"I had no idea working overtime came with combat encounters."
The moment fissures tore open in the distance, spawning dozens of sorcerer mobs, Yaxiu and Harvey—who were right in the middle of working overtime—bolted straight for the adjacent forest. Yaxiu pulled on his Distortion Mask to guard against detection, while Harvey's skin rapidly cracked like that of a desiccated corpse. With these measures, most standard reconnaissance miracles were rendered useless against them.
"So, if we get caught, will the contract really be terminated directly, just like Annan said?"
"Yeah. The contract requires Burdette to protect us. If we get caught, naturally they've failed to fulfill their end, and there's no need to pay any ransom."
"Tsk." Harvey sounded irritated. "I should've spent all my 950 Bei points earlier..."
"As long as we can't scrape together the ransom, we'll remain Evalin's private property for another day. She'd love nothing more than for us to work here for free our entire lives," Yaxiu said. "Malicious redemptions are always like this. Experiencing it now gives us practice for when we break with Annan later."
"Huh?" Harvey looked somewhat surprised. "Seeing how close you've been with Annan lately, I thought you were taking her side completely, and that when the time came for revenge, I'd have to prepare a coffin for you first."
"No matter how close she is to me, she'll never make concessions when it comes to the divine wish." Thinking of this gave Yaxiu a headache. "The same goes for Lisi..."
"So why bother getting along with them?" Harvey said. "In the end, slaughter will be the final act, written in blood as the closing period... Every bit of affection you develop now is just another ounce of pain for your heart later."
Yaxiu froze, staring blankly at the dark-skinned necromancer. "Is that why you...?"
"Exactly. As long as you're like me and only harbor feelings for corpses, you won't have to face internal dilemmas," Harvey said. "Come, join me and become a loyal hound beneath the banner of Haagen-Dazs!"
"I must decline. I still prefer mine warm."
Boom!
Suddenly, the shadows of the surrounding trees twisted into hideous contortions. The two instantly unleashed their miracles and bolted—Yaxiu's Rushing Toward and Harvey's Mist Spirit Transformation—narrowly dodging the lethal strangulation of the shadows.
Yet as the entire forest was razed clear, their figures were exposed under the open night sky!
"They're over here!"
Shadow faction... sorcerers of the Mercury family!
"Hey, hey, didn't you say there'd only be Red Hats...?" Yaxiu glanced back. "I see a ton of people not wearing hats... and Mercury isn't even a Mengfeila family!"
"Annan guessed wrong," Harvey said coldly. "Evalin has no intention of showing mercy."
Days ago, Annan had analyzed Evalin's upcoming moves for them. She concluded that once they saved up enough ransom to leave Mengfeila, Evalin, unable to keep them, would do everything possible to wash her hands clean of the matter.
Harboring Yaxiu and Harvey was tantamount to offending more than half of Gospel; the two of them were practically triggers for turning the whole world into enemies. If Evalin could turn them into subordinates, that would be one thing; if she couldn't, she had to eliminate the fallout—such as by 'proactively' handing them over.
Although the contract forbade Evalin from leaking secrets proactively, Burdette had countless ways around that. The most likely scenario was Mengfeila Red Hats coming to hunt them down. That way, the contract would lapse, Evalin wouldn't need to shelter them, and they could make a clean escape. Both sides could treat it as a fleeting fling; aside from Yaxiu and the others working for free for a dozen days, it would be as if nothing had happened.
Back then, Lisi had asked what if Evalin went for total extermination, but Annan had shaken her head with complete confidence.
*"Evalin may have her little schemes, but she isn't evil at heart. We're on decent terms; she wouldn't be so ruthless."*
"Did Annan underestimate that blue-haired girl's cunning, or overestimate her own charm...?"
"Look out!"
Those on two legs could never outrun fliers. Several sorcerers closed the distance rapidly. Just as Yaxiu summoned his Emotion Sword to trade miracles with them, a deafening blast erupted nearby, painting half the night sky in blazing crimson!
Hell eruption!
The magma in the adjacent replica Hell zone suddenly burst in continuous explosions, surging molten rock hundreds of meters high, raining down like fiery meteors upon the flying sorcerers. While most sorcerers dodged with their aerial maneuvering skills, a dozen were drenched directly in a scalding bath!
"Whoa." Yaxiu's eyes lit up. "Let's run along the edge of the special zones!"
"Yaxiu."
A familiar voice bypassed all distance and reached his ears unimpeded. Yaxiu shuddered, looking back to see two elven Red Hats flying through the night sky—one mature and graceful, the other delicate and quiet.
"Qinna, Nona?" Yaxiu said in shock. "Why are you two here as well?"
"To take you back, of course," Qinna smiled. "Aren't you our master on the Family Board? What are you running for?"
Hearing that, Yaxiu wished the Four Pillar Gods would sprout six more legs on him; he ran even faster than Harvey. Qinna and Nona drew their handguns simultaneously, aiming right at Yaxiu—
Mist.
The white mist from Burdette's replica 'Sea of Knowledge zone' suddenly surged out, engulfing the flying sorcerers. The pursuers didn't hesitate: since ranged targeting was blocked, they dived downward to seize their targets directly.
Yet when Qinna dived, she found herself plunging right above the mist, while the fog below had swallowed more than half the estate.
"A space-inverting mythic lock?" Qinna was caught between laughter and annoyance. "Playing with space in front of a Sanctuary Sorcerer?"
This time, she expanded her Sanctuary and dived down, swiftly piercing through the mist to reach the ground. In the distance, she spotted Yaxiu and Harvey running into a zone glowing with golden light. Aside from her, four other Sanctuary Sorcerers broke free of the mist as well.
The pursuers exchanged glances, knowing it was time to divide the spoils.
Five Sanctuary Sorcerers unleashed mobility miracles. In mere breaths, they surged behind the two runners, invoking various binding arts to seize their prey—
*Snap!*
Yaxiu vanished into thin air like dispersing smoke, while Harvey collapsed into a heap of flesh and mud.
A Substitute and corpse mud!
At the same time, the Sanctuaries realized this area was yet another scenic replica—Burdette's replica 'Flowing Gold River zone'!
As sparkling golden droplets floated upward, the Sanctuaries discovered their sorcery power turning unimaginably heavy. Their vast sorcery power had become a crippling burden, freezing them in place!
"An angel legacy... Burdette..." Aside from 'Weeping Red Hat' Cleios, cold light flashed in the eyes of the four family sorcerers. "Interesting..."
***
On the other side, Yaxiu and Harvey successfully met up with the rest of the group.
Lisi dashed forward and leaped straight into Yaxiu's arms, clinging to him like an octopus;
Banjie pulled a coffin out of his suitcase, and Harvey clung to it like an octopus.
After calming Lisi down, Yaxiu asked, "How do we get out?"
"Retrace the path they came from. There are definitely vehicles parked down there." Annan's expression was grim. "Even though Evalin is holding them off for us right now, we don't have much time—"
"You have no time at all."
Accompanied by those words came the whistling shriek of gunshots.
Three muffled groans rang out. Banjie, Harvey, and Yaxiu collapsed instantly, leaving only Lisi, whom Yaxiu had shielded, and Annan, whom Banjie had blocked, unharmed.
"Lisi, check their wounds!" Annan tore off an earring, transforming it into a submachine gun and firing wildly. Yet the opponent detonated a wind barrier with a single bullet, deflecting every last round she fired!
By then, the enemy had closed the distance. With a sharp whoosh, a high-heeled boot swept like a razor. The Purple Moth dodged by instinct, thrusting her submachine gun forward!
Dodge, elbow strike, pinning Annan against an adjacent tree in one fluid motion, the muzzle pressed hard against her waist!
"Come quietly with me, and I'll keep you alive," Qinna said coolly. "I'll even help you two get married."
"In your dreams!"
Chapter 403