Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 174 173 A little bit difficult

The lines of countless spirits stretched to the highest dome, the end of the void.

This is the spiritual thread that every living being possesses, and the reason why Sequence 5 of the Diviner's Path is called the most difficult sequence to contend with below demigod is because of these spiritual threads that every living being and every spiritual being possesses.

Tang looked out the window. Through the vision of a puppet master, he could see that in the quiet night of Miskatonic University, there were also countless spiritual threads flying to the end of the void, and many of them were also winding and circling, converging on a star above his head.

That is the core of the theater. As a Sequence 2 level seal, the Never-Ending Theater controls the spiritual threads of most of the puppets in Miskatonic University.

Among the countless dolls at Miskatonic University, only a few have virtual spirit lines brought by the "bionic doll" module, which can mislead others who can see the spirit lines.

"In fact, there are only a handful of Beyonders who can see the existence of the Spirit Thread and discover that it's the Puppet Master's Puppet before any abnormalities occur. Beyonders who are only good at frontal combat, or even have their entire skill tree focused on that, won't be able to see something with such a high level of mysterious attributes unless they use some Beyonder items."

Ah, let me make it clear first, he doesn’t have any warriors.

"The Diviner's Path undergoes a qualitative transformation at Sequence 4. The core lies in manipulating the Marionette. Therefore, any other embellishments and representations are merely icing on the cake."

Just like Amon's monocle, what is scary is not what the monocle brings, but the essence of what the monocle represents.

It represents that this person has become a parasite of someone else, and this parasite is the god of fraud and mischief.

Even if it's just a clone, it's enough to make many people who know about it feel instinctive fear.

Being parasitized by Amon is essentially no different from being hung up as a marionette. Apart from the monocle, which can intuitively express the symbol of fear, allowing people to see the marionette's spiritual thread, allowing the marionette to show the spiritual thread without revealing any problems is actually a symbol.

Tang pinched the crystal monocle on his right eye and looked at the spiritual threads that kept appearing on his head due to the ritual magic that was stuffed into the hat he was wearing.

Even if the perspective of the spirit lines is removed, these illusory black lines still exist, like puppet strings hanging from the sky, binding every entangled living being.

This was the effect of ritual magic that brought out some of the spiritual threads. Sometimes it had to be said that as long as the extraordinary people of the second path of knowledge had a deep enough grasp of knowledge, they were the easiest to become omnipotent.

"What do you think?"

'This is your problem, not mine.'

"But considering the level of cunning displayed by you, the Trickster, this is indeed enough...would you really not consider having your marionettes wear monocles?"

"Then how will the church distinguish between you and me? Right-eyed Amon and left-eyed Amon?"

It's so annoying. Why did Amon wear the monocle on his left eye?

Tang Hehe laughed, then decisively blocked this dirty thing again.

system:'……'

Host, you're such a jerk! You'll be unhappy when that dirty thing wears glasses on your right eye...

"Well, if we add some strange touches like a smile, a red hat, a monocle, or something, it should be possible. Just customize it for each marionette and it will make people feel terrified... If we can't find the Puppet Master who controls the marionette, how can it not be terrified?"

Just like the warriors in ancient times, killing one in the crowd was worth it, and killing two was a profit. Modern warriors looked at the three robot dogs in front of them, whose total value was only 10,000, and fell into deep thought with bombs in their hands.

What’s more important is that you never know who around you is a living person and who is a mechanical being in disguise.

"Well, find a test subject and give it a try..."

Tang turned his gaze away from the outsiders, the students, at Miskatonic University and thought carefully.

Then, he raised an inexplicable smile and said, "It's time for the Nightwatchmen led by Archbishop Chanis to see the wind and waves."

Those people look quite idle.

-

The Church of Evernight collaborated with the Loen Royal Family to establish a team of Extraordinary individuals in Tingen City, led by a Sequence 6 Requiem Master and centered around multiple Level 2 and Level 3 Sealed Artifacts. The team was responsible for handling all local Extraordinary cases in Tingen City.

Before Archbishop Chanis proposed to systematize and standardize the Extraordinary system within the church, plan the ratio of Extraordinary people in major cities, and the use of Sealed Objects, the major churches had always handled Extraordinary cases in various places based on the principle of proximity. That is, each city designated one to five bishops and priests with extraordinary powers according to the size, importance, and degree of faith spread of the city.

These bishops and priests generally preside over the prayers of the faithful and, while celebrating daily Mass, they also deal with supernatural events concerning believers of their own faiths.

This plan has been in place since the establishment of the Kingdom of Loen.

However, not all supernatural cases in different places are reported to the church by the public.

There are always people with shallow faith who report these matters to local governors, government officials, and territorial lords. However, except for areas with military garrisons and places where Beyonders directly descended from the Loen royal family exist in major cities, the government finds it difficult to properly handle such matters.

By the time the church discovered these anomalies, they had often spread to a level that was difficult to handle properly. The bishops and priests had no choice but to seek help from larger nearby churches. Even if the help received an effective response, the anomalies would cause greater casualties during this back and forth.

The large-scale sacrifice ceremony involving blood worship cults over a year ago is an example.

The insufficient number of Extraordinary People, the difficulty of communication, and the lack of a good communication environment between local governments and churches are all part of the reasons for this situation.

Another aspect is that some official extraordinary people are weak and find it difficult to control high-level seals with terrible negative effects.

Archbishop Chanis's proposal to systematize the Beyonder composition within the church was a rational plan for Loen's current era. "Using Sealed Artifacts to effectively handle Beyonder cases," "separating the church structure, with the vast majority of Beyonders no longer serving as bishops in various regions, but assigned to other systems to handle Beyonder cases in a unified manner," and so on—all of these were changes proposed by Archbishop Chanis and approved by the Pope of the Church of Darkness.

Among these, negotiating with the kingdom and the Augustus family and gaining some support from Augustus is also the key to the problem.

Sometimes, chaotic management leads to inefficiency and is an important reason for causing serious disastrous consequences.

Today, this team of extraordinary people has a not-so-small but very hidden house near the Church of Night in Tingen City, which is disguised as the base of the "mercenary team".

Of course, such "mercenary teams" are not rare for Rune.

There is fighting and killing everywhere here, and the caravan must always have some ways to ensure its safety on the road.

After all, it's impossible to fill a caravan with strong men armed with hunting rifles. This would be a huge expense, and ordinary caravans cannot support so many people.

This is also a new industry in Loen, Intis, and Feynaport. Sometimes, mercenaries will work as guards for some noble manors, bodyguards for some wealthy people, or catch cheating guys in bed. In short, this is a pretty good disguise.

The official power of the Church of Evernight, the Nightwatchers' Tingen Headquarters, is disguised like this.

This is a tavern that looks like it's located in a hidden corner. It's the base of an unknown mercenary team and appears quite ordinary on the surface.

But in fact, this is essentially the place where the local official extraordinary organization of the Church of Night usually works. There is a secret passage in the basement that directly connects to the underground of the Church of Night, directly connecting here with the place where the sealed objects are stored underground in the Church of Night.

And there, many sealers brought "level 2" and "level 3" seals from the headquarters and the Holy Tranquility Church.

Gregor Richards is the captain of this team of Beyonders and a Sequence 6 Requiem Master of the Night Path.

"Captain, this was reported to the city government by citizens over the past two days. It looks like an incident involving the supernatural."

These days, Gregor Richards, who never sleeps, feels a little physically and mentally exhausted.

Logically speaking, the number of supernatural cases reported to the Church of Night and the local government every day is not that many.

After all, this is an era where the extraordinary are not obvious. With the official extraordinary people from the Church of Night and the Church of Storm guarding the place, the wild extraordinary people will more or less take into account some church issues.

However, the short articles that have become popular among the people in recent times have alerted the official Beyonders of the Church of Evernight and have discovered some problems.

When team member Francis Houston walked into the office, the requiem master Gregor Richards rubbed his brows and put down the short articles written in Rune language that he had collected from some storytellers.

"What intelligence has the government received this time?" Gregor Richards asked as he browsed through the important intelligence screened by the team members.

"Some people are reporting seeing a tall, giant-like monster dressed in white wandering around late at night again," Francis Houston said, looking a little uneasy. "Also, the short story I found from a storyteller a few days ago about a woman with a pale face and the appearance of a painting walking in the rain has appeared again in the past couple of days."

During this period, according to the prayers of the goddess's believers in the church and some letters received from the government governor, the strange stories told by the storytellers in several of Tingen's largest taverns recently seemed to have really come true.

In today's Loen, only a few people can read and have received a basic education. Many families will only be able to write their names in the awkward Loen language until their death. Therefore, many people who have received a basic education but whose families have gone bankrupt for various reasons and are unable to make a living seek a way to survive by helping others identify contracts and government notices.

Among them, the easiest way to make money is the most dishonorable. It is nothing more than talking about some recent events in Rune and Tingen in places where large crowds gather, such as taverns and teahouses, in order to get rewards and wages from tavern and teahouse owners.

This is only suitable for those who can read and write for various reasons but whose families are not well-off. After all, for those families that were once glorious, sometimes decency is more important than anything else... and no one would be willing to be humiliated.

These people, collectively called "storytellers", have recently received anonymous submissions and have been hired and paid well to read things they have never seen before in various taverns, including large, medium and small ones.

The manuscripts given to the "storytellers" and asked to tell them all contained some strange things.

'A bride getting married at midnight', 'A girl walking in the rain', 'A terrifyingly tall woman in white wandering at night', 'A lady with a mask and a cracked mouth waiting for passersby with a sharp knife', 'A young girl who is constantly torn apart by death', etc.

These absurd and funny stories revealed an indescribable sense of horror, which made them a trend in Tingen City. Many wealthy people even crowded into taverns with storytellers in various places, or invited storytellers to their homes to tell them stories privately.

However, stories are just stories after all. Once they are spread, adults will not have any strange associations with them, except for making children cry in the middle of the night, afraid that monsters will appear in unlit places.

The incident started a week ago.

That was also the first extraordinary event that the Church of Darkness had verified so far.

Someone was too drunk and when he returned home in the middle of the night, he saw an incredibly tall woman in white standing on the street, as if waiting for something.

He was startled by this sudden situation and sobered up immediately. The incredibly tall lady in white was not his hallucination. He immediately thought of those strange stories that were very popular recently, and ran away in a panic.

But the person he found did not see an unusually tall lady in that place, as if it was just his illusion.

Some people thought that the drunk man was really too drunk and mistook road signs and houses for women. He was ridiculed for a long time until the second incident happened. Someone also saw the woman with obviously abnormal height and heard the voice of his own wife from this abnormal woman's mouth.

The man was very confused because his wife had disappeared half a year ago. The neighbors nearby said that she could not stand her husband's cowardice and left Tingen City with her lover. The man loved his wife too much, so he had an illusion.

But the husband, who also saw the woman, died inexplicably a few days later.

What is horrifying is that a tightly wrapped, highly dehydrated and terrifyingly mummy was found in the husband's home.

The clothes worn by the mummy were exactly the same as those worn by the wife who was rumored to have eloped with her lover.

(End of this chapter)