Chapter 33: Terror (Seeking favorites, recommendations!)
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Inside a fast-food restaurant.
Gazing at his brother before him who shared the same body, Su Lu looked complex, his eyes scrutinizing him from head to toe.
Unlike the original, who inherited their mother’s looks, Rod bore more of their father’s features, passed down directly from Donks Pottery. His sharp and strong facial features were accentuated by a brooding hook nose. His thick lips, often pressed together, gave him a determined expression.
At this moment, he was ravaging a beef burger, devouring it whole, gulping it down his throat without chewing.
“You… haven’t eaten in days?”
His state reminded Su Lu of a starved ghost or of a vagrant who had been wandering in the park for days.
“Two days and one night… it was hard to get a ticket, and the food on the steam train…too expensive…”
After devouring seven giant burgers and downing a large glass of orange juice, Rod Pottery heaved a satisfied sigh, “I started out immediately when I received your letter…”
“I’m sorry… my problem has been resolved!”
Su Lu shrugged nonchalantly, a hint of regret in his heart.
If Rod had arrived a day earlier, he might have made a completely different choice.
“Is that so… I guess I’m late then!”
Rod nodded and scanned Su Lu closely before saying, “Hmm…you’ve grown taller and stronger! What I mean to say is…it’s really nice to see you again!”
He managed to squeeze a trace of warmth into his smile. It was clear he had put in a lot of effort.
‘I haven’t been back home in four years ever since the original broke off ties, right?’
Su Lu’s expression fell, “How’s the old fellow…? and why did you send me the letter? What’s the story with the item in it?”
Because there were a lot of people around, he did not mention the page from the Black Magic Book directly.
“He… that guy…he’s not good, really bad!”
Rod’s actions faltered.
“What happened?”
Please don’t tell me that our old father has gone missing. That would just remind me of a certain TV show.
Under Su Lu’s expectant gaze, he heard Rod’s low, deliberate reply, “He… went to a very far-off place, through that method… you know!”
“I know, that method?”
Su Lu’s grip on his hands slightly tightened, as if a fire was burning right in front of him.
The memory of Donks’ failed ritual for rank advancement was one of the most painful recollections of the original. Even a fragment of this memory was enough to make Su Lu shudder, his face twitching uncontrollably, “It seems…
we need to have a serious chat!”
“No problem!”
Rod wiped his mouth with a napkin, “Indeed, we should have a good talk… and we’ll need a quiet environment for that!”
He stood up casually.
Su Lu took a quick glance at his pocket, and decided to pick up the check himself.
They were on a vacant land on the outskirts of the town.
It was a desolate and empty piece of land offering a wider view.
While walking, Su Lu and Rod started sharing some recent events in their life.
Since the Black Magic Book page was provided by Rod, Su Lu did not hide anything and told him everything that had happened afterward.
Well, except for the secret about his time travel and the ‘Golden Finger,’ that was something he could never divulge.
The primary focus was on Beryl’s abnormal behavior and the cornered Catherine.
Rod looked solemn as he paced few steps and said, “The Catherine, according to your description, seems like the [Shadow Binder]. A transcendent being of this professional rank can do unbelievable things through shadows, but they are not hard to deal with! They’re just very evil because the shadows they manipulate are stolen from others!”
“That is for you to say…” Su Lu said grimly.
He could feel that this brother of his was very strong, in both strength and constitution, he outmatched him by far. The previous hug had nearly caused his bones to ache, it was definitely of a ‘non-human’ level.
“Yes…for average people, a superhuman of any profession is extraordinarily dangerous. I think you handled it well! ”
Rod said kindly, “As for that school director, I’ll have a talk with him, you won’t have to deal with any trouble.”
Su Lu was greatly relieved upon hearing this.
However, Rod’s face turned unprecedentedly serious, “Most importantly… it’s the Corpse Maiden, Beryl! I’m afraid she really has mutated!”
“Could you be more specific?”
“The page from the Magic Book I gave you was certainly a war trophy from a death-worshipping secret society… Of course, I’m no good with ancient texts and can’t fully decipher the words. I just felt it was important, so I asked for your help. ”
Rod said.
“If I hadn’t had that magic spell, I probably would’ve been arrested as a murderer long ago…” Su Lu shook his head.
The upper class knew about superhuman powers, but the low-rank officers who dealt with cases might not. Even if what he said drew the upper class’s attention, who would have helped an unknown poor kid under the circumstances he had faced?
Su Lu never liked to depend on others’ kindness.
“I’m not saying you handled it incorrectly , just that…it was very abnormal!”
But because of the subject’s uniqueness, coupled with the fact that you used the moonlight as a source of power for the ritual, some mutations occurred. ”
Su Lu recalled his situation at that time. It was true that without the attribute column, he would not have been able to learn the skill [Creation of Dead Princess].
Even if he managed to learn it, the failure rate would still have been high.
In the end, his success was solely due to some unknown power assisting him.
“That girl… Beryl, you said Catherine was very interested in her. Considering that she often sacrifices girls, she should belong to a special kind of person with a very unique constitution. This kind of person could be trained to become a saintess in the Church of the Goddess of Light… For some evil gods, they are very good vessels for their incarnation!”
Rod’s following words made Su Lu’s face change abruptly, “Are you saying… some wicked entity interfered with my ritual, causing Beryl to become its ‘sacrifice’ or ‘incarnation’?”
“Exactly that, but… you were the chief officiant of the ritual, and that didn’t change. This kind of mysterious constraint and suppression would have led to a backlash from the ritual’s product. Beryl would have become truly free, or in other words, completely belong to a particular entity, only when she kills you!” “Then why didn’t she kill me?” Su Lu asked, his heart skipping a beat.
“Rituals and ceremonies are very mysterious and complex processes… I can only make guesses! From the fact that you were still able to control that Corpse Maiden after the event, it seems that even if she was affected slightly, she wasn’t able to snatch control from you. In other words, that entity facilitated the success of the ritual, merely sowing a seed!”
“A seed?”
“Possibly because we just entered the Dawn of the Gods, all righteous gods are in slumber, evil gods can’t awaken and descend easily… so it’s only a seed!’
Rod said, “But a seed will eventually grow. That Corpse Maiden, favored by death, is definitely going to grow stronger rapidly.. Once she surpasses a certain limit, she must complete a certain ritual, kill you, the ‘original master,’ to ascend into a true ‘horror’!”