"Do we really have to do this?"
"It’s a necessary sacrifice..."
"I don’t understand."
"You will understand what is given at this mont..."
Mist-like candlelight dispelled the darkness.
The breeze caressed the terrace, delicate pastries were placed on the round table, and Claire, with freshly wrapped bandages, sat at the table.
Lu Li sat on a wooden chair elevated by a stack of books, allowing Claire to tie a black bow tie, similar in color to his fur, around his neck.
The scene before them was like a tea party ticulously arranged by a little girl for her pet.
The good news was that the food was not made of sand and dirt, the bad news was that Lu Li was not an actual cat.
"Is it?"
The Lizard Maid who brought the pastries retreated from the terrace, and Claire watched its back.
Ultimately, what made Lu Li acquiesce was Claire’s argunt that this would help her regain her humanity—she had made contact with the Mother of the Marsh and beca a new reserve mber of the "Afternoon Tea."
She would be confird once returned to the Land of Light.
Moreover, the True Vision Orb was hidden under the bow tie, close to him, enabling Lu Li to glimpse into strange souls at any ti.
"No, it’s not."
This Lizard Maid had no soul within.
"The thirty-seventh, one-third of my maids... only two have souls." Claire placed the cut small piece of pastry on a plate and handed it to Lu Li’s mouth: "Doesn’t this an that there aren’t many survivors of Midnight City in ordinary anomalies?"
"There’s another possibility." The black cat nudged up its whiskers, avoiding cream on its fur as it bit a piece of pastry.
Perhaps their souls have already perished...
It’s not difficult to confirm, as long as they find the survivors of Midnight City with souls dissipating.
"What do you intend to do about them?" Claire enjoyed the process of feeding Lu Li.
"Those who have lost their souls are already anomalies."
As promised, Lu Li would lay these soulless husks to rest.
"What I want to ask is... what about the anomalies with souls?" Claire pierced a small piece of sausage and handed it to Lu Li: "Not everyone shares as many common mories and imprints with you as I do; how will you persuade those unfamiliar souls?"
"Throwing stones to feel the way as we go forward." Lu Li replied.
Lu Li had no other thods. But if the gardener could recover mories, maybe it knew a way—if not, then let the farr recover their mories...
Stone by stone tossed into the river, eventually revealing a barely passable path rising above the water.
As breakfast ti, or Claire’s feeding ti, neared its end, the rchant brought today’s morning paper.
"Exorcist Lu Li Falls in Midnight City"
Today’s news from the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company Daily was eye-catching enough to boost efficiency by dozens of percentage points.
The content was the result of the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company’s investigation: they followed Lu Li’s trail from the old sewers to Midnight City, discovering that Lu Li, like in the Land of Obsession, ca to the Viscount’s Territory and was then eaten by one of the lords, the gardener.
"Did they believe it?"
"It doesn’t matter; what matters is that the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company has an explanation: to the public, my ’death’ has nothing to do with them, and to the Toad Anomalies, soone else ’killed’ ."
Moreover, the Viscount and his subordinates were considered Lu Li’s potential allies. Whether or not they were sheltering Lu Li—if the Toad Anomalies caused trouble: taking Lu Li away, the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company would clear themselves of involvent. Confirming Lu Li’s death, the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company likewise clears themselves of involvent.
The foolish Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company remarkably made a flawless move.
At present, they were still watching, evidenced by rchant Anthony being detained at the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company.
The Mother of the Marsh was trying to use leverage to get rchant Anthony back; currently, the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company was not completely yielding: they set the ransom for rchant Anthony at 500,000 pieces of Strange Currency—
The Mother of the Marsh declined, as the total trade volu from the Land of Light’s Gavina Underground City for nearly half a year only amounted to this much.
The price dispute would persist for so ti, with the Mother of the Marsh using other thods to pressure the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company into compliance—for instance, eroding the influence of the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company at trade points or allied territories through price wars.
For example, one pound of Strange at from the Land of Light really weighed one pound, without water, sand, shells, or freezing. Practical products like the versatile, edible Fluorescent Fruit received widespread acclaim from humans and varied species alike.
The ssage from the Vena Underground City was that the newspapers from the Earth Dwellers spurred sales of the Land of Obsession, but only at trade points—the old sewers being vacated were already monopolized by the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company, including pirated prints of the Land of Obsession.
It’s hard to expect that beings like anomalies would respect copyright.
"Should we warn the gardener?" Claire wiped Lu Li’s mouth with a napkin.
"Yes, and it’s best to let the Viscount know about this too."
The power of anomalies was always hard to gauge, so Lu Li could only simply rank them: the Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company didn’t want to provoke the Toad Anomalies’ forces, and the Toad Anomalies’ forces might be stronger than the company. The Earth Dwellers’ Trading Company also dared not provoke the Viscount, and the Viscount might also be stronger than the company.
So, the Viscount and the Toad Anomalies’ forces were roughly equal.
In this situation, the musket theory becos incredibly important, as forr Claire easily killed the head cook, victory typically went to the first to pull the trigger.
If you don’t want to suffer heavily from a Toad Anomalies’ raid, it’s best to have the Viscount prepared.
"What do you plan to do?" Claire asked.
"Do you have any ideas?" Lu Li countered.
"All my wisdom went missing with my mories, even Little Remi’s cat brain is smarter than ."
Lu Li gave up pressuring Claire, who didn’t want to think: "Make so movents around the Blood-colored Farmland to alert the farr; as long as it’s not dull, it will report the situation to the Viscount."
"Wouldn’t directly telling the Mother be more effective?"
"The farr is on the territory’s outermost boundary and unrelated to us. Its findings won’t be suspected and have a better effect."
"I’ll go at night... no, now."
Nobody suited the task better than Claire. She could avoid the ground surveillance while knowing the distribution of the Viscount’s forces.
Claire left and quickly returned to the terrace, informing Lu Li of leaving enough traces at the farm’s edge; hence, all they had left was to wait.
By evening, temporarily nad "One" and "Two" by Claire, the Lizard Maid possessing souls brought news from the castle: the farr’s servant had recently co to the castle, reporting suspicious traces discovered at the edge of the farmland, seemingly sourced from the previously visiting Earth Dwellers—
This was just a guess from the farr but it happened to assist Lu Li.
The Bat Monster left the castle amid the ghostly dusk, and during the gap, Lu Li and Claire snuck into the cetery to et the gardener and the soul huddled within the deford body.
The good news was the gardener was indeed one of them, the bad news was Lu Li didn’t recognize this soul.
It wasn’t the one imagined to be Orey Lorenzo.
With doubts, Lu Li and Claire returned to the mansion.
"I’ll use dreams to trace back mories to search."
Lu Li prepared to enter the dream.
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