Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

“The future has already taken root at this moment.” Angel Eyes’ expression was somewhat relieved as he looked at his right hand and said in a deep voice, “I will soon become human too.”

Chapter 798: This Substitute is So Useful!

Xiao Mei rushed over, and as soon as she arrived, she saw Zhang Renfeng surrounded by two girls. She stopped in her tracks, her expression becoming complicated. She didn't know whether she should go over and disturb their rare, warm moment together.

Fortunately, Zhang Renfeng spotted her quickly and seemed even more delighted, waving to her repeatedly, "Xiaomei, come here quickly!"

The girl looked up in surprise. Before she could react, Zhang Renfeng strode towards her with a very satisfied smile on his face.

"I heard that you arranged all the manpower and resources mobilized for this rescue effort all by yourself. That's truly remarkable!" He praised Xiaomei with great pride and without reservation.

It seemed as if she wanted everyone here to know how amazing Xiaomei was.

This overflowing pride sent a shiver down the girl's spine, followed by a feeling of warmth. But her expression also held a complex mix of emotions, and an indescribable sense of loneliness.

"It's not that exaggerated," Xiaomei said shyly. "It's mainly thanks to Mr. Igor. I was just assisting him."

"That's great!" Zhang Feng pressed down on her shoulders, as if trying to infuse energy into her body, and gently squeezed them twice, saying, "You're only fifteen years old this year, and you can already arrange everything so well. Your future is limitless!"

When he said "limitless potential," his tone was very certain, as if he could already see Xiaomei's bright and promising future.

"Mr. Hongzhong..."

Xiaomei realized that she had blurted out the words "Red Center" in her excitement, so she quickly stopped herself and corrected herself, saying, "We... actually encountered some problems here."

Since arriving, Xiaomei had been working non-stop. It's just that much of what she did wasn't overt, so it wasn't immediately apparent. Managing logistics, compiling statistics, calculating manpower, counting prisoners, gathering intelligence… none of these tasks generated actual profit, but each one was indispensable!

This 15-year-old girl, under the tutelage of the top weightlifting champion of the Hongzhong Gang, is gradually developing into the team's weightlifting champion.

The "problem" she mentioned referred to was the "interrogation of prisoners and intelligence gathering" process. Just as Zhang Renfeng was reuniting with the two girls, she had already begun an intelligence interrogation of Samuel Graves.

However, the result was somewhat unsatisfactory.

"That guy won't tell the truth, right?" Seeing that they were getting down to business, Mike joined the discussion at the right time, "It's because he thinks you're young that he won't tell you the truth."

His relationship with Zhang Renfeng was so deep that he didn't bother to greet him properly. Having faced life and death so many times, a glance was enough for them to exchange greetings.

“You have plenty of experience, but you’re still too young. People will likely look down on you when they see that the person interrogating him is a child. It’s not your fault.” Mike glanced at Zhang Renfeng. “I’ll go with Lao Zhang. That way, he should be willing to talk.”

“…Mr. Mike, I don’t think so,” Xiaomei suddenly spoke up, unusually refuting Mike’s opinion.

But at this moment, Zhang Renfeng and Mike no longer treated her like a child. Instead, they looked at her seriously and waited for her to say something next.

Xiaomei gathered her thoughts slightly and said, "Just now, I also asked him a few questions. About the Gilded Party, about this city, about the Illuminati. He just gave some nonsensical answers, saying that he didn't know anything."

“I’m sure he’s hiding something from us, but I feel… he doesn’t seem like someone who has ever held a high position.”

“Some people in high positions, even if we catch them, will still be quite tough at first, at least. They have enjoyed everything they should in their lives, especially someone like Samuel, who is at the pinnacle of power, and it seems that he should not appear so weak.”

"That's not necessarily true." The wolf thought about it very simply. "Aren't all people afraid of death?"

“Miss Mesalia’s suspicions are justified,” Evelyn said softly. “Imagine, if a person’s resilience is not strong enough, it would be impossible for them to survive in the undercurrents of political struggle. Not to mention, he is the leader of the Gilded Party and the leader of the Illuminati.”

"Without strong mental fortitude, one simply cannot attain this position."

After a moment's hesitation, Zhang Renfeng made his final decision: "No matter what, I'll go and meet him first."

----

"boom!"

The moment the door was pushed open, Samuel's shoulders trembled with shock, and he sprang up from his stool to stand at attention like a stressed animal.

Zhang Renfeng looked around the room and couldn't help but laugh, "There's food and drink here, why are you so scared?"

“I…I thank you for your magnanimity…” Samuel quickly said with a forced smile, “Perhaps we can talk. You see, I’m not sure what misunderstanding exists between us. If possible, please allow me to write a few letters…”

“That guy I threw off the arena, before he died, pushed all the blame onto you.” Zhang Renfeng interrupted him, saying coldly, “From the intelligence I have, the sins you’ve committed are enough to warrant a thousand or ten thousand deaths.”

“But now, I’m going to give you one more chance… one last chance.”

He beckoned, and Xiaomei promptly handed him paper and pen. Zhang Renfeng slammed them onto the table with a "bang," his eyes fixed on him.

"Write it."

"Write?" Samuel looked somewhat bewildered.

"Besides you, who else are the top members of the Illuminati? Write down their names, their factions, how many people are in their families, and where they live. And within your Gilded Party, besides this money-burning city, what other shady projects do you have? Write them down! The more, the better!"

"me……"

Samuel held his pen, his face looking worse than if he were crying.

“This is your chance to redeem yourself.” Mike pulled the revolver from his waist, slowly pressed the firing pin with his thumb, making a loud “click” that was full of pressure. “You’d better hold on to it.”

"But...this..."

Samuel's pen hovered over the paper, struggling for a long time without writing a single letter. His face fell, and he said, "This is really asking too much, I beg you... I really don't know anything, I just..."

"Aren't you the emperor?" Zhang Renfeng said coldly. "You can't just act like an emperor when everyone kneels before you, can you?"

……

"Zhang, don't make things difficult for him," Professor Henderson's voice came from behind the group.

Under the watchful eyes of two armed men, he arrived at the interrogation site. Upon seeing him, Samuel burst into tears as if he had seen a family member.

"Unfortunately, he is not the Samuel Graves you are looking for."

"ah------!!!"

"Samuel," sitting there, seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief, burst into tears, flung his pen away, and violently tore at his hair.

……

Zhang Renfeng felt a chill run down his spine.

Sure enough, my premonition came true; it was all incredibly easy.

"Then who is he?"

"He is Samuel's double, and he has several doubles like him."

Henderson sighed and said in a deep voice, "I discovered every one of his doubles."

Chapter 799: The Prophesied Hero

With things having come to this point, the focus of the interrogation naturally shifted to Henderson.

Zhang Renfeng's feelings towards this person were rather complicated; he couldn't completely regard him as a member of the Illuminati. When they first arrived in Oakwood, Norton intended to pack them up and send them away, and only Henderson in the city objected. Although in the end, he was allowed to stay because of Zeta's influence, he couldn't simply dismiss his goodwill.

Moreover, Lynx and Alden traveled all the way from Luxembourg, and when they were desperate, they contacted him, which gave them the opportunity to enter the city.

Compared to the other members of the Illuminati, he was more like a living, breathing human being.

"So, you just... 'dug them up'?" Zhang Renfeng asked further. "Is this your job, to find lookalikes for Samuel?"

“In a sense, appearance isn’t that important. In this world, apart from twins, there are very few two people who are exactly the same. No matter how hard you look, you won’t find them.” Henderson wasn’t in a hurry and explained slowly, “Body shape, posture, temperament, and the proportions of limbs, torso, and head—as long as these are similar, that’s enough.”

"To be precise, it's not just about discovering, but also about 'cultivating' them. Cultivating their micro-expressions, micro-movements, and dialogue habits to make them as flawless as possible. As for their faces, they can be concealed with makeup."

At this point, everyone looked at the body double in the room and noticed that there were indeed some traces of makeup on his face.

Having just faced death several times, he was terrified and sweating profusely, and some of his makeup was ruined. But as Henderson said, Samuel rarely appeared in public and tried to leave his picture in newspapers and other media as little as possible, so few people knew what he looked like.

If you don't look closely, you'll subconsciously overlook it.

"The technique is very meticulous..." Evelyn walked around Zhang Renfeng, leaned closer to take a look, and asked with some surprise, "Did you draw this?"

“To be honest, doing this level of makeup takes a lot of effort, and I’m not young anymore,” Henderson said, looking at the wrinkles on the back of his hands. “But, unfortunately, Samuel doesn’t trust anyone else in this regard, so it has to be me.”

“I not only have to do their makeup, but also rehearse their lines and design every detail of their movements… Of course, in the process of playing Samuel, there will be many situations where they need to improvise, which is also the most basic quality of an excellent actor.”

His gaze fell on Evelyn, who was dressed in jazz attire, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

The nickname "Pearl of Nanbang" is well-deserved.

Samuel had seen many actresses—innocent, naive, mature, alluring… In the bustling theaters of the northern city, there were countless actresses of different styles active on stage. But Evelyn was someone he had never seen before.

She truly excelled at portraying a sense of "fragmentation." Even when dressed in relatively bright jazz-style costumes, her mere presence exuded an aura of complete fascination with the world.

Evelyn no longer wears a corset and, under Zhang Renfeng's influence, has resumed a normal diet. Her waist is still slender, but no longer sickly thin; her figure is fuller and healthier, and wrapped in this relatively tight costume, she seems to be a perfect fruit, somewhere between youthful innocence and maturity.

“I’m sorry, I…” Henderson became increasingly curious. “I’m puzzled that your team has such outstanding actors.”

"Evelyn Dietersdorf," Evelyn introduced herself with great poise, a habit she had always maintained.

……

……

……

Henderson was stunned the moment he heard the surname.

"Dietersdorf?"

“Yes, Dietersdorf.” Evelyn nodded, not showing too much surprise. After all, they were both in the arts circle, and it was normal to have heard of their family's reputation. “Perhaps you’ve heard of my parents? They were both actors. My father was a stage actor, and my mother was a dancer…”

"what……"

"Hahahahaha——!!"

Henderson suddenly clapped his hands and burst into laughter.

Zhang Renfeng asked, puzzled, "What are you laughing at?"

----

"What are you laughing at?" Henderson asked, puzzled.

You can't blame him. When someone is discussing work with you, they suddenly droop their head and stop talking, and then suddenly burst into laughter. Anyone would be scared.

Theonado's smile vanished, and his expression changed. "Sorry, I dreamed about him again."

"Who?"

“My God,” Theonado murmured, looking into the shadows of the wall.

His tone was unusually devout, but for some reason, Henderson, with the sensitivity of an artist, sensed that the "god" he spoke of was definitely not the God of men.

Instead, it's a kind of... more...

Something more powerful.

"...They say you have a mental illness, haha..." Henderson shrugged and let out a long sigh. "Indeed, extraordinary, it has turned you into Dante wandering in hell."

"Perhaps you should thank it for securing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

After the last audition, Henderson took over the entire process, eliminating all candidates who came through connections, and casting Theonado as the male lead.

This undoubtedly caused great dissatisfaction.

But Henderson, unusually assertive, told the theater owner bluntly, "Do as I say, or I'm leaving immediately, not a second longer. You can try to fool your bigwigs with this shoddy performance."

Don’t be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of what happens.

If this performance fails to meet the artistic aspirations of the important figures... then all this grand gesture will have been for nothing.

Left with no other choice, they had to accept the result, while the male lead, who was supposed to be cast, stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

After taking on the lead role, Theonado made sweeping revisions to the script. Even more remarkably, he managed to subtly weave these changes into the details of his performance. Henderson, watching from the audience, was secretly astonished, increasingly convinced he hadn't made the wrong choice.

He's just like the real Oedipus!

……

"How did you do that?" Henderson blinked, somewhat puzzled. "I mean... on stage, you look like you've really become a completely different person. Even the best acting skills can hardly achieve that."

“Mr. Henderson,” Theonado said in a deep voice, “where do you think the most essential part of the story of Oedipus Rex lies?”

"He killed his father?"

"He fell in love with his mother?"

"Or did he eliminate the Sphinx?"

“No, none of that… The best part is the prophecy.” Theonado reached out as if to grasp something and said softly.

"The hero discovers the prophecy, the hero tries to avoid the prophecy, and in the end, the hero fulfills the prophecy through his own power."

"Without prophecy, there is no story."

“You’ve said a lot, but you haven’t answered my question.” Henderson was already somewhat used to his rambling conversation, and shrugged. “But I can understand. How to act is your own experience.”