Battlefield Priest's Diary

Chapter 84 Anti-fraud master Houdini

"Lord Pugin, please go and see!" the short, stout Papis cried out, tears streaming down his face.

"Oh? Why?" The priest in the black robe seemed unmoved, casually flipping through the storybook in front of him.

“My lord, please listen to me,” Papis stood anxiously to the side and explained, “That American came last week and performed some magic tricks, like turning rabbits into real ones, for His Highness Alexei, who was ill. The princes were very happy.”

Is there a problem with this?

“Normally, this is nothing, anyway, everyone has been…” The short, fat man glanced cautiously at the priest in black robes before continuing.

"But later, this guy started spreading his theory of 'breaking the spells' to His Majesty, saying that everyone's spells were fake, and even said he would personally demonstrate how to break the spells..."

That's it!

Qin Hao nodded. This was probably a case of a "master of psychic arts" meeting a professional fraudster.

He knows this man.

Harry Houdini, whose real name is Eric Weiss, is a Hungarian-American, a first-generation magician, a master of decryption, and a lock-picking expert.

Above all these titles, he has an even more resounding name—the father of modern escape techniques.

Before him, magicians generally performed small-scale magic tricks, using small props to entertain in informal settings, and their social status was not high.

The so-called large-scale performances are nothing more than old tricks like the ability to walk through walls.

Harry Houdini, on the other hand, made a series of innovations, not only creating a variety of novel close-up magic tricks, but also pioneering dangerous large-scale escape magic tricks.

In this magic trick, the performer is bound hand and foot and thrown into a sealed water tank in front of thousands of onlookers, and then must escape within a limited time. This requires extremely high physical and mental qualities from the performer, and a mistake could cost them their life.

Of course, this exciting and dangerous magic trick also attracted a large audience, making it famous overnight.

Subsequent tricks such as swallowing needles, escaping handcuffs, and disappearing elephants paved the way for future magic performances.

He also has another prestigious title – Master of Anti-Illusion.

As the name suggests, Harry Houdini focuses on unraveling mystical events and is keen to use magician techniques to explain various "psychic" and "psychic" phenomena.

Psychic scams are essentially visual illusions, and Houdini was an expert in this field. He was practically the nemesis of those "psychic masters" who used this to deceive people.

No wonder Papis was so terrified; he was afraid of losing his job.

The short, stout man looked expectantly at his new boss, hoping the black-robed priest could dampen the Americans' arrogance.

But the next second, he was disappointed.

"I'm not interested. You guys handle it." The priest in the black robe showed no interest in sharing the same hatred, and instead sat down on his own.

"Sir! You can't just abandon us! We've already..."

"What happened?"

Papis was momentarily speechless. He couldn't very well say that he had already paid his respects to the boss and now that something had gone wrong, the boss needed to step in.

"Go back. I'll tell His Majesty you're not feeling well and need to rest for a few days. Don't worry about anything else." The black-robed priest waved his hand dismissively.

Papis wanted to say something more, but in the end he just shut his mouth and left the room.

Looking out the window at the short, stout man's somewhat disheveled figure, Qin Hao turned around and went about his own business. He wouldn't have many chances to come back, and there were some things he needed to arrange quickly.

He put down the storybook and opened a report in front of him—a progress schedule for the Fabergé workshop, which included a series of recent tasks.

Moving your finger across the "Crown Prince's Special Cup" item, continue searching downwards until you land on the "New Easter Eggs" item.

It clearly states above that it is "completed".

Thump thump thump~ thump thump thump~
The sound of knocking on the glass rang out outside. Qin Hao looked up and saw a dark, oppressive scene before him.

He reached out and opened the window, and a dozen crows rushed in at the same time.

They split into two groups, one large and one small, constantly chasing and arguing around Qin Hao, even ramming each other with their wings. Qin Hao had a bit of a headache.

After the last incident involving the Empress Dowager's summons, these crows have become a bit too restless.

The system of taking turns keeping watch and taking turns entering the house to beg for food, which was an equal distribution model, only lasted for a few days before the trust system of these clever crows collapsed.

There are always some cunning guys who try to sneak into the house first and take an extra serving of jerky from him.

Although they were driven out of the flock after being discovered by other crows, new crows would soon do the same, and they would be driven out again.

As a result, a few days later, the crows split into two groups: one group, which consisted of a larger number of honest "pragmatists," and the other group, led by Odin, consisted of "sly ones."

The two sides are now in direct competition. As soon as Qin Hao opens the window, they swarm in to seize resources, and the original rules are completely trampled by these guys.

Faced with this situation, Qin Hao chose to let it go, leaving the same dried meat each time and letting these black-feathered guys solve their "internal problems" themselves.

Perhaps a small "distribution revolution" will erupt within them? Who knows?

Dangdangdang~~~
A knock sounded at the door. Qin Hao waved his hand, opened the window, and the crows flew out with a clatter.

The housekeeper left but returned.

"Someone from the Winter Palace has arrived. His Majesty wishes you to return immediately!" Lyudmila said, arms crossed, seemingly dissatisfied.

"What's matter?"

"Yes, it is said that an American won a prize in front of His Majesty, and the Empress wishes you to meet him."

The housekeeper hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn't help but warn, "Be careful. It's said that this magician is quite different from others."
-
"Wow! That's amazing! How did you do that?!" Exclamations of surprise echoed from the inner courtyard of the Winter Palace.

The Tsar's youngest daughter, Anastasia, held her little face in her hands, excitedly watching everything before her, while Alexei, who had just recovered, was also speechless with amazement.

Right before their eyes, a short, masked man in a white magic cloak floated in the room, occasionally making some fancy little gestures.

At his signal, a female assistant swept a long wooden pole across the man's body to prove that there was nothing around him to support him.

A burst of enthusiastic applause erupted among the Tsar's children, and even the head maid wiped her glasses, revealing an expression of disbelief.

As the man landed, a small firework exploded, and a wreath appeared in his hand. He removed his mask, knelt on one knee before the little princess, and placed the wreath on Anastasia.

"What an incredible performance! Is this some kind of superpower?" the Tsar asked curiously from the side.

The man bowed slightly to the Tsar and said, "Thank you for your praise, but I have never had any special abilities, nor do I possess any divine magic."

"I hope people will call me the greatest magician, not a charlatan."

Hearing the last sentence, the Queen was slightly displeased. She pursed her lips and asked, "Don't you believe in the existence of true spiritualism? After all, you can't possibly witness all the magical things."

“I admire your wisdom.” The man nodded and first praised Alexandra. “I only have one pair of eyes, so it is impossible for me to see everything in the world. Therefore, I have issued a challenge.”

The man held up one finger. "I have deposited $10,000 with Scientific American magazine and published a notarized statement that I will pay this money in one lump sum to anyone who can demonstrate the principle behind any psychic technique in front of me without being exposed, and I will never go back on my word."

Ten thousand US dollars is a lot of money these days, and it seems that this young man would say such a thing only when he is extremely confident.

Sure enough, the man sighed the next second, "It's just a pity that more than a year has passed since this happened, and so far no one has been able to take this money from me."

“I even received a considerable amount of interest from it, which is really a regrettable thing.”

Upon hearing this, Alexandra frowned. Although the other party was very capable, he seemed a bit too arrogant.

"Alright, alright, darling, aren't we supposed to be having fun with our little suns and pumpkins today? Let's not bring up those things anymore." The Tsar, noticing something amiss, stepped in to defuse the situation, then teased, "..."
"Speaking of which, doesn't Mr. Harry's tone sound familiar? Father Putin speaks like that too."

"Well, I've never had any divine powers. Those were just coincidences." Upon hearing this, the little princess, mimicking the black-robed priest's tone, made funny faces and winked.

The Tsar's family burst into laughter, but the man named Houdini's eyes lit up.

"I've heard about this priest's deeds. May I meet him?"

(End of this chapter)