World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 96 Efron Ruben, the Butler

Efron Ruben is an antisocial killer!

Lin An forced a smile and chatted with him casually, using the mark given by the beaver to listen to Efron's inner thoughts in an attempt to find some clues.

Ten minutes later, the branch president of Shafi City pushed open the door and entered.

Efron turned to him, his murderous intent rising at his pointless words.

Lin An slumped back in his chair with a sigh of relief; talking to Efron had been incredibly exhausting.

In short, he and Lady Ava's séances didn't have much interaction.

When Lin An mentioned the Séance, Efron only thought about how to track down the Blind Woman's headquarters, acting like a true Foundation member.

His guess was that the "blind old woman" had noticed Efron's investigation and tricked the believers into gathering at the church to confuse the public and thus escape unscathed.

As for why Efron didn't ask the Foundation to clean up the mess... killing a bunch of ordinary people was a serious violation of the prohibitions in the Employee Handbook.

According to the records of the sand painting statue, Efron clearly saw that the woman who opened the door was an ordinary person, but he still killed her, and then he did not hesitate to kill everyone else.

The Foundation mostly focuses on imprisonment, but Efron not only went on a killing spree as soon as he arrived, but also blasted the corpses into dust, absorbing energy to increase the radiation level, as if it had been planned in advance.

Lin An glanced at the jovial butler Ruben and had the system search for entries that could affect him.

With the "God of Truth" depleted, the Hittite ritual was no longer effective, and the Druidic priesthood was completely useless. The newly added [Reader] was the only ability that was working, but due to the difference in radiation levels, the system determined that Lin An would likely face a life-threatening risk if he used it.

"Judge" is a "close-range" mystical spell. When it is cast, Lin An and Efron cannot be too far apart, and it is unknown what kind of resistance the other party may make during this time.

The situation is calm now, there's no need to risk your life in a desperate gamble.

In that case, the blind old woman who has the ability to arrange this butler's affairs... is she also a mythical figure with high radiation levels?
Lin An felt something was off. The aura he sensed from the artificial crystal was rated very low. Could it be that the "Blind Granny" was not the creator of the artificial crystal, and that Lady Ava's séance had some other trick up her sleeve that had not yet been witnessed and recorded by the Foundation team?
No wonder Beaver told him to leave New Mexico immediately; this place is just too terrifying.

"Gada."

It was 7 o'clock, and the conference room was full of people. Lin An gathered his thoughts.

"Captain Simon, upon receiving your report, the Foundation immediately dispatched the Direct Squad to handle and investigate the matter, and confirmed that the murderer is a mysterious figure."

“That’s obvious,” Simon said.

Lin An couldn't listen to a word. Partly because the branch president's speech was boring, and partly because Efron's negative emotions were driving him crazy.

Lin An was only able to shake off his agitation and unease after Efron stood up and spoke, and his inner turmoil subsided.

“That’s a branch of Lady Ava’s Séance. Such cruel methods are very likely sacrifices carried out by the Séance,” the deacon said. “According to the investigation, Gamma-002’s family has a history of studying ‘demonic science’ and ‘summoning rituals’.”

"Unfortunately, the residual energy at the scene was too weak to deduce any clues about the killer," the branch manager interjected. "All we know is that it was done by a mysterious figure."

The reason for not notifying the foundation in time has been found: Efron wants to wait for the energy from the bullet holes to dissipate.

He didn't intend to make his actions public and planned to blame it on the Séance. Lin An thought that the Foundation was more inclined to suspect the free mystics than the deacons of the Inspectorate.

"Alas, too late..." Simon looked regretful.

“How dutiful you are, Simon Lloyd,” Efron thought to himself. “If it weren’t for you writing the report, you’d be lying in the morgue by now. But even if it is you, you won’t escape punishment. Just wait and see.”

Lin An's heart skipped a beat.

Fortunately, I didn't contact the captain at the time, otherwise I would have been on the list of those threatened by Efron.

On the surface, this is what Efron said:

“My mission is to track down the ‘Blind Woman,’ Captain Simon. I hope you can describe the situation at the scene in detail and tell me any suspicious clues.”

Simon told him everything, and Efron repeatedly confirmed that he hadn't made the connection to himself, and thought to himself with satisfaction.

"Be glad you're stupid and slow-witted, otherwise you would have died in this city of Safi too."

"Are you really the inspectors who call themselves the 'backbone of St. Anilov'...? You seem more dangerous than all the free-spirited mystics I've encountered before combined," Lin An thought.

However, considering Efron's previous "killing spree," it's possible that it was just a random thought.

"Lin, you don't look well again," Barry's voice came from beside her. "Don't you really need to see a psychologist?"

After a moment's thought, Lin An decided not to tell anyone the truth that Efron was hiding.

It wasn't that I was covering for him, but rather because... everyone present combined was no match for this guy.

Let him get away with it; I really don't want to get involved.

"You remained neutral in the face of a dilemma, and your inaction attracted the medium 'God of Truth' x1."

"Due to the radiation from the 'God of Truth,' your level of contamination has increased by 1.5%."

Damn, I forgot about that.

The system had already begun to go berserk, and Lin An could hardly imagine what it would look like if the level of contamination increased further.

The only good news was that with the "God of Truth," they could try the Hittite ritual on Efron, Lin An instructed the system.

"Search for methods to 'kill Efron Ruff'." "Based on the entry 'Encyclopedia of Magic I: Evil Spirits, Fertility, and the Dark Earth - Hittite Worship Ritual,' item ① was found—"

Before the mechanical voice finished speaking, Efron, who had his arms crossed, suddenly turned his head and fixed his gaze on Lin An.

"This person just tried to kill me?! And why is my soul..."

He found out?
Just being targeted by the Heti ritual was enough to sense something was wrong... Was it this person's wild intuition, or the power of his mysterious prototype?
In any case, this is a situation that has never happened before.

Lin An suppressed his momentary emotional fluctuations, trying his best to maintain a calm expression, pretending to continue listening to the branch president's incessant chatter, while thoughts flashed through his mind.

"System, why don't you continue?"

"Error... × Error... Due to the mysterious influence of 'Judgment,' you are currently unable to determine this individual."

"Can't attack?" Lin An was a little out of breath. "Search for ways to 'escape the predicament'!"

"Based on the entry 'The 72 Demons of Solomon V: The Catapult,' we found a solution that meets the conditions: 'The Stars Are With Me.'"

"Consume 1 'Dream Master' orange to use?"

Brother Tongzi has given up again...

No, wait!

Lin An suddenly remembered the green gem on the magic wand, which contained life force that could reverse the mysterious death state that was supposedly attached below the legend!
Although the reason is unknown, it seems that only death can counteract the abnormality that Efron has unleashed!

But now is not the time. The radiation levels in Efron are too high, and even the success rate of the Hittite ritual is not optimistic. We must find a foolproof way to deal with it.

Only one chance!
“President Adenauer, may I interrupt for a moment?” Efron’s heavy metal-like hoarse voice rang out, his sharp gaze sweeping over Lin An from time to time, like a sword of Damocles. “Captain Simon, I have a question.”

"Please tell me."

"Did you discover the secret of that 'artificial crystal'?" Efron licked the scar at the corner of his mouth. "Capturing the [Blind Granny] was very important to me. I think your contribution deserves 50 points."

“Thank you, Deacon,” Simon said honestly. “I can’t take all the credit. Actually, it was my teammate Lin who first noticed something was wrong with the crystal. I hope you can let us split the points.”

"Aha."

Efron looked at Lin An, whose smile was forced and insincere.

"What a promising young member. Would you like to grab a coffee with me later?"

"No, thank you..."

“Don’t worry, it’s on me.” Efron rested his chin on his wrist. “But it’ll be almost noon after the meeting. How about we go get some tequila? I know a good place.”

"Thanks for your kind offer, but I'd better not." Lin An's lips twitched.

"Oh, so shy? The man next to you, is that Mr. Barry Fenton? I'd like to chat with the new employees during this free time."

"I'll send you all to line up for hell in an instant." He chuckled to himself.

Lin An broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing Efron scrutinizing Mishi with his icy and cruel gaze, he had no choice but to say, "Let's go together, Deacon Efron."

There's a chance of winning if you go it alone, but the more people there are, the more unpredictable things become!

"Am I an outsider too?" Barry suddenly said. "It's nice to chat with the inspection team."

Upon hearing this, a subtle, ambiguous glint flashed in Simon's eyes.

“Bueno! Let’s set off in a bit, I’ll drive.”

“Deacon Efron, my team members are exhausted from their long journey. Why don’t they rest at the Foundation’s facilities? There’s a bar here,” Simon tried to dissuade them.

“Simon Lloyd, what right do you have to question the inspection team?” Efron glanced at him sideways. “Don’t forget, if it weren’t for President Avia Emmanuelfeng pleading for you, you wouldn’t have joined the Foundation; headquarters would have executed you on the spot.”

Simon's face turned pale, while the branch president continued his pointless ramblings without leaving a trace, as if the conflict had never happened.

In the buzzing conference room, Lin An's heart pounded faster and faster, and the tension that felt like thorns in his back made his scalp tingle.

You shouldn't have come into contact with this extremely dangerous guy...

However, can I really avoid conflict if I don't provoke it?
Perhaps from the moment I received the artificial crystal, I received Efron's challenge.

Having figured this out, Lin An suddenly relaxed and, for the first time, took the initiative to meet Efron's fierce, cheetah-like gaze.

Since I'm already here, I might as well treat this as a phase test from the "Commerx" world for me.

"System, besides attack spells, are there any other mystical spells you can use?"

"0k."

"Use [Auspicious Day] on me!"

Thank you to the president of the Chapter Protection Association and reader 20200823065651411 for the monthly ticket, and thank you to everyone for your recommendations and subscriptions.

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(End of this chapter)