# Chapter 3: Pay Enough Soul Coins
And today, the Grand Lord Gurbak, weakened to his limit, was about to face the downtrodden slum dwellers he had oppressed for so long.
When everything finally settled, the damp, rotting soil within a few meters was stained with specks of blood. The Grand Lord Gurbak, his body covered in wounds and with only one eye remaining, lay on the verge of death. His gaze turned toward the massive hole above him—the one he had smashed open when he fell. Seeing this hole and the sunlight streaming through it, his pupils contracted slightly.
He had forgotten how many years ago it was. A young man, his right arm replaced by a mechanical prosthetic, stood at the center of the underground city. Nearby, a slightly leaking steam pipe slowly emitted hot steam, causing the dome above to be shrouded in mist. This dome was the only place in the underground city where one could glimpse the world above.
The young man was not alone. Behind him stood companions of various appearances but with the same aspirations: an elderly small giant, a bloodthirsty clan member, an old human man, a burly dwarf, an orc shaman, and an elven maiden whose eyes were filled with the young man's silhouette.
Standing atop a pile of rubble, the young man raised his mechanical right arm and clenched his fist high toward the dome: "We will definitely defeat the Golden City Lord. We will... definitely make it so that all underground city residents can once again have the right to live above ground."
The young man's expression was resolute. But as time rapidly accelerated, his face gradually matured, his gaze turned cold, then arrogant and cruel, and finally... became nothing at all. As the young man grew older, even developing slight wrinkles on his face, his features gradually overlapped with those of Grand Lord Gurbak, until they were identical.
Had the dragon-slaying youth become a dragon? No, the youth had become a monster far more terrifying than any dragon. But Gurbak suddenly forgot what had caused all this.
"Why... didn't you come... to save me."
Grand Lord Gurbak murmured to himself, his pupils beginning to dim. On the verge of death, he suddenly remembered—his former companions hadn't refused to save him. It was he who, pressured by the Scarlet Lord's death threat and having acquired stronger, more useful, and more obedient subordinates, had ordered them all slaughtered.
Gurbak finally recalled what had made him abandon his former ideals. It was because, after defeating the Golden City Lord and believing everything would be beautiful, his dignity, life, soul, and everything else had been trampled underfoot by the Scarlet Lord.
"I'll be... waiting for you... in the Yellow Springs... Scarlet Lord."
Having burned the last embers of his life force to utter these words, Grand Lord Gurbak's eyes completely lost their luster.
...
Inside the top-floor office of the Platinum Casino.
Ten seconds ago, Caesar had successfully opened the vault here. Both Su Xiao and Caesar were certain that Grand Lord Gurbak's entire fortune should be stored here. But as the vault door swung open, what greeted their eyes was a metal room of several dozen square meters—completely empty.
Standing before the vault door, the two stared at the empty safe. There was no doubt about it—someone had truly snatched the prize from right under their noses, and had succeeded.
For Caesar, this situation hurt more than being stabbed several times. So much so that his eyes practically glowed green. He took out the Abyssal Jar, put it over his head, and practically crawled on the ground. After a moment, he suddenly grabbed hold of something in the air.
"Got it."
Caesar pulled out all sorts of strange and peculiar items. After a series of operations, he arrived at a conclusion. Ten minutes before the two had arrived here, someone had quietly entered this vault. That person was called the Mysterious Merchant, or more precisely, the highest-ranked merchant certified by the Void Tree—no, the highest-ranked profiteer.
Standing before the vault door, Su Xiao and Caesar turned to look at each other. The question was, could this be tolerated? The answer was, of course not. This time, they would not only make the Mysterious Merchant spit out everything he had taken, but also make him disgorge double the amount.