Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2802: Chapter 2803: True or False Questions

The light patterns began to shape after gathering for a moment.

Soon, a familiar object appeared in front of everyone.

”The True Words Tome?” Angel whispered.

Indeed, what appeared before them was the True Words Tome formed by countless light patterns, and it emitted familiar fluctuations: the Power of Earth, Bloodline Power, Elemental Power, and... Power of Nightmare Illusion.

This was the very book Angel and the others had used previously when signing a contract with the Wise Sovereign.

The Wise Sovereign nodded: ”To demonstrate my sincerity and dispel your doubts about what I say, I will use this True Words Tome.”

Everyone was well aware of the rules of the True Words Tome; during questioning, one cannot remain silent, although lying is possible, but anything written on the book pages cannot be false. The Wise Sovereign producing the True Words Tome clearly intended to rely on the pages for crucial questions to show sincerity.

This was indeed a good thing for everyone.

They might not fully trust the Wise Sovereign’s words, but they would certainly trust the records in the True Words Tome.

Wise Sovereign: ”Everything as before, adhering to the original rules.”

Adhering to the original rules meant forgoing the True Words Tome’s unique ”gambling”, which was still advantageous for them. Truly engaging in gambling with the Wise Sovereign, this ancient fox, might not be something they could handle.

The Wise Sovereign paused: ”As a reward for passing the trial, it is now your time, and you may ask questions.”

Black Earl: ”Everything related to the relics.”

The Wise Sovereign looked at Black Earl: ”You can, this is something I promised you. However... before that, I still need to confirm one thing: has the record about the relics completely disappeared from the Noah Clan’s ancestral narrations?”

Black Earl: ”Why do you need to confirm this?”

Though Black Earl only had a nose floating in the air, making his expression invisible, the Wise Sovereign could hear the underlying meaning in his tone.

— The confirmation is perhaps intended to calculate how much to alter?

The Wise Sovereign: ”If I truly intended to fabricate, would I tell you beforehand?”

”Then what do you mean?”

”I just want an answer.” The Wise Sovereign paused, ”I only visited the relics during their initial construction, and haven’t entered them over the years. So, whatever changes occurred inside, and what Augustine left behind, I mostly speculate about. I need to get some answers from his descendants to better explain to you.”

As the Wise Sovereign spoke, he extended his finger, infusing Magic Power into the True Words Tome. Unlike before, the specialized screen did not appear. This was expected, as only the first Magic Power input shows each person’s specialized screen, yet this True Words Tome already contains everyone’s Magic Power, so the specialized screen no longer appears.

With the infusion of Magic Power, every word the Wise Sovereign spoke surfaced on the book pages, which indicated he did not lie with this statement.

However, the meaning of the statement itself was ambiguous, and the True Words Tome couldn’t be absolute proof.

As a result, Black Earl hesitated about how to answer.

At this time, the Wise Sovereign spoke once more: ”It seems you still have doubts. Let me ask you, regarding how much the Noah Clan remembers about the relics, but only two yes-or-no questions, leaving you to decide whether to answer on the book pages or verbally.”

Black Earl thought for a moment, then nodded: ”Alright.”

The Wise Sovereign didn’t immediately ask, but instead glanced at everyone: ”I’ll pose the yes-or-no question on the True Words Tome pages, so you must answer too. Likewise, each of you is free to choose to answer on the book pages or verbally.”

The True Words Tome contains everyone’s Magic Power, hence everyone is part of those questioned, and must answer, as this is the rule of the True Words Tome.

Answering on the book pages must be truthful, whereas verbal answers could be true or false, and the Wise Sovereign must judge for himself.

Though everyone wondered why the Wise Sovereign didn’t directly ask Black Earl verbally—this way, they wouldn’t need to answer themselves—but realizing more than one Noah descendant was present, posing questions this way saved time, thus they remained silent.

”The first question, I have already written into the True Words Tome, you can see the book page in front of you.” Soon, the Wise Sovereign put forth the first question.

”Do you know of the Qingkong Poetry Room?”

Everyone exchanged glances in confusion, Qingkong Poetry Room, what is that?

They were unaware of what the Qingkong Poetry Room was, and the question wasn’t really directed at them, so they all expressed ignorance.

Most of them responded verbally, including Vay, a Noah descendant, who didn’t write the answer in the True Words Tome.

The only, or rather the two who wrote their answers into the True Words Tome, were Black Earl and... Angel.

Black Earl initially wished to let the Wise Sovereign guess whether he knew the place, but realized, why go around such a large circle? Not to mention, it might not be possible to hide from the Wise Sovereign.

As for Angel, he wasn’t joining in just to stir things up, but vaguely sensed that the Wise Sovereign deliberately expanded the yes-or-no questions from just Black Earl to include everyone, likely targeting not Vay, but himself.

Angel had appeared too familiar with things throughout, making it hard for almost everyone present, including the Wise Sovereign, to not suspect him.

Since the Wise Sovereign might be probing him, Angel thought it might as well be answered directly.

If a lie were needed, Angel would want to see whether the True Words Tome’s penalty might rebound onto him... or onto someone in the Nightmare Realm? After all, the energy Angel inputted into the True Words Tome wasn’t self-derived.

Nonetheless, this question needed no lies; Angel was genuinely unaware of what the Qingkong Poetry Room was.

Thus, his answer was: No.

And Black Earl’s answer was likewise: No.

The Wise Sovereign first glanced at Black Earl, showing no reaction to his answer. Then looked at Angel... The Wise Sovereign indeed intended to probe Angel, believing Angel also guessed his intention, yet he hadn’t expected Angel to be so honest.

Initially thinking Angel would answer verbally, but it turned out that he was the only one besides Black Earl to write the truthful answer on the page.

The big ”No” made the Wise Sovereign squint slightly. In his imagination, Angel was peculiar within the group, and Adanis’s attention towards them was unusually high, logically speaking, Angel ought to have deep knowledge about the relics, including awareness of the Qingkong Poetry Room, yet the True Words Tome’s calm reaction indicated the answer was certain; Angel indeed did not know of the Qingkong Poetry Room’s existence.

Though the Wise Sovereign was suspicious internally, he didn’t outwardly express it, addressing everyone: ”This question was just to find out whether the Noah descendants still remembered Augustine’s story, but it now seems they’ve forgotten his tale... I can only say, her strategy worked.”

”Her strategy?” Black Earl asked doubtfully.

The Wise Sovereign: ”Not in a rush, I will explain later. Now, I shall proceed with the second question, the last yes-or-no question of this time, once answered, I will tell you all I know.”

After speaking, the second yes-or-no question appeared on the book pages before the group.

”Have you heard of Olao?”

Olao, what is it? A person, or a thing? Or is it some indescribable abstract entity? Again, an enigmatic question puzzling everyone.

Excluding Angel and Black Earl, everyone chose to answer verbally, consistent with before, all saying: ”No.”

Angel and Black Earl didn’t hesitate, soon their respective answers appeared on the book pages, similarly: ”No.”

The Wise Sovereign stared at the answers on the book pages, remaining silent for a long while.

That Black Earl doesn’t know Olao, he expected.

But Angel not knowing Olao left him puzzled. Previously, in the hall, he had verbally probed Adanis; after Angel entered the hall, during his confrontation with Adanis, he had conducted careful observations.

Through probing and observing, the Wise Sovereign could ascertain Adanis was nearly completely unfamiliar with Angel.

Under these circumstances, why did Adanis focus so much on Angel? Even with a hint of desire to sweep him away?

The reason that the Wise Sovereign could think of, there was only one. It had to do with... ”him”.

On the emblem of the so-called Mirror Demon God, there was a man and a woman, the woman represented Aedanise, and the man represented Orao.

Orao’s identity was extremely special, Aedanise had never left the Underground Sewers, so the Wise Sovereign speculated it was related to Orao.

And to stir Aedanise’s emotions without directly confronting her, as far as the Wise Sovereign knew, was related to Orao.

Even the Wise Sovereign, many times subtly inquiring about Orao in front of Aedanise, Aedanise would turn hostile, let alone outsiders.

Because of this, the Wise Sovereign inferred that the reason Aedanise dealt with Angel might be related to Orao, so he intentionally asked about Orao this time, but mainly about Angel, not the Black Earl.

But unexpectedly, Angel gave a negative answer!

And the True Words Tome really revealed this answer, which meant Angel did not lie! Angel indeed had never heard of Orao.

This left the Wise Sovereign a bit puzzled, so what could be the real reason Aedanise was dealing with Angel?

The Wise Sovereign contemplated for quite a while, still somewhat unable to figure it out. What other answer could there be besides this?

Or maybe, Angel knew the person Orao but not the name Orao?

This was not impossible either; Orao might have used an alias when interacting with Angel, just like the Black Earl, Angel, and Dox who previously used code names to address each other.

Thinking of this, the Wise Sovereign looked up intending to ask Angel.

However, when he looked up, he found everyone staring at him in confusion.

It was indeed because the Wise Sovereign had been lost in thought for too long, not speaking for ten seconds straight, no idea what he was thinking about?

The Wise Sovereign coughed twice, easing the awkward atmosphere a bit, then took a dark food item from the table and stuffed it into his mouth, before continuing, ”I was just thinking about something, let’s proceed.”

Wise Sovereign: ”The third question...”

Dox: ”There’s a third question?”

The Wise Sovereign calmly replied, ”A question I thought of at the last minute, still a yes or no question. Rest assured, this is really the last one, I promise.”

Although puzzled, the previous two questions by the Wise Sovereign were themselves enigmatic, and their answers were unclear, so they did not express too much resistance.

Yet looking at the Wise Sovereign’s smiling face, Angel felt a slight stirring in his heart.

He had a feeling that the Wise Sovereign’s final question was perhaps not truly intended for the Black Earl, but for himself.

Soon, on the page in front of them, the Wise Sovereign’s so-called final yes-or-no question appeared.

This time, the question was unusual, a picture appeared.

The picture, familiar to everyone, was the emblem of the Mirror Demon God they encountered in the first residential area they found after entering the Underground Sewers.

Now it could be confirmed that the blonde woman in profile in the emblem was Aedanise.

They had met Aedanise before; her profile indeed matched that of the emblem, indicating she was among those who supported the Demon God believers.

But the man with the hat in the emblem, they had never seen. Previously inquiring the Wise Sovereign, he had been cryptic about it.

Now, the Wise Sovereign displayed this emblem on the page, posing a question related to this man.

”Have you ever seen or interacted with the man in the emblem?”

The question bewildered the group, just as they were about to answer, the Black Earl spoke first, ”No.”

Unlike before, the Black Earl did not use the True Words Tome to answer but responded directly.

This different approach slightly puzzled everyone. However, after a moment of thinking, they understood the Black Earl’s intention.

This question was spontaneously conceived by the Wise Sovereign, but it was evidently not directed at the Black Earl.

For, including the Black Earl, they had previously asked the Wise Sovereign about the man’s information; the Wise Sovereign should have known then that the Black Earl did not know the man in the emblem.

So the sudden mention of this man by the Wise Sovereign was clearly not aimed at asking about Black Earl. The real subject of inquiry, everyone could basically deduce... was Angel.

Angel’s performance after entering the Underground Sewers indeed had many puzzling elements. Moreover, some information he obtained in rather odd ways.

For instance... the fork outside the Hall of Wisdom.

Previously, Angel had been quite certain that there was only one fork from the Hanging Jail Stairway to the Wise Sovereign’s hall. Because of his certainty, they were able to determine You Nu’s position.

But how did Angel know there was only one fork outside the Hall of Wisdom?

After all, when they were traveling earlier, Angel relied on Dox’s inspiration for direction, so how did he suddenly know everything upon reaching the Hanging Jail Stairway?

Even though Angel claimed to have special sources of information, key positions only having intelligence, with no intelligence on other exits and entrances, does that make sense?

Moreover... Angel introduced Aedanise’s name at an odd time.

In their view, Angel seemed just as clueless as they were one moment, and the next, he seemed to know everything.

It was as if Angel was aided by an ”Invisible Helper,” able to acquire information in a timely manner.

Could this person be the man in the emblem?

And that was probably why the Wise Sovereign posed this question; he wanted to determine whether Angel had any dealings with the man in the emblem.

While everyone grasped the implication of this question, they were unwilling to side with the Wise Sovereign in doubting Angel. Even if Angel was receiving help without telling them, so what?

There was a binding contract among them, so Angel could not harm them. Besides, the Black Earl had already made his stance clear.

Yes, made his stance.

The Black Earl not using the True Words Tome to answer was itself a kind of stance.

Now, the task for everyone was to follow the Black Earl’s method, answering the Wise Sovereign, but of course, using spoken words, not writing it down on the page.

Everyone answered one by one, and finally, only Angel remained silent.

According to the Black Earl’s suggestion, Angel should also directly respond verbally, so the Wise Sovereign could make his assumptions, judge for himself.

Even if Angel had indeed interacted with the man in the emblem, as long as he did not admit it, even if the Wise Sovereign sensed something amiss and didn’t believe Angel’s words, someone like the Wise Sovereign, who tends to overthink, would still consider more possibilities.

However, Angel did not act as the Black Earl had anticipated.

He merely nodded slightly at the Black Earl, acknowledging the gesture.

This time, he still chose to write the answer in the True Words Tome.

As the page shimmered with light, a large ”No” appeared.