the kingdom and leader of the Conservative Party, was still murdered.

Most importantly, Archbishop Ace Snake, the "Pigeon of God," who should have arrived as soon as possible after Duke Negan gave the signal, was once again shamefully late.

It could be said that his lateness directly led to the death of Pallas Negan on the ground.

It is easy to imagine that a storm will soon break out in Backlund because of the death of the Duke of Negan.

However, what no one could see was that on the top floor of this luxurious villa, in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, two figures were watching everything.

The two figures seemed to be shrouded in a thin black veil, making their presence sufficiently concealed so that no one could detect them.

However, if someone could see through this hidden barrier, they would be incredibly surprised to discover that one of the two figures was none other than Pallas Negan, who should have been dead.

Beside him stood a blond young man dressed in a luxurious blue outfit with gold trim and wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

The blond, blue-eyed youth said with a faint smile:

"Dear Duke, what are your thoughts after watching such a grand spectacle?"

Standing beside him, Pallas Negan's face was ashen as he stared at the corpse on the ground that looked exactly like him, remaining silent for a long time.

The blond youth was not in a hurry and waited very patiently.

After a long while, Pallas Negan finally spoke:

"My only thought right now is that Ice Snake is a son of a bitch."

Chapter 210 Arthur's Theft

I don't know if it's because of some kind of causal curse.

In the original story, the Sequence Four High Priest of Disaster, "God's Pigeon" Ace Snake, always missed major events for various reasons.

First, there was the assassination of Ziringus. When Alger, the "Hanged Man," had already tracked down Ziringus's whereabouts and was about to inform Ace Snake, the archbishop, for reasons unknown, went for a walk along the Tasok River.

What's wrong with you? A demigod of Sequence Four, do you really think you can just "walk a hundred steps after a meal and live to ninety-nine"?

For a demigod, isn't living to ninety-nine a curse?

Anyway, when Arthur read this part in his previous life, he couldn't help but feel a sense of absurdity.

Most importantly, this "Dove of God" didn't learn his lesson after being tricked once; he wasn't even in the church when Duke Negan was assassinated this time.

Admittedly, this could very well be guidance provided by the Twilight Hermits behind the scenes.

However, the fact that a regional archbishop who was in charge of everything could be so easily mobilized made Arthur exclaim, "This man is really naive."

Although the Church of Storms provided Duke Negan with a magical item after the last assassination attempt on Zilingus.

That is, the small, dark blue conch shell hanging on the corpse on the ground, which could send signals to the Cathedral of Holy Wind.

As soon as Duke Negan blows the whistle, Ace Snake, the "Dove of God" inside the Cathedral of the Holy Wind, can hear the sound and pinpoint the location.

However, please note that it refers to "the Dove of God within the Cathedral of Holy Wind".

In other words, this dark blue conch shell could only hit the landline of the Holy Wind Cathedral, but not Ace Snake himself.

In this context, Ace Snake's unexcused departure from the cathedral constitutes a serious breach of duty.

This is precisely why Duke Negan is so furious at this moment.

He entrusted his life to Ice Snake, but that son of a bitch wasn't there when it mattered most.

If it weren't for the young man beside him, he would have already met the God of Storms.

A few days earlier, this young man had secretly come to see him once, accompanied by a black and a white dog, and suddenly appeared in Duke Negan's carriage.

His secretary was not with him at the time, and there were only two servants in the luxurious carriage, which was like a mobile room. These two servants were immediately hypnotized.

Although Duke Negan was somewhat surprised, he did not panic, because he recognized the young man as Arthur Heller, the president of the Workers' Mutual Aid Society that had recently emerged in the East End.

He even publicly praised this young man.

Furthermore, Pallas Negan knew that Arthur Heller was an important figure in the Steam Church and had warned him to "beware of the Demon Hound's master," so he didn't think the other party would do anything to harm him.

Just as he expected, Arthur simply wanted to talk to him.

During this conversation, Arthur reiterated the threat posed by the demon dog's owner and warned Pallas Negan to be careful.

In addition, Arthur also suggested that Ace Snake, the Dove of God, was unreliable, urging Pallas Negan to prepare in advance.

Although Pallas Negan expressed his gratitude for Arthur's kindness, he was still somewhat skeptical because the Apostle of Desire had not yet been found at that time.

However, Pallas Negan did make some preparations.

After all, he had experienced so many ups and downs in the political arena, so he was certainly not some stubborn and reckless young man who wouldn't listen to advice.

Since they made a special trip to remind you, it means they must have received some information.

Of course, Arthur's special status in the Steam Church also adds a lot of credibility.

If it were an ordinary person, Pallas might not necessarily pay any attention.

After receiving Arthur's advice, Pallas purchased two magical items through secret channels.

One of them is a lifelike doll that, after the user drips their blood onto it, gradually transforms into a person exactly like the user, making it difficult to distinguish.

Its negative effect is that if it is used too many times, that is, if the doll absorbs the user's blood too many times, it may actually come to life and become a living person.

The user will then be transformed into a puppet.