Reirfu received no answer to his question from the gray feather pen.
It only records; it does not interpret.
Reirfu ran out of the secret room, attempting to condense the coin.
Above Black Alley, the full moon was like a disk, and the surrounding broken clouds resembled flowing toxic mercury.
Reirfu's forehead was covered in sweat, reflecting an uneasy light.
He tried countless times but could not condense the coin.
The feedback from his spirituality was that he was just missing the fate of one butcher!
"Heh heh... Hahahaha....."
Reirfu laughed, his eyes gradually losing focus, his laughter growing increasingly frantic.
"So the truly unchangeable node of fate is me... it's me! Haha... Hahahaha... Teacher, you lied to me!"
"What did your teacher lie to you about?"
Suddenly, a strange, young voice sounded.
Reirfu felt a chill down his spine and abruptly looked up, only to see a young man in a trench coat standing on the eaves, twirling a revolver in one hand and holding a silver sword in the other.
As a diviner, he hadn't even noticed the other party approaching!
Reirfu stared intently at the young man, his sole remaining eye constantly shifting, yet seeing only a pitch-blackness like deep space.
"You are the one who controls objects!"
Li Andy did not deny it and continued to ask curiously, seemingly very interested in the question:
"So, what did your teacher lie to you about?"
Reirfu fell silent, but his inverted eyeball showed that he was thinking rapidly.
'This person is from the Person of the Principle. Teacher told me to be careful of the Person of the Principle....'
'But, Teacher lied to me!'
At this moment, Reirfu actually had the idea of betrayal.
It was not difficult to understand why he had such a thought.
When people know they are about to face a destructive end, most will try to resist. Even if the chances are slim, even if this outcome might be fated...
'Perhaps, the direction of everything is not like this....'
Reirfu's eyeball stopped rotating, and he asked:
"Senior from the Person of the Principle faction, you've been pursuing me relentlessly; is there something you need help with?"
"Person of the Principle? What's that? I don't know, actually."
Li Andy didn't pretend to understand, looking at the other party with interest.
Sometimes, foolish honesty is more oppressive and deceptive than pretending to know everything.
He was also curious what the other party would imagine.
Reirfu frowned, his eyeball slowly rotating:
"Heh heh, it seems Senior has separated his memories. People from your faction often use such methods to evade or deceive certain fates. It's difficult for me to divine Senior's origin, probably for this reason. Perhaps the confrontation between us is just a small misunderstanding of intertwined destinies."
Li Andy watched him with a calm expression, but his heart tightened.
He understood that the other party was most likely not referring to the Meditation Society, but rather the Primordial Secret Cult.
"Oh? Then how did you determine that I am a member of the Secret Cult?"
Li Andy probed intentionally, portraying a casual and laid-back persona.
"It's simple, people from our Theocracy can see certain things...."
Blood tears flowed from the corner of Reirfu's eye, but he still maintained a smile, patiently explaining the matters of the Secret Cult to Li Andy and clarifying the factions within it.
It was unclear whether he was trying to prove himself or to buy time.
Li Andy also confirmed the basis for the other party's assumption of his identity after the other party mentioned the "Mother of Escaping Puppets."
'Theocracy, Person of the Principle, material.....'
Li Andy raised an eyebrow after listening.
He hadn't expected the background villain, a riddle-teller in the game, to have such an advanced setting. He also hadn't expected relics to have a systematic classification.
So, what factions did the several relics he currently possessed belong to?
Was the Bloody Inverted Cross Theocracy?
Was the Mirror material?
Was the Creation Replica Person of the Principle? Then was Clockwork Heart Person of the Principle or material?
"So, what did your teacher lie to you about? And who is your teacher?" Li Andy collected himself and asked the question again with a smile.
Reirfu's mouth twitched:
"Senior, people from our faction, in order to prevent lower-ranking individuals from losing control due to divination backlash against higher-ranking individuals, and to prevent prophetic disturbances from higher-ranking individuals to lower-ranking ones, do not reveal their true forms to close members of the same faction. Therefore... I have never seen my teacher's true appearance."
His teacher had indeed told him that back then.
But now, he wasn't sure if it was out of concern for the disciple losing control or fear of the disciple's backlash.
Reirfu took a deep breath and continued,
"My actions in Black Alley were only to complete my assessment and create my own relic. When I said my teacher lied to me, it was a small problem in the chain of fate, causing a misunderstanding between you and me."
"Have you successfully created your relic? Do you need my help?" Li Andy asked kindly.
"Just a little bit more." Reirfu responded with a smile, "Senior not attacking me is already a help to me."
Li Andy suddenly curved his lips and fired his gun.
"Bang—!"
The bullet flew out, but its trajectory abruptly twisted.
Behind Reirfu's shadow, a crimson orb wriggled.
The bullet ricocheted off the wall and finally embedded itself in the wall.
This caused the old bricks under Li Andy's feet to suddenly crack, and the entire eaves collapsed under its own weight.
Li Andy quickly activated some of the rubble, solidifying it into pillars, stopping his descent.
"The final step in completing the relic is to sacrifice yourself, right?"
He made such a bold guess because in the orphanage director's sacrifice ritual, the ritual participant himself was also one of the final sacrifices!
Moreover, in the game's timeline, Youxi acquired the relic: coin of destiny too easily. This indirectly proved that after the coin was successfully forged, it was most likely not in Reirfu's or the Secret Cult's hands!
Perhaps, if he wasn't in that timeline, someone else in Black Alley "helped" Reirfu complete the final step of the relic forging?
If it wasn't other members of the Secret Cult, then could it be... someone from Old Du Lin's side?
Indeed, Reirfu's face immediately darkened, feeling a suffocating sensation of being choked by fate.
"I think the outcome of you being schemed against by your teacher is quite correct."
Li Andy lightly landed on the ground,
"Those who toy with fate will eventually be trapped by fate. It aligns with the values of the righteous, doesn't it?"
Reirfu's knuckles turned white as he clutched the five coins, recalling his past as a bishop, his expression gradually losing control:
"You... you heretics!"
His glowing shadow blurred and burst open, transforming into threads that ensnared everything around him.
He raised his hand and plucked a string, as if pulling something.
A screw somewhere fell, rapidly triggering various factors, causing the buildings on both sides to begin shaking, and with a rumble, they collapsed towards the two of them.
"Don't go around labeling me; I've never admitted that I'm a member of that Secret Cult."
Li Andy's shadow under the moonlight also became deep and hazy.
As he spoke, the building on the left, which was about to collapse, suddenly became alive, shouting, "Don't come over here—!" and crashed into the building opposite with its body.
"Rumble—"
Rubble continuously fell, but it couldn't harm the two people in the middle of the alley.
That small area was the eye of the storm!