My inventory is full of monster materials.

Chapter 123 Two Contracts

"He's here."

No sooner had he finished speaking than there was a commotion at the door.

A white cat-themed waitress in uniform knocked lightly on the door twice, then opened it and bowed respectfully to ask for instructions.

"Mr. Wu, please come in."

Mark stood at the intersection of light and shadow outside the door, not stepping in immediately, but quickly scanning the interior scene through the holes in the white mask.

The room was decorated in an extremely simple manner, with cold, dark stone floors and walls. The crystal chandelier overhead emitted a pale, glaring light, devoid of any warmth, creating a depressing atmosphere.

Beside the long solid wood table in the center, the Shadow Net steward wearing a raven mask stood in the main seat, his shadow flickering behind him.

At the end of the long table stood a middle-aged nobleman with a neatly trimmed mustache, leaning back in his chair with a languid posture.

When he felt Mark's gaze, he grinned, revealing a mocking smile full of provocation.

The scene resembled a card game where everyone was waiting to be present.

Mark was the last player to enter the game.

Mark has seen it all. When he was dissecting a corpse in front of a hundred people, his hands didn't even tremble. Now it's even less of a problem.

But as soon as Mark stepped into the room, he deliberately paused for a second or two.

In that short time, Mark had already sensed the entire room with his keen spatial affinity and did not detect any kind of dimensional barrier.

In other words, this room cannot stop the "teleportation spell".

Mark felt much more at ease; even if the negotiations fell apart, he could easily make his escape.

However, Eugene saw his hesitation as cowardice and weakness, and immediately sneered, becoming even more arrogant.

"You cowardly coward, tell me, who sent you? What are your connections?"

Clearly, Eugene had already formed a preconceived notion that Mark was an enemy of the O'Connor family, and deliberately chose this sensitive period to attack and suppress him.

Mark ignored him and walked straight to the guest seat at the long table.

Then, to Walter and Eugene's astonishment, he raised his hand and removed the white mask from his face, revealing an ordinary face, but with wide-open, angry eyes.

"Eugene O'Connor, do you remember me?"

"!!"

Eugene frowned sharply, his eyes scanning Mark's face repeatedly, trying to find a trace of familiarity, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall anything.

Eugene casually shifted his body, saying nonchalantly.

"How could I possibly remember so many misfits?"

That's right, you can't remember it.

Mark silently grumbled to himself, but his face grew increasingly agitated. He suddenly sat up straight, slammed his hands on the table, and roared.

"Five years! Do you know how I've endured these past five years?! This time, I'm going to make you and the O'Connor family feel the pain I've suffered!"

Upon hearing this, Eugene's brows furrowed even more, and his doubts deepened.

Who exactly is on the other side?

It didn't even say its name, it just kept yelling and screaming?

Could it be that magic was used for disguise?

Eugene would never willingly voice his doubts, as that would only make him appear less respectable.

So he snorted coldly and laughed mockingly.

"Ha! You're just a stray dog, daring to bark at me?"

Mark sat back down in his seat, panting heavily, gradually calming himself down, but his eyes were fixed on Eugene, looking like he was about to devour him, though he was secretly delighted inside.

Before coming, Mark had specifically planned to create an extreme revenge character.

The purpose, of course, is to add a layer of disguise to their true identity.

In retrospect, the image has been established.

Walter was already used to this kind of pre-deal trash talk, and his face remained expressionless as he lowered his head to think to himself.

Preliminary investigations by the Shadow Network Spy indicate that this "Mr. Wu" appears out of nowhere like a ghost, which is truly bizarre.

However, Walter quickly came to his senses, raised his hand and tapped the table lightly, his tone elegant but unquestionable.

"Alright, let's get back to the main topic. My codename is Raven," and I'm acting as the mediator for this transaction, representing ShadowNet. But—"

Walter changed the subject, his gaze sweeping over the two men.

"Before the transaction begins, to prevent any unnecessary danger, I need to cast a 'dispelling spell' on both of you. Do you have any objections?"

Eugene waved his hand, his expression calm, clearly very familiar with the transaction process of ShadowNet.

Mark was so startled that his palms sweated.

He is currently in the deformed state of the shapeshifter's face. If the "dispelling magic" dispels the shapeshifting effect, his identity will be immediately exposed!

But amidst the rapid mental turmoil, Mark quickly suppressed his panic and calmly sat down in his seat.

Seeing that neither of them objected, Walter took out a brass bell engraved with runes from his pocket and gently shook it.

Ringing—

A crisp bell rang out, and an invisible energy wave spread out, gently sweeping over the three people present.

Mark only felt a cool breeze brush against his mind, and the magical aura that naturally emanated from his body was blown away, but other than that, there was nothing unusual.

Sure enough.

Mark breathed a sigh of relief.

According to the shapeshifter's memories, "shapeshifting" is a supernatural talent, not a magical effect, and therefore cannot be affected by anti-magic fields.

If it were replaced with a level 2 "Transformation" or a level 4 "Polymorph," the outcome would be hard to predict.

Seeing that Mark's condition had not changed, Eugene became convinced that the latter was his real face, but his doubts deepened.

Who exactly is this guy?

But no matter how hard Eugene racked his brains, he couldn't come to a valid conclusion, because the O'Connor family had far too many enemies, both overt and covert.

Walter, who was in the right position, put the brass bell back into his inner garment, then took out half of a parchment ledger, gently pressed it on the table, and said in a calm tone.

"Take your things out."

As the sound faded, both sides reacted simultaneously.

Mark decisively slammed the other half of the ledger onto the table.

Eugene is much more complicated.

He first took out a small black leather bag, and with a flick of his fingers, small gold bars, each the size of a finger, rolled out.

Before long, a small mountain of gold was piled up in front of Eugene, glittering under the light and casting an alluring golden halo over the cold room.

But that wasn't all. Eugene reached into his dimensional bag, pulled out an exquisite silver box, and gently opened the lid.

Inside the silver box were 15 neatly arranged jet-black, crystalline crystal prisms, their surfaces gleaming with a faint, shadowy sheen.

Mark frowned slightly, secretly calculating in his mind.

A standard trade pure gold bar weighs one kilogram and is equivalent to 100 gold coins.

There are about 50 gold bars in front of me, which is worth only 5000 gold coins. The agreed ransom is 20,000 gold coins. Could the remaining 15,000 gold coins be the crystal in this silver box?

As expected, when Walter saw the black crystals, he couldn't wait to raise his hand and grasp them. An invisible shadowy hand pulled the silver box in front of him.

To get a closer look at the black crystal, Walter even took off his raven mask, revealing a middle-aged man's face that looked very Western.

With a hooked nose and triangular eyes, the corners of his eyes slightly upturned, he stared intently at the crystal in the silver box, his greed almost overflowing.

Then, Walter gently brushed his fingertips across the crystal surface, as if talking to himself, or perhaps introducing it to Mark.

"This is a Shadow Crystal, containing pure dark elemental energy. It is the hard currency for practitioners of the 'Shadow' path, who can directly absorb its dark elemental energy to enhance their path compatibility."

"Appropriateness of approach?"

Mark had some doubts.

Normally, he would definitely ask questions to find out the answers, but now was not the time to ask questions, so he forcibly suppressed his curiosity and waited to see what would happen.

Walter carefully picked up a Shadow Crystal, held it up to the light to examine it closely, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Each Shadow Crystal of this purity is worth 1000 gold coins. This box contains 15 crystals, which is exactly 15,000 gold coins. Add the 50 gold bars, and it's 20,000 gold coins, not a penny less."

After saying that, Walter unceremoniously took 10 Shadow Crystals from the silver box and stuffed them into his pocket.

Walter then glanced at the remaining five shadow crystals, looked up at Mark, and spoke with a hint of guidance in his voice.

"If you don't want the Shadow Crystals, you can sell them to ShadowNet, and we can pay you 50 Trade Bars directly."

Mark did not answer.

This Shadow Crystal appears to be a rare resource, and it would fetch a premium if it fell into the right hands.

Eugene must have been short of working capital, which is why he used it as collateral for ransom.

To be honest, if Mark were a businessman, he would definitely choose to exchange for gold bars, but he was a mage and very interested in magical items, so he did not respond to the other party's suggestion.

Seeing this, Walter didn't press the matter. He raised his hand again, and the 50 gold bars in front of Eugene swam to him like little goldfish and stacked themselves neatly.

Then, Walter gestured with his chin toward Mark and said.

"It's your turn."

Mark didn't waste any words. He forcefully pushed the other half of the ledger, which was under his hand, forward. The parchment ledger slid across the table for a while before being pressed down.

Walter picked up the two halves of the ledger, quickly flipped through them, and after confirming that everything was correct, nodded and looked at Eugene.

"The ledger is genuine, there's no problem."

Then, Walter tossed the two halves of the ledger to Eugene, and pushed the gold bars and silver box in front of Mark, speaking in a flat tone.

"Now we move on to the acceptance phase. You two should check everything carefully. Especially you."

Walter suddenly looked at Mark and gave him a forced smile.

"With so many gold bars, the inspection should be done quickly. Raise any objections as soon as possible, as Yingwang will not be responsible for any issues afterwards."

"Um?"

Mark was taken aback, wondering why the other party had brought this up in particular.

But Mark readily agreed, picked up a gold bar, and with a slight pressure of his fingertip, left a dent on its surface.

The purity is not an issue; it is standard pure gold.

Mark then randomly checked a dozen or so items and found no problems.

The Shadow Crystal in the silver box was also checked.

Mark was simply unfamiliar with magic crystals.

Although there were suspicions that the two might have colluded to falsely report a high-value item to make up the difference.

However, the rich and pure dark elemental energy in the Shadow Crystal cannot be faked, so the doubts were temporarily put aside.

Just then, Eugene suddenly launched an attack, raising the tent flap in his hand and waving it around, his manner somewhat aggressive.

"Hey! No way, how did you get these ledgers? There are some transactions in them that even I didn't know about!"

Mark shrugged and retorted sharply.

"Perhaps you should ask your older brother, George O'Connor. He knows better than you how many shady things the O'Connor family has done behind the scenes."

"Hmph! Do you think I care about these gold bars and crystals? Do you think I care about the death of the O'Connor family?"

Eugene laughed in anger, his body suddenly leaning forward, the playfulness on his face vanishing, replaced by a terrifying, sinister look.

"Wrong! What I care about is, why did you choose this time of year to cause trouble?"

From Eugene's perspective, this was the time when the anti-bandit joint force was besieged in the Tabora Mountains.

The major powers in Serge City are scrambling to organize support forces, with the meeting hall led by George and the O'Connor family being the main forces in the support troops.

The exposure of a family scandal at this time will inevitably disrupt the funeral support plan and may even interfere with the arrangements of other families.

At that time, the traps you have carefully laid will be much less effective.

That's why Eugene was convinced that there must be other forces behind Mark's actions.

Mark was clearly unaware of the inside story, but from Eugene's words, he keenly sensed that things were not simple.

What time? What period of time?

He just wanted to retaliate against Eugene's previous assassination attempt and make some money on the side; he didn't think much more about it.

Seeing that the other party remained silent, Eugene hesitated.

Could this guy really just be a clueless newbie who stumbled in by accident?

Even so, to ensure the support plan went perfectly, he couldn't take any risks.

Eugene, his face darkening, sat back down and turned to Walter, who was in the head seat, with a hint of interrogation in his voice.

"I've already given him the goods, but how can I guarantee he won't renege on the agreement, change his mind afterward, and continue to use the scandal to blackmail the O'Connor family?"

Walter lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then looked up at Mark and posed the question to him.

Mark chuckled and countered with a question.

"Then how can I guarantee that after you get the account book, you won't settle scores later and send people to hunt me down?"

One sentence brought the room to a standstill, and the atmosphere became tense.

clap clap!

A burst of crisp applause broke the silence, and Walter clapped and laughed.

"This is my role as a mediator."

After saying that, Wal took out a contract with red lettering on a blind background from his pocket and laid it flat on the table.

"This is a Shadow Pact. You only need to leave your mark on it. The party who breaks the pact will be dragged into the Shadow Realm and serve the great Shadow Lord forever."

"Shadow Pact?"

Mark paused for a moment.

What is this thing? Is it some kind of divine artifact, like a contract of justice? Does every god have their own unique contract?

Across the long table, Eugene's face instantly turned ugly, his eyes filled with apprehension as he looked at the Homeland Pact.

After a moment's thought, Eugene also pulled out a white contract.

"Let's stick with the fair contract that we're most familiar with; that will put everyone at ease."

Eugene and Wall both looked at Mark, their faces bearing meaningful smiles.

The verbal and sexual contract of the Wall.

Eugene's is the White Contract.

Such a scene has an indescribable eeriness to it.