Hate to Interrupt You

"This is completely absurd. Every attack meant for her ended up helping her escape." Yaxiu quietly backed into his faction of outsiders, grumbling, "This has gone way past being a 'coincidence.' Is she some kind of chosen maiden favored by fate?" "If you put it that way, aren't you a child of destiny yourself?" Harvey chuckled. "What?" "He's right," Igola couldn't help chiming in. "I wanted to deal with you, and I ended up framed and forced to join your escape squad. Valkas wanted to deal with you, and he ended up protecting you during the Blood Moon Trial. On top of that, we just happened to run into a necromancer capable of manipulating the chip processor... A prison break that should have taken years of planning took less than a month because you managed to assemble every crucial piece. "If you think about it carefully, Cult Leader, your prison break story is far more bizarre than that doll girl's." "That's completely different, all right?" Yaxiu argued. "Isn't it perfectly normal for a prison to have all kinds of people skilled in jailbreaking? It's like asking passengers on a train whether they bought a ticket—of course everyone has one! "Besides, wasn't our escape thanks to my astonishing willpower, tireless effort, ironclad perseverance, and critical flashes of brilliance? It was purely personal effort, without a drop of luck!" At this point, even Harvey couldn't resist wearing a gentle 'yes, yes, whatever you say, I don't argue with fools' smile. "Double-standard hypocrite," Igola spat. "Yours is personal effort, while everyone else is favored by fate? Is it really that hard to admit you were carried?" "I call it the proper allocation of human resources, allowing everyone to play to their strengths and letting professionals handle professional tasks—" Igola sneered. "Naturally, free-riders never admit they were carried, just like lucky people never admit luck played a part." "I see it now." Yaxiu put on an infuriating expression of sudden realization. "You're putting me down again. Down deep, you know I'm indispensable, so you resort to verbal bullying to cope, don't you?" Igola's mouth twisted in irritation. "You double-standard dog..." "All right, all right," Harvey stepped in to smooth things over, changing the subject. "If only we had jumped in after her earlier. There was only one defenseless doll girl on the other side. But now..." "And the other side might very well be the Four Pillar Cult's headquarters," Igola retorted irritably. "And as we already know, our dear Cult Leader doesn't have much of a reputation within his own organization." Yaxiu stared at the cavity bubbling with water, his thoughts drifting momentarily. He suddenly remembered that among the observation post reports Professor Xilin had gathered, one had noted, *'The other side of the Void Realm passage is an underground river'...* Did the Everlasting Presence end up in the Blood Moon Country? What kind of tactic was this? A base trade? *Tap.* The three unregistered foreigners looked up to see Cleios walking over to them. Her beautiful large eyes were swollen from crying, and she sniffled. "You... the three of you are the outlanders?" "According to the laws of the Gospel Country, the Gospel Country, any outlander must be executed immediately." Without giving them a chance to explain, she raised her gun and aimed it straight at Yaxiu's forehead. "May the Gospel guide your path." Staring into the dark barrel, Yaxiu realized they were still far from safe. They weren't targets of protection for the local law enforcement; they were an invasive species, the equivalent of giant southern American cockroaches. Swatting them dead on sight was basic civic duty for any good citizen! To them, the Four Pillar Cult was certainly a pack of vicious beasts, but the locals were even more vicious natives! Yet compared to the Four Pillar Gods, local law enforcement was even more hopeless. Villains at least had good guys to fight them, but when the good guys wanted to kill you, who was there to intervene? Right then, a pleasant voice drifted down from above. "Wait a moment, Cleios! Didn't we agree that the spoils belong to me?" Someone was here to save them! The three stowaways turned their heads in surprise, thinking that whoever saved them, they would remember the debt of gratitude forever— Yet in the very next second, every ounce of gratitude vanished into burning irritation. "Long time no see, you three." A girl in purple leaped down from the hole in the ceiling, landing as lightly as a butterfly. "Though we did just see each other an hour ago." The young butler followed closely behind her. Pointing toward the flooded ground, he created a path of frost that extended forward, allowing the girl's tall boots to step onto clean ice. These two were none other than the ambushers outside the Void Realm passage—the culprits from the Funeral Agency who had looted the trio's unconscious bodies and sold them to the Four Pillar Cult! "Annan." Cleios dabbed her nose with a handkerchief. "You want to protect these outlanders?" "It's not protecting them, it's taking back what's mine," the purple-clad girl, Annan, said with a smile. "We agreed beforehand. As my reward for reporting the Four Pillar Cult's base to the Red Hats, these three are my spoils of war. You can't just dispose of them as you please." *She sold us out, then sold out the Four Pillar Cult, profiting off both the underworld and the authorities—a double win of black-eating-black—and now she wants to recycle us for another round of reuse?* Yaxiu shot Igola a look: *Look, someone of your kind.* Igola shook his head: *Yours, rather.* "The three of them are outlanders," Cleios said, enunciating every word. "Just like Serena, they are pests who harm the world and desecrate the Gospel. They must be executed immediately. Otherwise, once the Gospel behind their ears fades, they will return to notify the evil gods of the outside realm and lead demons here to trample our fields, our cities, and our innocent citizens." *The Gospel behind the ear?* "Yaxiu, turn your head to the right." "Why don't I look at yours..." While muttering his complaint, Yaxiu obediently turned his head. Igola glanced at it and said quietly, "There's a pale yellow countdown behind your ear. It probably started from seventy-two hours, and its effect is most likely preventing us from using spatial movement." "That is the divine punishment of the Omniscient Weaver upon you demons who dare invade the Gospel Country," Cleios said, pressing the gun barrel firmly against Yaxiu's forehead. "Before the countdown ends, we who listen to the Gospel will slaughter all of you blind, foolish demons." The three exchanged glances, the same thought crossing their minds: this country's anti-invasion mechanism wasn't all that impressive. They knew for a fact that someone had successfully returned alive to the Blood Moon three days ago, which was why the May 1st Hunting Festival existed in the first place. "They won't be able to do that anymore," the purple-clad girl said with a smile. "The moment they arrived in Gospel, the Void Realm passage they crossed through was closed. They can't go back. If you don't believe me, you can check with the Book of Gospel to see if I'm lying." Cleios hesitated. "You aren't lying to me?" "Checking whether I'm lying is cheap, isn't it? Are you unwilling to spend even that many points? If it comes down to it, I'll pay for it." "No need." Cleios's eyes reddened again. "But they are outlanders after all..." "Outlanders who won't grant you any points even if you kill them," the purple-clad girl said. "I just checked. These three don't have any bounties in the Book of Gospel. Killing them won't boost your Red Hat ranking. On the other hand, our contract explicitly states that the spoils belong to me. If you insist on breaching it, your credit rating will take a major hit, which heavily impacts Red Hat rankings. You might even drop out of the Overall Red Hat Leaderboard, you know?" "But they aren't spoils of war..." "So you admit they are natural persons? Right now, they don't have a single criminal record, and a Red Hat killing a natural person without a criminal record is taboo." Cleios sniffled. "You agency people always have so many twisted arguments... But they are outlanders in the end, with an extremely high propensity for crime. If you want to take them away, you must have the means to control them." "I prepared for that long ago." The purple-clad girl produced three white contracts with gold borders. "Contract weave-paper redeemed directly from the Book of Gospel. It's bound by both the Void Realm and the Omniscient Weaver; not even a Four-Winged Legend can break it. As long as they sign these three contracts and accept my restraint, they will never be able to harm Gospel. Will that satisfy you?" "In the name of Doran, under my command, they will only become a force for Gospel." Cleios raised her gun barrel, seemingly swayed. "If that's the case..." Both women turned their gaze toward the three pitiful, weak, and helpless stowaways sitting on the ground. Normally, this would be the moment when stowaways burst into tears of gratitude, begging to sign the contract just to preserve their miserable lives. Yet none of the three spoke. They simply looked back at them in calm silence. "It seems they aren't willing to be restrained." Cleios pressed her gun against Yaxiu's forehead again. "Since I'm already burying cultists, burying a few more makes no difference—" "Don't be so hasty, Cleios." The purple-clad girl crouched down and looked at them. "Don't you want to live? Why aren't you saying anything?" The three exchanged glances. Finally, Yaxiu spoke up: "I'd like to say something, but you two were acting so intensely that I hate to interrupt."