The North American Gourmet Demon Handbook

Or are you really some upper-class person?

McGee didn't know that his lack of information in this area made Li Shanze despise his identity.

He was still shaking his head with regret.

"I assume the deity you're talking about is a North American indigenous deity, the kind common in animism."

"Oh, what a shame! I've always been interested in these gods and wanted to visit them in person to understand their perspective on time."

"It's a pity that I never had the chance. I didn't expect there would be such a person right under my nose. By the time I got the news, it was too late. It's such a pity."

McGee said "what a pity" three times in a row, and it was obvious that he really felt very sorry.

"Let's get back to the point. Mr. Li mentioned that he is a god transformed into a redwood, not a natural redwood. This is a very despised existence in the Root and Mantle Esoteric Sect."

"Contempt?" Li Shanze was puzzled. "I thought they would be like-minded partners."

"No, no, no. Those crazy people in the Root Cult only worship plants. Anyone who tries to transform into a plant, even a god, will be despised by them. They think that they are just pretending to be a plant, a fake plant." McGee sighed.

"Wait, isn't their ultimate goal to evolve into photosynthetic plants in the 'Great Greening'? And they despise this 'evolution'?"

Li Shanze found the lunatic of the Genman Esoteric Sect more and more incomprehensible.

"Yeah, that's self-hatred," McGee sighed. "Don't try to understand these lunatics. If we could understand them, we'd be crazy too."

When it comes to self-hatred, Li Shanze suddenly understands.

This is exactly the same as the Runren I met in my previous life.

Many Run people still hate themselves even if they have crossed the Pacific Ocean, thinking that they are not born Jews, Anglo-Saxons, or Brahmins.

Even if they dress themselves up as Jewish Ansa Brahmins, and speak, act, and smile flatteringly like a Brahmin, they still deeply hate their own blood and skin color.

Runren is exactly the same as those crazy people in the Root and Man cult who hate that they are not plants and hope to become plants.

When he thought about the fact that the spiritual core of these crazy guys was to nourish people, Li Shanze relaxed all of a sudden and didn't take them seriously at all.

He's just a runner who's more trouble than good. I've seen it all myself. He's nothing to worry about, not even a nuisance.

I just don't know what happened to the Run people in this world after 1991...

After his thoughts wandered a bit, Li Shanze stopped paying attention to the lunatic from the Genman Esoteric Sect and turned the topic back.

"What I'm saying is that we're pursuing clues related to this god, Mr. McKee. Perhaps you've heard of him?"

"what?"

"The question was diverted just now, so I'll ask it again." Li Shanze pointed to the open space under his feet. At this time, the residue left by the pseudo-man had completely dissipated.

"I want to know who is behind it. We have some things stored with him, and I need to ask him to return them."

Li Shanze asked with a smile.

"If I can find out, I'll definitely give you an answer," McGee said seriously. "If you want to escape from our lab, you'll need strict cooperation."

"What I doubt most is our partner in this Virtual Saint project, the Delusion Society of the School of Spirit and Consciousness," McGee answered seriously.

189 Clues to the Delusion Society

This is a very common inference made by McGee.

Li Shanze nodded.

What kind of memory backup is this? What kind of personality implant is this? It would be strange if the Delusion Society didn't participate in this.

Then McGee shook his head again. "It's a pity that I haven't caught them yet. These guys are very cunning. It's really hard to find any substantial evidence."

Faced with McGee's almost evasive words, Li Shanze almost laughed out loud.

Weren't you just being so arrogant, referring to the law as alchemy and a menu? Why are you discussing evidence when it comes to the Delusion Society?

It would be better to be straightforward and just say that the Delusion Society is powerful and not easy to offend.

However, Li Shanze is not afraid of offending the Delusion Society.

It would be better to say that the entire country of China in this alien world has been shielded from consciousness. It is obvious who is behind this spell.

If he wanted to go back to China in this world, Li Shanze felt that he would have to confront them sooner or later.

And considering the lethality of "China", the "ultimate secret of the world", to Americans in this world, Li Shanze felt that those guys who manipulate consciousness might be even more afraid of him.

In this case, there is nothing to be afraid of this society of delusional minds.

Despise the enemy strategically and value the enemy tactically.

Therefore, although he regarded the Delusion Heart Society as a small fry, as an enemy that almost had to be defeated, Li Shanze still inquired about the details of the Delusion Heart Society.

However, McGee shook his head. "The Delusion Society has always been the most mysterious. After all, it involves the most direct manipulation of consciousness. Even among wizards, they are more wary of them than they are cooperative."

"Once someone is infiltrated and influenced by them, Calvin Hope is a ready-made example." McGee sighed.

This makes sense. After all, witchcraft is still idealism in essence, so wizards who directly manipulate consciousness will certainly be guarded against by other wizards.

But what McGee said was very contradictory.

Li Shanze frowned. "Aren't you talking about the virtual Saint Vivian, who is also a collaboration between your Time Skeleton Brotherhood and the Delusion Society?"

McGee shook his head. "The cooperation I'm referring to is between Eternal Life Technology and the Delusion Society, not the Time Corpse Brotherhood."

"And this is a long-distance collaboration. The only person I've come into contact with from the Delusion Society is West Loken—the bald wizard you know."

"Of course, now it seems that his name should be Robert Stroman."

"Even though I could tell at a glance that he was a puppet, I didn't even dare assign him any position that would allow him to actually access internal information. I just put him in charge of security."

Li Shanze nodded. No wonder this bald wizard was the security chief.

No wonder he shot and killed his security chief. The great wizard in front of him didn't react at all. He only mentioned once in a half-joking tone that he had killed his security chief.

"As for Olivia Crestol..." McGee shook his head. "This woman has always been ambitious and self-righteous."

"She was fascinated by the concept of a time bank, not realizing that every cause has its consequences, and that borrowing from the future naturally comes at a price."

At this point, McGee's expression twitched because his missing left hand began to hurt again.

In order to escape the turbulence of time and space, he borrowed from the future at the cost of his left hand.

"Olivia kept begging me to be the person in charge of this project. Even though I explained to her that this was just a scam, and that even if the time bank project was truly implemented, it would not end well for anyone involved."

“Of course, people can overdraw the future, but when the ‘future’ becomes the ‘present’, the ‘present’ that has been overdrawn by the ‘past’ no longer exists.”

McGee shook his head and sighed, "A time wizard should be more aware of the power of the past and present and be more cautious when approaching the future, but Olivia Crestor has no taboos."

"She just suspected that I didn't trust her enough, so I didn't let her get involved in such a good project."

"To this end, she went so far as to flirt with West Loken, even acting like a loving engaged couple, all in order to obtain information about the Delusion Society so she could curry my favor and successfully join this absurd and illusory Time Bank project."

"She even managed to hide the fact that she was married and had a son who was several years old from almost all of her colleagues and West Locke."

It's really sad to think about it. Olivia Crestol and West Loken, a couple who were confirmed to be a very loving engaged couple in the field of immortality technology according to the FBI investigation, one of them has her own child, but the relationship is fake, and the other one is even fake.

Li Shanze recalled what he had witnessed that day in the morgue: Olivia Crestow crying in agony over West Loken's corpse. When he thought that it was all a performance, he couldn't help but feel complicated and didn't know what to say.

"It was not easy to hide this from the wizards of the Brotherhood of Time. To do this, she even performed a magical transformation on her own son, making it impossible for the prophecy spell to predict her son."

"But what she doesn't know is that her abilities are truly exceptional. I've always wanted her to be my successor."

"But performing witchcraft transformation on a person—even one's own son—is a taboo within our Brotherhood of Time Skeletons."

No wonder she ran away when she saw Kate. Having a son wasn't a big deal, and it could be dealt with under the pretext of investigating industrial espionage.

But if all her colleagues knew what she did to her son, she would probably find it difficult to survive.

"Of course, our rules are only for self-respect, precisely because time wizards take the future more seriously. We don't care what others do."

This seemed to explain why he didn't interfere in West Loken's affairs.

"After I discovered this, I was completely disappointed in her, especially since her child had been transformed to such an extreme degree by her."

"In other words, her son's only anchor in the timeline is Olivia herself."

"Since Olivia cast a time-related spell on you and it backfired, her son should have disappeared as well, right?"

McGee sighed even more, "What a cute child that is."

Li Shanze felt that this to some extent fulfilled McKee's words. Olivia Crestol failed in her bet on the future and ultimately lost her future completely.

What McGee didn't say was that he did have his eye on Charlie when looking for a successor.

Because it is meaningless to say this now. The woman next to Li Shanze cannot be a time wizard - that is no different from suicide.

The old wizard suppressed the sigh in his heart and changed the subject.

"I'm getting off topic. I used West Loken as an example to illustrate that the Delusion Society is a secret society."

"They also know that besides ordinary people, wizards will also be wary of them, so they usually disguise themselves as ordinary people or wild wizards."

Li Shanze asked in confusion: "Why not join other schools?"

"There are relatively few who blend in with other schools because it's more difficult. From a wizard's perspective, as long as you're focused, it's easy to trace the various details of a spell and find the caster's general anchor point."

At this, McGee sneered.

"However, considering they've already managed to implant personalities—even though it's just an AI—a new round of investigations is indeed necessary. I'll write personal letters to the great wizards of other schools, informing them to be vigilant within."

Although writing a letter seems old-fashioned, a handwritten letter from a great wizard inadvertently highlights the importance and seriousness of the situation.

Li Shanze did not doubt McGee's ability to keep up with the times. Although this old wizard looked old, his thinking was still very trendy. He was even studying virtual anchors - Vivian was undoubtedly also a virtual anchor.

"In fact, in my opinion, the Virtual Saint Vivian project is just a discussion of cyber immortality and consciousness uploading by Eternal Life Technology. Now this possibility is basically denied."

"It's just that." The great wizard's smile grew even more ferocious. Only then did he truly display the aura of a great wizard from a certain school. "Those flies from the Delusion Society have other motives. They actually want to destroy the holy land of our school. Do you really think old McGee has a good temper?"

Li Shanze took the opportunity to fan the flames: "What are you going to do? Go to the sacred place of the Delusion Society and cause a scene?"

"I'd love to do that, but unfortunately, I can't do it right now." McGee shook his head. "I've gone to great lengths to find out the name of the Delusion Society's holy place."

"This sacred place is called the 'Collective Unconscious Abyss'. It doesn't exist in reality, and even the entrance to it cannot be found in reality."

Li Shanze wrote down the name. He thought that Alessia and Ella might have some clues.

After all, one of them is a devil and the other is an elf, both of them are fantasy creatures.

However, Ella is able to take advantage of kindness, while the collective unconscious abyss sounds very dangerous just by looking at the name.

It's hard to say, but I still need to get a breakthrough from Alessia. The devil is always associated with malice.

Thinking of this, Li Shanze felt a little strange again.

Why aren't angels the counterparts of good intentions? According to stereotypes, aren't angels and demons the only two forms of good and evil?

Since it's a fantasy creature, shouldn't it fit the stereotype even more?

Could it be that this silly little guy is actually an angel?

Li Shanze looked at Ella who was sleeping soundly and put this possibility behind him.

Kate might know something.

Li Shanze also kept this question in mind.

At this time, McGee was already at a loss for words.

I provided so much valuable information, some of which helped the FBI close the case, some of which further introduced wizards and enriched the FBI's knowledge base. Isn't it enough for this FBI agent to complete his KPI?

Why hasn't he left yet?

What a damn greedy bastard!

McGee sighed inwardly.

Author's words: Thanks to book friend 2462704877 for the reward, monthly ticket and recommendation ticket

Thanks to the original soundtrack for the urging votes and recommendation votes

Thanks to book friends 30600563, Silver Thirteen, Polar Bear, Little Apple 112633, Brother Fenghua, and Aji for their recommendations.

190 Three-fifths Handcuffs

Li Shanze obviously also knew that McGee would answer every question and wanted to use this information as a reward.

However, he always acted mysterious and expressionless, which made McGee, who was used to relying on prophecy spells, feel uneasy.

McGee felt that if he didn't shed some blood and produce some really good stuff, Li Shanze would probably not let it go.