Secret: The undead do not die in the fire

Chapter 162 Young prince, do you desire power?
"How do I need to cooperate?"

Hibbert asked very proactively.

As the eldest son, he was also aware of the abnormality of Earl Hall. He even did some divination, but he didn't get the answer he wanted. However, this made him more certain that Earl Hall was affected by extraordinary abilities.

"before this……"

Audrey hesitated for a moment, took out a candle mixed with incense, and said softly, "Brother, I need you to cooperate with me in an experiment."

"Okay." Hibbert nodded and accepted it calmly.

Audrey quickly lit a candle and placed it in front of Hibbert, who looked at Audrey through the candlelight.

"Audrey, what are you doing..."

Hibbert was a little confused, and just as he was about to ask back, he suddenly became dazed. Through the candlelight, he saw his sister's eyes, which had turned golden, and the pupils stretched out, as if hiding another vertical pupil.

In the blink of an eye, Hibbert, who was in a trance, suddenly returned to normal. The candle was still burning in front of him, and his sister was looking at him from the opposite side. Nothing seemed to have changed.

Hibbert raised his hands in confusion and asked hesitantly:
"What exactly is going on?"

Yu Jin explained simply: "The extraordinary ability of the audience channel is psychological suggestion. It can hint the target through specific actions, language or media, making them unconsciously follow the hypnotist's arrangement. Of course, this ability can also be used to remove the suggestion."

"I see."

Hibbert tensed up when he heard the first half, but he heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the second half. He half-jokingly said, "It seems that I am still normal. At least I am not hypnotized."

Audrey extinguished the candle and shook her head, "Probably not."

Hibbert was originally quite happy, but after hearing what Audrey said, he couldn't help but laugh and cry: "What do you mean by should?"

Audrey explained:

"If the person hypnotizing you has a high enough sequence, I probably won't be able to detect it."

Hibbert frowned slightly, and after a moment's silence, he said slowly:

"If this is really the case, I suggest you not to pursue it further."

"Then dad..."

"Don't worry about your father."

Hibbert interrupted her and asked, "My whole family is a loyal believer of the goddess, and the donations we make to the Church of Darkness every year are not a small amount. Do you think the Church of Darkness will sit idly by and watch my father being hypnotized?"

Audrey lowered her head silently. A loyal believer of the goddess? She felt a little guilty when she heard this.

Hibbert thought Audrey still couldn't accept it, so he patiently explained:
"Father and mother went to St. Samuel's Church at least once a week for mass, and Archbishop St. Anthony presided over it every time. Why do you think this is?"

Audrey raised her head suddenly, with a hint of surprise in her eyes. She had obviously guessed the answer and blurted out:

"Dad, have they been on guard against being affected by extraordinary abilities?"

Hibbert nodded slightly, leaned back against the back of his chair, and chuckled:

"Not only are we on guard, but all the major churches are also on guard. Duke Negan can be personally protected by the Singer of God. Although my father is only an earl, his influence is not much less than that of Duke Negan, so..."

Audrey murmured in a low voice: "So Archbishop Saint Anthony sometimes comes to visit our home and chat with us..."

The person who could serve as the Archbishop of Backlund Diocese must be a demigod of the Church of Darkness. With a demigod watching over them, even if they were really hypnotized, Archbishop Saint Anthony would be able to find out immediately!

But if you think about it carefully, it is not surprising. Although Duke Negan is the nobleman who owns the most land outside the royal family, claiming to have more than 1200 million pounds of fields, pastures and forests, and annual rent income of more than one million pounds, it is normal for him to receive the blessing of a demigod.

In comparison, although the Hall family's history is not as long as Duke Negan's, it is also a hereditary earl with a history of hundreds of years. At the same time, Earl Hall himself is one of the most influential members of the Senate. He is also the largest shareholder of Bavart Bank, the fourth largest shareholder of Backlund Bank, special advisor of Loen Royal Bank, the third largest shareholder of Suchit Bank of Intis Republic, and the second largest shareholder of Constanton Coal and Steel Consortium. In front of Earl Hall, if it is only about wealth, even Duke Negan has to stand aside!
For such a loyal believer, the Church of Evernight cannot ignore him. It would be strange if he didn't have the protection of a demigod. In terms of the protection standards of both parties, they are actually not much different. Duke Negan is protected by a Sequence 6 Beyonder of the Mandated Punisher, and Count Hall is also protected by a Sequence 6 Deacon of the Church of Evernight. Duke Negan has a Beyonder that can directly contact the 'Singer of God', and so does Count Hall?
"Don't worry too much."

Hibbert seemed very relaxed and said with a smile, "Archbishop Saint Anthony is not the Singer of God, at least he won't be late. And my father is not Duke Negan, he was just hypnotized, there is no Sequence 5 assassin here..."

Yu Jin raised his hand to interrupt Hibbert's flag-setting behavior and suddenly asked:

"Hibbert, why didn't you do this from the beginning?"

Hibbert was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously explained: "That's because, because..."

Hibbert's expression suddenly froze, and then it became gloomy the next moment. He gritted his teeth and said, "I've been affected!"

"I remember! I was planning to inform the Night Watchmen of the Church of Darkness last night and have them contact Archbishop Saint Anthony. I even planned to have my servants send a telegram to Saint Samuel's Church and send someone to deliver a letter to Saint Samuel's Church. I made many preparations. But when I woke up, I suddenly found that I didn't remember anything!"

Audrey suddenly woke up and immediately realized that someone was watching her family last night! Because Hibbert had sought help from the Church of the Night, the other party hypnotized Hibbert. The reason why she was not affected was because her performance was good enough. Not only did she not do anything, but she "left" early in the morning, so the other party did not hypnotize her...

No! That's not right! She was hypnotized too! She never thought of asking for help from the Church of Evernight. Although this was because she had the better option of The Fool, she shouldn't have thought about it.

Someone hypnotized Earl Hall and made him think that the mission Alfred was carrying out was a good thing. At the same time, they also hypnotized their family, making them subconsciously ignore the need to ask for help from the Church of Night.

If nothing unexpected happens, this will at least keep the Church of Night from noticing for a week, because Earl Hall went to St. Samuel Church yesterday morning to hold Mass. Only when Archbishop St. Anthony finds out that they haven't held Mass for a long time will he notice something is wrong and take the initiative to visit them at home.

But the other party certainly didn't expect that he would have the choice of Mr. Fool!

Audrey was very grateful at this moment. She believed that when she prayed to Mr. Fool and entered Mr. Fool's "Kingdom of God", the psychological suggestion planted by others had been lifted. The reason why she didn't realize this problem until now was that the moment she returned to reality, the ember came to her side. With a target to rely on and trust, she no longer needed to seek help from the Church of Evernight.

However, Hibbert was able to wake up so easily, which also showed that the other party's hypnosis was not too extreme. If you want to use an adjective, it is that the other party only performed "surface hypnosis" rather than "deep hypnosis".

As a new psychologist, Audrey could guess why the other party did this:
Surface hypnosis is more difficult to detect. Even Archbishop Saint Anthony may not notice anything unusual after a week, and they themselves will naturally not be able to detect it. But correspondingly, this kind of hypnosis is also easy to break. Even if Audrey is only Sequence 7, she can still do it.

On the other hand, deep hypnosis is the opposite. It is very difficult to break unless you are a Beyonder of the same sequence, but it is also easier for people to detect abnormalities.

And since they knew that the family went to St. Samuel's Church to pray every week, the other party certainly didn't dare to do deep hypnosis. After all, in addition to going to St. Samuel's Church to pray every week, the family also had 24-hour protection from the Night Watchmen of the Church of the Night.

Deep hypnosis will change their behavior, which makes it easy for the night watchers to notice the abnormality and report it to Archbishop Saint Anthony, unless the other party hypnotizes the night watchers as well. However, these night watchers report back to the Church of Darkness every day. If they are hypnotized or do not report back to the Church of Darkness, it will be easier to detect abnormalities.

"Can't wait any longer!"

Hibbert stood up suddenly and said in a deep voice: "Audrey, let's go to St. Samuel Church to find Archbishop St. Anthony now!"
-
Red Rose Manor, on the outskirts of Queens.

After "completing" the investigation into Talim's death, Klein took his leave.

Sitting in the carriage leaving the manor, Klein relaxed and exhaled slowly. He understood that he had now left the center of the stage.

The next step was to bid farewell to Backlund and head south. After a complete farewell, he changed his face and lurked back. He calmly thought about his subsequent plans.

At this moment, he was inspired and his spirituality tightened. He saw the door of the carriage open quickly and then close silently! Before he could respond, a figure quickly appeared, wearing a heavy black dress and a sapphire ring on her hand. Seeing this scene, Klein, who was about to attack or jump out of the car, had his pupils shrink and sat back, not daring to act rashly. Until he saw the figure clearly -

She was a girl. Her age was completely different from her dressing style. She was about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a slightly round face, narrow eyes, a gentle temperament and a hidden sweetness. She was an extremely outstanding beauty.

But such an outstanding beauty made Klein look shocked and incredulous, because he recognized her. He blurted out:
"Triss?"

Hearing his stunned words, Triss was not surprised but happy. She smiled sweetly and said:
"you know me?
"I knew you knew me!
"A detective with extraordinary abilities would definitely pay special attention to the wanted posters!"

He, uh, she looks happy? Klein asked cautiously with doubt:
"What do you want to do?"

Triss pursed her lips and smiled:

"It's simple. Report me to the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, and the Mechanical Heart as soon as possible! Ask them to come here and arrest me!"
-
In a quiet room in Saint Samuel Church, in the northern district of Backlund.

Archbishop Saint Anthony listened quietly to Hibbert's explanation of his purpose, then nodded slightly and said:

"Where is Earl Hall now?"

Hibbert said without hesitation:

"The House of Lords, or Backlund Bank."

Although he had many titles, Earl Hall did not have many things to deal with personally. As a noble and a member of the cabinet, Earl Hall's most frequent visits were undoubtedly the House of Lords, or the Backlund Bank, which controlled the lifeline of the entire country's financial system.

"We're leaving now."

Archbishop Saint Anthony nodded slightly, then turned his head to look at the ember beside him and asked, "Sir, can you stay in the church for a while and handle some things for me?"

Hibbert and Audrey were both stunned, with a look of disbelief on their faces:

"The favored one?"

Audrey opened her mouth slightly, unable to hide her surprise.

Yu Jin is the goddess's favored one? Why didn't he say that before... No, how could that be possible! Now he doesn't even dare to call himself a follower of the goddess. Isn't it because of Yu Jin that he was led astray? How could he be the goddess's favored one?

Facing Saint Anthony's question and the two people's surprised expressions, Yu Jin remained calm and just nodded slightly.

"it is good."

Archbishop Saint Anthony smiled and nodded when he saw Yu Jin agreed, then looked at Hibbert and said, "Lord Hibbert, let's go."

Hibbert reacted and told Audrey:
"Audrey, you stay here too."

Audrey nodded slightly and watched Hibbert and Archbishop St. Anthony leave.

Audrey looked at Yu Jin hesitantly. Just as she was about to ask him why he was the goddess's favorite, she heard Yu Jin suddenly say:

"Audrey, don't you think this is all too coincidental?"

"Eh?"

Audrey was stunned for a moment, and just as she was about to speak, a picture suddenly appeared in her mind.

"Chike, hey, this is the real name of the original witch!"
-
"Gan!"

Klein, who had just sent Triss away and was "prayin" to himself, immediately saw several meteorites burning with flames falling from the sky at high speed, covering the entire forest. At that moment, Klein actually had the thought that he was powerless to fight back and was waiting to die in despair.

Even if he continued to use fire jumping, he had no way to escape from the woods and the dangerous core area before the "meteor shower" hit the ground. And with the fragile body of a "Fortune Teller" Beyonder, it was impossible for him to withstand the meteorite.

As he flashed, Klein began to think quickly. However, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how risky he was, he still couldn't escape the danger. He only had two choices left: either jump into the woods that were away from the front and endure the impact of the meteorite falling from the sky, or jump around like an acrobat above and wait for the "mushroom cloud" to swallow him up.

At that moment, Klein seemed to see himself torn into pieces, his body charred and still burning.

A thought flashed through his mind, and suddenly there was a change in front of his eyes: the red became redder, the yellow became yellower, and the white became whiter. The rich superposition of various colors depicted a strange oil painting.
-
"what?!"

In the Red Rose Manor, Edessak, who had just learned that his future princess was once a man, opened his eyes wide and tilted his head slightly, as if he couldn't believe what he heard.

Upon seeing this, Triss burst out laughing, and she fell forward and backward with laughter, so violently that she looked like a madman:
"Haha, you heard me right, I used to be a man! I used to be the same as you! But the witch potion forced me to change my gender!

"Is it disgusting? Do you already have goose-skin-like bumps?"

"No, that's not the case... You are a real woman... There is no problem... I can confirm this!" He first murmured to himself, then raised his voice and said, "From the moment I met you, you have been a real woman. I don't want to know what you were like in the past! I can pretend that nothing like that happened! What I like and love is the you of now!"

Triss was stunned for a moment, and raised her hand to wipe away the tears from her laughter.

"You are such a pitiful person. Even your love life is arranged by others, just like a puppet being pulled by strings.

"Don't you understand? You are an object that can be sacrificed, and I am both a hostage needed for the cooperation between the royal family and the Witch Cult, and a disguise necessary for deception. I am carrying important items from the Witch Cult, and I am under your strict supervision. I may be destroyed at any time and lose treasures. This is the sincerity of our cooperation."

"Once the matter is exposed and known by the three major churches or other factions of the military, the development of the matter will be very simple. Prince Edessak is greedy for beauty and secretly raises a witch. Knowing that he has committed a serious crime, he will shoot himself. Then, all the problems will be covered up."

"No!" Edessak blurted out.

Then, he asked with a distorted face:
"What are they collaborating on with the Witch Cult?"

"How could a hostage who could be abandoned at any time know that?" Triss laughed at herself. "That's all the reason I want to escape."

"you……"

Edsak opened his mouth, but his voice was unusually difficult. Just as he was about to speak, he caught a glimpse of a small blue doll on a bookshelf not far away. He was suddenly stunned and asked hesitantly, "Where did that doll come from?"

He would spend the night here every day. Although he granted Triss whatever she asked for, he kept a record of everything. He couldn't remember where Triss had bought this strange doll - it was wearing a gray wizard's costume and a pointed hat, and even had four arms.

"Puppet? What puppet?"

Triss was also startled, and subconsciously turned her head to look at the bookshelf beside her, and found the puppet that had been sitting on the top of the bookshelf. She just sat quietly on the top of the bookshelf, looking down at them, as if she was watching a farce.

Then, they saw the puppet raised its four arms, put the fingertips of the top two arms together, and spoke:

"It's a very interesting story, but I don't like the ending."

"Are you thirsty for power, Edsak?"

(End of this chapter)