Using a sudden urgent matter as an excuse, Karen took his leave of the Guman family. Madame Tangli stood by the garden's wooden fence, watching Karen get into his car. Karen smiled and waved to the old lady once more.
Before starting the car, however, Karen paused for a moment and felt the folded sheet of black paper tucked inside his pocket.
Driving at top speed, Karen arrived outside the Lemar Pottery Studio.
Stepping out and pushing open the door, he found a corpse lying on a table. Its abdomen had been sliced open, and its neck was twisted sharply to the right.
In broad daylight, such a sight seemed utterly bizarre—especially since the shop had glass doors.
Approaching it, however, one could see that inside the belly were no flesh and organs, but densely packed gears.
Lemar happened to come out from the back holding "dissection" tools. Seeing Karen, he immediately said, "Mr. Karen, Mr. Memphis went after someone."
Karen pointed at the puppet on the table.
"There were two people. This one was silenced, but it's a puppet."
"How is Memphis pursuing them?"
"Oh, he asked me to give this to you." Lemar handed a ruler to Karen. "Mr. Memphis was a bit bored staying in the shop these past few days, so he laid tracking arrays throughout my shop and on the street outside."
"Alright, understood." Karen took the ruler and injected a trace of spiritual power into it; the ruler began vibrating with a directional pulse.
The ruler was probably not tracking the fleeing target, but rather pinpointing Mr. Memphis himself.
"I've got it. Stay in the shop."
"Yes, understood."
Carrying the ruler, Karen returned to his car and placed it beneath the windshield. As the car moved along, the ruler adjusted its direction on its own.
...
In a field south of York City, Philomena moved swiftly. Her eyes were closed and her body swayed from side to side, yet her speed was astonishing.
Behind her, runes constantly materialized beneath Mr. Memphis's feet. Though his steps did not look fast, each stride covered a startling distance, keeping him locked onto his target at his own steady pace.
Finally, the target stopped.
A cloth masked Philomena's face, concealing her true appearance. Flipping her left hand, a cluster of threads appeared at her wrist, condensing into a short silver scythe.
Memphis halted and immediately began setting up defensive arrays beneath his feet and around himself.
Knowing he was not good at fighting, the moment the opponent showed intent to strike, he prepared defenses to withstand a beating.
Seeing this, Philomena momentarily had no idea what to do. She sheathed her scythe, shifted sideways, and resumed fleeing.
Memphis immediately dismantled the array he had just laid down and took up pursuit in the same manner as before.
Just like that, the two engaged in a prolonged game of chase.
Along the way, both came to a stop several more times, but each time the scenario played out identically: Memphis had no intention of going on the offensive—none whatsoever.
Looking at the defensive arrays he threw up, Philomena knew she would have a hard time breaching them, leaving her no choice but to relocate again. The pursuit continued.
During the latter half, both were essentially circling around the same area.
The person who broke this benign stalemate finally arrived. A cloud of black mist intercepted Philomena's path ahead, and from within stepped Karen.
Philomena ground to a halt, looking at Karen.
"You recognize me?"
Karen noticed the change in the masked figure's gaze.
Philomena pulled down her mask, revealing her face.
Karen frowned slightly. "You?"
Philomena tucked away her scythe, raising her hands slightly with palms facing Karen, signaling that she had no desire to fight.
Karen also held back on the small bead intended to summon the Sword of Arius, refraining from crushing it right away.
Philomena spoke up: "I do want to fight you, but not over this."
"A friend of mine owns that pottery studio," Karen stated his position.
"Someone could craft a puppet for me, and he needed a favor in return, so I helped him. It's that simple. Do you believe me?"
"I can believe you, but you need to hand that person over to me."
Philomena shook her head. "I cannot."
"No room for discussion?"
"Do you have any?"
"No," Karen said firmly. "I must catch that person. I gave my word."
"I cannot tell you where he is. Although I didn't make him any promises, it's the rule. You should understand."
"Yes, I understand."
Karen held the bead between his fingertips.
Sensing the shift in Karen's aura, Philomena asked, "You want to fight?"
"What do you think?"
"Against a member of the same church?" Philomena flipped her palm, and the scythe she had put away appeared once more. "I thought you'd be like me, thinking that fighting over something like this would be pointless."
"Tell me his location."
"Do you do this often?" Philomena lowered her posture slowly, getting ready to charge. "You're very decisive. It feels like this isn't your first time. If you defeat me, will you silence me?"
"You violated the *Code of Order*."
"I don't think the people in that pottery studio are ordinary mortals, so I didn't violate the *Code of Order*."
"You've read the *Code of Order*?"
"I get bored in dreams, so I've read it."
"The copy you read is different from mine."
"Yours? Which edition is it?"
"It's in my head; it hasn't been printed yet."
Karen crushed the bead. A miniature teleportation array flared to life, and he grabbed the hilt, drawing forth the Sword of Arius.
Purr's was merely an illusion summoned through magic, but what he summoned was the actual greatsword in all its solidity.
The chilling gleam of the scythe and the grim aura of the greatsword began to interweave between the two.
Just then, an eagle flew overhead. Circling a few times above, it took off again.
Philomena straightened up, sheathing her scythe once more, and said:
"Fine. Come with me, I'll take you to catch him."
"Hm?"
This sudden reversal caught Karen off guard, for he had clearly seen the fighting spirit in the girl's eyes a moment earlier.
"You don't believe me?" Philomena asked. "I don't like lying in dreams."
"I believe you, but next time you could say so earlier."
Karen looked down at the Sword of Arius in his hand and sighed inwardly:
*Sigh, three thousand Order coupons gone to waste.*
...
"Is there no tea in the house?" Madame Tangli took a small sip of the cup of plain water in her hand. "Well water?"
"I don't drink tea."
"One should always keep some on hand for guests."
"You are my first guest in nearly ten years."
"Some teas age well."
Madam Felscher smiled faintly, picking up her knitting needles again to work on her sweater. "You're just like you used to be, always so meticulous about everyday life. Barely changed at all—except for getting a little older."
"You didn't need to add that last part."
Madam Felscher sighed. "Ah, old is old. What's wrong with saying it, and what's wrong with hearing it?"
"All right, all right." Madame Tangli set down the teacup. "Truth be told, I didn't want to come here. Dropping by today was just a minor accident."
"I know—because you didn't bring a gift."
"You know, when I saw that drowsy, nodding girl, I immediately thought of you in the old days. I guessed she had to be related to you."
"She's my granddaughter, Philomena."
At this, Madam Felscher kicked inward with her foot. The man under the table let out a couple of low gurgles, poked his head out, and crawled up to Madame Tangli's feet, sticking out his tongue and craning his neck.
"She's its child."
"Why torment yourself like this?" Madame Tangli asked. "Tormenting yourself isn't enough—you have to torment your own family too."
"Because of... pain." Madam Felscher finally set down her knitting, her eyes widening. "Have you ever felt it?"
"I believe I have. My eldest daughter left me forever, and I don't even dare to think of her. Heh heh heh..."
"Speak. What is your purpose in coming here?"
"To resolve a misunderstanding involving that granddaughter of yours."
"A matter between juniors dragged you into it?"
"Yes. It involves my son."
"Fine." Madam Felscher reached out and pushed a bundled ball of black yarn nearby. As it hit the floor, the ball unraveled, coalescing into the silhouette of an eagle that flew out the window.
"Would you like me to sit a while longer?" Madame Tangli asked.
"You haven't visited in so many years. Having just arrived, why be in such a hurry to leave?"
"I thought you'd give me an excuse to leave. Speak, what favor do you want from me?"
"A while ago, I had Philomena seek out a few of my former subordinates to investigate a surname—the surname of an Inquisitor family of the Church of Order. But the results showed that the surname seemed to have never existed at all.
Heh, if not for so many deaths in my family, I might have believed it."
"Isn't it completely normal not to find anything?"
"Completely normal?"
"Tell me, within the Church of Order, what kind of person possesses the authority to classify an entire family surname as top secret?"
"You mean..."
"Diss has entered the Temple of Order and become a supreme Temple Elder."
Felscher fell silent.
Madame Tangli looked down at Madam Felscher and comforted her, "You know his talent better than I do. Even back then, he was already formidable. It could be said the gates to the Temple of Order had long since opened for him ahead of time.
You will never have the chance for revenge. Never."
Madame Tangli stood up, walked to the doorway, stopped, and with her back to Madam Felscher, said, "Your granddaughter is truly so much like you were when you were young. Be good to her."
"Heh heh heh..."
Madam Felscher's face instantly filled with malice. Gritting her teeth, she hissed:
"No, he didn't enter the Temple of Order! He didn't, absolutely not!"
Madame Tangli's expression remained calm as she asked, "You're that certain?"
"Did you forget what he once said? He said the Temple of Order is a retirement home."
"I've grown old, you've grown old, and he surely must have grown old too. So he went to retire."
The venomous look on Madam Felscher's face quickly faded away. A glint of remembrance and infatuation surfaced in her eyes, and her voice softened:
"No. In my heart, he is forever young."
Chapter 329