World Occult Usage Guide

Mrs. Adamek?

Lin An looked at the mother and son selling local specialties and asked silently. They exchanged a glance and said softly, "She is the director of the largest private hospital in Abishang...their wife."

Noticing their strange expressions, Lin An grabbed a canvas cover and crawled inside. After confirming that no one was around, the vendor timidly spoke.

"It all started last April..."

In early April last year, when Adria was planning a ceremony in Dietrich and global satellite signals were lost, Lin An remembered Fu Bin mentioning that a coup had occurred in La Cono at the same time.

The flames of war burned ever brighter, eventually engulfing a large part of Abishan.

The coup was caused by the unexplained assassination of President Lacono, who also killed several important officials, paralyzing the central government.

Their deaths were all so gruesome that it was unbearable to look at them.

To this day, the murderer has not been identified.

Following this horrific and bizarre assassination, the five candidates whom the president had groomed went their separate ways, each falsely accusing the other of being the mastermind behind everything.

No one knows who fired the first shot, but war was imminent.

After exchanging information, Fu Bin and Lin An concluded that the most powerful candidate was a general who was allied with Kapengde Kumasi. He was suspected of having the support of the Red Poppy Merchant Guild, and Abishang City was his base of operations.

The other four candidates, scattered throughout La Cono, were no match for the general. After a year of infighting, each showed signs of retreating and fleeing.

Rumors claim that one candidate has already sold state assets to local black market arms dealers and fled to the West.

After repeating the information Lin An already knew, the peddlers returned to the situation of Mrs. Adamek.

Her husband is the renowned doctor of Lacono, whose parents are from the former Soviet Union. They are internationalists and came to support the South.

After their deaths, young Mr. Adamek inherited his parents' clinic and their legacy.

His medical skills were so outstanding that he was soon hired as the personal physician by the former president.

Furthermore, Mr. Adamek often provided free medical care to the poor, prescribed inexpensive and effective medicines, and delivered babies for young pregnant women at low cost.

Unfortunately, fate was cruel; Mr. Adamek was assassinated in April, leaving behind his heartbroken wife and several young children.

The lady loved her husband deeply and did not want the Adamek family’s generations-old dream to end here, so she took on the responsibility alone and continued to run the private hospital he left behind.

However, without the highly skilled Dr. Adamek, the clinic was practically defunct. Several attending physicians left one after another, and the remaining staff gradually departed, leaving only a few barefoot doctors and intern nurses struggling to keep it afloat.

Even more tragically, unlike her cheerful and optimistic husband, Mrs. Adamek was gloomy, melancholic, and sullen; people said she exuded the deathly aura of a funeral home.

Some rumors suggested that she was the cause of her husband's death and that the clinic's decline was also blamed on her.

Over time, no one went to Adamek's clinic anymore.

Although the clinic remains open as usual and seems unconcerned about losses, the residents of Abishang consider it a symbol of bad luck, a ghost from the underworld.

The failure of her business and the accusations from the outside world gradually made Mrs. Adamek's mental state unstable. Recently, she was seen talking to some people dressed in black at night, and it is suspected that she has joined some kind of mysterious underground organization.

The mother and son whispered among themselves, making unfounded speculations. Some said she was working for foreigners, others said she was the general's concubine, and still others said she was smuggling contraband.

Because she is very rich.

Even though the clinic was always losing money, Mrs. Adamek always wore an expensive black dress and strolled gracefully down the street, accompanied by several silent maids, and she never lacked servants of all kinds.

People speculated about the origins of her assets.

“You all seem very afraid of her,” Lin An said astutely.

“A few days ago, General Loon Rubibasi reinstated Mrs. Adamek as his personal physician. We dare not offend him, lest his soldiers use this as an excuse to kill us.”

Loon Rubibasi is the presidential candidate for Abishang City. Lacomo is the most Westernized country in the central South, where many people have a Western name and a South surname.

"I see." Lin An nodded. "Since you said she doesn't need any servants, why is she here recruiting part-time workers?"

“General Rubibasi assigned her a task; she needs temporary staff,” the vendor said honestly. “We’re cheap; we’ll do anything for money, there are no taboos.”

The vendors spoke terrible French, and Lin An struggled to understand them.

Coincidentally, the so-called "mission" was related to Kapend Kumasi's public speech, in which the general instructed Mrs. Adamek to provide international journalists with on-the-ground vaccines and basic medical services.

The people of Abishan were prejudiced against Mrs. Adamek and dared not work for her for fear of being tainted by her bad luck. As a result, Mrs. Adamek had to send people to this small fishing village thousands of miles away to post job advertisements.

After glancing at the recruiters who were surrounded by them, Lin An said goodbye to the mother and son and strode in.

The job offered by Mrs. Adamek was a good starting point for getting into that international press conference. Also, Lin An suspected that the so-called "underground organization" Mrs. Adamek had joined might be related to the voodoo mystics who supported Capond.

“Number 42.” The recruiter on the registration list glanced at Lin An and handed him a piece of paper with a red stamp. “Take this and report to 245 Yamousukro Street, Abishang City tomorrow.”

Can I register two other people?

"Okay, the more the better." The recruiter tore off another piece of paper. "Next."...

By sub-Saharan standards, Abidjan is a livable and civilized city.

The influence of the former Dove colonizers has permeated every aspect of Laco, from cuisine to education and culture.

Along the streets, many breakfast shops were selling baguettes and coffee. People from Lacounô, hurrying along, carried black briefcases, held phones between their heads, and chattered fluently in French.

If you ignore the infrastructure and skin color, this place is like a hotter version of Pari.

Lin An left the Maori people on the secluded beach and led Lin Xile and the well-rested Edward toward Mrs. Adamek's meeting place.

The reporting time was 11 a.m., so the three of them found a place to have breakfast in the city center. Lin An ordered a croissant with bacon and eggs, along with a cup of black coffee, while Edward ordered a specialty dish called "Foutou".

“Sounds like cheese fondue,” he commented. “Fondue, right?”

As the dishes were served, a familiar aroma wafted over, and Edward, full of hope, widened his eyes.

It turns out that Foutou is the Lacono version of Foutou, but more refined than the Bantu version, with corn and soybeans added, and served with a thick tomato and fish soup, garnished with pepper and herbs.

"Is it good?" Lin An spread egg on the cut surface of the croissant and glanced at Edward, who looked troubled.

"It's at least more delicious than the national dish of stewed frog soup," the reporter stubbornly insisted.

"As far as I know, the most popular restaurant in Langton is called 'Le Gavroche the Newsboy'."

“Okay, your croissant does look pretty good.” Edward reluctantly put down his half-eaten corn and cassava dumpling. “Can I have half?”

"You can switch places with Lin Xile; I don't want to eat Nanzhou cuisine anymore."

Although the girl was merely an alchemical being, Edward still politely asked her a question before exchanging their plates.

"May I take your coffee, young lady?"

"Let her have a taste first." Lin An instructed Lin Xile to pick up the coffee and take a big gulp. Suddenly, a slight sense of rejection came over her, and she uncontrollably put down the cup.

Then, coffee spilled from the corner of her mouth and splattered onto the tablecloth.

Edward opened his mouth slightly, and Lin An couldn't help but widen his eyes as well.

After a long while, the reporter picked up a napkin and wiped the mess in front of Lin Xile. Lin An took control and let her clean her mouth and thighs herself.

“This is the first time she has made a choice since she was created,” Lin An said, clicking his tongue. “Why is the first thing she does to express her disgust for coffee?”

"Maybe she just doesn't like bitterness," Edward said, trying to smooth things over.

After breakfast, the three bought matching clothes at a local shop and then went to the address reported.

Yamoussoukro Street is a relatively wealthy and developed area of ​​Abishang, unlike the dirt roads, neo-Romanesque buildings, and ubiquitous garbage of Bantu Kinsasha.

Even amidst civil war, Lacomo far surpasses the Bantu and most other Southern European countries in every aspect.

Buildings of various styles are situated on both sides of the asphalt-paved avenue, and the lush green lawns and trees are neat and orderly, clearly trimmed regularly. Some residents are also walking their dogs on the road.

The three of them counted the house numbers and stopped in front of a dark, Gothic-style villa. There were already quite a few people who had arrived earlier than them, some standing and some sitting, waiting for further instructions.

Before long, the loud-voiced man I had seen at the market came out.

"Please line up in an orderly fashion to register, and do not push or shove!"

One by one, the temporary workers squeezed into the somewhat gloomy house. As the door closed, a cold wind, unlike anything the people of the Southern Continent had ever experienced, blew in, causing everyone to shiver involuntarily.

“It’s colder in here than outside,” Edward said softly. “Is it because of the building’s structure?”

“Hmm…” Lin An pondered without speaking.

After everyone handed over the papers stamped with the red seal, the loud-voiced man led them to an empty hall and had them line up in a square queue.

"Wait a moment, Madam will give you instructions shortly," the loud voice said.

"I can actually see the real person?" Lin An raised an eyebrow.

Fifteen minutes passed, and the impatient people began to whisper among themselves. Suddenly, a quiet and gentle voice rang out, like the soft middle register of a piano, interrupting their murmurs.

Good afternoon, thank you all for coming.

Accompanied by the faint fragrance of lilacs, a woman dressed in a long black dress, wearing a black hat and black gloves, with an elegant demeanor, pushed open the door and entered.

The high collar wrapped around her swan-like long neck, revealing her bloodless face. Her pale complexion reminded people of a vampire, as if she might turn to dust in the sun at any moment.

The woman pursed her lips, and a small black mole, like a teardrop, lingered beneath her sorrowful eyes.

"I am Mrs. Adamek." (End of Chapter)