Chapter 532
**Ninth Symphony - Finale**
**"Ode to Joy"**
The ethereal melody, imbued with divinity, stood in stark contrast to the horrific chaos below. Imogen watched from the shadows, her heart racing.
As the young girl finished her performance, she bowed to the heap of corpses before her and drank from a vial of potion. Imogen felt a pulse in her temples, as if the blood vessels were throbbing in protest.
Is this what you call a performance? Is this what you call inspiration?
Is this what you call a "Master of Melody"???
No? How could she have truly digested it?!
Seeing the girl set down the vial, Imogen finally allowed herself a relieved smile.
Two vials of potion in one hour, a shift in pathways, an abstract replication ritual...
Imogen felt that if she stayed with this young lady any longer, she might start to doubt all her previous knowledge of the extraordinary.
---
**PS:**
I’m adjusting my schedule; I stayed up until 4 AM today, so the update tomorrow should be before noon.
Thank you all for your concern about my health, but this schedule is something I can’t help. It’s been like this for four or five years, not just a day or two; it started when I began writing.
In the past, my updates were usually around 4 or 5 AM, but perhaps this book’s earlier updates gave everyone the illusion that my schedule was quite normal.
After all, inspiration for writing doesn’t come like sleepiness; sometimes, when I hit a wall, I have to finish writing before I can sleep.
Tomorrow, 8K.
Good night.
---
**Chapter 277: A Duet with Aivina (8107 words)**
Buzz—
The reverberation of the shocking scene lingered in the air, and the tremor of the sand table snapped Imogen back to reality.
She quickly pulled out a mini sand table for a glance, her heart sinking slightly.
Imogen looked up at the girl still bowing in front of the mountain of corpses, and ultimately held her tongue, refraining from interrupting.
Only after the girl finished her bow did Imogen step forward and say, “Your Excellency, Shaer... the commotion just now... someone has already ‘awakened’...”
“Oh.” Shaer slowly lowered her hands and turned to Imogen, asking, “Who?”
Shaer’s voice was calm, as if the identity of the “awakened” held no significance for her at all.
Perhaps due to the effects of the “Master of Melody” potion, Shaer’s voice sounded even more ethereal, as if each word was layered with multiple harmonies.
“Eregma, the Pope of the Church of the God of Order.” Imogen glanced at Shaer’s lowered hands and quickly added, “Shouldn’t we leave...?”
She noticed that Shaer’s fingers seemed elongated, unnaturally slender to the point of being unsettling.
Moreover, she could see an extra finger growing on each hand... both hands had developed an additional, perfectly proportioned finger...
As expected... the potion’s effects were already manifesting, though it didn’t seem too severe yet.
“Why leave?” Shaer smiled slightly and said, “Don’t you want to know how ‘uniqueness’ merges?”
“The answer lies with Eregma.”
Imogen: “!”
“With Eregma?” It dawned on Imogen that the girl before her was indeed about to share some valuable information.
“You’ve seen the memories of Mond, so you should know what the Church of the God of Order is up to,” Shaer continued.
“‘Artificial Divine Essence’?” Imogen murmured, “Is that... the answer?”
“No,” Shaer shook her head, smiling, “The key lies in the otherworldly node beneath the Church of the God of Order, and the beings behind that node.”
“My ‘uniqueness’ is what He helped me merge.”
Otherworldly...
Imogen’s mind raced. She stared at Shaer in silence for a long moment before finally saying, “Thank you for the information, Your Excellency... We will forever remember this kindness.”
“Please forgive me for not being able to stay with you any longer. I must inform that esteemed individual at once...”
“This small token of gratitude, please accept it as a symbol of our friendship.”
“I will also ensure that the subsequent replication rituals and potions are sent to you as promised.”
Imogen reached into her robe and produced a bright pink invitation embossed with gold edges, presenting it to Shaer with both hands.
Shaer reached out to take the invitation, and the moment she grasped it, Imogen’s figure began to dissolve. As the dissolution reached her face, the disguise she wore vanished as well.
So there was a disguise after all.
In that final moment, Shaer had memorized Imogen’s true appearance—Imogen seemed not to have intended to hide it from Shaer at the last second.
When a member of the Joy Society reveals their true face, the threat significantly diminishes.
The face is a symbol of identity; no one can live in this world without leaving a trace. If one wishes to investigate, in the realm of the extraordinary, anything is possible.
The friendship of the Joy Society, huh?
Shaer looked at the eye-catching, flamboyant invitation in her hand, the red wax seal embossed with a pattern resembling a smiling face.
She tucked the invitation into her pocket and turned to leave the backstage.
From the moment Imogen expressed her desire not to make a scene and awaken those of the fourth tier, Shaer had already planned to create a ruckus that would leave Imogen in a tight spot.
However, she hadn’t expected that with only three thousand casualties, Imogen would lose control of the situation... that was indeed a bit surprising for Shaer.
Though she hadn’t encountered other “Nightmares” that had gradually ascended, Imogen’s abilities gave Shaer a strong sense of déjà vu.
Imogen was likely transitioning from a third-tier “Subverter” to a fourth-tier “Nightmare.”
Otherwise, a mere “Nightmare” would struggle to achieve such extensive subconscious modification; the “Listener” pathway is strongest in one-on-one influence.
Including what Imogen had mentioned about the “Animal Town,” she had always acted as an observer, quietly modifying the subconscious of everyone with a “setting” and then watching their performance.
Given this incident, Shaer could almost confirm that Imogen’s ability to modify the subconscious on such a large scale had significant drawbacks.
That is, it cannot withstand external interference.
Once external forces intervene, even a single hand disturbing the strings of a marionette could awaken it.
Creating a detailed and perfect “setting” that leads the “actors” step by step toward their demise—that is the true terror of Imogen.
The potion provided by the “esteemed individual” Imogen mentioned was merely to prevent the higher-tier extraordinary beings from awakening too easily.
If she hadn’t had [Calm Reflection] and the system panel, she might have been in trouble herself.
After leaving the Royal Theatre, Shaer finally let out a sigh of relief once she boarded the carriage.
At least she knew how to counter Imogen’s abilities now.
Make noise, the bigger the better, to awaken more extraordinary beings.
Shaer had some experience in creating disturbances.
Instead of heading straight home, she first went to the Prime Minister’s residence to bring Aivina and Tara along, taking them back to her home, and also summoned Adele and Amy.
With the simulation still having some time left, and anticipating considerable unrest in the city, Shaer didn’t want these disturbances to affect them.
Once Eregma awakened, he quickly roused the other extraordinary beings, the first being Charles.
Having been played by the Joy Society in Ansu City, Charles was furious—he had planned to showcase his ambitions in the aftermath of the strong sound’s demise, but instead, he was left with a mess to clean up.
There wasn’t a “Nightmare” in Ansu City capable of simultaneously correcting everyone’s memories; they could only violently dismantle the sources of the hallucinogenic drugs one by one and prepare to deal with the troublesome aftermath.
Explaining to the people of Ansu City why they had donned women’s clothing... that was quite a headache.
Collective memories are hard to distort; no matter how hard they try, many ordinary people will feel a sense of memory confusion, even sensing the influence of the mysterious side.
Just thinking about it gives one a headache.
Of course, Shaer didn’t worry too much about it.
After all, this was just a simulation; once she left, it was no longer her concern.
By nightfall, with the influence of the hallucinogenic drugs gone, the first to awaken, unsurprisingly, was Aivina.
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