Soul Trigger

Chapter 618 Visit
Ji Li took out a bottle-like oxygen tank from his dragon ring and put it over his mouth and nose. Under Anya's curious glances, he took a deep breath, and the discomfort of the separation between his body and spirit eased slightly.

"what is that?"

"You can think of it as a special supplement used to counteract excessive consumption."

"Can I try?"

Ji Li raised his hand, and An Ya, while looking at the road, leaned her head over and took a deep breath in response to Ji Li's pressure. Her pupils contracted sharply, and the steering wheel she was already holding tilted to one side veered off course.
"I feel much more energetic all of a sudden..."

"Watch the road."

"!"

Anya hurriedly tried to straighten the skewed steering wheel, and amidst a series of rapid breathing sounds, the sports car wobbled back and forth on the road.

Once the car had finally stabilized, Anya slowed down, let out a long breath, and gave Ji Li a resentful look.

"Ordinary people should not inhale too much of it, as it will affect the balance between the spirit and the body, leading to physical death."

Anya's eyes held even deeper resentment:
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Ji Li shook the jar, revealing a strange smile:
"Because I'm also curious about what would happen if an ordinary person took a puff or two."

Anya: "..."

"Don't worry, it'll be fine once or twice."

Ji Li put away the supplement and looked at the charred file in his hand. This was the file he had taken from the archives, the one containing the tree root pendant.

This mainly introduces the founding history of Yuk High School, without much description of the pendant itself, only saying that it was a draft of the original school emblem.

In other words, the three founding board members intended to use the design of this pendant as the school emblem for Yuk School.

This proves two points.

One reason is that the three board members may not have known that Yuk School is a spiritual place, but they all undoubtedly considered the place very important, which led them to directly use the emblem given by the pioneers as the school emblem.

Secondly, this corroborates Ji Li's previous conjecture about the existence of three tree root pendants, making it necessary to investigate the other two school board members as well.

The Ludwig family and the employee representative who rarely appears in public.

The former is said to be making an appearance at the upcoming county-level sailing competition, while the latter, could it be related to the gravedigger?
There are too many clues, and Ji Li doesn't like detective games.

He was once asked by the Public Security Committee to help a female police officer investigate a serial murder case online. He often encountered clues that led him into dead ends, which he found very annoying. Fortunately, his partner was quite capable.

Besides the cunning but weak cyber prisoner, what impressed him most about that experience was the policewoman who rolled around in cyberspace with him using a neural connector during their break.

Even so, Ji Li was indifferent to such investigations, especially to investigating them personally.

Fortunately, this time it wasn't a dead end, but rather there were too many clues, so we could just tackle them one by one:
"Besides your pendant, do you recall any of the legends Jason mentioned?"

“If you’re a follower of Odin, you’ll naturally be referring to the legends of Odin,” Anya said with a smile.
They believed that devout believers would enter Valhalla for eternal life after death, gaining power and becoming Odin's warriors.

And the fanatics among them can obtain power bestowed by Odin by wearing pendants engraved with runes... The Jansen family are all fanatics, and I think that's what he meant.

However, you said it was actually a man-made communication tool, and the runes engraved on it weren't runes, so I think Jason must be a bit obsessed with his religion.”

Ji Li, however, did not think so.

Because in his shared field of vision, Jason had already returned home and was hurriedly asking the maid, Old Green, where she was. After failing to find her, he rushed into the storeroom to search for various family books.

Clearly, he genuinely believed there was something in the "legend," and that the Grimm family, who worshipped Odin, must also hold more information.

Clementine has been dispatched; keep an eye on things and await good news.

Soon, Anya's red sports car approached a large detached house and gradually circled around to the back.
“Let’s go in through the back garage. After dinner, we can browse through my father’s archives and the family genealogy.”

This is a medium-sized villa with a front lawn and a low white fence. The gate of the mansion is decorated with lion head door knockers, a feature unique to White Island, instead of doorbells.

Next to the fence stand three mailboxes in red, yellow, and blue, with different colors corresponding to municipal correspondence, voter complaints, and private mail, respectively.

Because in the towns of White Island, the mayor's residence is not only a private home, but also a place for meeting with voters and financial backers.

Although not as luxurious as the Green family's manor, land prices are cheap in the sparsely populated Red Maple Town, so it's possible to build a decent house.

"By the way, because the Green family donated a lot of political donations to my father, so..."

Ji Li's lips curved into a smile:
"I understand, little rich girl."

Anya blushed and smiled, then deliberately changed the subject:
"It's not my money... How well-done do you like your steak?"

"I forgot, could you recommend one?"

forget?

Anya blinked.

Although he found Ji Li's statement strange, he still parked the car and called the housekeeper to prepare lunch.

"Actually, I'm quite envious of the maid in the Johnson family, but unfortunately voters might be averse to it, so they just hired a regular housekeeper."

"You can dress the housekeeper in a maid outfit."

"Good idea, but the sensitive issue is the clothing..."

As the car slowly entered the garage, the luxurious house gradually disappeared from Ji Li's sight.

The garage was filled with five cars. In addition to the SUVs and pickup trucks that were practical in town, there was also a small sports car that was the same model as Anya's, but it was pink.

The Pulitzer family and Anya were from completely different worlds.

Recalling Mrs. Duke's busy figure, Ji Li couldn't help but sigh, realizing that such a gap between the rich and poor always exists in every corner of the world.

Why don't we wait until things are settled at the Resting Place and have the Green family give Mrs. Duke some political cash, at least as a form of relief?
At that moment, Anya's voice suddenly paused while answering the phone:
"what?"

The housekeeper's voice came from the other end of the phone. She replied a few words and then hung up, looking at Ji Li:

"I think I made a bad decision. I should have gone to the old house by the lake..."

"What's wrong?" "Jansen's grandfather has arrived."

The file in Ji Li's hand slammed shut with a "snap":
"Isn't this like a pillow delivered just when you're sleepy? We happen to have a lot of things we want to ask him."

"...But you just threw his grandson over your shoulder."

While Western girls may mature early, they are still just high school students.

Given the close personal relationship between the mayor's family and the Green family, she felt somewhat guilty for suddenly dumping Jason, fearing that the other family's parents would come knocking on her door to demand an explanation.

……

Following Anya, Ji Li quickly entered the house. The first thing he saw was not Old Green or the housekeeper, but a girl who was about Anya's age.

She was wearing the uniform of Yuk High School, slightly shorter than Anya, and shoes with noticeably raised heels. She had shoulder-length short hair, the same blonde color as Anya, but with black roots, as if it had been dyed.

Not only are they similar in age, but their appearances are also somewhat alike, and their gait and figure resemble Anya's.

Sisters?
The only difference was the girl's expression, which Ji Li found hard to describe.

If Anya is passionate and outgoing, this guy seems to have some ulterior motives.

Or, to use the most intuitive way of describing it:
Slutty and manipulative.

She first scrutinized Ji Li from head to toe with a sharp gaze, then her eyes fell on Anya's face:
"Knowing her father wasn't home today, did she secretly bring her boyfriend home?"

The moment Anya saw the short-haired girl, her face visibly fell.
"Sally, I don't have time to waste with you right now. Is Mr. Green inside?"

The girl called Sally raised her hands:
"Of course, I personally brewed him a cup of black tea. Would you like to try some?"

Anya rolled her eyes and tried to get inside with Ji Li, but was stopped by Sally's hand.
"Why are you in such a hurry? Have you figured out how to talk to Mr. Green about your relationship with Jason?"

Anya silently raised her hand:
“I’m serious right now, Sally. I don’t have time to argue with you about Jason. If you like him that much, go find him.”

He might still be crying in Grayson's arms right now, needing a good hug from you. Anyway, I'm not interested in him anymore, you understand?

As he spoke, he pushed past Sally and led Ji Li inside.

Ji Li found it all amusing.

Although Anya is a popular little queen at school, she always acts like a well-behaved girl in front of him.

This confrontation was quite refreshing for him; the two sisters clearly didn't get along.

Sally was clearly familiar with Anya's reaction and was about to retort, but an old male voice interrupted their argument:

"So it was that party that made Jason angry with you... Am I right, Miss Anya?"

The group looked in the direction of the sound and saw an old man in a Tang suit leaning on a cane, calmly watching Anya.

Anya and Sally were somewhat taken aback by the old man's sudden interruption and quickly returned the greeting.

The old man sized up Ji Li and nodded politely.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Olympia. I saw your Olympiad course selection results before, they are excellent."

"Thank you."

"I apologize for disturbing you. Let's talk about it at the dinner table. What can't a family discuss properly?"

Old Green tried to smooth things over, and Sally and Anya exchanged a glance before looking away.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Green. Are you here to see my father? He went to the city for a meeting today..."

Old Green waved his hand:
“I know, Sally told me, but I’m not here to see your father, I’m here to see you, about Jason.”

Anya and Ji Li exchanged a glance:
It really is because of Jason.

"That……"

"It's alright, let's talk about it after dinner. I've already eaten, so I'll just have some tea. Don't worry about me."

"But you two sisters really need to get along better."

Ji Li noticed the old man's attire; it wasn't his traditional Chinese clothing, but rather the pendant on his chest and his cane.

The pendant is an eye-shaped symbol, while the cane is engraved with the heads and feathers of avian creatures in silver, somewhat resembling the weapon "Other Shore" used by Ji Li when he transformed into the [Death Knight].

The Eye of Odin and the raven are symbols of Odin. Anya is right; this guy does seem quite devout.

However, after Ji Li had fully confirmed that the other person's faith was directed at his past self, he couldn't hold back for long.

Having used Odin's name as a pseudonym for so many years, people are now actually taking Odin for granted.

In this guy's eyes, I should be his grandson's rival in love.

The supreme god I worship has become my grandson's rival in love.

Considering that the two had to go to school in the afternoon, the housekeeper skipped the complicated Western-style meal preparation and served them the main course directly.

Old Green said he would just have some tea, but he sat at the head of the table, drinking tea and watching the others eat.

With outsiders present, Ji Li and Anya naturally couldn't discuss the search for clues to the Resting Place; they could only exchange glances.

Sally, who seemed to want to continue mocking Anya, also fell silent, occasionally observing the two of them while focusing on cutting her steak.

As for Old Green, he was constantly observing Ji Li, seemingly trying to glean something from him.

Because Ji Li hadn't recovered from the aftereffects of the cyclic calculation, he looked rather sickly, which made Old Green frown.

And so, a quick lunch passed in an eerie atmosphere.

While the housekeeper was tidying up, Anya and Ji Li exchanged a glance:
"Um... Pulitzer, could you come here for a moment?"

Now, old Green's brow furrowed completely, like tree bark.

(End of this chapter)