Chapter 383
**Chapter 207: The Invitation from the Pharos Medical Society**
“Do you want to join us?”
As he looked at Lafayette, who was reaching out to him, Charles furrowed his brow.
The Church of the God of Order was in dire need of “talent”... Is that why they took Nia?
Initially, Charles thought Nia's disappearance had nothing to do with Windsor, but now it seemed the two events were not entirely unrelated.
At the very least, Lafayette, who stood behind Windsor, had ample reason to abduct Nia.
This matter involved not only the Church of the God of Order but also the Pharos Medical Society, and even Qiangyin might be in the know.
With that, the level of intelligence surrounding this situation was far beyond what Charles had imagined, no wonder he hadn’t been able to uncover it before...
“If I join... can you help me fight against Qiangyin?” Charles asked slowly.
From their previous conversation underground, Charles had been acting like a newcomer to the extraordinary realm, but after she had killed Windsor, there was no way Lafayette could still see her as a “newbie” if her intelligence was even remotely normal.
“Fight against? Heh heh heh... of course not.” Lafayette shook her head with a smile, “If you join, we’ll be allies.”
“But I killed his daughter...” A hint of hesitation crossed Charles's face.
She wanted to see if she could pry out the strange relationship between Qiangyin and Windsor from Lafayette.
There was still plenty of time; she could keep this conversation going... the other party would never suspect she was stalling.
“That’s not important.” Lafayette gently shook her head, walking toward Charles, “Just don’t break this thing...”
Lafayette’s movement made Charles alert. She directly gripped the edge of Windsor’s skull, intending to drag both the body and the brain away.
Seeing this, Lafayette immediately stopped, shrugging her shoulders in resignation, “Heh heh heh... be careful... don’t break it...”
Lafayette seemed genuinely worried that Charles might damage the object, hesitating to make any sudden moves.
Charles noticed Lafayette’s reaction and reached out with her left hand, grasping the dark green frontal lobe.
The soft, warm texture transmitted through her palm felt particularly slippery, perhaps because the blood hadn’t fully congealed yet. She didn’t dare to grip it too tightly, maintaining a delicate balance instead.
Fortunately, Charles’s fingers were nimble enough to prevent the frontal lobe from slipping from her grasp.
Watching Charles directly handle the object, Lafayette took a deep breath, instinctively stepping back a half-step to avoid further provoking her.
“Child... don’t be nervous...” Lafayette felt cold sweat trickling down her back, taking another step back and swallowing hard, “If that thing breaks, Qiangyin will go berserk.”
If that thing breaks, Qiangyin will go berserk?
But his daughter’s death didn’t matter?
It seemed... the mark Qiangyin left to protect Windsor wasn’t really about keeping Windsor alive—it was to safeguard this thing in Windsor’s brain.
What on earth was this object that made Qiangyin so concerned?
Suddenly, Charles thought of the cipher book and the spiritual notes of Qiangyin that had been searched for in vain throughout the Qiangyin estate and Windsor Palace...
No way?
Not necessarily...
Spiritual notes are things that need to be checked regularly and require confirmation from trusted individuals. If stored in this form in the brain, how could one confirm it?
Even now, the possibility that Qiangyin carried the spiritual notes with him hadn’t been ruled out.
“Why does Qiangyin want this thing?” Charles raised the blade of her gun, positioning it less than an inch from the frontal lobe. With even the slightest tremor in her arm, she could slice through it.
“(Pharos language) Calm down, Charles, if you want to live.” In a moment of desperation, Lafayette abandoned her clumsy Ansu language and switched to fluent Pharos, “If you break this, neither of us will survive.”
“(Pharos language) Answer my question.” Charles continued to question, her expression devoid of emotion.
It seemed she had inadvertently seized a hold over Lafayette.
“Windsor is a very important experimental subject, a crucial part of the plan.” Lafayette, now disregarding her previous caution, quickly answered Charles’s question.
At the same time, she was already plotting to forcibly take the frontal lobe from her.
In Lafayette’s view, Charles was merely a “detective,” utterly unable to escape her grasp. No matter what she said or what Charles remembered, it wouldn’t matter. Once she dealt with the current situation, capturing Charles would ensure that she couldn’t leak any information.
“What experiment?” Charles pressed on, all the while keeping an eye on the countdown timer.
Never had she wished for time to pass more quickly than now, but with nearly half an hour left before she could leave, she had to stall for time.
If Charles wanted to escape, she could do so easily.
But after learning the importance of the frontal lobe in her hand, she still wanted to do her best to take it with her.
After hearing Charles’s words, Lafayette fell silent for a moment.
The two locked eyes for nearly a minute before Lafayette finally spoke.
“You have some understanding of the Church of the God of Order; you should know what their tenets are.”
Lafayette didn’t give Charles a chance to respond and continued, “They revere the power of order, pursuing absolute stability and rejecting chaos and liberalism. Internally, they demand inner order and spiritual elevation...”
“There is no deity known as the God of Order in their scriptures; the most frequently used symbol is the Eye of Order—an abstract, non-physical representation that embodies their spiritual aspirations...”
Charles was already aware of all this, but she didn’t interrupt Lafayette’s speech.
She would gladly listen to Lafayette talk for twenty minutes about the history of the Church of the God of Order, hoping she would eventually reveal the truth before time ran out, allowing her to escape the simulation.
“This is also one of the reasons the Church of the God of Order was accepted by the Ansu royal family. Many nobles and officials have embraced the Church, and numerous clergy have participated in governance.”
At this point, Lafayette shifted her tone.
“But even with potions and dogmas in place, they cannot suppress human greed and the thirst for power. The Holy Law Court issues stricter decrees time and again, yet corruption continues to fester.”
“This contradicts their pursuit of absolute order... so their pope sought us out... with a ritual from the other realm.”
“This is a technology originating from the other realm; I can only reveal this much to you.”
“If you truly wish to know more, you can choose to join us. My previous offer still stands; as long as you don’t damage that thing, Qiangyin won’t be able to touch you.”
Lafayette looked at Charles, extending the invitation once more.
“Will I be treated as an experimental subject?” Charles’s expression wavered slightly, as if Lafayette’s words had resonated with her. She spoke slowly, “Like Windsor...”
Sensing the shift in Charles’s expression, Lafayette quickly reassured her, “Heh heh heh... of course not. On the contrary, we would be the last people who want your mind to suffer.”
Charles regarded Lafayette for a moment, then asked, “So where will I be joining? The Pharos Medical Society? The Church of the God of Order?”
“I initially planned to send you to the Church of the God of Order.” Lafayette secretly sighed in relief, then continued, “Now, I believe the Pharos Medical Society is a better fit for you.”
“...I can hand over the object to you, and then join you.” Charles laid down her final condition, “But you have to let me go first and provide me with a token that will allow me to find and join you without raising suspicion.”
Let her go? A token?
To be honest, both conditions were easy to meet. As long as Charles handed over the frontal lobe, these wouldn’t be an issue.
“Of course, Charles.”
Lafayette slowly raised her hand, making her movements as deliberate as possible to avoid making Charles feel threatened.
She gently grasped her goggles, removing them to reveal her eyes.
Then, with her gloved right hand, Lafayette reached into her eye socket and pulled out her own eyeball.
“Uh... heh heh...”
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