Soul Trigger

Chapter 671 Interlude
"Secret martial law... Clay puppeteers, is it really that exaggerated?"

Aquil stared in astonishment as the police cars sped past on the road.

After all, the appearance of the previous two Dead Apostles hadn't made Ms. Laurent make such a fuss.

"After all, she was a well-known Dead Apostle, and the remaining information proved her motives, so it's normal for Angelica to take such big actions."

Ji Li remained expressionless, still thinking about the clues he had discovered yesterday; the Pioneer's face lingered in his mind.

Aquile finally couldn't help but frown:

"You seem to have been calling her Angelica the whole time?"

"if not?"

"When did you two become so close?"

"Didn't you secretly call your sailing instructor by his first name back in school?"

"Humph……"

They are currently returning to their main residence from Green Manor, transferring all their belongings there to Green Manor, thanks to what Ji Li and Ai Guier discovered yesterday.

Jason and Green naturally had no objections, and the latter also said he would return as soon as possible.

Yesterday's laboratory was identified by Angelica as one of the "Puppet Master's" secret laboratories. Andrew, along with the police, completely sealed it off and secretly emptied it, except for the mechanical objects.

At the same time, she took direct control of the town's police station, issuing orders and mobilizing most of the officers to perform duties that ordinary people could do.

For example, the three police officers following Andrew, such as special sentry posts at key locations, and dispersing the bats one by one, followed by these police officers.

Angelica would detect any Dead Apostle showing his face or any unusual aura immediately.

Ji Li guessed that his blood must have brought Angelica considerable benefits, as the bats had not appeared on such a large scale before.

It seems that I should demand payment from this girl.

The mysteries in the clay puppeteer's laboratory left him somewhat scratching his head, but from another perspective, he had finally come into direct contact with the traces left by the pioneers.

But thinking of that photo, Ji Li couldn't help but feel an indescribable anger rising within him again:

Pioneer... I'll find out whether you're real or an imposter...

"By the way, Ms. Laurent is going to give us special training this afternoon. Do you think it's about the knighthood oath..."

Before Aquile could finish speaking, he saw the sports car in front of Gary's house, and his face immediately fell.

Two young, beautiful blonde girls were leaning against the sports car; they were the Foster sisters.

The two women's eyes lit up the moment they saw Ji Li. Anya ran over in her chunky-heeled ankle boots and gave Ji Li a big hug while carrying the baby.

Equalton's face fell immediately.

After seeing Sally Foster pull over to let Ji Li get in, she snorted and turned away.

"What's wrong with her?" Anya asked, puzzled.

Ji Li quickly suppressed the anger in his heart:

"It's nothing. I've been under a lot of pressure lately, so it's normal to be a little irritable. I didn't expect you two to come... Thank you."

Anya Foster was hanging the cat's eye pendant around Ji Li's neck, her face close to his, behaving intimately.
"You haven't been to school lately, it's probably not just a simple 'sick leave' situation, is it?"

Anya looked at Ji Li with a rather resentful expression.

She was the only person in the entire Red Maple Town who knew about Ji Li's second identity. Since the sailing competition, Ji Li hadn't gone to school under the pretext of being on sick leave, and of course she knew that was just an excuse.

So she was somewhat resentful of Ji Li's behavior of bringing her along as before, and stood by the roadside trying to hug and cuddle with Ji Li.

Sally ran down as well, not to be outdone, and hung a cross pendant around Ji Li's neck as well.

Aquil and Angelica, who were carrying things out of the house, witnessed this scene. The former's face was ashen, while the latter had a smile playing on her lips.

"Your brother is really popular..."

"Two bewitched little bitches..."

Angelica had been under a lot of pressure lately, but seeing those two girls tugging and acting coquettishly at Ji Li, this scene of ordinary people made her feel somewhat emotional.

After becoming an Awakened One, she rarely encountered such petty love triangles on campus anymore. Even with sisters vying for the same man, it brought a smile to her face, and she jokingly remarked to Aquile, a rare occurrence for her:

Who are you planning to make your sister-in-law?

But these words were like lighting a powder keg, provoking Aquile to grit his teeth in anger:
"That's my brother, why does he have to find a sister-in-law?!"

After she finished speaking, she suddenly froze, and Angelica next to her also froze, looking at her with astonishment.

Aquil then realized what was happening and hurriedly tried to make amends.

However, a clear female voice from the roadside interrupted her:
"Ms. Laurent, may we borrow the Pulitzer?"

Anya, youthful and beautiful, embraced Ji Li, her blonde hair fluttering in the breeze.
"I'll definitely bring him back this afternoon!"

Angelica smiled:
"Go ahead, Pulitzer. Don't be late for this afternoon's business."

"awesome!"

Without saying a word, the two women forced Ji Li into the car and drove away.

Angelica Laurent noticed the cross resting on the cat's-eye pendant around Ji Li's neck, a flash of spiritual light in her eyes, and she sighed slightly.
"Ah, youth is truly something..."

"Those two filthy bitches!"

With a "crack," the handle of the small trailer in Aquile's hand shattered, which drew another sharp look from Angelica.

After hesitating for a few moments, she couldn't help but say:

"In fact, there are quite a few awakened individuals who marry and have children with ordinary people, and many even have multiple partners. This does not mean that Pulitzer will leave you."

"Who cares if he leaves me! As long as he doesn't do anything like those male dogs in school and do things he shouldn't, I'll kill him!"

Angelica was speechless for a moment:
Well, Pulitzer seems quite adept at it, even with a somewhat embarrassing sense of satisfaction.

And this is White Island, it would be strange if Pulitzer didn't do that.

After hesitating for a long time, she could only say one thing to Aquile in the end:
"I didn't expect you to be such a conservative kid."

He then picked up the blood drink and took a sip.

I'm sorry, young lady, but in order for us all to survive this unknown catastrophe, I have to find your brother again.

……

Ji Li originally only asked Anya to give him the cat's eye pendant as a way to prepare for what would happen later.

But the two of them dragged him to the gambling table to play roulette.

Ji Li, who was in a bad mood because of that photo, found some relief.

This was already the umpteenth round of the card game. Anya couldn't wait to straddle Sally's face-down card and prepare for a sprint-like prone thrust.

Looking at Ji Li in the mirror as he took away Sally's chips and filled them for himself, she was so excited that her breath seemed to reach the sky.

After a period of varying pace and intensity, Ji Li entered a more aggressive, high-speed phase, blitzing his chips into Anya's folded cards to complete the bet.

With a violent shaking of the gambling table, Anya's chips uncontrollably burst forth, scattering from the gaps in Ji Li's betting and rolling extensively across the gambling table and onto the folded cards of her third opponent.

Ji Li took away the bet and then suddenly threw it into Sally's face-down card, causing her to gasp in surprise and sink back into the abyss of gambling.

I don't know how many times I've played roulette.

"Human nature always needs to relax..."

"Ok?"

"It's nothing, you can continue."

Outside the window, a gaunt face stared into the room.

Clementine stared blankly at the two blond heads at the gambling table, who were clearing chips for Ji Li together.

Seeing Anya's mouthful of chips, Ji Li got up and started the game again with Sally's resilient folded cards. Clementine finally couldn't stand it anymore and ran away from the window, covering her face.

How does this guy manage to gamble with two people in so many different ways without feeling any psychological pressure?

"He's not going to drag me to the table later, is he?!" Ji Li pulled away the bet, and the chips kept rolling out from the two of them, their cards covered in chips.

After having the Foster sisters clear out his chips one last time, Ji Li lightly kissed his two tablemates, satisfied.

This is still the most beneficial for physical and mental health; it makes me feel much more relaxed.

Upon exiting, I saw Clementine floating beside me, staring blankly at herself:

"Want to join?"

Clementine instinctively took a step back:
"not me……"

"Don't worry, I'm not in the mood for that right now. Anyway, no one can see you. Why don't you come in so you can see more clearly?"

Clementine's pale face immediately turned bright red:

"This...how could you..."

"That's just how you are, let's go."

If it were a zither instead, it might actually work.

However, Ji Li remembered that Qin's desire aura seemed to have some special uses in this regard. Not only could it enhance spiritual quality, but it also seemed to have the effect of awakening lust.
Is there any chance to bring Cool Girl and Qin together...? I bet the little bird would be so angry it'd transform on the spot.

When Ji Li arrived at Green Manor, Aquile and Angelica had been waiting for him for a long time.

This special training was less of a special training and more of an advanced science popularization, because Aiquier had reached the fourth level of spiritual quality, but had not yet completed the oath to become a knight.

Ji Li's spiritual quality (Ghost Shark) somehow exceeded the threshold and reached the fourth level after Angelica's test.

She attributed it to the spirituality of those Dead Apostles.

In light of potential threats ahead, especially after learning about their encounter with the "Leaping Wolf" yesterday, Angelica believed it would be best to improve their strength as soon as possible.

The special training session wasn't long, only three hours, but it was much longer than the usual one hour per person. Angelica taught very hard.

The so-called "oath" is actually very simple: it is to let one's awakened spiritual light overwhelm the desires of the resting objects within the body and achieve "reconciliation".

Actually, reconciliation isn't always necessary; suppression and transactions are also options, which can be considered three methods of making a vow.

Ji Li originally intended to take this opportunity to use the cognitive index to improve Kisame's abilities, thereby enhancing his own disguise skills and enabling him to handle more situations. Fortunately, he successfully forged the oath.

But in the end, Aiquier failed to take the oath and looked dejected. Ji Li thought about it and decided not to provoke him.

As Angelica's instruction officially concluded, Ji Li patted Aquile on the shoulder:

"Hey, are you alright...?"

The latter shrugged, panting, and glared at Ji Li:
"Where are your two rich women?"

Ji Li: "They've gone home?"

"...I'm so annoyed right now, you go find them."

Aiguiel ran away, leaving Ji Li behind.

Ji Li could tell at a glance that this girl was sulking about what happened that morning, so she went up to her and grabbed her arm.

Why are you angry?

"I'm just angry!"

"Okay, shall we go back to see Aunt Duke in a bit?"

"Hmph..." Aquile curled his lip: "Let's go now."

Ji Li smiled and turned to look at Angelica, but the latter said:
"Pulitzer needs to stay behind."

"What's wrong?" Aquile asked, puzzled.

“I need to conduct some checks on him, after all, he absorbed the essence of the Dead Apostle before, and this cannot be overlooked.”

There was a hint of disappointment in Aiquier's eyes, but she was still very happy that Ji Li was willing to cheer her up.

He didn't say much about it, gave Ji Li a hug, and then said goodbye and left.

Ji Li was somewhat puzzled, as this was the first time the girl had said goodbye to him in this way, even though it was a very common custom on White Island.

Angelica, standing beside her, narrowed her eyes:
"You and Aquil are not related by blood, right?"

"definitely."

"That's right. Generally speaking, it's usually siblings who are related by blood who dislike each other."

"She used to dislike me quite a bit."

"But it's different now."

Angelica didn't say much about the matter, but instead led Ji Li into the Green Manor and to the room the butler had assigned to her.

Along the way, she told Ji Li about the results of their investigation at noon. Following Jason's lead and instructions, they searched the entire Green Manor thoroughly, including the altar that Jason had visited before.

However, no useful information about the Odin Holy Land was obtained, except for some religious texts of the Odin faith, but the Odin Holy Land described in those texts is not this "Odin Holy Land".

"So we can only wait until Old Green comes back the day after tomorrow..."

“I’ll have Sika and the others search more thoroughly. I’ll keep an eye on the Dead Water Knights. You and Aquile don’t need to worry. Focus on improving yourselves these next few days.”

"So... why did you call me here?"

Ji Li's expression was strange. When Angelica suddenly said she wanted to keep him here, he felt something was amiss.

This girl's condition improved after drinking my blood. She wouldn't be thinking of using my body for further research, would she?

Because he was more relaxed in the afternoon, Ji Li didn't think about anything strange.

But Angelica smiled helplessly, opened her red lips, and let Ji Li see the clearly visible vampire-like teeth inside:

"Because I drank your blood, the sedative in my body has become restless; it wants more."

Ji Li: "...A pacifier?"

You really want to drink it again?

Upon closer examination, the system of the Soul Aristocracy, essentially composed of mourners, like Qin, is influenced by the resting objects (personal relics) within the soul.

If Qin is addicted to gambling, then Angelica is both addicted to drugs and gambles...?
Faced with Ji Li's deep thought, Angelica could only offer an apologetic expression:
"I know you have a girlfriend, I'm sorry. But there's nothing I can do, I'm surrounded by Dead Apostles, and I have to deal with my vampiric urges."

But rest assured, this is absolutely the last time, because once I successfully awaken the first oath and reach the pinnacle of dominance, this state will be resolved.

Seeing that Ji Li didn't speak, Angelica thought he was hesitating, after all, this time was different from the last time.

Last time it was out of necessity, but this time it was her own request, and Pulitzer had just met his girlfriend that morning.

Angelica could only try to persuade Ji Li:

“I promise, this will be the last time. You don’t need to feel like you’ve betrayed Anya Foster or Sally Foster. Pulitzer, I really need your help…”

"Captain, I have a question..."

"Of course, if you really need time to accept it, I can go out first and let you think it over yourself, but don't make me wait too long."

"No, I meant to ask if you should take your clothes off first or I should take mine off first?"

Angelica: "..."

She breathed a sigh of relief, a relieved smile spreading across her face, and stepped forward to cradle Ji Li's head in her hands:
"Just relax, I'll help you take it off."

Below the manor.

Seeing the curtains above drawn, obscuring Angelica and Ji Li's figures, the Dead Water Knight narrowed his eyes and quickly left.

He arrived at the laboratory guarded by Andrew, and after persuading him to enter by claiming that "the other party was with him," he arrived at the place where Ji Li and Ai Guier had fought the jumping wolf.

"What are you doing?"

"Let's assess the spiritual quality; after all, being a clay puppeteer is dangerous, isn't it?"

The Dead Water Knight smiled and took a wisp of spiritual energy into his hand.

Once Andrew was no longer paying attention to him, he turned around, his face already icy cold.
"Sure enough, this boy named Pulitzer has a strange spiritual quality..."

(End of this chapter)