Chapter 57

Chapter 57

It turns out that those who appear vulnerable and possess good looks often receive preferential treatment in life.

Lorca was being helped onto the ship, and Luo Wenzhou was utterly stunned.

His cousin, looking as delicate as a willow swaying in the breeze, had barely stepped inside when someone offered him a chair and another brought hot water. Though the members of the Upside Down Wonderland remained silent, they had already pre-judged him as a victim of human experimentation—someone who had endured persecution by an evil organization but resiliently awaited his chance to escape. Their care and sympathy were ceaseless, leaving Luo Wenzhou, who was tied up nearby, utterly dumbfounded.

...What's going on? They're all on the same side, so why such a vast difference in treatment?

Luo Wenzhou had been tied up initially because the Upside Down Wonderland feared he would interfere. But now that Poison Fang had been destroyed and the deed was done, he remained bound purely because the Upside Down Wonderland harbored a grudge against the Luo Family for their double-dealing and instigation. After all, Luo Wenzhou was still the Eldest Young Master of the Luo Family, so tying him up was a minor act of retaliation.

As for Lorca, the Upside Down Wonderland had no idea of his true background.

Although curious why Luo Wenzhou’s cousin had been captured by Poison Fang, and why the Eldest Young Master would personally risk himself to rescue him, they had already concocted a series of tragic scenarios Lorca might have endured at Poison Fang. Out of sympathy, they refrained from probing further.

Naturally, they never would have guessed that Lorca was the true mastermind behind the Upside Down Wonderland’s previous entanglement with the Luo Family, and Luo Wenzhou merely a messenger.

In other words, the Upside Down Wonderland had retaliated against the wrong person.

Luo Wenzhou mumbled a few sounds. Lorca turned his head upon hearing him, seeing his cousin’s anxious expression. Though fully aware of the situation, he feigned a cough before acting surprised and softly exclaiming, "Wenzhou! Why are you tied up?"

Eve: "..."

Eve knew the full story but couldn't reveal the truth to the others, especially since Lorca didn't look like he could take a punch.

She could only stand aside and give a pointed cough herself, signaling to the Eldest Young Master not to overdo his act.

Unexpectedly, before Lorca could react, Alice, who was bandaging Eve’s wounds, heard her cough and asked with concern, "Xiao Qing, are you feeling unwell?"

Frank glanced at her upon hearing this, and the Silver Moon Clematis, which had been active nearby, drew even closer.

Eve’s eyelids twitched, and she awkwardly corrected herself, "N-no... I just had a scratchy throat. I’m fine."

"Oh," Alice nodded, still a bit worried, and added, "If you’re feeling unwell, you must tell me."

Eve replied guiltily, "Sure, sure."

Lorca adjusted the cloak Frank had found for him and leaned back in his chair. The Wall-Imprisoned Serpent, being inherently shy, had flattened itself into a dark splotch on the wall the moment it boarded the ship. Eve didn't understand why it wouldn't return to Lorca's Spiritual World even in that state.

But then she thought about the dangerous gray storm in Lorca’s Spiritual World and figured that even spiritual entities might possess a sense of self-preservation.

Watching Luo Wenzhou’s pitiful and stifled expression, Lorca finally couldn’t bear it any longer.

He carefully interceded, "Please untie Wenzhou. I believe he has realized his mistake. What happened earlier is over, and after we return, I will personally bring him to your team to apologize."

"After all, he only took these reckless risks for my sake. If you insist on treating him this way, then please tie me up as well."

As he spoke, he extended his pale, frail wrists with a look of profound guilt.

Eve: "......"

She secretly rolled her eyes, too embarrassed to say that his theatrics were too much for her to handle.

What did he mean by "he took these reckless risks for my sake"? Wasn't he just making Luo Wenzhou take the fall for him?

With that said, the other members of the Upside Down Wonderland exchanged glances. They certainly couldn’t tie up Lorca, especially since he looked like he was on the verge of collapsing. Even the most ruthless Eugene didn’t dare lay a hand on him, fearing the young master might perish at any moment.

She signaled Alice, who reluctantly stood up and walked behind Luo Wenzhou. With a few rustling sounds, the rope was untied and fell to the ground, and the cloth gag was pulled out by Luo Wenzhou himself.

Finally able to breathe fresh air, Luo Wenzhou was on the verge of tears. He was about to deliver a speech about freedom, thanking his righteous cousin and the accommodating members of the Upside Down Wonderland. But before he could utter a word, a sharp pain shot through the back of his neck, and darkness enveloped his vision.

This was all too familiar. His eyes rolled back, and he blacked out once again.

The culprit was none other than Alice, who stood behind him. She innocently retracted her hand and said, "Sorry, my hand slipped."

Lorca: "......"

The remaining few fell into silence for a moment before conversation slowly resumed. Members of the Upside Down Wonderland began asking Eve if she had faced any difficulties during her time at Poison Fang.

Eugene and Alice were the main questioners, though Frank and Qi Ying also seemed to be listening attentively. One was cleaning his gun, and the other appeared to be playing a video game, though his device wasn’t even turned on.

Eve shared some unimportant details. In truth, Agnes hadn’t given her much trouble—she had simply treated her as a free assistant, assigning her tasks and fully immersing herself in a teacher-student roleplay.

She mentioned that Agnes was only temporarily cooperating with Poison Fang but didn’t reveal that she was a Five-Star Alchemist.

The members of the Upside Down Wonderland were taken aback, feeling somewhat confused by the cloaked figure’s actions.

How to put it? Based on appearances alone, they had expected a sinister villain, but she turned out to be rather simple and straightforward. Their feelings were mixed.

"Since you got along fairly well," Alice asked, "why did things turn into a fight to the death when you went into the tunnel?"

"Because she found out I was secretly planning to escape and got really angry, so we ended up fighting," Eve explained. "But as I mentioned earlier, she also has mind control abilities. Most likely, she discovered that we used Leng Feng’s outburst to delay her."

Then she pointed at Lorca and said, "This guy here is the Lorca who was locked in the basement. His surname is Oliver."

She had given no indication of his identity earlier, so her sudden revelation caught Lorca off guard. He could only offer a polite smile to the others.

Although the Eldest Young Master of the Oliver Family kept a low profile, he was still a known figure. The others looked at him in surprise, but the one who reacted most strongly was Frank.

When it came to understanding the four great families, Frank had deeper knowledge than anyone present except Eve and Lorca. The idea that the young master of the Oliver Family had been kidnapped by an Alchemist was as unbelievable as the Medici nobles overthrowing the autocratic empire to establish a democratic republic, the Cavendish openly declared army launching a rebellion, or the Luo Family’s business being acquired by someone else.

He frowned skeptically. "Are you sure he’s the one from the Oliver Family?"

"Otherwise, who else could be Luo Wenzhou’s cousin?" Eve looked up at him. "Speaking of which, there’s something I need to discuss with you. Can you come outside with me?"

Alice curiously leaned in. "Is there something I can’t hear?"

"I can tell you later, but you have another task now," Eve pointed at Lorca, who was smiling amiably nearby. "Keep an eye on him and his elusive Spiritual State. This is a conversation that outsiders shouldn’t hear."

The specifically mentioned "outsider," Lorca, curved his lips slightly but ultimately said nothing.

The two stepped out of the cockpit, and once the door closed, Eve said to Frank, "I might be staying with the Oliver Family for a while. After all, I went through the trouble of rescuing their Eldest Young Master—I should at least get some compensation for my efforts."

"Suit yourself," Frank didn’t oppose her decision. "The Oliver Family has a rather eccentric style, which might unexpectedly suit you. But was Lorca really kidnapped? He looks weak, but he doesn’t seem like a simple person."

Eve thought to herself that his judgment was quite accurate—Lorca had indeed conspired with Agnes to escape.

But she certainly couldn’t tell Frank that directly. She scratched her nose and said vaguely, "Perhaps. I’m not really sure about that, actually."

Frank eyed her suspiciously. "So why did you call me out here? Surely not just to discuss life plans."

"Ugh, you’re really oddly hostile toward me... The reason I called you out is actually to ask if you’d like to come with me to the Oliver Family for new prospects."

Eve sighed and said, "Alice wants to learn Alchemy, and she needs a better environment, so she’ll definitely come with me. And you can’t hide in the Black Star forever, right? This operation has drawn too much attention—your family will eventually track you down. Are you really just going to wait here for Cecil to drop the hammer on you?"

Frank fell silent for a long time before finally saying, "That is indeed a problem, but I’m not an Alchemist, and the Oliver Family isn’t suitable for me."

"Then you could go to the Luo Clan and ask Luo Wenzhou for a referral."

"Why are you so insistent on pushing me to align with a major family? Honestly, all these people seem equally unpleasant to me."

"That's true," Eve said calmly, watching him. "But don’t you want to steer clear of the Medici family? I can’t help but suspect that since you’ve never spent time in the main family, you don’t really understand why the Medicis place such importance on bloodlines."

Frank fell silent for a long moment. Though he had been entangled with the family for years, he clearly didn’t know the reason behind it all.

"The Medici family is vast and flourishing—they don’t lack for members. It’s not about cherishing descendants that they go to such lengths to round up those of us with impure bloodlines."

Eve looked at him with a hint of pity, like a top student regarding the class slacker who skipped too many lessons to understand anything. "Blood is a form of bondage. Bloodlines represent the highest level of shared interests and loyalty. In the world of power, nothing is more reliable than blood ties. So, if you want to leave the Medicis and make them give up their pursuit of you, the first step is to deny that loyalty."

Whether it was the Oliver Family or the Luo Clan, in Eve’s eyes, the interests they represented were completely different from those of the Medicis. Choosing either of them would put the Medicis on edge. As for the House of Cavendish, she had ruled them out from the start—their interests and ambitions were essentially the same as the Medicis'.

Ever since learning of Frank’s hatred for the Medici family, Eve had seriously considered a solution for him.

"Do I really have to pledge myself to one of these families?" Frank asked quietly after a long silence. "It feels... warped to me."

Eve nodded. "I think so too. The cabinet proposes stripping the royal family of its authority every year, but compared to the already weakened royals, curtailing the power of the four great families and their affiliates seems more urgent. They control so many resources that ordinary people who want to enter this circle must first pledge loyalty to one of them."

"But life isn’t a multiple-choice question with just four options. I hope this situation changes in the future. For now, though, finding a new patron to escape the Medicis’ grasp is what matters most for you."

It was a difficult choice, at least for Frank. Forcing someone who despised the great families to choose among them felt cruel, even to Eve.

But Frank held it together. He took a deep breath, thought for a moment, and said, "Then I’ll choose the Luo Clan. At least they’re less rigid."

"That works," Eve said. "Will you talk to Sister Eugene and the others about it?"

"I’ll discuss it with them when we get back. But if that’s the case, it seems we’ll really be parting ways," he said with a short laugh. "It feels like we haven’t worked together for long, and now you’re leaving again."

Eve smiled. "I never stay in one place for long—it’s just how things are. For talented professionals, hopping jobs is standard. Anyway, my account on the black market will still be tied to Upside Down Wonderland, and it’s not like this is goodbye forever. We’ll see each other again."

"How are you planning to get in with the Oliver Family? Just by saving Lorca?"

"Of course not. Look outside."

The spacecraft was approaching the Black Star port, which, though usually spacious, was unexpectedly crowded with sleek, luxurious new ships today. Among them was a top-tier starship, even larger and more extravagant than the Viper’s, dominating half the orbital space with imposing grandeur.

Eve stated flatly, like an AI: "A standard spacecraft takes about forty minutes to descend from outer space to the planet’s surface. Higher-end interstellar ships take an hour to cross a star system. Have you ever seen a cross-domain vessel? They’re the top of the line—made with special materials and aided by Alchemy. They can jump from one galactic region to another in just half an hour."

"Why are you suddenly talking about this?"

Frank looked puzzled—he had no idea why the conversation had taken this turn.

"You blind fool," she said coldly. "Take a closer look at the emblems on those ships. That’s the Oliver Family’s twin-headed serpent scepter."

Frank: "...Oh."

Eve pulled out her terminal, opened the black market interface, and right in front of Frank, clicked on the first page of the missions board—the three S-tier missions that had been pinned there for years. The top one was a lucrative medical bounty.

Frank said, "I know that one. I think it was posted by the Oliver Family, but the screening process is really strict. Are you trying to—"

Before he could finish, he watched as Eve effortlessly clicked on the perennial posting. The next second, a success notification popped up, and the mission turned gray, temporarily placed on hold.

Frank: "?"

"My account is pretty unique," Eve said, putting away her terminal with a mysterious smile. "After all, the invitation code was given to me directly by the Luo Clan."

Seriously, didn’t he stop to think about who owns the black market? An account endorsed by the Luo Clan, the biggest official power, would naturally sail through the vetting process.