Equivalent exchange

The Madman was still wearing his dirty Flax shirt and yellow trousers, seemingly with no intention of changing his clothes.

Upon hearing Lumian's words, he raised his head, revealing a face obscured by a black beard.

He seemed to have forgotten Lumian; his blue eyes were blank and somewhat Chaos.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die!" He grabbed his shoulder-length, tangled black hair and cried out in fear again.

Lumian Past, pulled out "Fallen Mercury" with his black- Gloves left hand, and plunged it into the Madman's shoulder with a soft "plop."

The dirty Linen Shirt was instantly torn open; the wound wasn't deep, but bright red blood still seeped out.

The Madman was completely stunned, as if the long-awaited final Judgement had finally arrived.

A few seconds later, he plopped down, braced himself with his hands, and quickly moved backward, trying to distance himself from Lumian.

Throughout the ordeal, he repeatedly cried out in terror, "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

The tenants living in the surrounding rooms heard the commotion, but none of them came to check, because this Madman kept yelling that he was going to die and that he shouldn't be killed.

The Evil, silver-black Dagger had already slipped from the Madman's shoulder, while Lumian was still gazing at the illusory, Mercury-Colored river.

He witnessed the other person's happy and fulfilling first half of life and the bizarre deaths of their relatives one after another, as if he could feel the complete mental breakdown caused by such a huge blow.

Sometimes, Lumian wished he could completely collapse like this Madman, losing all Rationality and following his instincts to do things that normal people wouldn't do, until death. But he still had hope, even if that hope was extremely small, almost illusory, it was still hope. He was unwilling to give up, he wanted to pursue it.

Therefore, he often acts impulsively and often contemplates self-destruction, but he is always bound by the Rationality brought about by that glimmer of hope, and never truly disregards the consequences, making him extremely contradictory.

Knowing exactly which Destiny he wanted to exchange and roughly on what date, Lumian quickly found the Destiny of the Madman's encounter with the Montsouris Ghosts in the Underground Market District. He pried it up with the tip of his knife, turning it into Mercury-Colored droplets, while the fate of "Black Scorpion" Roger's big drinking Destiny entered the Madman's body.

Ignoring the Madman's terrified screams, Lumian knelt down in front of him, wiped the blade of "Fallen Mercury" clean with his clothes, and began to stop the bleeding.

Then, Lumian pulled over the only chair and sat down, waiting for the exchange of Destiny to be completed.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die!"

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

Amidst the Madman's screams, time ticked Past, and finally, the "Fallen Mercury" began to tremble slightly.

The Madman's low shouts stopped abruptly. He stood up abruptly, his eyes regaining their clarity, and muttered to himself, "I need to go get a drink, I need to get a drink..."

Lumian smiled, stood up, and said, "Please invite me; consider it payment for helping you get rid of the Montsouris Ghosts."

Of course, the real reward is the Destiny "encountering the Montsouris Ghosts," which, if planned properly and the target is not on guard, will be a deadly assassination tool.

The Madman paused for a second and said, "You got rid of it?"

"You don't have to believe me." Lumian turned and walked into the dark corridor without wall lamps.

Driven by an intense urge to drink, the Madman instinctively followed.

On his way to the Basement Bar, he kept looking around and noticed that things were indeed different from usual.

The feeling that something was watching me in the darkness was gone!

Filled with immense doubt, the Madman sat down at the bar, looking somewhat bewildered. He ordered two Oat Beer, one for Lumian and the other he gulped down, his mouth covered in white foam.

Because he would occasionally sober up and come here to drink, no one thought there was anything wrong with it.

Having satisfied his craving for heavy drinking, the Madman looked at Lumian and asked again, "Have I really gotten rid of the Montsouris Ghosts?"

How did you do that?

"I killed the Montsouris Ghosts, but I'm not sure if it will Resurrection," Lumian replied seriously. "Of course, anyone who encountered it before and is still alive won't be haunted anymore. You should remember, I told you last time that I also encountered the Montsouris Ghosts, and look, I'm still alive and well."

"Really?" The Madman couldn't believe that this handsome young man could kill the Montsouris Ghosts.

None of the Church members have done it!

Lumian smiled:

"I was just kidding. I only found Incantation to prevent the Montsouris Ghosts from haunting me, but it requires the blood of the person suffering from it as a medium."

The Madman suddenly realized:

No wonder you stabbed me.

He then said somewhat embarrassedly, "I probably can't offer you any compensation right now. I don't have much savings left, and I need to find a new job..."

"What should I call you?" Lumian interrupted the Madman.

"Just call me Flamang," the Madman said, then asked Lumian, "And you?"

"Charles." Lumian took a big gulp of Oat Beer.

When only a thin layer of beer remained in his glass, Madman Flamang, already a little drunk, pulled Lumian aside and rambled on, "You know what? I used to be a university lecturer, and I was also responsible for the safety of some of the students."

"Many of those students are audacious and reckless, daring to do anything and wanting to try anything. If we stop them, they will shout slogans like 'freedom!' 'freedom!'"

"They would even hold graduation Ball in Catacombs, burn the bones of nameless Corpse to warm their backsides, believe in nothing, fear nothing—of course, I was like that back then."

Flamang recounted the first half of his life, sometimes with pride, sometimes with joy, sometimes with vehement condemnation of the times, and sometimes with reminiscing about the good old days.

"Did you go to Underground Trier to stop some students from taking risks?" Lumian asked casually while drinking his beer.

Flamang shook his head:

"No, I studied mineralogy. The distribution of the underground rock strata in Trier is very distinctive and worth studying. We have also jointly established a ' Mineralogy and Pathology Museum ' with people from the Academy in the Catacombs."

"I encountered the Montsouris Ghosts when I came out of the museum, went around to the Underground Market District, and was planning to go home from there."

"My Sandrina... my Bastian..."

Flamang raised his hands and pressed them against his head, his voice filled with extreme Pain.

Seeing this, Lumian changed the subject:

"The underground rock formations in Trier are quite unique?"

"Yes," Flamang answered instinctively at first, then regained his composure and began to speak at length, "We even gave those rock formations very poetic names, from top to bottom: ' Flowers,' ' Sheep, ' ' Papyrus '..."

And so, Lumian and Flamang talked until the early hours of the morning. The latter was in high spirits, and his face, covered with a black beard, seemed to have become a little rosy.

He didn't lose his Rationality again. After confirming that nothing was watching him in the darkness, he returned to normal.

After waving goodbye to the drunken Flamang, Lumian smiled slightly and turned away, entering Room 207 to begin writing a letter to the "Magician" Lady.

He first mentioned how he was almost transported by Charlie and assassinated "Black Scorpion" Roger and other Lady Moon " because of Termiboros's influence. Then he said that the " Provocateur "Potion was completely digested because of the latter, and wanted to know Lady Moon had the " Pyromaniac "Potion Formula and its Beyonder Characteristic, and what price he would have to pay in exchange.

After Lumian cleaned up the surroundings and summoned the Puppet Messenger to take the letter, the "Magician" Lady replied shortly after:

"Good, you've truly realized the impact that guy with the long name can have on you, and what he's trying to do. Stay vigilant."

"Based on your description, That One ' Lady Moon ' should be at Sequence 3. Being able to truly Provocation such a Half-God can indeed help you digest the Potion quickly."

"If I remember correctly, you are to attend Mr. K's party tomorrow night and tell him that you can believe in That One being. This means you will truly become one of them, and you will have completed the first stage of the task I gave you. As a reward, I will give you the ' Pyromaniac ' Potion Formula for free."

"That extraordinary ' Pyromaniac ' Beyonder Characteristic is still with me, but you need to follow the principle of Equivalent Exchange."

In Intis, the two Main Ingredient for the "Pyromaniac" Potion cost over 18,000 Felkine, and often even more than 20,000, but the corresponding Beyonder Characteristic are generally priced around 35,000 Felkine.

"What does this mean? It means that many people in Intis have become ' Pyromaniac,' but many ' Pyromaniac ' have also died."

"As the holder of the Minor Arcana, I'll give you a huge discount; that Beyonder Characteristic will only cost 30,000 Felkine."

"Good luck."

Whew, 30,000 Felkine... Lumian breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that this wasn't such an unattainable amount.

He already had over four thousand Felkine savings, and that evil scythe called "Harvest Sacrifice" could fetch a good price. He could borrow some more from Franca and embezzle Cash from the Breeze Ballroom, and he shouldn't be too far from Felkine.

And as Lumian guessed, "Lady Moon" had transformed from a "Madam" into Lady Who Gives Birth to Deities, and was certainly more than just Sequence 4.

Fortunately, in the previous battle, we always acted as if we were about to lose, so we didn't have to ask "Black Scorpion" Roger for help... Lumian burned the letter from "Magician" Lady, washed up a bit, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep.

Around six in the morning, he had just finished washing up and changed into White Shirt, Black Waistcoat, brown trousers, and laceless leather boots when he heard someone clattering down from the Third Floor.

Those were the Roul and Michel couple, dressed in rags, covered in garbage, and reeking of filth.

Roul looked toward Lumian at the door of Room 207 and cried out in panic and fear, "Charles, Mr. Charles!"

That Madman is dead!

The Madman is dead? Flamang is dead? Lumian was taken aback for a moment, then bypassed Roul and Michel and rushed to the Third Floor.

The door to Room 310 was open, and Lumian immediately saw Flamang hanging in the window.

He was facing the door, his beard clean-shaven, revealing a refined, lean face.

At this moment, he was no longer breathing, his face was bluish-purple, his eyes were slightly bulging, his mouth was wide open, and his body was bathed in the clear Dawn shining in from the window, quietly hanging in a leather strap tied to the window frame.

Below him, on the Wooden Table, lay a nearly extinguished Kerosene Lamp, several large books, and a piece of White Paper held down by Fountain Pen, on which something seemed to be written.

Lumian was silent for a few seconds, then slowly Past and began to examine the blank White Paper.

The Intisian, reads, "Even when I'm insane, I still have the will to live."

"After I regained consciousness, I couldn't find any meaning in life."

"Please bury me in the ' Tomb-Lamp Cellar ' of the Catacombs."

Lumian raised his head and looked into those slightly protruding blue eyes, as if he were staring into the eyes of the dead Flamang.

He just stared at it quietly, seemingly frozen in place, without moving for a long time.