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Facing the Plague Doctor's relentless advance, the gambler who intended to rob Leyton with a knife completely broke down mentally.
With bloodshot eyes, clutching a fruit knife, he shrieked and charged forward:
"I'll fight you to the death! I'm not afraid of you! I'm not afraid of you!"
The gambler shrieked maniacally, plunging the fruit knife into the Plague Doctor's black-robed body again and again.
Leyton stood in the shadows, frowning as he watched this scene. The gambler, who had suddenly gone mad, stabbed at the air in front of him repeatedly, still screaming hysterically:
"Kill you! I'm not afraid of you!"
He didn't notice that the terrifying Plague Doctor had already moved behind him.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sound of something swiftly cutting through the air rang out.
The Plague Doctor's cane swung nimbly, blocking the short arrows that flew through the air. It didn't even move its body.
The short arrows aimed at Leyton were caught by an invisible giant hand, then crushed into a pile of Crumbs.
"The people sent by the underground casino to intercept me have finally arrived, but they seem a bit weak."
Leyton murmured softly.
He casually flung out a handful of herbal powder, muttered "Paralysis" in Dragonese, and the herbal powder transformed into a pale green light that shot out.
A figure in the shadows ahead quickly fled into the distance. The pale green light, as if foreknowing, miraculously landed on this figure, instantly stiffening him in place.
The Plague Doctor gently stomped the bell-adorned cane in its hand, and the crisp ringing echoed in the gambler's ears.
The mad gambler abruptly stopped his action of stabbing with the fruit knife, his head stiffly turned, and he saw the bird-beak mask almost touching his face.
"You are sick, very seriously. Please don't worry, I will cure you!"
The Plague Doctor's hoarse voice came from behind the cold mask.
Leyton clearly saw the gambler's eyes widen, and he collapsed stiffly onto the muddy street as if suffering a myocardial infarction.
"It didn't use any Beyonder abilities at all! It could achieve this just by relying on its own spiritual interference combined with the sound of the bell! Is this its innate talent? Or did the Hidden Sage imbue it with the corresponding knowledge?"
Even though Leyton was already Sequence 5, this action by the Plague Doctor still made his scalp tingle. Leyton felt that its mastery and application of spirituality far surpassed his own.
Leyton didn't even need to give an order; the Plague Doctor itself went and brought over the attacker who had been controlled by Leyton's spell from a distance.
The Plague Doctor dragged this unfamiliar Beyonder next to the gambler who had fainted from fright, laying them side by side on the muddy street.
Under the dim streetlights, a figure clad in a black robe, wearing a bird-beak mask, was holding a scalpel and constantly gesturing at the two motionless people lying on the ground.
"What are you going to do?"
Leyton asked.
"He's sick. I need to perform surgery on him so he can get better."
The Plague Doctor didn't stop its movements, still gesturing and calculating something, replying without lifting its head.
The attacker, who was in a state of paralysis, couldn't even blink. Only the fear in his eyes proved that he was aware of what was happening around him.
"You are sick, very seriously. Please don't worry, I will cure you!"
The Plague Doctor said the same words to the attacker whose eyes were filled with fear.
Leyton noticed that this unfamiliar Beyonder's spirit body was already filled with the color representing fear.
"Where are they sick?"
Leyton couldn't help but frown and ask.
In his Eyes of Mystery Prying, the biggest disharmony on these two people on the ground was the fear that the Plague Doctor had scared out of them.
The Plague Doctor pointed at the gambler and said:
"His hands and eyes are filled with greed and need treatment."
Then he pointed at the Beyonder next to him and said:
"His hands are stained with blood, and his chest is filled with disharmonious desires; he also needs treatment."
Leyton's eyebrows twitched as he listened, and he couldn't help but ask:
"How do you intend to treat them?"
The Plague Doctor answered Leyton's question with action: he used the scalpel to remove the gambler's hands, then reversed their positions and reattached them.
"When his hands can no longer grasp the greed in his heart, his illness will begin to improve."
The Plague Doctor said something of unclear meaning.
Then it aimed the scalpel at the Beyonder next to him. Since the Beyonder was only paralyzed and hadn't fainted, he had seen and heard everything that had just happened. Tears of regret streamed from the corners of his eyes, but no one cared.
"His blood is dirty; he needs bloodletting treatment."
As the Plague Doctor spoke, it used the scalpel to cut a long wound on the Beyonder's arm, and blood flowed out like water, continuously.
Although Leyton understood that neither of the two people lying on the ground were good people—one was a mad gambler whose mind was clouded by money, wanting to rob him, and the other was a Beyonder sent by the casino to retrieve the money and, incidentally, intercept him—
watching them being 'treated' by the Plague Doctor, Leyton still felt a bit sorry for them. Although they would most likely die if he acted, at least they would die quickly.
"Is this why my previous divination showed that the Plague Doctor's treatment had significant side effects? It's not because its healing ability mutated, it purely wants to do this!"
"Damn! This thing is so perverse! I'd better not use it in the future."
Leyton had already decided in his heart to seal away the Plague Doctor's figurine.
The paralysis on the Beyonder had worn off, but due to excessive blood loss, he no longer had the strength to stand up from the ground.
He could feel his chest being cut open, slice by slice, by that pervert wearing the bird-beak mask. But he was powerless to resist.
He turned his head towards Leyton's direction. Although his vision couldn't reach Leyton, he still looked that way with pleading eyes:
"Kill me! Please, kill me!"
Leyton raised his hand, and a pale blue flame ignited in his palm. He then threw the Imitation demon flame onto the Beyonder who was begging for death.
The Plague Doctor stood up, staring at Leyton with great dissatisfaction:
"Their illness hasn't been cured yet!"
However, the Plague Doctor did not make any move to attack Leyton; the spirituality that sustained its existence had been exhausted.
Under the streetlight, the Plague Doctor's figure transformed into specks of translucent light and dissipated, and the Plague Doctor's figurine returned to Leyton's hand.
"In the future, I'd better not use it unless absolutely necessary. Although this thing isn't strong, it's quite bizarre and perverse."
Leyton was somewhat worried that if the Plague Doctor's horror stories spread, it might actually come to life.
Leyton sprinkled some iron-black powder on the gambler, who still had a faint breath. Spirituality rippled over his body like water, completely erasing the images of himself and the Plague Doctor from the gambler's mind, while also implementing certain anti-divination measures.
After waiting for a while longer, a Beyonder characteristic Separation from the Beyonder sent by the casino to intercept him. After Leyton picked up the Characteristics, he directly used Spirit World Traversal to return to his house on Minsk Street.
He placed the Plague Doctor's figurine on a cabinet:
"You'd better just be a collectible from now on."
Then, holding the newly acquired Characteristics, he performed a simple divination.
"As expected, it's an Assassin's Characteristics. I wonder if there are any Witches behind him. Most of the Assassin potion should have been circulated by those Witches, right? Only newcomers who don't understand the market are easily deceived."
Leyton mused, holding the Assassin Characteristics.
If he hadn't been affected by the Plague Doctor's perversity and only wanted to leave that place quickly, Leyton would have performed a divination using the Assassin's spirit. He might even have discovered a Witch.
He placed the Assassin Characteristics in an iron cigarette case and isolated it from the outside world with a Wall of Spirituality. Then he placed it on the nearby cabinet along with the figurine.
Leyton originally thought the matter with the Plague Doctor would end there, but on the third day, he saw a report, or rather a wanted notice, about it in the newspaper.
The newspaper also featured an image of the Plague Doctor wearing a bird-beak mask, clad in a black robe, and holding a cane, along with its name: Karasius. It was now wanted by the authorities and the major churches in Backlund.
The newspaper described him as a perverse individual with excellent medical skills but a distorted mind, who enjoyed harming innocent passersby who ventured out alone at night.
"This couldn't be done by that sycophantic mirror from Machinery Hivemind, could it? Good thing I wasn't mentioned, otherwise I would definitely give it to Amon as a toy."
Leyton felt this guess was reasonable. The demon's flame also had some damage to spirits, so using spiritualism on that Assassin wouldn't yield any useful information.
Leyton had also dealt with the surviving gambler accordingly, making him completely forget the images of himself and the Plague Doctor.
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