Chapter 205

Chapter 205

"The last batch of Wish Incense sold exceptionally well. Shops stocking it were practically raking in fortunes daily. Even many prominent merchants newly arrived in Licheng went out of their way to inquire when I could restock," said the short, stout town mayor, his eyes crinkling into slits as he beamed at the three figures beside him. "Of course, I fully recognize that this profit is thanks to your generous supply. It is you who brought such excellent goods, creating a new opportunity for prosperity for both me and Licheng."

The lush, green courtyard was adorned with brightly colored exotic flowers and plants. Every ornament was intricately carved with gold and jade, and a rich fragrance permeated the air. In this opulent, cool shade, only four people strolled leisurely. The servants had long been dismissed. Besides the mayor, there were three other figures cloaked in robes. These individuals were entirely shrouded in black cloth, as if their identities were meant to be concealed, yet the mayor showed not the slightest disdain for them. Instead, his tone conveyed immense trust and familiarity.

"There's no need for such courtesy, Mayor. Cooperating with you is simply what any discerning person would do. We are newcomers here, with no established foothold in Licheng, nor can we safeguard the formula for Wish Incense," spoke the tallest of the three, who stood at the forefront. His tone, though not subservient, was perfectly deferential and humble. "It's better for us to supply the goods, and for you, Mayor, to connect with merchants for sales. We each receive our rightful share. In truth, it is you who have helped us."

This stream of flattery and praise greatly pleased the mayor, who burst into hearty laughter. "Exactly! After all, only by walking together can we go further! What's this talk of 'help' between us buddies? Friends, we're all friends here. But if I may be so bold as to ask, when will the next batch of Wish Incense be ready? The Divine Birth Festival is fast approaching, and more people are arriving daily to participate. This is a tremendous opportunity to make money."

"It will be ready by tomorrow at the latest," the lead black-robed figure stated. "The usual arrangement: we'll deliver it to you, and the rest will be left to your capable handling, Mayor."

The mayor tsk-tsked. "You're still so wary of the Sacred Mountain. Don't worry, the lofty gods won't concern themselves with what common folk like us do."

The black-robed figure merely curled the corner of his mouth, offering no further comment.

The gods indeed wouldn't care what humans did, but the problem was—they weren't human.

The figures lurking stealthily in the black robes were none other than the peculiar trio of Lorca, Yan Ning, and Ludwig.

This story began a month ago—specifically, a month within the door world. Everyone who had successfully passed through more than two doors should be aware of a particular rule: the icon on the ghost ship's door is linked to the factions within the door world. This time, the Snake Door had them literally land in hell right from the start.

The flow of time inside the door world differed from the outside. Outside, Ludwig was the first of the three to enter the door, and Lorca the last. But within the door world, Lorca was directly placed a month earlier in the timeline, while Yan Ning and Ludwig were placed closer to the present.

The two were unbelievably unlucky. The moment they landed, they were whipped alongside 298 other low-level demons and thrown into a bloodstained ancient arena. The succubus referee on the judge's stand raised her heart-shaped tail high and shrieked, "For Lady Lilith, charge, little ones!" Then, with a flick of her pale arm, iron cages opened simultaneously from all directions. Monsters with two, three, seven, and nine heads surged out, their eyes gleaming green as if starved for three days, charging straight toward the small demons in the center.

If Lorca hadn't returned to hell for a debriefing and, with a keen eye, spotted these two unfortunate souls, rescuing them just in time, they might truly have perished in Lilith's arena.

After he waved for attendants to take the two small demons away for cleaning, the silver-haired, red-eyed Queen of Hell lazily fanned herself with a bone fan and asked, "Two rather promising seedlings... Lord Lorca, do you know these little ones?"

"They seem familiar," Lorca replied, still somewhat uncomfortable looking directly at Lilith's beautiful face, which bore a striking resemblance to Eve's. After a pause, he answered ambiguously, "Perhaps they can help share some of my workload in the human world."

There were too many fools among demons. Intellectually speaking, few demon candidates could effectively carry out the task of sowing sin in the human world. Most of them were restricted by the dimensional gates due to their excessive magical power. In a way, she truly hadn't yet found a suitable replacement for this green-eyed demon before her.

To prevent her newly promoted confidant from dying of overwork, the Queen of Hell reluctantly patted her tail and, with a heavy heart, relinquished the two small demon slaves she had just taken a liking to, handing them over to him.

The mayor's chatter was as abundant and dense as the fat on his body. Yan Ning grew impatient after listening for a while. Her arrow-shaped tail flicked irritably twice beneath the black robe, and she slowed her steps, falling behind the group.

Ludwig, who had nothing to do and was simply along for the ride, naturally noticed her subtle movement. "What are you planning?"

"It's stuffy. Anyway, they don't need me here," she whispered. "I'm going out for a stroll. I'll be back soon."

"Don't run off!"

But it was too late. Yan Ning had already darted off. Even the mayor, who was holding forth ahead, didn't notice that someone was missing from the back. Only Lorca, paying attention to multiple things, noticed the minor commotion and turned slightly with a questioning look.

The black cloth over Ludwig's shoulders shook twice—he was shrugging.

Originally, for Lorca, rescuing just Ludwig would have been sufficient. But considering that Yan Ning's abilities might prove very useful in the upcoming matches against the alliance, coupled with the hellish start, Lorca ultimately couldn't bear to leave her behind and rescued her on a whim as well.

However, compared to hell, there shouldn't be any problems in the human world that Yan Ning couldn't handle, right?

Thinking this, Lorca didn't pay much attention to Yan Ning's movements and turned his focus back to exchanging subtle hints with the mayor.

"Wish Incense" was a special spice infused with the ashes of demon contracts. It could, to the maximum extent, stimulate desires in people's hearts by influencing dreams and the subconscious, leaving no trace behind—the incense would burn to ash once used. Prolonged use would even affect the user's thinking.

This spice greatly improved the efficiency of the demons' work and was also the secret behind Lorca's rapid rise from a low-level demon to the queen's confidant within a month.

The mayor of Licheng was cunning and cautious. Although he sold Wish Incense widely, he never allowed his family to use this spice of unknown origin.

To establish hell’s foothold in this large town near the Sacred Mountain in advance, Lorca had to find a way to ensnare the mayor as well.

He had too many things to worry about. Soon, Yan Ning, with her ample self-preservation abilities, was forgotten.

"Whew!"

Free from the incessantly talking group, Yan Ning first stretched her arms out wide for a good stretch, then crossed her hands behind her head and hopped around the mayor's residence, not caring that raising her arms caused her hood to slip back, revealing two small, round, blunt brown horns on her head.

Not long after Eve successfully infiltrated the mayor's home and climbed the tallest tree in the yard, she witnessed this scene.

A pretty-faced young girl was lounging in the mayor's garden, draped in a thick black robe that clearly looked suspicious. Her movements were so relaxed, it was as if this weren't someone else's home but her own. Among her white hair, two small dark horns could vaguely be seen, looking out of place.

Small horns... Could it be? Is this the world's demon?

Eve was stunned for only a few seconds before quickly reacting: if she could capture this demon, her mission would be as good as accomplished!

The Sacred Mountain had sent her to investigate but hadn't given specific requirements, only saying to find evidence of the mayor of Licheng colluding with hell. Tell me, what could be more convincing than bringing back a live demon?

But this demon's horns are so small...

Without overthinking it, she touched the dagger at her waist and swooped down from the high treetop. The NPCs in the door world had limited abilities, and this seemingly young demon should be no exception. Otherwise, if every NPC had the strength of a top military academy honors student, they might as well not play and just surrender instead.

Because she was caught off guard, when the young demon swiftly blocked this surprise attack, Eve immediately pulled back in surprise.

The attacker was surprised, but the one attacked was even more shocked—who wouldn't be startled to be suddenly ambushed while taking a stroll in a partner's home?

Fortunately, Yan Ning's reactions were always quick. Her career as a mercenary had honed an extremely sharp sixth sense in life-or-death moments. The moment the faint sound of wind stirred above and behind her, Yan Ning instinctively tensed her muscles. The next second, she drew her blade. The scimitar clashed with the dagger, producing a grating screech that made her grit her teeth. Then both of them stepped back. Staring at the newcomer's similarly styled gray robe, Yan Ning hesitated for a moment before uncertainly testing, "Are you a demon too?"

So covered up—could she also be a demon who crawled out of hell to cause trouble in the human world?

The other's response was to draw her blade and attack again.

This time, Eve didn't use the dagger but drew a short sword from her robe sleeve. If other divine envoys from the Sacred Mountain saw this, they would probably criticize her for carrying too many weapons, contrary to the way of friendship among envoys. She suddenly decided to end the fight quickly. One reason was that the clueless little demon had successfully touched a nerve with that seemingly innocent question. Being mistaken for a fellow demon by a demon was utterly insulting for a divine envoy.

The other reason was that this familiar style of blade engagement didn't seem like the advanced combat techniques that should appear in the door world.

"Hey, how can you attack without even saying a word?"

This attitude of resorting to violence without warning reminded Yan Ning of some unpleasant memories, like the culprit who caused her to be stranded in hell and nearly sacrificed at the start. Her face darkened, and she fiercely parried the heavily pressing short sword. With a turn of her blade, she launched a fierce attack from the side.

Her opponent's strength was much higher than she had anticipated. This strike should have sliced off half of the gray-robed figure's head. In reality, the crescent-shaped long blade only split half of the other's hood before narrowly grazing past her neck.

The moment long hair cascaded out from the torn hood, Eve inwardly sighed. Surely, upon seeing that iconic silver hair, the other would guess who she was.

Sure enough, the other immediately withdrew, her delicate face full of astonishment.

Their fight had made quite a commotion. From a distance, Eve could hear hurried footsteps approaching. This wasn't the best time for conversation. Eve took a deep look at the white-haired demon, guessing that this round in the door world had probably altered all their appearance stats. Otherwise, if there were a female player in the league with such remarkable skills and snow-white hair, she wouldn't have no impression at all.

The white hair was likely a racial trait of the demon. Although unsure if her own appearance settings had been altered, since the other had stopped in time, it meant she had probably also noticed familiar traits on her.

Changing appearances could only serve two purposes: one is to make students align more closely with the original settings of their faction or race, and two is to prevent students from recognizing each other in this round of the game, thereby hindering their communication and alliances.

The more the door world tried to prevent something, the more they should do the opposite. After careful consideration, Eve raised her short sword. Then, under Yan Ning's alert gaze, she carved a few horizontal lines on the tree, gave a simple, cold nod to the other, and resolutely fled.

No sooner had she left than Lorca and the others arrived with a group of servants. Since accidentally killing a divine envoy, the mayor of Licheng had been in a state of tension, having arranged in advance countless bodyguards for himself. Today, Yan Ning had specifically chosen an empty courtyard with no guards because she had detected their presence in advance, only to run into the ambushing Eve.

The mayor scampered over: "What happened?"

"An assassination attempt," Yan Ning replied with a smirk that didn't reach her eyes. She had enough sense to conceal her curved blade back into its sheath beneath her black robe and readjust her hood before others arrived. "Probably someone from the Holy Mountain."

The mayor’s worst fear had come true. He let out a shocked gasp, but beside him, Lorca’s attention was drawn to a simple symbol carved into the tree.

It was the emblem of First Empire Academy.

Could it be that the person Yan Ning had just encountered was from First Empire Academy?

While the mayor’s people were busy dealing with the aftermath, Lorca cleared his throat and signaled Yan Ning to follow him to a more private area. After ensuring no one could overhear the three other demons' discussion, he asked, "Who did you encounter just now?"

"That symbol on the tree is a simplified version of our school’s emblem," Ludwig added, who had also recognized the pattern. "The attacker left so quickly—they must have recognized you too. Did they say anything?"

Yan Ning shook her head honestly. "That person didn’t say a single extra word, just drew that symbol. But I think I know who it was."

"Oh?" Lorca raised an eyebrow, somewhat skeptical of Yan Ning’s deductive skills.

"It’s Lu Qing from your school," Yan Ning said with certainty. "Black hair, silver mask, and her figure matches. It has to be her. I remember her clearly because she beat Chun Sha in the second round."

Thanks to her Spiritual State’s ability to mimic appearances, Yan Ning had an excellent memory for physical traits like height, build, and facial features. When it came to identifying people, she was unmatched.

Lorca: "..."

Ludwig: "..."

Not a single name was mentioned, but it seemed they had all guessed exactly who the unconventional, ambush-happy divine messenger was.

-

Meanwhile, Eve hadn’t left the mayor’s residence of Licheng yet; she had simply moved to another tree to perch.

Although her pouch already contained evidence of the mayor’s collusion with hell—namely, a lock of snow-white demon hair—she figured that since she now knew there were classmates who had landed on the demon side, it would be wise to seize the opportunity to exchange information.

The school emblem she carved was meant to signal her identity. She’d drawn it abstractly, hoping only fellow students would recognize it as a nod to their alma mater. Going undercover alone in enemy territory was too risky; without confirmation of an ally, she didn’t dare trust easily.

If there were no allies around, she’d have no choice but to play it safe and return to the Holy Mountain first. She could always gather more intelligence later once she was in a secure position.

Her own safety had to come first.

As Eve was thinking this, she noticed a figure in a black robe subtly tossing a small red object near the tree where she’d left her mark. Soon after, once they confirmed nothing was left behind, the whole group left in the same disorderly fashion as they had arrived—even the demons cloaked in black robes left with them. Only Eve and the round, unknown object on the ground were left staring at each other.

...What is this?

Surely they wouldn’t leave behind a compressed explosive or something.

Hesitating for a moment, Eve climbed down from the tree and jumped back into the now-empty backyard.

Then, she picked up a small pink heart-shaped stone from the ground.

Eve: "???"

This move, it was utterly inscrutable. After thinking it over repeatedly, Eve still couldn’t decipher any profound meaning behind this pink stone. After much deliberation, she eventually tossed the little stone into her pouch as well.

Even though she hadn’t deciphered what the other party intended to convey, she had a pretty good guess about exactly which black-robed figure had thrown it… and exactly who that might be.