NOVEL FULL

Ring of Fate

Chapter 326: Psychological Portrait

Chapter 326 Psychological Portrait Lumian stood at the intersection, his hands in his pockets, and walked leisurely towards the Walled Street. This street, more famous than the boulevard in the minds of a large part of the people in Trier, is their dream place. Before Emperor Roselle launched the Industrial Revolution, the city of Trier was not as large as it is now. This place was located in the easternmost part, with strong city walls and soldiers guarding the walls. The soldiers' barracks were not far from here, so many prostitutes and brothels appeared next to them. As time went by, as the Wall Street got its name, and as Trier's population expanded, the original small "market" became one of the most famous colorful worlds in the north and south continents. Lumian walked under the plane trees of Intis and saw in front of him both magnificent buildings like palaces and quite ordinary apartments. What they had in common was that their windows were either fully or partially covered with frosted glass and installed with green shutters. The Walled Street in the afternoon seemed not to have fully woken up yet. There were not too many pedestrians on the road, but they all had their own characteristics. Some were wearing gray-blue workers' uniforms and walking in a hurry; some were wearing old formal clothes, looking left and right, and entered an apartment; some were carrying cameras, taking pictures here and there, and finally disappeared quietly in front of the ornately decorated buildings; some tried their best to act like Intis people, but inevitably exposed their true identities from details such as hairline and exaggerated height. What's more, Lumian also saw an iron-gray robot more than two meters tall. There was an air outlet on its back, which continuously sprayed out white mist. There were more decorative gears, springs, screws, curved pipes and other objects exposed on its body in many places. On the left shoulder of the robot sat a man, dressed in gorgeous clothes and with delicate makeup. He leisurely looked down at the people passing by, those people of status who simply put on gold or silver masks and did not want to expose themselves, and the man who had just woken up and was leaving with unsteady steps. On this street, ordinary citizens and members of the upper class blend together strangely, presenting a kind of bizarre harmony. As Lumian walked forward, he looked left and right, searching for his target location.

In a flash, he saw Albus coming from the side alley. The member of the Iron Cross with darker red hair also noticed Lumian, smiled slightly, raised his right hand and pointed at his head, as if to provoke him. Lumian knew that he was following Gardner Martin's orders to help find the parish priest Guillaume Bennet, and he suspected that this guy was just "talking" about whether to have a competition to see who can find the "prey" first. In addition to Albus, there should be quite a few more formal or peripheral members coming to the Iron Cross. In terms of keeping his promises, Gardner Martin's performance is pretty good so far. Lumian ignored Albus and continued walking deeper into Walled Street. According to the results of the "magic mirror divination" by the "Pleasure Witch" Franka, the scope of the previous prophecy has been narrowed down: Guillaume Bennet is likely to appear in an area including five streets including City Wall Street and White Horse Street this week. Of course, given the length, area and density of people flowing through the Walled Street, as well as the prosperity of the surrounding blocks, this result is still very rough. It is almost impossible to capture prey by carpet searching and casting a wide net, unless official assistance is obtained and the army is directly deployed to blockade this place and guard all underground entrances to Trier. In the past period of time, Lumian could only hope that the secret organization "Iron Cross" which gathered a large number of powerful "hunters" had better tracking and searching methods, or that he, who possessed the angel of destiny Thermipolos, had some degree of aggregation ability. As long as the distance between him and Guillaume Bene was not too exaggerated, the two could attract each other and "reunite" in a destined way. But now, he has new clues. This mainly comes from the mystical knowledge that the "person who has received the contract" possesses! That knowledge includes a large number of strange creatures that can be summoned or recruited, as well as the price to pay for signing a contract with them, the abilities that can be obtained, and the negative effects that will be suffered afterwards. Combining some of the contract abilities shown by the parish priest Guillaume Bene in his memories and dreams, Lumian compiled a list of information: "'Summon the Abyss Demon Flower' requires a large amount of fresh human blood as a sacrifice. The negative effect is that the desire for sexual intercourse increases; "'Invisibility' requires preparing meat for thirteen people, but the negative impact is that you will be more likely to get hungry; “‘Slow flight’ sacrifices one’s own inability to love others, and the negative effect is the urge to show off; "'Bone Curse' requires the sacrifice of a living person, and the negative effect is that one becomes more sleepy; "'Soul-stealing Secret Technique', the cost is no less than three human souls, the negative effect is four to five irregular dizzinesses per day; "'Implosion' requires the sacrifice of any Beyonder characteristic. The negative impact is that spirituality will be continuously sucked away, which is equivalent to permanently lowering the spiritual limit." From the detailed description of the "secret method of soul-stealing", Lumian also suspected that the parish priest had unconsciously and secretly paid another price. That's his name! The "secret method of capturing souls" is to influence the target's spiritual body by calling out his real name, causing him to experience reactions such as dizziness. The more you understand the target and the closer the language you use to the spiritual world, the better the effect. When signing a contract with the spiritual creature that lent him the "Secret Art of Soul Capture", Guillaume Bene would inevitably reveal his real name. For a strange creature with that kind of ability, knowing a person's real name might allow him to do many things. This is a potentially major hidden danger. There are many similar hidden problems in the mystical knowledge that the "contracted person" possesses, so Lumian finally chose to screen a large number of spiritual creatures on his own, contact them one by one, and try them one by one.

Based on the negative effects of the known contract abilities, Lumian made some assumptions: Guillaume Bennet is a man with strong sexual desires. When his desire for intercourse increases, he will definitely look for women. This is consistent with the prophecy that he will appear in the Red Princess District and the results of the magic mirror divination that he may appear in the five nearby streets. He was more likely to get hungry than before, and doing that kind of thing was very physically demanding, so he would most likely choose a brothel that provided meals or take the girls home. In addition, Guillaume Bennet is a very ambitious and power-hungry man who is suppressed in the mountains and villages. Before the negative impact of his contractual ability, his lust was more of an act of displaying his power. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why he wanted to steal any woman and why there was a huge difference between good and bad mistresses. For him, stealing other men's women is a manifestation of his status, power and charm. Such a person, after arriving in Trier and being discriminated against by the citizens because of his provincial accent, will inevitably vent and prove himself in his own way. Combined with the circumstances of "increased desire", "appearing in the Red Princess District" and past style, Guillaume Bennet is likely to find a more famous socialite to make those local citizens who want her but can't get her jealous, and he may even take one or two of them away and keep them at home. The above analysis of the parish priest's personality traits and psychological state was not done by Lumian himself, but came from the "psychologist" Anthony Reid, who outlined the psychological portrait of this evil believer from Lumian's detailed description of Guillaume Bennet. Therefore, there are currently two directions for tracking down prey. One is to wait in high-end brothels that have famous socialites and provide meals. The other is to find out which socialites have married or become someone's mistress, or even disappeared in the past two months. The former is in charge of the "Iron Cross". What Lumian needs to do now is to find well-informed people who can provide information about the various scandals on Wall Street. Anthony Reid, the intelligence dealer, had some knowledge of this. He knew that Buller, a columnist for "Ghost Face" magazine, was a frequent visitor to Wall Street and was famous for telling gossips and rumors here. Buhler's favorite place to drink and write was in a corner of the Hope Cafe where he could see the door before going to the brothel. With a clear purpose in mind, Lumian walked at a moderate pace towards the cafe in the middle of the City Wall Street. On the way, he went over the whole thing and felt a little emotional: He was obviously not as good as Franka in divination ability, and he only had the "prophecy technique" that he did not dare to use easily. He was also not as good as Anthony Reid in drawing psychological portraits of targets and collecting various intelligence, but he could find these two helpers and give full play to their strengths, which was equivalent to gaining these abilities. Lumian wasn't sure what would happen after he acquired divinity, but he was certain of one thing: below Sequence 4, the power of one person was limited, and a team that complemented each other could produce the effect of "1+1 greater than 2", and was fully capable of challenging higher-sequence beings that did not involve divinity. Not long after, Lumian saw the "Hope Cafe" with its window frames and doors painted creamy white. After pushing open the rather heavy door, he turned his gaze directly to the corner where he could see this place. A thin-faced man in his thirties with black hair, blue eyes, and a neatly trimmed beard with waxed tips was also looking towards the door. Noticing that Lumian was glancing over here, the man's face changed. He was about to pick up the soft-cover notebook and red fountain pen on the table and turn into the back door beside him. Lumian simply pulled out his revolver and fired a shot at the back door of the "Hope Cafe". With a bang, the bullet embedded itself in the wooden board. The guests in the cafe were frightened at the same time and some hid or turned around in chaos. The man with the waxed beard froze in place, not knowing whether to run or stay. Under the terrified gazes of the bartender, waiter, and guests, Lumian walked to the target at a moderate pace with his revolver in hand and asked with a smile: "Mr. Buller?" "Yes, it's me." Buller forced a smile. Lumian pointed to where Buller was originally and said calmly: "Sit down, I'm here to buy news." Buller breathed a sigh of relief, turned around a little hunched over, and sat down. Lumian pulled a chair over and sat opposite him, put down his revolver, and asked with a smile:

"Why do you like to sit in such a dark place?" Buller sighed and said: "In my line of work, I'm always worried about retaliation. You know, some people don't like their names or images appearing in newspapers and magazines and being associated with gossip. "Sitting here, I can observe the entrance very well and find out in advance if there are people who want to cause trouble for me, and I can also escape quickly from the back door." (End of this chapter)