Versatile Mage

The next day, Mo Fan walked around the West Guardian Towers alone. Lingling had mentioned earlier that the Red Demon’s magnetic field seemed to be influencing people’s minds subconsciously and making the people in the Twin Guardian Towers behave strangely.

However, Mo Fan did not encounter even a single event like what she had described. There was once an elderly woman who lost her way in the West Guardian Towers, and he saw someone was kind enough to show her the direction. A person accidentally spilled his drink on someone else’s shoes. They looked like they were about to fight each other. However, to Mo Fan’s surprise, the duo apologized to each other. Mo Fan felt uneasy with how friendly both were to each other.

It was a fruitless day.

Mo Fan initially thought he could figure out the Red Demon Kazuaki’s method of doing things before the arrival of the moonless night. It would be ideal if he could locate a part of the population where it could potentially thrive so that he could effectively stop it.

Not finding any clues was frustrating, to say the least. Even the Red Demon’s magnetic field seemed to have vanished.

“I sense that the Red Demon is wary of me. I’ll take a walk in the city. How does that sound?” asked Mo Fan.

She nodded. Ever since Mo Fan appeared in the Twin Guardian Towers, the Red Demon’s magnetic field had disappeared. The West Guardian Towers were originally filled with a strange and hostile atmosphere. However, its culture had improved so much that it surpassed the level of civilization. There was not even a single person spotted spitting!

Mo Fan felt helpless. If he had known that the Red Demon Kazuaki had parasitized somewhere nearby, he would have avoided Shao Watani’s invitation.

Lingling drew close to Mo Fan and whispered in his ears.

Mo Fan’s eyes lit up. He thought Lingling’s idea was brilliant. He immediately packed up his things and pretended to look for some fun in the city.

…

Lingling suggested a very simple idea.

The Red Demon could parasitize and disguise itself. The moment it noticed the appearance of a person who could threaten its plan, it would hide itself and wait quietly for the moonless night.

If so, why couldn’t Mo Fan disguise himself, too?

Mo Fan had a disguise artifact called The Eagle Witch Medusa’s Eye of Deception. The artifact would allow Mo Fan to blend into the heavily guarded place.

Lingling asked Mo Fan to impersonate a certain person. It would be best if he impersonated a person related to the East Guardian Towers. By doing so, Mo Fan could observe the presence of the Red Demon from the shadows.

For safety purposes, Lingling had no intention of asking who Mo Fan intended to impersonate. After all, the Red Demon was a creature that could manipulate one’s mind and steal one’s memories. If Lingling knew about it, the Red Demon Kazuaki could locate Mo Fan through her subconscious.

Hence, Mo Fan was the only person who was aware of the person he impersonated.

Likewise, the Red Demon Kazuaki was the only one that was aware of the person it impersonated.

Since it liked to play such a bizarre game, Mo Fan would play the same game with it.

[The Red Demon Kazuaki has misgivings about Mo Fan. Even if it knows that he is hiding among the crowd, it will try to dig him out lest he obstruct its ascension. The moment it takes action, it will certainly expose its flaws.]

Lingling quickly typed into her notebook.

[The Archangel Sharjah mentioned evil energy. It’s a massive energy. The overflow of the energy could affect its surroundings as well as the people around. They are possibly close to the mass of evil energy.]

Before Lingling came here, she had read up a lot about the Red Demon.

Apas also came from the Evil Temple. It had a good understanding about the Evil Temple, especially the Eight Souls Wicked God’s ascension method.

If the evil energy were to cast its effect on the moonless night, it must first be placed somewhere inside the Twin Guardian Towers, so that it could adapt to its surrounding environment, like creating a bacterial breeding ground for the Red Demon Kazuaki.

Since the evil energy had to be placed somewhere, the Red Demon Kazuaki had to stand guard over the mass of evil energy before the arrival of the moonless night. Hence, impersonating someone inside the Twin Guardian Towers would be the best way to not draw people’s attention. It could behave normally despite knowing that the Twin Guardian Towers would be severely affected. Just like a demon waiting quietly for its evil fruit to ripen.

At that moment, it was waiting calmly.

…

There were still seven days until the moonless night.

Regardless of whether the Red Demon Kazuaki was aware of Mo Fan’s deliberate interruption, the energy emitted from the evil magnetic field became increasingly hard to conceal.

Lingling witnessed an army being scared out of their wits by an enormous horned-fin Ocean Demon before being dragged into the ocean. Truth was, it was just a commander-level Ocean Demon. The army was capable of killing it. However, they were intimidated because of the previous appearance of a similar ruler-level enormous horned-fin Ocean Demon.

Meanwhile, in the West Guardian Towers, the National Institute’s final name list became extremely complicated.

Originally, Kaede Takahashi was almost certain of being selected as the State House player. However, one night, he mistakenly touched the East Guardian Towers’ forbidden barrier suddenly. Not only was he injured, but his injury also hampered his final stage of training. A rumor spread among the State House students that someone wanted to usurp Kaede Takahashi’s title.

The East Guardian Towers once fell into a chaotic situation. Lingling did not have the chance to find out what exactly had happened. She was only aware that a new batch of guards took over the place the next day.

Officer Ozawa handed the issue over to Lingling, so she went to take a look. However, the outcome of her investigation was disappointing.

Nagayama’s uncle, the same guard who had accidentally killed an innocent prisoner, was mentally unsound. Lingling initially thought she could dig out some useful information from him, only to end up receiving little to no clue.

“I wonder if Mo Fan is able to obtain some useful information. Everything seems trivial for now. The issues look like they have long been deposited in the West Guardian Towers and have been accidentally triggered just recently.” Lingling sat in the beverage area of a restaurant while holding a cup of matcha drink.

“Clank!” A stack of plates fell next to Lingling. She was startled. She took off her headphone to see a waitress pointing and scolding the restaurant manager!

“What exactly do you want me to do?! Do you want me to stack the plates or wipe the tables? Or is it just because I refuse to watch a movie with you or play along with any of your attempts that you avenge me with all sorts of menial labor?!” shouted the waitress.

Although it was nighttime and there were not many people in the restaurant, several diners could not help but stare at the commotion.

The restaurant manager stood motionless. “If you feel tired, let me know. It’s not like I refuse to let you take a break,” he said. “Why do you need to say something like that? I have no ulterior motives. I just wish to keep the restaurant clean. Isn’t that part of my duty as the manager of the restaurant?”

Lingling glanced at the two people arguing in public. Things like that rarely happen in Japan, at least not in public. The Japanese valued their dignity.

However, as the moonless night approached closer, this kind of phenomenon happened around Lingling many times.

It seemed like the Red Demon Kazuaki and its evil fruits could stir people up and express their frustrations and their anger. As a result, the adults behaved like children, and they caused trouble wherever they went.