Chapter 1317: "Pride"

"What is this place?" Audrey asked without much change in her

expression, as though she was asking about the location of the ball

tonight.

Pauli Derlau, who claimed to be the president of the Psychology

Alchemists, cast his gaze out the window as well. He smiled and said,

"This is the city in everyone's heart.

"It's present wherever there are people."

Audrey nodded in thought.

"In other words, you can enter this place from any corner of human

society?"

Derlau stroked his wheelchair and said, "That's right."

He didn't explain further and instead pointed at the pedestrians outside

the carriage.

"Everything here has a corresponding psychological symbol; they are

called 'Bestial Desire.'"

Bestial Desire... Audrey repeated the word silently. As she

maintained her dignified posture, she cast her gaze even further.

Among the pedestrians, there were werewolves, as well as walking upright

bears. There were cats with lazy expressions, and there was a strange

man with a face of a spotted spider, a huge mouse with red eyes, a

python with its tongue sticking out, and a canine creature that studied

every creature that passed it by with eyes filled with the desire to

mate...

They were either wearing a top hat and trench coat or an exquisite and

complicated long dark dress, doing their best to imitate humans in every

detail, but they were unable to truly resemble a human.

The carriage traveled through the darkness of the night, traveling

between pedestrians and all kinds of Gothic buildings. Soon, they

arrived at a cathedral in the middle of the city.

The cathedral was more than eighty meters tall, propped up thanks to the

numerous black columns. Each pillar was embedded with a certain number

of skulls. Some of them came from humans, while others came from

different creatures. However, their empty eye sockets were tilted

downwards, as though they were observing at every living creature that

entered the cathedral.

Just like most buildings here, every detail in the cathedral could be

said to be exquisite, but they formed the elements that leaned towards

nightmare, horror, terror, and mystery.

After getting off the carriage, Audrey saw a grand but empty hall

through the main door.

In the depths of the hall stood a huge cross. Curled around the cross

was a grayish-white dragon statue.

Unlike ordinary cathedrals, there were no pews for believers to pray,

nor were there places for candle stands. However, in front of the dragon

statue, there was a small long table. On both sides of the long table

were five seats, and the seats at both ends were empty.

Pauli Derlau wheeled himself to the end of the long table where the seat

of honor was. Then, he pointed to his left.

"Please take a seat."

Audrey slowly followed behind him. She looked around and casually pulled

out a chair before sitting down.

She wasn't too close to the president of the Psychology Alchemists, nor

was she too far away. She perfectly showed her vigilance and didn't show

any signs of guilt.

Pauli Derlau raised his hands and clasped them together before placing

them on the surface of the long table.

"Miss Audrey, I have something to ask you."

"Please speak." Audrey turned her head slightly and responded with her

green eyes.

Derlau nodded slightly and said, "I would like to know how you advanced

to Sequence 4 Manipulator. Where did you get your potion formula and

Beyonder characteristic?"

Audrey replied frankly, "It was from a deal.

"A client wished to receive the help of a Spectator demigod, and had

paid the Manipulator potion formula and Beyonder characteristic as an

advance."

Derlau immediately laughed.

"That actually happened? These generous conditions resemble a father

finding an excuse to give his daughter a present.

"Can you tell me exactly what kind of help you provided?"

"Kill another demigod. In this matter, control of one's mind was rather

crucial." Audrey simply explained.

Her attitude was very calm, as if she was talking about the homework

given to her by a teacher.

Derlau's long and fluffy eyebrows twitched as he said, "And you

succeeded?"

"The results are obvious enough." Audrey gave an answer rather

tactfully.

Derlau sized her up and realized that the noble girl on his left was a

Manipulator who could kill other demigods.

Audrey read his thoughts and added, "I was just one of the

participants."

Derlau nodded and said, "Do you know where the client's Manipulator

potion formula and Beyonder characteristic came from?"

"He didn't tell me straight with regards to this question." Audrey gave

an answer with a sentence she had long planned out.

"He? Can you tell me who he is?" Derlau asked after some deliberation.

Audrey had been guarding against the other party's Virtual Persona from

infiltrating her mind island. However, she had yet to notice anything

abnormal since the beginning.

This made her suspect that the other party didn't need to infiltrate her

mind. All he needed to do was observe the fluctuations of the

surrounding sea of collective subconscious to understand her true

thoughts.

She didn't make any attempts to hide and calmly replied,

"This concerns an agreement between us. I believe honoring one's promise

is a moral standard that the entire world approves of. And in mysticism,

this comes into play at a deeper level."

Having said that, Audrey took the initiative to say, "If you can't

really trust me because of my inability to mention this, I'm willing to

accept this.

"I can only remain an ordinary member and use my contributions in

exchange for the psychological research materials that are available to

me."

Derlau smiled when he heard that.

"Everyone has their own secrets. This is very normal. What I need to

assess is whether your secret will affect the safety of the entire

Psychology Alchemists."

He looked deeply at Audrey and said, "Then can you tell me how you got

to know such a client?"

"I remember that I once reported that, before joining the Psychology

Alchemists, I'd already come into contact with some people in a

mysticism circle and got to know a few Beyonders," Audrey said a truth

that couldn't be any truer.

As for what the real logical order to the answer was, it was another

matter.

Furthermore, the matter regarding Hvin Rambis's "disappearance" which

stemmed from the investigation of Fors and Xio was something both

parties had never talked about but had definitely acknowledged.

Derlau retracted his hands from the table and placed them by his chest.

"There's another thing I would like to ask: when was the last time you

met Hvin Rambis?"

Audrey frowned slightly and said, "I remember that I've been asked

before."

After Hvin Rambis's death, she didn't immediately cut off any contact

with the Psychology Alchemists. She continued to maintain a certain

connection with the upper echelons through Hilbert, Stephen, and

Escalante. Only when the war reached Backlund did she realize that she

couldn't contact the members of the Psychology Alchemists cell for

various reasons.

"I need to confirm it in person," Derlau said calmly.

Audrey nodded gently and said, "The last time I met Hvin Rambis was in

Viscount Glaint's mansion. At that time, I hypnotized my two Beyonder

friends I knew, as per his instructions, and asked them why they were

investigating Viscount Stratford and who the mastermind behind this was.

At that time, Councillor Hvin Rambis was nearby, ensuring that nothing

went wrong with the hypnotism. After he received the answer, he quickly

left.

"After that day, I never saw him again."

As she answered, Audrey was still guarding against the invasion of her

mind island. However, it was calm there, and nothing happened.

This didn't make Audrey feel relaxed. Instead, she became even more

wary. She didn't even dare to think about anything related to Mr. Fool

and The World Gehrman Sparrow.

She was only certain of one thing: As long as she was exposed to danger,

Mr. Fool would definitely provide her with protection.

"It's identical to your previous answer." Derlau nodded slowly.

He then looked into Audrey's green eyes and said frankly, "I can't use

mysticism methods to trace the origins of the Beyonder characteristic in

your body. This means that the person who provided it has an

unimaginable existence behind him."

Audrey nodded slightly but forcefully, expressing that she agreed with

his assessment.

"I can't force you to not cooperate with other Beyonders or make deals.

It's unrealistic. I just hope that you can promise not to reveal

anything about the Psychology Alchemists to anyone. At the very least,

when you wish to entrust certain missions to others, you have to package

them and hide the secrets," Derlau said calmly as he retracted his gaze.

Audrey replied without hesitation, "I promise not to tell any living

creature that isn't qualified to know about matters regarding the

Psychology Alchemists."

She took the initiative to amplify the concept all the way to that of a

living being to make up for any loopholes in her promise.

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt her thoughts surface from her

mind island.

These thoughts intertwined, turning into an illusory net that seeped

into Audrey's mind island, turning into her subconscious.

As this "restriction net" came from Audrey's spirituality, she would be

incapable of removing it even if she became an angel. She would lose the

intention of talking about the Psychology Alchemists when she faced

non-members of the Psychology Alchemists or people who didn't qualify to

know about them.

And she wouldn't realize this.

*He didn't invade my spiritual island. Just my words alone made the

promise turn something substantial...* While Audrey was alarmed,

her expression didn't show.

Of course, she didn't completely restrain herself, as being surprised by

such means was an instinctive reaction from a Manipulator.

Based on this point, she suspected that either there was something wrong

with this city that existed in the heart, or that Derlau, the Psychology

Alchemists president, wasn't just at the level of a saint.

Seeing Audrey make her promise, Derlau pointed at the long table in

satisfaction and said, "From now on, you are a councilor of the

Psychology Alchemists.

"You can choose a persona mask as your codename."

As he spoke, seven grayish-white masks appeared on the long table. They

were rather illusory and abnormally cold. Five of them were placed in

front of the corresponding seats, as though they already had a master.

"The remaining two persona masks are Wrath and Pride," Derlau

introduced. "They come from the Holy Bible of the Creator from the Third

Epoch."

Audrey thought for a second before reaching out her hand to the mask

that didn't contain any anger.

"I choose Pride."

Derlau looked at her and chuckled.

"That was the choice Hvin Rambis made back then."