Chapter 995: It was the past, it is now abnormal
After this unpleasant transaction, Alice abandoned Arsen without any regrets and left with the cash box that Arsen brought with him.
Although she herself despised the money, the money from selling her "second-hand original clothes" would actually become the organization's funding. The Hawkeye Organization promised that the money would be used to improve the living conditions of the orphans, which was why Alice was willing to sell her clothes.
She was still a girl to some extent, even though she had admired the Phantom Thief Arsene since she was a child and once regarded him as her idol and therefore did not mind him wearing her clothes... but those were also her favorite clothes.
If she didn't like them, why would she wear these dresses to attend the grandest and most formal banquets?
Now that she had calmed down, she suddenly realized where the money "used to improve the living conditions of orphans" had been spent.
Obviously... the Kree Party.
Although Alice was indeed naive, she was ultimately a journalist, so it was impossible for her not to know about the existence and rules of the Kray Party.
Working in the media industry, one cannot be completely innocent. It is a melting pot filled with all kinds of malice and evil.
Aren't those people "orphans" themselves? They've been bribed by Hawkeye's subordinate organizations to carry out various illegal activities. And these children also receive money from their superior organizations... Isn't this exactly the purpose of "improving the orphans' living conditions"?
She hadn't been unaware of this, but she had always wishfully believed that the Moon Child was the culprit behind all the chaos, sin, poverty, and depravity that plagued Iris. She believed that solving all the problems required solving the Moon Child first—and conversely, if she could solve the Moon Child, all the other smaller problems would naturally resolve themselves.
Therefore, she regarded these "little imperfect problems" as "necessary pains on the road to expelling the Moon Child."
—Until today, she suddenly realized that the organization had never truly trusted her. She wasn't even a person, but rather a middleman between her family and the Hawkeye Organization to complete the transaction...
When the filter is broken, smart IQ immediately takes the lead.
All the things that she had known in the past but had deliberately ignored now came flooding back to her mind.
She planned to think carefully about what else she hadn't told her after she returned!
——Then I would gather up my emotions and tears and complain to my father!
At this moment, the reporter who was famous for being "rebellious and independent" and who always dressed hotly and behaved frivolously outside seemed to have rejuvenated and turned back into the little girl she used to be.
But from another perspective...from "playing an adult" to "playing a child", it actually proves that she has indeed grown up.
However, until Alice left angrily, she did not realize what the "Ibn Ritualist" had deliberately overlooked.
Yasen stared at her back and chuckled, "Sure enough... you're still a child, right?"
“It’s pretty good.”
Aiwass, who was acting as the "Ibn Ritualist," raised an eyebrow and commented, "Still a little immature. Most importantly, he's not firm enough."
"yes……"
Aleister, who was in his arms, smiled and said, "Because I heard bigger news, I unknowingly forgot my original purpose and questions... I really miss it. I had such a time back then."
"Back then?" Aiwass asked appropriately.
"Well, when I was still a clear-headed and stupid college student."
Aleister, who looked no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, said briskly, "If I remember correctly, she does seem to be a recent college graduate."
Everyone present, without any prior agreement, hid the same thing from Alice.
——That is why Moon Child and Hawkeye are stalking this place at the same time.
Alice was only slightly puzzled, but her attention was easily drawn to Yassen's exaggerated performance, and she soon focused on the extra key in the suitcase.
But in fact, the thing she ignored was the key.
Although the assassins of the Hawkeye Organization are good at hiding, the Son of the Moon can sense the blood of others; and even though the Son of the Moon is exactly the same as an ordinary person under normal circumstances, Hawkeye has already done research on the Son of the Moon - coupled with the perception and intuition ability of adapting to the Tao, they can be said to be exposed under each other's noses at the same time.
"The child is gone."
Aiwass looked at Yasen and said, "Next, let's talk about some adult matters."
The white-haired vampire laughed coldly, but Arsene showed no sign of nervousness and instead leaned back.
"Come to think of it, it was because of this incident that I was sure that you weren't a bad person."
Yasen said casually, "You don't want that child to get involved in any trouble."
Indeed, Aiwass thought.
Whatever her family's conspiracy, she was truly innocent... and risked her life for her country and humanity. It was precisely for this reason that Aiwass had released her after capturing her. Otherwise, how could she, the daughter of a mere duke of a human kingdom, escape so easily when implicated in a case as serious as the assassination of the Eternal Pope?
But the white-haired vampire just sneered: "I just think she's in the way."
“Okay, okay…”
Yasen waved his hand, treating it as a pretense of stubbornness or professionalism. "Now that the troublesome person has left, I have something more important to tell you."
As he spoke, he leaned back in his chair, waved his hand lazily, snapped his fingers, and said loudly: "Okay, guys - please go out for a while, okay?"
The next moment.
Everyone in the originally noisy tavern suddenly shut up at the same time.
Diners, drunkards, sailors, bards...even the part-time front desk clerk, chef, bartender and boss, all stood up and wanted to leave.
"Hey, you can't leave!"
Yassen suddenly pounced and grabbed the boss's sleeve. "Give me some beer—I'll also have beef stew in red wine, veal tripe with cream and pepper, chicken liver mousse, and a doughnut. Oh, and rice pudding on the rocks with linden honey. And put this gentleman's account on my account, too."
"Don't even think about it, you vile thief! Burglar! Duck!"
The boss struggled to break free and cursed back rudely, "You've already charged me three times. Our small business can't stand your wicked refusal to pay!"
"Well, I'll pay it back next time... I didn't bring any money this time... You know, it's not usually suitable for me to carry money when I go out..."
"There won't be a next time, Yasen! Just drink water!"
The boss left angrily.
Yes, that's not mind manipulation.
——It’s just that everyone in this bar is his people.
As a phantom thief who has been active in Iris for more than ten years, his story still has such popularity in Iris today, and can even be written into a novel and sold overseas... If all this is spontaneous, even a life sitcom with thousands of episodes or a children's animation cannot achieve it.
As a Phantom Thief who has devoted himself to the path of Taoism, he certainly has his own power.
He has always upheld the powerful and supported the weak, robbing the rich and giving to the poor. Even though he gave away almost all of the money he stole, completing a "fair redistribution," this doesn't mean he has no power. After all, he saved many people, and many hated people were severely punished by the Phantom Thief. It's only natural that these people would become his followers.
It was thanks to his solid network of contacts across various industries that he was able to consistently issue accurate "crime notices." He couldn't investigate this sort of thing on his own, as some crimes were only clearly understood by those in the field, and laypeople couldn't even grasp the technical terminology.
After all, this was an era without search engines, and industry knowledge was such a high cognitive barrier.
...But after people got to know him thoroughly, his "idol halo" disappeared, and people gradually went from admiring him to disliking him.
As nationally renowned idols, he and Sherlock have similar yet opposite situations - the more familiar people are with Sherlock, the more they respect and distance themselves from him; and he is disliked and alienated by the "relatively conservative-minded" Iris people because of his increasingly unconcealed perverted behavior.
Aiwass knew some of his dark history—after all, Arsen had been a frequent event NPC since the mid-game. His usual activities involved him hiding newly stolen treasures in designated locations, then creating riddles for his close friends to find. Finding them rewarded them with tiny tokens...
Considering that you can copy the homework even if you can't answer the riddle... Therefore, as an NPC that purely provides benefits, Arsene is quite popular.
The most perverse thing about Arsene, and the one that players admire the most, is that he makes a bet with the player during the main storyline. Naturally, he loses this bet—and if the player chooses the most outrageous of the three punishment options, "dancing the cancan in the street in just their underwear"...
——He really does it.
Yasen agreed without hesitation.
Although it sounds like a classy act of "accepting defeat", he agreed so firmly and even seemed a little impatient that it made some players have the strange idea that "he couldn't have been looking forward to it this way".
The official even designed a complete CG for this option - he is wearing a fiery red skirt, but his face has been free of makeup, revealing his handsome, deep, and vicissitudes of life face, while his lower body is only wearing underwear.
The Cancan dance is famous for its dance moves of lifting the skirt and kicking the legs high. Its characteristics include exposing the skirt and thighs, splits and high kicks.
When the police heard the news and came to hunt him, he disappeared into the street while dancing the cancan with great agility, becoming an urban legend that made people think it was mostly a collective hallucination.
——Such a person can get along well with the players.
That's why Aleister subconsciously regarded the other party as a pervert - after all, in a sense, she was the one with the least right to criticize Yasen.
It was precisely because of his keen sense of goodwill and the fact that the other party sent Alice away that Yasen roughly determined the possible identities of Aiwas and his group, and confirmed that they were not in the same group as those Moon Children.
Then Yasin spoke: "Those Moon Children are not here to seize the Moonlight Key. They have no use for this key... they want to destroy it.
"Because some Moon Children seem to be planning to use this key to perform a particularly dangerous ritual. This ritual could even affect the entire Moon Child clan... To prevent any accidents, other factions of Moon Children want to destroy this key.
"They knew Alice was escorting the key. So for her safety, even without your intervention, I would have 'accidentally' revealed the truth to her. That way, they wouldn't think the key was still with the girl and choose not to attack her—at least it would have reduced the chances of her being attacked."
"How gentle."
Iben sighed and replied in a low voice.
Yassen shook his head and continued, "As for the Hawkeye Organization... after all, they actually gave me this key through Alice. They've held it for over a hundred years. This way, even if our collaboration is leaked, only she will be held responsible. It could be directed at her, or it could be directed at her father, who could die at any moment...
"I think they've been staying here to prevent Alice from defecting. They're probably also trying to keep an eye on me and prevent me from talking too much to Alice."
As Yasen spoke, he subconsciously gripped the key tightly, pointing the hollowed-out key toward the light on the ceiling. "After all, this key... seems to allow one to reach the dream world physically. Sometimes I wonder, what if I were a phantom demon? No need to eat, drink, or sleep. A carefree life... without having to worry about anything."
"——The dream world has countless entrances and exits. Once you enter, you may never find your way back home."
Aiwass gave a symbolic admonition.
But he also knew that it was probably useless to persuade people about this kind of thing.
However, Yasen's words revealed another piece of information:
"You want to leave Iris?"
Suddenly, the white-haired Moon Child realized the subtext of Yasen's words and asked, "Any intentions?"
"Let's go to Avalon. I think Avalon is now the most powerful country in the human world."
Yasen replied nonchalantly, "Or to Xingbi. Anywhere is fine. As long as it's not in the desert where I have to eat sand."
"Then my suggestion is Avalon."
Aiwass also answered bluntly.
After hearing this, Yasen felt relieved.
Regardless of whether he is related to the Pope... at least we can be sure which side he belongs to.
What he said was an indirect attack - and by the way, it also blocked the other party's perfunctory words such as "I am a Parthian, so I suggest you go to the ancient Parthia Kingdom."
But in fact, even if he didn't ask, Aiwass had no intention of hiding it from him.
He disguised himself as Ibn only because he was afraid that those who held Sherlock would react with pressure and suddenly kill Sherlock. Now that Sherlock's exact location had been quickly determined, there was no need to continue the act. All that was left to do was to rescue him first.
Once he enters the dream world and finds an opportunity, he plans to find an excuse to take off his disguise.
As for whether what Yasen just said was from the heart, Aiwass didn't care at all.
—Come if you want. He's not some random thief anyway.
If you can really let go of the messy political situation in Iris, you are indeed welcome to come anytime!
Avalon has been quiet for too long, so it's time for some amazing people to open their eyes...
"But... one side wants to kidnap Alice, and the other is also monitoring her. It turns out that neither side is a good person."
Aiwass sighed softly, "If it weren't for your help, Alice would probably be dead today. Both sides would probably accuse the other of killing her."
"After all, she's a 'talented person' who once assassinated the Pope and was pardoned by him. Add to that her background... if she grows up, the influence she'll have will be enormous. However, no one knows what kind of talent she will become in the future."
Mr. Phantom Thief said with a hint of meaning, "The only survivor of the regicide—everyone thinks she's powerful. In this situation, silencing her is the best and most thorough option. And today is a perfect day for everyone to shift the blame onto the other party."
"From what I've heard, both sides are starting to feel less inclined to fight. But if Hawkeye and Moonson truly cease fire and cooperate, it would be like tying someone to the stake—so they're going to intensify the conflict and fight even more resolutely."
"—That's why I ate them."
Aleister said dissatisfiedly, "I'm not the kind of unreasonable person. Those who can be eaten by me are probably not good things. The traces of being preyed upon by the Moon Child are obvious. At least this way, we won't pass the problem on to the other side. I think Lily thinks so too. She probably left traces of the power of shadow behind her."
"Yes."
Lily's gentle voice came.
Upon hearing this, Aiwass reached out and touched Aleister's nose.
"You little fellow..."
He leaned close to Aleister's ear and asked, "Didn't you say in the past that you wouldn't suck other people's blood?"
"I ate them whole. It wasn't blood-sucking, it was predation. I didn't even kiss them, I just used my power to draw their blood."
Aleister turned around and smiled, revealing a pair of ferocious and sharp canine teeth: "I am now 'Pure Love' - how about sucking yours?"
Aiwass knocked Aleister on the head and didn't respond.
Instead, he raised his head and asked, "When do you plan to enter your dream? You're not going to wait until the end of the month, are you?
"I have something important to talk to him about—it won't be until the end of the month!"
"...I know. It's the Queen of Avalon's birthday. He showed me the letter."
Mr. Kaito replied, "I said we'd go later because I wanted to trick the kid out first. My suggestion is to leave now—give me twenty minutes to replenish my supplies, and then we'll be off. Some people will be taking a nap at this hour, so we can just find someone who's taking a nap and use their dreams... Do you want to come with me?"
"Can."
The white-robed vampire nodded, being frugal with his words.
"Then let's go together," Aleister agreed happily. "I'll go find the sleeping person first. If he didn't sleep well, I'll make him sleep more soundly."
Lily didn't respond, but quietly slipped back into Aiwass's shadow.
However, speaking of entering the dream world to save people...
Aiwass also thought of another thing.
The task he had previously promised Ms. Haibasha could now be completed at the same time.
Taking on a bunch of tasks along the way and completing them at once sounds very friendly to his obsessive-compulsive disorder!
Two-in-one update meow!
My neck hurt yesterday and I didn't sleep well for half the night. I was half asleep today and didn't start writing until the afternoon. I wrote for eight hours and finally finished it...
I'll write a transition chapter first to get myself in the zone! I'll write about the dream world tomorrow after I've had enough sleep!
(End of this chapter)
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