Chapter 88: Two Moments of Trance

Chapter 88: Two Moments of Trance

Who?

As a Sheriff, Xio had a keen intuition regarding surveillance and being surveilled. Her heart immediately tightened, and her thoughts raced as she considered what exactly had happened.

Over the past two or three weeks, she had not encountered anything that required special attention. The few criminals she had caught had not been Beyonders either. At most, they had some connection with a certain gang. No one would offend a bounty hunter with some reputation in the East Borough for their sake. Therefore, she quickly narrowed down the target range and vaguely guessed which faction the person watching her from the shadows might belong to.

Members of the Aurora Order? I didn’t attend Mr. X’s gathering last time, and then an accident happened there. The scene was apparently astonishing… The person from MI9 told me that Mr. X was killed on the spot, and his corpse was taken away. The assassin used demigod-level power… Is the Aurora Order investigating who did it? Is every person who received an invitation to the gathering their target?

Although Xio was sometimes rash and careless, and her way of thinking rather straightforward, she had powerful intuition in such fields and could always think of the key point at once.

Regarding Mr. X’s death, on the one hand, she rejoiced that Fors had pulled her away and she had not attended the gathering, allowing her to avoid the accident. On the other hand, she believed she had no problems and could withstand any investigation by anyone in any form. Therefore, when she had met the masked man from MI9 last week, she had been calm and confident, and had casually accepted the mission to investigate the truth of the case. Unfortunately, she had no idea which Beyonders had attended that gathering and had no way to begin.

Mm. That gentleman from MI9 told me that people from the Aurora Order are either already-mad lunatics or hidden lunatics. Their actions cannot be predicted using normal logic. Even if they confirm I have no problem, they might still casually kill me to vent their anger and warn the real culprit…

Highly tense, Xio walked forward while replanning her route through the East Borough.

Along this route, she could obtain her friends’ help at any time. If she encountered an attack, she would have a decent chance of escape or counterattack.

As she walked, Xio’s mind suddenly went hazy. She discovered that, at some unknown point, she had returned to her residence in the Cherwood Borough.

Xio entered in confusion, drank a glass of water, and was patted on the shoulder by Fors.

“Come with me to the East Borough.”

Xio froze for two seconds, then spoke words that felt very familiar.

“You… want to go out for material?”

Fors immediately denied it, explaining that she had previously accepted a mission to help someone find dust left behind after ghosts dissipated. However, the spirits of the dead in cemeteries had long since been purified and sent to the respective kingdoms of their gods, so they could only search in the East Borough.

Xio hesitated and said, “I am preparing to attend the gathering summoned by Mr. X. Can your matter not be delayed by one day?”

Fors’s face immediately became bitter. She said that she had procrastinated too long, and the mission was nearly at its deadline.

Xio sighed and agreed to accompany her friend to the East Borough to look for the newly dead, or those who had been dead for some time but had yet to be discovered.

The two were just about to go out when the wind outside blew across Xio’s face. She shivered and abruptly came awake. She saw a minstrel sitting at the street corner, playing a seven-stringed lyre and singing a folk song popular in the southern countryside.

Xio frowned slightly and raised a hand to rub her forehead. She always felt as though she had briefly lost focus, yet could not remember what she had been thinking.

She continued maintaining a high state of vigilance. Following the route she had planned, she entered a bar that sold lunch and encountered an East Borough resident who occasionally provided her with information.

This was a young man of twenty-three or twenty-four. His brows were trimmed very thin, his brown hair reached his shoulders, his facial features were not rough, and he wore cheap cosmetics, giving off a strong sense of incongruity.

“Sherman, has anything happened over the past few days?” Xio greeted him.

From what she knew, this young man named Sherman always believed he should be a woman, only that fate had played a cruel joke on him and made him male. Because of that, he had suffered severe discrimination for many years.

Sherman smiled, showing a few teeth.

“It has been very peaceful. No gentleman has even invited me to drink.”

“Drinking is bad for you,” Xio warned earnestly, then passed by him and walked toward the bar counter.

Sherman spat once, then swayed his waist as he left through the door, making his way back to the apartment building he rented.

He lingered at the entrance for dozens of seconds, took two steps sideways, and knocked on the neighboring door.

The wooden door creaked open, and a woman’s voice, low yet unable to conceal its sweetness, came out.

“Have you made your decision?”

Sherman stepped inside, closed the door behind him, and looked toward the girl in the black dress sitting at the edge of the bed.

“I still find it a little hard to believe. I cannot believe there could be something so miraculous.”

In his eyes, the girl had a slightly round face, a gentle temperament, and not only a sweet appearance but also a different sort of flavor. She was very charming, extremely captivating.

Of course, for Sherman, he felt more envy than infatuation.

The girl in the black dress replied without expression, “Haven’t you already seen my old photograph?”

As her eyes moved, they always unconsciously carried a hint of melancholy.

“But that could perhaps be your twin older brother or younger brother. I find it very hard to believe there is truly a way to turn me back into a woman…” Sherman said with some uncertainty.

The girl in the black dress smiled without the slightest mirth.

“Then you can treat it as false. You may go back.”

Sherman’s hands tightened little by little. After a long silence, he said, “I… I am willing to try. Although I know you may very well be lying to me, I still want to try.

“Then what price will I have to pay?”

“Obey my orders and help me do certain things. Do not worry. They will certainly be things within your ability,” the girl in the black dress said. “To truly change your sex, you need to drink medicine three times and complete certain ritualized matters. I will teach you.”

At this point, she laughed self-mockingly.

“You can start thinking about your female name.”

…

Night. Backlund Bridge area, in an alley on Iron Gate Street.

Standing beneath a gas streetlamp that had been smashed by someone unknown, Xio recalled what had happened that afternoon.

After confirming that she was no longer being followed, she had returned to the Cherwood Borough and secretly observed Fors. She discovered that her friend had not gone out at all. As usual, Fors stayed at home, spending a great deal of time reading novels, newspapers, and magazines. She also spent nearly an hour in a room with the curtains drawn, seemingly practicing her Beyonder abilities. Only when she truly had nothing else to do did she dig out paper, write the opening of a new book for fifteen minutes, then tear it apart, crumple it into a ball, and throw it into the trash.

She also smoked too much… and drank too much…

Xio secretly gritted her teeth and saw a man in black formalwear walk out from the shadows at the other end of the alley.

The man was tall and upright. His face was covered by a mask made of gold, revealing his eyes, nostrils, mouth, and cheeks. He was precisely the MI9 agent who contacted Xio.

“What urgent matter is it?” he asked directly.

Although Xio was short, her bearing did not lose to his at all as she said, “I was followed in the East Borough. I suspect it was someone from the Aurora Order. They seem to be investigating the matter of the previous gathering as well.”

Her original planned topic had been the person the man had previously asked her to search for. She had intended to use an uncertain clue to make this urgent meeting request seem normal. But now, she had the Aurora Order as a better and more suitable excuse.

“Lunatics of the Aurora Order are like this. Although they know we are also investigating the matter and looking for them, they still will not back down. If not for that, they would not constantly suffer heavy blows.” The man in the gold mask laughed once. “Frankly speaking, I am surprised they did not directly surround you, drag you to an uninhabited place, and question you or channel your spirit.”

Xio was just about to answer that the Aurora Order’s people had not followed her for long when she suddenly thought of that unsettling trance. After weighing her words, she mentioned it.

“I do not know exactly what I encountered. For a very brief period of time, I seemed to become a little muddled. I cannot remember what I was thinking.”

The man in the gold mask suddenly fell silent. Only after more than ten seconds did he say, “Their surveillance and investigation of you should already be over… The Aurora Order’s attention to this matter exceeds my expectations. I will report this.

“Mm… You previously said that quite a few Beyonders received invitations but did not attend the gathering?”

Xio nodded.

“Every gathering has fewer than one third of the invitees attending.

“This is the normal state of most gatherings. Mr. X’s would not be an exception.”

The man in the gold mask thought for a while, then changed the subject and asked, “Do you have any clues about the person I asked you to find last time?”

“The one originally named Trissy?” Seeing the other party nod, Xio shook her head. “Not yet. She should be an old hand.”

The man in the gold mask chuckled.

“She has killed more people than the number of bounty missions you have completed. If you find clues, try not to approach. She is very dangerous.”

Xio gave an “Mm” and entered the main topic.

“Are there any new commissions this time?”

“Why have you suddenly become so proactive?” the man in the gold mask asked with mild surprise.

Xio answered frankly, “I am almost done accumulating enough merit to exchange for the Interrogator potion formula. I hope to obtain it sooner.”

“Actually, there is no need. You can exchange directly for the potion. That would save you quite a lot of merit,” the man in the gold mask said unexpectedly from Xio’s perspective.

I already have the Beyonder characteristic!

Xio shook her head.

“That would still take a very long time. Perhaps I can buy the materials at other Beyonder gatherings.”

The man in the gold mask did not try to persuade her further. Half-sighing, half-laughing, he said, “Then I wish you luck.

“There is a relatively complicated commission this time. If you can complete it, your merit should be enough.”

Xio suppressed her joy and asked, “What mission?”

The man in the gold mask spoke in a somewhat strange tone.

“Pay attention to the people Viscount Stratford comes into contact with. List every one of them in a report and submit it to me.

“You do not need to monitor him frequently. When you have free time or happen to pass by, simply pay some attention. Believe me, you are not the only one doing this mission. As long as you can submit one valuable report in a week, you can obtain a certain amount of merit. Every week.”

Viscount Stratford…

Xio suddenly felt a little dazed again, and this time, she knew why.

This viscount was the Chief Chamberlain—the former subordinate of her father.