Chapter 514: Chapter 515 Psychological Offensive_1
"Is the leader of the Resurrection Meeting that terrifying?" Professor Dodge asked.
He too mastered two Divine Words of "Void" authority, "Concealment" and "Annihilation," not to mention he also held in his hand the Hand of Annihilation, a power with a rank just below the Dominators.
For common goods, he wouldn’t necessarily need to be wary.
"The leader of the Resurrection Meeting calls himself Mr. Blood Robe. He is the ’Hatred’ authority’s saint and also holds its unique authority. He’s a true near-god, one step away from the Dominator," Aiden said with a somber voice, "He can transfer damage done to himself onto his followers, and reflect it back to the attacker as is. Do you really think you stand a chance against someone like that? You also have to protect your son, and there’s a cost to using the Hand of Annihilation, right?"
"It seems you’ve done quite a bit of investigation," Professor Dodge realized that the other party knew much more than he had imagined.
The things the other party said weren’t the best lies to win someone’s trust, which paradoxically added some credibility to them.
"Yes, I’ve gone through many channels to investigate and I know a lot about you," Aiden said calmly.
Although it was their first interaction, Aiden didn’t feel any sense of unfamiliarity towards this man.
The Scale of Smiles, the Witch’s Gathering, the Royal Secret Police, the Harvest Mother Cult, the refugees from the Gold Lake District of Sunset City... He had collected fragments from various sources to sketch out the impression of Harrison Dodge.
He had never spoken to the other party before, but he had recounted the man’s stories from the past decade in his mind over and over again.
In some ways, he was very familiar with Professor Dodge, knowing his secrets and weaknesses.
"I know your son merged with a possessing demon, and I also know you’ve collaborated with the Gistas military, using refugees from the south for human experimentation," Aiden threw out his knowledge of Professor Dodge, hoping to make him believe that his treatment plan was real, "To find a safe treatment plan for your son, you even hired—"
"You’re talking too much!!" Professor Dodge suddenly raised his voice and interrupted.
Aiden immediately furrowed his brow, this reaction being somewhat unnatural.
"Could it be... your son doesn’t know about the things you’ve done?" Aiden asked tentatively.
"..." Professor Dodge remained silent, the other party had struck where it hurt.
"Dad..." The voice of the boy came from behind.
The voice was weak and fragile, as if it could be scattered by the wind as soon as it was uttered, but when Professor Dodge heard it, he felt a pang in his heart.
He turned around abruptly and saw Tony lying on the operating table, half-opening his eyes to look at him.
"Child, are you awake?" Professor Dodge said quietly, not allowing the words to carry beyond them; the conversation between him and his son was for their ears only.
Tony had been in a blurry state of consciousness during the transfer, so he thought his son hadn’t noticed anything.
The room was arranged so ominously and forlorn; he had just killed three military surgeons assisting with the operation in this room a few minutes ago. Maybe Tony had seen it all.
He no longer knew what excuse he could fabricate to get past this.
"I, actually know everything," Tony suddenly said, his tone much calmer than Professor Dodge had imagined.
Professor Dodge felt as though he had plummeted into an ice cellar.
"I’m sorry," Tony said, uttering the words he least wanted to hear, "It’s all because of me that Dad would do this."
A moment of silence passed before Professor Dodge shook his head, "Silly boy, it has nothing to do with you. Dad has always been this kind of person."
Even the closest of parent-child relationships have times when they don’t fully understand each other. He didn’t know that his son had long seen through his lies, nor did his son realize that the cruel and dark side of him was real, from the experiments he had personally conducted in the Empire.
"Using the methods obtained here to cure your child, do you really want him to bear the lives of so many people?" Aiden said loudly.
He had noticed that Professor Dodge seemed to be researching a treatment plan here without his son’s knowledge. Using this, he launched a psychological attack, hoping perhaps to firmly dissuade Dodge from using these methods to save his son.
"Shut up, I’m the one carrying the burden of lives!" Professor Dodge retorted.
"That’s enough, Dad," Tony’s voice carried a plea, "Really, that’s enough... I don’t want to live like this. If it’s going to be like this, you might as well let me die."
The fact that his father was bearing the burden of lives for him caused him immeasurable pain. He dared not blame his father; the guilt should be his to bear, as he felt responsible for it.
Professor Dodge also empathized deeply with his son’s pain. He could no longer find words of comfort, for this time, the source of his son’s suffering was himself.
"If you want him to live in this world with integrity, you should not involve him in all this. I have a way! Please trust me just this once!" Aiden called out loudly.
Professor Dodge had been silent for quite some time, and the lack of response made Aiden a little uneasy.
"Kid, bad news," the Goddess of Vengeance suddenly shared her "radar" with Aiden again.
Fear exploded in Aiden’s heart as he felt Mr. Bloodcoat’s distance had closed to around five kilometers.
The approach was accelerating suddenly, probably because some officers in the base, whom he had turned, had gone to meet him, taking some shortcut or providing a better mode of transportation.
"Please make a decision quickly!" Aiden shouted, "We have less than ten minutes left; we can’t waste any more time!"
After two seconds of silence, Professor Dodge spoke, "Then I have a request right now. Show yourself, prove that you are trustworthy."
"Fine, as long as you swear that you won’t harm me once I reveal myself," Aiden cautiously made a counterrequest, not wanting to walk into an "interdimensional strike" unprepared.
"As long as you don’t attempt to harm me and my son, I won’t hurt you. That, I can assure you."
"Please swear it."
"Alright, I swear," Professor Dodge agreed.
Aiden eased up slightly, knowing that once the other party swore an oath, they would be bound by the first rule of the Wordless Code.
Normally, the regulations of The Codex can’t be applied atop other regulations. For instance, "prohibiting the violation of the Prison Administration Regulations" would be considered void by the Wordless Code.
However, "prohibiting the breaking of oaths" or "prohibiting the breaking of promises" can take effect, which is actually quite special since everyone’s oath can effectively be seen as a rule that applies only to oneself.
Aiden guessed this probably had to do with "equality." Oaths made by individuals are recognized by the persons themselves, much like signing a contract. The Codex seems to support these contract-like regulations, whereas regulations like the Prison Administration Regulations, the rulemaker or manager actually enjoys privileges.
"Qiqimora," Aiden signaled to Qiqimora with a glance.
