Wizard: Surviving in the Steam Age with Points for Demon Hunter

Chapter 33 Immortality, A Return Gift

Seeing that they were about to continue upstairs, Wei En suggested, "Well, I think I'll go with you..."

I want to die knowing why!

When that desperate force pierced through him just now, he truly felt wronged...

He was hiding downstairs, so why was he the first one to get unlucky?

Just because he is the weakest?

"Okay, but let's go in first," Lacey nodded in agreement. "Ariana?"

"No problem, the heroic spirits are very excited."

The tentacles around Ariana swelled up, clearly having been satiated by the power of despair.

After saying that, the two of them flashed to the second floor and rushed through the iron gate.

"Let's go, Wayne, let's go too."

Marco, holding the staff, patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "I was worried you'd be affected, but I didn't expect you to recover so quickly."

"No, I'm just afraid of being thrown to the ground again."

Wayne looked at him expressionlessly, his meaning self-evident.

"Um, haha..."

Marco chuckled awkwardly twice, then pointed to Lacey, who was parked by the iron gate, and said, "I'll go take a look and see if I can find anything."

After saying that, he ran away in a flash.

Wayne curled his lip at his "escape" and said, "Tina, don't you think Marco is a bit unreliable?"

Tina thinks Wayne is reliable.

"Oh? What a coincidence, I thought so too."

After Wein led the white-haired girl upstairs, he saw them all standing motionless inside the door. "What's wrong with you guys...?"

……grass?

With just one glance, his eyes were fixed on the horrifying sight behind the door.

As if time itself had frozen, a chilling coldness struck his heart.

The empty and quiet room in front of me was filled with dried corpses, like dried sausages, tied to the ceiling with ropes.

Their bodies were unusually emaciated, their skin clinging tightly to their bones, as if the last drop of blood had been drained from them.

At the same time, these mummified corpses all maintained the same posture—

With hands crossed over shoulders and feet together, it presents an eerie sense of ritual.

On each of the mummified corpses, a bright red eye pattern was carved, the blood-red color contrasting sharply with the grayish-white body.

Under the dim light of the oil lamp on the wall, the shadows were indistinct, making it appear exceptionally eerie and terrifying.

"Is this... the depths of hell?" Wayne murmured.

Even that enormous eye couldn't match the impact of the real scene before him.

"Three hundred and twenty-six."

Lacey's voice turned low and hoarse, carrying a chilling coldness: "It seems we've found the missing three hundred-plus people..."

Ariana's face was ashen, and his tentacles lashed out violently, making a whooshing sound.

"The Cult of Despair, did this?"

"It should be, look at the ground."

Marco used his staff to push aside a dried-up corpse in front of him and pointed to the ground, saying, "The sacrificial ritual is a runic array commonly used by the Cult of Despair."

Sacrifice ceremony?

Rune array?

Wei En looked in the direction he was pointing.

The floor of the room was covered with intricate and twisted runes, the dark red symbols like bloodstains seeping through them, and several grooves connecting these runes to form a complex and intricate pattern.

In the center of the magic circle was a statue—a ferocious-looking eye surrounded by countless twisted arms.

They intertwined and crisscrossed, merging into the eye like vines climbing the surface of the statue.

These arms were ugly, twisted, withered, and emaciated, just like those dried-up corpses.

The entire statue was shrouded in darkness, exuding a twisted and insane aura, as if it were the root of all evil and despair.

"The totem of the Despair Cult...it seems I'm right."

Lacey took a deep breath and walked inside.

She used her axe to pry open the shriveled corpses hanging above her head, as if they were actually sausages.

She stopped only when she reached the statue in the center of the room.

"I really envy your case; you're going to make a fortune again this time," Ariana said sourly as she saw her actions.

Make a fortune?

Wei En quietly pricked up his ears: How do you make money?

Marco scoffed, "Captain Ariana, don't forget, you got a share of the profits this time too."

"These too,"

Ariana pointed at the desiccated corpses and said, "They've all been corrupted by the power of despair. Sell them to those guys from the Shadow School, and they'll cost at least 5 shillings each."

"According to the department's rules, you can get 10% of the reward for assisting in solving a case."

"Your calculations are truly insightful."

Marco made a sarcastic remark and then ignored him, instead focusing on Lacey's movements inside.

So that's how they make money...

Wayne glanced at the room again. Wouldn't making too much money like this give him nightmares?

Not long after, Lacey dug up the statue and carried it out.

"Lassie, am I done with my mission this time?"

Ariana's tentacles retracted into her body, returning her to her original form. "That benefit..."

Lacey glanced at him. "You won't be shortchanged."

"Including this statue?"

"Everything should be done according to the rules."

Ariana rubbed his hands together, a smile spreading across his face. "I'm so sorry..."

"Shut up!"

"..."

Ariana quickly shut his mouth and made several gestures, indicating how to deal with the mummified corpses.

Lacey glanced back and said calmly, "Marco, go back and tell the city guards to come and help move these 'spoils of war'."

"Okay."

Marco waved his staff: "Rosser, Manda." (Gale.)

A whirlwind swirled around his body, and then he vanished from the spot in a single step.

Spell?

Wayne thought with a touch of envy: When will he be able to use such cool magic too...?

At this moment, Lacey waved and said, "Wayne, Tina, let's go outside and wait. Leave this to Ariana."

"Huh? Lacey, I'm just an assistant..."

"Um?"

Looking at her cold expression, Ariana stammered, "I meant to say, no problem."

Lacey glanced at him and then walked straight out of the room.

"Captain Ariana, please." After saying this, Wayne took Tina and left the house.

"Damn it!!"

Hearing the roars coming from inside the room, Wayne shrank back. "Tina, do you think Captain Ariana won't go crazy?"

Tina was as direct as ever, saying, "Tina said he didn't dare."

Wayne looked back and, seeing that Ariana hadn't poked her head out, whispered in her ear, "Next time, you can be more tactful when you say things like that."

"Tina was very tactful; he didn't dare."

"Okay, you decide."

Wei En looked at the expressionless white-haired girl and shook his head helplessly.

He temporarily gave up teaching Tina about social etiquette and human relationships.

After the two left the house, they saw Lacey leaning against the door, lighting a cigarette and smoking it, staring blankly at the sky.

Seeing her like this, Wayne guessed that she was moved by the scene inside.

I never expected that someone as carefree as Lacey would have such a tender side.

"Captain, those people inside really suffered terribly, don't take it too hard. Although this is my first case, I..."

Lacey turned to look at him, bewildered, and asked, "What are you talking about? Keeping me in your heart?"

Wayne paused for a moment, "Uh, isn't that right?"

"Ha ha……"

Lacey chuckled and patted his shoulder repeatedly. "I... I was just calculating how many gold pounds I could make on this case..."

Wayne's expression turned awkward. "Ah, this..."

After laughing for a while, Lacey's face returned to the smile she had when they first met, and she looked at him and said, "But thank you for comforting me, Wayne."

"No, you're welcome."

Who knows if you're actually calculating accounts with that look on your face?

Wei En asked speechlessly, "Is the calculation clear now, regarding the profits this time?"

"Not bad. This statue alone is worth 13 gold pounds. If it finds someone who knows its value, the price could rise considerably."

Thirteen gold pounds?

Add to that the mummies, and at 5 shillings each, that's 80 gold pounds.

So, all together, that's nearly 100 gold pounds?

So much money!

Wei En instantly forgot his embarrassment. "Didn't they just say everyone involved in the mission was included? Am I one of them?"

"Of course, as a participant, you get five percent of the profits, but..." Lacey looked at him with a half-smile, "it seems someone still owes me two gold pounds."

Wayne's expression turned awkward again. "...can we deduct it from this profit?"

What was five percent again?

5 gold pounds...

That's enough to pay back the money.

Lacey's smile widened, her eyes crinkling into crescent shapes. "Then it's settled."

"..."

Looking at her smile, Wei En thought, "Is she trying to get me to pay back the money?"

Well, at least we can make some money, that's good!

……

……

On the other side, after several city guards gathered up the corpses, they stood aside and looked in the direction of Wei En and the others.

"Captain Guisepp, you and Marco are such good friends, could you ask him to open up a few more spots?"

"You want to participate too?"

"Hehe, I heard there are quite a few rich girls from the Dumitru neighborhood at the party, we'd like to go and check it out..."

Guissep looked at him, then at the others. "You all want to go?"

"Boss, we want to go too."

"Yes, Captain, why don't you take us along too?"

Guissep raised an eyebrow, pretending to ponder, and said, "I'll think about it and see how you perform."

"I'm not saying anything more. Tomorrow morning, I'll bring some cheese from home..."

"I also……"

Just then, a figure emerged from the shadows. "What are you chatting about? You seem so happy?"

Guisepp tensed up at first, but upon seeing who it was, he couldn't help but laugh and scold, "Marco, you almost scared us!"

"Looks like they didn't talk about anything good."

Marco looked at him with a mischievous grin, walked over to him and said, "Tell me about it too."

"Of course I'm talking about the cocktail party you're hosting, we..."

hiss!

Guisepp stared blankly at the short sword that had pierced his chest, asking, "Marco, you, you...why?"

"I'm not really interested in cocktail parties..."

"Captain!! Marco, I'm going to kill you!!"

Marco watched the city guards charging towards him with their weapons raised, a wicked smile creeping onto his lips.

"Great, I've had enough of living anyway."

Immortality, a return gift!

PS: Thank you so much to Wu Pingsheng, Fengliu Kuaihuo Shaonianlang, Ai Laohu Zouzou, Xinbuluo Niu, and Zetian Chengquan for your generous donations. I am extremely grateful for your support.

(End of this chapter)