Versatile Mage: I Awakened Nine Stars

Chapter 398 Drowning Curse
When they left the restaurant, their hands were intertwined.

Asharuya tried to shake him off many times, but the man was very strong, and in the end she could only let him have his way.

"Where shall we go next?"

Asha's beautiful eyes held a girlish joy and longing.

"Let's just wander around and see where we end up."

"Okay."

Asha's Ruya didn't object, because where they went wasn't important; the key was who they were with.

Xu Shen kneaded her slightly cool fingers, feeling a pang of heartache.

This is a girl with top-notch looks and temperament.

The woman's features, blended together in an overly harmonious and perfect way, made her appear gentle and harmless at first glance. However, upon closer inspection, one would discover that her facial contours were very distinct, with a high and delicate nose, large and bright eyes, long and curled eyelashes, and slightly deeper eye sockets than the average person, which added just the right amount of aloofness and ethereal beauty to her face.

Unlike her aloof and delicate face, her figure is extremely attractive. At nearly 1.8 meters tall, she is even slightly taller than Xu Shen when wearing 10-centimeter high heels. However, despite her supermodel-like height, she is not thin but curvaceous and round like a gourd.

This innate, contradictory charm makes people subconsciously overlook her age.

The timid will look away when they see her, instinctively avoiding her gaze, but will occasionally glance back at her, and will never forget her for the rest of their lives.

Confident people will naturally be aroused by their most primal desire to conquer and destroy.

This kind of woman would be a monstrous scourge to the country and its people, no matter the era in which she was born.

What's worse, her complicated background made her accustomed to the scrutiny and suspicion from those around her with ulterior motives.

Such an environment destined her to be extremely sensitive, extremely insecure, and even somewhat self-deprecating.

Therefore, she always presented herself as an unpredictable cloud, mysterious and elusive.

But in reality, she's just a young woman in her early twenties.

Despite being about the same age as Ai Tutu, she rarely showed such innocence and naivety.

As Xu Shen was thinking, Asha Ruya suddenly broke free from his hand.

A flash of silver light, and she appeared in the shallow sea, dragging a drowning woman onto the beach.

When Xu Shen approached, he realized that the woman had no life left.

The deceased's eyes were wide open, his mouth was agape, his skin was completely bloodless, pale to the point of turning purple, and his blue veins were clearly visible.

Such a death with eyes wide open is most likely not a suicide.

Asharuya sighed, released her hand, and let the waves carry her away.

"You just dealt with it like that?" Xu Shen was somewhat surprised. "It's at least a human life. Should we contact the city's monster-hunting team?"

“It makes no sense,” Asharuya said. “It’s a drowning curse.”

"Drowning curse?"

Xu Shen was slightly taken aback.

It sounds kind of familiar.

He racked his brains before he remembered that Mo Fan had mentioned it in the class group chat when he was bragging in his previous life.

"Is this Drowning Curse an S-rank mission issued by the Hunter's Alliance?"

“That’s right,” Asha’s said as she squatted down, scooped up a handful of seawater to wash her hands, “Many coastal cities experience drowning curses. As you’ve seen, those cursed run into the sea and drown quickly.”

Xu Shen shuddered involuntarily: "It sounds a bit eerie."

“Actually, it’s not so bad,” Asha’s said. “The Drowning Curse only works on the weak, so some people have speculated that it might be caused by some kind of parasitic microorganism.”

"If it's a microorganism, it shouldn't be difficult to solve, right?"

“Theoretically, that’s true, but…” Asha’s head shook. “If you knew the bounty amount, you’d know why it hasn’t been resolved yet.”

Xu Shen took out his phone and searched, only to find that although the mission was of a high level, the reward was a pitiful 300 million.

"Holy crap? How come there's so little?"

Xu Shen was extremely surprised.

Even a well-known hunter group could earn more than this amount just by taking a stroll outside the borders.

Asha's said, "Search it yourself; the information about the Hunter Network should be more detailed than I know."

HunterNet is a forum open only to hunters, used for exchanging information with each other.

The higher the level, the more comprehensive the information you can obtain.

Given Xu Shen's current level, over 90% of the information on this forum would be made available to him for free.

Information about the drowning curse quickly appeared in large quantities.

This mission was initially only a C-level, but the number of people offering the bounty was overwhelming.

To date, there have been 1325 bounties for the Drowning Curse worldwide, elevating what was initially a C-rank mission to an S-rank, and turning the fixed bounty into an ever-accumulating bounty pool.

However, those who fall victim to the Drowning Curse are almost always ordinary people.

The gap between rich and poor in the magical world is enormous. Ordinary families who are not magicians struggle to make ends meet, so it's impossible for them to be wealthy. Even if the bounties placed by these victims' families accumulated over a thousand times, the total amount in the bounty pool would only be a little over three hundred million.

This amount of money is simply not enough to hire a highly experienced master hunter.

Perhaps some young people will be interested in the points from S-level missions and give it a try.

However, no one has yet managed to upgrade from C-rank to S-rank, which is obviously quite difficult.

These young people were generally inexperienced and lacked skill. Not only could they not break the drowning curse, but their repeated failures made the task increasingly mysterious. As rumors spread, it even became known as a curse from ghosts and gods, causing widespread panic.

Xu Shen stroked his chin: "This mission seems rather interesting."

"What, interested?"

Asha's reaction was not surprising.

The fact that he immediately thought of the mortals suffering in dire straits after seeing the statement released by Shenzhou made her certain that he would accept the task.

Xu Shen smiled and said, "I think there is someone who might be more suitable than me to break the Drowning Curse."

"Who?"

Mo Fan

"Mo Fan?"

Asha Ruya felt the name sounded familiar, and it took her a long time to remember that this person was also a member of the Ruoshui Squad.

"Yes, that's him."

Xu Shen laughed and said, "That guy has two little devils to support now, he's practically desperate for money. More than 3 million might not seem like much to us, but if that guy finds out, believe me, he'll turn green with envy."

Azharia asked, "Do you think he can solve this?"

"Maybe, what if?"

Xu Shen's statement was vague.

Having been given a second chance at life, with so many uncertainties, how could he be certain?

He felt that since Mo Fan was able to break the Drowning Curse in his previous life, he had a better chance of breaking it this time.

"Hey, where are you?"

Xu Shen acted immediately and made the call.

"I was just thinking of looking for you," Mo Fan said. "I have a big business deal here, want to try it?"

"what?"

"The Drowning Curse," Mo Fan said, "is a bounty of three hundred million. If we solve it, we'll split it in half. How about that? Pretty generous, right?"

Xu Shen couldn't help but smile upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "I was just saying that, and here it is, delivered right to my doorstep."

Could this be fate?
Or perhaps... the convergence of world lines as described in metaphysics?
Xu Shen's smile froze, a chill ran through him, and he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Since his rebirth, he has changed a lot, but the major events have largely followed the same trajectory as in his previous life.

The two incidents, Bocheng and Gudu, in particular, frustrated him greatly.

He didn't know whether it was Zu Guangyao or some inexplicable "correction" of the world that prompted Zu Guangyao to get involved in these two events.

If it's the latter...

The universe is vast and boundless; everything is predetermined.

Life is full of helplessness and despair; what is the meaning of life?

"Hey, what's wrong with you?"

Asha Ruya grabbed Xu Shen's face, forcibly pulling him out of this endless pessimistic and nihilistic reverie.

"I……"

Xu Shen gave a rare bitter smile.

I have so much to say, but I don't know how to begin.

Perhaps Yu Mian would understand that communicating with her is never difficult; they naturally understand each other with just occasional eye contact.

"Can you tell me?"

Asha Ruya used her other hand to grab Xu Shen's other cheek, stretching his angular face into a cute little dumpling.

This sight made her laugh out loud.

Xu Shen grasped her cool wrist and couldn't help but smile.

At least, he didn't have such a strong luck with women in his past life.

Well, my luck with money isn't great either.

So, to hell with everything being predetermined.

With such a beautiful jade in my arms, what's with all the affectation?

(End of this chapter)