Entering the study is a housekeeper who has served Fokas for many years.
His name is Reiner, he is nearly sixty years old, and he is considered a long life among the non-upper class of gray people.
Reiner's hair has already been obviously gray, and the wrinkles on the corners of his eyes, lips, and forehead are quite obvious, but his body is tough and his spirit is good.
"General, the bath water is ready." Reiner bowed.
Fokas' yellow eyes swept across the housekeeper's face, and he nodded and said:
"Okay."
He got up slowly, led several guards guarding the door, and went up to the second floor while stroking the statue on the handrail.
The guards remained at the bedroom door, followed by only two maids, helping Phocas take off his general's uniform and enter the bathroom.
The general's habit was to go to bed at night after taking a bath, and no one was allowed to disturb him until he woke up on his own.
As usual, Fokas took a glass of red wine and ran comfortably to take a shower, and when the maids simply tidied up the bathroom, they immediately got into the wide bed and covered themselves with velvet quilts.
As an elderly man, the mattress of this bed has been changed to a hard type to help him relieve the pain in his lower back.
Whenever he feels the strong support of the mattress, Focus always misses the early years.
At that time, his bed was so soft that he seemed to be able to sink into it.
At that time, his wife was still alive.
As the curtains closed and the bedside lamp closed, the entire room was overwhelmed by rich darkness.
Fokas' breathing gradually became longer.
A quarter of an hour passed, and the bedroom door quietly opened.
The guards who were supposed to prevent anyone from disturbing the general's sleep disappeared or turned a blind eye.
The person who entered the bedroom was of medium height and was wearing a black formal suit.
He walked in the low light and came to Phocas's bedside step by step.
Then, he took out a needle from his clothing pocket.
After pushing out a little liquid, the dimly lit man leaned down and aimed the needle at a vein somewhere in Phocas.
Syllable!
The bedside lamp suddenly lit up, and the originally warm yellowish light was quite dazzling to humans who were accustomed to the dim environment.
The man who tried to inject the poison into Phocas couldn't help but close his eyes, straighten up in fear, and step back.
After adapting to the light, he opened his eyes again and saw that Phocas had sat up, his yellow eyes looking at him coldly, his whole person was full of momentum and extremely majestic.
The man who sneaked into the room subconsciously held his breath, just like every time he encountered a similar gaze every time he had been in so many years.
He has gray hair and obvious wrinkles, and he is Reiner, Phocas's most trusted housekeeper.
"Why?" Fokas asked in a deep voice.
He did not encounter the panic of the attack at all.
Reiner overcame the fear in his heart, the corners of his mouth curled up, and a strange smile appeared:
"Because I am the 'shepherd' Buyon."
"You?" Focus sneered, but didn't say anything more, and asked calmly, "Why did you choose such an opportunity that was not an opportunity at all to attack me, did you also lose your IQ?"
Reiner laughed:
"If you ask such a question, it means that I am not wrong.
"If you want to deal with a veteran 'Mind Corridor' level awakener and a general who can command the entire city defense force, recklessness cannot solve the problem, you must patiently observe the details, carefully collect intelligence, find out your weaknesses, and then wait for an opportunity like tonight when the city defense army is guarding everywhere but has laxened here.
"Fortunately, you can deceive everyone for a period of time, or you can deceive some people forever, but you can't deceive everyone forever. This sentence is not what I said, it is a famous saying from the old world, and it is just right to use it for you.
"I sneaked into your mansion and spent so long, not to find an opportunity to influence you, but to look through the memories of the people around you little by little and look for clues from them." (Note 1: Lincoln's famous quote)
Fokas laughed instead of angry:
"What did you find?"
Reiner shrugged:
"I found that you have a habit that has not changed for many years, whether you are commanding the army outside or facing turmoil in the city at the beginning, you must go to bed before ten o'clock in the evening, never beyond this time.
"Moreover, when you are sleeping, no one can disturb you, and once, an emergency military situation was reported to you by phone, but you did not answer.
"It was eleven o'clock in the evening, and you didn't call back until two in the morning.
"In addition, I have followed many awakeners in the 'Dawn' realm, looked through their memories for opportunities, and concluded some common costs, including 'a deep coma for a certain period of time'.
"Based on this information, I judge that you will be in a deep coma between 10:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m."
As a soldier who has been born and died many times, Phocas' abilities have never been a big secret, and those who are willing can easily investigate them.
As far as the "shepherd" Bouillon knows, the two most obvious are:
"Create a coma" and "awaken the physical potential".
As for the third one, it belongs to a more hidden type, and not many people know about it.
As a senior awakener at the "Spiritual Corridor" level, "Shepherd" Bouyon knows very well that after entering the "Spiritual Corridor", the corresponding boundaries of Fukas' two abilities will inevitably be expanded, and they must not be viewed with old eyes.
——After being promoted to the "Mind Corridor", the number of Fokas shots has decreased significantly, and most of the time it shows the two types of "creating a coma" and "awakening physical potential".
Phokas didn't speak, still looking coldly at Reiner, the housekeeper in front of him.
Reiner smiled:
"Your inquiry just made me sure that your price was 'deep coma for a certain period of time', but I made a certain misjudgment at a specific point in time.
"The reason why I have told you so much is to wait for the time when you are truly unconscious.
"I'm very strange, you didn't panic at all, and you were willing to talk to me, did you want to forcibly show composure and scare me to interrupt the follow-up attack?
"Don't worry, every quarter of an hour, a group of people in your mansion will come here and try to kill you, except for your two children, I think there will always be someone who will run into your unconsciousness.
"Don't struggle, even if you let everyone in this house fall unconscious now, there will be killers coming over the surrounding area one after another, your only way is to call immediately now and ask the Archon or the Senate for help, and at that time, there may be my puppet among the people who come to protect you."
After listening quietly, Fokas sighed:
"You are really patient, unlike most people in the 'Anti-Intellectual'.
"I did play some tricks on the timing, and I didn't answer the phone when there was an emergency military situation, but I actually did it on purpose, just like I had to go to bed before ten o'clock every night, which together constituted a misleading for a secret observer like you.
"As a general, you must know how to leave room for you. In the early days of the old world, there was already the concept of reserves, so how could I not make corresponding arrangements now?"
Speaking of this, Fokas laughed:
"From ten o'clock in the evening to two o'clock in the morning, it is not my coma time.
"Also, you may not have heard a sentence that the emperor once said: The Awakened must protect themselves as they protect their own eyes.
The smile on Fokas' face became more and more obvious:
"In fact, my price is not 'deep coma for a certain period of time' at all, I have been trying to build an illusion since I have a certain strength, and that illusion is 'my price is a deep coma for a certain period of time' to cover up the price I really paid.
"There is a saying among the gray people that war cannot rule out deceitful and fraudulent strategies. The same applies in battles between the Awakened Ones.
"Otherwise, do you think I will talk to you so safely?"
The expression on Reiner's face gradually froze.
Phokas slowly turned over and got out of bed, and said casually:
"Have you noticed that your insomnia has become more and more serious during this time?"
Reiner didn't answer, but his brows furrowed.
"Since the team of Xue Shiyue and Zhang Qubing left here, but was followed by a fake 'priest', I have been speculating whether the 'pastor' Bouyon has lurked nearby and planned some conspiracy against me." Fokas touched the top of his head and said with a smile, "Since then, I have been targeting everyone in this block indiscriminately, except for my two children."
Reiner was silent for a while and said:
"Your third ability is to make people insomnia to varying degrees?"
"Yes." Fokas smiled and said, "In addition to making you more and more insomnia, I have also awakened your physical potential, so that you can maintain a good state while suffering from insomnia without affecting your daily life, so you can continue to look at the memories of the crowd on a large scale and little by little.
"In this matter, I have been going step by step, and I shouldn't have noticed anything, after all, when you look through your memories, you must focus on various details related to me, not the living conditions of the person being reviewed."
Reiner was silent again, and after a while he asked:
"What's the point of this?"
"Of course it makes sense." Fokas paced slowly and glanced at him, "The intelligence system of the 'First City' is still very strong, and some of the costs of your 'End Man' realm have long been mastered, and I found that many of them are physical and physiological costs, such as sleep disorders, such as high blood pressure, such as physical fitness decline, etc., etc.
"I don't know if your price is in this part, just make a try, anyway, if you fail, there will be no loss, but if you succeed, hey......"
Fokas laughed:
"After overdrawing your body to fight insomnia for a long time, once no one awakens your physical potential, what do you think will happen?
"A mild serious illness may lead to sudden death."
Reiner's face sank.
He looked left and right and said:
"There must be many people in poor physical condition in the surrounding area, aren't you afraid of affecting them?"
"There is a saying among gray people that soft-hearted people are not suitable to be generals." Focus raised his chin, showing that majestic gesture, "I don't check the surrounding area, look for suspicious people, just not to scare you away and have the opportunity to teach you a lesson."
Speaking of this, Fokas glanced at Reiner and laughed at himself:
"What do I say to you so much? You're just a puppet......
As soon as he finished speaking, Reiner fell down and fell on the carpet.
The guards outside the door, as well as others in the mansion, also fell into a coma.
Fokas changed into casual clothes, went to his two adult children, carried one in one hand, hurried to the garage, and got into a bulletproof off-road vehicle.
Immediately afterwards, he drove the vehicle to the green olive area to the north.
During this process, he did not call the Senate or the State Council, nor did he contact his subordinates belonging to the City Defense Army.
(End of this chapter)