A Talk About Life

Desecrating the gospel, deceiving a God! Leaving aside Igola and Harvey, who were general believers raised beneath the blood-red moonlight, even an invasive alien species completely void of faith like Yaxiu felt his temples throb at the words. This was practically jerking off in a Veela's bedroom—getting caught meant instant death! Although Yaxiu had never seen a God make a move, a God's influence over reality was undeniably absolute. Blood Moon's chips and Gospel's Book of Gospel were, at their core, extensions of a God's power merely entrusted to mortals to administer. Never mind that Yaxiu and the others had staged a prison break and triggered the Blood Moon Trial; in the eyes of the Blood Moon God, who had ruled Blood Moon Country for over sixteen hundred years, they were just a few bugs brawling with each other—not even worth a glance. Yet the Weaving Ceremony Annan spoke of was a major event that even the Omniscient Weaver personally monitored, even granting a single wish as a reward. The level of importance placed on it was comparable to grade-schoolers going on a spring field trip. Under such circumstances, Annan still intended to drag these few bugs along to make trouble. It was the equivalent of an American cockroach flying straight into someone's face. The most probable outcome for them would be to start a second life in the Void Realm. Annan had prepared herself to provide some mental counseling for her new employees. Yet after a brief moment of shock, instead of showing fear, the new hires wore eager expressions—and the one most thrilled was none other than Igola, whom Annan held in very high regard! His ears were red enough to appear translucent. Grabbing the shoulder of Yaxiu beside him, the corners of his mouth curled uncontrollably. "Yaxiu, staying with you really does drag one into a vortex of danger, doesn't it?" "And how is this my fault again?!" It wasn't that they didn't know how perilous this was; rather, it was precisely the high risk and high return that made them look forward to it so much... Annan arched her brows. "It seems you were exceptionally dangerous talents in your original country as well." "Isn't that just what you wanted, Miss Annan?" Igola smiled. "Isn't what you need reckless madmen like us, completely fearless of life and death?" "Don't speak for me, you male Veela!" Yaxiu shouted. "Besides, there are three of us here. Does every single one of us have to go? I volunteer to be the team captain to supervise them!" "First, it's not three, but four." Annan reached out and patted Lisi's head. "Second, while your status as outsiders gives you the ultimate foundation for exploiting loopholes, whether we can truly deceive the Book of Gospel depends on whether my methods work. The more participants there are, the higher my margin for error. "Even if we can deceive the Book of Gospel, you still need to meet the baseline conditions for deception. For example, among the Future Boards, there is a Beauty Board. Out of the four of you, only Lisi and Bogin stand a chance of deceiving the Book of Gospel..." Lisi immediately chimed in, "I think Sister Bogin is way prettier than me!" "Yaxiu!" Igola offered a sweet smile. "Educate your child properly." "Right, Lisi!" Yaxiu called out vigorously. "That's entirely too rude of you! Igola is from the same generation as me. You should be calling her Auntie Bogin!" Lisi squeezed her cheeks as if unable to control her own mouth. "Au-Auntie Bogin—" "Then, what if there's a board none of us qualify for, but it carries the highest hidden score?" Harvey chewed fiercely on his finger, looking down at his Book of Gospel. "And even if we make the board, are we guaranteed first place? Being outsiders might grant us a high probability of becoming Echoers, but which board we get on and what rank we attain aren't necessarily things you can control with precision, right?" "Correct." Annan nodded. "However, this 'hidden score' isn't calculated independently; it can be accumulated." "Accumulated?" Igola, currently wrestling with Yaxiu, paused slightly. "Could it be you want..." "As long as each of you appears on several boards, your hidden score is guaranteed to surpass any Echoer who can only make a single board," Annan smiled. "Generally speaking, every profession has its specialization. Being recorded on even one Future Board already means you possess extraordinary talent in a specific area. Multi-boarders are exceedingly rare. "However, you are outsiders. Since you can deceive one Future Board, why not deceive a few more? Say, three, five, seven... or even nine?" Igola narrowed his eyes. "To be blunt, if we're being this brazen, instead of calling it 'deception,' I'd rather call it 'kidnapping.' "You want to use us to kidnap the Weaving Ceremony, forcing the God to pay the ransom you want just to uphold the Book of Gospel's credibility." "Mr. Bogin, you and I belong to the same breed of cunning madmen." Annan drained her red wine in one gulp. "If you were in my shoes, would you miss out on a once-in-fifty-years opportunity like this?" "Even if your opponent is the God who reigns over reality?" "Even if my opponent is the God who reigns over reality." Igola took a deep breath, an excited flush spreading across his face. "It truly is an irresistible temptation. Yaxiu, oh Yaxiu, it seems I'll have to cooperate with you once again." Yaxiu said helplessly, "Wait, Igola, do you consider me your best friend or something?" "Huh?" "Otherwise, why is it that the moment you run into an obvious pyramid scheme trap, your first instinct is to recruit me as your downline?" "There's still something I don't understand," Harvey asked. "Since we are this important, why did you sell us to the Four Pillar Cult? Weren't you afraid the cult might destroy such vital chess pieces?" "Because she wanted to tame us completely," Igola sneered. "Compared to this current employment arrangement, she'd much rather we serve her with pure, unadulterated loyalty. Had her and the Red Hat's acting not been so atrocious, we might very well have become her loyal beasts of burden out of gratitude." "And another point: for this." Annan toyed with her new earring. "This is the compensation the Four Pillar Cult paid to purchase you—a Marg crystal stone. If you died, I still wouldn't lose out; at least I'd have an earring. If you didn't die, it was a win-win: I earned an earring and snatched you back." Igola glanced at the amethyst earring valued equally to the three of them. "What's so special about it?" "Marg crystal stones are produced in the deep layers of the Burning Steel Abyss within the Boethiah region, embedded inside steel-layered walls. They are virtually impossible to mine, and we can only rely on the 'Bluebeard' troops stationed to suppress the Abyss to salvage them under exceptional circumstances. They are exceedingly rare, with fewer than three mined each year." "I see, I see." Igola nodded. "So does it come with a permanent miracle? For example, permanent dust repelling, moisture retention, or complete sun protection?" "I'm guessing it enhances sorcery spirits and miracle effects," Harvey guessed. "If it's that scarce, it must be worth a fortune, right?" Yaxiu said with immense certainty. "Are you going to trade it for an even bigger luxury flat?" Only Lisi tilted her head, gazing at Annan before letting out an awe-filled cry. "Big Sister, you're so pretty! With that earring, you've become even prettier! Daddy, don't you agree?" "Huh?" Yaxiu scrutinized Annan carefully and couldn't help nodding. "It really makes you look incredibly sensual. It makes one imagine what you look like blushing..." Annan raised her eyebrows. "Mr. Bogin, please cover Yaxiu's eyes. Yaxiu, please allow Mr. Bogin to cover your eyes." "Yaxiu, I've told you before that your gaze is entirely too filthy..." "Loosen your grip a bit, you're squashing my nose out of shape! I can cover my own eyes, why does he have to do it!" "Shut up. The fact that Eldest Miss Annan didn't order me to gouge out your eyes and replace them with mechanical ones is already immense mercy on her part." "Igola, you defected just like that?!" Harvey blinked, asking blankly, "So the effect of this earring is... looking good?" "Wrong," Annan corrected. "It makes me look even better." You sold the three of us to the Four Pillar Cult just to make yourself look better?! Igola wasn't particularly surprised. Restraining Yaxiu, he asked, "Is it because of the rankings?" "Yes." Resting her chin in her hand, Purple Moth said, "With this earring, my ranking on the Azula Beauty Board rose to third place, and on the overall Beauty Board, I climbed to eighth. If you had died, or if my plan failed to work, this earring would at least partially offset my losses." "Guidance from the Book of Gospel?" Igola asked. "Can you even ask it how to climb higher?" "Naturally, you can't be that blunt. But if you ask 'how to deepen my realm in the mind faction' or 'how to become more beautiful,' the Book of Gospel will provide the most suitable advice based on the resources currently accessible to you," Annan said. "The Book of Gospel is the finest mentor." "I've been feeling this for a while now, but doesn't this Book of Gospel sound like the reward from a Destiny Q&A in the Void Realm?" Yaxiu suddenly remarked. "Indeed. Yet a Destiny Q&A reward, which is a rare encounter in the Void Realm, can now be enjoyed simply by spending a few points. Aren't you beginning to envy the residents of our Gospel Country?" Yaxiu said, "It sounds more like the first love you could never catch up to was mass-produced into clone dolls by an evil sorcerer, and now you just need to spend a little money to rent a girlfriend and relive old dreams." "...Mr. Bogin, please..." "Already covered his mouth," Igola said. "Behave yourself, Yaxiu, or Eldest Miss Annan is going to shove her sock into your mouth." "Hur... stohk-ingz?!" Annan watched their interaction with keen interest, deepening her understanding of them. Rather than telling Yaxiu to shut up herself, she had Igola do it, precisely to glean more information through their dynamic. Igola was handsome, exceedingly calm, and carried himself with refined grace. It was apparent he had been an accomplished figure in his original country, but an excess of caution made him somewhat indecisive. Harvey was constantly chewing his fingers; according to what she had overheard in the dressing room, he harbored immense thirst for vengeance, cold flames lurking beneath his eccentric exterior. The only one Annan couldn't see through was Yaxiu. He appeared lazy, dull, easygoing, and lacked any spirit of resistance. He looked like an easily manipulated pawn—theoretically the deadweight slacker of this trio. Yet Annan remembered vividly: when signing the contract, although Igola conducted the negotiations and Harvey supervised from the side, when it came to officially putting pen to paper, they had both waited without prior coordination for Yaxiu to sign first. The most probable explanation was naturally that they were treating Yaxiu as cannon fodder, waiting to see that he was unharmed before signing themselves. Yet there might also be another possibility—when confronted with an unpredictable future, their subconscious choice was to rely on Yaxiu Heath. *He requires further observation.* "Don't assume I paid no price at all, however," Annan said. "You can check the Azula Mission Board; the Funeral Agency's name is no longer on it. Disregarding confidentiality after completing a commission, reporting the client to the Red Hats instead, and leading a strike force to annihilate the Four Pillar Cult... Even if I held the moral high ground, such 'double-dipping' behavior drastically lowers an agency's evaluation. Banjie's and my social credit have plummeted. No one will ever hire bugs like us who betray their employers. "For your sake, I have staked the Doran name." She stood up. "It's getting late, and I should head to the Void Realm as well. Breakfast is at eight in the morning; I hope you maintain a healthy schedule. Mr. Bogin, you may stop now. "When we open our eyes tomorrow, our agency will have only one goal: deceiving the Omniscient Weaver." With that, Purple Moth took her leave with light steps, the Scarlet-Gold Drake-Lizard leaping onto her shoulder. The young steward, Banjie, bowed slightly and laid out four keycards. "These are your room keys. Each room has an en-suite bathroom, and the cabinets are stocked with snacks. If you need anything else, you can find me in Room 3. Wishing you all a pleasant night." Once Banjie left, the trio of stowaways exchanged glances. Harvey was the first to take a keycard and rise to his feet. "I'm heading to the Void Realm. I only set foot on the Time Continent a few days ago, so I have virtually no golden sorcery power in reserve." "Same here," Igola said. "I haven't entered the Void Realm since the prison break. I've almost forgotten what the upstream golden rain looks like." With the Sword Princess's soul still recovering, Yaxiu, as someone hitching a ride, naturally couldn't explore the Void Realm. Besides, after enduring two consecutive days of high-intensity events—being trafficked, offered as a sacrifice, forced to sign an indentured contract, and roped into a high-risk fraud syndicate—he was thoroughly exhausted. Yawning, he headed into his room. He pushed the door open and stepped inside. Before he could even flick on the lights, he heard the door automatically click shut and lock. *Is it really that smart?* Yaxiu turned around, only to find a little demon had slipped inside behind him without a sound. "Daddy." Backed against the door, Lisi blinked at Yaxiu. "Lisi has come to have a talk about life with you."