Chapter 4
A moment later, inside the room.
Mo Xi looked at the little girl in white, who was rubbing her knee. A flicker of surprise crossed Mo Xi’s eyes—the girl was Six, also known as Little Six.
Though Little Six wasn’t wearing her signature yellow raincoat, the Paradise prompt that appeared before Mo Xi was proof enough of her identity.
“You have encountered hidden character Six.”
“World Source +3%.”
Mo Xi could understand why Little Six had appeared. After all, her group had made it to the castle to investigate the truth, so it was only natural that the little girl would encounter them.
The only abnormal thing was...
“Why are the castle’s ventilation ducts so big?” Mo Xi couldn’t help complaining as she looked at the open vent in the ceiling.
The ducts were nothing like normal ones in size. In fact, they were clearly made large enough for children to move through.
Mo Xi deliberately ignored this and shifted her gaze to the girl. Seeing her evasive eyes and scraped knee, Mo Xi thought for a moment.
“Come here. I’ll treat your injury.” Mo Xi pointed at the girl’s scraped knee.
The girl seemed to understand her words—or perhaps Mo Xi’s 9 points of Charisma were beginning to work—and after a moment’s hesitation, she slowly edged closer.
Throughout the process, the girl kept a close eye on Mo Xi’s eyes. If she saw even a hint of malice in them, she would turn and run.
But even when the girl had edged right up to Mo Xi, there wasn’t a trace of malice in Mo Xi’s eyes.
Looking at the wary girl before her, Mo Xi shook her head helplessly, then reached out and gently touched the scrape on her knee.
Mercy.
At a thought from Mo Xi, pale green energy gently spread over the girl’s knee. The warm sensation made the girl blink in surprise.
In truth, Mo Xi’s skill didn’t require physical contact. She only wanted the girl, whose future would take a turn for the worse, to trust her a little more, because she wanted to try changing how things would end.
If Little Six received a little more kindness from the start, would she refuse to let go of Mono’s hand? Would she endure her hunger? Could she escape the cycle’s ending?
Mo Xi didn’t know the answers to any of those questions. But that didn’t stop her from showing kindness now, because kindness itself wasn’t wrong; it just often called for careful judgment.
After Mo Xi’s brief treatment ended, the girl stared at her healed injury, lost in thought.
Just as Mo Xi grew curious about what the child was thinking, the girl suddenly pulled something from her pocket and handed it to her.
Mo Xi didn’t think much of it. What valuable thing could a little girl have? Probably just a soul...
Mo Xi: “A s-soul crystal?!”
Staring at the small, transparent crystal glowing faintly in the girl’s hand, Mo Xi rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
From the Paradise’s prompt, Mo Xi was certain the girl had handed her a “Soul Crystal (Small).” But the whole thing was far too absurd.
As precious items that could unlock and upgrade skills, Soul Crystals were extremely hard for contractors to obtain. They usually only came from loot chests and mission reward chests.
And now, because of Mo Xi’s unintentional kindness, the little girl was offering her one as payment. The value of the exchange was almost absurd.
“This is pretty valuable. Are you sure you want to give it to me?” Mo Xi looked Little Six in the eyes.
Little Six insisted on giving her the Soul Crystal (Small), and Mo Xi had no choice but to accept it “with tears in her eyes.”
As she accepted the Soul Crystal (Small), Mo Xi suddenly thought of a key point.
“If Little Six, who escaped from the castle, had a Soul Crystal, just how rich must the castle’s mistress be?”
Just as Mo Xi was wondering whether a castle this big might have a storeroom, a tremendous explosion suddenly sounded underground.
Seeing the lights on the wall abruptly dim, Mo Xi raised an eyebrow. If she wasn’t mistaken, the other four had caused that explosion.
A moment later, the butler hurried to Mo Xi’s door and knocked. Hearing the urgent knocking, Mo Xi quickly told Little Six to hide.
“What happened?” Mo Xi asked, feigning confusion.
Seeing Mo Xi open the door with a puzzled look and no sign of having fought, the butler’s stiff expression eased considerably.
Having temporarily put aside his hostility, the butler resumed his usual smile. He first bowed courteously, then asked, “Miss Angela, do you know the other four experts?”
Hearing the gritted teeth in the butler’s voice, Mo Xi immediately distanced herself from them.
“Actually, I hadn’t even met them before arriving at the castle.”
Seeing that Mo Xi didn’t seem to be lying, the butler gave a slight bow and hurriedly turned to leave. But when he had floated just a meter or two away, Mo Xi suddenly called after him.
“May I ask when the lights in the room will be back on?”
The butler paused at that, then fell silent for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry, Miss Angela. The castle’s power supply may not be restored anytime soon.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the butler disappeared at the end of the corridor. Looking at the eye patterns flickering faintly on the wall, Mo Xi promptly returned to her room.
“The craftsman is dead.”
Sitting in her chair, Mo Xi reached this conclusion with astonishing speed.
In Mo Xi’s memory, the castle known as the Nest relied to a great extent on the craftsman to keep its electricity running.
Knowing that, and putting together the tremendous explosion, the power outage that wouldn’t be fixed anytime soon, and the butler’s gritted-teeth tone, it wasn’t hard for Mo Xi to guess that the four contractors had killed the craftsman.
“I didn’t expect them to move so fast. I thought they’d at least wait until tomorrow.” Mo Xi murmured softly.
Though Mo Xi wasn’t a contractor, she had spent most of her time observing contractors in the trading market. As she put it, their style was pretty much the same as players’.
If there was a boss, they attacked; if a chest dropped, they fought over it; if they didn’t like each other, they killed each other. It was as if their own lives didn’t matter—as long as they got to mess you up.
Mo Xi just hadn’t expected them to act so quickly.
“Is it because I raised the NPCs’ favorability first?” Mo Xi murmured, stroking her chin.
As Mo Xi was thinking, Little Six—who had dived under the covers to avoid the butler—climbed back out.
Seeing the little girl still nervous, Mo Xi smiled reassuringly. “He won’t come back today. Also, hide in my room for the next couple of days. The castle will be in complete chaos before long. You can escape then.”
Perhaps Little Six had come to trust Mo Xi a little. She nodded, then crawled back under the covers.
Seeing this, Mo Xi smiled and shook her head, then returned to thinking about what to do next.
“It’s good that those four contractors have gone undercover. They can draw the butler and the mistress’s hatred while also advancing the main mission.”
“Most importantly, they won’t bother me this way.” A flash of excitement crossed Mo Xi’s eyes at the thought.
Everyone knows there’s a huge difference between taking leave and slacking off: the former costs you money and may still leave you doing someone else’s work, while the latter means using someone else’s time to do your own thing.
Just like now, while those four contractors shouldered the burden and pressed ahead, Mo Xi planned to enjoy a little peace and quiet. To put it plainly, she was about to slack off to her heart’s content!
After all, Mo Xi hadn’t forgotten her cover identity or why the mistress had invited them here.