Terror (Seeking Collection & Recommendation!)

Inside the fast-food restaurant.

Sulu looked at the brother of this body with complex emotions, his eyes scanning him up and down.

Unlike the original owner who inherited his mother's looks, this Rhode had inherited more of their father Tonks Potterley's facial features: a sharp, rugged jawline, and a slightly gloomy aquiline nose. His thick lips were often pressed tightly together, giving him an expression of grim determination.

At this moment, the man was devouring a beef burger with zero regard for manners, shoving it into his mouth and gulping it down—hardly chewing at all.

"How many days... have you gone without food?"

This state reminded Sulu of a starving ghost, or a homeless man who had been wandering the park for days.

"Two days and one night... Long-distance steam train tickets are hard to come by right now, and the food served on the trains is just too expensive..."

After finishing his seventh Big Burger, Rhode Potterley downed a large glass of orange juice and finally let out a satisfied sigh. "As soon as I received your letter, I set out immediately..."

"I'm sorry... my trouble has already been dealt with!"

Sulu shrugged, feeling a hint of regret inside.

If this Rhode had arrived even one day earlier, he might have made a completely different choice.

"Is that so... looks like I'm late!"

Rhode nodded and looked Sulu up and down again. "Hmm... the little guy has grown taller and stronger! What I mean to say is... it's good to see you again!"

He tried hard to force a soft smile onto his face; it was clear he was doing his best.

Counting the time since the original owner broke ties with the family, I haven't been back in four years, have I?

Sulu's expression turned wistful. "The old man... how is he? And why did you send me that letter before? That thing inside the letter... what was that all about?"

Because there were many people around, he didn't directly name the black magic page.

"He... is not well. Not well at all!"

Rhode's movements stalled.

"What happened?"

Please don't tell me our old man went missing; that would remind me of some American TV show.

Sulu muttered inwardly, only to hear Rhode's deliberately lowered voice in response: "He... well... how should I put it? He went to a very distant place, using that method you know about!"

"The method... that I know about?"

Sulu's hand tightened slightly, a sea of fire seemingly appearing before his eyes.

That was the deepest, most painful memory in the original owner's mind: the failed ritual of Tonks's advancement!

Even though it was only a fragment of memory, his body couldn't help but tremble slightly, his cheeks twitching. "It seems... we need to have a long talk!"

"No problem!"

Rhode wiped his mouth with a napkin. "We really should have a proper talk... and we need a quiet environment for it!"

He stood up naturally.

Sulu glanced at his pocket and decided to go pay the bill himself.

In an open field on the outskirts of the city.

The surroundings were empty, with nothing in sight and a vast, open view.

Sulu and Rhode walked along, recounting the things that had happened to each of them.

Since it was Rhode who had given him that page of black magic, Sulu didn't hide anything and told him everything that had happened afterward.

Well, except for the secrets of his transmigration and his golden finger—that was impossible to leak.

The focus was on the mutated Beatrice and the besieged Catherine.

Rhode's expression was solemn. He paced a few steps and said, "That Catherine, based on your description, sounds very much like a Shadow Binder. Transcendentals of this path can do incredible things through shadows, but they aren't hard to deal with! They are just very evil, because the shadows they manipulate must be stolen from others!"

"That's for you..." Sulu said with a dark face.

He could feel that this brother was very strong; both his strength and physique were above his own. That earlier hug had made his bones ache faintly—he was definitely at a 'non-human' level.

"Yes... no matter the path, Transcendentals are extremely dangerous to ordinary people... you handled it correctly!"

Rhode said gently, "As for that school board member, I will have a talk with him. No unnecessary trouble will come looking for you."

Hearing this, Sulu immediately felt much more at ease.

But Rhode's expression became unprecedentedly grave. "The most critical thing... is that Corpse Princess, Beatrice! I fear she has truly mutated!"

"What are the specifics?"

"The magic page I gave you was indeed a trophy, taken from a secret society that worshipped death... Of course, my ancient language skills aren't great, so I couldn't fully decipher the text. I just felt it was important, so I asked you to take a look at it for me."

Rhode said.

"If it weren't for that magic, I might have been arrested as a murderer long ago..." Sulu shook his head.

The upper echelons knew of transcendent power, but the low-level police officers handling the cases might not. Even if what he said had attracted the attention of the higher-ups, in that situation, how many kind-hearted people would have stepped in to pull a poor, unknown kid out of the fire?

Sulu had never liked pinning his hopes on the kindness of others.

"I am not saying you handled it incorrectly, it is just... highly abnormal!"

Rhode furrowed his brows and came to a halt. "That dark magic... logically speaking, no matter how an ordinary person like you attempted to cast it, it was destined to fail. However, due to the uniqueness of the target, coupled with your use of the moon as the source of ritual power, certain mutations occurred."

Sulu recalled the situation at the time; indeed, without the attribute panel, he would never have been able to learn the skill [Corpse Maiden Creation].

Even if he had learned it, the failure rate would have been extremely high.

The fact that he succeeded in the end was entirely because some unknown power had lent a hand.

"That young girl... Beatrice. You said Catherine cares for her deeply. Judging by the frequent sacrifices of young girls by the other party, she must belong to a very special type of constitution. If such people were in the Church of the Goddess of Light, they might be cultivated as Saintesses... but in the eyes of certain evil gods, they are excellent vessels for descent!"

Rhode's subsequent words caused Sulu's expression to change drastically. "Are you saying... some evil existence interfered with my ritual, making Beatrice His 'offering'? Or 'avatar'?"

"That is exactly it. However... you are the primary officiant of the ritual, and that has not changed. This mysterious entanglement and suppression will cause the product of the ritual to backlash. Only by killing you can she truly be free, or rather, fully belong to a certain existence!"

"Then why hasn't she killed me?" A chill ran through Sulu's heart as he pressed for an answer.

"Rituals and sacrificial rites are very mysterious and complex matters... I can only offer some conjectures! Judging by the fact that you could still barely control that Corpse Maiden afterward, although the other party was influenced a bit at the time, she could not seize your control. In other words, that existence allowed the ritual to succeed, but merely planted a seed!"

"A seed?"

"It might be because the Dawn of Gods has just begun, the righteous gods are all in slumber, and the evil gods cannot easily awaken or descend... so it is just a seed!"

Rhode said, "But a seed will eventually grow. That Corpse Maiden is favored by death, so her strength will certainly grow rapidly... Once she exceeds a certain limit, she must perform a specific ritual to kill you, the 'original master,' in order to ascend and become a true 'terror'!"