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On the gleaming, shining screen, the man in the black double-breasted long coat appeared again.
His body distorted sideways, facing forward, and he pressed his hand, holding the top hat, to his chest, bowing slightly in a salute.
His face was blurred and distorted as if interfered with, and faintly showed the colors of oil paint.
The screen stopped abruptly, then several lines of ancient Feysac words appeared:
"According to the principle of reciprocity, it is now my turn to ask."
"If you answer incorrectly, or lie, you will be punished!"
The word "punishment" was blood-red, as if dripping with crimson liquid!
Ikanser seemed to recall a very unpleasant memory, his expression distorted for a moment, then became exceptionally serious.
Water light shimmered on the silver mirror, and a new line of words appeared:
"What is your sexual orientation?"
Ikanser's serious expression instantly froze, his face alternating between red and white. At this moment, he felt the gazes of his teammates around him were particularly piercing.
The next morning, the midday sun streamed into the room through the window.
Leyton took down a mirror hanging on the wall, set up a simple ritual, and drew a symbol representing Concealment and Peeping on the mirror's surface.
The light in the room dimmed a bit, and the temperature also dropped slightly.
The mirror turned pitch black, and water ripples constantly spread across it. Amidst the layers of ripples, several blood-red words emerged:
"Who is summoning the great Arrodes!"
Looking at the little mirror that was showing off, Leyton couldn't help but curl his lips. Before the words on the mirror continued to change, he started speaking to himself:
"Nice to meet you for the first time, Mirror Arrodes!"
"However, I think this shouldn't be your first time meeting me."
"Last night, the Machinery Hivemind people came to ask you about what happened at the abandoned warehouse. How did you respond to them?"
Leyton deliberately used some restrictive words to ask himself a question.
Without Klein nearby, this lick-dog mirror definitely wouldn't be able to suppress its true nature. Even with only his pet rabbit and Crow Anu watching, Leyton didn't want to die of embarrassment.
The dark mirror was silent for a moment, then began to display a scene: shortly after he and his companions left the abandoned warehouse last night, a Machinery Hivemind team arrived.
"Did you add special effects to Klein's appearance?"
Leyton looked playfully at the mirror in front of him, set in a brass-colored metal frame, and tapped the nearby table with his right index finger.
As the water light on the mirror rippled, the scene of Klein, bathed in firelight, wearing a black double-breasted long coat, holding a semi-high silk top hat, and bowing, disappeared.
New lines of words reappeared:
"According to the principle of reciprocity, it should be my turn to ask now!"
He chuckled, not caring that Arrodes was deliberately evading his question. He simply stopped tapping the table, a suitable curve on his lips, and quietly gazed at the mirror.
Arrodes seemed to sense danger. The words that had begun to form on the mirror distorted before fully materializing, changing into a new question:
"You will help me return to my great Master's side, won't you?"
"That depends on my mood."
"And my mood depends on your performance."
Leyton answered the question on the mirror in a teasing tone.
The water light on the mirror violently swayed a few times, as if being shaken vigorously.
The mirror quickly returned to calm, and the words on it also changed:
I merely slightly enhanced the presence of my dear Master, which helps him gain more feedback from those of the Machinery Hivemind.
This time, the words on the mirror disappeared quickly, and soon new words appeared:
Now it's my turn to ask.
Why are you lurking beside my great Master? Is this the will of the God of Knowledge? Or the True Creator? Or perhaps the Hidden Sage?
Leyton glanced at the series of words that appeared on the mirror and said in a very calm tone:
"Those are four questions."
At the bottom of the mirror, a new line of words appeared:
"You can just answer the first question."
"I hope he can become the new Lord of the Mysteries."
As soon as Arrodes's question appeared, Leyton immediately gave his answer.
"Correct answer."
After the words, there was a picture of fireworks blooming. Arrodes must have dug it up from somewhere.
On the mirror, new lines of words appeared again:
"The Machinery Hivemind people are looking for me again. This conversation ends here."
This sentence fully appeared for a moment, then quickly faded, and the mirror returned to its normal appearance, reflecting Leyton's figure again. The light in the room also brightened a bit.
"He ran quite fast."
Leyton pondered, looking at the mirror in front of him, then hung it back on the wall.
After testing Arrodes's attitude towards him and understanding the Machinery Hivemind's investigation progress, Leyton stretched contentedly, preparing to get some materials from the utility room to set up another ritual.
Bugs Bunny looked curiously at the mirror hanging back on the wall and asked:
"Boss, what was that thing that connected to this mirror just now?"
"Mirror Arrodes, a mirror with a bad temper."
"However, it knows a lot of things, suspected to have partial omniscient authority or ability."
Leyton explained to his rabbit.
He glanced at the eager expression on Bugs Bunny's face and reminded him:
"This mirror's hobby is to make people who ask it questions die of embarrassment in front of others. You'd best not try it lightly."
"Not even a rabbit?" Bugs Bunny asked sincerely.
"Not even a rabbit," Leyton replied exasperatedly.
Bugs Bunny left the room with his Crow Anu little brother, looking disappointed. However, Leyton noticed a clear curious look in Crow Anu's eyes, so it might find a time to try summoning Arrodes.
After getting the necessary materials from the utility room, he quickly set up a ritual and sent the biological toxin bottle to the Library through the ritual.
Then Leyton closed his eyes and meditated, outlining the shape of a ring in his mind. Through the connection between the ring and the Library, he arrived at the Library located in the Spirit World Depths.
In the Library, Mr. Hughes was casually flipping through an old, coverless book.
Leyton stepped forward and greeted Mr. Hughes:
"Good morning, Mr. Hughes."
"Hmm, your fate has experienced some fluctuations. Pay attention to the coincidences you encounter and the unreasonable decisions you make."
"A accumulation of small accidents can also turn into big trouble."
Mr. Hughes nodded slightly, responding in a calm tone, then added a reminder.
"Huh?" Leyton was momentarily stunned, then immediately understood the meaning of Mr. Hughes's words.
He pondered his recent experiences in his mind but found no traces that could have been arranged by 0-08 or Adam. He could only look at Mr. Hughes with a puzzled gaze.
Mr. Hughes put down the book in his hand and explained in a more serious tone:
"Perhaps your unintentional actions provoked that pen, but its scriptwriting ability is quite ordinary. As long as you pay a little attention, you should be able to find something amiss."
Leyton nodded slightly, wondering what he had done to provoke that pen.
After thinking for a long time without any clue, Leyton simply gave up on continuing to ponder the question.
He went to the corner where miscellaneous items were piled up and found the biological toxin bottle he had just sent over.
Returning to Mr. Hughes's side, he handed over the biological toxin bottle and said:
"Mr. Hughes, can you pulverize this wondrous item and then inject the extracted characteristics into the Plague Doctor's statue?"
Mr. Hughes silently gazed at Leyton, then took the biological toxin bottle.
After a brief glance at the glass bottle in his hand, Mr. Hughes tightened his grip on the biological toxin bottle with his right hand.
Crack! With a sound, the biological toxin bottle was directly crushed by Mr. Hughes. Points of light quickly separated and then converged, forming a translucent, blurry ball of light.
Leyton glanced at the glass fragments on the ground, but before he could speak,
Mr. Hughes directly threw the blurry translucent light ball in his hand onto the Plague Doctor's statue placed at the entrance of the Library.
The translucent light ball, carrying faint glows, directly struck the Plague Doctor's statue. The separated characteristics seemed to have found a suitable carrier and quickly drilled into the Plague Doctor's statue.
In a moment, the Plague Doctor's statue gained some subtle colors, and the metal bird-beak mask on its face seemed even colder.
"Don't even think about injecting some Demoness of Afflictions characteristics into it again. A virus that doesn't distinguish between friend and foe will make it completely useless."
Mr. Hughes's voice rang out, neither pleased nor displeased.
"I understand." Leyton had no doubt that this was a warning to him and immediately nodded in response.
A pale blue object carrying a cold chill fell into his hand. Leyton felt as if an extremely cold ice cube had suddenly been shoved into his hand. He fumbled, tossing it back and forth between his two hands to relieve the icy stinging sensation in his hand.
A brilliant star-like glow appeared, enveloping the pale blue object. The starlight instantly condensed, creating a transparent amber that isolated it from him.
Leyton held the transparent amber in his hand, and through the transparent amber, he curiously examined the object inside.
It was still a pale blue, ornate gem, with a thin layer of ice crystals on its surface and constantly overflowing cold air, covered with strange runes.
Leyton turned his puzzled gaze towards Mr. Hughes.
"This is a cluster of characteristics that gather various ice-type abilities, such as the ice of the living dead, the ice of the Demoness..."
"This is something I collected a long time ago. Although it's not very useful, it's quite pretty."
"You can use it as raw material to create some more normal wondrous items."
As Mr. Hughes explained, he glanced at the Plague Doctor's statue at the entrance of the Library.
Leyton instantly understood; Mr. Hughes was too disgusted with the previous few figurines he had made.
Then he made a sincere and serious promise:
"No problem, I promise this time it won't be like the last few times."
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