Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 785: Gift?

Without thinking too much, Leonard responded, took a thick stack of documents from Anthony, and began to flip through them.

He found that almost all the cases in the files were located in the East District, which was the center of the great smog, with the highest death toll. It was also the cause of many incidents involving supernatural factors and lingering wild evil spirits. In the subsequent concession of the royal family, this area became the area under the jurisdiction of the Church of the Goddess of Night, and these visions were naturally the responsibility of the Night Watchmen and the Red Gloves.

"By the way, the church in the East District reported a serial murder case. The murderer is likely a mid-sequence Beyonder, so they applied for help from the Red Gloves. Since they are short of manpower, you can go and take a look. You can ask the Nighthawks there to assist you."

Anthony picked up another file bag from the table and handed it to Leonard.

The latter did not ask any further questions. He pointed out the Crimson Moon on his chest, said goodbye to the archbishop, and walked towards his office area while pulling out the case file from the file bag and began to read through it.

"The victims all died in flames. There are traces of religious sacrifices. Do you think this is related to the serial killings by the demon dog last year?"

He quickly scanned the area, and the first thing that came to his mind was not the demon dog from the "Abyss" pathway, but a case that had occurred in Tingen City, which also involved supernatural factors and evil sacrifices.

They also happen to be proficient in counter-divination and are good at using fire to kill their enemies.

"Witches? No, they should be called 'witches'..."

Muttering to himself, Leonard walked into his own office.

----

It was not until late at night that Angel, after washing up in the Klein family's bathroom, left 160 Böklund Street with satisfaction and floated towards the Hillston District along the deep passage of the mirror world.

"Perhaps I can place a few sets of clothes at Klein's house in the future. Hmm, but it will be difficult for him to explain why a gentleman has women's clothing at home..."

Angel muttered to himself as he walked comfortably in the mirror passage. Just as he was about to return to the familiar Birningham Road, he suddenly felt spiritually touched.

She stopped cautiously in the spider-web-like passage and looked at several "tributaries" not far away that exuded a strong and dangerous atmosphere.

But the premonition of danger came and went quickly, as if it was just the aftermath of some explosion, sweeping across the "mirror world" and then disappearing without a trace, making it difficult to find its trace.

It was the direction of the East District. What happened there? This was not the breath of the "True Creator" that the Aurora Society believed in, nor was it the feeling of destruction and corruption when the "God's Evil" descended... Angel frowned, thinking whether to go back to the North District and submit a letter of complaint to St. Samuel's Church, or go and see for himself.

After a moment, she made up her mind and went to the East District to investigate, exercising her rights as the "Shadow of the Goddess" and her obligations as a resident of Backlund.

What if a disaster of the same magnitude as the smog occurs again... Angel felt heartbroken when he thought of the people struggling and dying in the pungent fog.

She quickly passed through the complex passages representing the Cherwood District and the Backlund Bridge District and arrived at the location where she had sensed the anomaly before.

The buildings in the East District are short and dense, and therefore have more small but differently shaped mirrors, allowing Angel to peek at the outside world from various angles. She quickly found a dilapidated apartment building and locked onto a room on the top floor.

Staying in the narrow space behind the mirror, she created a "mirror substitute" to crawl out of the mirror and stepped into the simply furnished bedroom. She found a fair, frail body lying on the cold floor between the messy tables, chairs and bed. The body had just opened its eyes and was looking over here quietly.

The woman had thrown her nightgown aside, her long black hair was spread messily on the ground, and her black eyes were filled with pain, confusion and helplessness. It was Triss, whom Angel had not seen for a long time.

It was her. Why was she lying naked on the ground? Did she have the habit of sleeping naked?... Angel, who was sharing the senses of the stand-in, looked away awkwardly.

"As a homosexual, I don't mind, and I feel very honored that the 'Golden Queen' is interested in my body."

Triss chuckled and turned around without any concealment, showing Angel's mirror double her not-so-big but beautiful breasts, slender waist and flat belly that were half-hidden by her black hair. Seeing that she had no reaction, she clicked her tongue, slowly got up, picked up the black nightgown beside her and put it on, tidied her black hair that almost reached her waist, and simply tied it into a knot.

This is not good for hair quality. Even I, who has only been a woman for a year, know this... Well, she is the same as me... Various thoughts flashed through Angel's mind until Triss put the fallen chair in place and sat down. He then turned his attention back to the witch and said:
"What happened just now? I sensed something strange in the mirror world. I think if there are other high-sequence witches traveling through the mirror channel, they will feel the same way."

"The world in the mirror..." Triss's eyes, which seemed to be filled with melancholy all the time and constantly tempted others to fall into it, flashed with a trace of doubt, "Just now, I was accepting the 'gift' of the original witch."

The "Original Witch" believed in by the Witch Cult... Angel's heart tightened, and she subconsciously looked around the mirror world. Her stand-in in the outside world also frowned and asked back:
"What kind of 'gift'?"

“Of course it’s the power of the path you and I are on… Through this method, I don’t need to perform the corresponding role-playing. I only need to passively endure it to digest the potion in my body and quickly advance.” When talking about this state that every extraordinary person dreams of, Triss didn’t smile at all. Instead, she felt an involuntary fear. “But at the same time, I will be getting closer and closer to Him. The will contained in His power may soon erode me and make me a true… vessel of God’s descent.” Why is this guy getting closer to the state he was in with Edessak? If the whites of his eyes disappeared and he had a mysterious smile on his face, it would be even more like… Angel complained in his heart and shook his head.

Frankly speaking, she was not optimistic about Triss's current state. Even if she had some kind of "gift" from the gods that could quickly increase her strength, this mental state was like an unstable bomb that could explode at any time, and the epicenter was in this big city with a population of five million.

"Then why don't you find the potion materials yourself and advance normally? For you who have the blessing of a certain god, all this shouldn't be that difficult, right?"

She then asked.

"Promotion? Ha, during that time when I was in a daze, I did gain a lot of knowledge, and even found the location of the 'hunting ground' hidden by the 'Witch Cult' where I could easily get materials. But the promotion ceremony is simply impossible to complete in the short term. Even if the official Beyonders are deaf and blind, it would be too difficult for me to create a plague large enough to infect 30,000 people. And... he wouldn't want to see all this."

She couldn't be talking about Edessak, could she? Could love really turn a witch who had committed the Clover tragedy and planned a large-scale curse ritual in Tingen into this? But what about creating a plague and killing 30,000 people? A way to replace the formal ritual of killing a demigod and making him despair, a way to win by "quantity"?

Angel thought of the "blackness of disaster" that Winsa had mentioned. Just as he was beginning to wonder, Triss said:
"I am willing to give up everything and seek a result. You don't need to worry about it. Let's talk about the progress of the investigation. Isn't that why you are here?"

I'm not worried about you, I'm worried about the residents of the East District and even the entire Backlund... Angel complained in his heart, and let the stand nod, and sat on another chair next to him.

Triss obviously didn't realize that the Witch of Despair in front of her was just a substitute, and said carefully:

"Sherman's progress is very good. We have completely hooked Viscount Stratford. This infatuated viscount would take a lot of time every week to 'accidentally meet' her when she occasionally appears in the West End, inviting her to watch operas, enjoy music, and have meals together. Sherman would refuse most invitations and accept some interactions in public. This effectively avoided the suspicion of the guards around the viscount. After all, everything was initiated by him, and the process of getting along was very 'safe'...

"I think that in about a month, their relationship will have substantial progress. This depends on Sherman's digestion of the 'Witch' potion. As long as she is promoted to 'Joy', Stratford will definitely not be able to escape from her control."

Substantial progress in "joy" is needed... Angel muttered, and warned the other party seriously:

"This can only be a voluntary act of Sherman, otherwise I will put a ring on you that can turn you into Sherman, tie you up and throw you into the bedroom in Stratford, and let you do everything yourself."

"As long as he is willing, I don't mind," Triss sneered and replied nonchalantly, "You can confirm Sherman's opinion yourself, but when everything is settled, I will use her as a hostage to force Stratford, who has fallen completely in love with her, to surrender and tell him all the truth about the Great Smog and Edessak's 'suicide'."

"Just relying on a hostage, can a meticulous captain of the palace guards who holds royal secrets give up everything?"

Angel asked back, somewhat worriedly.

"Parting with loved ones and dying is the most painful thing. Of course, Stratford may not be such a person, but as long as he is attracted to Sherman, I have other ways to facilitate it."

Triss's tone was so confident that Angel began to wonder if she had any "backup plan".

"So this is how you bring 'pain' to others?"

She chuckled and said sarcastically.

"I no longer need these methods. Ever since I put on the sapphire ring, I'm afraid all of this was predicted by the 'Original Witch'. Even without the Witch Cult's control, I would have reached this end on my own."

Triss murmured with a distressed expression on her face, but a second later her eyes showed a hint of fear.

In front of her, Angel was holding the sapphire ring that would wake her up from her dreams from time to time, fearing that she would be "controlled" again.

It no longer had the terrifying aura it once had. It was like a work of art that lacked design and only relied on gemstones to highlight its value. However, it still successfully reminded Triss of the past ten months ago. She couldn't help but stand up from her chair and asked in a sharp voice:

"Wasn't it taken away by the hooded woman? How did it end up in your hands?"

The hooded woman was the "Mother of Heaven", the vessel of the goddess's descent... Angel recalled the emotionless face and the inexplicable look in her eyes after she made the choice, was temporarily promoted, and calmed the haze. He said with half doubt and half emotion:
"I'm curious why He didn't kill you and just took this ring. However, it was with this ring that I was able to control the plague fog and minimize the casualties caused by the fog... So, I also wore this ring, so why didn't the 'Original Witch' find me?"

Having said that, after hearing Triss's explanation of the "Gift", Angel had a new idea in his mind:
Perhaps, after putting on the ring, it was not my luck and courage that allowed me to directly consume the Beyonder property of "Pain" and successfully advance to Sequence 5, but...

A gift?
(End of this chapter)