At 6 o'clock in the morning of the Gospel time, in the Sennheiser district of the second-level city of Fanmulla, Igula, who was hiding in the closet, opened his eyes.
He pushed open the closet and came out, revealing a bulging human figure. It was the "Igula figure" he had made using pillows, quilts, clothes, and a little imagination.
Although it was not a magic spirit or a miracle, this little trick saved his life many times. If he left a note saying "Good evening" in the room, it would make all late-night intruders think that the trickster had foreseen their arrival and had already escaped in an unknown way. After cursing inwardly, they would quickly track down Igula's escape route, and Igula, who was hiding somewhere else, could take the opportunity to escape.
After all, Igula is just a fraudster, not omniscient, so how can he foresee all the dangers? But this does not prevent him from playing the role of a "calculated" person in daily interactions, and then being more cautious and making more preparations can plant seeds in other people's hearts.
What can really make a lie come true is not the fraudster's rhetoric, but your own imagination.
It is everyone's instinct to explain the world. When you lack information, you will subconsciously use your imagination to fill in the gaps. That is why conspiracy theories prevail and rumors spread faster than the truth.
People always believe what they want to believe.
Although the world itself is objective, everyone's world is subjective. In the past, psychics could even establish religions and make themselves "gods" in the subjective world of countless believers.
Although Igula has no interest in this advanced awakening profession of a trickster, if he just wants to make himself become a "fantasy and resourceful character who can always predict your next move" in the eyes of a certain group of people, it would be as easy as putting on makeup for him.
On the first night in this strange city, Igula began to prepare. When others found the fake "Igula figurine", they would think that the real Igula had left, and they never thought that this was a trap set every night, and the weak and helpless trickster was hiding in the closet next to them.
This is how psychics cheat.
You have clearly tried your best, but you have to pretend that it is effortless.
A gift that is carefully prepared should be given out carelessly.
In this world, whoever has the seeds planted first loses.
As usual, Igulla has to take a bath after getting up every day. Fortunately, there is a bathtub in the suite, and it is a steam massage bathtub.
In fact, the accommodation quality of this suite is much better than the employee dormitory provided by An Nan. It seems that Miss An Nan is really a rich second-generation entrepreneur. If she fails, she can only come back to inherit billions of assets. There are quite a lot of similar plots in gospel movies and TV series. Igula believes that the fundamental reason is that the luxury economy and consumerism in the gospel kingdom are not developed enough, and her parents can still save money.
You have to know that in their Blood Moon Kingdom, capitalists can also become moonlighters, and any life extension package in the research institute can make the richest man bankrupt on the spot. The degree of freedom in the Gospel Kingdom is still not high enough.
After initially cleaning his body, Igulla touched the bathtub's temperature with his toes, immersed his calves in it, bent over and bent his knees to maintain his balance, until the horizontal line passed over his chest and rubbed intimately against his collarbone.
The warm current penetrated into the cells through the pores, and the stiff body that had been hiding in the closet for a night quickly relaxed. The tense soul that had just returned from the virtual world also began to slack off, and the lazy water mist massaged the trickster's sore brain.
Most people in the Blood Moon Kingdom have mental illnesses, and Igula is no exception. Smart people like him can best feel the huge and heavy gravity of reality. Their souls are suffocated every minute and every second, and they are in anxiety almost all the time.
Igula knew that he was sick, but he couldn't save himself. The more proficient a person is in water, the easier it is for him to drown in the deep sea.
Over time, perhaps he will suddenly figure out the "meaning of life" one day, and on a cloudy day with light rain, he will put on his most beautiful clothes, find everyone who knows him, and deceive them for the last time - delete the memory of him in their minds - when no one in this world knows him, Igula Bogin will completely disappear from people's sight, and only the virtual world will retain his afterimage.
However, Igulla, who was about to go to destruction alone, developed a habit of taking a bath to empty his mind after entering prison. The tense strings were thus given a rest and his mental illness was cured.
It was Broken Lake Prison that saved him. It turned out that the only way out for the Blood Moon People was to go to prison.
It is worth mentioning that before taking a bath with Ash, Harvey and others a few days ago, Igula would take a bath first. After all, being with two even-toed ungulates is not relaxing.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Just when Igula was about to enter the idiot state, an idiot came knocking on the door.
This familiar triple knock on the door, even though the other party hasn't taken off his pants yet, the trickster already knows what he's going to do.
Igula decided to use silence to discourage the other party, but after a few seconds, he heard the sound of precision gears turning and alloy blocks loosening and biting - the door opened.
Bang!
The glass door of the bathroom opened, and the mist could not wait to wrap around the visitor.
"I was so scared, I thought you ran away from home through the toilet."
Igula sighed: "First, this is not our home. Second, why did you come to my side?"
"I told the maid here that no one answered the door when I knocked. You might have died in the virtual world. A piece of your soul was bitten off by the fish-chopping dragon, and you became a vegetable that can be eaten by anyone. So she opened the door and let me in to check if you are incontinent."
Ash sat on a small stool, "It's really feudal and corrupt. There are even maids. This family system is really a cancer of civilization. But the maid uniforms are quite cute."
"Aren't we under house arrest and unable to leave the room?"
"I don't know. I got up and tried, and found that the door was unlocked. Maybe the eldest lady secretly acted coquettishly to mother while we were away last night?"
"Let's not talk about those details for now," Igula stared at Ash and said, "Have you not noticed that I'm taking a bath?"
Ash blinked and realized what was happening. He went over to close the glass door, then sat back on the stool: "Sorry, I forgot to close the door."
"You forgot to lock yourself out." Igula splashed water on his face, completely gave up on entering idiotic mode, and returned to business mode: "Tell me, what do you want from me?"
"Can't I just chat with you when I have nothing to do? Am I the kind of person who will only come to you when I have to beg you for something?"
"Of course not. You are the one who would harass me while I'm taking a bath even though you're asking me for help." The fraudster curled his lips and said, "To use the analogy of borrowing money, others are arrogant only after borrowing money, but you are already arrogant even before you borrow money."
"I do have something I want to consult you about," Ash said, scratching his head, "You seem to be very experienced after all."
"You come to consult a fraudster?" Igula raised his eyebrows. "It's just like a believer seeking comfort from a priest."
"When you are responsible for other people's lives, and your every move may lead to the death of those who trust you, will you be afraid?"
"…If the psychological pressure you feel comes from our trust in you when you escaped from prison, then your reflexes should be able to circle the time continent."
"No, I never thought of taking responsibility for you when we escaped from prison." Ash shook his head: "Because you never believed in me, and I didn't believe in you. We believed in our own judgment, and we were responsible for ourselves."
"And what I'm saying is, when someone trusts you unconditionally and is willing to give you their life as a bargaining chip, do you feel special when you bet?"
The fraudster narrowed his eyes. "They chose to believe me, which means they made their own judgment. I don't need to—"
"Really?" Ash interrupted him, looking past the mist, trying to find the truth in the fraudster's eyes: "If I give you my life, can you place the bet without any hesitation?"
The mist rose slowly, covering the silence with a coat.
"I understand." Igulla splashed water on his face: "You are not here for consultation, you are here for comfort."
You hit the nail on the head.
When confronting Denzel, Ash could make rational judgments, bravely face death, and be a hero who would rather die than surrender. But after leaving the virtual world and returning to reality to calm down, Ash realized what he had done - he put the lives of the witch and the sword girl on the gambling table.
Not to mention that he didn't regard them as private property, Sword Princess said a long time ago that even if Ash died, she could still continue to live in her own world. Operators do not exist dependent on Ash, they have their own joys and sorrows, their own parents and friends, and their own lives.
Likewise, if an operator dies, they are probably really dead. Their portrait will be completely grayed out, with only a name in the manual remaining.
Whether it was when he was escaping from prison or escaping from the blood moon, when it came to risking his own life, Ash never felt any psychological pressure.
But this time, after betting on the Witch and the Sword Lady, he suddenly became afraid.
He was afraid that they would die, and even more afraid that he would not die, but someone else would.
They are still a long way from the Three-Winged Sanctuary, but during this period, they must enter the Void Realm every time they reach the Spider Tower and compete in a life-and-death race with the Heroic Soul Legion.
Although they have a car and can escape, but if they can escape once, twice, three times, or ten times, can they escape a hundred times?
If they couldn't escape just once, if they made a mistake just once, if fate tripped them up just a little bit...
Ash closed his eyes, as if he could see them being torn to pieces.
Moreover, this is not a problem that can be solved by Ash's death.
Even if Ash died first, the contract between Sword Lady and Witch would not be dissolved. Unless they climbed to a higher level of the Void Realm, they would still have to flee to the Void Realm - compared to stopping when they were ahead, the Queen's Heroic Spirit seemed more like the type that would kill them all.
Although the Witch and Sword Lady had no objection to this, and Ash's response at that time was indeed the most correct approach.
But, but…
He was scared.
Suddenly, Ash remembered his second to last question and couldn't help but chuckle.
He had sacrificed billions of lives to save the world and shouldered a thousand-year wish... Now he couldn't even say "Please entrust your lives to me" with a clear conscience.
The rapidly expanding psychological burden soon made him breathless. If it were in the past, Ash would definitely choose to bear the pain of trust alone and pretend that nothing happened. After all, this was the education he received since he was a child. Complaining would only cause others to worry. No one wants to swallow your blood and tears.
It was Freya who changed him. That short period of cohabitation allowed Ash to see how an ordinary person survives in a cruel society like Blood Moon. The most important point is that if you are sick, you must get treatment.
There is no shame in seeing a psychotherapist. This may be the Blood Moon Kingdom’s greatest contribution to the advancement of civilization.
Although there is no psychotherapist around, it is almost the same to find a fraudster. After all, there is no essential difference between comfort and deception.
"Don't be afraid. They entrust their lives to you because they trust your judgment. Even if you make a mistake, they won't complain because you have tried your best. The world will not rebuke a person who has tried his best. The injustice of fate should not be a burden to you... Is that what you want me to say?"
Ash raised his head, and then his collar was grabbed by a wet hand, and then he was pulled in front of the trickster.
"You would rather let a fraudster deceive you than face reality," Igula said with disdain in his eyes. "Even among my clients, you are the lowest level."
Bang, Igula pushed Ash away, making him fall to the ground.
"Go get some candy from Harvey. That's the best medicine for your condition." Igula didn't look at him. "I'm a con man at the level of an Oiran. I won't accept a rotten client like you."
Ash sighed: "You don't have to scold me so harshly..."
"I started betting on other people's lives when I was 13 years old," Igula said coldly. "I won a lot, but I also lost a lot. Because of my wrong decision, one of my partners was caught by the 'Fire Crab'. I could only see him in the most bizarre newspapers. He has become an avant-garde abstract art work. The tools used to commit the crime were hangers and chairs... Do you think what I was thinking at that time?"
"Want revenge?"
"No, I just hope he receives and executes my final message, and kills himself before the fire crab finds him."
Water drops dripped down Igula's hair and disappeared into the bathtub. "This is the fate of decision makers. Even if you are calm enough and work hard enough, you still can't stop the sacrifice. Even God can't save all the people in the world. Who do you think you are?"
"Bear sacrifice, accept sacrifice, get used to sacrifice. This is the only way. There is no other way. Do you think that by seeking comfort from a psychic, you will be able to have a strong heart of a decision-maker? A psychic is not a master of strengthening. He cannot make you stronger with just a ding."
"What you need is not comfort, not deception, but growth."
The fraudster looked at the dejected cult leader, but another picture appeared in his mind.
In the apocalypse, a mysterious man in a dark red windbreaker looks down at the world alone...
"There is another very simple way. All you need to do is be selfish enough," Igulla said. "Like me, as long as you are selfish enough to treat everyone as pawns, selfish enough to not care about anyone's thoughts, and selfish enough to just be happy, then you won't feel the pressure of responsibility."
"For us Blood Moon orphans, this should be an effortless advancement route, right?"
The cult leader's eyes lit up: "As long as I'm the same as you..."
"Yes, just like me..." Igula looked at his blurry reflection in the water: "You only need to care about yourself, value yourself, and love yourself..."
"——As long as I have enough decision-making experience like you, I can grow into a captain who can calmly bear the pressure of responsibility!"
Igula blinked, huh?
Ash stood up and patted the water on his butt: "The difference between you and me is that you already have rich team experience, and I don't, so I should find a way to increase my team leadership experience and become a calm decision maker."
"But how do you increase it?"
"I already have an idea." Ash said, "I was right to find you. I won't disturb you while you're bathing."
"Although I don't know what your idea is, it's definitely not as simple as the "selfish advancement" I mentioned." Igula said lightly: "Why bother?"
"Because being selfish isn't that simple," Ash said, opening the bathroom door. "If even you can't do it, how can I possibly do it?"
"How can I not do that?"
"You didn't even answer my question."
Igula was startled, listening to Ash's footsteps gradually fading away.
"If I give you my life, can you place the bet without any hesitation?"
"seed……"
The fraudster exhaled. Although he had been soaking in the water for a long time, he decided to soak in it for a while longer to clear his mind, otherwise all his thoughts and ideas would turn into the rain and sunshine that made the seeds germinate.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
There was a strange knock on the door, but Igula had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the bathroom door was opened again.
"Aunt Borgin!" Liz appeared in front of the Trickster with her hands on her hips. "I have something very important to discuss with you... We need the Trickster's wisdom!"
"Didn't you notice I was taking a bath?"
Liz was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what had happened and obediently closed the bathroom door.
Igula even wanted to call out the Gospel to check the similarities between Liz and Ash's blood.