"What?" Old Kohler asked, not hearing him clearly.
Klein looked at the potholes in front of him and chuckled in a self-deprecating manner.
"Nothing.
"I hope Liv's family can escape from their current situation and lead a better life."
He had indeed expressed his feelings just now. As the successor of the Foodie Empire's new era, it was an extremely normal instinctive reaction to think of revolution, mobilizing the masses, and changing the world. However, on careful thought and analyzing the specific problems, he felt that it was impossible to rely on the poor to save themselves. This was because there were Beyonder powers in this World, and some of them were rather strange. They couldn't be dealt with by guns, just like the Sequence 5 Wraith of the Mutant pathway.
This was one aspect, and the other aspect was that it was limited by the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Conservation and the availability of materials. Beyonder powers couldn't be popularized, and it was difficult to convert the advantage of numbers into effective combat strength. And even if it could be popularized, as long as the problem of losing control wasn't resolved, it would still bring about a disaster.
If there weren't any High-Sequence Beyonder Beyonders, these problems could actually be resolved to a certain extent. However, in the real World, not only did it have demigods, but it also had all kinds of Sealed Artifacts that could make people die without even knowing how they died. Furthermore, deities were truly high and mighty.
This way, it wouldn't be too much of a problem for the poor to use strikes and demonstrations to resist. However, once they picked up weapons and established an army, they would definitely encounter an irresistible counterattack. It wasn't impossible for large-scale natural disasters or large-scale psychological cues to appear.
And the ones that could contend with official Beyonder organizations were mostly secret organizations. They often had evil attributes, and death might not be the most tragic outcome if one worked with them. Therefore, the most promising way to succeed on the path of revolution was to obtain the support of a particular Church or a few Churches.
How many concessions can the vested interests make with just strikes and demonstrations? It'll be much easier to bribe them … However, the matter of the True Creator nearly using the tragic situation of the poor to descend upon Baekeland seems to have stirred up the Church of the Goddess and the nobles who know about it. This can be seen from the investigation mission that Reporter Mike accepted and the feedback from Miss Justice … Klein thought about the matters in East Borough, the dock area, and the factory district.
In the end, he couldn't help but chuckle and sigh inwardly.
"No matter how I think about it, it's still best to use the threat of the Evil God's descent to improve the situation of the poor.
"However, the Evil Gods are the existences that are most eager to absorb their flesh and blood and devour their souls. They are most likely to bring about a disaster that no one can escape from.
"What a wonderful irony."
…
In Queens, Earl Hall's luxurious villa.
Because Dr. Escalante had other things to do, Audrey attended the second psychology class of the week in advance.
Susie was even more excited than her. She rushed into the study early and even left her favorite ball game aside.
In this class, Audrey deliberately showed her curiosity. From time to time, she would ask Escalante about the psychological knowledge related to the mystical domain.
At the end of the class, Escalante finally spoke after some deliberation.
"Miss Audrey, we have organized a seminar on this topic. Many of our members are specialized in the field of psychology and mysticism. Are you interested in joining us?"
"Of course!" Audrey nodded without hesitation. She perfectly matched her character of an innocent and curious girl.
Escalante smiled and said, "Remember to keep it a secret.
"Remember to keep it a secret. You know that your elders have a great prejudice against Mysticism. I'll take you there next time."
"No problem." Audrey gave an affirmative answer with slight excitement.
After sending the waist-length Escalante out of the study, she closed the door and faced the mirror beside the bookcase. She was elegant and quiet for two seconds.
Then, she lifted the hem of her skirt, took a step, and made a circling motion in a court dance. Then, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled sweetly.
"Audrey, you're amazing!"
Audrey knew that she had taken the first step into Psychological Alchemy. Although the seminar was mostly just a peripheral circle, and there would definitely be many subsequent tests, it had indeed allowed her to open the door to Psychological Alchemy.
And during this process, she didn't rely on external forces. She relied solely on her own observation and performance to perfectly fool Escalante's psychiatrist. Therefore, she was very proud.
"That seminar sounds interesting." Susie came over and wagged her tail. "Audrey, can I join?"
Join? Looking at her beloved dog with golden fur and round eyes, Audrey fell into deep thought.
She gave a long terse grunt.
"Susie, not for the time being. Y-you're too conspicuous..."
At this point, she changed the topic and smiled faintly.
"But I can bring you with me."
...
On Saturday night, Klein took the Master Key and his black cane and walked out of 15 Minsk Street. Without the latter, he reckoned he wouldn't be able to return today.
He was going to "find" Dr. Allen, enter his dream, and figure out how the nightmare related to Will Auceptin came about.
As for where Dr. Allen lived, he had already found out yesterday: 3 Boningham Road, Hillston Borough.
By the time Klein arrived, it was already past eleven. The surrounding streets were dim and gloomy and quiet.
After tossing a coin and doing a divination, Klein passed through the iron fence outside and circled to the side. He used the Master Key to open an invisible passage in the wall and entered the already dark corridor.
With his agile footsteps, he silently went up to the second floor and hid in an unoccupied guest room.
After confirming that Dr. Allen and his wife were asleep, Klein passed through the wall and entered their bedroom.
The first thing he did was to take out the Slumber Charm and chant the incantation to make Dr. Allen's wife fall into a true slumber. She wouldn't suddenly wake up and disturb his subsequent dreams of her husband.
Following that, Klein sat on the chair in front of the dressing table, held the Dream Charm in his hand, and whispered a word in ancient Hermes:
"Crimson!"
Just as he said that, he felt the charm in his hand become light, as though it had become a weightless, illusory object.
As his spirituality surged in, a transparent flame enveloped the charm, burning it with a deep and serene black color.
Under Klein's will, the blackness spread out and enveloped Dr. Allen, as well as himself.
Klein, who had quickly entered a Cogitation state, saw the endless darkness and a lonely oval ball of light.
His spirituality extended over and touched the illusory and hazy object.
The World around him suddenly turned upside down and distorted. Without realizing it, Klein found himself in a barren plain. Beneath his feet were pitch-black stones, and there wasn't even a single weed.
In the middle of the plain stood a black steeple, and coiled around it was a gigantic silver snake. Its head was already raised, and its bright red eyes were coldly staring in his direction.
Unlike Dr. Allen's description, the silver snake didn't have any substantial scales. Instead, its body was covered in dense patterns and symbols. They formed wheels that were connected to each other, and around each wheel were different symbols.
The wheels on the tail and head of the giant snake only had half of each. It looked rather uncoordinated, as though it could drive an obsessive-compulsive patient to death. However, Klein imagined that if the silver snake could bite its own tail, then the wheels would be complete. Everything would become perfect, no longer incomplete, and no longer have any changes.
Beside Klein, Dr. Allen looked ahead with a blank gaze as he approached the pitch-black steeple step by step.
It can be confirmed that no one is guiding Dr. Allen … Eliminate the Beyonder powers of a Nightmare … Klein quickly made a judgment.
He didn't stop Dr. Allen and followed behind him, walking towards the pitch-black steeple towards the silver snake.
The two of them had only taken a few steps when their target was already in front of them. The silver snake lowered its upper body, as though it was pondering how to enjoy the dessert that was delivered to its mouth.
It opened its mouth wide, but there was no fishy smell. Its red eyes were cold and emotionless. It looked at everything as though it was its prey, but it didn't have any killing or cruelty.
In front of it, everything seemed insignificant, and they were equal because of their insignificance.
The giant snake ultimately didn't attack. Klein followed Dr. Allen through an ancient, rotting wooden door and entered the pitch-black tower.
Just as Allen had described, the layout here was abnormally chaotic. The staircase first spiraled upwards before descending diagonally. The hall, library, and various rooms were either normal, inverted, or embedded in other parts. This was a building that couldn't possibly exist in the real World.
After passing through the doors and walls, Klein no longer knew where he was in the black tower. Perhaps it was the steeple, or perhaps it was the basement.
In the thick darkness, he suddenly discovered a figure curled up in a corner in front of him.
The figure sensed Dr. Allen approaching, and he hurriedly propped himself up and hopped over on one leg.
It wasn't until the figure was inches away that Klein clearly saw his appearance. He looked strong and dignified, in his early teens. His face was filled with childishness, and he had an obvious look of fear.
The figure was about 1.4 meters tall, and his left calf was empty. It was none other than the child who had undergone surgery, Will Auceptin.
He held a deck of tarot cards in his hand, and his ink-black eyes were filled with surprise and joy, as well as fear and panic.
"Dr. Allen, a snake wants to eat me!"
Suddenly, he let out a blood-curdling scream. His eyes reflected the huge and mysterious silver snake.
Whoosh!
The tarot cards in his hand fell to the ground, leaving only one tightly clenched in his palm.
Klein focused his gaze and discovered that the card also had a wheel.
It was the Wheel of Fortune card.
Whoosh!
The dream instantly shattered, and Klein found himself still sitting on the chair in front of the dressing table.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
