Free Web NovelChapter 342: Chapter 342 "The Authority of Existence"_1
In the evening of that day, prison guard Isabella walked lightly toward the changing room, ready to head home after her shift.
As she was passing the corner of the hallway, she happened to bump into a familiar colleague.
"Veronica, I was just thinking of finding you." Isabella enthusiastically wrapped her arm around the other’s arm and hugged her, "I made plans with Erin to go clothes shopping on Baohua Street today, do you want to join us?"
"Uh..." Veronica lowered her head to glance at the arm that Isabella had embraced, a flash of embarrassment crossing her face, but she quickly controlled her expression, "I’ll pass today, I still have to work a night shift before leaving."
"Hey, you started your shift this morning, right?" Isabella looked at Veronica with surprise, trying to pull her along, "You’ve been working overtime a lot lately, don’t push yourself too hard, just relax a bit today. Come on, let’s go change clothes! It’s rare for you to have a day shift."
"Maybe next time, the warden has asked me to help him with some things..." Veronica gave a polite smile.
"Ohhh—" Isabella immediately showed a knowing smile, "Got it, got it, you need to make the most of the opportunity, grab ahold of it..."
"What opportunity?" A deep male voice suddenly sounded from behind Isabella.
Isabella stiffened, swiftly turning her head to see Aiden just coming out from the office behind her.
"Warden!" Isabella quickly let go of Veronica and saluted Aiden.
Veronica glanced at Isabella and silently saluted as well.
"Don’t stand in the middle of the corridor pulling each other, it interferes with others." Aiden advised with an expressionless face.
"Got it." Isabella lowered her head a bit.
Uncommonly, she felt that her boss seemed to be in a particularly bad mood today, usually, Aiden was much gentler in his attitude towards subordinates.
"Head home quickly after you finish work, and be careful on your way." Aiden waved his hand.
"Okay." Isabella turned and left the scene at a quick pace.
After watching Isabella walk away, the "Veronica" standing in the same spot looked at the "Aiden" in front of her and nodded in satisfaction: "The experiment’s results are quite impressive, not one person noticed we had swapped."
After saying this, "she" snapped her fingers, and in the blink of an eye, the two swapped back to their original appearances.
This was the effect of the "Essence" divine word taught by Sophie Carter, the power of ’substitution’. After mastering this ability, Aiden started experimenting, and after finishing most of his work, he used the divine word to swap "essences" with Veronica to observe the effects by people’s reactions.
"Commander, just now... being so casually intimate with a subordinate of the opposite sex, I don’t think it’s quite appropriate." Veronica muttered.
Do you even have the right to say that—Aiden immediately remembered yesterday’s incident.
"You saw it, Isabella was the one who hugged me." Aiden said with a smile, spreading his hands, "I think not joining her in the changing room was quite gentlemanly of me."
"Chief, that’s a crime!" Veronica emphasized seriously.
"I was just kidding, don’t take it so seriously," Aiden waved his hand, "You’ve also walked around the core area. Did anyone recognize you?"
"No," Veronica answered, "This ability is really incredible. When I first switched, I felt like even my scent seemed different." freewёbnoνel.com
"And it can also be used on objects," Aiden nodded, "My experiment with using a mercury alloy golem to replace me was also successful, only a pity that the mercury alloy golem can’t speak."
With Sophie’s explanation and an afternoon of experimentation, Aiden had almost fully understood this divine phrase. Simply put, the effect of this power is to make one existence replace another.
At the initial stage with only one divine phrase in one’s grasp, this replacement only amounts to ’surface level,’ which is the observational result of ’existence.’ This disguise, like the ’nullity’ authority’s ’concealment’ power, is indistinguishable by all known senses such as appearance, voice, scent, touch..., making the disguise far more potent than physical transformation. However, it’s not foolproof; once the observer knows the truth, he can see through this ’existence’ swap.
Therefore, at the initial stage, it can basically be used as a quite sophisticated sleight of hand, but according to Sophie, if one progresses to a higher level, the effect of this power can become very frightening. The effect of replacing existences will gradually approach being substantial.
Take, for example, him using this power to replace the existence of a certain passerby A. Not only would everyone treat him as passerby A, but during this period, the effects he experiences, such as injuries, could, after the power is lifted, be transferred onto passerby A, since these injuries are the result of the outside world interfering with the existence of ’passerby A’ during the power’s activation.
The power can be used on a single target, making it replace a certain ’existence,’ causing everyone else to believe the target is the person or thing being replaced. It can also be used on two targets, swapping their ’existences.’
When used solely on oneself, the power almost has no time limit. But when it targets others, there’s roughly a distance limit of about one hundred meters, and the duration suddenly shortens to two hours.
Sophie Carter and Susan Feng have been able to keep swapping each other’s existences because they both used the power on themselves.
"Sorry, I have to ask you to cover the night shift again watching prisoner 1562," Aiden said apologetically to Veronica, "Lately I’ve made you work too many extra shifts."
Although she had made a deal with Sophie, Aiden still didn’t dare to relax his vigilance towards her.
Tonight he planned to take some time to visit Susan Feng, who was currently impersonating Sophie. To be on the safe side, he decided to bring The Codex. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
Under such circumstances, he could only ask Veronica to keep a closer eye on Sophie, who was locked in the cell. To keep a watch on Sophie these days, Veronica had been working half a day of overtime almost every day.
"Chief, if you think it’s too much trouble, just treat me to a meal," Veronica said as she looked into Aiden’s eyes.
Create and seize the opportunity — there was no need for Isabella to remind her of such things.
"Alright," Aiden smiled helplessly, "Then after the meal, I’ll step out for a bit, and I’ll leave this to you for a while."
"Is it... something dangerous again?" Veronica asked, not without concern.
She did not know what Aiden had discussed with prisoner 1562 that afternoon, but she could sense... Aiden seemed to be preparing to delve into something risky again.
"I’ll be as careful as possible," Aiden said with a smile as he patted her shoulder.
