Chapter 561: Secrets
Chapter 561: Chapter 561: Secrets
As for Lucas Holden, who had watched the entire ordeal, even though Caleb Carter hadn’t tortured him, rumor had it that he was completely terrified, constantly begging for an early death.
"Serves them right. Who told them to do something like that?" Sherry Renner didn’t pity those two in the slightest.
"Yeah. But you haven’t been looking too well these past couple of days. Did it scare you, perhaps?" Nina Jacobs asked. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Sherry was looking considerably more exhausted lately.
Sherry paused her hand that was reaching for a snack and sheepishly replied, "I’ve been drawing too many Talisman Papers, so..."
Just as she had suspected. "Does drawing talismans take a toll on you?" Nina asked with concern. She didn’t know much about Mysticism or Talisman Papers, but she was aware that those who meddled with karma or cast spells by drawing talismans often suffered from karmic backlash and lifelong misfortunes. In her past life, Sherry had also tried to make a living through fortune-telling, only to be constantly plagued by bad luck. Thinking about it now, it was likely related to her daily divinations.
"It does drain me a little, but it’s fine. I’m still young, and our living conditions are so good now. A few talismans here and there are nothing," Sherry said, trying to gloss over it. However, upon seeing Nina’s stern expression, she had no choice but to explain truthfully. "Drawing them does consume a Talisman Master’s Origin Energy. However, the ones I draw are all Low Tier Talisman Papers. As long as I don’t overdo it, my Origin Energy recovers quickly."
"What exactly counts as not overdoing it?" Nina pressed. Seeing Sherry avert her gaze, she realized something was up but still threatened, "If you don’t tell me the truth, I won’t dare use your Talisman Papers anymore."
"Uh, for example, drawing one every seven days definitely has no impact. One every three days is still okay, and one a day isn’t entirely out of the question..." Sherry carefully observed Nina’s reaction as she spoke.
Sure enough, Nina’s expression darkened. "You drew six of them for me in a single day last time." She hadn’t known about this at all. No wonder she felt that Sherry was avoiding her sometimes. Now that she thought about it, Sherry was probably afraid of being found out.
"Oh, it’s really fine! It’s just like donating blood at the hospital—you recover after a little while. Besides, I’m happy that the Talisman Papers are useful," Sherry comforted her, tugging at Nina’s arm.
"From now on, you’re only allowed to draw one Talisman Paper every seven days at most. Even at the Enforcement Bureau, you can’t just use them recklessly," Nina declared. She could tell that Adrian Paige was also very interested in Sherry’s Talisman Papers. Ian Chandler had mentioned that Adrian planned to buy a few Truth-telling Talismans from Sherry, but drawing them was no simple task. She couldn’t let Sherry continue to expend herself without restraint.
"I know, I know. I’ll take good care of my life." Sherry knew that Nina was genuinely worried about her.
"I still have a few of the Truth-telling Talismans you drew last time. It’s more than enough." Nina decided to take three from her own stash to send Adrian off; Sherry couldn’t draw any more of them for the time being. "By the way, why do Truth-telling Talismans fail on certain people? Is there something special about them?" she added. The few Truth-telling Talismans that had failed were, after all, the result of Sherry’s hard work.
"There isn’t just one reason," Sherry explained. "It could be because some people are naturally immune due to their physique, or perhaps their Origin Energy clashes with mine. There’s also another possibility: the target might be under the effects of some special Defense Talisman Paper."
Listening to Sherry’s explanation, Nina felt that the last reason was the most likely. "There are already quite a few Mysticism Mages in Drakonia, but anyone who can draw a Defense Talisman Paper must be someone who has mastered Talismanic magic. They are definitely far more powerful than I am."
Sherry had never been completely confident in her abilities. When the talismans failed, she hadn’t given it much thought, but now that Nina had brought it up, she felt it made perfect sense. Physical immunity and clashing Origin Energy were both rare probabilities. However, for several people to be immune to the Truth-telling Talisman all at once, the most plausible explanation was that they were protected by a Defense Talisman Paper or a similar type of Magic.
"I heard that the Ancient Martial Clans spontaneously formed an organization called the ’Mystic Sect’ after the apocalypse began. Do you know anything about this?" Nina took the opportunity to ask.
Currently, she and Sherry were in a room on the second floor. It was exceptionally warm inside. Aside from the two rows of heating pipes provided by the base running through the room, she had also used her Earth Element Superpower to fashion a circular stove in the center. Inside the stove, an orange-yellow light flickered, radiating a clean, comforting warmth—that was her Fire Element Superpower. This type of stove was originally invented by Wayne Abbott and Elara Dolan. As an Earth Element Superpower User and a Fire Element Superpower User respectively, they only needed to inject some Fire Element Superpower into the stove every now and then to maintain the heat.
As for the Mystic Sect, it seemed Sherry knew a little bit about it. "There are hundreds of Ancient Martial Clans, and some of them have their own Mystical Arts. However, the Mystic Sect should have existed even before the apocalypse. Did you run into someone from an Ancient Martial Clan?"
"Yes, the Silthos Ziegler Family. Have you heard of them?" Nina asked.
"What did you say?! You actually ran into the Zieglers?!" Sherry was so shocked that she nearly dropped her snack.
"Why? Do you really know them?"
"I wouldn’t say I know them, but I’ve heard some dark secrets about their family before the apocalypse. Anyway, it’s nothing good," Sherry said, sharing what she knew. The Silthos Ziegler Family had numerous branches. To outsiders, it just seemed like a massive clan, but this was actually deeply tied to their ancestral teachings. The ancestral teachings of the Ziegler Family emphasized the continuation of their ancient bloodline, placing immense value on population. All Ziegler kin were expected to have many children and were forbidden from dying without leaving behind an heir. Because of this, Zieglers—regardless of gender—usually had their marriages arranged by the time they turned eighteen.
"I heard this from my master. The Zieglers don’t multiply to live, but to die," Sherry recalled.
"To die?" Nina didn’t quite understand.
"Yeah. Their ancestors made a name for themselves through their prophecy technique. It seems they passed down a... um, a prophetic chart?"
"The Ziegler Family Inference Map?" Nina asked.
Sherry looked at her in surprise. "You know about that?" She continued, "That must be it, the Ziegler Family Inference Map. Rumor has it that the Zieglers can use it to predict the future and the fate of the nation. For every Ziegler descendant that dies, the Inference Map progresses by a fraction. Life is death, and death is life. The Zieglers literally use the karmic ties of their deceased descendants to prophesy the future. Honestly, I think it’s pretty disgusting. It can’t be real, can it?"
Sherry had always thought this was just some tall tale her master had made up to trick her in his free time.
Using the karmic ties of deceased descendants... Nina thought of Zachary Ziegler and Veronica Ziegler, both of whom she had killed. Zachary had led a group of people to hunt down her and Wayne Warner after she left the Meridia Base, so she had killed him in self-defense. As for the Space Superpower User, Veronica, she had been captured by Nina at the Lornwood Base. Later on, while being interrogated by Silas Crowley at the Tomorrow Base, Veronica had turned into a zombie...
"Did... did you kill a Ziegler?" Seeing Nina’s expression, Sherry immediately guessed what had happened.
"Yes. Will there be any consequences? Or rather, are there any specific conditions that must be met for a Ziegler’s death to be used for the Inference Map?" Nina asked. If simply dying was enough to aid their prophecies, the Zieglers would probably have been completely wiped out by now.
"I think... there are." Sherry thought back for a moment, faintly recalling what her master, Xavier Page, had told her. "He said something about their lifeblood having to naturally dissipate and merge with the heavens and the earth? Also, the karma of the deceased cannot be interfered with by other Zieglers. If they kill one of their own, it definitely won’t work."
"Is that so?" Nina pondered this. Zachary, who had been burned to ashes, and Veronica, who had turned into a zombie... Neither of them seemed to meet these conditions.