Chapter 232 Equivalent Exchange The madman was still wearing his dirty linen shirt and yellow trousers, and seemed to have no intention of changing his clothes. Hearing Lumian's words, he raised his head, revealing a face hidden by a black beard. He seemed to have forgotten Lumian, his blue eyes were blank and a little confused. "I'm going to die, I'm going to die!" He grabbed his messy black hair that had reached his shoulders and shouted in fear again. Lumian walked over, pulled out the Corrupted Mercury with his black-gloved left hand, and stabbed it into the madman's shoulder with a "plop". The dirty linen shirt was torn apart instantly. The wound was not deep, but bright red blood still flowed out. The madman was completely stunned, as if the long-awaited final judgment had finally arrived. After a few seconds, he sat down, supported himself with his hands, and moved backwards quickly, trying to distance himself from Lumian. During this process, he kept shouting in fear: "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" The tenants living in the surrounding rooms heard the noise, but no one came to take a look, because the madman kept shouting that he was dying. Don't kill him.

The evil silver-black dagger had already left the madman's shoulder, but Lumian was still staring at the illusory river of mercury. He saw the other person's happy and fulfilling first half of his life and the mysterious deaths of his relatives one after another, as if he could understand the feeling of a complete mental breakdown under a huge blow. Sometimes, Lumian also hoped that he could collapse completely like this madman, no longer have any rationality, and follow his instincts to do things that normal people would not do until he died. But he still had hope, even if that hope was extremely small and almost false, it was still hope, and he was unwilling to give up, he wanted to pursue it. Therefore, he is often impulsive and often wants to self-destruct, but he is always restrained by the rationality brought by that little hope. He never really disregards the consequences and is extremely contradictory. Because he knew exactly which fate he wanted to exchange and roughly what date, Lumian quickly found the fate of the madman meeting the ghost of Montsouris underground in the market area, pried it up with the tip of the knife, and turned it into a drop of mercury, while the fate of drinking wine that originally belonged to "Black Scorpion" Roger entered the body of the madman. Lumian ignored the madman's screams of fear, squatted in front of him, wiped the blade of "Corrupted Mercury" with his clothes, and helped him stop the bleeding. Then, Lumian pulled over the only chair and sat down, waiting for the exchange of fate to be completed. “I’m dying, I’m dying! "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" Time passed by minute by minute amid the madman's shouting, and finally, the "Fallen Mercury" began to tremble slightly. The madman's shouting suddenly stopped. He stood up suddenly, his eyes regained clarity, and he muttered to himself: "I have to go get some wine, I have to go get some wine..." Lumian smiled, stood up and said: "Please hire me as a reward for helping you get rid of the ghost of Montsouris." Of course, the real reward is the fate of "encountering the ghost of Montsouris". As long as it is designed properly and the target is not prepared, it will be a powerful assassination weapon. The madman was stunned for a second and said: "Get rid of it?" “You don’t have to believe it.” Lumian turned and walked towards the dark corridor without wall lights. Driven by a strong desire to drink, the madman followed subconsciously. On the way to the basement bar, he kept looking around and found that it was indeed different from usual.

The feeling that something was watching me in the darkness was gone! With great doubts, the madman sat down at the bar in a daze, and ordered two glasses of oatmeal beer, one for Lumian and one for himself, gulping down the other, with white foam all around his mouth. Because he occasionally came here sober and drank, no one thought there was anything wrong with it. After satisfying his thirst for a drink, the madman looked at Lumian and asked again: “I’ve really gotten rid of the Montsouris ghost? "How did you do it?" "I killed the ghost of Montsouris, but I'm not sure if it will come back to life." Lumian answered seriously, "Of course, those who have encountered it before will not be entangled again if they are not dead. You should remember that I told you last time that I also encountered the ghost of Montsouris. Look, I am still alive and well now." "Really?" The madman couldn't believe that this handsome young man could kill the Montsouris ghost. No one in the church did it! Lumian smiled: "I'm lying to you. I just found a spell to stop the ghost of Montsouris from haunting me, but it requires the blood of the haunted person as a medium." The madman suddenly realized: "No wonder you wanted to stab me." He then said somewhat embarrassedly: "I may not be able to pay you for the time being. I don't have much savings left, so I have to find a new job..." "What's your name?" Lumian interrupted the madman. "Just call me Flamand." The madman also asked Lumian, "What about you?" “Ciel.” Lumian took a big gulp of oatmeal beer. When there was only a thin layer of beer left in the glass, the crazy Flamand was already a little drunk, and he pulled Lumian to chatter: “You know what? I was originally a university lecturer, and I was also responsible for the safety of some students. “Many of those students are bold and reckless, daring to do anything and trying everything. If we stop them, they will even shout slogans like ‘freedom’ and ‘freedom’. "They even held graduation parties in the catacombs, burning the bones of unknown corpses to warm their butts. They believed in nothing and feared nothing. Of course, I was like that too." Flamand talked about the first half of his life, sometimes proud, sometimes happy, sometimes denouncing current ills, and sometimes reminiscing about the good times. "Did you go to underground Trier to stop certain students from taking risks?" Lumian asked casually while drinking beer. Flamand shook his head. "No, I'm studying mineralogy. The distribution of the underground rock layers in Trier is very unique and worth studying. We have also jointly established a 'Mineralogy and Pathology Museum' with people from the Medical School in the catacombs. “I came out of the museum and went underground to the market area, intending to go home from here, when I encountered the ghost of Montsouris. "My Sandrine... my Bastien..." Flamand raised his hands and pressed his head, his voice becoming extremely painful. Seeing this, Lumian changed the subject: "The underground rock formations in Trier are very unique?" "Yes." Flamand answered instinctively at first, then recovered his temper and began to talk non-stop, "We also gave those rock formations very poetic names, from the top to the bottom, they are 'flowers', 'sheep', 'sedge'..."

In this way, Lumian and Flamand chatted until the early morning. The latter was in high spirits, and his face covered with black beard seemed to be a little rosier. He no longer lost his mind, and after making sure that nothing was watching him in the darkness, he turned back into a normal person. After bidding farewell to the drunk Flamand, Lumian withdrew his gaze with a slight smile, walked into room 207, and began to write a letter to Ms. "Magician". He first mentioned that he was influenced by Thermipolos and almost transferred his fortune to Charlie, and attacked and killed "Black Scorpion" Roger and other subordinates of "Lady Moon", and then said that the "Provocateur" potion was completely digested by the latter. He wanted to know if you have the "Arsonist" potion formula and extraordinary characteristics, and what price you need to pay in exchange. Not long after Lumian cleaned up the environment and summoned the puppet messenger to take the letter, the "magician" lady replied: "Yes, you have truly realized what kind of influence that guy with a long name can have on you and what he is trying to do. Stay vigilant. "According to your description, the 'Moon Lady' should be at Sequence 3. Being able to truly provoke such a demigod can indeed help you digest the potion quickly. "If I remember correctly, you will attend Mr. K's party tomorrow night and tell him that you can believe in that existence. This means that you will truly become one of them, and you will complete the first stage of the task I gave you. At that time, as a reward, I will give you the potion formula of 'Arsonist' for free. "I still have the 'Arsonist' Extraordinary Characteristics, but you need to follow the principle of equal exchange. "In Intis, the two main ingredients of the Arsonist potion are both over Felgin, and sometimes even over , but the corresponding Beyonder characteristics are generally priced around Felgin. "What does this mean? It means that many people in Intis have become arsonists, but many arsonists have also died. “As the holder of the Minor Arcana card, I will give you a big discount. That Beyonder feature only costs 3 Fel Gold. "Good luck." Phew, 3 Felgin… Lumian let out a sigh, thinking that this was not an unattainable amount. He already has more than 3 Felgin in savings, and the evil sickle called "Harvest Festival" can be sold at a good price. When the time comes, he can borrow some more from Franka and embezzle some cash from the Breeze Ballroom, and he should not be far from Felgin. The "Moon Lady" was just as Lumian had guessed - she had changed from a "Madam" to a lady who gave birth to gods, so she must be more than Sequence 4. Fortunately, in the previous battle, we always acted like we were about to lose, so Black Scorpion Roger didn't ask for help... Lumian burned the letter from Ms. Magician, washed up, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep. ………… It was around six in the morning. He had just finished washing up and changed into a white shirt, black vest, brown trousers and strapless leather boots when he heard someone footsteps coming down from the third floor. They were the ragged, garbage-covered and smelly couple, Ruhl and Michel. Ruel looked at Lumian at the door of Room 207 and shouted in panic: "Charles, Mr. Charles! "That lunatic is dead!" That madman is dead? Flamand is dead? Lumian was startled at first, then he rushed past Ruhl and the Michels and rushed to the third floor. The door to room 310 was open, and Lumian looked in and saw Flamand hanging on the window. He was facing the door, his beard clean-shaven, revealing a gentle and thin face. At this time, he was no longer breathing, his face was blue and purple, his eyes were slightly bulging, his mouth was wide open, and his body was bathed in the clear morning light coming in from the window, hanging quietly on a leather belt tied to the window frame. Below him, on the wooden table, there was a dying kerosene lamp, several large books, and a piece of white paper held down by a pen, on which something seemed to be written. Lumian was silent for a few seconds, then walked over slowly and examined the white paper.

In the smooth handwriting of Intis, it was written: “When I was mad, I still had the desire to survive. “After I got sober, I couldn’t find the meaning of life. "Please bury me in the 'cemetery of the lamps' of the catacombs." Lumian raised his head and looked into the slightly bulging blue eyes, as if he was looking into the eyes of the dead Flamand. He just stared quietly, as if frozen there, without moving for a long time. (End of this chapter)