“Cat Sister, are you saying… my Mother ate my Father?”
In front of the iron-barred gate, the little girl in the black robe wore a conflicted expression. Her voice grew smaller as she hugged her knees and slowly squatted down.
“How could Mother do that? She’s just too awful…”
“If the Demon King wasn’t bad, would they still be called the Demon King? Meow~”
Bored, the Black Cat also got the itch to gossip. “Back in the day, your mother ran rampant, looked down upon the world, and went door to door beating up the other Demon Kings. That’s how she unified the entire Demon Race. It’s a pity, though—when your mother was preparing to make a move against the Humans, somehow she ended up getting mixed up with your detestable Father…”
“To think, a once-peerless Demon King would end up like this… sigh~ sigh~”
The Black Cat sighed theatrically, but her eyes were smiling, looking exactly like someone enjoying the spectacle.
“……”
The little girl in the black robe didn’t speak, nor did she ask why her Mother ate her Father. She just hugged her knees in silence, obviously in a bad mood.
At the same time, a thread of fear toward that Mother she’d never met began to creep into her heart.
The world of monsters is cruel; devouring your own kind is the norm. To swallow your lover whole and still appear elegant—it’s like how a mantis must eat its mate to bear offspring…
She vaguely remembered the first time she saw a story like this—it was in a Story Book.
Back then, she felt sorrow and fear at the cruelty among the Demon Race.
“Where will my future lead me?”
The black-clad little girl lifted her head in confusion. The Black Cat yawned. Dawn was already breaking, light piercing the dark clouds, but she felt that her life as a Half-demon was only just beginning.
Unlike the somber atmosphere with the Black Cat, things were much livelier on Vyea’s side.
The greatest Brave in history was usually calm and unflappable, as if nothing under this sky could shake her heart.
So when Vyea lied, her face didn’t even flush.
Every capable Brave wore many hats, just like a brick to be moved wherever needed.
And the Pilgrimage Hero was like a founding brick, carrying so many honors that they could gain certain privileges from the Capital—unlike those Braves who guarded the Four Borders, the Pilgrimage Hero reported directly to the Capital, wandering at will and escalating troublesome matters straight up.
Vyea was not a Pilgrimage Hero, nor had she ever been honored.
Once, the title of First Hero was enough for Vyea to say, “I don’t eat beef.” Why borrow another empty title?
Keepsake?
It was just Xiaolu’s “body” used as a stand-in.
Vyea had seen a real Keepsake before; it looked like a gemstone.
No way a mere Night Watchman squad leader had ever seen the real thing. As for that golden-haired Brave who’d defected and gotten caught—even if she had seen a real one, she might not be able to tell real from fake… Every Pilgrimage Hero’s gemstone Keepsake was different—who could so easily judge authenticity?
Besides, the Golden-haired Hero had been a traitor for years.
With her brains, could she recognize it?
The kind of idiot Brave who’d cry if you filled a glass bottle with random liquid and called it “Obedience Water.”
Vyea spread her hands in her heart, not caring at all.
Just bluff your way through, who’s really playing by the rules with you?
After getting information from Tian Qi, they parted ways.
Vyea continued deeper into the Sewer, while Tian Qi went back to the surface to report and call for reinforcements.
She didn’t need support, but someone needed to clean up afterward.
“Anna, I understand your loyalty, but could you please lead the way?”
Vyea gently unlocked the chain from Anna’s neck, giving a sweet smile.
“We were colleagues, after all. Can’t we cut each other some slack?”
“…I won’t. Little White Fur, you’d better chain me back up.” Anna was unmoved, half-squatting like a loyal Saintess. “I will never betray my comrades.”
“Then what if I return your Staff?” Vyea kept smiling. She could handle ten such Bravers with one hand. Giving the Staff back was no issue—if Anna tried anything, it’d just be a bit more trouble for her to suppress.
Anna shook her head, eyes shadowed. “You already took the Amplification Crystal from my Staff. What’s the point? Anyway, once this is over, I can get a new one reimbursed by the Organization.”
“So should I reimburse you in advance?” Since gentle didn’t work, Vyea switched to threats.
“Gladly.” Anna lifted her neck, closed her eyes, exposing her pale throat. “Kill me. At least my faith won’t be tainted.”
“Hehehe…”
Vyea bent over slightly, patting Anna’s soft cheek with a piapiapia, whispering devilishly in her ear:
“Then I’ll just sell you at the Black Market. You know, Humans wouldn’t mind turning a traitor Brave into a Velvet Ball. Sealing your type of Authority is much easier than the Physical Enhancement Authority, heh. Besides, with your looks, you’d fetch a high price.”
Anna shuddered, opening her beautiful blue eyes with a shimmer of tears. Her voice trembled.
“You damn demon, I will never yield… If you don’t kill me now, I’ll make sure to get back at you later! The ‘Lord of Resurrection’ will punish you, too!”
“So oblivious.”
Vyea straightened up, finding Anna’s almost-crying-yet-stubborn look troublesome.
“If you were truly a wicked cultist, this would be easy… Hah, to think a Brave would end up a Servant of Evil God—how ridiculous.”
“Better to be a Servant of Evil God than a Servant of Humanity…” Anna didn’t dare meet Vyea’s gaze, just dropped her head and muttered.
Vyea gave Anna a deep look, then stopped talking to her. Instead, she turned to Xiaolu. “Xiaolu, can you find a map of Antler City’s Sewer?”
“I can. But I doubt you can read it…” Xiaolu nodded, calling up a stream of data. “Don’t look at me, I can’t make sense of Human Design Blueprints either.”
“Doesn’t this blueprint have any layers?” Vyea frowned.
“Layers?” Xiaolu was surprised. “Sorry, I’m not a designer.”
“What about labels? What do these lines stand for? These pipes and rectangles…” Vyea’s head began to ache. If her Brave squad was here, none of this would be a problem.
“Forget it, forget it.” I really don’t want to study this stuff.
Damn! It’s all because this Slime-girl body has such poor learning ability—it’s not that I’m dumb.
While Vyea comforted herself, she took a deep breath and looked back at the stubborn Anna, her voice gentle:
“If I defected to your side, could you take me to see your Altar?”
“You think I’m an idiot?” Anna glared. “You just drugged me, chained me up, punched me, threatened to sell me as a Velvet Ball at the Black Market, and now you say you want to defect? Do you take me for some brainless monster?”
“…”
Vyea’s frozen smile didn’t change as she earnestly asked:
“If I apologize, would that make you feel better?”
“I feel even worse now!!!”