Chapter 5: Emergency Aid
Southwest of Sanctuary City, the Lower District.
The so-called Lower District was not a slum. On the contrary, the residents here could receive a minimum guaranteed food supply every month. However, if they wished to live in the relatively better Middle District or Inner District, they would lose this guarantee.
This both prevented the situation of Sanctuary City residents starving to death and eliminated the need for individual reviews on whether to distribute minimum food guarantees. This was because the closer one got to the outer ring-shaped high wall, the lower the temperature and the more damp and cold the air became. Residents living in the Outer District generally did not survive for many years.
Sanctuary City had a warm side, but in such a harsh environment, a cruel side was inevitable. Compared to a few hundred years ago, when famines that killed over seventy percent of the population frequently broke out, the current Sanctuary City was already quite good.
Su Xiao and his group stopped in front of a pile of buildings. The reason for this description was that the structure ahead was composed of dozens of half-melted houses, looking ugly yet possessing an indescribable aesthetic.
Stepping inside, the footsteps of the group became more pronounced. It was as if this place blocked out external sounds. The overall space was like an inverted bowl, covering several hundred square meters. A large number of red-purple fleshy tumor masses had grown within this building, making the interior feel cramped. The only area where one could stand was about a dozen square meters.
Sensing the arrival of living beings, the fleshy tumor masses here squirmed, forming a circular seat ahead. Afia raised her hand and made a gesture for Kaiser to proceed. Kaiser stepped forward and sat down on the fleshy circular seat.
From the darkness ahead came the sound of flesh squirming. A few seconds later, a huge but withered pale arm, over four meters long, extended from the darkness. This arm had irregular subcutaneous tumor masses growing on it, with sharp fingertips. A closer count revealed six fingers.
This palm, the size of a winnowing basket, spread out flat in front of Kaiser, palm up, fingers slightly and naturally curled. The meaning was clear: let Kaiser offer up the item he wished to trade.
Kaiser fumbled in his bosom for a while, finally pulling out a leftover fish skeleton with the head and tail still attached, and placed it in the hand of the Mother of Decay. From Kaiser's cautious movements, it was as if this was some fragile and precious treasure.
Seeing this, the Dark Archbishop had already silently taken a step back to avoid getting splattered with blood. This archbishop's robe of his was a new set of clothes he had painstakingly crafted after saving up materials for a long time, and he hadn't worn it many times yet.
But then, a scene that made the Dark Archbishop's jaw drop occurred. The pale arm used its index finger and thumb to pinch the fish tail, lifting it up. From the darkness emerged heads with necks as thin as snakes. These heads and necks were also equally pale. Over a dozen heads had faces crowded with eyes. It had no ears, but it had a nose and a mouth, the latter being thin purple lips.
These purple thin lips and black sharp fingertips were the only colors on the Mother of Decay's body; every other part was pale.
The Mother of Decay used its index finger and thumb to pinch the fish tail, holding it up in front of its dozen or so heads, looking at it with infatuation and satisfaction. Then came the sound of groping flesh. The Mother of Decay's other pale arm reached out from the darkness behind, clutching a golden primordial core. It brought it to a position in front of and above Kaiser's head, released it with a condescending gesture, and then waved its hand at Kaiser, signaling that he could scram.
The moment the transaction was completed, the pupils of the Mother of Decay's hundreds of eyes contracted. It shook the fish skeleton in its hand. The fish head, with not a shred of meat left, wobbled innocently. Seeing this, the Mother of Decay angrily crushed the entire fish skeleton into powder, grabbed Kaiser, but in the next second, what it grabbed was Kaiser wearing the [Abyssal Jar].
The Mother of Decay hurled Kaiser out of its lair. Then, as if smelling something, its noses twitched one by one. Finally, it discovered that it was the hand that had grabbed Kaiser. It brought it close and sniffed, and then from the darkness came a peculiar 'Ugh~' sound.
The Mother of Decay, feeling very unlucky, wiped its hand on the fleshy tumor wall beside it. After confirming there was no smell, it retreated back into the darkness behind.
The Dark Archbishop and Afia, who had witnessed all this, had expressions of utter astonishment. Before they could say anything, Su Xiao stepped forward.
Having just been swindled by Kaiser, the Mother of Decay's aura had swelled somewhat. However, sensing a new trader, its heads poked out, the corners of its mouth curling up into a smile. From this cruel smile, it was clear it intended to vent its anger on this new trader.
As the Mother of Decay's pale arm extended from the darkness, the fleshy circular seat formed. After Su Xiao sat down, the Mother of Decay's pale palm spread open before him.
Su Xiao took out a pitch-black ancient book about five centimeters thick. The cover of this ancient book seemed to be a mixture of wood and biological tissue, covered with magma-like patterns resembling blood vessels. These blood vessel patterns spread to the center, forming a ruby. This ruby was shaped like a heart, seemingly beating one pulse at a time.
That's right, it was the [Book of Original Sin]. Su Xiao made a move as if to place the [Book of Original Sin] into the Mother of Decay's hand. The Mother of Decay's pale, large palm retracted abruptly as if burned by fire. Seeing this, Su Xiao offered the [Book of Original Sin] forward. This was what he wanted to trade, waiting for the Mother of Decay to receive it.
The Mother of Decay in the darkness was silent. Su Xiao stood up, as if about to step forward and hand the [Book of Original Sin] to the Mother of Decay. This time, two withered, pale large hands emerged from the darkness, waving together, clearly indicating 'no'.
"Since the transaction has begun, it cannot be refused."
A faint red gleam flickered in Su Xiao's eyes, causing the Mother of Decay in the darkness ahead to fall silent for a few more seconds. One of its pale large hands extended, clenched, and opened before Su Xiao. In its palm was an object.
[You have obtained: Awakening Stele Fragment.]
Obviously, the Mother of Decay knew of the Law Destruction Faction and had sensed that Su Xiao was a Law Destroyer, hence it wanted to use this to settle the matter.
Su Xiao picked up this fist-sized [Awakening Stele Fragment]. Looking at the cross-section, it matched the cross-section at the upper right corner of the [Awakening Stele]. However, the upper right corner of the [Awakening Stele] was missing more than just this piece.
Being able to produce the [Awakening Stele Fragment] gave Su Xiao a rough guess about the Mother of Decay's origins. If he wasn't mistaken, this entity was named 'Abyssal Bottom Diver', a type of void alien existence recorded in an ancient book from the Soul Library.
Of course, the 'Abyssal Bottom Diver' couldn't compare to the three alien existences: The Frenzy of Mousheng, the Candle Woman, and the Lord of the Old Days. That level could contend head-on with a Daddy-level Original Sin Object.
However, the 'Abyssal Bottom Diver', known in this world as the Mother of Decay, was not to be underestimated. It possessed unparalleled Abyss Resistance, allowing it to dive to the bottom of the Abyss and drift in that darkness. Therefore, it often touched and salvaged some bizarre and strange treasures that had fallen into the Abyss's depths.
The Mother of Decay couldn't stay at the Abyss bottom forever. It needed to periodically return to the material world to 'breathe', which meant evaporating the Abyss darkness from its body. Its lair couldn't be too rich in elemental energy, nor could it be completely dark. Sanctuary City was the Mother of Decay's favored location.
A more intuitive analogy was that this thing was powerful enough but occasionally bullied the weak and 'scavenged'. However, it often found good things, after all, the place it 'scavenged' was the bottom of the Abyss.
Su Xiao looked at the Mother of Decay. The Mother of Decay's countless eyes also stared at Su Xiao. After a moment of mutual staring, the Mother of Decay raised its hand, gouged out one of its own eyes, and pinched this eye between its index finger and thumb, offering it forward.
[You have obtained: Decayed Demon Eye (Eternal Rank · One-time Item).]
[Effect: After use, can briefly see through darkness, or remove strong darkness from an item.]
……
This time, Su Xiao raised his hand. The Mother of Decay's hand hovered. After Su Xiao nodded, its thumb and index finger released, and the [Decayed Demon Eye] fell into Su Xiao's hand.
Su Xiao walked out. The Mother of Decay retreated back into the darkness. As for the Dark Archbishop and Afia, they were left bewildered in the evening wind outside the door. Both were dumbfounded. In the history of Sanctuary City, there were no less than a thousand strong individuals who had been toyed to death by the Mother of Decay. But now, it seemed the Mother of Decay had been… extorted?!
The group returned to the Gloomy Grand Cathedral. The Dark Archbishop gave Su Xiao a room key, for a bedroom on the inner side of the sixth floor. How ironic the world was. Su Xiao had never imagined that one day he would be temporarily residing in the headquarters of the Dark God Cult.
Since it was decided to deal with one of the three major councilors of the Abyss Descendant Dukain Family, the absolute controller of the Elf Nation Serton, the Beast Lord, a time had to be set. That time was noon tomorrow. The current team members were:
Su Xiao, Pain Priest Zdenek, Baha.
Upon learning that the Elf Nation Serton had billions of enslaved elves who tirelessly crafted super-tier weapons and armor, which were then sold to other high-tier worlds in the Void Myriad Realms through a secret merchant guild's channel, Kaiser was convinced that the Beast Lord possessed immense wealth.
After Kaiser used the [Faction Bully X] ability to confirm that the 'Elf Nation Serton' had a faction system notarized by the Void Tree, the procurement plan was initiated. However, three points were still lacking: