Chapter 474: Chapter 474: Not Necessarily Human_1
Through the power of "Doppelgänger," Aiden replaced his appearance with that of the Revenge Goddess.
It was impossible to deceive the higher-order "Revenge" power’s summoning of revenge using only the basic "Doppelgänger" ability.
However, according to the Revenge Goddess, this body now hosted two souls, which could create a certain degree of interference in the revenge summoning. On this basis, using the "Doppelgänger" ability could cause Mr. Red’s revenge summoning to lose its accuracy over long distances.
Besides, the Revenge Goddess had mentioned that if she were given control over the body, "Aiden Galahad’s" existence could be completely concealed, leaving only the appearance of the Revenge Goddess, Phoenix Lady, thereby completely deceiving Mr. Red’s perception.
Naturally, Aiden could not agree to such a proposal.
By now, Mr. Red must have felt his arrival in the city, and then as if he had disappeared into the void. Sunset City was clearly not a city suitable for a vacation, and at the critical moment of searching for a blade for the revenge ritual, the enemy he was eager to kill suddenly appearing in this city could hardly be a coincidence.
It was very likely that he would come over to kill "Aiden Galahad" again, even if the conspiracy goddess would revive this pawn once more.
When the Revenge Goddess told him this method could interfere with Mr. Red, he was still somewhat skeptical—more skeptical, really, whatever he heard seemed to hint at ulterior motives of the Revenge Goddess. But considering the binding of the Wordless Code, he felt she was unlikely to pull any backstabbing tricks. And right now, in his current state, if he perished, the Revenge Goddess would be finished as well.
Currently, he could sense Mr. Red, yet Mr. Red couldn’t locate him, which of course was the best scenario possible, allowing him to keep tabs on Mr. Red’s movements while ensuring his own safety, and to find Professor Dodge before the other.
During Gistas activities, he would temporarily use the appearance of Phoenix Lady.
By doing so, though, he wouldn’t be able to disguise the mercury amalgam golem. But that didn’t matter. After all, the mercury amalgam golem was not likely to be much use against "Null" and "Hatred" divine words, and it would be most prudent to use it to guard the base when going out. Let it transform and hide in the ducts, and the room cleaning staff won’t notice anything unusual.
Thinking of this, he took out the list he had obtained from the secret police and started reading it carefully again.
"You said you chose to stay here for the convenience of investigation, so it seems you have a direction for your investigation?" The Revenge Goddess’s greeting suddenly flashed behind him, looking over his shoulder at his list, " Are you going to investigate the first one on the list next?"
"No, the third to last," Aiden replied decisively.
"Isn’t the first one the most suspect according to your intelligence network?" The Revenge Goddess seemed surprised.
"They consider him the most suspect, not me," Aiden responded, "The information they provided indeed prioritises based on their judgment, but in my mind, this order needs to be rearranged."
"You don’t trust them?"
"No, it’s just that I know some intel they are not aware of."
From Father Bales’s testimony, Aiden learned that Professor Dodge’s son might still be alive in this world.
Adding to that Daili’s analysis, the type of demon fused with Professor Dodge’s son was most likely a possession demon.
Possession demons can repair the body and heal disabilities, and Aiden guessed the original purpose of the experiment was to use the nature of the possession demon to repair the body of Professor Dodge’s son, and once the possession demon completely merged with the host, there would no longer be the so-called replacement effect.
The critical point of the experiment’s failure probably lay in the inability to control the degree of fusion, and in the end, Professor Dodge’s son succumbed to the greatest weakness of the possession demon—becoming extremely weak without a host and eventually dying.
To take care of such a son, Professor Dodge would likely keep him close by.
Allowing his son to parasite in his own body to extend his life was one method, but over time, the power of the possession demon would start to erode the host’s body, so he would inevitably have to prepare another body for his son.
Professor Dodge can mostly hide his whereabouts, but he might not always be able to hide his son.
In other words, for those living alone on the list, the priority of investigation could essentially be pushed back.
When the possession demon takes over a sentient being, it takes time to dominate the body completely, and inevitably, the body will start to demonize. If Professor Dodge wanted to use a human body for his son, he would have to erase the original spirit part of that body—of course, for him with The Hand of Obliteration, it was not challenging, but it might cost him.
Aiden initially delayed the investigation order of everyone on the list marked as living alone, but on second thought, he realized he had overlooked something.
The host for Professor Dodge’s son to possess... might not necessarily be human!
Killing, destroying the body, and erasing traces would be difficult to detect. For the police, investigating a missing person is far more difficult than tracing a murderer from a corpse. But if "killing" someone and then keeping that person by your side, the risk is significant.
Moreover, if by accident the time limit is exceeded and the body begins to demonize, that body can only be abandoned.
There are many refugees in Sunset City now, and no one would care if these refugees disappeared.
But Dilron’s refugees are quite distinguishable in appearance and skin color from Gistastonians, and having a Dilron person by his side would still be conspicuous. The reports provided by the Royal Secret Police also showed no similar candidates.
It is quite possible that the son could possess an animal, as possession demons can immediately dominate the bodies of animals other than humans.
If so, those who were seen keeping medium to large animals also have a significant suspicion.
Luckily, the Royal Secret Police have been quite thorough in this aspect. The reported candidates included two people with cats, two with dogs, and one with horses—those with cats can be directly excluded. Ordinary possession demons are quite small and can attach to smaller animals, but the artificial demons created by merging with the possession demon would not likely be much smaller than the average human, and cats would not be able to sustain them.
The third person on the list resided in the Gold Lake district, a nearby upscale residential area. According to testimonies from others in the vicinity, this person seemed to have a very intelligent dog that was almost always by his side.
Although he couldn’t hope to find the target at the start, for now, Aiden could only proceed in order one step at a time.
