landbeastnovel Chapter 11 Above the Gray Fog
Chapter 11 Above the Gray Fog
"Evan Horn originally planned to wait in Tingen for his brother, who would return in half a month, but his longing for Backlund and his promise to the witch 'Helen' prompted him to immediately go to the telegraph office while he was out for a walk and send a telegram to Backlund. This time the telegram was sent successfully, and Evan Horn will definitely set off from Tingen to Backlund as soon as possible."
As Evan 'looked' at the changing "Lord of Mysteries" in his mind, he took several deep breaths, but in the end he couldn't suppress the joy in his heart and laughed wildly in the room until his stomach hurt and tears came out.
"Hahahaha! Hahahaha! Hahahahahaha!"
It took Evan an unknown amount of time to calm himself down.
From the altered content of Lord of Mysteries, Evan was able to draw several conclusions and extract information.
First: The "Lord of Mysteries" that appeared in his mind was not a manifestation of his past life's memories in this mysterious world, but another mysterious thing unknown to him. It was closely connected to the mysterious world and had a strong sense of secrecy. It could be considered his second cheat, but he didn't know what its mystical principles were.
Second: Those in high positions through the audience channel can still make arrangements for themselves, just like they did for Klein. However, they cannot truly see through their own hearts, or rather, the thoughts of Evan that they see in the ocean of the mind are actually interfered with. They just don't know which of their external cheat codes is at work.
The most obvious example is that 008 actually infers his own inner motivations through his own actions, rather than using his abilities to modify Evan's thoughts and manipulate his actions. Evan's own idea of sending a telegram to the telegraph office is completely different from what 008 wrote.
Thirdly, I kept talking about 008 and about my understanding of the script written by 008 in Tinggen, but 008 knew nothing about the script.
Fourth: 008's complete ignorance of himself was not due to Adam's cover-up; otherwise, such interference in characters directly arranged by 008 would certainly not have escaped his notice.
Fifth: Ince Zangwell was eager to get rid of him from Tingen. He was not his target, and he did not want to cause trouble or create problems, no matter what secrets he had.
Sixth: Adam probably also wants to leave. He and Ince Zangwell have different goals, but their actions are consistent. It is very likely that he will really leave Tingen soon.
Seven: The accident at the Backlund Telegraph Office was actually caused by the "Aurora Society". It is unknown whether the true creator did not want Tingen's script to be ruined and therefore made an arrangement, or whether Adam directly borrowed the Aurora Society's original attack plan.
Eighth, and most importantly, Adam, like 008, was unable to see through Evan's mind. Otherwise, he should have realized that Evan was going to overturn the chessboard before Evan entered the St. Serena's Church, instead of waiting until Evan was about to overturn the chessboard before he urgently risked intervening with Dunn, revealing important information to himself and reassuring him.
Nine: When I first traveled through time, I kept forgetting to think about 008 and Ince Zangwell. It might not be Adam interfering with me, but rather it's more like a protective mechanism that came with my own time travel.
From the time he transmigrated to the time Helen brought him the "Assassin's Potion" and made him drink it, there was a whole day in between. This day could be the "gap period" during which his cheat system might not have been activated.
When he drank the potion and truly began to come into contact with that mysterious city, 008 could no longer see through his heart, and this protective mechanism disappeared. It wasn't until he was reminded of these things again by some sensitive words, such as "coincidentally," "unfortunately," and "just right."
From this perspective, that mysterious city seems to be more powerful than the "Lord of Mysteries" in my mind, since it seems that I forgot about 008 because of the mysterious city's protective mechanism.
"Um... on the day before I drank the 'Assassin' potion, was Adam watching 'Lord of Mysteries' in my mind?"
As Evan thought of this, he paused in his coffee-holding motion, feeling his face freeze.
But he quickly came to terms with it. After all, judging from the content of "Lord of Mysteries," the situation of the entire mysterious world, or the situation of Rune, was under Adam's control. It didn't matter if he read it or not. At most, he could help Adam find some gaps and fill in some omissions. It was not a big deal. Maybe Adam could even think that the arrangements made by Adam in the book were pretty good and could just copy them.
"Um... if that's really the case, doesn't that mean Adam learned his plan from me? What does that even mean? Isn't it just another chicken-and-egg problem?"
Evan quickly shook his head, no longer dwelling on this dizzying problem.
Evan was overjoyed. The gloom in his heart had been swept away. Through the cheat, he not only explored Ince Zangwell's true feelings towards him, but also used Adam and 008 to reverse-measure the limits of his cheat's abilities. His cheat was basically at the same level as Klein's, or even stronger.
After realizing that his cheat could seriously confuse 008's judgment, Evan became somewhat reluctant to leave Tingen, because there was a lot of room for maneuver there.
But then I thought about how Adam was watching, so I decided to be honest and leave Tingen as soon as possible according to the plan.
However, during the short time he was away from Tingen, he could still use 008's power to do some things for himself, such as how to rationally deal with the 'hunters' who were still waiting to follow him outside. Countless thoughts flashed through Evan's mind.
"Clang, clang, clang."
The clock set by Evan in the room rang, waking him from his thoughts on merging and utilizing 008. Evan looked closely and realized it was already 2:45 PM.
Evan stood up from the sofa, mentally reviewing his prepared remarks. Using the procedure he'd seen in *Lord of Mysteries*, he lit a candle, walked four steps backwards around the food, and recited in sequence:
"Fusheng Xuanhuang Immortal Lord, Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianjun, Fusheng Xuanhuang God, Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun."
As soon as he finished reciting, a deep red appeared before Evan's eyes, so bright it was almost blinding. Then, he heard a series of incoherent murmurs that were sometimes fine, sometimes sharp, sometimes illusory, sometimes alluring, sometimes manic, and sometimes mad.
Then the deep red in Evan's eyes faded, turning into the expected gray mist. However, no matter what, Evan could not step into it. Moreover, the surrounding gray mist seemed to be in turmoil, engulfing Evan completely. But a mysterious illusion appeared on Evan's body, and the indistinct city phantom isolated and protected Evan, preventing the gray mist from infecting him.
This time, Evan didn't feel the same fear as when he first performed the ritual after transmigrating, as if he had encountered a natural enemy. Instead, he had a kind of "appetite" to devour the gray mist.
This time, however, it wasn't because of the mysterious city's "appetite" that wanted to devour the extraordinary characteristics of assassins and hunters.
Rather, it was the book "Lord of Mysteries" that materialized in Evan's mind that developed a "craving" for the gray mist, and this "craving" was not one-sided; Evan could clearly feel that it was mutual.
"My transmigration was indeed related to the gray fog and the 'Heavenly Venerable of Blessing and Profound Yellow'," Evan thought, suppressing his appetite.
Meanwhile, Klein, who was reviewing the original owner's history textbooks and notes while waiting for the 3 o'clock meeting, suddenly sensed the movement of the gray mist. He then felt an intense, indescribable urge to eat, which made even the black bread in his hand lose its flavor. At the same time, a familiar and clear voice rang in his ears, clear and fluent:
"Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianjun... Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun."
The clear sound of the prayer filled Klein with joy. More importantly, the person praying was speaking Chinese, and it was Mandarin!
"Does this mean that this world is connected to the original Earth? Is there a chance for me to go home?"
Suppressing the 'hunger' that was assaulting his reason, Klein immediately took four steps backward in the room and entered the gray fog.
When Klein entered the gray fog and sat in the 'Fool's' chair, he discovered that the 'hunger' he experienced in reality was nothing compared to the 'hunger' he felt after entering the gray fog.
At the same time, Klein discovered that his entire gray fog hall was stained red by a humanoid projection. Countless gray fogs enveloped the projection, as if trying to devour him. Klein also realized that the source of his so-called "hunger" was the gray fog's desire for this projection, especially the extra gray area around its head amidst the red glow of the projection.
Red light kept emanating from the other party, resisting the gray fog, while Klein also endured and resisted the 'hunger' brought by the gray fog. His moral code did not allow him to 'eat people', nor did it allow him to eat a possible fellow villager.
Gradually, under the suppression of the red illusory city and Klein himself, the gray fog seemed to realize that it could not do anything to the red projection, and gradually quieted down. Klein's 'hunger' also gradually subsided and returned to normal.
When Klein finally breathed a sigh of relief, he resolutely touched the red projection with his hand.
Evan appeared above the gray mist. The grayness was gone; he found himself standing in a magnificent palace supported by massive stone pillars. Before him was an ancient, weathered bronze table. Opposite the table sat a figure shrouded in gray mist. Evan immediately bowed before it, speaking in a trembling voice:
"Great Heavenly Venerable Fusheng Xuanhuang, I only learned of your venerable name by chance and then spoke it aloud. Please forgive my offense."
Aiven used Chinese to say the words "Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun," but used the ancient giant language for all the other words.
This left Klein, who thought he had found a fellow countryman, frozen in place, unable to utter a word, and seemingly deflated.
But Klein was Klein after all; he quickly composed himself and asked in a grand and ethereal tone:
"How did you learn of my former name?"
Upon hearing this, Evan lowered his head even further and said respectfully yet fervently:
"I dreamt of your name a few days ago!"
"???"
Klein's mind was full of questions.