Marvel: The Super Player

The Salem Witch Trials!

Taking place in 1692 in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, over twenty witches were discovered there. Much like what happened in Europe, they were tied and burned alive.

The history was bloody.

The imagery was brutal.

In fact, during that era when witch hunting was rampant, whether or not you were actually a witch no longer mattered. What truly mattered was whether the witch hunters deemed you to be one.

And here in New Orleans...

The proprietress pointed over toward a group of men in their fifties who were carrying a flagpole and preparing to enter the forest. "Look there. See that man holding a sharp sword in his hand?"

Locke and Carrie followed the direction of her finger and nodded.

"Jim."

The proprietress said, "Jim Rhodes, a witch hunter of Lake Lery. The one next to him is Foxx, the security guard for Lake Lery."

Locke raised an eyebrow.

"Foxx?"

Why did that surname sound a bit familiar?

Locke recalled the woman named Cordelia whom he had encountered on the road earlier, who also seemed to bear the surname Foxx.

"Cordelia Foxx?"

"You saw Cordelia?"

"Yeah."

"Cordelia is technically the daughter-in-law of Rhodes Foxx."

"..."

A witch whose father-in-law was a witch hunter?

How did that make any sense?

No.

More accurately, he should be considered the caretaker of the graves where the witches were buried?

According to the proprietress, back when the witch trials were occurring in Salem, this very Lake Lery had also seen numerous stories of witch trials. In those days, the bodies of the witches who were tried were all cast into Lake Lery.

Over the years, a few bones would still surface from time to time.

However, the local residents had long since grown accustomed to it and would never think to do something like calling the police.

But this made things seem even more unusual.

Locke looked over at Carrie, who was sitting across from him. Evidently, upon hearing this answer, she clearly blinked her eyes.

The proprietress let out a chuckle and said, "Ever since Cordelia found out Foxx was the caretaker for Lake Lery, she has tried to convince him to change professions more than once, but it has never worked. However, I heard that Cordelia and Foxx's son, Hank Foxx, seem to have separated."

Don't assume that only elderly women enjoy spreading gossip.

The middle-aged women over here were no exception.

In fact...

Within a short span of ten minutes, Locke had already figured out exactly who belonged to this so-called group of witch hunters mentioned by the proprietress.

Soon.

The proprietress left with a face full of satisfaction, carrying Locke's hundred-dollar bill away on her serving tray.

Watching her actions, Carrie looked over at Locke. "Is she not planning to give us any change?"

Locke smiled. "Evidently, yes."

Carrie turned her head to look at the proprietress, who had explicitly claimed she wouldn't overcharge customers but ended up overcharging them more ruthlessly than anyone. She felt somewhat speechless.

She will probably die.

Carrie silently felt a trace of pity for the proprietress.

But...

Locke caught Carrie's subtle look and let out a chuckle. "I am not that short-tempered."

He wouldn't go so far as to pronounce someone guilty and brutally end their life over a mere hundred dollars.

At the very least, it would have to start at two hundred dollars.

Locke thought to himself.

Rising to his feet.

Locke called out to the proprietress, letting her know that he and Carrie were going to take a look around Lake Lery and hoping she would allow him to leave his car parked out front for a while.

The proprietress naturally agreed to this request. After all, she had pulled in a hundred dollars for pastries that cost less than thirty, so to be perfectly frank, she felt a little guilty.

Stepping out the door.

Locke and Carrie happened to see a group of tourists who, noticing that people were heading toward Lake Lery together, decided to join up and follow them along.

Carrie asked in a low voice, "What should we do?"

Locke thought it over. "Let's see how things play out first. We will try the conventional route to begin with."

They were strangers in a strange land.

While they could easily resort to raw force, the moment he and Carrie arrived here, the local witch hunters would face a catastrophic crisis. No matter how one looked at it, that seemed like inviting unnecessary trouble.

Furthermore.

If he truly intended to resort to brute force from the start, Locke wouldn't have bothered asking George for his network of contacts in New Orleans.

Taking a life was a crime.

And crimes required the law to hand out punishment.

Therefore...

Locke intended to let the law punish the wrongdoers this time around.

Locke said to Carrie, "If diplomacy fails, we will have Syndra step in."

I am trying to discuss the law with you. If you refuse to accept it, then don't blame me for taking back the respect I offered.

Carrie remained silent for a moment, then nodded her head.

Lake Lery was not particularly far from the small town where Locke and Carrie were staying, but the paths through the mountain forest were somewhat difficult to navigate. It took about an hour of walking before they finally reached the outer perimeter of Lake Lery.

However, even if one wished to head further inside, it was impossible.

"Why?"

"Lake Lery is the property of our town of Leca. Outsiders are only permitted to enter when we open it up during June and July. Apologies, but you cannot enter."

"..."

Several pairs of tourists who, like Locke, had intended to follow the crowd inside to take a look, wound up being turned away at the gates.

However, this did not dampen the crowd's enthusiasm for watching the spectacle.

If they couldn't enter Lake Lery itself, they could always head up to the surrounding cliff faces. Standing higher allowed them to see much further.

Locke and Carrie located a spot and looked down at the various groups gathered around Lake Lery.

A few of those groups were currently splashing some sort of liquid onto their bodies.

Are they performing a shamanic ritual?

Carrie frowned as she observed the groups who looked closer to being possessed, delivering a question that struck at the core: "Aren't they cold?"

Even without drawing upon her magic, she could feel a chilly breeze.

Yet this crowd of people actually had their upper bodies completely bare. They weren't even Russian, so why were they acting like polar bears?

Locke smiled. "Perhaps this is what people with faith look like."

"What faith?"

Carrie gave Locke a curious look, then recalled something and said, "Hunting witches is their faith?"

Locke shrugged. "Some people believe in God, some believe in Satan, and they happen to believe in hunting witches. It is all about freedom of belief."

"The witch trials were a persecution!"

As a witch herself, Carrie was naturally unwilling to listen to such talk, defending her kind.

"The witch trials were merely a massive falsehood fabricated by Christianity in order to safeguard the authority of the Pope."

She paused.

Carrie seemed to lack a bit of confidence as she added, "That is how it is written in the history textbooks."

It couldn't be helped.

If Carrie had dared to say such things before she began following Agatha Harkness, it would be one thing. But after systematically studying the history of witches under Agatha Harkness, making such a statement clearly left her feeling a bit deficient in confidence.

But...

Carrie lowered her voice, speaking in a tone that only Locke and she could hear. "Those were dark witches who sacrificed their souls to hell. There are bad people among humans too."

Locke said, "Humans fear yet crave powers that they cannot control. For them, destruction is far easier to achieve than creation. Consequently, human history is a history of warfare."

What I cannot obtain, I destroy!

This was a law written deep within the souls of mankind.

Carrie opened her mouth.

Just then.

Carrie caught sight of a woman walking up from behind them right next to Locke—someone they had already crossed paths with.

Cordelia.

Looking at Cordelia as she approached, a flicker of surprise flashed across Locke's eyes, and he offered a very gentlemanly greeting.

"We meet again, Ms. Foxx."

Cordelia glanced at Locke and Carrie, a hint of astonishment also flashing through her eyes. After offering a brief greeting, she smiled warmly at Locke.

"Didn't Mr. Broughton say that he held no interest in this witch trial assembly?"

Locke smiled. "I still hold no interest in it right now."

Cordelia's expression remained unchanged, but it practically screamed, Mr. Broughton, your ability to lie through your teeth is truly eye-opening.

Locke smiled. "I came here to look for someone."

Cordelia nodded.

And then...

There was no then.

She possessed little interest in learning the purpose of this Locke beside her, who claimed to hail from Texas. They were merely crossing paths by chance and did not know each other, so why bother being so enthusiastic?

Locke did not continue the conversation with Cordelia either, as he was currently weighing a particular issue.

Evidently.

Carrie was looking at him, seemingly asking the exact same question.

Since Lake Lery did not permit outsiders to enter, how were they supposed to head inside to locate Anila Katz's body and subsequently have the police logically initiate a criminal investigation?

In this country, there was a common saying.

No body, no case!

This was no laughing matter. If you wished to charge a person with murder, you absolutely had to produce a corpse.

Otherwise, even if he committed the act right before your eyes, without a body, let alone the presumption of innocence due to reasonable doubt, the case wouldn't even be able to proceed to the courtroom stage.

Just then.

Over by Lake Lery, the shamanic ritual activities commenced.

Several crosses were lined up in a single row, and a few actors tasked with playing the roles of witches were invited onto the crosses.

Following the declaration of the so-called witch hunter group and a burst of passionate, wild shouting, a variety of singing and dancing ensued. While laughing, they prepared to ignite the flames to burn those witches.

Locke's eyebrows shot up as he sensed a sudden surge of violent magic right beside him.

Cordelia.

This magic?

Wait.

Locke raised an eyebrow. Unowned magic?

My goodness.

The inherent foundational talent is that powerful?

Locke thought to himself.

To put it this way.

If the maximum value for potential was ten, then when Carrie originally awakened, her potential was at most a five.

Even after forming a contract with Locke, with an endless supply of magical energy flowing to her, Carrie's rank remained anchored and completely fixed at level five. There was no possibility of her rising to level six.

Unless Locke helped Carrie defy heaven and alter her destiny, even if Locke became the lord of the universe in the future, Carrie's rank would still only be level five.

In layman's terms.

Carrie's rank, from the moment she...

No.

From the very moment Carrie was born, it had already been completely locked down.

For the rest of her life, she could at most reach level five.

Those words sounded harsh.

But it was the absolute truth.

Unlike Locke.

Locke's rank could be increased without being subject to any constraints.

And the underlying reason behind this state of affairs was precisely due to the universe itself.

To put it this way.

This universe had already decayed and solidified!

***

You can support me and read 40 Chapters early on P-atreon.com/Redestro666