Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1295: Section 1296: Contradiction

“You came to the Old Earth Continent to find me?” Jon’s claim made Angel feel increasingly that something was amiss, “How did you know I was on the Old Earth Continent?”

“There are many ways to find out where your excellency is, but each method might make you feel uncomfortable. To prevent any misunderstanding from growing, please allow me to keep it a secret for now,” Pat said, half-bowing to Angel with the polite courtesy of a gentleman of the nobility.

Angel looked at Pat with an unusual gaze; he hadn’t expected Pat to be so honest about the less than honorable methods of finding him.

Such candor, if it had come from someone else, might have earned Angel’s respect. But coming from Pat, it felt entirely devoid of sincerity. He always sensed a dissonance of duplicity about Pat.

As Angel scrutinized Pat, he also took in his surroundings out of the corner of his eye.

This natural cavern had been fitted with several lighting devices, keeping it from being dim. The cave was vast, and behind Pat was a deep, unfathomable pool of water, surrounded by various experimental apparatuses, among which the most numerous were the glass containers standing on the ground.

… At a glance, there were close to a hundred glass containers, imposingly lined and quite awe-inspiring.

Near Angel was one such container, its sides fogged with a hazy white mist, concealing whatever was inside. Only a vague dark shadow could be discerned within.

Angel reached out and wiped the glass; as the mist cleared, a pale and horrifying skull was revealed.

Contained within was an entirely naked human corpse.

Angel frowned. Dead bodies didn’t usually disturb him, but preserving them in solution to prevent rot, displayed in glass containers, was certainly odd.

If all these hundreds of glass containers held human corpses, that would indicate either a particularly specialized field or an unusual hobby… Angel glanced at Pat, his eyes flickering in an inscrutable manner.

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“These are all baddies who attacked Mr. Pat on their own will, not innocent people,” the voice of the woman in red reached his ear just then. She had been by Angel’s side the entire time, clearly noting the odd expression between his brows. Anxious to prevent any misapprehensions about Pat, she hurriedly explained, “Mr. Pat is good, he doesn’t kill without cause.”

As to whether Pat was good or bad, Angel didn’t express an opinion. Instead, he turned his head and said softly, “All these are for experiments, then. Are you also engaged in human research?”

Pat chuckled and said, “Yes, humans are such pitiable creatures. I’m researching how to destroy all of humanity.”

Hearing this, Angel’s gaze remained unchanged, while the woman in red’s face darkened considerably.

In a timely switch of tone, Pat said, “Of course, all that was a joke. I’m human as well. If I were researching ways to kill my own kind, wouldn’t that be akin to suicide? Impossible, right?”

He paused, then looked toward the woman in red, “Silver Star, you should return to your true form. Spirits out of their element even by just a little, can easily become undead.”

The woman referred to as ‘Silver Star’ hesitated, “But…”

“I know what you intend with the soul.”

“However, you must understand something—humanity’s unnecessary curiosity is the original sin. If they can’t control their morbid curiosity and insist on breaking into my laboratory, then they deserve death. If you scare them away out there, it only fosters their interest in this place,” Pat explained while pointing at Angel, “Besides, with such a distinguished guest arriving, it would be quite rude of you to appear in a spirit form, wouldn’t it?”

Silver Star contemplated for a moment before responding in a somewhat resigned tone, “Well, alright, then.”

Immediately after, Silver Star transformed into a red light and plunged into the pool behind Pat, vanishing from sight.

Pat, still smiling, snapped his fingers and gestured towards a chair by the pool, “Since your excellency has sought me out, I presume you have matters to discuss with me. Speaking of which, I have some matters I hope to discuss with you as well. Why not sit down and talk?”

After Angel took his seat, the center of the pool suddenly rippled outward.

Beneath the ripples, a rapidly ascending and expanding dark shape was faintly visible. When the activity of the ripples reached a peak, a pair of eerie green vertical pupils rose from the center of the pool.

It was a sleek serpent with a triangular head and fangs that emitted a green, poisonous mist.

The disturbance was far from over, as more and more snakes rose from beneath the water, each of their eyes twinkling with a cold green light that was truly chilling to behold.

When a breath-like sound arose, a perfect visage surfaced—a stunningly beautiful woman with the upper body bare, her modesty merely covered by two black serpent scales, while her lower half was a sea serpent’s tail marked with red circular patterns.

What astonished Angel the most was that this woman’s hair was actually the serpents that first emerged from the water’s surface.

“Snake-haired Sea Demon,” Angel murmured to himself.

“Silver Star’s true body is a Snake-haired Sea Demon, quite adorable, isn’t she?” Pat said with a chuckle as he stroked the serpentine hair of Silver Star. The snakes wound around his arm, a sight unsettling to anyone with a fear of snakes.

Angel noticed that although Pat’s expression was as smiling as ever, this time, he could feel a genuine warmth emanating from him.

He must truly like Silver Star.

Angel’s lips curled slightly upward as he suddenly found the scene before him very amusing.

From the previous conversation between Silver Star and Gold, it wasn’t hard to deduce that Silver Star seemed protective of humans, even going so far as to pretend to be a ghostly undead to scare them off and prevent them from accidentally entering Gold’s lab.

But Gold was different, from the moment Angel arrived here, he had sensed a dissonance about Gold, who, despite smiling at him, failed to conceal the disdain in his eyes.

At first, Angel was at a loss as to why he had incurred Gold’s disdain, but after hearing some of Gold’s remarks, he understood.

Gold didn’t just disdain him, he despised the entire human race, his words were filled with contempt for humans, even though he was one himself.

It’s worth mentioning that the snake-haired Sea Demons feed on humans to sate their hunger, which is to say, humans are on the menu for the snake-haired Sea Demons. Yet Silver Star, herself a snake-haired Sea Demon, took extra care to protect humans.

On the other hand, Gold, who was a human himself, held animosity towards them.

Naturally, Gold and Silver Star, in terms of their innate characteristics, should represent opposite ends of the spectrum, being positive and negative, respectively. Yet now, though they stood at opposite extremes, the positions of positive and negative were reversed. The one who should despise humans didn’t, and the one who should identify with them began to abhor them.

The most interesting thing was that Angel noticed that Gold and Silver Star seemed to fancy each other?

Between them, there must be an interesting story.

This reminded Angel of a story Jon once told about a tragic love story between a snake and a human on Earth.

While Angel was lost in thought, Silver Star had already climbed out of the pool. Although she was half-snake, half-human, her movements were agile, and she quickly brewed a cup of tea for Angel and Gold.

“Please, enjoy your tea,” Silver Star said softly with her head bowed.

After pouring the tea, Silver Star sat cross-legged behind Gold, with her snake tail dangling into the pool. It seemed that upon reverting to her true form, Silver Star became somewhat shy, avoiding direct eye contact.

Angel was very curious about the story between Silver Star and Gold, but he had another purpose for his visit today, so he set aside the gossip in his mind and brought up the main topic to Gold:

“I heard you were searching for energy fluctuations on the Old Earth Continent, looking for me?”

“Yes,” Gold nodded, “Not many know I was searching for energy fluctuations on the Old Earth Continent, and even fewer know that I’ve settled here. I guess Phyllis and Henry must’ve told you? Let me think, they should’ve gone to Gru Town about a week ago.”

“So the Pat Manor in Gru Town really belongs to your family then?”

Angel already knew that Pat Manor would be detected by Gold when he came looking, so Gold’s words didn’t cause any change in Angel’s expression, but instead, he continued to ask, “Why? Why are you looking for me exactly?”

Gold: “If I were the one who approached you, I would naturally reveal my intentions first. Since you came to me, perhaps I should hear why you’re looking for me first?”

Angel looked intently at Gold without hiding his true intent: “Phyllis told me that you’re very familiar with the people on board the White Heron?”

Gold nodded, “Indeed, in my view, they are perfect research subjects.”

As soon as Gold finished speaking, there was a splash from the pool behind him, clearly Silver Star smacking the water surface with her tail in dissatisfaction.

Gold said unflinchingly, “The above was just a joke.”

Angel: “So Phyllis and Henry are also your ‘subjects’?”

“Of course, but Silver Star seems to have taken quite a liking to Phyllis’s Double Serpent, so I had no choice but to let them go,” Gold shrugged, making a helpless compromise gesture.

Recalling the recent interrogation of Phyllis by Suise, even though Phyllis’s mind was controlled, there was still a look of resentment in her expression when mentioning Gold. From this, it seemed that there must be some enmity between Phyllis and Gold, and given Gold’s loathing for humans, he might very well have targeted Phyllis, yet ultimately let them go due to Silver Star.

Angel: “I came to you just to find out which Transcendents were on the White Heron.”

Gold’s eyes narrowed, “Is that the purpose you specifically came here for?”

“Indeed,” Angel nodded, “If you are unwilling to speak of these matters, that’s fine. I believe the White Shell Maritime Company should have their records.”

Gold burst out laughing, “Yes, the White Shell Maritime Company indeed has records, but I believe they wouldn’t be able to discern who you are looking for, right? And if someone intends to hide, or sneaks aboard, do you think there would be records?”

“From the sound of it, do you know who I’m looking for?”

Gold spoke with a cryptic tone, “How about I guess?”

“You want to find… someone tied to the Gumman Kingdom?”