Chapter 60: Feel It With Your Heart
Reincarnation Paradise provided quite a few prompts. After reviewing them, Su Xiao understood that this world was actually not suitable for resource acquisition.
In worlds with truly abundant resources, there would be very powerful individuals. Looking across this world, the only ones worth mentioning were the Perniel sisters.
When fighting the Perniel sisters, as long as Su Xiao didn't make any obvious mistakes, the two sisters couldn't take him down in one round. Against them, Su Xiao didn't even fully activate his Azure Shadow King ability. The only time they managed to injure him was through pre-arranged setups.
Su Xiao was confident he could handle King Peru, Red Sand, the God of Abundant Life, and others. However, the soldiers of this world were a different story. Over 1,000 soldiers were formidable, over 10,000 were best avoided, and over 100,000 meant certain death for any Seventh Rank contractor.
This characteristic made this world unsuitable for trials or resource gathering. Group combat power far exceeded individual combat power. This wasn't "wealth" but resource scarcity, forcing the development of collective strength to compensate for quality with quantity.
This resulted in a world with few resources yet extreme danger. Imagine a contractor coming to this world to complete a mission. Once war broke out, it would be a dimensionality reduction attack on the contractors. Forget completing the mission—surviving would be a blessing.
Therefore, this world's core wasn't worth fighting over. However, because the core had been sealed for so long, it had generated a massive amount of space-time power.
Although they weren't competing for the world's core, the space-time power, which had nearly condensed into a physical form, was still worth contending for.
Su Xiao didn't know the specifics of the initial terms. He only knew one thing: if his side won, he would receive a substantial reward, and he could just sit back and wait for it.
This kind of good fortune was always welcome. What Su Xiao found regrettable was that the other three paradises wouldn't let him participate in this resource war.
Otherwise, if he could contact Shadu, given his status there, he could mobilize at least 150,000 of the 220,000 beast cavalry. Shadu had many of Su Xiao's trusted subordinates: Wen Aiyouer, Hill, Han Xiushi, Hao Erwen. These were all officers who had followed Su Xiao in the assault on the Kingdom of Peru. Moreover, Shadu likely wouldn't oppose it—the ceasefire treaty wasn't just for show; it was signed between Su Xiao and King Peru.
Although he couldn't fight personally, sitting back and collecting rewards was still quite good.
"My dear friend, Caesar is one of the arbiters for this resource war."
Caesar smiled, his face wrinkled like a blooming chrysanthemum. Clearly, he too could sit back and collect rewards, but he had chosen to actively participate in this resource war.
"Caesar, if we win this time, both sides benefit. So we need to ensure a 'fair' victory within the bounds of the rules."
"Hehehe, I've been stripped of my arbiter status three times. My dear friend, can you guess why the previous times happened?"
Caesar clearly understood. With his greedy nature, he would definitely manipulate things.
[Prompt: You have completed Main Quest: Third Ring.]
[You have received Identification Rune (Special Item).]
[Yes/No to immediately return to Reincarnation Paradise. Remaining stay time will slightly increase overall rating.]
...
Su Xiao declined to return. He would wait until the end. Beini had gone to the Ancient Civilization Continent. Although Beini's treasure-hunting ability wasn't very reliable, that cat rarely made promises. This time, the cat "Young Miss" guaranteed she would obtain the [Primordial Mask].
Moreover, Molei still hadn't replied. If she didn't come soon, the contract would cause her severe losses.
Near the bottomless pit, Su Xiao sat cross-legged on a large rock, meditating, letting the time pass quickly.
[Warning: Hunter has reached the stay limit. Main quest completed. Hunter will be forcibly returned in 3 minutes.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao knew it was time to return. But Molei still hadn't come.
[Prompt: The contract signed between Hunter and 'Battle Angel 15**27' and 'Battle Angel 11**11' has taken effect.]
[Warning: Due to unknown reasons, Battle Angel 15**27 is experiencing brand stripping phenomenon.]
[Warning: Due to unknown reasons, Battle Angel 11**11 is experiencing brand stripping phenomenon.]
[You have obtained the stripped brands. Brand characteristics: Death Paradise.]
[You have received Death Paradise Brand ×2. This brand has no characteristics, cannot be used, cannot be sold, cannot be destroyed, cannot be analyzed. It has high-intensity danger. Safely destroyed.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao grew even more puzzled. Why would two Battle Angels defaulting on a contract cause their brands to be stripped? Even more inexplicably, those two should be Battle Angels of Apocalypse Paradise. Even if their brands were stripped, why would they yield Death Paradise's characteristicless brands?
This feeling reminded Su Xiao of one person: Mad Doctor.
[Returning to Reincarnation Paradise. Teleportation beginning.]
Su Xiao's body began to turn translucent, soon leaving this world.
...
Inside a mine within the Kingdom of Peru.
"How about it? My method's not bad, right?"
The Smiling Man scratched his head, a bit embarrassed by Molei's praise.
"Not bad? It's freaking amazing! All these ores are ours?"
"60% is yours, 40% is mine."
The Smiling Man patted the metal box he was sitting on. Wearing a miner's lamp, his face was smudged with dirt.
"No, it's all yours."
Molei was still as lively as ever, like a chuunibyou girl. But in reality, her heart was about to burst. Just now, her "teammate" had used two ownerless brands from Death Paradise to substitute for the contract's penalty. That was a contract from Reincarnation Paradise! She had never even heard of such a thing, let alone imagined it. Signing a contract with Reincarnation Paradise, in her view, meant there was no choice but to accept the consequences.
Molei looked calm on the surface, but inside she was panicking. She was starting to believe that her teammate really was Gray Gentleman.
"Molei."
The Smiling Man's eyes drooped, his expression darkening. Seeing this, Molei almost burst into tears. She was finished, dead for sure, with no hope of survival. The Smiling Man was about to reveal his true face.
"Molei... in your heart, am I a greedy person?"
The Smiling Man sighed, looking somewhat dejected.
"Huh?"
Molei was dumbfounded. She wanted to shout: "Bro, that's not the point! Compared to my life, I really don't care about these ores!"
"I don't have many friends. Ah... I'm leaving."
The Smiling Man hoisted two boxes onto his shoulders and walked dejectedly toward the mine entrance.
"Wait, wait!"
Molei called out. She thought carefully: if the Smiling Man really was Gray Gentleman, he would have silenced her long ago. Why had he been cooperating with her all this time? And from the looks of it, he was about to leave. If she broke ties with him, would he reveal his true face?
Thinking this, Molei said, "How about we split it fifty-fifty?"
"Alright."
The Smiling Man stopped with his back to Molei, his expression softening. Soon, Molei and the Smiling Man walked out of the underground mine, said their goodbyes, and parted ways.
Molei walked calmly. After going a short distance, once she felt she was out of the Smiling Man's sight, she began to sprint.
After running for two hours, slightly out of breath, Molei stopped.
"Hahaha, it's a miracle."
Molei completely let loose. Just then, a figure carrying a metal box approached from ahead, causing the smile on Molei's face to gradually stiffen.
"Are you a Battle Angel from Apocalypse Paradise? Don't worry, I am too."
"..."
The water bottle in Molei's hand slipped and fell onto the grass. Her mouth opened and closed, but in the end, nothing came out.
"Want to team up? We can sign a contract, one notarized by Apocalypse Paradise. By the way, what's your name?"
A smiling man walked over and stopped in front of Molei.
"I... I'm called Molei."
"Hello, Molei. Have you heard? Feishi has been eliminated. What a relief. I heard it was done by a hunter from Reincarnation Paradise. Scary~"
The man smiled as he stopped in front of Molei, looking at her with slight confusion, wondering why she had that expression.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. You can call me Smiling Man."
"..."
Molei didn't speak. A smile uncontrollably spread across her face.
"Yes, that's the right smile. Molei, if you don't know what to do, just smile."
"You... why haven't you been hunted?"
Molei asked the question that had been bothering her, the one thing she couldn't figure out.
"Shh~"
The Smiling Man put his index finger to his lips, signaling Molei to be quiet. He placed his hand beside his ear.
"Listen carefully. Do you hear it? He's calling you."
"If you're going to make a move, just do it. Stop playing games."
Molei was on the verge of breaking down. She wasn't afraid of death, but what she was experiencing was more terrifying than death.
"Don't talk. Listen carefully. Feel it with your heart."
The Smiling Man held Molei's still-beating heart, blood dripping through his fingers. This was truly feeling it with the heart.
Strangely, Molei didn't die. Her health didn't drop by even 0.1%. In that instant, Molei understood one thing: the reason the person beside her hadn't been hunted was that he had never killed anyone with his own hands. But the number of people who had died indirectly because of him was countless. Or perhaps, he might not have fully entered this world at all.