The Evil God's Abilities!

Karen held out a hand to steady the gurney, and Mandila drew her hands back, lying down once more. To some extent, she truly was docile and obedient. No— she obeyed without even needing words spoken. The second body was wheeled down. Karen lifted the white sheet; it was the magician from last night. They were dead, as Karen knew. Mandila had died long ago, and the magician had drowned last night. The question was, how had they ended up as welfare cases for the Inmerlais family? In Rojia City, welfare cases were reserved only for deceased residents verified to have local residency and no surviving relatives or support. These two were clearly outsiders. Uncle Mason came over, blowing warm breaths into his palms. "What a pitiful pair," he remarked. "To choose a freezing winter like this to jump into a river together for love." "A love suicide?" "Aye. Drowned and washed ashore by a river in the outskirts. They were found tied together with ropes." "Uncle, what I mean is—did they just immediately decide it was a double suicide? Did the police say anything else?" "The police arrived before us. They found a suicide note on them, declared it an intentional double suicide on the spot, and called us to collect them as a welfare case. The one who found them was an old merchant living nearby. He saw them while out on his morning walk. He's kindhearted, but likely worried about inviting bad luck on himself, so he offered to donate a sum of money for a proper funeral and burial. That's why it went through as a welfare case." "I see," Karen replied casually. The circus must have arranged all this simply to dispose of the two corpses with minimal fuss, and the police, eager to save trouble, had no intention of digging deeper. With Mason pushing Mandila and Ron pushing the magician, the two wheeled their guests down to the basement. Karen picked up the living room telephone on the ground floor, preparing to call Alfred. Before he could dial, Alfred's figure appeared at the entrance, pushing open the courtyard gate and stepping inside. "Young Master, I returned late last night, so I woke up a bit late this morning." Karen set the receiver down. "Coffee, black tea, or ice water?" "Coffee." Alfred seemed pleasantly surprised. Karen nodded. "I'll have ice water." "Uh... right away, Young Master." Alfred went up to the second floor, brewed himself a cup of coffee, brought a glass of ice water for Karen, and then headed up to the third floor. Karen was sitting by the windowsill, right in Purr's favorite spot. Purr was resting on Karen's lap. Her fur was slightly hot from the morning sun, warm to the touch like a hot-water bottle. She let Karen stroke her, all because he had promised to prepare a new dish for her. When faced with an "elaborate fish dish," this cat had virtually no resistance. Her pursuit and enjoyment of the finer things in life were practically etched into her soul. "Young Master, your water." Alfred placed the ice water before Karen. Purr reached out a paw toward the coffee, but Alfred dodged her. "You and Diss went there last night. What was the outcome?" "In response to the Young Master: he fled." "Fled?" "Yes." "All those people, vanished just like that?" "Hm?" Alfred only then realized they were talking about two different things. He asked at once, "Did Master Diss not mention it to you, Young Master?" "Grandfather left for church early. I haven't had a chance to speak with him." In truth, Karen could summon Alfred with a single phone call, but he would never dare phone the church and say: *Hey, Diss, come back for a minute, I have a few questions for you.* That would be madness. "Ah, no wonder. Young Master, it happened like this. Last night, in a small Chaset tent outside the circus, I encountered a powerful existence from the Church of Order. He deliberately used a unique sound to alert me of his presence, so I went out to investigate." "That was when you said you had something to handle?" "Yes, Young Master." "How powerful was he?" "Exceedingly powerful." Karen changed his phrasing. "How many of you would it take to defeat him?" Alfred did not find it at all inappropriate to be used as a unit of measurement for combat strength; rather, he felt quite honored. Imagine a thousand years from now, when believers gaze upon a sacred mural showing a great being suppressing a demon or sealing a true god, and beside it is an inscription: *This demon was terrifyingly powerful, comparable to ten thousand Alfreds.* Ah, what a thrilling thought! Besides, didn't scientists also love naming units of measurement after themselves? "Young Master, it's hard for me to give a specific number, because to my eyes, that person belonged to the same tier as Master Diss." "Then between him and Diss, who is stronger?" "He is strong relative to me; but Master Diss's strength seems relative to everyone. No matter how strong you are, the master always manages to be slightly stronger. Last night, he demanded I gouge out one of my eyeballs as an ornament for him, and when I refused, he imprisoned me with Church of Order arts. Fortunately, I carried an identification document issued by the master, which caused him to stay his hand. He even admitted outright that he could not defeat Master Diss." "And he fled?" Karen asked again. "Yes, he fled. Before I returned to the circus tent a second time, he had already left. In between, I also disposed of a corpse. He had helped that Chaset woman kill her husband on charges of disrespect toward the Church of Order. Oh, right, Young Master—last night in the audience, you spoke a phrase toward the stage in that language I didn't recognize." "Hm?" "This subordinate wishes to remind you: unless absolutely necessary, please exercise restraint while out in public. If that person hadn't left beforehand, he very well might have noticed your anomaly, and your true identity could have been exposed." "I understand." Karen nodded. He did not bother explaining that it had merely been a spontaneous reaction. He had slipped into Mandila's perspective and feelings, resonating with her emotions. At that moment, it was with pure hatred for the magician that he had uttered those two words: *Go die.* After the magician drowned, Karen had snapped out of it immediately. Instead of investigating the circus any further, he had decisively taken Eunice and the children home. "As for the circus, when Master Diss and I went there, we found that they had fled as well." "Fled?" "Yes. Aside from a few locals they hired who were still packing up, the troupe leader and the core members drove away in a hurry. I suspect the female performer's sudden violent rampage spooked them, so they chose to go into hiding just to be safe. Barring any surprises, there was an aberrant demon among them as well. This subordinate will investigate the matter. Please rest assured, Young Master." "Mm." At that moment, Purr spoke up. "Are you two done talking?" Neither replied. Purr rolled over, shifting from lying on her belly to resting on her back across Karen's lap. She waved a paw at him. "So, Lord Evil God, can we go play the fish-scaling game now?" "There's one more thing I need to ask you," Karen said to Purr. "Ask away," Purr said, shielding her belly with her curled tail. "I've let you pet me for so long; the sunk cost is already enormous. Do I even have a choice?" Karen turned to Alfred. "Through a series of coincidences, the corpses of Mandila, last night's performer, and the magician she drowned are currently lying in our basement." Purr tilted her head. "My dear Evil God, you already said it was a series of coincidences. So what?" "This time is a little different." Karen picked up Purr and walked toward the stairs, with Alfred following close behind. When they reached the ground floor, Karen could hear Aunt Mary in the courtyard having a loud argument with Mrs. Mark from next door. This meant the basement was currently empty. Welfare cases were never rushed anyway; doing a perfunctory job was enough. Karen entered his aunt's basement workshop. The two bodies lay on the steel tables, their white sheets already removed. Purr looked at the neat, polished smile frozen on Mandila's face and couldn't resist remarking, "That lady's smile truly makes a cat uncomfortable." Karen said, "I can make her sit up." Hearing this, the cat and the man exchanged a glance, then turned together to look at Karen. "Young Master, you certainly can do that." "Yeah, we already knew that." Although Karen had not undergone purification and theoretically had not even stepped across the threshold, he possessed the ability to stir the spirituality within corpses. The effect was similar to an Inquisitor's "Awakening"—or rather, a pauper's version of Awakening. This was also one of the reasons Purr and Alfred remained convinced Karen was an evil god. "No, this time is different." Karen walked up to Mandila. Staring at her face, the scene of being trapped in the water tank from the previous night resurfaced in his mind. Soon, a wave of despair and rage welled up in his chest. Perhaps because he had experienced it multiple times now, or perhaps because Alfred and Purr were both beside him, the dizziness was nowhere near as intense as before. Karen was able to keep his balance on his own. In the unseen depths, a bridge seemed to link them once again. "Rise," Karen said. Mandila sat up on the steel table. "Whoa, impressive," Purr exclaimed politely. "Nothing short of a miracle!" Alfred sounded far more effusive. Yet what followed went further. Mandila climbed off the table and stood before them. Then, she began jumping in place. As she jumped, she raised her arms to the sides and started doing jumping jacks. "Meow..." Purr sensed something was amiss. "Uh..." Alfred noticed it too. After a series of jumping jacks, Mandila walked to a corner of the workshop, picked up a broom, and began sweeping the floor. Purr's cat eyes widened. "What a mature corpse. She even knows how to clean up after herself." Alfred's eyes turned red as he activated the power of the Succubus Eye. "Young Master, this lady's body is covered in dense runes. Her corpse has been refined." "Those are formations," Purr said. "A formation that enhances the corpse's flexibility and maneuverability. Just like that stupid golden retriever at home, already trained by its previous master to understand commands like shaking hands or lying down. Even if the owner changes, those same commands will still make it perform the corresponding actions." By then, Mandila had swept the dust into a dustpan, put the tools away, and lay back down on the steel table. Karen closed his eyes, blinked hard, and finally came back to his senses. The one controlling Mandila just now had been himself. Without words, he seemed able to share her perspective and direct her movements according to his will. "She really was used by that circus for regular performances." The act was called *Underwater Survival*. Since she was already dead, she could not drown again. "Young Master, this is outside the system I'm familiar with," Alfred said apologetically. "Ms. Molly's art was primitive devouring and splicing, whereas mine leans toward the mental plane." "Of course you don't understand—you're not a beguiling aberrant demon," Purr said mockingly. "These are the formation patterns of a beguiling aberrant demon. No, I suspect it merely relied on instinct to refine her so she'd be easier to puppet; it probably knows nothing about formations itself. Just like a spider weaves a web without knowing how to solve geometry problems. The real question is..." Purr leaped out of Karen's arms and landed on the steel table where Mandila lay—specifically, right on Mandila's chest. "Oho, rock-hard." Karen drew in a sharp breath. "Don't be tense, I'm just lightening the mood," Purr said, looking at Mandila. "The question is, that beguiling aberrant demon left formation patterns through refinement—basically slathering its 'drool' all over this corpse—to gain control over it. But what about you, Lord Evil God? Did you kill that beguiling aberrant demon and snatch control away from it?" Purr shifted her gaze to Alfred. If an aberrant demon had been killed, this fellow would surely have done it for Karen. Alfred shook his head, indicating he had nothing to do with it. Karen replied, "While watching the performance, I heard her calling out to me. She told me her name, told me she was cold, and for a moment my consciousness seemed to enter her body, feeling her emotions. And then, I discovered I seemed to possess the ability... to command her." Hearing this, Purr began pacing back and forth with measured cat steps. After a long silence, she stopped and said gravely: "Karen, you truly should go to Wien." "Are you lightening the mood again?" Purr shook her head with a solemn expression. "I even feel that even if your identity might bring ruin upon my family, or even if the current members of my family have heads full of rotting herring and flush themselves down the toilet... I still believe you should go to Wien. I know Diss gave you two choices: one is to stay in this house forever, cutting off all ties between the Inmerlais family and the church according to his will. The other is to go to Wien, step beyond Diss's sight, and gain your freedom. You should go, Karen. No—you must go!" Purr sprang into the air, and Karen caught her in his arms. With her two paws resting on Karen's chest and her face brought very close to his, she said: "A religious faith system is like solving problems. The smarter someone is—the geniuses—the faster they solve them. Take Diss, for instance. I watched him grow up, yet even I never expected him to solve his way up to such heights in total silence. Whereas you..." Alfred chimed in, "A great being is bound to be a great genius." "Shut up!" Purr snapped, cutting Alfred off without hesitation. She turned back to Karen and said with deep earnestness, "Whereas you, Karen, are no genius! You are not! You're not a genius, and you don't have half a lubi's worth of business being called one!" "I can accept not being a genius, but did you really need to put on such a solemn, serious face just to tell me that?" "Hehehe... meow, meow, meow..." Purr burst into cat laughter. "What kind of genius could you possibly be? Geniuses are fast at solving problems. But you—you don't even know how to solve them, because you haven't undergone purification, which means you've never studied at all! When others have to rack their brains over a brutal problem, all you do is pick up the test paper and shout at the questions, 'Hey, hello there!' And then, without even bringing a cheat sheet, without having to copy anything, the question sensibly writes out the answer all on its own!!!" Listening from the side, Alfred was thoroughly mesmerized. "Is this the true meaning of greatness?" he marveled. "It turns out my understanding was far too shallow all along." Purr gently patted Karen's chin with a soft paw, adopting a tone she considered seductive: "So, you must complete your purification ritual in the most flawless manner possible. Leave no room for regret, nor tolerate the slightest blemish. Otherwise, it would be a sacrilege to your talent!" "Oh, alright." Karen knew that the purification ritual required the aid of a sacred relic. Once purified, one became a God's Servant, which marked the formal entry into the path. "Then do you know where the finest sacred relic in all of Ruilan can be found?" "No idea." A grin spread across Purr's face, and she tapped her neck with a paw. "Right before your eyes. Yours truly, Miss Purr." "You are... a sacred relic?" "Why else do you think I've lived this long? I'm a cat right now. Cats have a far shorter lifespan than humans, and I'm hardly a tortoise." "So what you mean is, you're willing to help me complete my purification?" "Only after we reach Wien. Diss made it clear that if I dare help purify you here in Ruilan, he'll purify me instead." "Why?" Karen asked. "I doubt it's just because you want fish." "Yours truly has always cherished geniuses. Diss only grew into someone so exceptional under my tender care." "I don't believe that." "Fine... then it's because yours truly hopes you can help me turn back into a human someday." "Diss can't manage that?" "He can manage half of it—he could turn me into a... dead person. And if I'm just going to be a corpse, I'd rather keep being a cat and munching cat food. What do you think?" "Any other reason?" Purr leaped onto Karen's shoulder, shifted her rear, and did her best to sit with dignity and elegance. "Well... cats can be painted on murals too, can't they?"