At that moment, Odis cursed inwardly, "Damn it!"
About an hour and a half ago, he had just seen Bernie, but it was a corpse, a corpse that had been gnawed by rats!
Meanwhile, Bernie in the herbal shop was still somewhat listless. His cheeks and the back of his hands, which had been gnawed by rats, were intact, but there were no signs of a corpse.
"Thank you for the herbs you recommended earlier," Bernie smiled. "I'm feeling much better now."
Odis snapped out of her daze: "Ah, that's good, that's good."
Is it really healed? No, a dead person feels better?
Even without spiritual prompting, Odis knew she was in trouble today.
However, he quickly calmed down, gestured for Bernie to sit down, and then said to his assistant, Kena, "Go to the Backlund Mechanical Research Institute and urge them to pay the bill. They've been dragging their feet for a long time."
"Okay." Kaina nodded and quickly left through the door.
This was a coded message between Odis and Kaina, meaning that Kaina should go to the research institute to request assistance as soon as possible.
Odis, sitting opposite Bernie, smiled and asked, "Is there anything still bothering you?"
He needs to do everything he can to stall Bernie.
...
Meanwhile, in the dock area, there were traps set up by the official extraordinary beings.
A vengeful spirit suddenly appeared on the glass of the warehouse window and saw the square white stone in the center of the warehouse.
There was no one in the warehouse, the "vengeful spirit" did not feel any gaze, and the spirits did not sense any danger.
But he knew there must be a trap set by the official extraordinary individuals here!
But seizing this stone is a task that must be completed.
Fortunately, based on their previous observations, the official extraordinary beings did not take the stone seriously enough. Although a trap was set, it was always the "Night Watchers" and "Red Gloves" who took turns guarding it, and no demigods were even sent to watch over it.
This is an opportunity!
This "vengeful spirit" was well aware that its mission was to attract the attention of the official extraordinary beings lurking nearby.
Then, the two demigods of the "Rose School" who were lurking in Backlund acted swiftly, seizing the stone before the official extraordinary beings could react!
The "vengeful spirit" jumped from the glass onto the warehouse floor and cautiously approached the stone.
The surroundings were quiet, without any sound, which made the "vengeful spirit" very nervous!
But to his surprise, he found himself standing in front of the stone, and the ambush by the official extraordinary beings still hadn't appeared.
The vengeful spirit examined the stone in front of it, and after confirming that it was correct, it picked it up and left.
He smiled to himself, thinking that he had done a great service this time.
At that moment, he tripped over something and fell to the ground, the stone rolling a long way.
Just as the "vengeful spirit" was about to pick up the stone, a gunshot suddenly rang out, seemingly from a very distant place.
He was slightly taken aback, then became very surprised and immediately rolled to the side.
In the blink of an eye, the world around us underwent tremendous changes. The warehouse was no longer so quiet, and one figure after another appeared.
The battle between the "Rose School" and the official Extraordinary Ones has begun, and the place is filled with the sounds of "screaming" and the "rat-a-tat-tat" of Extraordinary machine guns.
The "vengeful spirit" then realized that the moment it jumped into the warehouse, it had been pulled into a dream by the "Night Watcher".
He quickly got up to help in the fight, only to realize that he hadn't tripped over anything, but had been attacked and had lost his left leg.
...
51 Henry Street.
Odis chatted with Bernie with a smile, but inwardly she was very anxious.
Bernie spoke less and less, and his expression gradually became stiff, finally settling on a strange smile.
The smile sent chills down Odis's spine; he felt as if he were being stared at by a corpse. All he could hope for now was that the support from the "Mechanical Heart" would arrive soon.
Just then, another person came to the herbal medicine shop.
She was a woman in her early twenties, not particularly beautiful, but very elegant.
Odis grasped at this like a lifeline, for it was Aria, a subordinate of the "mysterious queen" Bernadette.
She came in with a smile, but the smile vanished immediately upon seeing Bernie.
Odis quickly stood up and said, "Ah, you've come at the right time! What you asked for has already been prepared for you!"
Then he said to Bernie, "Excuse me, let me entertain this young lady first."
Bernie smiled mysteriously: "Hurry up and come back quickly, I want to continue chatting with you."
Odis forced a smile and pulled Aria to the backyard.
Aria said seriously, "There's something wrong with this person's spirit!"
"I know!" Odis asked, "Can you contact the Mysterious Queen? I desperately need her help right now."
"Yes." Aya realized the urgency of the matter. She was about to recite the title of "Mysterious Queen" when a voice suddenly came from behind them: "I must correct you. You may have been able to before, but you can't now."
Bernie followed him into the backyard, still wearing that smile, but now it was even more eerie, bordering on sinister and terrifying.
Arya and Odis immediately assumed a defensive stance, but they both knew that the real enemy was not the corpse in front of them.
Bernie said, "Mr. Alvis has sealed off the surrounding spirit world, so your prayers will have no effect. You can try if you don't believe me."
Arya did not attempt to pray, for doing so would reveal her title as the "Mysterious Queen."
"I was just wondering what your purpose is?" Odis moved to the left and hid behind a flowerpot filled with herbs, as if she intended to use it to avoid Bernie's attack.
Before the other party could answer, Odis said, "If I'm not mistaken, you should be members of the 'Morse Ascetic Order,' and among those who haven't been corrupted by the evil god from the stars."
Aria was stunned: An evil god from the stars?
Over the years, her main task has been to fight the people of the "Morse Ascetic Order," but how come she doesn't know anything about any evil god from the stars?
Bernie's voice suddenly became a little hoarse: "It seems our target was right. Your knowledge of so many secrets is proof of that."
"I do know some secrets," Odis said. "When you reminded me of that 'werewolf's' address last week, you were actually testing 'Mechanical Heart's' attitude towards me!"
"After learning that 'Mechanical Heart' valued me highly, you deliberately used another informant of 'Mechanical Heart,' the 'leader,' to let me know that you were investigating 'Night Watchers' and preparing to seize that stone."
"Actually, you are creating the illusion of attacking official Extraordinary beings in order to attract the attention of 'Mechanical Heart' and 'Mysterious Queen'. From beginning to end, only the 'Rose School' had the crazy idea of attacking official Extraordinary beings!"
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
"If I'm not mistaken, the 'Rose School' has already begun its operations. Currently, the main force of 'Mechanical Heart' is in the dock area, and the guys I sent out probably won't be able to get any reinforcements."
"At this moment, the 'mysterious queen's' attention was also drawn to it, and she couldn't come over in time."
Although the "Mechanical Heart" has been keeping an eye on him, they may not be able to immediately detect the anomaly here.
Bernie chuckled in a hoarse voice, "You're so smart, it saves me the trouble of explaining our operation to you."
"Let's go back to the same question," Odis asked, "What exactly is your purpose?"
"you."
"Me?" Odis asked incredulously. "Why me?"
"I don't know. All I know is that some time ago, the great and mysterious 'Hidden Sage' noticed you," Bernie said with a ferocious expression. "And he ordered us to take you back."
Odis cursed inwardly again: Damn it!
The gaze of the god of steam and machinery is unbearable enough, but why is the "Hidden Sage" looking over here too?
This left Odis somewhat helpless. This was the downside of having gods on this path and the adjacent paths; if he showed even the slightest abnormality, it would easily attract their attention.
Arya asked, "Where did you get this method of manipulating corpses?"
She also knew that the key at this moment was to stall!
Drag the battle to the dock area until it ends, until it attracts the attention of the "Mysterious Queen".
"This is the method the great 'Hidden Sage' taught me," Bernie said. "Such a puppet can even fool those with clairvoyance."
"Actually, this method of creating puppets uses living people. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, I have already abandoned this puppet."
"However, the body was seen by two people, so they had to move it and reuse it."
Odis and Aria both realized that what the other person meant was that this method was instilled in him by the "Hidden Sage".
Just as Odis was about to start a new topic, Bernie suddenly raised his hand and said, "There's no need to waste any more time. I didn't make a move just now because I wanted to observe Odis one last time."
"Now that I have a clear goal, there is no need to wait any longer."
"As for you, Arya, your appearance is a surprise. Even Mr. Alvis agreed to let you in, and then kill you here!"
As he spoke, Bernie suddenly rushed toward Arya. At the same time, a man in his thirties with his face covered by a hood appeared in the herbal shop. He was probably the one who was controlling Bernie.
A ball of slowly rotating stardust appeared in his left hand as he chanted a spell toward Odis.
The stardust in his hand was enough to prove that he was an "astrologer" who could perform "secret arts" without powder or scrolls.
Suddenly, stars appeared in the sand, accompanied by a green glow.
The herbs in the courtyard suddenly became lush and seemed to come alive, stretching out their branches and leaves to entwine Odis.
Odis did not dodge; instead, he charged forward.
Before he got entangled by the plants, he lunged forward and pressed his hand against the ground in front of the flowerpot, activating the magic circle in the yard.
Whew~
Suddenly, walls of fire burst into flames in the yard, igniting the writhing herbs and Bernie, who was attacking Arya!
"Over here." Odis quickly reminded Aria to come over, as only the area where he was was free from the fire.
The fire startled both the "astrologer" and Aria, but after Odis reminded her, Aria reacted first, jumping over the wall of fire to hide next to Odis.
Bernie, already engulfed in flames, tried to catch up, but after passing through two walls of fire, he finally collapsed to the ground, unable to hold on any longer.
Even amidst the flames, he still reached out his hand to Arya, seemingly not having forgotten his mission.