Mystery Paradise: Wishing Power Demon

"She’s noticed something unusual about you? Or maybe she’s just watching the crowd... Forget it, guessing is pointless, we need to find her," Chaoyang said, "Let Kokomoqi track her movements."

The scene continued to shift.

The Angel saw that the other person had finally withdrawn their hand and hesitated for a moment before the girl walked towards the other end of the beach. After walking about ten meters or so, her figure suddenly disappeared into thin air.

"She can use an invisibility technique too?" Ailuodi exclaimed in surprise.

"No, the girl walked out of the magic’s range," Kokomoqi explained. "Miracle Reappearance can only be cast at specific locations, and the more time that passes, the more energy it consumes."

And she could only cast such magic five or six times.

Ailuodi was dumbfounded; how were they to track her? One use of Miracle Reappearance could only cover a few dozen meters, and if the person kept moving, a hundred castings might not even be enough to catch them.

"Cough cough... Yu’s tracking techniques are not limited to this one... There’s also Twig Divination and Soul Guidance, but..."

"But what?"

"The conditions for them are rather... complicated and not suitable for the current situation. With Twig Divination, you can ask a twig about someone’s whereabouts, and it will fall in one of two directions, with a 50% accuracy rate; Soul Guidance requires Yu to leave a mark beforehand, after which Yu can always track the target. All things considered, Miracle Reappearance is already the best choice," Kokomoqi explained coherently. "Yu can still cast it five more times, so you might not miss your chance to catch up to her."

"...No need," Ailuodi decisively said. If the other party were using their own wishing power, then a trial wouldn’t hurt, and failure wouldn’t be a big deal. But now that the Magic Goddess needed to obtain wishing power from Chaoyang, they couldn’t afford to waste core resources on something with such a small chance of success.

"Hold on," Chaoyang suddenly interrupted, "you mentioned earlier that the girl’s gaze was directly on you?"

"More or less," Ailuodi replied.

"But I’ve been thinking it over, and there was someone else in front of you at the time. I noticed her presence through your perspective, which might have given you the illusion that she was staring at you. However, is it possible that her gaze didn’t truly fall on you but was instead blocked by the person in front of you?"

In front... blocked...

Ailuodi recalled the scene... when Chaoyang paused, she had just finished shaking hands with Franwick Yuss, who happened to stand in the line of sight. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

If she eliminated herself from the picture, the girl’s gaze still had a destination—Franwick’s back.

"She was looking at Franwick? The leader of the Fishermen’s Army?" Ailuodi frowned, then relaxed her expression, "Alright, no point in worrying then. I guess she was just looking over here because it was lively, nothing more."

Chaoyang didn’t immediately respond.

"What’s wrong, Franwick is the leader of the rebellion, nearly executed by the company; such a person surely wouldn’t attract the Mist, would he?" the Angel joked, "They say that demons are inherently suspicious, and it seems to be true."

"You’re not wrong, but... I’m wondering if it’s just a coincidence?"

"What coincidence?"

"Ransu Company holding a public execution, one of the convicts is Franwick Yuss. And the Envoy of Mist couldn’t possibly know our plan... If the armed uprising didn’t happen, what would she be on the beach to see?"

To see what...

A shiver ran down Ailuodi’s spine.

If they hadn’t come to this world and everything ran on its established course, the only thing the Envoy of Mist would have seen was probably just one thing: the lifeless body of Franwick hanging from a noose.

"Are you whispering to the Paradise Master again?" Kokomoqi crossed her arms discontentedly, "Yu doesn’t like feeling excluded. Can’t you share with me as well?"

Not that it wasn’t possible. Chaoyang readily pulled her into the "channel" as well—after all, this type of mental communication could be divided into countless channels, so it wouldn’t be a problem to converse separately with Ailuodi when needed. Besides, the Magic Goddess knew more about the Mist God, and perhaps she could come up with some fresh ideas.

After listening to their account, Kokomoqi suddenly said, "So that’s the case. If you suspect that girl is problematic, you can start with the two brothers who look after her. Don’t you have the ability to connect? Listen to their hearts, and maybe you’ll find a flaw in the Envoy of Mist. After all, the effect of the mist is to induce forgetfulness, not to erase facts. For her to become a stranger to their sister, the likelihood that the process was flawless is low."

"As for that person named Franwick, I can’t see anything strange about him; he’s just an ordinary human, the kind you can find anywhere," the Magic Goddess said a bit regretfully. "It’s a pity I’ve lost the power of The Divine Country, otherwise, with the Magic Hourglass, I could confirm whether he’s up to no good."

Chaoyang’s eyebrows lifted.

She might not have the hourglass, but he could make one himself! Even though it was a unique construct and would cost almost two hundred wishing power, it was still within an acceptable range.

However, such probing can’t be done through interrogation. After all, just suspecting him based on a distant glance by the Envoy of Mist is enough to cause resentment in anyone. If the other party is not cooperative, the hourglass would become useless.

Furthermore, Kokomoqi’s earlier words also inspired him. Sweet Potato might not remember the existence of the Envoy of Mist, but there was a possibility that relevant information was stored in his memory. If he applied the Dream Entering Technique on him, he might find some traces of the girl.

Thinking this, Chaoyang immediately decided to take action on two fronts.

Ailuodi’s open identity was that of a Divine Envoy, and she was also the deputy commander of the Fishermen’s Army, making her better suited to inquire about Franwick Yuss.

As for Sweet Potato himself, Kokomoqi would bring him to Chaoyang’s side.

Neither of them objected.

"However, we must hurry," Chaoyang switched to Cui Zhen’en’s perspective and saw that in the Lower City District, smoke was already rising from several streets, "The company and the gang’s suppression troops will soon come to block off the beach."

...

At 3:20 PM, at last, some distinct changes began occurring at the edge of the city bordering the eastern beach.

"My God... is that..." a worker exclaimed in a trench.

"Damn beasts!" Potland punched the sand fiercely. At the end of the beach, a large number of residents from the Lower City District appeared, tied at the waist with straw ropes in a line, staggering towards the sea. Undoubtedly, they were forcibly gathered by the company, and in the unsheltered boundary, there was only one role for these people: serving as human shields for the enemy.

The workers could clearly see that among the crowd were many gangsters with long guns, forcing the locals forward at gunpoint. The long rope prevented anyone from escaping, and anyone who refused to move would be immediately beaten.

The company’s strategy was also clear: since the resistors had already seized muskets and set up defenses, they didn’t bother with subtlety. Instead, they sent in human shields to force the workers to make a choice—either shoot their neighbors and kin or retreat back into the caves, giving up the beachhead willingly.

"Lallote, what do we do now?" Potland couldn’t help but look to Zhang Zhiyuan.

"Don’t fire yet," the latter replied unconcernedly. "Don’t worry, they won’t make it here."

This tactic of using civilians as human shields poses a tricky problem for firearms and cannons with inadequate accuracy. But as soon as those firing can manage precise shots, the extremely slow pace of the crowd becomes a deadly weak spot for the enemy.