Free Web NovelChapter 323: Chapter 323: Intelligence Dealer_1
"Are you Sophie Carter?" Aiden’s expression became grave.
"You must have figured out something so obvious,"
the self-proclaimed "maid Susan," Sophie Carter, smiled knowingly, looking very confident that Aiden had seen through her disguise.
"...I truly didn’t see that coming," Aiden admitted honestly—under the effect of authority, he couldn’t lie anyway, but he didn’t feel the need to bluff about this either.
"Eh?" Sophie Carter showed a slightly surprised look, "Really? You’re not serious, are you?"
"Why would anyone immediately think that a renowned singer would send herself to prison for labor reeducation under normal circumstances? This isn’t a novel," Aiden replied calmly.
Sophie thought for a moment and then agreed, "That’s true. Do I need to prove it?" ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
"That’s not necessary since you can’t lie now, but I would still prefer to talk to you in your original form..."
"No problem." Sophie didn’t wait for Aiden to finish before she responded.
In the blink of an eye, Aiden realized that the person in front of him had changed appearance.
Aiden stared at Sophie’s face for a few seconds, convinced it was the same face he had seen in the newspapers.
"Since you’re the one here now, the Sophie Carter recuperating outside..."
"Must have an adequate double,"
"Your maid?"
"Correct, that’s what she’s actually supposed to do."
"You have the ability to change your appearance in the eyes of others... which power are you using to do this?" Aiden pursued.
Earlier, when Sophie was caught tailing him, she must have changed her appearance to that of the old man as soon as she left the shop, then turned around and bumped into him.
The ability to change both a person and their clothing was certainly not as simple as Abigail only changing her body’s shape.
But in any case, one thing was certain—the technique must have been caused by the power of authority. If it were solely the effect of black magic, it would have been revealed during Sophie’s prison intake inspection.
An individual possessing the power of authority entering his prison was enough to put Aiden on alert. The prison facilities couldn’t restrain the power of authority; only the Wordless Code could do that.
However, through his experiments, Aiden found that the Wordless Code couldn’t directly restrict various powers of authority in its rules, such as stating, "Forbidden to use Divine Words," or "Forbidden to use a certain power of authority"; it would be deemed as "invalid articles." But The Codex could target things that the power of authority could do, such as stipulating "Mind reading is forbidden." The constrained persons would be unable to directly read others’ thoughts, whether by black magic or spirit-based abilities, unless their authority level reached that of a ruler.
In other words, only by knowing the details of Sophie’s power could he restrict her from using her abilities. freёwebnovel.com
"I’ve answered enough of your questions, haven’t I? Can we switch locations before we continue? This chair is just too hard," Sophie began to negotiate, "A change of scenery would be nice."
"If we change the location, will you reveal everything?"
"Change the place and we can talk properly. By now you should know that I haven’t committed any crime... there’s no need to treat me like a criminal," Sophie suggested.
"Filing a false report is also a crime," Aiden retorted.
"As the warden, you’re surely someone who has walked ’the path of a god,’ right? Is it necessary to be bound by the rules of mere mortals?" Sophie said earnestly.
"That’s my job, and nobody is paying me to walk that path," Aiden said, expressionless.
"But the power of a god is the most valuable," Sophie quickly added, "This is also ’our’ creed."
Aiden could certainly relate to that, Qiqimora had once wanted to trade divinity with him; the power of authority was an extremely limited resource. If used for trade... it would indeed be priceless.
"You all?" Aiden realized that there might be a group or an organization behind Sophie looking to negotiate, "You came here seeking a trade?"
"That’s correct, but this hardly seems like the right place for business," Sophie said, looking into Aiden’s eyes, "I still would prefer to have a friendly exchange with the warden, on a basis of mutual respect."
"... Alright." After a brief moment of consideration, Aiden agreed.
A few minutes later, in the warden’s office.
Sophie sat down on the sofa, comfortably crossing her legs, "This is much better. The past couple of days, both the bed and the chair were unbearably hard..."
"It must have been tough for a big star like you to stay in prison, even if it was self-inflicted," Aiden said as he poured the brewed tea into cups.
"Drinking tea? Now that we’re alone, how about some wine?" Sophie suggested.
"No, we have serious matters to discuss," Aiden returned to his seat, "As you said, we have changed places, so you can answer my questions properly. Where are you really from? What’s your purpose in approaching me? What power have you used to make yourself look like someone else?"
"Starting off with a barrage of questions? Just as the atmosphere was getting a bit better, why do you have to make it feel like an interrogation again?" Sophie complained with a hint of reproach, "Even that ’craft’ has been brought along."
The mercury amalgam golem stood by Sophie’s chair, arms crossed, ready to act if Sophie made any untoward moves.
"Who asked you to approach me this way?" Aiden replied without hesitation, "You’ve been watching me like a stalker, and now like a spy, you’ve forged an identity and infiltrated my workplace. I think any sane person would want to catch you and give you a thorough interrogation."
"I admit it’s my fault; please forgive my impulsiveness. I was just... too eager to understand you," Sophie said with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Aiden didn’t understand.
"I’m your fan," Sophie boldly confessed.
"Me?" Aiden frowned.
He had not yet crossed out the rule about "not lying" from the Wordless Code, so whatever Sophie was saying had to be the truth.
But precisely because it was the truth, it only served to make Aiden more perplexed.
"Yes, you... You recently seized a nearly impossible prize from the Red Shark Pirates, didn’t you?" Sophie spoke meaningfully, "That’s not something an ordinary person could do."
"You seem to know quite a lot," Aiden said, fixated on Sophie’s eyes.
She clearly knew what was in the hands of the Red Shark Pirates and was also well aware that item had landed in Aiden’s possession.
"Of course, after all, I am a member of ’The Smiling Scales’," Sophie finally revealed her affiliation.
"What kind of organization is that?"
"To put it simply, we’d probably be considered information brokers," Sophie explained and then added, "The information brokers who know the most secrets on the continent."
