Lelei looked at Sylvar Crowe, who had a sneer on his face after answering the phone, and asked curiously, "What happened?"
"Nothing. Someone just wants to test whether we are soft persimmons and whether we are easy to manipulate," Sylvar Crowe said with a smile on his face.
Then he said something that sounded a little out of place.
"The strong prey on the weak. This is the unchanging truth of the world."
"???" Lelei.
From the lolita outfit to the gothic outfit, Rory Mercury could not stop looking at them. She had already changed into more than a dozen outfits, and she liked every single one.
Seeing that she was not ready to stop changing clothes, Sylvar Crowe looked at the sky outside again.
He said helplessly, "If you like them, just buy them all. This Gate won't last much longer anyway."
After Lelei translated Sylvar Crowe's words to Rory Mercury, Rory excitedly continued changing her clothes.
"Could it really close in thirty days like you said in that book?" Lelei asked.
"Who knows?" Sylvar Crowe said while revealing a mysterious smile.
A car then drove up in front of them.
The driver said, "I am your full-time driver. I will take you to the hot spring hotel."
Sylvar Crowe looked at Rory Mercury, who was wearing a gothic outfit and already packing her clothes. He felt it was about time to leave.
"Hurry up. The hot spring hotel trip is about to begin," he said to them.
They all answered with a "yes."
Only Rory Mercury, who was clutching more than twenty pieces of gothic clothing, was still looking reluctantly at the other styles in the store.
"You already have more than twenty sets. Do you still want more gothic clothes?" Sylvar Crowe said.
Lelei translated.
"What gothic clothes? These are priest clothes. I've never seen so many styles before," Rory Mercury said with a look that clearly meant she still wanted more.
"What kind of god is the one over there? He actually designated gothic clothing as priest uniforms," Sylvar Crowe said while showing a pained expression.
He looked around the car and saw that there was no place to put the clothes.
Sylvar Crowe took out his magic book and stored the clothes in his personal space. Then he went to the passenger seat and told everyone to get in.
"Where are my clothes?" Rory Mercury said anxiously.
Lelei translated.
"I sealed them away. I will return them to you when we arrive. There will be no problem," Sylvar Crowe said.
After about an hour of travel, they arrived at the hot spring hotel.
The place looked very remote.
The driver in the suit was very sensible. After dropping them off, he immediately drove away.
Sylvar Crowe first stood outside the hot spring hotel and used his En technique to scan the entire hotel to check whether there were surveillance cameras or other monitoring devices.
After confirming that there was nothing troublesome, he brought everyone inside.
He pointed to the red curtain on the left.
"You go to the women's hot spring."
Sylvar Crowe went to the men's hot spring next door.
He handed Lelei a phone and taught her how to use it. If she did not understand something, she could search for it. Most answers could be found through the browser.
After that, Sylvar Crowe went to the men's hot spring and began bathing.
He had been extremely exhausted over the past few days. Now he finally needed to relax.
However, Sylvar Crowe's En continued to spread outward in a circular pattern.
Within a two-kilometer radius, nothing could escape his perception.
Of course, he did not look toward the neighboring hot spring.
He was afraid he might lose control if he saw that scene.
It gave him a headache.
He wanted to look, but he also did not want to look.
It felt like a cat scratching at his heart, making him itchy.
While thinking about it, he sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and recited the Qingxin Jue.
"My heart is as pure as ice, and I will not be startled even if the sky collapses."
After soaking in the hot spring for about an hour, he slowly meditated in silence.
It was already evening.
Eight o'clock.
At that moment, Rory Mercury suddenly rushed in.
Although she was wearing a bathrobe, it was loose.
Sylvar Crowe frantically controlled his facial expression. He tried not to show anything strange.
He said seriously, "This is the men's hot spring. Get out quickly, Rory."
Then he remembered something.
The simultaneous interpretation equipment.
Why had she not brought it?
What was Rory saying?
Sylvar Crowe could not understand because he had not yet learned the language of that world.
Lelei walked in at this moment.
The translator device said, "Rory said that if you soak in the hot spring too long you will feel dizzy, so she stopped soaking and came to see whether you felt dizzy. By the way, she wants to watch episode four."
Sylvar Crowe immediately realized that episode four meant the fourth episode of the anime Tokyo Ghoul.
So he said seriously, "Take Rory out. I will play episode four immediately."
After Lelei pulled Rory out, Sylvar Crowe put on a bathrobe and went to the living room. He helped them play episode four.
Then he sat down and watched the anime with them.
Even though he had watched it several times before, this anime would always remain a masterpiece.
Previously, Lelei had always served as the translator.
But now Tuka Luna Marceau and Rory Mercury could already understand some written text and could have brief exchanges with Sylvar Crowe.
However, if they wanted to use it as spoken language, there was still a long way to go.
When they reached episode six, Sylvar Crowe suddenly grinned.
Through his En, he sensed a group of armed men approaching the hot spring hotel.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Sylvar Crowe said as he stood up.
At that moment Rory Mercury smiled slightly, as if she had thought of something interesting.
But she glanced at Sylvar Crowe who was leaving and seemed to think of something else, so she did not move.
Outside the house, in the open space, Sylvar Crowe used his full power to carefully check their weapons.
Damn.
They even had anti-tank rockets.
Good.
Very good.
They were treating him like a human tank.
If he did not display some strength, they would never give up.
As long as the plan went smoothly.
He hoped it would.
He mobilized his En with full force.
Invisible energy surged outward from his body.
Even though he was concentrating outside, the people inside who were watching the anime all looked in his direction.
At that moment Lelei asked, "What happened?"
"Nothing happened. Just a few rats sneaked in. Don't worry," Sylvar Crowe said.
As he spoke, the magic book appeared in his hand.
Several ice spikes appeared outside the house.
Under Sylvar Crowe's control, they shot toward the forest.
A few people reacted quickly and dodged.
But they were too close.
The ice spikes released an intense wave of freezing air.
In an instant, several people turned into ice sculptures.
Others were directly pierced through by the spikes.
The night was extremely quiet.
No sound came from the forest.
Only the people inside the hotel were still excitedly watching Tokyo Ghoul.
Wait.
Something about that sentence seemed strange.
…
After watching for more than two hours, they finished Tokyo Ghoul Season 1.
Lelei finally concluded, "If I'm not mistaken, the species known as ghouls is most likely man-made."
"Why?" Sylvar Crowe asked.
"Because based on the strength shown in the first season, if ghouls had existed since the beginning of human evolution, then there would only be two possibilities."
"The first possibility is that all humans would have been eaten. Humans originally had no guns or cannons. How could they resist creatures whose skin was as hard as steel?"
"The second possibility is that humans would have been raised like cattle and sheep."
"However, neither of these situations appears in the story."
"So there is only one possibility."
"Someone created ghouls."
"Perhaps their original goal was not ghouls themselves but the pursuit of powerful strength."
"So they began genetic modification experiments."
Lelei said all of this in a single breath.
Sylvar Crowe listened and suddenly felt that the theory made sense.
So he added his own thoughts.
"There is another possibility."
"In that world there might be people whose physical abilities exceed ordinary humans."
"For example, someone whose strength is comparable to Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson."
"Or someone whose speed is comparable to Usain Bolt."
"This is only a metaphor."
"There might be many other individuals like that."
"One person surpasses normal limits in strength, another surpasses them in speed."
"Then wealthy people become interested."
"Maybe they pursue immortality."
"Or maybe it is simply the madness of power."
"They start research."
"Because anyone with a brain knows that eternal life might actually become eternal torment."
"But madmen do not think that way."
"They might discover that those extraordinary individuals have one thing different from normal humans."
"RC cells."
"These cells exist in everyone."
"Normal people only have around two hundred to five hundred."
"But those special individuals might have eight hundred or nine hundred."
"So they begin experiments."
"They try to increase the RC cell concentration of ordinary people."
"They manage to raise it to seven hundred."
"But that is not enough."
"They want something stronger."
"They want a miracle drug that can extend life."
"Creating a few super athletes is meaningless to them."
"They already have plenty of money."
"So they begin forbidden experiments."
"They directly modify genes."
"Eventually the first ghoul is born."
"Because they want faster results, they feed these genetically modified babies nutrient solutions rich in RC cells."
"So they do not realize the problem."
"These children can only consume substances containing RC cells."
"They cannot eat normal food."
"Further research shows their RC cell concentration ranges from one thousand to eight thousand."
"That is many times higher than previous experiments."
"They grow rapidly in incubation chambers."
"When they reach the equivalent of ten years old, they are taken out for testing."
"The results are shocking."
"Their skin is almost as hard as steel."
"Sharp needles cannot pierce them."
"Even their lifespan is ten to twenty percent longer than normal humans."
"The researchers become completely crazy with excitement."
"They create countless clones for experiments."
"Until one day the test subjects use their kagune to break out of the laboratory."
"And that is how the ghoul race appears in the world."
"What do you think? Does this hypothesis sound reasonable?"
"It makes perfect sense," Lelei said.
"Humans are terrible. They can be incredibly cruel in the pursuit of life," Tuka Luna Marceau said.
"If I meet those people, I will send them to see my god," Rory Mercury said.
Everyone understood what she meant.
Desire is the driving force behind technological progress.
But when technology is used for evil purposes, it becomes a weapon that destroys humanity.
After watching Tokyo Ghoul, they chatted for a while.
Lelei soon began yawning.
"Go to sleep. Tomorrow we still have to deal with the global live broadcast," Sylvar Crowe said.
Lelei and Tuka both yawned and returned to their room to sleep.
Rory Mercury remained behind.
She looked at Sylvar Crowe with a smile.
Sylvar Crowe immediately felt uneasy.
"Rory, if you go to bed too late you will get crow's feet and start looking older," Sylvar Crowe said.
"The souls outside are terrified," Rory Mercury replied.
"So many deaths happened right in front of me."
"How could I remain indifferent?"
"Besides, I am 961 years old."
"I am not afraid of aging."
"The power of my god protects me and prevents me from growing old."
"If you don't want to sleep, then I will go sleep," Sylvar Crowe said.
"Wait."
"You made me so excited, and now you want to leave?" Rory Mercury said.
Her face was slightly red.
She leaned her petite body against Sylvar Crowe.
Because the bathrobe was loose, her pale skin was faintly visible.
Sylvar Crowe's mind suddenly froze.
Wait.
Something is wrong.
What is wrong with me?
I always liked mature women with long black hair.
Why am I reacting like this to someone who is more than nine hundred years old?
No.
Now is not the time to think about that.
He needed to escape this situation.
Rory's face moved closer and closer.
Sylvar Crowe's heartbeat accelerated.
In extreme nervousness, he suddenly blurted out something unrelated.
"Okay, okay! There's an operation tonight! I'm really impressed by you! How did you discover it?"
Rory Mercury froze.
She tilted her head.
"What operation?"
Sylvar Crowe suddenly realized something.
The head-tilt was unbelievably cute.
No.
No.
What did I just say?
Why does my mouth keep revealing everything?
Just now they were almost close enough to kiss.
For a brief moment, Sylvar Crowe even felt that kissing might not be a bad idea.
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