Chapter 61: The Evil God's Ability!

Chapter 61: The Evil God’s Power!

Kallen reached out to steady the stretcher, and Mandira withdrew her hands accordingly, sinking back into a recumbent pose.

To a certain degree, she was indeed very good, very obedient;

No,

it was rather that no words were needed for her to comply.

The second corpse was wheeled down; Kallen lifted the white shroud to reveal the magician from the previous night.

They were dead, Kallen knew; Mandira had been dead for quite some time, and the magician had drowned last night.

But the question remained: why had they become a charity case for the Immels house?

One had to realize that in the city of Lojia, only deceased individuals verified as local residents with proper identification, who were entirely destitute and without kin, could qualify for a charity burial.

These two were quite obviously outsiders.

Uncle Mason walked over, blowing warm breaths into the palms of his hands, and said:

"What a pitiful pair, choosing to drown themselves in a river together in the dead of winter for love."

"A love suicide?"

"Indeed. They were washed ashore after drowning, right by a river in the suburbs; when they were found, their bodies were still bound together with rope."

"Uncle, I mean, was it immediately determined to be a love suicide? Did the police have no other theories?"

"The police arrived before us. They discovered a suicide note on the bodies, so they immediately ruled it a joint suicide and then called us to haul them back as a charity case.

The one who discovered their corpses was an elderly merchant living nearby, who spotted them during his morning walk; he has a kind heart, though perhaps he also feared bringing bad luck upon himself, so he offered to donate a sum of money to give these two a funeral and burial, which is how it became a charity case."

"So that is how it was," Kallen murmured in reply.

It must have been arranged by the circus people as a simple way to dispose of the two corpses;

and the police, to save themselves trouble, had no intention of conducting a thorough investigation.

Mason pushed Mandira while Ron pushed the magician, the two of them escorting these two guests down toward the basement together.

Kallen picked up the telephone in the first-floor living room, preparing to call Alfred.

Before he could dial, Alfred’s figure appeared at the doorway, pushing open the courtyard gate and stepping inside.

"Young Master, I returned late last night, so I woke a bit late this morning."

Kallen set the telephone down and inquired, "Coffee, black tea, or ice water?"

"Coffee," Alfred replied, somewhat flattered by the offer.

Kallen nodded. "I will have ice water."

"Uh... very well, Young Master."

Alfred went up to the second floor, brewed a cup of coffee for himself, brought a glass of ice water down for Kallen, and then walked up to the third floor, where Kallen was currently seated by the windowsill—the very spot that Pur preferred to occupy.

At that moment, Pur was resting on Kallen's lap; her fur grew slightly hot under the morning sun, feeling quite warm to the touch, like a hot-water bottle.

Pur allowed Kallen to stroke her freely, simply because Kallen had promised to prepare a new dish for her.

This cat possessed almost no resistance when facing a "grand fish dish"; this pursuit and enjoyment of life's finer tastes was practically seared into her very soul.

"Young Master, your water."

Alfred placed the ice water before Kallen;

Pur extended a paw, attempting to reach for the coffee, but Alfred deftly pulled it away.

"You went there with Diss last night; what was the outcome?"

"In response to the Young Master, he fled."

"Fled?"

"Yes."

"With so many people, he just vanished entirely?"

"Hmm?" Alfred only then realized that he and the Young Master were not speaking of the same matter, and immediately asked, "Did Master Diss not mention it to you, Young Master?"

"Grandfather left for the church very early; I have not had the chance to speak with him yet."

In truth, it was because Kallen could summon Alfred before him with a single phone call to ask about the situation,

yet he dared not place a call to the church:

"Hello, Diss, come back for a moment; I have some things I want to ask you."

That would be madness!

"Oh, no wonder. Young Master, it happened like this: last night, inside a small Chasse tent outside the main circus tent, I encountered a powerful existence from the Church of Order.

At the time, he deliberately used a unique sound to inform me of his presence, so I went out to investigate."

"That was the time you said you had to step out for some business?"

"Yes, Young Master."

"That person—how powerful was he?"

"Extremely powerful."

Kallen altered his approach and asked again, "How many of you would it take to defeat him?"

Alfred did not feel at all that using himself as a unit of measurement for strength was inappropriate; on the contrary, he felt it was quite an honor.

Imagine thousands of years from now, when believers gazed upon a mural and saw a great existence suppressing some demon or sealing away some true god, with an annotation beside it reading:

This demon was immensely powerful and terrifying, comparable to ten thousand Alfreds.

Ah, what an exhilarating thought that would be.

Besides, those scientists also quite enjoyed using their own names as units of measurement.

"Young Master, it is difficult for me to say precisely how many of me could defeat him, because in my view, that gentleman ought to be an existence on the same level as Master Diss."

"Then between Diss and him, who is stronger?"

"He is powerful, relative to me; whereas the Master's strength seems relative to everyone—no matter how strong you are, the Master always manages to be just a little bit stronger than you.

Last night, he demanded that I gouge out one of my eyeballs to make a pendant for him, and seeing that I was unwilling, he directly used the spells of the Church of Order to imprison me;

fortunately, I carried the proof of identity issued by the Master, which caused the other party to stay his hand.

The words of the other party also explicitly stated that he could not defeat the Master."

"He fled?" Kallen asked once more.

"Yes, he fled; long before I returned to the circus tent for the second time, he had already fled, because I also had to dispose of a corpse along the way—he had assisted that Chasse woman in killing her husband, under the charge of disrespect toward the Church of Order.

Oh, right, Young Master, last night in the audience stands, you spoke a phrase toward the stage in that language I do not understand."

"Mm?"

"Your subordinate wishes to remind you that in the future, when you are outside, please maintain a degree of restraint unless it is absolutely necessary; if that gentleman had not departed beforehand last night, he might very well have noticed your anomaly, and your true identity might have been discovered then."

"I understand."

Cullen nodded, declining to explain that his words last night had been born of pure, unbridled impulse;

it was because he had thrown himself so entirely into Mandira's perspective and suffering, resonating with her emotions, that he had uttered the words "go die" with a visceral hatred toward the magician.

The moment the magician drowned, Cullen had jolted back to his senses, choosing not to investigate the circus any further and instead decisively taking Eunice and the children back home.

"As for the circus, when Lord Dis and I went there, we found they had already fled."

"Fled?"

"Yes. Aside from a few locals they hired who were still packing up, the troupe leader and the core members left by carriage immediately, departing in a great hurry.

I suppose the actress's sudden frenzy and loss of control frightened them, so they chose to go into hiding first just to be safe.

Unsurprisingly, there must be aberrant demons within that circus as well.

Your subordinate will look into this matter next; please rest assured, young master."

"Mm."

At that moment, Pu'er spoke up: "Are you two finished talking?"

No one replied.

Pu'er shifted her body, turning from her prone position on Cullen's lap to lying face-up, and waved a paw at him:

"So, Lord Evil God, can we go play the fish-scaling game now?"

"There is one more thing I need to ask you," Cullen said to Pu'er.

"Ask away." Pu'er curled her tail over her belly like a shield. "You've been petting me for so long, the sunk cost is already this high, do I even have a choice?"

Cullen then looked toward Alfred and said:

"By a stroke of coincidence, the corpses of Mandira, last night's performer, and the magician she drowned are currently lying in my basement."

Pu'er tilted her head:

"My dear young master Evil God, you already said it was by a stroke of coincidence, so what of it?"

"This time, it is somewhat different."

Cullen picked up Pu'er and walked toward the stairs, with Alfred following close behind.

Reaching the first floor, Cullen heard Aunt Mary arguing loudly with Mrs. Mark from next door out in the yard.

This proved the basement was empty; indeed, there was no need to rush the charity coffins, just going through the motions would suffice.

Cullen entered his aunt's workshop in the basement, where the two corpses now lay on steel-plated tables, the white cloths having long been removed.

Staring at the frozen, flawlessly elegant smile remaining on Mandira's face, Pu'er could not help but tease:

"This lady's smile truly makes a cat feel uneasy."

Cullen said, "I can make her sit up."

Hearing this,

the cat and the man exchanged a glance, then simultaneously looked back at Cullen:

"You indeed can do that, young master."

"Right, we've known that for a while now."

Though Cullen had not undergone purification and was theoretically a complete novice, he possessed the ability to trigger the spirituality within a corpse—an effect akin to the "Awakening" used by the Inquisitors of the Church of Order, or rather, a beggar's version of it.

This was also one of the reasons why Pu'er and Alfred firmly believed Cullen was an evil god.

"No, this time is different."

Cullen walked up to Mandira, looking at her face as the imagery of himself being trapped inside the water tank last night began to surface in his mind.

Instantly, a surge of despair and rage began to swell in his heart, but perhaps because he had experienced it many times now, or because Alfred and Pu'er were both by his side, the dizziness was not as intense as before, and Cullen was able to steady himself on his own.

In the unseen realm, a certain bridge seemed to connect once more.

"Rise."

Cullen spoke.

Mandira sat up from the steel-plated bed.

"Wow, impressive," Pu'er uttered a polite exclamation of wonder.

"It is simply a miracle!" Alfred, by contrast, sounded far more sycophantic.

But then,

Mandira stepped off the bed and stood right before them;

and then,

she began to hop in place, and as she hopped, she raised her arms to her sides, performing jumping jacks.

"Meow..." Pu'er realized something was amiss.

"Uh..." Alfred noticed it too.

After a series of jumping jacks, Mandira walked over to a corner of the workshop, picked up a broom, and began sweeping the floor.

Pu'er's feline eyes widened: "This truly is a mature corpse; she even knows how to clean the room for herself."

At that moment, Alfred's eyes began to glow a faint crimson as the power of the Succubus Eye was deployed.

"Young master, this lady's body is covered in dense, intricate runes; her corpse has been refined through a ritual."

"Those are arrays," Pu'er remarked. "An array that enhances a corpse's flexibility and maneuverability, much like that stupid Golden Retriever at home. It was trained by its previous owner and understands commands like shaking hands and lying down, so even if the master changes, those same commands can still order it to perform the corresponding actions."

Just then, Mandira swept the pile of dust into a dustpan, put the tools away neatly, and climbed back onto the steel-plated bed to lie down.

Cullen closed his eyes, blinking hard a few times before entirely coming to his senses.

The one operating Mandira just now had been himself.

Without the need for words, he seemed able to share her perspective and make her perform corresponding actions according to his will.

"She was indeed frequently used by that circus for performances."

The act was called "Underwater Survival," and because she was already a corpse, she could never be drowned again.

"Young master, this is not a system I am familiar with," Alfred said apologetically. "Madam Molly utilized the most primitive methods of devouring and stitching, while my own abilities lean more toward the mental realm."

"Of course you don't understand, you aren't a Bewildering Demon," Pu'er said in a slightly mocking tone. "These are the array lines of a Bewildering Demon. No, I suspect it might have just relied on instinct to try and refine her, making her easier to control; it probably doesn't actually understand arrays itself.

Just as a spider knows how to weave a web but doesn't understand geometry.

The question now is..."

Pu'er leaped from Cullen's arms and landed on the steel-plated bed where Mandira lay—specifically, standing right upon Mandira's chest.

"Oh ho, stiff as a rock."

Cullen drew a sharp breath.

"Don't be impatient, I was just trying to liven up the atmosphere," Pu'er said, looking back at Mandira. "The question now is, that Bewildering Demon gained control over this corpse by leaving array lines through refinement—essentially leaving its own 'saliva' to taint the body.

But what about you, Lord Evil God?

Did you kill that Bewildering Demon, or did you snatch her control straight out of its hands?"

Purr turned her gaze toward Alfred; if anyone were to slay the aberrance, it would surely be him doing it on Karen's behalf.

Alfred shook his head, signaling that it had nothing to do with him.

"While watching the performance," Karen answered, "I heard her calling out to me. She told me her name, told me she was cold, and for a fleeting moment, my consciousness seemed to slip into her body, feeling her exact emotions.

And then,

I discovered that I seemed to possess the power... to command her."

Hearing this, Purr began to pace back and forth with slow, deliberate feline steps. After a long while, she stopped and said with utmost gravity:

"Karen, you truly must go to Wien."

"Are you trying to liven up the atmosphere again?"

Purr shook her head, her expression grim. "I even feel that even if your true identity might bring ruin upon my family, or if the current members of my family have brains stuffed with rotting herring and decide to find a toilet to flush themselves down...

I would still believe you should go to Wien.

I know Diss offered you two paths. One is to stay in this house forever; by Diss's will, the Inmeles family would henceforth sever all ties with the Church.

The other path is to go to Wien, to escape Diss's sight, and to claim your own freedom.

You ought to go, Karen;

No,

You must go!"

Purr suddenly leaped through the air, and Karen reached out to catch her.

Her two paws dangled against Karen's chest, her feline face brought very close to his:

"The system of religious faith is much like solving a mathematical problem.

The cleverer a person is—the geniuses, that is—the faster they solve it.

Take Diss, for instance.

I watched Diss grow up, yet even I never expected that he would silently solve his way to such staggering heights.

As for you..."

Alfred spoke up at this moment: "A grand existence must inherently be a grand genius."

"Shut your mouth!" Purr interrupted Alfred without a shred of courtesy, keeping her eyes fixed on Karen as she continued earnestly, "As for you, Karen, you are no genius!

You are not.

You are no genius; you and a genius share absolutely nothing in common, not even a single lubi's worth of relation!"

"I can accept the fact that I am not a genius, but surely you didn't need to be so solemn and serious just to tell me that?"

"Hehehe... Meow-meow-meow..." Purr burst into a laugh that sounded directly like a cat's mewing.

"What kind of genius could you possibly be? A real genius is fast at solving problems.

But you,

You don't understand problem-solving at all, because you haven't undergone purification, meaning you haven't learned it in the first place.

Yet, for the difficult problems that others must rack their brains to solve,

All you need to do is pick up the test paper,

Look at the question, and call out: 'Oh, hello.'

And then,

You don't even need to bring a cheat sheet, nor do you need to copy anything, because the question itself will be sensible enough to write down its own answer!!!"

Alfred listened from the side, utterly entranted,

Lamenting:

"Is this the true meaning of greatness? It turns out my understanding has always been superficial."

Purr, meanwhile, gently stroked Karen's chin with her soft paw,

Adopting a tone she fancied to be highly enchanting:

"Therefore, you must complete your purification ritual in the most perfect manner possible. Not a single regret can be left behind, nor a single flaw tolerated, for anything less would be a desecration of your talent!"

"Oh, alright."

Karen did happen to know that the purification ritual required the assistance of a sacred relic; once the purification was complete, one could become a divine servant, which counted as formally entering the threshold.

"Then do you know where the most exceptional sacred relic in all of Rulan is located?"

"I don't."

A smile blossomed on Purr's face as she tapped her own neck with her paw:

"Right before your eyes. It is none other than my ladyship."

"You are... a sacred relic?"

"Otherwise, why do you think I've lived for so long? I am a cat now, and a cat's lifespan is inherently much shorter than a human's. I am hardly a tortoise."

"Then do you mean you are willing to help me complete my purification?"

"It will have to wait until we arrive in Wien. Because Diss said that if I dared to help you purify while still in Rulan, he would purify me instead."

"Why?" Karen asked. "I suspect it isn't just because you want to eat fish."

"My ladyship has always cherished genius. It was only under my nurturing that Diss was able to grow into someone so outstanding."

"I don't believe you."

"Well... then it is because my ladyship hopes that in the future, you can help me turn back into a human."

"Could Diss not manage that?"

"He could manage half of it. He could help me turn back into... a corpse.

If I'm to be a corpse, I might as well remain a cat and munch on cat food, wouldn't you say?"

"Are there any other reasons?"

Purr leaped onto Karen's shoulder, shifting her hindquarters slightly to make herself sit as poised and elegant as possible,

Before saying:

"Well, it seems cats can be featured on frescoes too, can't they?"