Chapter 160

Chapter 160

The demon closed his eyes.

Closing his eyes, various desires blossomed in the darkness of his vision, radiating in different colors.

The woman on the bed transformed into a glowing green light, which grew from her abdomen and connected to her head. Though still asleep, the green light in her brain pulsed like a heart, expanding and contracting.

The demon paid no attention to her, only gazing out the window where the lace curtains were piled. His eyes, of course, had no power of penetration, yet he could see various colored lights moving far away.

Those who had seen him would, for a moment, feel a desire for him—whether it be for wealth or something else. Even if these desires lay dormant temporarily, under the demon's remote control, they remained, never truly disappearing.

In this way, the demon could easily manipulate the movements of these people, even from a distance.

Of course, not all desires could be controlled; those with true willpower were always difficult to influence.

But desires that couldn't be manipulated by magic didn't mean they couldn't be used in other ways. In this world, there was no one truly without desires, just as—

The demon, looking out the window, raised his head again.

Crimson!

To the believers of the Silver Moon, crimson symbolized danger.

That blood-red crimson descended from above, from the second floor of the Tribunal Headquarters, enveloping the entire city, signifying the clear intent to kill from the Apostle currently within the headquarters.

The demon felt that any slight movement would result in his death, as if the divine-favored being of his own kind stood before him, gun pointed at his forehead.

But Hui Cui Dover was not in front of him.

The demon knew he was actually very safe.

For even the contradictory Apostles needed to determine their enemy's location before firing.

And the demon had successfully blended into the citizens of Spire City, like a drop of water in the ocean.

Hui Cui Dover killing a fellow believer from across half a continent with a single shot was, of course, known to him. He even recognized the high-ranking demon who was killed, for the number of demons who reached such a level was so few.

Her fate served as a warning, but the gray-haired demon did not believe he would end up like his fellow believer.

If he were to say, the reason the demon killed by Hui Cui Dover met his end was because he was too far away from her.

Being too far away, he was within Hui Cui Dover's range of attack, while she was outside his range of desire detection, and his whereabouts were exposed to the Tribunal hunting her. Who else but him would die?

From the perspective of the gray-haired demon, if one day he were to target the young Apostle Hui Cui Dover, the first priority would be not to be discovered; secondly, not to be too far from Hui Cui Dover, but to remain within a range where her desires could be constantly monitored.

This way, when Hui Cui Dover made her move, they could detect it in advance and find a way to avoid it.

"It's time to go."

After observing the red light above for a while and finding no change, the demon whispered to himself.

He got up, put on a synthetic silk shirt, then an overcoat, without altering his appearance, despite likely being on the wanted list and possibly being searched for throughout the city, and left the woman's villa.

It was nearly noon, and there were few people walking through this wealthy neighborhood. The gray-haired demon politely smiled and nodded to everyone he encountered. When he reached the elevator plaza, where more people gathered, he began using magic to ensure no one looked at him.

This made him even more noticeable; wherever he went, people turned their heads, even unconsciously making way for him, driven by a sudden desire to step aside.

But no one noticed him, not even those peering down from the second-floor windows. No one paid attention to the commotion he caused as he passed, for everyone had more pressing matters to think about.

The gray-haired demon boarded the elevator.

As the elevator ascended, he looked out from the glass elevator car into the vast elevator shaft, somewhat disappointed to find no scene of judges riding flying machines, frantically searching for him.

Though Spire City was not a large city, the presence of an Apostle kept it much calmer than most.

What a pity, the gray-haired demon actually hoped for a search operation, as more people meant more desires to exploit, but the Spire City Court remained remarkably calm, and the Chief Judge did not lose composure due to overwhelming rage.

Of course, it might also be that over the years, the Tribunal had failed too many times in their frantic pursuit of demons.

The elevator stopped on the third floor, and the gray-haired demon walked out, heading determinedly toward the Fungal Forest.

That was also the territory of the Smoke Pipe Gang and several other gangs, and the site of the street attack that occurred just over half an hour ago.

A group of police officers in red coral velvet uniforms surrounded the Smoke Pipe Trading Company.

When the tall, one-eyed ratman was weeping and dragged out, he did not notice that the gray-haired Dover Birdman he had described to Luo An was standing across the street, watching the commotion.

He, of course, could not detect the demon.

He could not even recall that last night, while in the bar on the second floor, the gray-haired Dover Birdman had entered his private room to "visit," revealing information about the Book of Blindness and its adopted brother, Luo An White, who planned to resign from the Smoke Pipe Trading Company today.

People influenced by desire forgot what had happened once the desire faded.

However, the demon could make them remember.

The gray-haired demon's figure disappeared around the corner, and the leader of the Smoke Pipe Gang, about to be loaded into a vehicle, suddenly let out a scream.

Thinking he was trying to escape, a red-uniformed officer pressed a gun to the Smoke Pipe Gang leader's head and shouted, "Stay still."

But the Smoke Pipe Gang leader seemed oblivious, his eyes wide with bloodshot veins, grabbing his hair in terror, exclaiming, "I didn't... I didn't! How could I betray—"

"Knock him out," Lingfei Ge said, stepping out of the company's entrance.

Following the judge's order, the red-uniformed officer struck the Smoke Pipe Gang leader with the butt of his gun without hesitation.

Shanta noticed the ratman boy beside her shudder and quickly comforted him, "They're not punishing him for struggling; it's clear a demon used magic on him. Keeping him conscious would drive him mad. It's better to let him pass out and calm down."

What is a demon? Luo An shuddered again.

As an ordinary citizen, he knew very few names of Pillar God practitioners, let alone the names of practitioners of evil deities.

Luo An had never even heard of the word Shanta mentioned and found it hard to understand what kind of spell could drive someone mad.

He wanted to remain as calm as possible, but it was really difficult, especially after learning that since he left home these past few days, there had actually been Inquisitors secretly following him to protect him.

And after he encountered an inexplicable attack, those two Inquisitors called for more to guard him.

What on earth...

...Lin!

Luo An anxiously called out this name in his heart, with a thousand questions he wanted to ask.

But facing the so-called classmate Lin and the Inquisitors who knew Lin, Luo An dared not show his anxiety or ask questions, trembling while still trying to smile at these Inquisitors.

This smile made Lingfei Ge, who had returned, sigh.

"Although we haven't announced it, you might have heard that last week's curfew was due to a conflict between two deities," the short Skalan birdman explained to Luo An. "In this divine battle, your brother made a significant contribution, a very significant one."

Killing a deity's projection is something many high-level practitioners haven't achieved, yet Lin was just a ritualist.

"Now, Lin has become a thorn in the side of the Aberrant Cult," Lingfei Ge said seriously. "These followers of evil deities won't tolerate it; their retaliation will come swiftly."

However, sending demons to represent the Aberrant Cult's retaliation indicates a specific target.

The person causing this targeting is their Chief Inquisitor.

Such matters can't be told to children, so Lingfei Ge skipped over this part and continued, "Not just you, everyone in your family who went out these past few days had Inquisitors following them. Yes, just as you thought, you're in deep trouble."

His words were straightforward, and Shanta didn't expect Lingfei Ge to tell Luo An this. She pressed her hand on Luo An's shoulder, giving him support, and frowned in dissatisfaction, "Captain!"

To her surprise, Lingfei Ge instead smiled.

"Good, worthy of being Lin's younger brother."

"Eh?"

Shanta looked down and saw that the young boy who had been trembling but still tried to smile at them was gradually no longer shaking.

Luo An tentatively understood what had happened.

It was something he couldn't solve no matter what, something he couldn't help with. So...

"Is Lin in danger?" the rat-boy asked.

"The forces protecting him are the strongest," Lingfei Ge said. "As long as he stays at home—"

"What about home?"

Someone interjected.

The few people standing in the reception hall of the Tobacco Trade Company fell silent for a few seconds.

A few seconds later, they all turned their heads in unison to look at the speaker.

"Lin?!"

The black-haired ritualist, with bandages covering his eyes, wearing casual clothes, carrying a suitcase and holding secret documents, walked into the reception hall.

Lingfei Ge was taken aback by his appearance and jumped up, saying, "How did the Chief Inquisitor allow you to come here?"

This question made the black-haired ritualist raise an eyebrow at him.

Lin said, "I'm here to pick up my family, why would I need the Chief Inquisitor's permission?"

Lingfei Ge's mouth twitched, Shanta suddenly lowered her head to cough, and even Yan Tang, who had been silently standing beside them, slightly lifted her hood-covered face, as if observing whether Lin was serious.

Luo An suddenly felt the atmosphere was a bit strange.

Before he could sense anything, Lin stepped forward and pulled the clearly shocked Luo An into his arms, smiling at his three colleagues:

"Just kidding, I came because the Chief Inquisitor agreed.

"Moreover, the news of Luo An being attacked was personally told to me by the Chief Inquisitor over the phone."