Soul Trigger

Chapter 643 Variables
"It's nothing, it's just..." Sika forced a smile:
"I explained your blood-sucking mechanism..."

Angelica's face immediately darkened:

"How much did you say?"

"They didn't say much..."

"Humans and animals?"

"said……"

"Blood type?"

"I also said so."

"What are the two possible anomalies?"

"I also...said it."

Angelica covered her face, plopped down on the plastic stool, and scratched her silver hair in frustration.

"Please wait..."

Jason, standing next to him, forced a smile and stood up, raising his hands:

"You mean... there's something wrong with the Pulitzer Prize?"

Angelica didn't speak, but the other two nodded.

Jason confirmed again:

"So, you mean he caused Ms. Laurent's strange behavior?"

The other two nodded again.

Jason burst out laughing:
If it were Anya, then she would be a town mayor with a century-long legacy, deserving of this special status, and she and I would be a match made in heaven.

If you were to follow Grayson, whose family owned the steel mill and was wealthy and influential, working with him would be like brothers joining forces.

But what exactly is Pulitzer?
Special physical condition, perhaps due to studying mathematics?

Before that kid blocked that bear, he was a complete coward, okay?
He could be a hidden super-strong individual, or a child of miracles? What a joke!
Blood doesn't lie.

Angelica's act of drinking Pulitzer's blood bag in one gulp further confirmed this fact:

The more I drink, the more I want to drink. This little bit feels like drinking poison to quench my thirst...

There's definitely something wrong with his blood.

"Captain, should we call for backup?"

Angelica pondered for a moment:

"No. If it were the former, you wouldn't be able to summon a terrifying being capable of killing a peak Overlord level being in a short time."

If it's the latter, the child will be in a terrible situation.

"miserable?"

"I've never told you where that miracle girl went afterward."

After hearing Angelica's words, the werewolf knight and Sika fell silent, only Jason continued to press for answers:
"Where have you gone?"

"Just think of it as hell."

Jason isn't stupid; he's seen science fiction movies.
"...slice analysis?"

Angelica did not elaborate on this issue:

"I will report this situation to my teacher first, and only notify her. I will hold it down for now, and then she will compare it with the database and report it urgently after we find obvious clues."

If it's a powerful wandering knight, and there's no comparable information in the database, then that's an extremely terrifying existence, definitely someone hiding outside of White Island.

Jason still didn't believe it: "But... I went to the same school as Pulitzer since I was a kid, how could he be some kind of undercover agent? Unless he's been a spy since he was 8 years old..."

"impossible."

Angelica suddenly stared at Jensen:

"There is one possibility, which is also the most terrifying possibility we can foresee."

Upon hearing this, the werewolf knight broke out in a cold sweat, while Sika remained silent, her eyes revealing barely concealed anxiety.

"—He was a Dead Apostle who used the Crimson Ritual to steal Pulitzer's identity and everything else."

Angelica sighed as she looked at the two somber and silent figures.

After all, the Dead Apostles are infamous; aside from the Immortals, any other Awakened who encounters them will only meet their demise.

“In that case, we would need to request the White Ring Knights’ support immediately. But if they find out, before the White Ring Knights arrive, no one in the town, including you and me, will survive.”

Angelica is approachable in private, with a touch of gentle languor, but serious and meticulous when on missions.

But even during the operation, Jason had never seen the other party show such an expression:

"Dead Apostles... what exactly are they, and are they really that terrifying?"

“Dead Apostles are not human. All the legends about the devil that you know now come from Dead Apostles.”

They are all terrifying monsters that have lived for over a century; these things are inhuman and bring only destruction and death.

Incidentally, the Tower of Babel, the most terrifying and only large-scale Dead Apostle organization in the world... is hidden on White Island.

Jason shuddered involuntarily, because Angelica's description of the devil reminded him of the bizarre and fantastical monsters in Norse mythology.

Especially with Odin constantly whispering "Hell" in his ears these past two days, he directly projected the Dead Apostles into those beings:

"...Haven't they ever wiped them out?"

“They lurk within the clusters of human spirits, making them extremely difficult to eradicate and detect,” Angelica shook her head.

"I'm almost an adult and I've never known any of this... Pulitzer, a Dead Apostle?"

Angelica's expression softened, and a smile bloomed on her face:

"It's just a worst-case scenario guess; there's no need to be so nervous." She stood up and began to formulate a battle strategy:
“Sika and Jason, you two go to Yuk High School to carry out the probe plan and keep an eye on Pulitzer and report back to me at any time.”

"Andrew (Werewolf Knight), I'm truly sorry about what happened last night. I will apply for a large compensation payment when I get back."

But I desperately need you to recover quickly. Your sensory abilities will be a great help in finding the missing reef upstream, and I suspect the malevolent creature I ate might be related to it.

"Captain, what about you?"

"I need to maintain a supply of fresh blood, so for the time being I have to stay with the blood bank and keep ingesting fresh blood to keep myself stable. If necessary, I will need Andrew to help me hunt some animals."

Jason was startled:
"So... you can't travel with us?!"

He glanced at Sika; things were not looking good.

The strongest member of the action team is experiencing health problems... Isn't this exactly the kind of scenario that's about to unfold in any movie or TV drama?

"Don't worry, the extra blood pack can keep me sane for thirty minutes. If necessary, fresh human and animal blood can also keep me going, but not for long."

I will keep you informed from here and request the nearest garrison knight to come and provide support.

I contacted someone around noon today, Bordeaux LD Love, nicknamed "Dead Water Knight." His resume hasn't been updated for four years, but back then he was already a sixth-tier Overlord.

"A sixth-tier Overlord... can he deal with a Dead Apostle?" Jansen was still somewhat shaken.

Sika smiled helplessly:
"Of course not. But don't worry, the possibility of a Dead Apostle is not that high. In fact, there has never been a Dead Apostle in the history of Red Maple Town. After all, no matter how prosperous this place is, it is still just a medium-sized town with a population far smaller than that of a city."

Dead Apostles generally prefer densely populated areas where human spirits congregate, but we need to remain vigilant.

Perhaps your good classmate is just an extraordinary ordinary person with a special spirit, or a child of miracles—that's certainly what everyone would be most happy to see.

But I'm an exception... Wouldn't Anya like him even more if that were the case? Jason felt conflicted.

Angelica agreed with Sika's statement:

"This is also my assessment of him, but the matter is of great importance. All the tests must be conducted without exception, and they must be kept absolutely secret so that he cannot detect them or have any possibility of detecting them."

Angelica's previous empiricist judgments had already caused her to stumble in the search for the source of the blood.

Therefore, she wanted to think outside the box and be realistic, rather than finding an answer from past experiences and repeatedly verifying whether the other person could apply the same logic to her.

"That's it. It will take the Deadwater Knights several days to get here, and there might even be delays, but they should be able to make it in time for the sailing competition a week from now. Time is of the essence."

I will release more specific action plans to everyone as soon as possible today. Please be sure to act cautiously!

Jason turned around, found a corner, and began to pray to Odin.

What are you saying, great Father? Do the Dead Apostles really exist? Are there really such terrifying creatures? Are Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent, and Nidhogg Dead Apostles? Is Pulitzer innocent or not?

If it's inconvenient for you to tell me, why don't you send your son Thor down to earth to see what's going on? If what they're saying is true, then Red Maple Town might very well be destroyed!
Ji Li was speechless for a moment, and casually replied:
[Not a dead apostle.]

As a fanatical believer, Jason firmly believed this statement and became quite arrogant for a moment, but then another problem arose:

Is Pulitzer a malevolent, mysterious, and powerful being, or a special human spirit like himself?
If it's the former, then wouldn't he be unable to win Anya back for the rest of his life?

But if it's the latter, then I'm not the most special one in the school anymore. This is the kind of special that made Lady Laurent lose control. Can I, Odin's chosen one, compare?!
Ji Li had no idea what Jensen was thinking, otherwise he might have been speechless.

He had overheard their entire conversation and almost burst out laughing when he learned that it was Jason and Sika who had come to investigate him.

With Jason, who himself is unaware that he is the mole, around, the so-called investigation poses no threat to him whatsoever.

As for Sika, Ji Li also learned about her love of alcohol, which could be used as a starting point.

Angelica, the strongest of the three, is now also restricted, making the situation very favorable.

As long as the Knights don't notice anything amiss, the situation will remain completely under Ji Li's control and be guided in the direction he desires.

It is now fully confirmed that Angelica's mutation was caused by his blood.

Having already deduced this, Ji Li did not deliberately avoid their blood-drawing plan under the guise of school epidemic prevention; doing so would have been deliberate.

Angelica has now begun to doubt Pulitzer's identity again and is speculating that he is a more powerful Awakened One. Things are developing as Ji Li had predicted, and he already has a script in mind.

If he allows the buried psychic artifact to attack him during a sailing race, he can use other personality relics or psychic circuits to fake his "awakening."

This would not only clear him of suspicion but also win the trust of the Knights squad, and the spirit material simulated by Clementine would point to the gravedigger himself.

He then used the excuse that "the gravedigger has put himself and Aquile in danger" to join the knight squad and help with the investigation.

By then, Ji Li, who was directly in charge of the investigation, had secretly taken over everything.

His understanding of the tomb keeper could completely advance the process of these chess pieces finding a spiritual place for him to the next stage...

In the bedroom, Ji Li found a bear skin, activated the spiritual circuits on it, and integrated them into his skin.

Ji Li had already used up all the materials for that bear skin of Jason's, so this was another one he got from that bear.

Although Ji Li can also carve directly on his own body, the bear skin and Jansen's actual situation correspond, which could lead to the possibility of them both being favored by Odin.

Looking at the bearskin in the mirror, and confirming that the spiritual circuits had extinguished, Ji Li's retina displayed all the information at that moment:
Everything is ready, just waiting for the sailing race to begin.

But there is still one variable, which is the one called the Dead Water Knight.

If it's a sixth-tier ruler, conservatively speaking, it might be a peak ruler. People of this level are not easy to control, and they are also new outsiders.

We mustn't let him muddy the waters before the plan is finalized.

Therefore, this perfect plan that kills multiple birds with one stone should be abandoned, and the werewolf knight in charge of investigating the coast should be allowed to run into the prematurely activated psychic artifact.

Or should we stick to the plan, ignore the foreign aid, and adapt to the situation to complete the perfect plan?
or……

A logical deduction framework appeared before him, and Ji Li deftly picked out a name with his gaze:
Clint Gary

The senator who controls the sailing races.

"Let the sailing race start earlier, before the Deadwater Knight arrives."

The next day, Angelica, who was still receiving blood transfusions at the hospital, was woken up by a phone call from Sika:
"What did you say?!"

She sat up abruptly:
"The show has been rescheduled for tomorrow???"

(End of this chapter)