On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

Zhuo E forced Sishutia to hypnotize herself, defining her actions as correct. The nun greedily wanted to continue taking Liao Ji, but unfortunately, this time she was no longer in control of her own destiny.

"Take off the handcuffs, Tia."

Under Liao Ji's orders, even though Styutia had no such intention and was extremely resistant, she lost control of her body as the contract flashed behind her neck. She obediently followed Liao Ji's orders and unlocked the handcuffs between them.

Click!

"And these chains."

Click!

Having finally freed himself from all the constraints, Liao Ji was finally able to stand up. He almost stumbled because his legs gave way, which showed how depleted and weak his body had become.

But Liao Ji knew that now was not the time to relax, and the crisis was far from over, because he noticed that the contract he had made with on the panel was with "Maria" instead of "Shutia".

This means

"Am I going to lose him again? Is Tia going to lose Lord Ash again? No, Tia won't allow it! Absolutely not! I must keep Lord Ash by my side! No one can stop me, not even Lord Ash!"

As the nun's mutterings grew louder, the Sciutia consciousness within Maria's body began to resist violently. It was clear that she was still unable to break free from the contract. The nun continued to perform the action of remaining in place, but it was not without effect.

hum!

Liao Ji's mind jolted, as if struck by a sledgehammer. Intense discomfort and dizziness began to surge from his head, all stemming from Styutia on the other side of the contract.

The contract can control the afflicted, but it requires mental energy. Once the afflicted resist, the mental energy consumed will double. Obviously, Sciutia is exploiting this loophole. She wants to wear down Liao Ji by using this self-destructive method.

The contract is like a lever, allowing Liao Jineng to gamble with a small investment for a large return. However, this lever has its limits; once it breaks, he will fall into a coma.

Fainting is tantamount to giving up. Once he falls back into the hands of Styutia, Liao Ji dares not imagine what crazy things the completely sick Styutia would do to keep him. So at this moment, only one word remains in the young man's mind.

run!

Before that, Liao Ji gritted his teeth and did his best to continue restricting Styutia's movements with the contract. Then, enduring his dizziness, he quickly ran to the altar and retrieved the two-piece "brand" set.

[Ding! You have obtained the "Dangerous" branding "Raise a Glass! (Part 1)" and "Raise a Glass! (Part 2)"]

With a flash of light, the two brand marks disappeared into Liao Ji's body. Without hesitation, he turned around and ran desperately toward the exit.

And just a few breaths after he left the area of ​​the underground altar.

A powerful burst of murky pollution erupted from the altar, causing all the murky corpse monsters in the abandoned sewers to riot. No longer wandering aimlessly, they all turned their heads in unison, turning their rotting, mutated faces toward the spot where Liao Ji had fled, and in the next second…

"roar!!"

The filthy corpses in each sewer began to run wildly.

Along with this, the nun's voice, amplified countless times by the turbidity, echoed eerily in the sewers.

"Lord Ashes... Heh... Heh heh heh."

"You can't escape!!"

Chapter 57 Nutrients (Part 1)

Bang!

After smashing the head of the murky corpse in front of him with a hammer, Liao Ji quickly moved to a shadowy corner of a passageway. He was covered in blood, all of it from the murky corpse. In his right hand, he clutched his only weapon, a broken water pipe that had been dismantled.

After he distanced himself from Sthiuthia, the contract no longer restrained him on a spiritual level, but he also lost the ability to control the nun's behavior. These filthy corpses that were running rampant in the sewers searching for themselves were Sthiuthia's doing.

Styutia is very smart and understands the principles of "contracts" well. After all, she is her "first" contractor.

The nun didn't come to arrest him directly, but instead used the turbid corpse and the "third party" to deplete his already dwindling strength.

When the time comes, if I'm the first to give up and lose consciousness, then even if there's a contract, it won't work.

Liao Ji was aware of this, so he changed his strategy. He deliberately gave Sthiu Tia the illusion that he wanted to escape, but in reality, Liao Ji quietly changed his route at the next bend in the passage. He had no intention of heading towards the exit at all. He wanted to take advantage of the complex terrain of the sewers to keep his tracks hidden and start a guerrilla war with Sthiu Tia.

As for this delaying tactic, what is the purpose of guerrilla warfare?

Taking advantage of the moment to rest and catch his breath, Liao Ji flipped his hand over, and the two brand marks that were "the Emperor's relics" appeared.

Is this really it?

In fact, from the very beginning, when Liao Ji saw the special evolutionary method of the mutated corpse, he had already guessed what the mark on him that Father Gron had dug out was.

Let's raise a glass!

Type: Brand

[Quantity of Sets: Two]

[Position: Top, Bottom]

[Rank: Dangerous]

[Single item effect: +10% Attack Power (Top), +7% Critical Strike Chance (Bottom)]

[Set Bonus: "Unlimited Power" - When using a "continuous" skill, each unit killed during the skill's duration grants the user an additional 1% attack power boost. This effect has no cap and will reset to zero after the skill's effect ends.]

(Raise a glass! To those who want to kill us!)

This set of branding pieces has decent individual stats at the "dangerous" level, and it also has the rare "critical hit rate" attribute at the "lower" level. However, Liao Ji still considers it useless in the game and keeps it in storage until it dies, mainly because of its lackluster set effect.

As a "Power Infusion" type of mark, it only grants 1% extra attack power per use, which is a really weak value that is almost unbearable to look at. Moreover, in order to trigger the set effect, the wearer must have a "Continuous" skill.

In short, the warm-up time is too long, the startup is too slow, and in most cases, before it can even be fully activated, either all the monsters are dead or the skill duration has ended, and all the stacked bonuses are gone.

The reason why Liao Ji hadn't dismantled the [Mark] set back then was because he still harbored a sliver of hope.

He wondered if he might encounter someone who possessed explosive skills and could somehow "infinitely recharge" those skills, such as by killing enemy units.

"Eileen, oh Eileen"

"Don't let me down."

Muttering to himself, Liao Ji shook his head and put the "Let's Raise a Glass!" away again. At only level 7, he couldn't equip the "Dangerous" mark at all. He could only unlock it at level 40 or higher. This was the predicament of the "protagonist" in the early stages. Everything depended on his contracted Evil Ones.

However, a perfectly fitting brand alone is not enough. The "disappointment" Liao Ji mentioned does not refer to whether Yilin will come to rescue him, but rather whether Yilin can "discover" the crucial clue he left for the girl at the end.

almost

It's time to move to a different place.

Liao Ji was already trying his best to sever the contractual connection between himself and Sthiuthia, otherwise the nun could locate him directly through the contract. Unfortunately, due to the vast difference between them, no matter how hard Liao Ji tried to sever it, the nun could still vaguely sense a general direction.

Therefore, Liao Ji can't even rest in one place for long; he has to keep moving constantly to avoid being surrounded.

Bang!

A loud crash came from the sewer pipe behind him, followed by the pipe bursting open, and a hand with long, blood-red fingernails broke through the wall and reached out.

"Hehehe, I've found you, Lord Ash."

Sthija's figure appeared in front of Liao Ji once again, but the nun looked completely different from when she first appeared.

Her nun's habit vanished, replaced by a long black dress that seemed to be burning with flames. Her holy boots were burned away by the flames of sin, and a new pair of scarlet high heels partially covered her fair feet. The toenails and nails that were exposed were the same bright, dazzling scarlet color, which contrasted sharply with her still fair skin, making her look both eerie and alluring.

The chains of the hooks wrapped around Styutia's slender arms, like a crown of thorns, replacing the nun's hat that had previously covered her hair, allowing her long, dark red hair to cascade down like a waterfall. The ends of her hair, along with the intense turbidity surrounding her, floated faintly in the red mist in the air.

"Lord Ash, don't run away. Come and continue doing happy things with Tia."

What a load of crap!

Even Liao Ji, who always considered himself to have a good temper, couldn't help but swear.

Styutia dodged and reached out to grab Liao Ji, just like before. But as soon as her hand got close to Liao Ji, no matter how the nun's form changed, the contract mark on the back of her neck remained unchanged.

"Ahhh!"

A strong burning sensation came from the back of her neck and spread to her mind. This feeling was like being pricked by needles, causing Sciutia to cry out in pain.

"Tia, please believe me just this once?" For Liao Ji, it was actually even worse. Every time he forced Tia back through the contract, the backlash caused him a splitting headache, forcing Liao Ji to try to persuade the nun again.

"Trust? Tia has always trusted Lord Ash. She believed in Lord Ash's creed of the weak. She believed that Lord Ash would abandon those useless contractors. She believed in Lord Ash's ruthlessness."

"Do you remember Pires? Coburn? Ash? Hikkaru? Sander? Madison?"

One name after another was uttered from Styutia's mouth.

Liao Ji had no recollection of these names, but then, as he saw Styutia using the turbid red mist around her to construct images, he remembered who they were when he saw the images corresponding to these names.

they are

Contractors in their own game.

Yes.

In a simulation game, how could the protagonist only have five Evil Ones? Every time the protagonist reaches a level that is a multiple of five, he will gain additional contract slots. Moreover, as the game progresses, the slots will increase in a step-by-step manner, rather than just one by one.

When Liao Ji "graduated and cleared the game", the protagonist's level reached LV150. You can imagine how many contract slots he had, a full hundred.

However, why does Liao Ji remain almost completely silent about the other Evil Ones, and even seem to have only five Contractors?

Because in Liao Ji's eyes, only those five could be considered "developed" characters.

As for all the remaining Calamities

They were all just tools of Liao Ji, disposable items to be used and then discarded.

Be

nutrient.

Chapter 58 Nutrients (Part 2)

The turbid red mist trembled, recreating the scenes that Styutia had experienced.

It was a boy pleading with him.

"Sister Tia, could you... could you please plead with Lord Ash for me? I will try my best! I will try to do better in the next battle! Please, Lord Ash, don't take away my contract. Don't take back my power. I don't want to become an ordinary person again. I don't want to lose everything."

"I want to keep fighting alongside everyone!!"

Looking at the boy in the red mist image, looking at this character model, a memory that Liao Ji had forgotten in a corner of his mind was finally stirred up.

He recognized the boy; he was Pire, the first name in the string of names that Sciutia had just read out. Pire was a Guardian-class Evil Being that he had contracted during the early stages of the game.

Pires has a very low star rating, only two stars, and his skill set is also very poor. However, the reason why Liao Ji was able to contract him and recruit him is because Pires has a very powerful talent.