Victor soon arrived at the place he had designated in advance, a dilapidated and low house located at the end of an alley, on the edge of a civilian area. Behind it was a place where the townspeople piled garbage.
The houses are low and dilapidated, with patches of black mold growing on the mottled exterior walls, like old people dying, exuding a rotten smell. In fact, there is little sunlight in this alley, and the ground is damp and cold. Most of the other houses are like this, except for a few.
An old and frail half-elf lives here alone, relying on garbage collection and charity from well-wishers to survive.
Their bodies and minds have deteriorated, they are blinded and deafened. They can neither hear nor see clearly what is going on outside, and they have no energy to mind their own business. They can only huddle in the tomb-like dilapidated house and wait quietly for death.
This is actually a kind act. Most of the residents of Water Snake Town live a decent life, and the mayor does not make the lonely old people who have lost the ability to work homeless, but at least provides them with a place to stay.
In any case, this alley is a neglected and forgotten place.
Gently pushing open the dilapidated wooden door, Victor bowed his head and walked into the dark room. A musty rotten smell hit his face. He frowned slightly, and his talent for gluttony automatically adapted in a short period of time.
The smell was overwhelming, and dim vision helped him see things in the house clearly.
Harvey, Maddie, Ruth, Jessica, and Stephanie all covered their mouths and noses with windshield masks, obviously unable to bear the filthy smell in the room.
"Sir, have all the secret whistles been dealt with?" McGrady came up to greet him and asked in a low voice.
Victor nodded and turned his eyes to the corner of the room, where there was a low bed made of wooden boards, with an old man with messy white hair lying on it.
His body was withered, his face was swollen, especially his eyes were so swollen that he could not open his eyes. He lay motionless on the dirty sheets, only his chest was rising and falling, and his throat was breathing like a broken bellows, and his whole body was exuding pollution.
The stench of indoor air.
"When we came in, he was like this...he was about to die." Harvey explained to Victor: "But, it seems that someone gave him food and water in the past day."
There was a small table at the head of the bed, with a plate of mud melon paste on it. The food was cold, but it had not spoiled. The dying half-elf old man had no strength to eat.
Victor stared silently at the dying old man. He had seen bloody death on the battlefield, but this was the first time he had seen a half-elf die of natural old age.
Disease and aging are the destined deaths of mortal creatures. This old half-elf has reached the end of his life. The life-changing body is collapsing. The elemental body will eventually return to its origin, while the mental body will lose the foundation for its existence. This process is almost impossible.
Reversal. Victor was curious, what was the state of the old half-elf's mental body at the final moment when he was on the verge of natural death?
He has lost his five senses and is unable to communicate with the outside world. Is his mental body distorted by pain, fear, and unwillingness, or is he calmly recalling the past, or even transcending himself, secretly observing the uninvited guests who broke into his house from another perspective?
"My lord, my lord? Do you know him?" Harvey gently woke up Victor who was in a daze.
Victor shook his head and realized that he still had important things to do and couldn't continue to waste time here. He took a step back and said: "The way this man looks now makes me feel uncomfortable, kill him."
"Okay, I'll help him get out now."
Harvey nodded and stepped forward. At this moment, Stephanie suddenly rushed over and bravely stopped in front of him. Her little face turned red with excitement and pleaded: "He is just a paralyzed old man, deaf and blind, he has no interest in us."
Even if you threaten, you won’t report..."
"Go away!"
Harvey shouted low, pushed the little girl aside, and hit the old man's chest with his index finger, causing his heart to stop beating, and watched him take his last breath.
Stephanie's eyes widened when she saw this, and her shoulders twitched and shook. Maddie had to grab her from behind and cover her mouth with one hand to prevent her intended apprentice from yelling.
It would be bad if it alerted outsiders, but Maddie was even more worried that Stephanie's actions would offend Victor, so she asked in her ear: "Do you know this old guy?"
Stephanie shook her head repeatedly, broke away from Maddie's hand, turned back angrily, and shouted in a lowered voice: "I almost suffocated you to death!"
She also knew that she couldn't shout loudly now... Maddie smiled, and then asked seriously: "Since you don't know him, then explain why you stopped Harvey just now?"
"I...I just think he is very pitiful."
Stephanie glanced at Victor secretly, lowered her head and murmured: "He is like an old man I know, my neighbor on Island Street. When he was dying, he was killed on the bed by soldiers who broke into the room. I
I was hiding under his bed, not knowing what to do... The soldiers disliked his smell, so they killed him and left without searching the room carefully. I think he saved me."
"Child, they are not the same person, and we are not city-state soldiers who massacred the residents of Island Street." Maddie pointed to the old man on the bed and patiently persuaded him: "He may have to wait for one or two days before he dies. Sir, order Harvey
Killing him will relieve his pain."
"I understand." Stephanie nodded in frustration, but couldn't help but say: "But we will all grow old. Do we really want someone to kill us when we are too old to move?"
No one can give a standard answer to this question.
Harvey snorted and said: "Anyway, I will never die in bed. That is the behavior of a weak person!"
In fact, not everyone will age. For example, the Taku tribe and the Hemo tribe will either die in battle or go to the throne of the Earth Mother and disappear from then on, but they will never get sick, let alone die of old age. Because of this, the rock elves treat
Disa half-elves always lack empathy and emotional resonance, so they naturally will not pity those old and weak half-elves.
Lord Victor is probably immune to aging and disease just like the rock elves, so don't expect him to sympathize with an old guy who is about to die... Maddie thought to herself.
Death is a mystery, full of mystery and unknowns. But Victor has no time to explore the meaning of death now, so he asks Harvey to kill the dying half-elf, lest he lose his mind, waste time, and end up missing the point.
That's all.
"There is a treasure hidden under the fireplace. Harvey, go dig it out." Victor turned around and ordered.
"Okay."
"Ah, is there any treasure in this shabby house?"
Maddie looked in disbelief. He ran to the fireplace and worked with Harvey to dig up the floor tiles to find the treasure underneath.
Stephanie looked around and asked Victor: "Dear Master, I..."
"I haven't decided to accept you as my servant yet." Victor said unceremoniously with a cold expression.
The little girl almost cried, and she changed her words tremblingly: "Dear sir, can I pray for him?"
Victor did not comment, but stepped aside.
Stephanie walked to the bed and knelt on the ground, clasped her hands on her forehead, gathered her mind, and prayed for the deceased according to the rituals commonly used by half-elf civilians:
"Poor soul, may the great goddess allow you to enter his kingdom of God. She is a mother, giving love to her children; she is a wife, giving warmth to her husband; she is a daughter, giving passion to her father... Poor soul,
May you fall into the embrace of the goddess and never be afraid, lonely, or cold again..."
The Island Street Orphan prayed sincerely and over and over again. The spider mark on her palm quietly emerged. In the invisible field of vision, the soul of the deceased took the initiative to put into the spider mark.
Soul Eater!
Spiders symbolize death, and the Spider Lady is also known as the Lord of Death. She is in charge of the soul, the spiritual realm, the dead, and the power of trickery. A basic ability that the Spider Favorite must master is soul-eating.
Of course, there are restrictions on the use of soul-eating laws by spider favored ones, and the restrictions on a weak favored one like Stephanie will be particularly strict.
A soul that dies of natural old age, is fresh and complete, and actively responds to the call will do the least harm to Stephanie, and is the only soul she can absorb at present. The souls of heroes who died in battle, and the resentful souls of those who died violently fluctuate strongly due to the will of the deceased, and are absolutely irresistible.
It is not a power that Stephanie can bear now, so it is shielded by the spider mark, and can only dissipate in the material plane, and finally return to the origin of the world.
Stephanie unintentionally met the conditions for soul-eating, and obtained a usable soul source through the spider mark, stimulating a hidden trick ability, and then generated complete information related to the trick in her mind.
Trickery: decay.
Forcing living beings to experience the soul decay process of the deceased, causing mental confusion, degradation of five senses, slow thinking and other negative effects on the target. If the target fails to save against the decay trick, death will occur and the caster will be provided with
Soul energy.
The spider mark eats the dead soul of the half-elf old man. He has just obtained 5 units of soul energy. He can cast Decay Trick up to 5 times, or use all the soul energy at once. The more soul energy consumed, the stronger the Decay Trick will be.
The higher. When the soul energy is exhausted, the caster cannot use decay unless she takes another soul.
Stephanie's face lost color and became as pale as paper. The information that appeared in her mind made her particularly panicked. According to her understanding, she could inexplicably swallow the old man's soul, and could also cause other people to be haunted by ghosts and experience the old man's decay and death.
The painful process finally completes the harvest of the soul.
The little girl is used to hearing horror stories about vampires, and has also seen "with her own eyes" how a real vampire kills people and sucks blood. Now, she feels that she is even more evil than a vampire.
The teachings of the Earth Goddess have spread in the Disa Alliance for thousands of years and have been continuously improved. Half-elves believe that after the believers die, their souls will fall into the arms of the goddess. The goddess uses harsh methods to wash away the evil in the souls until they become
A pure and flawless baby, the goddess then sends the pure baby spirit into a mother's body to start a new life.
The natural cycle of life can be seen everywhere. The Disa half-elves certainly believe and hope that their souls can cycle, which represents immortality.
Therefore, the teachings of the Earth Goddess clarify this point and arouse widespread resonance among believers.
Then, devouring the souls of the dead is undoubtedly an evil act. Soul-eaters are simply more vicious than vampires who make a living by sucking blood!
Stephanie cannot accept that she has become a different kind of monster, but she will never reveal her secret to others.
The little half-elf girl who had experienced a tragic experience was so distraught that she didn't know what to do. She just puffed her mouth hard and tried to spit out the soul of the deceased from her mouth.
"Are you afraid?"
Mr. Victor's cold voice came from behind, and Stephanie jumped up from the ground like a frightened rabbit. She turned her head and saw Mr. Victor's ice-blue eyes, which were beautiful and charming eyes, but
There is a profound power that seems to be able to see into all things.
"Ah, no... no, I, I'm a little scared." Stephanie didn't dare to look into Victor's eyes, lowered her head, and explained incoherently in a weak voice.
"Sir, there is really a treasure hidden here!"
At this time, Harvey and Maddie dug a small square pit covered with wooden boards under the fireplace and took out a sealed tin can.
Harvey poured all the treasures in the jar onto the ground and excitedly reported to Victor: "They are gems and gold nuggets. I estimate that I can sell them for about 2,000 gold pagodas."
Looking at the treasures shining in the dark, Victor's face showed a hint of pride. Facts once again proved that his dream evolution was accurate. Even though these valuable gems and gold were hidden very secretly,
As long as there is air, there is no way to escape the evolution of the Dream Arena.
Maddie was curious as to why Victor knew there was a gold cache here but was not stupid enough to directly ask Victor about his secret, so he said to himself: "Who on earth hid the treasure in this place?
"
"I know!"
Stephanie seemed to have escaped death just now. She tried her best to express herself, stepped forward and picked up a faint blue diamond from the treasure pile, and said: "I know this gem. I stole it half a year ago and handed it over to the Jin Dynasty."
Finger Pym. So, this is Pym’s hidden gold spot!”
It was easy for Goldfinger to get money, but it would take at least several years to accumulate wealth worth 2,000 gold pagodas. Pim was so cunning that he actually hid the treasure in the lonely old man's deathbed. It can be seen from this that living in this house is a must.
He was also the one who delivered food to the old man, and the old man invisibly acted as the guard of the hidden gold spot.
Victor ordered: "Pack up all these treasures... There is an abandoned well behind this room. It is actually an underground secret tunnel dug by Mayor Middleton. We can leave Water Snake Town through that secret tunnel."
The abandoned well behind the alley is old, and the well platform is covered with moss. It is said that in order to make it easier for the lonely elderly people to use water, the kind-hearted Mayor Middleton paid people to dig the well. Unfortunately, the well did not produce water.
, it can only be abandoned in the end. But the real situation is that you can enter the underground cave space by digging the side wall of the bottom of the well. It is basically a secret tunnel entrance prepared by Mayor Middleton for himself. And similar underground secret tunnel entrances
, there are three more in Water Snake Town, distributed in different places.
Victor chose the entrance to the abandoned well mainly because it was secluded enough and close to the rental house. He dug out the gold hidden by the gang of thieves just by the way.
Harvey first went down to the bottom of the well and demolished the stone walls with his bare hands, revealing a dark cave. Then, Victor threw Ruth and Jessica directly into the well, and Harvey caught them.
It was Stephanie's turn to jump off on her own.
When Maddie was about to go down, a sharp bell suddenly rang outside, and the sleeping town was instantly awakened.
"A warning bell for a foreign invasion? Could it be that there is really a group of bandits attacking Water Snake Town?" The old scout recognized the signal conveyed by the alarm bell, was stunned for a moment, and murmured.
Victor's eyes flashed and he said: "Don't worry about it! Let's go down, there is something more important than treasure waiting for me down there..."