"Although the good cop, bad cop negotiation routine is indeed very practical, your acting was honestly far too stiff," the seasoned Swindler remarked with a critique. "If that female elf had put a few holes in my companions, we might have felt some tension. But with you two chatting so cautiously, unwilling to inflict even the slightest torment on my friends and just stiffly bantering back and forth, it actually put me at ease."
"I shouldn't count as your companion, right?" Yaxiu asked.
"It definitely isn't me, anyway," Harvey said faintly. "None of my companions breathe."
Not to mention Igola, a fraudster who made a living harvesting stupidity tax, or Harvey, a necromancer who had walked the underworld since youth and slaughtered countless people—even Yaxiu, an innocent youth with little worldly experience, could see at a glance that these two women were playing off each other. How could they possibly fall for it?
Tears welled up in Cleios's eyes and spilled over. "Failing to catch Serena is one thing... but to be mocked by a few outlanders as well... sob..."
Yaxiu stared, utterly dumbfounded. "It's really not that serious, big sis. And while you're crying, could you raise that gun barrel a little higher? I'm afraid your hand might slip..."
The purple-clad young woman laughed. "You certainly have some nerve. But if it were me, I would feign ignorance, thank the heavens, and sign the contract. Your lives are in my hands—do you really think you have the leverage to bargain?"
"Yes," Igola replied calmly. "Although we don't know the exact value, you undoubtedly need us 'outlanders.' If I'm not mistaken, outlanders are exceedingly rare here as well. The three of us might be the only bargaining chips you can get your hands on.
"In other words, right now we have immense value and zero market supply. If you want to make use of us, you must take our opinions seriously; otherwise, you won't find any replacements at all.
"So drop the nonsense about slave contracts and tell us your real requirements."
"Cleios was right," the purple-clad young woman smiled. "People like you, who can quickly see through the situation yet haven't listened to the Gospel from youth, will sooner or later become an enormous hidden danger."
"Thank you for the compliment."
"Yet you seem to have forgotten one thing." The purple-clad young woman flashed a wicked smile. "I do need outlanders, but there are three of you here. I still have the luxury of choice—"
She pulled out a sheet of contract weave-paper and tore it in half down the middle. "I think I probably only need one new slave who isn't quite so clever. Pretty girl, you're out."
Igola's mouth twitched with fury. "I'm a man!"
"Well then," the purple-clad young woman drew a second sheet of contract weave-paper and made a gesture as if about to rip it as well. "While I only need one new slave, I wouldn't mind having two—provided someone is sensible enough."
Still, no one answered.
Yaxiu and Harvey gazed at her calmly, their faces devoid of fear, as if watching a clumsy farce. At this point, even the purple-clad young woman failed to maintain her composed expression. Gritting her teeth, she snapped, "Are you sworn brothers who share life and death or something?"
"They've simply seen through your fierce facade," Igola murmured faintly. "If you truly only needed one outlander, why didn't you have that elf use a bullet to peel open my skull and see what's inside?"
"Setting everything else aside, I agree with that part," Yaxiu chimed in. "I'd like to see if his brain is oozing pure malice too."
The purple-clad young woman glared coldly at the three of them, her exquisite face grim and frosty as the atmosphere grew increasingly oppressive. Just when Yaxiu thought she might fly into a rage from humiliation and abandon all restraint to save face, the distant wails of rescued children broke the silence.
She let out a sigh. "Just what kind of depraved country could breed cunning demons like you?"
"I prefer to call it wisdom," Igola said nonchalantly.
The purple-clad young woman produced another intact sheet of contract weave-paper from her bosom and patted it gently, instantly causing lines of text to surface across it.
"This is my bottom line," she declared. "Sign it, or die here."
*Pew, pew, pew!* With three shots from Cleios, the miracle chains binding Yaxiu and his companions were completely dispelled, without harming them in the slightest.
The illegal immigrants harbored no intention of resisting. Aside from the dozen or so Red Hats surrounding them, they still had sorcery-locking collars around their necks. Furthermore, that weeping female elf behind them was alone enough to crush any daring thoughts—even if she hadn't caught Serena, the elf was almost certainly a Three-Winged Sanctuary Sorcerer!
A cult leader of Yaxiu's caliber had someone like Gerard attending to him, and Serena was clearly on a far higher level than Yaxiu in every respect; Cleios, who was tasked with capturing Serena, couldn't possibly be weaker than Gerard. On top of that, Cleios seemed to be ranked tenth on the Overall Red Hat Leaderboard—it would be stranger if she didn't possess Seven-Colored Wings.
As for why a three-winged sorcerer couldn't capture a seemingly frail cult leader... with Yaxiu standing there as a glaring precedent, Igola and Harvey had already come to view such bizarre occurrences as normal.
They obediently picked up the contract to read. Instantly, strange expressions dawned on their faces, and they exchanged glances in silence.
This time, the purple-clad young woman was genuinely incensed, her emerald pupils narrowing into vertical slits brimming with murderous intent. "You still want to push your luck?"
Yaxiu raised a hand and said, "No, we just have a modest request."
"What request?"
"Could you give us a dictionary?" He waved the contract. "We can't read some of the words on here."
In truth, saying he couldn't read "some" was Yaxiu being modest—nearly half the text was completely unintelligible. The disparity between those characters and Blood Moon script wasn't like simplified versus traditional characters; it was the difference between modern text and alien runes!
Fascinatingly, however, the other half of the characters was identical to the script of the Blood Moon Country.
After all, in different countries that maintained practically no contact, even if their written and spoken languages shared a common root, they would inevitably diverge over time into two vastly different systems. The fact that Yaxiu and the others could barely understand the spoken language here was already immense good fortune; being able to read only half the text was entirely within reason.
Yaxiu suddenly remembered that the Sword Princess had also spoken with a slightly strange accent. Back then, upon hearing that she hailed from the countryside, he had assumed it was just a charming quirk of her character...
"Ah, my apologies. That was my oversight."
The purple-clad young woman snapped her fingers, and a lavishly bound amethyst book abruptly materialized before her. Perhaps because they had heard it mentioned so many times that day, or perhaps due to the book's bizarre charm, the moment Yaxiu and the others saw it, they instantly knew its name—the *Book of Gospel*.
"One point apiece. Consider it my treat."
The purple-clad young woman tossed three golden melon seeds to them. Igola squeezed his, finding the texture reminiscent of jelly. "What is this?"
"The gospel of mortals, the medium of knowledge, the foundation of omniscience, the nemesis of ignorance, the seed of wisdom."
The purple-clad young woman smiled. "Wisdom golden melon seeds. Eat one, and you will instantly master our language."
...
Blood Moon Country, outskirts of Kaimeng City.
"What a pity we couldn't go upstream of the waterfall..." Adela sat on a small stool, looking toward the crimson cascade under the illumination of the blood moon, her face filled with regret.
"Isn't camping here just the same?" Freya was far more easygoing. Lifting the pot lid with iron tongs, she said, "The river seafood stew is ready! I'm starving to death. To think we couldn't eat until the sky turned red—it's all your fault for not knowing how to catch fish, Adela..."
"It's obviously your fault for not knowing how to start a fire!"
Though bickering, neither hesitated when it came to eating. They scooped up the food, huffing and puffing to blow it cool, and let out satisfied moans as they popped it into their mouths.
Evidently, the two of them were out camping. In truth, this style of camping was rather flawed; the proper way should have been solo camping, as it served as part of a sorcerer's preparatory training.
Upon stepping into the Void Realm, a sorcerer had to journey through the Sea of Knowledge alone, enduring challenges like loneliness, terror, and dead silence. For a social animal like humankind, novice sorcerers often spent considerable time adjusting to adventures in the Void Realm. Thus, to forge a sorcerer's willpower in advance, apprentices could engage in various activities in reality to simulate Void Realm exploration.
Camping, for instance, was an excellent trial. Wilderness survival was already remarkably similar to Void Realm exploration, and university students routinely went camping to experience independent survival. Consequently, the chances of encountering ruffians, scoundrels, and dying a meaningless death were not low at all.
Yet that was precisely one of the essential elements of camping: if there were no mortal danger, it held no experiential value whatsoever!
Hence, Freya and Adela's excursion was entirely wrong—they couldn't possibly venture as a pair in the Void Realm, so camping together offered no training value at all!
Having eaten and drunk her fill, Adela still cast a lingering, dissatisfied look toward the upstream section of the waterfall. "What do you think happened up there for it to be cordoned off as a restricted area?"
The campsite they had originally intended to visit was upstream of the waterfall, where bears, wolves, hounds, and other beasts were said to roam, presenting plenty of danger. Loving the thrill of gambling, Adela had already prepped pistols, bombs, and all kinds of weapons, eager to keep night watch and play a game of 'who is the hunter' with the wild beasts. To her dismay, upon arrival, they discovered the entire area had been sealed by the Sin Hunting Hall, forbidding entry to all unauthorized personnel.
"Maybe there's a Void Realm passage," Freya remarked as she undressed.
"...You want some action right after eating your fill?"
"No, just going to wash up." The Veela pointed toward the nearby river. "Don't worry, I can hold out for a night or two."
"What about three nights?"
"Can you go three consecutive days without gambling?"
"Then you really are impressive," Adela praised. "I can only manage one day of quitting at most."
Watching the Veela cutely hop into the crimson river to splash around, Adela let out a quiet sigh.
Originally, Adela had invited Freya out last time to help her unwind, but it had ended up with Adela unwinding herself instead. She felt rather guilty about it, yet when even seductive beauties failed to tempt the Veela, Adela became increasingly convinced that Freya had a serious screw loose.
After turning it over in her mind, Adela had brought her camping to experience nature. The justification was perfectly sound, too: camping, being harassed by vagrants, or even facing murder was an indispensable part of the university experience that one simply had to taste.
*Wait a second. If she's off bathing, who's washing the dishes and the pot?*
Adela muttered a couple of complaints, but she still obediently picked up the tableware and headed slightly upstream from Freya to wash them, hoping the grease would gross the Veela out. Seeing this from afar, Freya realized her scheme had been exposed and swam over with a flattering smile. "Aiya, let me help you wash a bowl—"
*Splash!*
Both of them looked toward the waterfall simultaneously. Adela asked, "Did you hear that?"
"I did," Freya nodded. "It sounded like something fell down the waterfall. A rock?"
"I don't think so..."
Under their tense gaze, a pitiful, petite figure clad in a black dress drifted along with the current, appearing before their eyes like an abandoned child.
"Pretty big sisters, kind-hearted big sisters," the drenched doll girl said pitifully. "Could you save Serena?"
Chapter 187