Cheng Shi didn't dare risk it, so he chose the safer approach — posing as Mr. Mo Rabic's liaison.
Clearly, these two didn't actually know what Mo Rabic looked like. Otherwise, they couldn't have mistaken him for the man. Since they didn't know him, the room for improvisation was enormous.
Of course, he had an even simpler option: blast one of them away with Death's Fun Ring, adding a Screaming Servant bodyguard in the process, and then interrogate the other to his heart's content amid the terror.
But using Lightning Punishnt on a small-ti grunt was like firing a cannon at a mosquito. More importantly, he was the only player in the vicinity. If the massive thunderclap attracted sothing dangerous, his current Fate Weaver identity wouldn't handle it well. So when the brain could do the job, there was no need to reach for fists every ti.
He spoke up, slathering his face with an expression of flustered alarm, shaking his head nonstop:
"No, no, no — you've got the wrong person. I'm not Lord Mo Rabic. I'm just a subordinate he sent ahead."
Cheng Shi had carefully skirted every minefield. Liaison identity, purpose of visit, his own na — he volunteered none of it. He simply offered a vague role and waited for their reaction.
The two n blinked. They hadn't expected their visitor to be the target's underling rather than the target himself.
They exchanged a glance, their eyebrows furrowing with mild suspicion: "Lady Shi Lolin didn't ntion anything about a subordinate. Are you Mr. Mo Rabic's liaison?"
Shi Lolin?
They'd been ordered by Shi Lolin to wait here for soone. Why hadn't she ntioned this earlier?
Then again, Cheng Shi wasn't particularly surprised. After all, external dealings were perfectly normal for an organization's leader. In Shi Lolin's eyes, any affair within her authority probably didn't even register as noteworthy.
But who was this Mo Rabic?
Cheng Shi considered briefly, then nodded with a straight face: "Yes. Mo Rabic sent
here. You see..."
"You're alone?" The burlier man on the left was clearly the sharper one. He poked his head outside, circled around, and only after confirming no one else was there did he return looking puzzled, tossing out a casual gripe: "First you don't trust us enough to co yourselves, but then you won't bring extra hands. Then you say you're cautious, but you send a liaison to scout ahead first.
Whatever. Doesn't matter. Did you bring the goods? I don't see anything outside. You're not thinking of canceling the deal, are you?"
Goods?
Shi Lolin was trading goods with so faction?
Cheng Shi's brow quirked. From the big man's words, he gathered that this "goods" was apparently sizable — at least too large to carry on a person. Otherwise, the man wouldn't have said that. So his eyes darted and he quickly replied: "Sothing this important obviously can't be carried by soone like . Lord Mo Rabic will personally co to deliver the goods. I'm just here to..."
As he spoke, he leaned past the two n and peered behind them, clearly searching for sothing.
The two n understood. They exchanged a look, then snorted with amusent: "Don't bother looking. The paynt's not with us. Shi Lolin's been having a spat with that son-of-a-bitch A Rad lately — he won't give in. But sit tight, Lady Shi Lolin's already working on it. She'll have the Abyss Colorful Crystal delivered to your people soon enough."
Abyss Colorful Crystal?
What was that?
And Shi Lolin and A Rad's relationship apparently wasn't as harmonious as he'd imagined — there was friction between them?
Cheng Shi's brow quirked again as he suddenly recalled the scorching look Shi Lolin had given Qin Xin.
'Could it be that the Extre Desire Brotherhood's boss wasn't eyeing Qin Xin's body after all — but rather wanted this imposing outsider to take out her own brother?'
'Hiss— that's entirely possible.'
Cheng Shi filed this away while continuing to banter casually with the n: "Is that so? But I heard A Rad is actually Lady Shi Lolin's brother. For you to speak of him so disparagingly, Lady Shi Lolin might..."
"What's wrong with that? I wasn't lying. A Rad really was raised by a whore, and so was Lady Shi Lolin for that matter. Their mother was one of our Shanty Area people. What's the problem?
But I'm not stating facts here — what I said just now was expressing my emotions. Emotions — get it?
No wonder Lady Shi Lolin said your people's brains work funny. What normal person concerns themselves with that kind of thing?"
"..."
'How did I end up being the one in the wrong?'
Cheng Shi was montarily stumped. He thought to himself that Chen Shu really was sothing — just saying the man's na left him speechless.
But he genuinely didn't know what to say next. Fortunately, the big n opposite him were rather "enthusiastic." Seeing that today's deal was a bust, they asked irritably:
"So how do you actually want to do this trade? Give us a specific ti. Lady Shi Lolin has had the two of us waiting here for days. We finally get soone, and it's just a liaison? Are you people being overly cautious?
In this Falling Gate, who'd dare ss with the Brotherhood's clients?"
"Yes, yes — it's precisely because of the Brotherhood's reputation that we're willing to do this deal."
The big man scrutinized Cheng Shi once more, then laughed: "You don't seem as unreasonable as Lady Shi Lolin described. Not bad. So what's the plan going forward? Where has Mr. Mo Rabic gotten to? Need soone to et him?
Let
be straight with you, brother — the Extre Desire Brotherhood may only control the Shanty Area, but every single deal in Falling Gate runs through us.
You've got good taste. Work with us and business will only grow. After all, we're the people who understand desire best.
Oh, and one more thing — I'm a bit curious. Lady Shi Lolin was vague about it, and we didn't dare ask too many questions. But now that we're dealing with the man himself, let
just ask: can you people truly extract Divinity from Abyss Colorful Crystal?
That stuff — can mortals actually use it?"
"!!??"
What?
Divinity?
Extracting Divinity from ore?
Shi Lolin was trading in Divinity with a mysterious organization?
Cheng Shi was jolted. His pupils contracted sharply — no ti to overthink — and the words tumbled out: "Of course we can. Without genuine capability, how would we dare do business with the Brotherhood? But this is all very complex. It's beyond a foot soldier like . All I know is that it can be done — for the specifics, you'd need to ask Mr. Mo Rabic."
"I can tell — you're not lying to . I like honest people like you." The big man nodded thoughtfully, laughing in approval of Cheng Shi's forthrightness. But his expression suddenly darkened, his eyes narrowing with suspicion: "But if you can extract Divinity, why don't you keep it for yourselves?
Sothing this valuable — shouldn't you monopolize it?"
"?"
'You're not as dumb as you look.'
It was a good question — one Cheng Shi had been pondering himself. If soone truly had the ans to extract Divinity, why would they trade it with others?
But this was child's play for Cheng Shi. He spun up an answer without missing a beat:
"You gentlen are the ones who understand desire best, so I won't mince words. If we controlled the mine, nobody would get a share.
But as luck would have it, we only have the technology — not the mine. So..."
"Ohh~" The big man got it imdiately. Now that was desire at work.
"You're alright. If all future dealings go through you, I think our two organizations have a real future together.
What are your people called again... ah, look at
— three days without clients and my brain's already going soft."
"?"
'What does entertaining clients have to do with your brain?'
Cheng Shi blinked, not daring to make a sound.
The other burly man next to him had a better mory and promptly reminded his partner: "Folly, rember? You even said there aren't supposed to be any fish in Falling Gate. They follow Folly."
The mont those words landed, a thunderclap detonated inside Cheng Shi's skull.
"!!!"
Folly??
Where did Folly co from?!
The current tiline should be mid-Civilization Era. War hadn't even descended yet — only watching from afar. Chaos was barely sprouting. So how was Folly's divine na already circulating in the Underworld?
Was His gaze really cast this early?
Could this Mo Rabic be... yet another Seedling Follower?
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