Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 146 Another Tarot Meeting

Monday, October 12.

At 2:45 p.m., Klein, carrying a newspaper, entered the restroom and began preparing for this week's tarot gathering.

It's exactly three o'clock.

A deep red and ethereal light rose up, and members of the Tarot Club appeared one by one on either side of the bronze table.

"Justice" Audrey stood up, turned her gaze to the head of the long bronze table, lifted her skirt slightly, and gave a curtsy:

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool! Good afternoon, Mr. Lover! Good afternoon..."

Her light and cheerful voice broke the timeless silence above the gray fog. Miss Justice's greeting had become a tradition of the Tarot Club, and no one would try to interrupt her at this time.

After greeting the members of the Tarot Club, Audrey looked at the figure shrouded in gray mist and said:

"Dear Mr. Fool, I have acquired three new pages of Russell's diary."

Audrey's heart leaped with joy, for these diaries had been delivered to her by Miss Islant herself. Knowing her interest in Emperor Roselle's diaries, Miss Islant had brought them to each "class" in an effort to further recruit Audrey into the Psychological Alchemy Society.

'The Magician' Fors also rose and bowed slightly, saying:

"Mr. Fool, I have written down three more pages of Russell's diary."

"Not bad."

Klein sighed inwardly. The current "Magician" was backed by the Abraham family and, with the connections and financial resources of the Abraham family branches around the world, could collect Russell's diary even more easily than Miss Audrey.

In almost every Tarot gathering over the past few weeks, Miss Magician and Miss Judgment have consistently contributed a total of six pages of Roselle's Diary—in fact, Klein suspects she has more diaries, but only contributes three pages because her strength is only Sequence 8, and she can only remember three pages.

"What kind of reward do you want?" Klein asked with a smile.

Audrey answered sincerely:

"Is this considered payment for answering my question earlier?"

After thinking for a moment, Forl asked:

"Mr. Fool, I hope to accumulate my earnings."

Klein chuckled lightly and nodded nonchalantly:

"Can."

The two quickly materialized a total of six pages of diary entries and passed them on to Mr. Fool.

Klein took it and saw that the first page read:

"April 1st, I'm starting to wonder if it's April Fool's Day, but then I realize that April Fool's Day doesn't even exist!"

What has the Emperor discovered?

Klein's eyes flickered slightly as he continued reading:

"As mentioned before, there are at least five painted worlds in total! The Church of Knowledge, the Church of Storms, the Church of the Blazing Sun, the Church of the Earth Mother, and the Aurora Society (which is a cult) each have one. And according to my latest discovery, all five painted worlds were created using the blood of a powerful god!"

"And I suspect that this 'powerful god' is the creator that the organization worships!"

The Creator?!

Klein's expression changed slightly, but he forcibly suppressed his emotions and continued reading:

"In ancient times, a great war broke out against the 'Creator'! The four existing orthodox churches and the Aurora Society may have been involved in it, otherwise it is impossible to explain why they were able to each obtain a painted world - it is likely their spoils of war."

"This means that at least five gods attacked the creator simultaneously, ultimately leading to His demise. In addition, I strongly suspect that the Church of the Night also possesses a painted world, and it is very likely that it is the 'Primordial World'."

"The creation of the painted world is clearly related to 'Dark Souls,' and those five 'painters' from the painted world must have originated from the 'Primordial World.' And if we follow this line of thought, the Church of the Night is very likely the 'culprit' who organized the other gods to besiege the Creator!"

"But this doesn't explain another problem: why are the Church of Knowledge, the Church of Storms, and the Church of the Blazing Sun hostile to each other, while the three churches are also hostile to the Aurora Society, and conversely, the Aurora Society is also hostile to these three churches, yet the Church of Night and the Church of the Earth Mother remain aloof? Is it because of gender?"

"Well, just kidding. It's definitely not because of something as superficial as gender. Their mutual hostility is most likely due to a conflict of interest, but I haven't been able to find the key to that conflict yet. After all, these are all true gods, Sequence 0 at the pinnacle of the extraordinary. What could possibly be a conflict of interest that would make them hostile to each other? Hmm! I don't know, and I dare not ask."

This page of the diary ends here, but Klein's emotions have not calmed down, because Rosell clearly knows something terrible. But he dares not write it down, not even in Chinese, which no one else can understand!

And what he discovered, Klein could guess as well—Russel had once speculated on the truth of the law of conservation of extraordinary properties, suspecting that all extraordinary properties originated from and only came from the original creator, so they would not increase and the total amount was fixed. If this assumption is true, does it mean that the creator of everything encompasses everything, and that yin, yang, and neutral are one?

If this is indeed the case, it means that all extraordinary characteristics and uniqueness originate from the Creator. The gods' rebellion is precisely to plunder extraordinary characteristics and uniqueness from that Creator, only in this way can they become the true 'Sequence 0'!

As for the reason why those gods are hostile to each other, it is likely because if they want to become the next 'creator', they must plunder the uniqueness and extraordinary characteristics of the other!

As for why the Church of the Night and the Church of the Earth Mother were able to remain uninvolved, Klein also had no answer.

However, compared to Emperor Roselle, Klein also knew some information that Roselle did not:

For example, the creator worshipped in the Land of Forsaken Gods may not be the same person as the ancient creator. Another example is that the Amon family claims to be descendants of the ancient sun god, and the information he obtained from the divination of the Cross of No Darkness—the man wearing a cross who said "Let there be light"—the sense of déjà vu of the phrase "Let there be light" is so strong that it is hard not to make Klein suspicious.

But he didn't dare to think about it any further, and instead began to flip through the rest of the diary as if trying to cover up the truth.

These diary entries are far less shocking than the previous ones, but they still reveal some secrets that are difficult for ordinary people to know, such as:

"On June 5th, I obtained an ancient tome that actually mentioned the name of the Primordial Witch—not her given name, but something more intimate!"

"His name is Chick, which is a male name."

"Is this ancient book fake?"

Chick? Could it be that the "Primal Witch" was a man before? Klein almost pinched his own chin. This actually confirmed Roselle's guess about "Extraordinary Characteristics"—perhaps this Primal Witch was also involved in the siege against the Creator?

Klein composed himself, looked at 'Justice', 'Lovers' and the others, and smiled:

"You may begin."

"Justice," Audrey said with a slight raise of her hand, making no attempt to hide anything.

"My request remains the same: the complete pituitary gland of the young mind dragon, or 60 milliliters of spinal fluid from the Black Hunting Lizard, and one fruit from the psychedelic bell tree."

After saying "Justice," she turned her gaze to Fors, knowing that Fors had the backing of the Abraham family. Therefore, Fors was the most likely person to help her obtain these materials at the Tarot meeting.

"I have no leads, but I'll keep an eye out for you."

Fors shook her head. She had inquired with the Abraham family, and they had said they would try their best. However, the Abraham family had declined and lost its former glory. They had many extraordinary items from the Gate of Heaven, but extraordinary items from other sources were not within their scope of collection.

"I have a clue about the psychedelic bell tree."

The Hanged Man paused for two seconds, feigning hesitation, before speaking, "However, I won't be able to help you obtain the materials in the near future; you may have to wait a while."

"It's okay, I'm not in a hurry."

Audrey smiled faintly. She had only recently become a psychologist, and there was still a long time before the potion ran out.

Klein wanted to remind Audrey not to rush things, after all, Ember had given him the Cross of No Darkness as payment, and Ember would inevitably cause trouble for Herwin Lambis sooner or later. Klein didn't think Herwin Lambis could escape his clutches, which meant that Ember could easily obtain a Sequence 4 Extraordinary trait.

Klein can use the Dark Cross to help Miss Audrey separate the extraordinary properties of Sequence 5 and Sequence 6 that she needs for free—as long as the extraordinary properties of Sequence 7 to Sequence 9 are given as payment.

But this was clearly not a suitable thing to say for the 'Fool,' so he couldn't bring himself to say it. This made Klein start to think about how to reasonably hand over the Cross of No Darkness to the 'World,' so that the 'World' could make the request.

That's not difficult, after all, "The World" is already recognized as a follower of Mr. "The Fool". And as "The Fool", it's quite reasonable for him to bestow one or two magical items upon his follower, right?

"Mr. Lover."

Seeing that no one else spoke, the Hanged Man turned his gaze to the embers and said, "I hope to obtain the potion recipe for the Sailor Path Sequence 5 'Ocean Singer'."

Alger had actually advanced to the rank of Wind Chosen over a month ago and originally planned to immediately seek out Ember to purchase a Sequence 5 potion recipe. However, Ember had already gone to the Forsaken Lands at that time, forcing him to temporarily shelve his plans. Now that Ember had returned, he naturally made the transaction request immediately.

"Can."

Yu Jin nodded slightly and said, "At the next Tarot meeting, I will find a way to obtain the potion formula and give it to you."

Thank you.

The Hanged Man breathed a sigh of relief, having no doubt about his lover's ability to obtain potion recipes.

For more than a month, he did not actually place all his hopes on his lover. Instead, he tried to obtain the formula for "Ocean Singer" through his own channels and transactions within the Tarot Club, but each time he failed.

After all, this belongs to Sequence 5, which is the level closest to demigod. The corresponding recipe is now in short supply and there is no market for it. Even if you have a lot of money and are willing to pay a premium, it is still very difficult to buy it.

Normally, joining a corresponding church or organization is the most effective way to obtain a similar formula. However, Alger, as a member of the Church of Storms, cannot rely on this method because, due to certain secrets, he must conceal his true strength in exchange for freedom of action and less surveillance.

After a brief silence, the Hanged Man looked thoughtfully at Miss Justice:

"I want to know the details of Duke Negan's assassination and the subsequent political changes in Backlund. What kind of payment do you require?"

Why ask me? Audrey was a little confused, but she quickly understood Mr. Hanged Man's intention.

As someone closely connected to the Church of Storms, he should already have a full understanding of the specifics of this case. But what he probably wanted to know was the organization or force behind the "Apostles of Desire," yet he didn't want to directly ask Mr. "Fool," as that would be too abrupt and imply questioning. So, he went around in circles and started the conversation by asking me.

Having figured this out, Audrey smiled slightly and said:

"No, no payment is required. Isn't the purpose of our Tarot Club to exchange common-sense information about our respective areas for free?"

Only in this way can our Tarot Club grow and thrive rapidly! She thought with a strong sense of ownership.

Your words shame me.

The Hanged Man paused for two seconds, then pressed his hand to his chest and leaned slightly forward.

Audrey pursed her lips, carefully choosing her words before speaking:

"The Apostle of Desire, taking advantage of a special setting and his ability to ignite intense emotions and desires, successfully assassinated Duke Negan. He broke through the encirclement at the cost of serious injuries, infiltrated the sewers, and was ultimately killed by the retinue of Mr. Fool."

"And Mr. Fool's goal is to find the organization that directs the 'Apostles of Desire'."

"Meanwhile, the death of the Duke of Negan has caused a split in the House of Lords. Although his eldest son is about to inherit the title and become a member of the House of Lords, his prestige is insufficient to quell the conflict. Nearly ten members of the House of Lords have jointly proposed that newly titled nobles also have the opportunity to obtain permanent seats. In short, it means that those who have been granted noble titles through political donations, charitable contributions, and the purchase of corresponding lands should be allowed to become members of the House of Lords..."

While she was willing to share some intelligence, she also withheld some key information. For example, the name of the Twilight Hermits, and the possibility that the Psychological Alchemy Society was an affiliated organization of the Twilight Hermits.

This answers the Hanged Man's question while maximizing his interest, making him willingly pay for the answer. As for what kind of reward he should offer? Isn't it obvious? The fruit of the Enchanted Bellflower Tree, of course!

Klein's expression turned somewhat strange. He had clearly guessed some of Miss Justice's thoughts, but that's precisely why he felt something was off: Miss Justice had gone astray! She seemed to have a deep understanding of the truth that "free things are the most expensive"! Who did she learn that from?

Klein suppressed the urge to rub his forehead; he knew without a doubt that his lover had done it!

As they had guessed, Alger nodded calmly, but inwardly he was in turmoil, both shocked and excited. He wanted to impulsively pay the reward to get answers from either "Justice" or "The Fool," but he ultimately restrained himself.

"Mr. Lover!"

"The Sun," Derrick eagerly raised his hand, asking excitedly, "I want to know, when you went to the Forsaken Lands, was the place you arrived at the Giants' Court?"

(End of this chapter)