Chapter 496 Genius
Carl Lawrence looks like a young male between seven and nine years old, with brown hair and facial features that have obvious Eastern characteristics - similar to a mixture of Central Asians and Aryans, with narrow facial bones, high skull, deep eye sockets, small and relatively concentrated facial features, and relatively thick hair.
Although the Lawrence couple are old and Carl Lawrence still maintains the appearance of a child, there is no doubt that the young boy has a direct blood relationship with the old couple... The outline of the upper half of his face is almost exactly the same as Tina Lawrence.
When Yang Qiu revealed his identity, this monster, who was only 1.2 meters tall and retained the appearance of a young child, suddenly disappeared from the spot.
The next moment... this monster, which could no longer be considered a "human" to some extent, appeared at the border of the cemetery. It was blocked by the subspace barrier and failed to successfully attack Yang Qiu.
"You're not from the church—a dark magician!"
This was the first roar that Carl Lawrence uttered across the barrier.
Although his expression was ferocious and full of murderous intent...but that small round face unique to children and that childish voice did not seem to have any deterrent effect.
Yang Qiu ignored him. After confirming the man's identity, he put his hands behind his back and turned his attention to the ghosts floating in the cemetery.
These ghosts are not qualified to be called "ghosts". Each phantom is on the verge of collapse, but is forcibly anchored by some force, preventing them from dissipating naturally.
When Yang Qiu was looking at these ghostly shadows, one of them suddenly disappeared out of thin air.
It didn't disintegrate, but disappeared... as if it was transferred out of thin air.
After seeing this scene with his own eyes, Yang Qiu instantly understood many things.
Not to mention the players' random investigations... the Night Watch's records of unusual events in New Xili Town, and the subtle "disharmony" during the investigation by Professor Yin of the national team, which made people feel something was wrong but couldn't tell the reason, finally had an explanation.
Yang Qiu was so angry that he almost laughed.
"So..." Yang Qiu looked at the young boy again with a smile, "This is a trap set for the church."
Karl Lawrence probably had a moody personality. The rage on his childish face had disappeared, returning to his previous coldness: “And you, a stupid black magician, are meddling in other people’s business.”
"ha."
Yang Qiu pulled the corner of his mouth with a fake smile. If someone familiar saw him at this moment, they would probably know... He was already in a state of anger at this moment: "Let's not talk about whether I am meddling in other people's business... Although the facts are in front of us, let me ask a question - you, used your biological parents as bait?"
Carl Lawrence sneered. Although his childish face and tender voice made the sneer less powerful, his harsh aura still came over him: "So, you, the nosy black magician, have only reacted now?"
The fake smile on Yang Qiu's face completely disappeared, and he looked expressionlessly at this monster who still retained the appearance of a cute child.
"Is that so? This trap is indeed very deceptive. A couple of adults and a child who was less than ten years old when he died will indeed make people pay more attention to the former."
Yang Qiu was in a very bad mood, and his tone gradually became worse: "If it were those priests who don't believe that civilians have wisdom, and don't believe that there are high-IQ criminal geniuses among civilian children, I guess... no, there is a great possibility that they will fall directly into your trap."
"Unfortunately, it was me, a black magician, who came instead of a priest. Although your arrangement misled me for a while, it eventually led to the worst outcome that you could not accept. The forty-five-year plan was ruined in an instant. How do you feel now?"
This malicious provocation successfully angered Carl Lawrence. The monster roared, raised his arms, and hammered hard on the warp barrier with his small fists.
The enhanced version of Yang Qiu's magic modification acted on the subspace barrier internally, easily rebounding Carl Lawrence's power. The reaction force caused the angry little monster to stagger back several steps.
"Let me, a stupid black magician, try to reverse what happened back then..."
Yang Qiu snorted coldly and narrowed his eyes slightly. "The fact that you were able to receive the book from Viscount Carter shows that you once sneaked into the Carter mansion by some means, or perhaps became good friends or buddies with the descendants of the Carter family... Viscount Carter chose to give you a book as a gift, which shows that you once expressed your yearning or interest in books. Perhaps before receiving the book, you had already found a way to sneak into the study of the Carter mansion. It is unlikely that the Lawrence family can obtain occult books given their financial situation. You must have been exposed to occultism in the study of the Carter mansion and learned about the information of a certain evil god."
"What was the reason for you to summon 'Him' afterwards? This may be very important to you, but it is not important to me."
After a pause, Yang Qiu continued, "The important thing is that you, who summoned 'Him', were not completely assimilated by 'Him's' will. On the contrary, you may have merged with a part of 'Him'. Although you still cannot replace 'Him's' will, it is obvious that you may have gained some kind of power from 'Him'... and this makes you swell up."
Carl Lawrence sneered but said nothing, only gave Yang Qiu a look of contempt.
"Of course, it's possible that you were already arrogant enough before you obtained this tiny 'power'." Yang Qiu said coldly, "At your age, you already knew how to curry favor with others... Or maybe you thought you were 'using' the nobles to achieve your goals. In addition, your parents who run a grocery store would rather sacrifice their own living conditions to provide you with a better living environment as much as possible . People like you will of course think too highly of yourself."
The main living area of Lawrence's family is all squeezed into the first floor, and the second floor is vacated for his son's room; let's not even talk about whether this kind of environment where family members devote everything to the child can make the child feel moved and grateful... it is certain that the child will develop a self-centered character from an early age.
"Anyway... after you discovered that you 'possessed' powers beyond those of mortals, you naturally began to make plans - plans for the long term, plans for yourself."
"Outsiders have no way of knowing what you were thinking at the time. But judging from the results... it's clear that you knew very well that if you let 'Him' be driven by instinct, he would die sooner or later. So you had to do your best to do your job as 'God's Messenger' and appease 'Him'. You had to ensure that 'Him's' instincts could be satisfied, and that 'Him's' existence was kept as secret as possible and not discovered by the church early on."
"But you also know that it's only a matter of time before the Night Watch comes knocking on your door, and the church will also notice something unusual in New Seeley sooner or later. There are only a thousand households in this place, and there are a lot of people who have died abnormally in just a few decades and whose deaths are recorded in the archives. Your 'untimely death', your visits to Carter's house, and your access to occult books will sooner or later be dug up by people. Carl Lawrence, a young genius who was once extremely smart and recognized by Viscount Carter at the time, will sooner or later enter the church's field of vision."
"What should we do? You start to think of ways to deal with this hidden danger." Yang Qiu raised his chin , his disgust evident in his words, "And the solution you came up with is to use your parents - 'a couple who lost their beloved son and went crazy' is definitely more suspicious than 'a poor boy who died before the age of ten'."
"It's not difficult for you to make them show their deep love for you for decades... You just need to visit them on their 'death anniversary' every year. You just need to tell them 'as long as they don't forget you, you won't disappear', and the couple will struggle desperately to survive and do everything they can for you."
"Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence kept the children's fables that Viscount Carter gave you and placed it in a conspicuous place. Anyone who enters your room can see it and immediately notice this valuable book that suddenly appeared in a commoner's home. This was probably your deliberate arrangement."
"Because you know that Mrs. Carter is a core member of a certain evil cult. For someone who can even use your parents, it's nothing to use the nobles who once recognized you."
"Even if this arrangement fails, the Lawrence couple, who still maintain your residence decades after your death, can continue to serve as the most powerful suspects."
"In order to ensure that the couple can live as long as possible and show a death consistent with that of 'cultists' when they are killed by the Night Watch, you should have implanted a little bit of 'Him''s divine favor into the couple... This should not be difficult for you."
After a pause, Yang Qiu looked at Carl Lawrence coldly and said word by word: "Once the Lawrence couple successfully become your scapegoats, then... the crisis you exposed will undoubtedly be delayed for a few more decades until you accumulate enough strength - is my speculation correct, Carl Lawrence ?"
Karl Lawrence was silent for a moment with a gloomy face, and said coldly: "Very good... Then can I also ask, how did you see through my arrangement?"
"No, I didn't see through this conspiracy before I met you. I was just used to making extra preparations." Yang Qiu replied straightforwardly, "I have actually been misled by the various arrangements you made, and I am ready to take action against your parents. But before I take action, I still cannot rule out the suspicion of you, the 'dead', so I asked my undead friend to come to your grave to take a look... If you, the 'dead', are the real messenger of God, then considering that you were not old enough to mature your spirit and your soul was not strong enough when you died, you should not be able to leave the place where you are buried without the help of 'Him'."
"If you had been more resolute and ruthless, allowing your body to rot in the coffin and leaving only the fragments of a child's skeleton to be dug out of my soul in the cemetery... then your plan could still go on."
Yang Qiu said coldly: "But it is obvious that you are not the kind of person who is willing to 'let yourself down'. When you found that there were undead spirits approaching the cemetery, you knew that you could no longer hide. You had to show up at the beginning and try to lure me in for a last-ditch effort... Unfortunately, although you used Viscount Carter to learn about the occult, you obviously don't know enough about magicians."
Carl Lawrence suddenly burst into laughter.
The childish appearance and tender voice made this crazy laughter seem a little funny... but it was also more chilling.
After laughing for more than thirty seconds, this "first messenger of God" who had the appearance of a child but whose soul and undead body should be classified as a "monster" roared angrily, twistedly, and ferociously: "Do you think you have won, black magician! Dare to show up in front of my grave, and you will die!"
When he roared "We're sure to win", his body began to mutate again, and his height skyrocketed from less than one meter and two meters to nearly two meters; when he roared "Graveyard", all the fragile ghosts floating in the cemetery rushed towards him and were absorbed by him, and a layer of chaotic and unstable dark energy enveloped the monster's body; when he roared "The way to die", the monster slammed into the inner wall of the subspace barrier.
The subspace barrier formed by the powerful mental force that once restrained the God of Joy was actually hit by this monster and had obvious cracks.
But... Yang Qiu's attention was not entirely focused on the monster that was trying to destroy the barrier by brute force. He was always multitasking and vigilantly sensing his surroundings.
When Carl Lawrence pretended to be crazy and took the "ultimate measure", Yang Qiu felt a vaguely familiar trembling feeling of being watched by some powerful being.
"You are still trying to mislead the enemy even at this point. I have to say... you are indeed a genius."
Yang Qiu did not look back, still keeping his cold eyes on Carl Lawrence who seemed to have gone crazy.
A powerful, terrifying, and unbearable shadow, whose mere knowledge of its "existence" can make humans lose their minds, quietly emerged behind Yang Qiu.
"It's a shame you took the wrong path."
Yang Qiu took a step forward and came almost face to face with Carl Lawrence who was hitting the inner wall of the subspace barrier.
Where he was originally standing, with his hands behind his back, a space crack as thin as a fingertip appeared at some point, with a faint ominous aura emanating from it.
When the two sides met for the first time, Carl Lawrence deliberately mentioned the church in order to drag out the topic and buy time for "Him" to respond to his call.
And Yang Qiu... was also stalling for time, quietly preparing to cast a spell to open a rift in the void, waiting for the ancient god's consciousness to come to him.
