Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

Wayne smiled and pointed to his cheek.

Theresa, true to her nature, understood Wayne's meaning in a second, and said with a wry smile:

"Only a child would resort to such blackmail, right?"

“Uh…” Wayne paused, then pursed his lips. “Being found out is one thing. The unexpected thing is…”

Before Wayne could finish speaking, Theresa suddenly leaned forward and kissed his lips.

For a moment, Wayne's mind went blank, and it wasn't until several minutes later that he vaguely came to his senses. Theresa gently stepped back, her cheek separating from Wayne's, and pursed her lips, as if savoring something. The next second, she suddenly snapped out of her reverie, her somewhat hazy eyes widening as if realizing just how incredible her actions had been. She abruptly moved away from Wayne, her lungs churning as if they had been squeezed dry, emitting heavy gasps. Her flushed cheeks revealed the Demon Queen's turmoil. Her long, wet hair, which had somehow become disheveled from the intense movement, clung to her face, obscuring her vision and shielding her from Wayne's gaze. After a long pause, she shyly whispered:

"As an adult, shouldn't you at least resort to some form of blackmail?"

Wayne was now filled with regret, deep regret. Why hadn't he been quick-witted? After being stunned by Theresa's sudden attack, he hadn't been able to react for a long time. As a result, after the round, it was like Pigsy eating the ginseng fruit—aside from the lingering warmth on his lips and the faint sweetness on his tongue, it left almost no deeper impression.

But this was actually Theresa's little scheme.

In matters of kissing, or anything more intimate between men and women, she was a complete novice. And this was clearly not the kind of thing she could ask Kal'tsit for help with (although the ancient lynx probably wouldn't know either?), so, to prevent the playboy-like Vayne from thinking she was too inexperienced, and to maintain her "sacred and inviolable status as the absolute betrothed," Theresa deliberately unleashed a mental shock at the same time as she "ambushed" Vayne.

If anyone else had done this to Wayne, it would have been a suicidal attack. But with Theresa, Wayne was completely unprepared. Because Theresa had been exploiting Wayne for so long to replenish her own mental energy, her magic had naturally taken on Wayne's "color." With zero protection and the aid of the "identification code," Theresa's spells miraculously achieved unexpected results.

The spell not only momentarily stunned Wayne, but also caused Theresa to lose control for a split second due to the backlash of her moth-to-a-flame behavior. This led to her instinctively making those intense movements towards her lover and unconsciously licking her lips in remembrance afterward. Throughout this entire ordeal, Theresa was conscious but unable to stop herself. Therefore, only after the backlash subsided, and Theresa regained control of her body, suppressing her instincts with reason, did she suddenly recoil in shock.

It was terrifying. That uncontrollable craving, that instinctive impulse, that desire to be completely immersed in it from body to soul—that was Mr. Bruce's "Sun."

"Ahem, so the accident was..."

“Um…” Theresa suddenly spoke up, interrupted by Chauvin’s blushing cheeks, “Mr. Bruce, could I see the ‘sun’ again later?”

“What sun?” Wayne paused, translating Theresa’s Victorian words.

"It's nothing." Theresa pinched her thigh hard to bring herself back to her senses, then shook her head. It seemed she hadn't fully recovered yet, and she didn't know how long this period of being out of control would last.

Wayne gave Theresa a strange look, and after confirming that she seemed normal, he continued, "Then I'll continue. Theresa, do you believe that Originium has a soul?"

"Prince Wayne!" Kal'tsit, accompanied by SilverAsh, flung open the door and heard Wayne utter this incantation. Her face paled instantly, and the old lynx, unusually panicked, cried out, "mon3tr, restrain Prince Wayne and isolate him immediately!"

Chapter Ninety-Eight: Two Evil Gods, One YHW

It took Wayne a long time to finally explain to Kal'tsit that he did not believe in any Originium cult, nor was he contaminated by any inexplicable evil god or demonic meme.

"I say this only because of an accident I had at Rhine Life."

Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was present, Wayne explained his experiences at Rhine Labs in detail to those there. The cautious Kal'tsit, disregarding the several-hour time difference between Rembiton and Victoria, called Menes around 3 or 4 AM in Victoria. Coincidentally, Miss Menes was also still awake at that hour. After the incident at Rhine Labs, questions about whether Originium possessed consciousness, what kind of Originium could possess consciousness, the level of intelligence within Originium, and whether it was possible to artificially create Originium with consciousness—these questions had been approved by the Rhine Labs Board of Directors as research topics for their newly established SSS-class classified research laboratory—the Originium Psychiatry Department. As a key participant in the incident, Miss Menes had been working overtime today, accompanying the experts gathered there to participate in experiments and providing consulting services.

"Although the experiment has not made any progress yet, I can swear that the call that echoed in the minds of His Highness Wayne and me that day was not a delusion or an illusion! Himer and Saria can also attest to this!"

Menes said confidently. Seeing that Kal'tsit looked like she was planning to call Himer and Saria late at night, Wayne quickly stopped her.

"Alright, alright. Stop making calls, Kal'tsit. What are you worried about? I've even defeated demons head-on. Even if there really is some evil god, could it be more terrifying than the Wasteland Beasts?"

Kal'tsit opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word.

While Wayne's words were somewhat far-fetched, they weren't entirely wrong in a strict sense. The power of gods, though equally immense and beyond human comprehension, was at least within the bounds of established rules. Demons, however, were different. Mere awareness of them could make them stronger, and even a glance could corrupt them. The former Grand Duke of Normandy and the Earl of Princeton, father and son, were heroes in their fight against demons. But because the Earl of Princeton, seeking to flaunt his achievements, possessed a fragment of a vanished demon, within a few years, that once-resolute warrior had degenerated into a ruthless bandit, ultimately falling into utter depravity and becoming a servant of the demon, even injuring Kal'tsit in the Earl of Princeton's mansion.

Gods obviously do not have such abilities. Even evil gods cannot corrupt the mind as much as demons. It's like the spells of Michael and Wayne. One is merely inducing, and there is even a possibility of getting rid of it. The other is coercive. Once you are infected, there is no way to get rid of it.

Wayne defeated the demons in the Empire of Consciousness and suppressed their actions in the material world with his divine authority. It's highly unlikely that he would be silently corrupted without even facing the true form of the evil god. Not to mention, he has the Demon King Theresa, who is incredibly sensitive to demonic corruption, by his side.

For Wayne to fall for this, it would be impossible unless an evil god or the demon himself personally descended upon him; otherwise, it would be utter nonsense.

Seeing that Kal'tsit's expression had finally softened, Wayne finally had a chance to ask SilverAsh about the Originium Cult.

"Boss Yin, are you sure those two Snow Demon warriors only mutated after they came into contact with that mysterious cult?"

Ignoring the strange title, SilverAsh honestly shook his head. He couldn't lie; on this point, everything was indeed in doubt.

“I don’t know the specific details. After receiving their investigation report, I came here to report to you. The two soldiers did not exhibit any unusual behavior when they returned to camp.”

"So the incident occurred after you left the camp, during the time when Mr. Nohis was in charge of the camp, right?"

Wayne glanced at Nosis, who remained silent behind SilverAsh. The Liberian youth paused for a moment, then pursed his lips, reluctantly nodded, and answered truthfully:

“That’s true, but I don’t know the specifics either. When I received the report about the two of them acting strangely and rushed to the scene, they had already started consuming Originium. I just performed a final ritual for them before they died, turning their bodies into ice so that they wouldn’t contaminate the entire camp after the explosion.”

“Is it possible that the problem wasn’t caused by two soldiers?” Wayne asked.

"Are you trying to say I killed the wrong people?" Nosis said, somewhat angrily. Even with his cold personality, he was greatly shaken after personally executing two familiar comrades. Now, Wayne was saying that his actions were wrong and that the two soldiers were innocent. Wasn't this a veiled accusation that he had killed the wrong people?

It's incomprehensible. Even if the other party is the Prince of Wales, his proud pride cannot tolerate such an insult. If it weren't for being forced to, if it weren't to protect more people, who would willingly be an unconventional oddball, executing those two warriors swiftly and decisively when everyone else hesitated to act, enduring pleading and dissuading glances?

Who wouldn't want to save them? Nosis even promised to bring the Yetis with him to create a future for Kjerag! Who knew that just an ordinary mission would turn out like this....

“I didn’t say that, Mr. Nosis.” Wayne pursed his lips, coldly stopping the agitated Nosis. “I understand your feelings; I too have had times when I disregarded the interests of the minority for the benefit of the majority. But now is not the time to argue about this. If I’m not mistaken, the real threat is still lurking in your camp!”

Wayne's eyes sharpened as he walked towards the door and said, "The remains of those two warriors are still there, aren't they? Unfreeze them and let me hear their voices."

“What…” Nosis was taken aback by Wayne’s words. “But they are already dead. If the ice is broken, they could crystallize completely and explode at any time.”

“That’s how it should be,” Wayne said. “Did you think I was telling a fairy tale?” He pointed to his ear and said seriously, “I can hear the sound of Originium. If you don’t want the Mountain Snow Demon warriors to be wiped out, take me to the camp now, immediately.”

"Kal'tsit, Theresa, summon the people of Babel and have Mr. Patriot apply witchcraft to them. Instruct Logos to prepare a spell to block sight and sound. We may be in trouble."

Kal'tsit asked intently, "An evil god?"

Wayne nodded, then shook his head: "If it's an evil god, there might be more than one. But it could also be something else entirely."

Theresa's eyes widened slightly: "You mean...?"

Wayne quickly interrupted, "Don't say its name. You know who."

Chapter Ninety-Nine: On Demons

It wasn't that Wayne was particularly sensitive; it was simply that he saw too many familiar scenes. The biggest difference between a demon and an evil god is that a demon can forcibly corrupt a person's mind, while an evil god cannot. And to consume Originium to the point of death without stopping is clearly beyond the limits of what an evil god can achieve in a short period. Without prolonged influence, an evil god simply cannot reach this level.

Wayne had initially thought his trip to Rembitop was simply to excavate a donkey island and experience the local culture, but the sudden involvement with the Wasteland Devourers caught him completely off guard, especially since the incident involved SilverAsh and his mercenary group, who shouldn't have been involved at all. Wayne was certain that there was absolutely no mention of "demons" in the Ark's main storyline or SilverAsh's character file. If there were, given Yostar's penchant for leaving plot holes, they would have left one or two foreshadowing elements in the character file. However, now, SilverAsh, who shouldn't be involved with demons, had encountered what appeared to be a demonic entity. Although Wayne didn't want to admit it, this could very well be due to his own butterfly effect.

On the way to the mountain manor camp, Kal'tsit seized the opportunity to supplement Vayne's knowledge about demons. At this moment, the thousand-year-old lynx finally demonstrated her unparalleled knowledge:

"Your Highness Wayne, the known aberrations are mainly divided into three categories: the Sami, the tundra spirits deep in the northern tundra of Ursus; the aberrations of the wastelands behind the Great Wall in the southern scorching lands of Sargon; and the forest demons roaming the southern rainforests of Great Yan. But these are just the broad categories; there are hundreds of true demons. Of course, the main reason for this is that demons cannot be considered a species. Each demon exists as an individual, and there are subtle differences between each demon. Even demons that look similar will present different challenges when dealing with them."

“I understand. No two leaves in the world are the same, not even the leaves on the same tree have the same veins, right?” Wayne said.

Kal'tsit nodded, then said seriously, "You're right, so I must remind you that although you miraculously won a battle against demons, you must not underestimate them. We still don't know what kind of creature it is, and even the tundra monsters you encountered before are likely quite different in ability and appearance from what you imagine. Therefore, be careful, don't be reckless, and certainly don't try to fight them alone."

“But theoretically speaking, shouldn’t the fewer people who know about demons, the better?” Wayne said.

Kal'tsit nodded, replying with a mixture of helplessness and sorrow, "That's true, but there has never been a single person in the world who could defeat a demon single-handedly. Even a warrior like Borocaste cannot face a demon alone. Mortals often have to pay a heavy price to fight them. It takes the best of times to use the most elite troops, equipped with the best weapons, to keep the attacking force within an acceptable range, to pay a huge price and then achieve victory."

In simple terms, it's like playing a video game. The demon is like a boss whose attributes, including armor, magic resistance, and health, increase by 100 points for every enemy it defeats. The more people a civilization sends out, the stronger the demon becomes. This buff doesn't even decrease with subsequent personnel reductions. If you initially send 100 people to defeat it, the demon gains 10,000 attribute points. Even if all 100 are killed and you only send five reinforcements, the demon's buff won't be reduced to five; instead, it will accumulate to 105.

But this is only the easiest way to understand it. The true terror of demons lies in the fact that, regardless of their bizarre abilities, they all possess the inherent power to corrupt minds. Many mortals go to them, many die, and even more betray them, becoming their followers and minions. Brainwashing is forced and irreversible. The reason the Ursus Empire suffered such heavy losses when encountering demons in Sunset Canyon was because it failed to understand this pattern of demonic activity and instead deployed too many internal guards. This not only failed to achieve a decisive victory but also allowed the demons to grow far stronger than expected, ultimately leading to a stalemate and a forced sealing.

The Battle of Sunset Canyon remains a classic negative example of civilization fighting against demonic invasion.

"So, to what extent would it be considered 'knowing' about the existence of evil spirits?"

"Wayne asked. There were actually Nosis and SilverAsh in the car, as well as some people from the Tower of Babel who originally belonged to lower classes and were unaware of the demons, but Kal'tsit still used the term "demon" in front of everyone. She didn't seem to have any concerns, nor did she use YKW as a substitute like Wayne did, which puzzled Wayne somewhat.

But this time, Kal'tsit didn't give an answer. She shook her head and said:

"This remains a mystery to this day. Mortals' research on demons is far from reaching the point where they can fully understand their existence and principles. Sometimes, simply mentioning the name of a demon is enough to be considered recognizing it. However, about eight hundred years ago, during the earth-shattering war of god-slaying that took place in the Yan Kingdom, there was a legend that the soldiers of the Great Yan Kingdom, under the command of the True Dragon, led their army on a forced march into the deep forest to investigate the escape route of the defeated god. On their journey, they encountered what appeared to be a demon. Because they mistook it for a fragment formed after the collapse of an evil god, and after issuing warnings to drive it away to no avail, they chose to attack it, and ultimately achieved victory with only a small team."

Although Kal'tsit used a lot of words that represent uncertainty, Wayne felt that, given Kal'tsit's experience and identity of traveling all over the world, these things were probably true, and maybe she had even experienced them herself.

However, this surprised Wayne somewhat. He had originally thought that demons were roughly equivalent to Cthulhu in terms of their corrupting influence, but upon closer inspection, they didn't seem quite like that. At least Cthulhu was the type that would make you lose sanity just by looking at him. Demons, on the other hand, were far from reaching that level.

This makes sense, though. If the demons were really all the Old Gods and Outer Gods from the Cthulhu Mythos, and so interested in invading civilizations, Terran would have been finished long ago. They would have just given up. Let alone keeping the demons out of human civilization and even building three final lines of defense.

Seeing that Wayne had no further questions, and that the car had arrived at the entrance of the mountain manor, Kal'tsit organized her thoughts and concluded:

"In conclusion, if the culprit lurking in the manor and causing this series of anomalies is indeed a demon, then please keep that in mind."

"First: firmly believe that you are human. Second: firmly believe that your companions are also human. Third: your companions, who are also human, will never harm you. Please never waver in this belief."

"Unity, courage, and trust are humanity's best and most reliable weapons against evil. Remember, once you step into the realm of evil, what you see is not necessarily the truth, and everything may be a fabricated scenario. Keep these three points in mind, and evil will try to shake your will in every way, but unless you see something clearly inhuman, do not act rashly!"

Chapter 100 Wayne Takes People to the Haunted House

As the hastily rented tour bus opened its doors and Wayne and the others filed out, Wayne immediately frowned. But before he could speak, SilverAsh and Nosis reached out to block Warfarin, Mudrock, and the others from entering. SilverAsh's expression wasn't good; he pointed towards the manor and said:

"Nosis, did you have the Snow Goblins gather outside?"

In SilverAsh's view, the Snow Demons, who should have been resting, were now standing in neat rows at the manor gate, forming a square formation like a welcoming honor guard, clearing the way for SilverAsh and his companions. Their gazes were uniformly fixed on SilverAsh, but for some reason, he didn't feel the slightest bit watched. It was as if behind each mask and suit of armor lay no living flesh, only empty shells of iron.

Nosis shook his head upon seeing this, indicating that he had not given such an order:

"On the contrary, because of what happened this afternoon, I have ordered a curfew tonight. At this hour, there should be absolutely no one still wandering around outside, let alone in this kind of... formation."

His voice trembled slightly. As a researcher, born in the divinely protected Sherag and raised in the peaceful and stable Victoria, he had never witnessed such a bizarre scene. He believed that the warriors he had personally trained would absolutely obey his orders, which made the current situation all the more incredible.

Upon receiving Nosis's confirmation, the gazes of everyone present immediately turned serious. Neither SilverAsh nor Nosis had issued such an order, so what reason did the Snow Goblin warriors, who had undergone rigorous Victorian military training, have to disobey orders and act on their own?

Having experienced battles against demons, Bozocasti's eyes gleamed red, and he immediately suggested, "He...has noticed...us. Is there another...way...to...enter...the manor?"

Warfarin shrank back in fear. She had just been about to walk in, but SilverAsh had stopped her in time. Now, hearing Bozocasti's deduction, she was even more frightened and hid behind Mudrock and Surtr, gripping her staff tightly, and asked Patriot:

"Grandpa...you said it...noticed us...what do you mean?"

Bozokastie gave the timid Warfarin a strange look and replied, "Literally...why...are you...mimicking me?"

"No, no, I'm just scared, I'm not acting strangely at all!" Warfarin exclaimed, causing Kroos, who was also a blood demon, to clench a vein on her forehead and step forward to poke her hard in the waist.

"Quiet down, all of you!" Wayne interrupted. "I know there's another back door. But it's actually an escape route, and it's a bit roundabout. But before that, I want to ask you, did you 'see' anything?"

Wayne was the first to notice the anomaly. He had noticed the unusual situation as soon as he stepped out of the car. To him, the manor gates were wide open, and the interior was brightly lit, almost like daytime. However, the entrance was chaotic; the flowerbeds were filled with withered plants, and the stone paths were often incomplete, suggesting it had been dilapidated for a long time. This clearly did not match the photos Wayne had seen when he obtained the villa from Vina.

He wanted to remind everyone, but SilverAsh beat him to it. After SilverAsh and the others finished speaking, he realized that something was wrong.

They seemed to completely ignore the manor's dilapidated state, instead starting to discuss the "mountain snow ghost" and the "command"?

This made Wayne realize something: from the moment they got off the bus... no, from the moment they started climbing the mountain, the world that SilverAsh and Warfarin saw might have already become different from the world that he saw.

Interesting. Is this also one of the abilities of demons? Visual interference? Creating illusions, or something more complex?

Wayne couldn't tell whether SilverAsh or what he saw was the real scene, or whether both were illusions.

Upon hearing Wayne's question, SilverAsh paused for a moment, then asked in return, "Your Highness Wayne, what do you mean? Can't you see those Snow Demon soldiers standing in formation at the main gate of the manor?"

“I can’t see it either,” Theresa suddenly interjected. “It seems this is the enemy’s first little trick. Kal’tsit, can you see it?”

Kal'tsit nodded silently, stretched out her hand, summoned Mon3tr.zip, and suddenly gave the order: