Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1544: Chapter 271: Even the spirit of nature has dignity!

Everything here was far too important to her; in an instant, it surpassed a certain budding fondness in Yamana’s heart.

Without any time to recall memories, the moment this young guard spoke, Yamana’s hand shot swiftly toward her waist—since it was a reflexive move, whenever she encountered danger, she would always think of taking out the Divine Artifact.

She had simply overlooked one thing: at this moment she didn’t have the Divine Artifact on her at all—so her hand just grabbed at air, her palm pressed to her waist, striking the pose of drawing a gun, yet she could neither draw nor not draw, and could only freeze there awkwardly.

The young guard… Boss Luo blinked, as if he hadn’t noticed Yamana’s current embarrassment at all, and slowly walked into the room.

“You… how did you get here?” After a moment of silence, Yamana calmed herself down, frowned, and asked, “You… how much do you know?”

“I just happen to know a bit.” Boss Luo said casually, his gaze on the clothes on the cylindrical platform. “These clothes look a lot like one of my classmates’.”

Yamana’s breathing suddenly quickened; she blurted out, “You’re from outside?”

Boss Luo instead asked curiously, “By ‘outside’, Princess, where exactly do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb!” Yamana said in a low voice, “Speak! How much do you actually know… since when have you been standing outside the door?”

“I just got here.” Boss Luo shook his head. “I came following the Pharaoh’s steps. He was in front, I was behind, only he hasn’t come here yet, but has temporarily been trapped somewhere in this place.”

“My father… he entered the Temple?” Yamana stared at him in disbelief, her brows knitting even more tightly… half-skeptical, Yamana’s gaze stayed locked on him, yet she stepped back, retreating all the way to the control console in the room.

She was the Princess of the City of the Sun’s empire—living as a Princess in what seemed to be a civilization of Ancient Egypt, yet at this moment she was operating everything on this control console with a fluency that defied common sense.

The images on the screens kept switching—one moment it was the Princess leading the Royal Guards in battle against the monster in the palace, and in the next instant it switched to the interior of the Temple.

But she still didn’t find what she wanted to find… Yamana’s gaze chilled; looking at Boss Luo, she said coldly, “You’re lying to me.”

“Let me try.” Boss Luo didn’t mind. He walked to Yamana’s side, glanced at the numerous buttons on the platform, and casually pressed a few.

In Yamana’s eyes, he was just randomly mashing buttons… Her anger couldn’t help but rise; she felt as if she were being toyed with. But just then, the screen suddenly flashed, and a roar burst from the image that flickered to life, transmitted to her ears along with the voice-control system.

A hawk’s head, a human body, fleshy wings and… madness!

“How can this be!?” Yamana pressed both hands on the platform, her eyes bulging wide. “What’s going on, how can there be another one here?”

Boss Luo’s fingers inadvertently brushed against another button on the panel… On another screen, a different image flickered on.

This set of images was exactly the same as what Guardian Otto had seen back then—it was the scene of the Pharaoh of the Kingdom mutating into a Hawk-Headed Humanoid Creature.

“It really is… Father!” The moment this sequence appeared, it was as if all strength had been drained from Yamana; she collapsed to her knees in an instant—she should have been the strongest woman in the entire City of the Sun, yet right now her gaze turned frantic. “Impossible, why…”

“Why what.” Boss Luo asked curiously. “Why… the High Priest hid this from you, even preventing you from using the monitoring controls to see these things?”

She subconsciously nodded… her mind blank; perhaps it was like that, perhaps it was something else… She instinctively didn’t dare look at what was on the screen.

Luo Qiu said calmly, “Generally speaking, the reason you don’t let someone see certain things is because you don’t want them to know certain truths. That way it’s more advantageous to whoever started it all.”

“Impossible, he would never deceive me! He is my…” Without thinking, Yamana wanted to deny something—but she couldn’t help recalling the betrayal she had just suffered.

He had transformed her into the monster in people’s eyes, had framed and lured her here… Though she could not accept his methods, in terms of his goal, she knew it was for her own good, so the resentment in her heart quickly faded.

But hiding from her the Pharaoh’s mutation—was that so she could follow and leave the City of the Sun…? Yamana couldn’t help falling into a kind of uncertainty.

Suddenly, Yamana grit her teeth, stood up, and headed toward the passage leading to the place she had agreed upon with the High Priest.

Luo Qiu asked at this moment, “Where are you going.”

Yamana said, “To get answers from him… he’ll know.”

Boss Luo nodded, stepped aside, and motioned for Yamana to pass… Without thinking, Yamana strode quickly into the passage, Boss Luo following behind her.

She failed to notice that from the moment this young guard had suddenly appeared here until now, all her initial wariness of him seemed to have vanished.

All the irrationality seemed to have been veiled… The existence of this young guard, to her, felt like another self in the depths of her heart.

Thought and answer… were what had evolved between her and him, like her own questions and replies.

…

This was a very long, spiral staircase leading downward—Yamana was almost running, constantly delving deeper.

No matter how she ran, though, the young guard could always stay behind her, and he did so just by walking—this highly incongruous pursuit did not stir any curiosity in Yamana at the moment.

Very soon, she finished descending this long staircase—the bottom was a pool radiating a dim-blue glow.

A vast pool.

Luo Qiu saw the many bodies sunk in the water… Beneath the faint blue light of the pool, countless ghastly pale faces floated up.

You simply couldn’t count how many faces there were here.

“Why are these people here.” Boss Luo walked along the edge of the central platform reached by the staircase, and asked Yamana.

She was currently heading toward another passageway leading off the platform—this passage was built over the pool, and led to the place the High Priest had spoken of as where the “door” was.

“They are all residents of the City of the Sun.” Yamana said quickly. “These here are their true selves.”

Boss Luo said calmly, “Are the residents of the City of the Sun fake then.”

Yamana said, “No, they’re real too, but at the same time they’re copies. The High Priest holds a Balance in his hands. This Balance can weigh the goodness and ugliness in a person… Those in the pool are all the ugly side weighed out by the Balance.”

“Ugly?” Boss Luo blinked, glanced at the people submerged in the pool, and seemed lost in thought.

Yamana nodded. “The City of the Sun lies in a Subspace different from the real world. Maintaining this Subspace requires a certain amount of energy… the Balance has the function of converting these people’s ugly faces into energy that stabilizes this Space.”

“Princess, are you in this pool as well?” Boss Luo suddenly asked a very sharp question.

This forced Yamana to stop at once. Her gaze shifted slightly, but she did not turn around. Instead, she looked at the young guard behind her, tilted her head a little, and said, “I’m not in there.”

“What about the High Priest herself?” Boss Luo asked next.

Yamana shook her head.

Luo Qiu stopped asking anything further and simply continued to follow behind Yamana, leaving the Space where this pool was located.

…

…

In the main hall of the Pharaoh’s Sleeping Palace, the red Lamp God had directly placed the Little Maid on the Pharaoh’s Throne and conjured a fan, vigorously fanning this Little Maid.

At last, the Little Maid’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and the red Lamp God immediately fanned even harder!

“Yes! Yes, yes! That’s it, hurry up and wake up, wake up… Oh! Finally awake!” The red Lamp God suddenly got as excited as a bull, his eyes bulging wide as he opened that blood-basin-like mouth.

The Little Maid, who had just opened her eyes, saw this scene and her eyes instantly rolled back. She was about to faint again when the quick-witted red Lamp God shrieked, “If you dare fall asleep again, I’ll send ten thousand bulls to come find you!”

Perhaps this kind of threat really worked; the Little Maid snapped awake in an instant—once awake, she immediately started screaming.

The red Lamp God covered his ears and did not move a finger, stubbornly waiting until this Little Maid had screamed herself completely out of strength and had to stop. Only then did he stare at her with a burning gaze. “Little girl, you’ve screamed enough. I know your emotions must be running very high right now, but it’s fine… none of that is important! The important thing is: do you want five hundred wishes?!”

Aaah——!!!

The Little Maid, whose inner world was quite simple, screamed again.

The red Lamp God rolled his eyes, plugged his ears with his fingers once more, and forced himself to wait until this Little Maid finished screaming. Then he asked again, “So, about those five hundred wishes, do you—”

Aaah——!!!!!

“Five hundred wishes…”

Aaah——!!!

“Fi…”

Aaah——!!!!

“If you scream one more time, I’ll have ten thousand bulls trample your body!!” The red Lamp God shrieked this time. “Ten thousand! In heat!”

The Little Maid curled up on the Throne, looking pitiably at him while she kept pinching her own cheeks… that little face turned red from all the pinching.

“Listen, you’re not dreaming, and you are especially not having a nightmare!” The red Lamp God sighed. “I’m a Lamp God, a Lamp God who can help you realize any wish! Whether you want wealth, status…”

At this point, the red Lamp God couldn’t help recalling how his previous summoner had dissed this line as being outdated, so he coughed twice. “Anyway, whatever you want, I can help you… Look, you’re so kind and beautiful that even a god would favor you, so they sent me to your side to help you realize your wishes.”

The Little Maid’s eyes immediately went wide. She stared half-doubting, then stuck out a finger.

The red Lamp God more or less knew what this Little Maid wanted to do, so he brought his old face close to her finger—this little girl probably just wanted to touch him.

Seeing this, the Little Maid suddenly yanked hard at the beard on the red Lamp God’s chin… she gave it a fierce pull, but it actually didn’t come off.

“You have to believe me. If you weren’t my summoner, I’d definitely give you to ten thousand bulls!” The red Lamp God’s fiery aura flared up all of a sudden.

But just then, a roar louder than the red Lamp God’s own bellow came from outside the hall… The Little Maid jumped, blurting out instinctively, “Outside… what’s happening outside?”

The red Lamp God impatiently waved his hand.

A curtain of water slowly unfolded before the Little Maid’s eyes… images miraculously appeared on the flowing water-screen. The Little Maid’s eyes went wide as she saw clearly what was being shown on it.

She sprang up from the Throne. “Princess!”

“Princess?” The red Lamp God tilted his head to glance, then shook it. He wasn’t very interested in anything here; he just wanted this Little Maid to help him break the limit of a thousand wishes. So he rolled his eyes and said, “This Princess doesn’t look like she’s doing too well… do you want to save her?”

The Little Maid nodded without thinking. “Y-you… can you help me save Her Highness? Great monster, I beg you…”

Monster what the hell?

The red Lamp God shook his head, but thought that letting this little girl witness his Power was actually a good thing. Besides, the grand plan involving those five hundred wishes would still need this little girl later.

He really didn’t want to wait for the next summoner… Who knew if the next one would be as vile as the one before this little girl?

“I can, as long as you sincerely make a wish to me.” The red Lamp God put on what he considered his most handsome smile, grinning like a shady crook. “Come, speak your first wish, and let me save this Princess who is currently in danger!”

The Little Maid nodded, then thought for a moment. She put her hands together, very solemnly walked up to the red Lamp God, knelt down before him with a face full of piety. “Great monster, Arian doesn’t taste good… but it’s fine if you want to eat me, as long as you can let the Princess live happily. Please, you must let the Princess become happy…”

“All right, I’ll fulfill your first… what did you just say you wanted?” The red Lamp God’s eyes went wide. “I’m saying you can wish for me to save her!”

“I want the Princess to become happy!” The Little Maid said pitifully. “I-is that not allowed… Don’t eat me, sob sob…”

The Lamp God… the Lamp God was burning with Anger, wanting to tell this Little Maid that even the spirit of the Magic Lamp had dignity—just then, the Magic Lamp suddenly lit up, and a command like heavenly decree stamped itself straight into the red Lamp God’s Mind.

First wish: Let the Princess become happy.

The red Lamp God instantly lost all steam… Dignity and such—well, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d lost it anyway.

“This is why I say women are the most treacherous, vicious, shameless creatures alive!!”