The Cycle of Fate

Chapter 199: Pure Evil

Lumian thanked her, took the stack of papers, lit the carbide lamp, and began to quickly browse through the "testimonies."

Lady Hela had already read through everything and highlighted key points, saving Lumian significant time. Since he wasn't fully familiar with the history of the "Curly-haired Baboon Research Society," he might not have accurately identified the critical details on his own.

After nearly an hour of reading, Lumian had a general understanding of the situation:

- The Fool's Day group didn't have many members, and their private gatherings and pranks weren't frequent. Their activities mainly took place in three regions: Trier, the coastal province of Gaia in the Kingdom of Feneport, and West Byron on the Southern Continent.
- Core members who participated in gatherings in Trier included "Loki," "I Have a Friend," and "Madwoman."
- Members who performed pranks at the ritual in Santa Harbor, Gaia Province, included "Bard," "Ultraman," "Madwoman," and a few members of the Fool's Day group who were being manipulated. Those who incited student protests in the capital of Gaia, Tolar, were "Bard" and "Ultraman."
- Core members involved in pranks in West Byron included "Siso" and "Madwoman."
- During one private gathering of the Fool's Day group in Trier, "Loki" jokingly mentioned inheriting a castle.
- In another Trier gathering, "I Have a Friend" suddenly had an idea to hypnotize some psychiatrists, making them come up with a treatment plan that involved lobotomies to cure certain mental illnesses.

The treatment plan that Lady Susie had condemned, one filled with malice and aimed at permanently "pacifying" patients, turned out to be a cruel joke by "I Have a Friend." Only someone from another world, like him, could skip over preliminary steps and directly come up with such an idea.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of people who were pacified and lost their "souls" would never have imagined that their tragic fate was the result of an inhumane prank.

"Loki" and "I Have a Friend" were even worse than Lumian had imagined. Shaking his head as he looked at the last page of the testimony, he couldn't help but reflect.

He had thought he'd already witnessed the worst of human evil while living on the streets—people murdering other homeless individuals for food, betraying their companions in their sleep by selling them to mines, kidnapping street children, bullying the weak, and forming gangs to drive others away without caring if they lived or died.

But now Lumian realized that this level of evil was nothing compared to the sheer, unadulterated malice of "Loki," "I Have a Friend," and the other core members of Fool's Day.

"Even the demons of the abyss would call them 'Father,' and the local priest would be a saint in comparison," Lumian muttered, imagining burning these people over and over in his mind.

Exhaling deeply, Lumian began extracting useful information from the testimonies and Lady Hela's annotations:

- At least eight members of the Curly-haired Baboon Research Society were suspected to have died from the direct or indirect pranks of the Fool's Day group.
- "I Have a Friend," like "Loki," participated in every private gathering in Trier but never visited Gaia Province or West Byron, suggesting he also lived in Trier.
- Similarly, "Bard" and "Ultraman" seemed to be in Gaia Province, while "Siso" was located in West Byron.
- "Madwoman" participated in every private gathering, and since they were all held within a month of being scheduled, it implied that she had teleportation-like abilities or possessed an item with such power.
- "Loki's" joke about inheriting a castle aligned with Lumian's dreams, meaning he might be able to track down "Loki's" whereabouts by investigating the appearance of the castle.
- "I Have a Friend" demonstrated extensive medical knowledge at the gatherings, not just in psychology. He was either a skilled general practitioner in his previous world or had taken over the body of an experienced doctor. Such a person might be disguising themselves as a doctor in everyday life, both for convenience and to make a lot of money.
- "Bard" loved collecting Emperor Roselle's diaries and mocking them in various ways. Could he be the author of *The Secret Record of Emperor Roselle*?
- "Ultraman" and "Siso" were relatively low-key at the gatherings, leaving behind few clues to analyze.