Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1668: Chapter 18: If You’re Not Pitiful, You Won’t Be Pitied

“You old thief!”

Facing the seductive man in the big red robe, Tai Yinzi wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words… this man in the red robe was the second person he’d seen in the Palace of Eternal Night, and he had no idea of the relationship between this man and Master Musashi.

“Don’t worry, my lady, this Lord will rescue you now.”

With that, Lord Longyang opened the cell door and, like picking up a kitten, lifted Nero out of the cell.

But the next second, Lord Longyang opened another cell door and threw Nero directly inside.

Lord Longyang, as if having done a good deed, clapped his hands in satisfaction and solemnly said, “Alright, miss, now this old thief can no longer bully you… No need to thank me, this was merely a small effort on my part.”

Nero opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found herself speechless.

At this moment, Lord Longyang casually said, “This dungeon is under Musashi’s watch, you should have been locked up by Musashi, I don’t have the authority to release you… Well then, I’ll take my leave!”

Arriving suddenly and leaving gracefully, Lord Longyang vanished quietly, leaving Nero dumbfounded in another cell, pondering deeply.

“Hahahahahahaha—!!!” Then came Tai Yinzi’s maniacal laughter, “Serves you right for setting me up! Suffer now!”

Nero said nothing, just kept her head down.

After his laughter, Tai Yinzi forced a few more laughs, seeing Nero still silent and with a soul-lost demeanor, he tentatively approached, “Little one, what’s wrong?”

“Hey, old man…” Nero kept her head down, “Do you say this is a task from the boss right?”

“Yes, this is the task instructed by the Master, how dare I make anything up for such matters?” Tai Yinzi furrowed his brows.

Nero suddenly raised her head and softly said, “Then why, even after I’ve messed up your task, the boss hasn’t appeared. Does he really not care about me… not even coming to see me?”

“Little one, you originally…”

—So, how long have you been trapped here?

—55270080 hours, plus twenty-four minutes… just now was the thirty-fifth second.

Tai Yinzi paused, truly wanting to say something but didn’t know what to say, clearly aware of the loneliness of being imprisoned.

“Perhaps the Master has his considerations. You don’t need to be like this… in my opinion, maybe there’s a part of the Master’s task to explore the Dimensional Void this time that concerns finding you…”

“Really?” Nero asked, with tears in her eyes as she looked at Tai Yinzi, her voice a bit raspy.

“The Master possesses unfathomable power.” Tai Yinzi racked his brain and said, “The Master’s actions always have profound intentions. We just haven’t comprehended them yet… Plus, we black soul envoys store our Life Lamp in the Covenant Chest, even if we’re killed outside, we can be resurrected. As long as the Life Lamp within the Covenant Chest remains unchanged, we’re naturally safe. The Master is busy with many affairs, naturally unable to watch over everything…”

“Really?” Nero said vaguely.

“Certainly.” Tai Yinzi nodded, “You see, I previously did some foolish things, yet I’m still living well, aren’t I? No need to worry, little one, I’m here!”

“Old man, you’re a good person.” Nero gently sighed, stood up, straightened her messy clothes, and seriously said, “Earlier, I was selfish… It was my fault for causing trouble, old man, it was my fault for ruining your affairs.”

“…Previous matters are bygones.” Tai Yinzi shook his head, then added, “Thinking over it, your reckless actions might not be all bad.”

Nero blinked, “How so?”

Tai Yinzi sat cross-legged, rubbing both temples, “Now that Musashi knows about the Garden of the Fallen, and you’ve handed over the Crystal Key, I think the Transcender Organization might send someone to investigate within the Stone Gate… There are many guards in the Garden, and by then you can order the guards to capture those who came to investigate, then you and I can interrogate them. The task given by the Master was to gather information on the [Throne] within the Transcender Organization, and we can extract these from the investigators, effectively completing the task, and naturally we can return.”

“You’ve thought it all out?” Nero looked at Tai Yinzi with large eyes full of admiration.

Tai Yinzi stroked his beard and smiled, “I traveled the world in my youth, and I know some small tricks, not a big deal.”

“Better than me.” Nero shook her head, “I only mess things up, useless… I can’t do anything right, it’s no wonder Ms. You Ye always punishes me.”

“No, no, no, it’s not your fault.” Tai Yinzi shook his head vigorously, “It’s just her black-hearted nature, humph… I will overthrow this black-hearted woman! Don’t worry, little one, I’m here, if she dares to punish you, I’ll fight for you!”

“Old man…” Nero suddenly started sniffling, curling up and whispering, “I’ve never had anyone care for me… Since childhood, I was trained like a machine, emerged from piles of corpses, even my best friend wanted to kill me… I don’t know the meaning of my existence, only how to survive… Do you know, one particularly cold year, on Christmas, I had over twenty knife wounds on me, lying in an alley, starving, a rat came over, and I bit its tail. But nearby, a family was preparing Christmas dinner. At that time I thought, why was I born with no parents… No one, ever cared for me as you do, ever… Old man, if I had met you earlier, wouldn’t it have been good…”

“Hey! Little one, don’t cry, don’t cry!” Tai Yinzi grabbed the iron bars of the cell in a panic, “Don’t cry, little one, I’m here, no one will bully you anymore.”

“Really, old man, you’d really protect me?” Nero came forward and tightly grasped Tai Yinzi’s hand, “Even if Ms. You Ye bullies me, you’d stick up for me?”

“A dead pig isn’t afraid of boiling water, does that black-hearted woman scare me?” Tai Yinzi snorted coldly.

“It’s no good… Ms. Maid still wants me to write penalties.” Nero sighed, “I don’t want to drag you down, old man. You’re a good person, and I’m just a tool to be discarded at any time.”

“I promised to help you and I will!” Tai Yinzi said angrily, “Even as black soul envoys, we are not slaves!”

“Old man…” Nero sniffled forcefully, “You… you would really help me avoid penalties?”

“Just small penalties!” Tai Yinzi couldn’t help but laugh, “I thought it was something difficult. If I promise you, so be it… Hmm, little one, what are you doing?”

Nero blinked, already pressing Tai Yinzi’s palm onto a freshly produced contract, “A contract, look, old man!”

—Tai Yinzi promises to complete Nero’s penalties, currently twenty-six thousand seven hundred times.

—Tai Yinzi promises to take on Ms. Maid’s future punishments, to protect Nero.

“Wait a moment…” Tai Yinzi suddenly shook with realization, his finger trembling as he pointed at Nero, “You… you, girl, you set me up?! Was all that crying and everything you said just an act?!”

Nero merely gave him a bright smile, “Old man, if I weren’t pitiable, wouldn’t I be pitied then?”

Tai Yinzi opened his mouth, then coldly snorted, sitting cross-legged with his back to Nero, muttering, “Crazy girl!”

Nero, however, did not respond for a long time.

Tai Yinzi frowned, sensing something was wrong after a while, turned around to see Nero collapsed on the ground, her face turning deathly pale… Her body even started to swell, like a balloon.

For a while, Nero’s twisted face suddenly opened its mouth, spitting out a puff of black smoke… His body gradually shrank afterward.

His complexion was even paler.

“You crazy girl, what kind of plot do you intend to play against me this time!” Tai Yinzi snorted coldly: “Hmph, don’t think I’ll believe you again!”

Nero crawled up and sat down by the wall, sticking out his tongue and tapping his head, “Hey… seems I ate something wrong… Hmm, I’m tired, going to sleep for a bit, old man don’t do something embarrassing to my back view, okay~”

“Why don’t you just drop dead!!”

Tai Yinzi snorted coldly and simply started to meditate, letting his mind delve into his memories, hoping to extract something.

Nero covered his mouth, coughed lightly twice, then lay down to sleep.

…

“Strange, the explosive seed clearly detonated, why is there no movement in the Palace of Eternal Night?”

On a floating mainland in front of the Palace of Eternal Night, a petite figure was gazing from afar, “I clearly saw Musashi take that old man inside, right?”

The petite figure shook its head.

At this moment, several figures quickly approached and arrived beside this petite figure.

“Eric, you said you want to blow up the Palace of Eternal Night and make Musashi flee in embarrassment, where’s the explosion?” one figure quickly said, “I have the trap ready and waiting for Musashi to fall into it!”

“Hmm… let’s wait and see.” The petite figure… Eric frowned. “He’ll come out eventually… By the way, still can’t contact Tamamo-no-Mae and Pan Man?”

“Can’t find them, no news at all!”

Eric pondered aloud, “Pan Man aside, it’s rare for Tamamo-no-Mae to be absent… Oh well, the Place of the Voidfall is about to collapse soon, my business is on hold, I have plenty of time to play with Musashi the thief here slowly.”

“Alright, let’s discuss, set up more layers of traps!”

They started plotting something again.

…

…

Throne Room.

Master Musashi stood somewhat awkwardly here, his suave figure seemingly couldn’t find a place to settle, always scratching his armpit when the Throne wasn’t paying attention.

The one standing before him was the Fu Xi Throne… the on-duty Throne currently.

At this moment, a purple crystal was floating in the palm of the Fu Xi Throne, who had been observing this amethyst for some time now.

“This key should be genuine.” Finally, the Fu Xi Throne slowly spoke, “It can open that magical Stone Gate in the Place of the Voidfall. As for what’s behind the Stone Gate, my Destiny Plate cannot calculate it at the moment.”

“Even your Destiny Plate cannot calculate it?” Master Musashi was a bit surprised… The predictive ability of the Fu Xi Throne was undoubtedly top within the Transcender Organization, right?

“A mysterious force is blocking it.” The Fu Xi Throne shook its head, “The dimensional crevices are infinitely vast, who knows what realms are beyond our reach? However, if we really wish to explore the world behind this Stone Gate, I feel there’s danger.”

Saying this, the Fu Xi Throne flicked the key out, returned it to Musashi, and continued, “Yet risks and rewards have always coexisted… The world behind the Stone Gate can be explored, the difficulty is temporarily defined as ‘Grade A’; anyone wanting to go, may go.”

“Grade A, the highest difficulty…” Musashi frowned, ‘Grade A’ meaning a difficulty level where even senior members of the Transcender Organization might fall at any moment, difficulty even for the Throne to handle, “Throne, is this your calculation result?”

“Only half.” The Fu Xi Throne shook its head, “‘Grade A’ is just the beginning, but the Destiny Plate stopped here, unable to continue.”

“Understood.” Master Musashi nodded, then raised the amethyst key with one hand, writing something in the void.

Soon, within the Void’s Lost Paradise using the Palace of Eternal Night as the portal, all the personal worlds of the Transcendents displayed the same information.

——Exploration difficulty ‘Grade A’ or above mysterious place.

——Bloodline Mother Tree already discovered, suspected more lost secret treasure; other intelligence unknown.

——No acceptance requirements, no limit on number, no task deadline.

——Go if you want, don’t blame if you die.

Afterwards, Master Musashi directly cast the amethyst key into the Void’s Lost Paradise, then spoke of another matter, “Now, regarding this newcomer introduced by Da Zhe?”

“Temporarily assign as an outlying member; if there’s contribution, bring them to meet me.” The Fu Xi Throne said calmly, “As for the girl, also assign her as an outlying member… You go arrange it.”

“Alright.” Master Musashi nodded, then bowed his head and retreated.

The Fu Xi Throne suddenly said, “By the way, some of your old friends are outside to see you… If there’s nothing, send them away. If anyone wants to join, keep them.”

“Old friends?” Master Musashi frowned, feeling puzzled, but still nodded before truly leaving the Throne Room.

…

The Fu Xi Throne then took out the Destiny Plate, slowly turning it, “Strange… Why do I suddenly have the urge to help this old man and girl?”

Crack—!

While turning the Destiny Plate, it suddenly shattered, within the Throne Room, Fu Xi Throne said, “Won’t calculate? Who is it… Oh well, can’t afford to mess with this.”

Shaking its head, the Fu Xi Throne began picking up the pieces of the Destiny Plate… They could actually be put back together.

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PS: As usual.