Mysterious, but Naruto

Louis's interest in Vice Admiral Hal Constantine stemmed primarily from the description of him on the bounty, which contained numerous elements reminiscent of the Church of the Storm Lord.

This made Louis very suspicious, wondering if this man was a spy sent to the sea by the Church of the Lord of Storms.

Compared to those purely independent pirates, those backed by powerful forces likely have more resources and more information.

Another point is that, based on Audrey's description, the Hanged Man is very likely a member of the Church of the Lord of Storms. Even if they are not the same person, they should still be related.

The only problem is that his whereabouts are unpredictable, and encountering him at sea is purely a matter of luck.

Besides these well-known pirates with bounties of tens of thousands, there are also countless other small pirates scattered around.

It was only at this moment that it was confirmed that the Roseside Islands were truly making no attempt to conceal their potion system and were openly and blatantly revealing it to the public.

If you pay close attention, you can find clues in these bounties.

Even more remarkably, by simply guarding the entrances from the port to the island, one can see all sorts of strangely dressed individuals and beings whose appearances are no longer human.

But the island's inhabitants were already used to seeing these kinds of people.

Besides these strangely shaped people, the catch they brought back from the sea was also strangely shaped.

What caught Louis's attention most was a large iron cage that he had inadvertently come across.

The upper half of the cage was exposed to the air, while the lower half was placed in a huge water tank.

Inside was a monster with vague human-like features but a fish-like head, and huge, bulging eyes that never closed.

The monster had smooth, grayish-green skin, a scaly ridge on its back, and a delicate white belly.

On either side of its neck are constantly trembling gills, and its long, claw-like hands and feet are webbed, clearly indicating that it is a bizarre aquatic creature.

Especially when Louis learned from passersby that the monster they had captured was called "Deep One," he felt a sudden darkness engulf him.

"No way, I thought it was just my imagination, but it really is the world of Kreece?"

"So, am I even going to watch that 'light gate' thing? I don't want to end up corrupting myself too..."

After receiving the report from his clone, Louis became increasingly convinced that something was wrong with the world.

"That magic potion, it's said that drinking it will cause you to lose control, could it actually be corrupted by an ancient god or a familiar?"

Those strange abilities are also manifestations of the process by which humans, after being corrupted by the ancient gods, transform into their kind.

hiss--

I was wondering why that portal was so strange, with bubbles and insects, and its three pathways being a door, a Fool, and a mistake—could it be Yog-Sothoth?

Yog-Sothoth is the ruler of spacetime and the unifier of all things in the Cthulhu mythos. He also has other names, such as: Key to the Gate, One Who Holds the Door, One Who Dwells in the Doorway, The Transcendent One, Rama-Shakuva...

Furthermore, Louis was indoctrinated with a wealth of knowledge simply by glancing at the other person, which is consistent with his habit of imparting knowledge to his followers.

The more Louis made the connection, the more the image seemed to fit him, which inexplicably gave him a sense of urgency.

"No, it seems I can't keep slacking off. I really need to start spreading my chakra more vigorously to enhance my strength."

"I don't want to be corrupted into a monster by these ancient gods before Otsutsuki Shibai is even resurrected inside me. It would be better to live a few years less!"

With that thought in mind, Louis disregarded the fact that it was still dark and got out of bed to go to his study to start writing.

10 ml of Lava Octopus Blood, 50 g of Star Crystal, 1 Gem-Eating Worm, 1 Illusion Crystal, 1 Bloodspotted Black Mosquito, and the Core of the Candle Spirit.

100毫升他人之血、来源于不同人的指甲碎片九个、蓝宝石一颗、马鞭草粉末10克、羊须草纯露10滴、古井之水90毫升、从尸体上长出的任意花朵一朵、被灵界生物污染的泥土5克、纯水100毫升、夜香草汁液13滴、金薄荷叶子7片、毒堇汁3滴、龙血草粉末9克】

These are the three Sequence 9 potion recipes that Louis obtained from the door.

Although Louis was preparing to start spreading his chakra, he wasn't going to exert himself from just one side; he was going to try to analyze the power at the same time.

Try to work from two directions simultaneously, and see if you can use the power of chakra to expel the contamination from the potion, and then use the power of the potion to slow down the unsealing of your "Karma".

To avoid being easily identified, Louis wrote down all the ingredients required for the three recipes together.

That wasn't all; he planned to go back and divide it in two, giving one part to Audrey to buy, and the other part to the housekeeper.

In this way, even if the discoverer had one of the three formulas, he wouldn't be able to figure out what Louis was planning to do.

Louis put down his pen, preparing to go back to sleep for a while, when he suddenly heard something and realized that there seemed to be people arguing in hushed tones near the downstairs door.

Louis glanced out the window and saw his butler arguing with a man dressed as a merchant over a painting.

At first, he didn't think much of it, since he had indeed told the housekeeper to buy more paintings, vases, picture frames and the like so he could decorate the house a bit more.

But just as Louis was about to turn around, he suddenly noticed something strange about the painting below; it seemed to have a faint spiritual aura attached to it.

After discovering this, Louis came downstairs in his pajamas.

"Oh, Mr. Hayes, what happened? I got up to get a drink of water, but I heard you arguing with someone downstairs. Who is this gentleman?"

Upon seeing that it was Louis who had come down, the butler quickly bowed and said, "I am very sorry, sir, for disturbing your rest. This is William Walker, a well-known oil painting dealer in the West End."

As the butler introduced him, William Walker bowed to Louis.

After returning the greeting, Louis curiously stepped forward: "That makes me curious, what could possibly cause two gentlemen to argue here?"

The butler stepped aside, revealing the oil painting on the floor: "Sir, it's because of this painting. Although it is indeed very eye-catching, it is really not suitable to hang in the house."

Louis examined the painting carefully and agreed with the butler, because the painting contained a strange image: a blood-stained axe, a severed little finger, and a scalp that had been peeled off, with a long tuft of golden hair growing from it.

The spirituality that Louis had sensed earlier was now attached to the axe and the little finger in the painting.

At this moment, William Walker stepped forward and said, "Mr. Hayes is right. This painting is indeed not suitable for hanging at home, but it is so artistic that it can attract the attention of others at a glance."

It could easily become an artwork for the upper class; even if they don't keep it for themselves, they could display it in an art gallery.

Louis nodded: "Well, Mr. Walker, you've convinced me, Hayes. I think I might organize an art exhibition later."

The butler immediately understood Louis's meaning: "Yes, sir, I will have a good talk with Mr. Walker next."

After looking at the paintings William Walker had brought again and confirming that none were quite like them, Louis leisurely went upstairs. He checked the time; it was already 6:46. He shook his head slightly.

"Okay, I can nap for another two hours. Time for bed!"

The main body started to sleep, but the clones stayed up all night...

As for the painting, he wasn't in a hurry to check it. He had already bought it, and he would have plenty of time after he woke up.

When he woke up, he didn't have time to look at the painting. He went to the patent office to register the patent and then took a list of patents related to carriages.

After that, he went to check the locations of the factories that were for sale or rent. This whole process took up most of the day, and even though his body had been enhanced, he still felt exhausted.

When I finally got home, it was already past six in the afternoon, and I was almost ready to finish dinner.

Louis was somewhat speechless about this, but for the sake of his life of slacking off for the next few decades, hundreds, or even thousands of years, he had no choice but to do it.

Actually, Louis didn't really dislike what happened during the day; on the contrary, it helped him understand the city better.

As the capital of all cities and the commercial jewel of the entire Northern Continent, this place boasts a thriving economy. Behind its prosperity are rising stars in various industries, as well as those who fail as foils to these rising stars.

The factories Louis had seen earlier were left behind by those who had gone bankrupt.

They came with dreams and initial capital, then went to banks for loans and sought investment from higher-ups, only to lose everything. Now, not only have they sold off the factory they poured their heart and soul into, but they may not even be able to keep their own properties.

There are countless such factories for sale in the East District. Louis spent most of the day looking around, but he only managed to see less than a tenth of them.

This does not mean that Louis will be able to see all the factories for sale in the East District in ten days; in fact, he will not be able to see them all at all.

Because we've seen one-tenth of it today, tomorrow there might be just as many factory owners going bankrupt and starting to sell their factories.

As for the factories he had previously viewed, unless a decision was made on the spot, they were likely to be acquired by new investors in the blink of an eye.

After inspecting the factory buildings today, Louis confirmed that the prices were not high, with the cheapest costing only a little over a hundred pounds and the most expensive only a thousand pounds.

Since Louis preferred to get things done in one go, he wanted to buy a factory with a large enough area so that he wouldn't have to move to a different location if he wanted to switch to making steam cars in the future.

Louis had seen such large factory buildings during the day before; in fact, there were quite a few of them.

According to Louis's understanding, most of those who failed and went bankrupt shared his idea: to prepare everything at once.

Prepare a large factory, order a large amount of materials, make the best packaging, hire a large number of workers, and produce a large number of finished products.

As a result, when it came time to sell, only a small amount of goods could be sold at a time.

This resulted in a large amount of capital being tied up, while workers were waiting to be paid and banks or investors were waiting to repay loans.

These factories can only last for six months at most before they have to go bankrupt.

At this time, the reputation of their products is often just beginning to take hold in Backlund.

This has even led to a strange phenomenon: when residents of Backlund encounter a certain product that they find useful, they often buy it in large quantities at once.

Because the factories behind these products might go bankrupt and be liquidated the very next day, and then you won't be able to buy them anymore.

Louis didn't just spend his days touring the factories; he was also studying business strategies.

However, when he saw the end, he realized that those people were different from him. They had a lot of money to squander. At worst, he could have just scavenged gold dust from the river to support his factory in his previous life.

It shouldn't be too long, at most a year, before his factory is profitable...

Having already prepared for the worst, Louis no longer cared whether doing so would cost him money, and chose a factory site according to his own preferences.

That's why Louis hadn't confirmed the factory location after a day of looking around, and planned to go out and look around again tomorrow.

But that's for tomorrow. Right now, he needs to study that painting carefully to figure out why it's imbued with a spirit.

After some analysis, Louis discovered one rather strange detail: the bloodstains on the axe in the painting actually contained real blood.

Of course, blood is only one of the raw materials; the main ingredient is pigment, otherwise the blood would turn black after it dries.

On the same little finger nearby, Louis was also surprised to find a strange ingredient: powder made from calcined bone.

Based on the blood on the axe earlier, Louis suspected that it might have been made from the bone of a little finger that had been calcined.

According to the previous theory, the scalp at the back should also have been made from living human tissue, but after Louis's examination, it was found that it was made from normal raw materials.

Thinking of this, Louis suddenly seemed to remember something and said to his manservant, "Reed, when you have nothing to do, you can ask that relative at the police station."

In the past, has there been any case where a perpetrator used an axe to cut off a victim's finger and then escaped or was caught?

Oh, and the victim should have had this head of straight blonde hair, about this long.

Although Reed was puzzled by Louis's request, he did not refuse, thinking he would ask about it in a couple of days.

The butler, who was standing nearby, overheard Louis's words and immediately thought of the painting from that morning.

"Sir, you mean...?"

Louis nodded: "I examined the painting earlier and found that it was actually painted on two separate layers. The blood on the axe and the exposed finger bone were painted on later."