Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1434: Chapter 161: Cat and Mouse

After dinner, Nero quietly slipped out from the manor—of course, she didn’t think her actions were secret and unnoticed… how could the Boss and the maid not know?

She actually has relative freedom… sometimes Nero thinks that perhaps this relative freedom is even more lenient than she imagined.

At least, so far, the one who is the master hasn’t specifically asked her to do anything, do anything… not even a bit to fulfill the obligations of a Black soul envoy.

So Nero feels that even as a Black soul envoy, one can live like a salted fish.

“Not resting?”

Just as she left the manor, in the small forest outside the manor, Nero met Da Zhe who was practicing swordsmanship here. Da Zhe greeted her proactively.

“The Black soul envoy seems not to need rest, right?” Nero leaned against the tree trunk and retorted.

Da Zhe weighed the Zhan Lu Sword in his hand and suddenly said, “Exercise a bit?”

Nero put on an expression of dislike and waved her hand, “I like to torture people, not to be tortured.”

That was quite genuine, Da Zhe smiled slightly. Actually, before the Boss and Ms. You Ye arrived, it was Nero who pestered him for fights everyday.

Nero suddenly rose up, intending to leave here. Da Zhe curiously asked, “Where are you going?”

“To torture people!” Nero turned her head back with a smile, “Thank you, Brother Da Zhe, for covering for me in front of You Ye Nuns this afternoon, here’s a flying kiss for you~~”

A black mist spewed from Nero’s mouth, forming into a small heart shape, slowly floating before Da Zhe, then suddenly dispersed—a black heart.

“Nuns…”

Da Zhe shook his head, then continued his sword practice, as though living his days.

…

After the restaurant closed, Mr. Smith returned home around ten in the evening. Afternoon Lady Elura had called, saying Joe had already gone home… despite Mr. Smith didn’t know exactly when Joe sneaked away right under his nose.

He actually still felt that Joe, only five years old, might be a bit too mischievous… even in such a small town.

He originally intended to exchange words with Joe but found Joe already asleep, so he had to give up… He chatted leisurely with his mother Lady Elura and his wife Deborah in the living room.

Lady Elura stated her spirits improved significantly today, as if she became ten years younger. Mr. Smith thought it might be due to her mood.

His wife Deborah now nestled in Mr. Smith’s arms, and Mr. Smith lightly caressed his wife’s pregnant belly, their family occasionally uttering insignificant yet serene words.

Unnoticed, Lady Elura, who was knitting a towel, seemed tired and dozed off —same for Mr. Smith who worked all day.

The kitchen was boiling water—even though water hadn’t boiled yet, deep into the night, winds stirred the curtains… swaying curtains seeming to crash into flames on stoves anytime soon.

It brushed past bright stove flames several times… maybe awaiting to burn, even wind strength increased slightly, blowing faster now.

This time likely wouldn’t brush past, sure to crash into stove flames, curtains lifted as if grasped by invisible hands.

Click—!

But stove flames suddenly went out—Deborah turned off the gas valve directly… they say pregnant women are more prone to sleep, but she woke up unaware.

Deborah’s movements seemed slow, considering pregnant women nearing delivery always cope with discomfort… She supported her belly, returned to the living room, covered Lady Elura and husband Mr. Smith with blankets, quietly checked in on Joe’s room.

She tried hard not to disturb her family, even drinking water, striving lightly… yet seemingly something gazing from outside—it was luminous even in dark nights.

Seemingly sensing this gaze, Deborah stared into the night outside.

She saw cylindrical yellow eyes… the eyes of an owl—perched still atop a tree in front of her house, watching.

Deborah instinctively hugged herself tightly, sensing a cool chill… She suddenly went blank, neither thinking nor not thinking anything specific.

“Looking at what?”

The sound of her husband Mr. Smith came from behind, along with him bringing a shawl… Draping shawl over his wife’s shoulders while from behind holding her, Mr. Smith also gazed outside.

“Seems… nothing.” Deborah found the owl on the tree seemingly disappeared, maybe already flew away, her face resting against her husband’s face, “Just got a little dazed.”

“Return to the room for rest, it’s getting late.” Her husband softly said.

Deborah nodded, went back to the room with her husband.

At this moment, a small shadow flashed past the window outside… seemingly a black cat.

If Mr. Smith paid attention, he would recognize, the same black cat seemed to be the one he encountered during the day.

The black cat didn’t run far… soon came to the road ahead.

There was someone—standing in a black suit here. The black cat arrived in front of the figure, jumping forcefully onto it.

In black suit, it gathered hands, embraced the black cat in its arms—from the suit, took out a pocket watch, opened, checking time.

Then put back the watch, slowly approached Mr. Smith’s house front—just when intending to reach for the house door, abruptly froze.

Suddenly a black light as if lightning shot from the ground, hitting it—yet as black lightning struck it, its body along with the black cat turned to a wisp of black smoke, vanished.

Black lightning circled once above Mr. Smith’s house, slowly descended, turning into the shape of Yama Sword, slantedly inserted into the soil.

Moments later, a white hand pulled Yama Sword up from the ground, casually slung over shoulder… Nero surveyed in front Mr. Smith’s house door, whispered, “Ran really fast huh…”

She yawned, then jumped onto Mr. Smith’s house rooftop, directly lay down there, gazing dim moonlight, closed her eyes like asleep.

Not until dawn did she bury Yama Sword again in Mr. Smith’s house yard, later looking sluggishly tired, slowly flew back toward the manor.

…

“Where’s the Boss?”

Upon returning to the manor, Nero saw that there was still breakfast left on the table and grabbed it without saying a word to eat.

“The boss and Ms. You Ye went to the school,” Da Zhe casually said while reading the newspaper. “Seems like they went to handle the enrollment matters.”

Nero blinked, looking thoughtful, “Oh right, the boss came here to attend school… Is school fun?”

“Haven’t you been to school?” Da Zhe asked subconsciously.

Nero shrugged, “Attended the instructor’s training courses, does that count?”

Da Zhe glanced back at Nero and suddenly asked, “Where did you go last night?”

Nero flashed a bright smile, “Catching mice~ It was really fun~”

“Is that so.” Da Zhe nodded, evidently not too concerned… He folded the newspaper in his hands and was about to tend to the back garden, “By the way, the last one to finish eating is responsible for washing the dishes…”

Before the words were fully spoken, Nero’s shadow had already disappeared without a trace.

Da Zhe wasn’t concerned, merely insisted on finishing his words, “…The boss said it, the last to eat must do the dishes.”

Disappeared Nero at this moment popped out from the wall with a disappointed look, sulking and returning obediently—to wash the dishes.

…

…

After a flash, they appeared amidst a snowy peak, just one step away from officially stepping into the border of Shen Zhou—it was truly just a step away.

Thus, Long Xiruo stepped forward without hesitation—just a moment, a vast, continuous stream of power began to flow into the body of the true dragon of Shen Zhou.

“It’s still comfortable to be home.” Long Xiruo stretched lazily, feeling that even if she had to fight that scheming maid for three hundred rounds, she wouldn’t flinch!

“Huh! So there’s coordinates here too!” Luo Pianqian looked around and then asked curiously, “Sister Long, why did we go so far away to the Unhuman Domain last time?”

“This must be a temporary set of coordinates by Dazzle.” Long Xiruo thought and said, “I couldn’t possibly not know if there was something like this in front of my house… That guy probably just said it on purpose, bluffing that it’s been idle for a long time just to fool you.”

The well-behaved little butterfly monster nodded earnestly at this time.

“Alright, enough talking, we’ve been out for several days.” Long Xiruo said quickly, “Let’s hurry back to the hospital, there should be a lot of patients accumulated.”

The little butterfly monster nodded fervently, “Yes! Some of the old men are probably running out of medicine and need resupply… Huh! Sister Long, it seems like there’s a scent of snow lotus over there, I’ll go check it out!”

Not that she didn’t learn anything; even though she was merely doing chores at the pet hospital, the little butterfly monster would also proactively learn some pharmacological knowledge in her daily life—and her learning speed was rather fast.

Long Xiruo wasn’t stingy with this knowledge either and taught quite a bit—watching the little butterfly monster spreading her colorful butterfly wings and flying toward a nearby snow peak, the true dragon of Shen Zhou was in no rush.

They were already in Shen Zhou now, so she naturally felt a bit more at ease… The true dragon of Shen Zhou suddenly took out the music box she had obtained from the castle.

While in the castle, she tried her best but was unable to open it… She seemed to want to try again.

So, the true dragon of Shen Zhou took a deep breath, then seized the music box with both hands… exerting her power. Her control of power had reached the peak, with not a single leakage, no socalled earth-shaking even if giving it her all.

Yet at this moment she was already flushed in the face, still unable to budge the music box even a fraction—she was now within Shen Zhou, her True Dragon’s power was infinite!

“What a broken thing…” Once more giving up, the true dragon of Shen Zhou slowly exhaled and sat down on the spot, propping her cheek.

Should she clear her debts then use the intelligence channel’s ability to inquire about this thing’s origin?

But this thought was quickly negated by Long Xiruo—if even with the intelligence channel she asked would have nothing known, wouldn’t even the Godly Land’s true dragon herself not believe it?

She always felt that when she obtained this music box, something happened to her—and this matter, she instinctively felt couldn’t let Luo Qiu’s side, representing the shop, know—at least, not for now.

But it was also strange, she was back in Shen Zhou now, yet there seemed to be no urge for debt collection… Luo Qiu had said there’s no rush, the accounts could be settled after she returned to Shen Zhou.

But now returned, there was still no reminder… The true dragon of Shen Zhou couldn’t help but mutter, “That dead guy, actually has a bit of a conscience…”

Just as she muttered these words, something suddenly fell atop the true dragon of Shen Zhou’s head—falling directly in the snow before her.

It was a syringe as thick as an arm.

The true dragon of Shen Zhou was stunned for a moment, then suddenly stood up, stomping fiercely on the syringe in the snow, angrily cursing, “Scumbag!! Trash!! Go die!!!”

The syringe can’t be crushed, it will never truly be crushed—even if it was crushed, it would automatically restore… Upon understanding this answer, the true dragon of Shen Zhou felt increasingly uncomfortable.

“I won’t get it drawn! If you have the capabilities, come draw my blood yourself!” The true dragon of Shen Zhou snorted, “I intend to default on the debt now, bite me if you dare!”

The syringe just lay quietly in the snow.

Long Xiruo picked it up and threw it vigorously into the snowy peaks surrounding—but soon enough, the syringe would return automatically—she was at her wits’ end, leaving this thing behind.

At this moment.

“What kind of ghost place is this? Why is the magic essence concentration so low…”

Not far away, the Golden Dragon Fafnir staggered to his feet, rubbing his head—more than just the head, he felt as if someone had dismembered him, his whole body aching as if he had fought a major battle.

Finally, Fafnir, looking around, noticed the true dragon of Shen Zhou staring at him from ten meters away.

Fafnir shivered unconsciously, not quite understanding the situation, but for some reason, the old hag’s gaze in front seemed to carry a sense of unspeakable danger.

At that moment, Long Xiruo suddenly walked toward Fafnir.

“Y-you, what do you want?!” Fafnir nervously retreated… chiefly because the true dragon of Shen Zhou at this time held an enormous syringe in her hand, looking truly intimidating.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” The voice of the true dragon of Shen Zhou rang out calmly, “I just saw that you seemed unwell and decided to draw some blood for testing… Don’t worry, I won’t draw much, just a casual hundred liters or so.”

“N-no, don’t come any closer!! Ah—!!!”