Chapter 256
A bishop gasped when he saw Charles dragging Tara out, but before she could say anything, Charles had already pulled Tara into the manor, with the others hastily following behind.
It wasn't until Charles pressed Tara's face into the fountain's water reservoir that she began to struggle violently, coughing and lifting her head, gradually regaining her senses.
Meanwhile, inside Manor No. 5, a few people were also jolted awake from their dreams. One of them gasped for breath, clutching their chest as if stabbed.
"What’s going on?"
A man in a trench coat and mask asked, "Did it fail?"
"Damn it... that cult leader is a lunatic! He actually shot himself! Doesn’t he fear it’s not a dream there?!"
The woman clutching her chest cursed furiously.
"Shooting himself?"
The trench coat man’s voice took on a curious tone. He asked, "Have you constructed such a scene?"
"Why would I waste my time on that? Unless he really did shoot himself, there’s no way he could wake up. She must have seen the painting!"
The woman’s breathing gradually calmed, as if the phantom pain in her chest had vanished.
"What about the other short cultist?"
The man glanced at another woman who had yet to awaken. Seeing her still lying there, flushed, he shook his head. "Carry her. Her ordeal isn’t over yet."
"But that’s enough already."
The man seemed to have thought of something and grinned widely. "If we can drag the Holy Ascendancy down, after tonight, Brolin City will be in chaos."
"We should get going. Ansu will send people to hunt down the cultists soon."
"But what about my art exhibition? I can’t be the only one who hasn’t completed the replication ritual, right?"
"You’ll have to ask the boss about that... or maybe you could come up with an idea? If we link the Holy Ascendancy with the Goddess of Salvation cult, Ansu’s side might blow up."
"And that young lady from the Russell family, to think she has such close ties with the Holy Ascendancy... could the Russell family also be involved..."
"That could be entertaining..."
They leisurely packed up their tools, then gathered together, a shadowy curtain slowly descending from above, enveloping them, and their figures vanished from sight...
...
"Did you find anything?"
Charles looked at Tara, whose hair was still damp, and asked.
"Nothing. They only found two bodies,"
Tara replied respectfully, bowing her head beside Charles. "It was the bodies of Baron Harold and his wife, along with a suicide note confessing their guilt."
"What did it say?"
Charles continued to inquire.
"It detailed how he struggled from North Ansu to Ansu, building his way up in Brolin City, and how he secretly funded the North Ansu Republic and the Brotherhood... It basically defines the entire incident."
Tara explained.
After finishing, Tara hesitated for a moment, looking at Charles and asking, "It seems there are no new leads... What do you need the servants to do next?"
"What did you dream about just now?"
Charles looked at Tara and asked.
His own dream hadn’t provided much useful information... Now he could only delve into Tara’s dream to see if he could analyze something.
"I..."
Tara opened her mouth, a flush creeping up her cheeks. She lowered her head and said, "I had a terrifying nightmare, Lord Charles."
"What were the details of the nightmare?"
Charles pressed on.
Under his persistent questioning, Tara’s face turned crimson.
But then she suddenly thought that the Mother Goddess might already know everything, and her heart sank.
This wasn’t just an inquiry; the Mother Goddess was reprimanding me.
"I’m sorry, Lord Charles."
Tara knelt down, shame washing over her. "I had a blasphemous dream. I’m damned; my faith is impure... Woe is me, I’ll never enter the Kingdom of God."
Seemingly recalling her blasphemous experience, Tara felt darkness closing in, as if the sky were collapsing.
"So what exactly happened?"
Charles frowned slightly. Tara had always answered without hesitation, but at this critical moment, she was becoming cryptic.
Tara wiped her tears away, seemingly resigned, and confessed loudly, "I’m sorry, Lord Charles. I shouldn’t have harbored evil thoughts in my dream. I shouldn’t have dreamed of you bathing, I shouldn’t have pressed you down in the bathtub, I shouldn’t have forced..."
"Okay, stop, stop, stop—"
Charles quickly covered Tara’s mouth, his expression darkening.
What on earth did you dream about?
Did you just take down the "Dream Thief" in your dream?
"This was just a dream; don’t take it seriously."
Charles shook his head, trying to comfort her. "That was the work of the 'Dream Thief.'"
It seemed Tara hadn’t fully grasped that her dream was created by the "Dream Thief."
For someone like Charles, who could wake up directly in a dream, was indeed an exception.
"You mean..."
"Now we can confirm that the chaos in Brolin City isn’t caused by just one person."
Charles stated, "At least one 'Dream Thief' and one 'Blood Painter' are involved, but we don’t know their exact ranks or appearances..."
This situation wasn’t just two people pulling the strings... It was likely a secret organization, one that he had never encountered before.
"Gather everyone back. We need to hold a meeting."
Charles said.
With this information in hand, Charles needed to leverage the knowledge of other Holy Ascendancy superhumans regarding extraordinary powers to analyze what kind of superhuman strength was behind this... Ideally, he could identify which organization it belonged to.
Charles feared aimless investigations without any leads, but now, knowing there were several superhumans manipulating everything from behind, he had a target to pursue.
With a target, his thoughts could become clearer.
Even if they had fled now, this was merely a simulation; next time, she could still find a way to draw them out.
It was now almost certain that the grain merchant Balfour was an obvious bait, meant to lead investigators toward the "answers" they had pre-designed.
If this were truly the first encounter with such a situation, following Balfour’s lead would surely lead to a firm belief in this "result" and "answer."
Unfortunately, they had encountered someone like Charles, who was anything but reasonable.
"Lord Charles, there’s one more thing..."
As Tara followed Charles down the stairs, she spoke up, "Our bold actions have already attracted the attention of the Holy Ascendancy... I expect high-ranking officials will soon come to hold me accountable."
"If you need to continue hiding your identity, I can go back and accept punishment..."
"Don’t worry about them."
Charles shook his head.
"Just stay by my side."
By the time the accountability team arrives, Charles would have long since left the simulation; that wasn’t something she needed to concern herself with.
However, Tara interpreted Charles’s words in a different light.
Lord Charles... is he planning to protect me?
A warmth surged in Tara’s heart, moving her deeply. Charles’s already unparalleled status in her mind rose even higher.
As Tara gathered the members of the Holy Ascendancy back to the temporary underground chapel, dawn was breaking.
Balfour, having been excessively brainwashed, was now mentally collapsing at home, while Baron Harold’s body was discovered in the early hours.
With one noble dead and a prince’s son missing, Ansu would surely send people to investigate, and the fact that all the guards had become cultists couldn’t be hidden.
If all went as expected, these news would be reported to Ansu’s higher-ups within days, and stronger forces would undoubtedly intervene in the chaos erupting in Brolin City.
At that point, with such a conspicuous display of troublemaking and no attempt at concealment, Charles would undoubtedly be the first to be investigated, likely dragging Avina and the Russell family down with him.
But these were concerns Charles didn’t need to worry about, as he would be leaving the simulation in about ten hours.
At this moment, Charles sat in a corner of the underground conference room, listening to the discussions among the Holy Ascendancy superhumans.
At the head of the conference table sat Tara, presiding over the meeting, while Yulis surprisingly took a seat at the end, quietly listening.
It seemed Yulis had made up her mind to support Charles to the end.
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