Before entering, we reviewed the rules for interacting with sealers. There was also a book on forbidden words and communication attitudes, more like a summary of experiences. It mentioned that when communicating with Pierce, one should not deny or question him, but rather go along with what he said.
Sherris did just that earlier. When Pierce was lost in memory confusion, Sherris claimed to know Lorna and that they were good friends, telling him not to overthink it.
But now, when Madam Shirley was mentioned, Lorna, already regretting her mother’s death, couldn’t help but speak the truth when her father brought up her mother.
I could actually guess what Pierce was referring to: the servant outside who had undergone plastic surgery to look like Madam Shirley. The Alien Parasite was reducing his psychological stress by having his attendants impersonate his lover.
Based on our previous clues, Madam Shirley and Lorna were both killed by Pierce himself. The murder of his wife and daughter must have left him with a huge psychological scar; he would go mad whenever he remembered it.
The impersonated lover made him forget the memory of his wife’s murder. In this house, which the Alien Parasite had built to resemble his homeland, he continuously carried out his favorite fervent research, producing a lot of chemical processes for the New Energy Company.
I only caught a glimpse of the various manuscripts scattered on the floor and saw formulations for high-speed coolant, a solution that could extract a certain spiritual metal from ore, and crystals that could absorb a type of magic in the air to become magic crystals.
All sorts of formulations indicated that Pierce was indeed a talented chemist. The Knowledge he researched here covered various aspects, not just the Blood Oil.
It was a pity that his original sponsors failed to see Pierce’s talent, while his true patrons were the malicious Alien Parasites.
Originally, when he mentioned the servant, we should have said she was outside and tricked Pierce into leaving first. Unfortunately, Lorna had entered alone earlier and hadn’t discussed their communication strategy with us. Speaking impulsively, she caused Pierce to fall directly into confusion.
“Not here? Impossible! Didn’t she just go out this morning? No! Madam isn’t here, that can’t be her!” Pierce clutched his head, his eyes turning blood red.
“Dad! Dad, it’s okay, I’ll take you to find Mom, okay?” Lorna panicked and quickly held Pierce, trying to soothe his rationality.
“No! Your mother, your mother can no longer be found. She’s already dead! I buried her with my own hands. Then, who has been taking care of me?” Pierce wept, his memory starting to become confused.
Combined with what we heard at the ritual site outside – that Pierce had gone completely mad since Madam’s death – we could infer that the Alien Parasite had done something to Pierce’s memory, or he had forgotten it due to a self-preservation mechanism, only now feeling the dissonance.
“Wait! Who are you? Lorna, my dear Lorna is long dead! Who has been assisting me with my research?!” Pierce recalled more and more things. Unexpectedly, a little stimulation caused the warm illusion that the Alien Parasite had worked so hard to maintain to collapse.
“Dad! I’m fine, aren’t I here? You recognize me, right?” Lorna hugged Pierce, hoping to calm him down through kinship.
But Pierce had already become hysterical. He desperately waved his arms, struggling and shouting, “No! Don’t come near me! My daughter was killed by my own hands!”
Blood tears flowed from all five of his eyes, and the abnormal magic Power within him fluctuated, becoming increasingly difficult to suppress.
“Dad! I don’t blame you, not at all. I’ve just continued to live in a different way. Dad, look, I’m fine, aren’t I?” Lorna held Pierce tightly, preventing him from moving erratically.
“Daughter, my Lorna, I’m so sorry! Truly sorry! I, I was just scared at that moment, I was frightened!” Pierce cried, repenting continuously.
Lorna, in turn, kept forgiving her father. Sherris, standing beside them, didn’t know what to do or say, and could only awkwardly pat Pierce’s shoulder to comfort him.
Although this scene seemed heartwarming, like an old father and daughter finally resolving their issues and understanding each other, their words sounded incredibly bizarre. One moment it was “I shouldn’t have killed you,” and the next it was “It doesn’t matter if I killed you.” It was so strange.
“Wait a moment! If you are Lorna, then who was assisting me before? Was she also sent by those scoundrels to plunder my research results?” Pierce suddenly became mentally unstable again, mentioning someone we didn’t know.
A flash of inspiration struck me, and I seemed to have thought of something. At that moment, a bad premonition suddenly arose in my heart. Before I could react, a sense of restraint appeared on me.
“Who?” Via, who was beside me, also exclaimed in surprise. Older Brother Jayad behind us seemed to have been controlled simultaneously.
“Ah!!!” Pierce let out a painful scream. Sherris was simultaneously immobilized as a fair, tender hand grabbed Lorna’s neck, able to directly grasp a ghost.
Who had suddenly ambushed us? When we looked towards Lorna’s side, we found that a person had appeared in the room at some unknown time – a Little Girl.
“Lorna?!” I looked at her in shock. The girl looked almost identical to the little ghost she was holding. Only when both stood together could one see that Lorna was indeed a ghost, appearing more vibrant.
The girl who resembled Lorna smiled and said, “It really took quite some effort. Controlling the Seal Magic Circle here, and if you hadn’t gone mad suddenly, I wouldn’t have succeeded so easily.”
Although her voice was also cute, her tone was creepy. And her speech was not that of a Little Girl; it felt like an old person speaking in a young girl’s voice.
“You, you’re not my daughter! Nor my assistant! Who exactly are you?” Pierce shouted hoarsely, but he was being suppressed by an invisible heavy pressure, unable to stand.
I suddenly understood and immediately transmitted a message to the others: “This person is Pierce’s assistant! The Alien Parasite had a Human girl disguised as Lorna and had her assist Pierce with his research, seizing the opportunity to steal his research results!”
I couldn’t help but admire the Alien Parasite’s grand plan. They had disguised two women who looked after Pierce’s daily life and work as his wife and daughter, respectively, thereby creating the illusion that his wife and daughter were alive and healing his scars.
At the same time, these two women were the only ones who had the authority to enter the sealed area. I wondered why I had only seen the servant’s corpse earlier. It turned out the assistant had entered long ago.
