Chapter 207
She had always thought that the frail girl was just living alone... Little did she know there was a hidden maid protecting her. Was she perhaps the daughter of some merchant or noble, come to experience life?
In any case, it wouldn’t be long before she was released from prison. When that time came, she would gather her people, armed and ready, and surely they could make a big score... As for that girl, whether as a hostage or to be sold off, she would bring in a handsome reward.
Enough to ensure she wouldn’t have to worry about money again after this job.
But alas.
Both the maid and the girl thief had misjudged Xia Er.
Or rather, they could never fathom the extreme and crazy thoughts swirling in Xia Er's mind...
At that moment, Xia Er had already stepped into the house and locked the wooden door behind her.
The woman she had encountered earlier didn’t feel like misfortune to Xia Er... Instead, it felt like the kind of good luck that followed a mundane life, just as she had simulated.
After all, how could she have a pillow waiting for her just as she was feeling drowsy? She had just come up with a new stitching plan, and a perfect specimen had just appeared at her doorstep.
Too bad it wasn’t a corpse.
Killing an ordinary person for stitching still weighed on Xia Er’s conscience—there was a burden, but it wasn’t too heavy.
After all, the other party had acted first; one could only say this was their karmic retribution.
Xia Er returned to her room and lay down on the bed, closing her eyes to rest while mentally reviewing her recent simulations, checking for any oversights.
As she lay there lost in thought, she gradually drifted off to sleep.
But less than twenty minutes later, she jolted awake from her dream.
Almost the moment she woke, she had forgotten what the dream was about, only vaguely recalling a hazy purple mist floating within it.
The last time the “Spiritual Summoning” had affected her mind, she still hadn’t fully recovered.
Rubbing her still-dull temples, Xia Er got up and walked to her desk, beginning to memorize the Ancient Ansu language dictionary.
Entering that high-speed learning state allowed her to temporarily set aside her thoughts, forget the dull ache in her head, and actually improve her mental recovery efficiency.
It was like rusty parts starting to turn again after being lubricated; each interaction between the gears would wear away some of the rust.
Learning a language, with the system’s skills enhancing her, was a low-intensity thought process that greatly aided Xia Er’s mental recovery.
About ten minutes later, the sound of wheels and hooves clattering against the cobblestone road outside pulled Xia Er from her studies.
Knock, knock, knock—
The sound of knocking echoed, and Xia Er went downstairs, opened the door, and received a new handbag from the maid.
Once inside the living room, she closed the door and opened the handbag to take a quick look.
Inside were about six hundred and fifty Su pounds in cash, along with a letter tucked among the bills.
Xia Er had spent nearly 800 Su pounds on potions and rituals, and the items purchased from the Deyton Manor always came with a markup, merely ensuring they weren’t counterfeit; the quality couldn’t be said to be top-notch.
The potion that Aivina had sold for Xia Er was a fair price at 650 Su pounds, without any extra fees added.
Though she hadn’t charged for her efforts.
Xia Er opened the letter, which was Aivina’s reply, addressing all the questions Xia Er had posed in her previous correspondence.
Aivina seemed quite curious about why Xia Er had brought up her promotion, as she had just returned to the clinic today.
In her letter, she briefly recounted her experiences from that day, including encounters with several third-tier extraordinary beings who had visited the clinic.
Xia Er was already aware of those events, so she skipped over the small talk and focused on what Aivina had to say about the ritual for the potion.
The “Listener” potion didn’t have a specific ritual like other potions, which could be digested through killing or completing designated ceremonies.
Instead, its ritual resembled a form of probing into secrets, a quest for the hidden stories behind various people, and it required the potion to be consumed beforehand.
However, the effects of the “Listener” potion were relatively mild compared to other potions, with no specific time limit.
If there had to be a limitation, it was that one must complete the digestion of the potion before the delirium completely eroded their mind.
That was why Aivina had worked alongside the police investigation department, using a “detective” approach to digest the “Listener” potion, ultimately completing the process with Xia Er’s assistance.
The leap from “Listener” to “Psychologist” was quite significant.
This also required drinking the potion in advance to gain some of the “Psychologist’s” abilities.
The target for digesting the potion shifted from ordinary people at the first tier to extraordinary beings.
It could continuously purify the mental pollution of first-tier extraordinary beings, gradually accumulating the progress of potion digestion—but this method had side effects.
The treatment from the “Listener” wasn’t without cost; with each treatment, the “Listener” faced different individuals’ delirium and suffered varying degrees of mental pollution.
Moreover, the “Listener” couldn’t resolve their own mental pollution, and other “Listeners” or “Psychologists” of the same tier wouldn’t dare treat their peers—because they knew it would bring unimaginable, multi-faceted pollution upon themselves.
If this continued, even if one successfully digested the “Psychologist” potion and became a second-tier extraordinary being, they would effectively cut off any chance of advancing to the third tier.
They would inevitably be assimilated by third-tier potions, fundamentally altering their life form.
There was another way: to directly heal or hypnotize someone suffering from severe mental pollution or brainwashing, with the level of pollution akin to a second-tier extraordinary being on the brink of madness.
Aivina’s current mental treatments for ordinary people were also aimed at accumulating experience for this step.
So, Aivina was already preparing to drink the second-tier potion?
Xia Er stared at the letter in front of her, deep in thought.
She had come up with a solution for the promotion requirements.
What if she had Aivina, who had already consumed the second-tier “Psychologist” potion, treat her after she entered the Otherworld...
The mental pollution in the Otherworld would undoubtedly exceed the delirium of a second-tier extraordinary being’s potion; the intensity would be too much for Aivina, likely leaving her with mental aftereffects.
Moreover, in the simulations, Aivina had already treated Xia Er for Otherworld pollution once.
Yet Aivina hadn’t digested the potion as a result; instead, she had been polluted by the Otherworld, her spiritual vision greatly enhanced, allowing her to see the Shadow of the Raven.
It made sense; if it had worked, Aivina would have already treated Nia, after all, Nia’s pollution was also related to the Otherworld.
With that thought, Xia Er couldn’t help but shake her head in resignation.
No wonder Aivina had been stuck for so long. Although Boren City was rapidly developing and expanding, it had only reached a population of 233,157 after a month, making it incredibly difficult to find a half-mad second-tier extraordinary being to treat.
Even trying to capture a brainwashed cultist to reverse-brainwash them was tough, as Xia Er had already wiped out the cultists in Boren City.
However, creating such a person was quite simple.
After all, Tara had quite a few loyal followers who fit this description.
For instance, that second-tier noblewoman named Geima, who had been brainwashed by the cult.
If Aivina could independently break the cult’s brainwashing over her, it might quickly enhance Aivina’s potion digestion progress.
All of this still required the simulated version of herself to verify for Xia Er.
Xia Er opened the simulation and looked at the time inside.
[Future: 7 Days (Year 741, July 1, 20:00) (Cost: 10 Fate Points)]
[Past: 3 Days (Year 741, June 21, 00:01) (Cost: 10 Fate Points)]
[Old Days: ***, *** Days (???) (Cost: 10,000 Fate Points)]
Seven days later... That would be after she had already met with Tara.
Xia Er took out the “Endless Manual of Forgetting” and began to write again, incorporating her speculations and the matter of helping Aivina complete the ritual into it.
Initially, Xia Er had considered having Aivina try to brainwash Tara, freeing her from the cult’s control, but after some thought, she decided against it.
Tara was too fanatical, and her worldview had been built around the Mother Goddess and the cult. Forcing a shift in her perspective might lead to a complete mental breakdown.
It would be better to have Tara call in some of her second-tier followers who had been brainwashed for a shorter time.
Before long, Xia Er finished writing down all the important notes and returned the sealed manual to the system’s repository.
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