Chapter 177
Lucy and Opode were not fervent believers; they wouldn’t elevate any spiritual summons or other messages to the level of divine revelation.
Their long-standing positions of power made them reluctant to bow to anyone easily. Only a "terror organization" like the "Judgment Court," which could truly intimidate them, might coax a modicum of cooperation, but even that would be limited.
Xia Er continued to flip through the pages.
[June 26, Year 741 of the Saint Era, 12 PM]
[Aivina sent word that for reasons unknown, Opode had dismissed all his attendants and moved to Bell Tower Alley, while Lucy had been holed up inside Dedton Manor, not showing her face again.]
[As for how Aivina knew, it was because she had invited everyone to her estate for an extraordinary salon during yesterday's banquet, but both of them had different reasons for not attending.]
[It seems misfortune has tamed them.]
[Who knows what they’ve encountered? As for me, I was nearly run over by a runaway carriage and almost smashed into a rusty nail someone carelessly left on the wall while dodging it. That cost me five life points.]
[The next letters are crucial; they will determine whether I can gain their trust and acquire their seals.]
[But there’s one thing I’m very curious about.]
[When Lucy adheres to the rules, she gradually gains control over the "Fortune Coin," and perhaps her potion digestion becomes smoother as well.]
[When Opode follows the rules, he similarly benefits from potion digestion, even allowing his mutated body to gradually recover.]
[What about me?]
[Aside from that encounter with Talan, I haven’t interacted with anything extraordinary these past few days. Why haven’t I felt any changes in my body?]
[Or has the change already occurred, and I just haven’t noticed?]
[Perhaps I should consider experimenting a bit.]
Indeed.
Xia Er had noticed this issue as well.
While Opode and Lucy benefited from following the rules, Xia Er seemed to remain unchanged, which puzzled her.
Was it because she hadn’t become extraordinary yet? Had a bug in the rules prevented her from receiving her "rewards"?
Xia Er continued reading, quickly locking her gaze on the evening of June 27.
[June 27, Year 741 of the Saint Era, 11 PM]
[Something has happened.]
[Previously, when they had only a vague understanding of the rules and were almost in the dark, they hadn’t chosen to take any action.]
[But this time, with the hints I provided, Opode has already pieced together some information—he discovered and killed a messenger sent by Aivina, and he has begun to take action during the downtime allowed by the rules.]
[Just today at noon, Lucy died at Dedton Manor. I’d bet anything that her "Fortune Coin" on June 27 definitely landed on tails twice.]
[But strangely, after Lucy’s death, her "Fortune Coin" vanished.]
[I’m about seventy percent sure that Opode took it…]
[Fortunately, he’s in the light while I’m in the dark; he would never suspect that another chosen one is just an ordinary person.]
[However, Aivina’s situation might be a bit dangerous. I’ve already written to her, advising her to take Nia and leave Belen City for a few days to go hunting, to avoid any unfortunate incidents.]
Lucy died first?
The "Destined One" could be so easily killed, the only possibility being that her "Fortune Coin" had landed on tails twice in a row, stripping her of all her good luck.
Xia Er hadn’t expected Opode to be so bold as to take direct action…
Would Opode face punishment from the rules?
Or was mutual hunting actually permitted by the rules?
With such unexpected events occurring, she could no longer provide Opode with any clues; otherwise, she might become prey herself.
Xia Er quickly flipped to the next page.
As expected, the version of herself in the simulation decisively abandoned any further clues for Opode, opting instead to observe and see if disaster would suddenly befall either him or herself.
Before sending Aivina away, Xia Er requested a group of manpower to assist her, all black police from Bell Tower Alley, who would not carry any psychological burden in their consumption.
To comprehensively monitor Opode’s every move in Bell Tower Alley, the simulated Xia Er devised a grand plan.
After the death of the Black Water Party’s leader, the organization was left leaderless, fracturing into several factions that engaged in gang wars almost daily over territory, with the collection of "protection fees" becoming increasingly severe, to the point where even the Goddess of Salvation Church considered intervening.
In the simulation, Xia Er used that group of black police to capture the leaders of the splinter factions of the Black Water Party, executing them en masse, while she directly took over the remaining remnants, officially renaming them the Blood Letter Party.
This way, Xia Er could control a significant force in Bell Tower Alley without coming into contact with the extraordinary, and the new members of the Blood Letter Party would keep a close watch on Opode’s movements.
Such surveillance would undoubtedly be noticed by Opode; it was only a matter of time. However, Xia Er didn’t need to worry about that, as she only needed to stay in this world for 24 hours before leaving. Even if Opode sensed something amiss, it wouldn’t have any impact.
As long as Xia Er could retrieve the two seals stored by Opode before leaving, everything would be fine.
However, one thing puzzled Xia Er.
Opode killed Lucy without triggering any misfortune…
This raised concerns for Xia Er about the "person" or "thing" behind the rules.
Could it be that the ultimate goal was to pit the three of them against each other to the point of mutual destruction, leaving only one survivor?
For now, Xia Er set aside her thoughts and looked at the attachment tucked in her notebook.
It was a high-success-rate resurrection ritual from the coroner, given to her by Talan.
Previously, Xia Er had purchased a simpler resurrection ritual at Dedton Manor. The content of that ritual was straightforward.
First, one would drink a potion, then excavate three corpses to stitch together until the new stitched body regained the ability to move, at which point the ritual would be complete.
But the resurrection ritual Talan had given her was evidently much more complex…
It required drinking a potion, then excavating two broken extraordinary corpses for stitching, with the final product needing to resemble a normal human as closely as possible.
The more exquisite and human-like the stitched body was, the faster the potion would be digested.
What’s this "coroner"? It should be called "grave digger" or "necromancer."
Fortunately, this resurrection ritual didn’t require any "cooking"… If one were to guess based solely on the name, Xia Er felt that "butcher" was the most likely to involve "cooking" knowledge.
After all, broadly speaking, the term "butcher" refers to someone who slaughters, processes, or sells livestock.
Xia Er closed her notebook and glanced at the group of people following her, momentarily at a loss for words.
From their respectful and fearful demeanor towards her, it was clear that the simulated version of herself had employed quite a few bloody methods when dealing with those remnants.
The notebook recorded that her residence had moved back to No. 44, North-South Stone Street in Bell Tower Alley, seemingly purchased directly with the funds from the Blood Letter Party.
The potions and other items should still be over there.
Xia Er said nothing, simply following her memory towards North-South Stone Street, while the burly man beside her hurriedly kept up with his umbrella.
As they walked past a glass window, Xia Er caught a glimpse of her current appearance: her long hair was tied back into a low ponytail, cascading down her back, exuding a strong underworld vibe.
You say you’ve taken over the Black Water Party, yet you’re dressed in a newsboy cap, a long coat, a small hat, and a single ponytail… Belen City looks a lot like Birmingham.
Reborn to establish the Razor Party in Shanghai, huh?
She was also having a bit of fun with herself.
However, her line of thought wasn’t problematic; she couldn’t rely on Aivina and would have to make use of these ordinary people.
With the black police backing Xia Er, combined with her previous bloody cleansing methods, at least for a while, the people below wouldn’t dare to rebel.
These individuals had already been trained by the simulated Xia Er, making them easy to command.
In these 24 hours, she would continue to monitor Opode using them, while she had to digest the potion within 23 hours and wait for Talan’s intel.
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