Chapter 259
Mary, standing nearby, rubbed her chest as if still feeling phantom pains, and asked, “That cultist was so over the top... I just said one extra word, and she noticed right away. I didn’t even dare to try to change her perception.”
Of course, what Mary didn’t know was that if she truly wanted to alter that perception, she would probably have turned into a monster by now.
“I... I…”
Merit stammered, struggling to form a complete sentence.
She had no idea how to describe what she had just witnessed—or rather, she didn’t want anyone to know.
“She obeys the red-haired girl completely. As long as she can control that girl... if she tells her to wait right there, she will wait indefinitely, even if it means starving to death.”
Merit managed to utter a statement that could barely be considered coherent.
“Yeah, it’s just too much.”
Mary agreed, “What kind of charm does that girl have? How can a cultist archbishop listen to her like that...?”
“It’s fine, it’s hard to make a move here, so let’s not start from this angle... How’s the preparation for the uprising going? We need to draw in the higher-ups from Ansu.”
“Still waiting for news, Captain.”
The artist shook her head and said, “That gentleman seems to be waiting for things to escalate... More and more forces are getting involved now.”
“Does he still want a perfect ritual...?”
“No, he probably just thinks it’s more interesting this way...”
“Hehe, it really is interesting...”
The voices around Merit faded, her mind filled with the scenes and sounds from earlier. Suddenly, she pressed her lips together.
Not enough...
That red-haired girl wasn’t in her perfect state yet.
Only her face and hands were perfectly replicated; the rest of her body and private parts were merely using a “universal template,” not the girl’s actual body.
Is there any way to obtain more of her bodily data...?
For the first time, Merit felt a genuine interest in constructing dreams.
She wanted to see that red-haired beauty merge with more beautiful girls in her dreams...
In that moment, she felt she was beginning to grasp the essence of the organization, albeit with a slight twist.
...
“Pleasure Society?”
“Yes, based on our earlier discussion, the likelihood that this organization is stirring the pot behind the scenes is extremely high—because among everything happening right now, there’s no real beneficiary. If there is one, it can only be the Pleasure Society.”
In the underground temporary conference room, Charles listened to Tara’s introduction of the Pleasure Society, his brow slightly furrowed.
This was a secret organization, but they had a brief collaboration with the Holy Church, so he could somewhat understand their modus operandi.
The Pleasure Society was made up of a group of psychopathic thrill-seekers who delighted in deception and chaos, primarily consisting of “instigators,” along with a small number of other members who followed extremely dangerous and destructive paths.
Their most notorious act was altering the perceptions of an entire town’s residents through dreams, causing them to change their nationality and identify as citizens of a neighboring country.
Even the army sent by that country was kept at bay by the town’s residents. Eventually, the town became a small enclave of the neighboring country within that nation, all because the indecisive king refused to order the slaughter of those who were originally his own citizens.
Afterward, the higher-ups of the Holy Church speculated that this was a “Dream Thief” ascending to become a “Subverter,” though they were unsure if the Dream Thief had truly succeeded at such a level.
“Is their current operation for the ascension ritual?”
Charles turned to Tara and asked.
“Hard to say.”
Tara shook her head and replied, “According to that archbishop’s speculation, it’s very likely they’re just doing it for ‘fun.’”
Just for... fun?
This reason struck Charles as absurd, followed by a surge of anger.
Just for the sake of chaos, just for fun, they let so many people lose their lives and turned countless others into homeless wanderers...
None of this concerned Charles.
It was utterly unacceptable for the Pleasure Society to set their sights on Aivina...
In Charles’s eyes, that was crossing a line.
He thought of his “Instigator” archive and let out a slow breath.
This did seem like something an “Instigator” would do...
Since you want to play, I’ll use the “Instigator” to join in your game...
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Tara quickly walked to the door, spoke with a cultist outside for a moment, then returned to the room and looked at Charles, saying, “Lord Charles, we’ve identified the buyer of the bombs—it’s the Orlando Republican Army.”
“Hmm.”
Charles nodded slightly.
That wasn’t important anymore.
Now that he knew they were a group of “Instigators,” the clues they had released, and anyone who knew about the bomb information, were merely bait they had intentionally left behind.
If it were up to Charles, she would leave no one alive who knew about the bomb. She would systematically eliminate the high-ranking members of the Blackwater Party, leaving no survivors.
Since they left a high-ranking member of the Blackwater Party alive, it meant this was just bait, like Balfour—those people were merely laying a trap.
So what kind of fish were they ultimately trying to catch?
The queen?
Unlikely.
Or perhaps other high-ranking officials?
Or... were they simply looking to catch something big, no matter what it was?
Whatever their intentions, Charles had no choice but to take the bait.
“I was just about to ask.”
Charles rubbed his temples, trying to relax his tense mind, and looked at Tara, asking, “Do you watch me from time to time?”
“Sorry, Lord Charles.”
Tara quickly lowered her head, her voice filled with apology, “I was just afraid of falling back into a dream again.”
This was Tara’s first lie to Charles.
She wasn’t worried about falling back into a dream.
She wanted to fall back into a dream.
Even Tara herself didn’t realize that her faith in the Mother Goddess had quietly changed.
“How long until the accountability team from the Holy Church arrives?”
Charles inquired.
“Tomorrow at the earliest.”
Tara replied, looking down.
“Ansu won’t be able to send anyone over that quickly either. The Dutton Manor still doesn’t know that the commissioner died here, and the Goddess of Salvation and the Russell family are focused elsewhere.”
“So you’re saying that right now, the only high-level forces left in the city, aside from the Pleasure Society, are the Holy Church?”
“Yes.”
Charles glanced at the time; there were still about ten hours left...
That was neither too much nor too little.
“Bring the ‘Coin’ and the ‘Evil Eye’ sealing artifacts over.”
Charles instructed Tara.
With Lucy’s coin sealing artifact and Opode’s eye sealing artifact...
He could push the coin to its limit, use it, and then use the eye to scout.
If luck was on his side, a citywide search within ten hours would definitely catch members of the Pleasure Society.
What if luck was against him?
Then he would have to conduct another population survey of Boren City to see if he could force out the higher-ups behind the Pleasure Society...
Chapter 151: Limit-Breaking Coin, Extreme Luck.
I am in the light, while the enemy lurks in the shadows.
Seventeen hours left.
How could he root out the members of the “Pleasure Society” in the shortest time possible?
A grand sacrifice?
He indeed had resources at hand; with a dozen second and third-tier members from the Holy Church, he could easily summon a terrifying entity that no extraordinary being in this city could withstand.
Crossing into the Otherworld to directly scout where the third-tier Huaguang exists?
That was also a very efficient method; he had previously used this approach to find the sealing artifact hidden deep in the sewers, right beneath the square.
But both of these plans had a fatal flaw.
They required utilizing the Otherworld, which would further torment Charles’s mind.
It’s important to note that her mind hadn’t fully healed yet; the only reason she appeared somewhat normal was due to Aivina’s healing and support.
Until her mind was completely restored, Charles wouldn’t consider using the power of the Otherworld again.
After all, it wasn’t yet time to resort to extreme measures.
The Pleasure Society...
There was no rush to preserve the “Butcher” archive.
Because she had already completed the Butcher’s replication ritual, obtaining that archive only required entering the simulation and drinking the potion again; it didn’t have to be preserved at this moment.
Now, the simplest and most extreme method was exactly what Charles had just thought of.
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