Chapter 473: Chapter 473 Revenge Call_1
That evening, at the White Horse Hostel in Sunset City.
Aiden stood by the window, pulling the curtain aside slightly to peer out, making sure no one was watching from the alley, before turning back.
This was a fairly nice hostel, with spacious private rooms, bright gas lamps, a plump large bed, a bathroom with a large bathtub suitable for soaking, a standing mirror for grooming, a desk for handling work, and even a small round tea table for hosting guests. The decor wasn’t luxurious, but it was quite refined.
"With homeless refugees everywhere outside, don’t you feel guilty staying in such a nice hostel?" The phantom of the goddess of revenge sat boredly on the bed’s edge, speaking to Aiden with a mocking tone.
Behind her, the mercury alloy golem was faithfully carrying out the task of unpacking and arranging travel items from the luggage bag.
"I don’t quite understand your logic. If I stay in a worse hostel, will their situation improve?" Aiden responded calmly, "I chose this hostel simply for the convenience of the investigation."
They were in Sunset City’s most bustling district, the Golden Lake area, with densely packed houses and lively streets, filled with restaurants, department stores, theaters, dance halls... all common shopping and entertainment facilities were present.
Even late at night, the main streets were still bustling with people. Of course, where there were many people, there would also be many refugees begging.
The reason Aiden had chosen this hostel was simply that it was close to one of the addresses he wanted to investigate.
"It seems you have quite an ample budget for this trip?" inquired the goddess of revenge.
"I’m not short of money right now, what I lack are clues," Aiden replied.
"What a surprise. I thought you were the sort of person who enjoys helping others," the goddess of revenge said in a sarcastic tone.
"I don’t mind giving away a little of my spare cash to help those who are truly in trouble, but with Gistas’s vast refugee population, even if I donated all my wealth, it would be but a drop in the ocean. I was never the great philanthropist you speak of. I believe that charity should be within one’s means..." Aiden glanced at the goddess of revenge, replying with the same tone, "This applies both to doing charity oneself and advising others to do so, and the last thing charity should involve is moral coercion."
"Oh my, I was just encouraging those who can afford it to do good..." the goddess of revenge said theatrically, spreading her hands.
"That’s called moral coercion, attempting to use your own standards to compel others to engage in charity, turning a voluntary act of kindness into a burdensome task, and it only serves to dampen others’ enthusiasm for doing good," Aiden said unflinchingly, "Besides, since when did you become so interested in charity? Your Temple of Vengeance is nothing but a terrorist organization. If anything, these refugees’ plight is partly your responsibility."
"The Temple of Vengeance exists to aid the powerless who wish revenge, and if these homeless refugees desire vengeance, the Temple will also provide them with the weapons to do so..."
"Cut it out," Aiden interrupted before the goddess of revenge could finish, "When you give your followers power, don’t you also take a ’sacrifice’ in return? A loan shark preaching to others to donate, don’t you feel ashamed?"
"Knowing what kind of goddess I am, you still expect me to have a moral sense. I was just trying to tease you. You’ve got quite a slick tongue there; you’ve got a good routine and you never let yourself get taken advantage of. You’d do well giving speeches in the square; you could probably make something of yourself as a politician or religious leader," the goddess of revenge said with a somewhat ferocious smile.
"Thanks for the compliment," Aiden said coolly, glancing at her, "Since you and I currently share a body, you benefit from better living conditions, so please could you kindly shut up, my Lady Phoenix."
"So, it’s all about taking care of me, eh? How touching," the goddess of revenge sneered, "For dinner, I’d like to have—"
"I’ll decide what to eat," Aiden cut her off.
"What do you feel like eating now?" the goddess of vengeance frowned slightly.
"Stir-fried green peppers without the shredded pork," Aiden smiled.
"...Are you picking a fight, kid?"
"You were the one who made a joke about me first," Aiden spread his hands. "Let’s not talk about that for now, where is Mister Bloody Clothes at the moment?"
"You just checked an hour ago, and this is the fifth time today," the goddess of vengeance sneered. "Do you really need to be so afraid, kid?"
"It’s not a bad thing to be cautious when facing an enemy much stronger than yourself... no, it should be the attitude of any normal person," Aiden responded. "If we really fought, you wouldn’t be of much help. And if I died now, you would be dead too."
"Hmph, suit yourself."
As soon as those words fell, the figure of the goddess of vengeance disappeared.
At the same moment, Aiden felt a surge of rage boiling up from the bottom of his heart— the goddess of vengeance was directly communicating with him through consciousness and sharing her deep-seated hatred with him.
A blurry image of Mister Bloody Clothes standing in a burning temple flashed past, and Aiden sat down in the chair, subconsciously gripping the armrests tightly.
The hatred was so intense, like a vortex, desperately trying to pull at Aiden’s sanity. Aiden could feel his mind resonating with this hatred, as he also harbored a grudge against Mister Bloody Clothes.
The current embodiment of the goddess of vengeance was essentially a vengeful spirit filled with obsession, and directly communicating with her spirit was actually risky. The chaotic obsession of a malevolent spirit could significantly impact the sanity of ordinary people; many who had been secretly cast upon by necromancers and possessed by malevolent spirits ultimately went mad.
Aiden closed his eyes, perceiving the same hatred. The call to vengeance from the goddess began to gradually emerge deep within Aiden’s consciousness.
He sensed it, a fire in the midst of boundless darkness, flickering and dim, slightly blurred.
Compared to the previous few times he sensed it, there was no change in distance.
Aiden opened his eyes again, trying hard to regain focus, to extricate his mind from the swamp of hatred belonging to the goddess of vengeance.
"No new movements... could this move actually be working?" Aiden murmured to himself.
"I understand the power of vengeance better than anyone; you don’t need to doubt me," the goddess of vengeance laughed. "The condition of sharing a body with two spirits naturally has a blurring effect on this type of sensing. Add to that the divine words of ’existence,’ it can make his perception a bit more vague. Of course, he can still feel you, just not as precisely. If he gets closer, he’ll be able to sniff you out just the same. If your divine word rank was higher than his ’vengeance,’ even without me, you could fool him."
Aiden turned his head towards the floor mirror, which reflected his true self.
He blinked and switched his senses to experience the effect of having been replaced by the "doppelgänger" ability.
The person standing in the mirror suddenly transformed from him into the goddess of vengeance.
