Code name
"You may call me 'The Fool', "
The brief answer soon vanished into the grand temple and the thick fog. But in Audrey and Algie's hearts, that voice lingered for a long time, causing ripples of waves.
Unexpectedly, yet feeling that this was the right way to address it, it perfectly embodied the image of mystery, power, and strangeness!
After a few seconds of silence, Audrey stood up, lifted her skirt, bent her knees, and bowed to Zhou Mingrui:
"Respected Fool, please allow me to boldly request, could you be the witness for our transaction?"
"A small matter," Zhou Mingrui thought quickly and replied in a manner befitting his status.
"This is our honor, Fool, sir," Algie also stood up, placed his right hand on his chest, and bent over to bow.
Zhou Mingrui raised his right hand and smiled before speaking:
"Continue."
Algie nodded and sat back down, looking at Audrey and saying:
"If you can obtain the shark blood, then find someone to deliver it to the 'Warriors and Sea' bar on Pelican Street in the White Rose District of Prizh, and tell the boss Williams that this is something the 'Captain' needs."
"Wait until I confirm. Will you send me the address and send the potion recipe to me, or will you tell me directly here?"
Audrey thought for a while and smiled, saying:
"I choose a more confidential way. Here, although it tests my memory very much. "
Since the Fool sir agreed to witness the transaction, it meant there would be another similar "get-together" in the future.
Thinking about this, she suddenly turned her head, her eyes shining as she looked at Zhou Mingrui, and enthusiastically proposed:
"Fool sir, do you mind having more of these 'attempts'?"
Algie listened calmly and was also stirred by it. He quickly agreed:
"Fool sir, don't you think these 'get-together' sessions are very interesting? Although your power exceeds our imagination, there are always areas in the world that you don't understand or are not good at. That noble-looking lady over there is obviously from a noble background. I also have my own experiences, insights, channels, and resources. Maybe in the future, we can help you complete the insignificant things that are inconvenient for you to do on your own."
In his opinion, since he had been pulled into here without any defense or resistance, it meant that the initiative was in the hands of the mysterious Fool sir. If you wanted to refuse and no longer participate in the "get-together", you would definitely succeed. So, it would be better to explore the benefits of this encounter more deeply and use the gains to compensate for the passivity and disadvantage.
The three parties at the long table had different backgrounds, different resources, different information channels, and different knowledge of mysterious domains. If they could communicate with each other and cooperate in a limited way, it would produce an indescribable and measurable wonderful effect!
For example, the resource exchange just agreed upon, for instance, if you want to kill someone, you can ask a "get-together member" who is superficially and substantively unrelated to you for help. This would make the matter be perfectly misdirected to another direction.
Noble-looking lady... Was my performance and my accent so obvious? Audrey's mouth opened slightly, and she was stunned for a moment, but she quickly recovered and nodded without hesitation:
"Fool sir, I think this is a very good proposal. As long as the 'get-together' becomes regular, there are some things that if you are not willing to come forward, you can transfer them to us. Of course, it must be within our capabilities."
Since the beginning of the conversation, Zhou Mingrui had been weighing the pros and cons. More "get-together" sessions did indeed allow him to gain more extraordinary mysteries and mysterious knowledge, which would be helpful for time travel in the future. For example, the "audience" that would appear in the next "get-together", this potion recipe, and the same, it could also obtain information for the current real life and get some help.
However, the more "get-together" sessions there were, the more likely it was to expose the truth!
Sure enough, in every world, there were no things that only had benefits... Zhou Mingrui once again extended his right hand, using his fingers to gently tap the edge of the long table.
Considering that the convening and dissolution of the "get-together" were all under his control, even if any problems were exposed, they would be within the controllable range. The benefits outweighed the drawbacks, and Zhou Mingrui made a quick decision.
His tapping stopped, and he smiled, facing the four expectant and nervous gazes:
"I am a person who prefers equivalent exchange."
"I won't ask you to help unconditionally."
"Every Monday, at three o'clock in the afternoon, try to be alone. After I have tried several times and figured out some things, perhaps you can take the day off in advance, and you won't have to worry about being in an inappropriate situation."
This was an acceptance of Algier and Audrey's proposal.
Audrey was just seventeen years old and had always been well cared for. Her youthful nature was very strong. When she heard the wise man's answer, she couldn't help but clench her fists and gently swayed her chest twice.
"That means we should also give ourselves a title? After all, we can't communicate using our real names."
Before Algier could speak, her bright eyes sparkled and she excitedly said:
"Then, should we give ourselves a title? After all, we can't use our real names to communicate."
Although her true situation might not be able to deceive the wise man, the guy opposite was also somewhat dangerous. We can't let him know who I really am!
"Good idea," Zhou Mingrui replied briefly and calmly.
Audrey immediately started thinking and said:
"You are the Wise Man, from the Tarot Cards. As a regular, long-term, and secret 'get-together', the title should be as consistent as possible. Well, I'll also choose from the Tarot Cards."
Her tone gradually became cheerful:
"The decision is made. My title is, 'Justice!'"
This is one of the twenty-two major cards of the Tarot Cards.
"Then, what about you, sir?" Audrey looked at the "companion" opposite with a smile.
Algier furrowed his eyebrows slightly, then relaxed:
"Hangman."
This is another major card.
"Okay, then we can be the founders of the Tarot Club!" Audrey said happily at first, then timidly looked at Zhou Mingrui covered in grayish-white mist, "Is it okay, Wise Man?"
Zhou Mingrui shook his head with a smile:
"This kind of thing can be decided by yourselves."
"Thank you!" Audrey was clearly very excited.
Then, she looked at Algier:
"Mr. Hangman, could you please repeat the address just now? I'm afraid my memory isn't deep enough."
"No problem." Algier was quite satisfied with Audrey's seriousness and repeated the address again.
After murmuring three times, Audrey excitedly said again:
"I heard that the Tarot Cards were just a game invented by Emperor Rosel, and in fact, they don't have the function of divination?"
"No, often, divination comes from oneself. Everyone has spirituality and can sense the spiritual world and higher-level relationships. The information itself is there, but ordinary people can't perceive this, let alone interpret the 'signs' obtained. When they use the divination tools, these pieces of information will be presented through the tools. A simple example is dreams and dream interpretation."
Algier glanced at Zhou Mingrui and saw that he didn't express any reaction, so he spoke to deny Audrey's statement, "The Tarot Cards actually belong to this kind of tool. It uses more symbols and more reasonable elements to help us interpret the 'signs' more conveniently and accurately."
Zhou Mingrui seemed unconcerned but was listening very carefully. However, his mental distraction began to become serious, and his head twitched painfully.
"I understand." Audrey nodded in agreement, then emphasized, "I'm not questioning the Tarot Cards. I heard that Emperor Rosel actually made another set of cards, secret, symbolizing certain unknown forces, a total of twenty-two cards. After completing it, he referred to this and invented the twenty-two major cards of the Tarot Cards as a game tool. Is this statement accurate?" She looked at Zhou Mingrui, seemingly hoping to get an answer from the mysterious Mr. Fool.
Zhou Mingrui merely smiled and remained silent, directing his gaze towards the "Hangman", as if testing you.
Algier subconsciously straightened his back and said in a deep voice:
"Yes, it is said that Emperor Roselius saw the亵渎 stone slab, and that deck of cards contains the secrets of the twenty-two divine paths."
"The twenty-two divine paths... " Audrey repeated in an eager tone.
At this moment, Zhou Mingrui's headache intensified, and he felt that the intangible connection between him and the deep red stars and the grayish fog began to shake.
"Alright, this meeting is over for today," he decided immediately and spoke in a low voice.
"Comply with your will," Algier bowed his head and saluted.
"Comply with your will," Audrey mimicked the "Hangman".
She still had many questions and many thoughts, and she was reluctant to end it.
Zhou Mingrui disconnected the connection and smiled:
"Let's look forward to the next meeting."
"The stars" became brighter, but the deep red light receded like water, and Audrey and Algier, just as they heard the words of "Mr. Fool", their figures became even more blurry and more illusory.
In less than a second, the "projection" broke, and silence returned above the gray fog.
Zhou Mingrui felt himself becoming heavier and heavier, and everything around him was fluttering and unstable. First, there was a darkness, and then brilliant sunlight.
He was still in the apartment room and standing in the center.
"Like a dream... What exactly is that gray fog world... Who or what force created the changes just now... " Zhou Mingrui murmured in a low voice, full of confusion, and his legs felt as if filled with lead as he walked towards the desk.
He picked up the pocket watch that was placed outside earlier and confirmed how much time had passed.
"One-to-one time flow rate," Zhou Mingrui roughly guessed.
Putting down the pocket watch, with his head throbbing severely, he could no longer hold on and sat down on the chair, lowering his head and using his left thumb and middle finger to massage both temples.
After a long time, he suddenly sighed and said in Chinese:
"It seems that we can't go back in a short time..."
The ignorant can be fearless. After experiencing such amazing things and understanding the extraordinary realm and the mysterious world, Zhou Mingrui dared not rashly attempt the "transmutation ritual" of the ancient Fussak language and the Roon language!
Who knows what other situations might occur, perhaps even more bizarre, more terrifying, and even making life worse than death!
"At least we can try after having a deep understanding of mysticism," Zhou Mingrui thought helplessly.
Fortunately, the so-called "meeting" could provide assistance for him.
There was another silence, and he muttered with depression, loss, pain, and melancholy:
"From now on, I am Klein."
...
Klein tried hard to refocus his thoughts on the solutions and plans in order to relieve the negative emotions in his mind.
Perhaps next week I'll be able to overhear the recipe for the "audience" magic potion...
That "party" just now was really amazing. People from different parts of the world turned thousands of miles into just a short distance. They had face-to-face communication and shared resources. Well, this sounds a bit familiar...
Klein was stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed. With his hand on his temple, he muttered self-mockingly:
"Have you checked out the online dating platforms?"