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

Let's give it a try.

After glancing at the [Holy Healing] spell in his skill bar, Liao Ji concentrated and placed his hand on Irene's wound. Under the puzzled look of the female scavenger, he silently murmured the spell to himself.

"Holy Healing".

Instantly, a dazzling but not blinding pure white light emanated from Liao Ji's palm, enveloping the female scavenger.

Irene had never felt her body so warm before, as if she were soaking in a spring, and the white light flowed over every inch of her skin like a gentle stream.

They took away her fatigue, relaxed and soothed her tense and anxious emotions, and left her mind blank, as if her spiritual world was above the clouds.

Immediately afterwards, a tingling, slightly itchy sensation spread from various parts of her body. This feeling was peculiar, like an electric current running through her, making Irene want to moan in pleasure.

In the real world, all that could be seen was a female scavenger bathed in holy light, with black substances constantly being expelled from her skin. These were impurities and filth from her body, but now they had all disappeared in the holy light.

The whole process didn't last long, only about ten seconds.

But when the light in Liao Ji's hand faded, Yilin's spirit, which had been floating in the clouds, was pulled back to reality. Not only she, but even Liao Ji was a little surprised.

Under his [Holy Healing] spell, the female scavenger's new wounds were completely healed, and even her old scars disappeared.

Of course, the most outrageous one is...

Irene looked down in disbelief at her hands, which were at least a shade paler whiter, then touched her face, feeling the softness, elasticity, and delicate smoothness of her skin.

She hadn't felt this sensation since she was fourteen, after losing her father and becoming a scavenger on the Black Hole Plains.

"you"

Filled with confusion, bewilderment, and complex emotions, Irene turned her gaze to the black-haired youth from five hundred years ago standing before her.

After Liao Ji finished untying the female scavenger, he continued his actions.

He reached out his hand to Irene, who was still kneeling on the ground, looking dazed.

"Liao Ji, that's my name. What's yours?"

Irene instinctively wanted to say, "Didn't you already know that?" After witnessing so many amazing things about the young man, she no longer intended to think about how he knew her name.

However, in the end, she took a deep breath.

“Eileen”.

Then, Yilin grabbed Liao Ji's hand and pulled herself up from the ground.

Chapter 10 Departure

Although the "contract" can control everything, doing so will also consume his mental energy, especially when the person who has been contracted is resisting. The mental energy consumption will be doubled. Liao Ji has already discovered this from his previous experiments with Yilin.

Therefore, frequently using contracts to forcibly restrict and control may work in the short term, but in the long run, one will not be able to bear it, and this is clearly not a long-term solution.

Therefore, Liao Ji felt that the best approach was to get Yilin to be willing to assist him.

Now it seems that this goal has been barely achieved.

"Miss Irene, could you please search those kobolds? You should be able to find quite a few special candles," Liao Ji politely requested.

Having received the order, Irene glanced at the filthy, smelly corpse still bleeding on the ground, and then looked at the young man who, having been exposed, had completely stopped pretending. He covered his nose with his hand and walked away from the corpse with a disgusted expression. Irene felt that all that was missing was a white handkerchief for him.

Her eyebrows twitched a few times, but Irene held back.

Candles are a specialty item of the kobold monsters. Before long, Irene had collected a large bunch and brought them all to Liao Ji.

"And then, young master?" Irene asked irritably, completely baffled as to why these broken candles were worth collecting.

"Thank you for your hard work. Now we just need to set them on fire."

"...Did you...do it?"

"Yes, these kobold candles are made of special materials with extremely high flammability. All of them combined should be more than enough to burn down this secret room and everything inside," Liao Ji patiently explained.

However, it's clear that this isn't what Irene is concerned about at all.

"What! Ancient relics! You're going to burn this place down?! And all these precious artifacts!!"

Upon hearing what Liao Ji was planning to do, Yilin immediately became like a cat with its fur standing on end, even changing how she addressed Liao Ji.

She picked up a glass container from the shelf that, though covered in cobwebs and dust, still exuded a classic charm from its shape and texture.

"Do you know how many people would scramble for this thing if it were sold on the black market?"

“And this, this, and all of these!!” Irene’s fingers traced the porcelain, statues, and murals piled up in the secret room one by one.

She stood in front of Liao Ji like a fierce mother tiger protecting her cubs.

"If we sell all of these, we'll get at least several hundred thousand Ash Coins. That's several hundred thousand! And you're just going to burn them like that??"

Faced with the extremely agitated girl, Liao Ji made a calming gesture to help Yilin calm down. He understood Yilin's agitated feelings, but...

"Miss Irene, the problem is, have you considered that all those things in the secret room might actually be as valuable as you say?"

“It’s not possible, it’s certain! This is the Emperor’s ‘legacy’!!” Irene emphasized in a loud voice.

“Okay, they’re valuable, quite expensive, but the question is, how will Miss Irene convert them into cash? Oh, by cashing out, I mean, converting them into what you call… uh, Ash Coins?”

Immediately after Liao Ji spoke, Yilin blurted out, "Didn't I already say? Go sell them on the black market!"

"Well, according to your previous description, items from the current era are extremely rare and even contraband. Won't someone else be watching you if you take out so many contraband items to sell on the black market?"

"Even if you plan to sell them slowly, don't forget that you weren't the only one involved in this tomb raiding. Or rather, Miss Irene, if I'm not mistaken, you were just someone who looked at the map and guided others, right? And your employers were also real tomb raiders—let's call them an expedition team for now. How could they get so many firearms and be so decisive in killing people to cover their tracks, even threatening your family afterwards? I don't believe there isn't a large organization behind them."

After Liao Ji's words, Yilin finally calmed down a bit. She paused for a moment, then said with a tone of disgust:

"Their name is Kaval, and they are a notorious gang in our Black Hole community."

"I see."

"Miss Irene, what do you think you would do if a notorious gang found that all its members had been wiped out in the underground world, while the scavenger who led them back alive and continued to sell valuable treasures on the black market?"

Huge profits can blind people, and Liao Ji's words brought Yilin back to her senses, sending a chill down her spine.

Her expression quickly wilted, and she even seemed a little flustered.

“If Kavale and the others know that I am the only survivor, they will definitely capture me even if I do nothing,” Irene murmured, somewhat lost.

“Indeed, so there is only one optimal solution, which is to make Kavale think that you also died. That is why I insisted on burning this place down, so as to create the scene that no one survived. When the gang sends people to investigate, we can completely clear you of any wrongdoing.”

After listening, Irene's eyes grew brighter and brighter, and she soon looked at Liao Ji with an approving gaze.

"I didn't expect that even after sleeping for five hundred years, you'd still be so sharp-minded."

"Thank you."

In fact, another major reason why Liao Ji burned the place down without any hesitation was that many things here would really just become rotten antiques like the [Emperor's Sword] after five hundred years.

As for the truly valuable items that could remain unchanged for five hundred years, the five pieces of [Turbid Calamity Crystal (Small)] inside the stone coffin—no, excluding the one used on Irene—have already been taken by Liao Ji. Therefore, this former resource point secret room is of no value to him, so it's better to burn it down and leave no trace.

On the other side, Irene, who was just happy to be able to get rid of the gang, suddenly changed her expression again when she thought about it further.

"Wait a minute! What about my mother? She's seriously ill and waiting for treatment at the clinic in the settlement. I can't possibly take her with me when she leaves the settlement. I... I..."

Before this, Irene knew that dealing with gangsters was very risky, but she still took the job. The main reason was that her mother, who depended on her for survival, urgently needed a large sum of money for medical treatment.

Now, not only has she failed to receive her due compensation, but she's also gotten herself into serious trouble with the gang. She absolutely cannot abandon her mother and leave alone, but to take her mother with her, she'll need to pay exorbitant medical bills, money that can only come from the inheritance. However, selling the inheritance will attract the gang's attention.

Irene felt as if she were trapped in a vicious cycle.

At this point, another voice had to interrupt.

“Miss Irene, I have to remind you, although you can’t take most of the things out of this secret room, at least you can take the most valuable one out, right?”

"The most valuable one?" Irene looked around in confusion.

Until Liao Ji pointed to himself.

“As long as your mother has a breath left, no matter how complicated the illness, I can cure it easily. Miss Irene, you should know this yourself.”

As Liao Ji spoke, Yilin recalled the treatment he had given her just a few minutes earlier, and the girl's face immediately flushed with excitement.

"Oh, right! How could I forget about Old Gu, cough cough, Young Master!"

But she quickly showed a tentative look again. Irene lowered her head slightly and asked cautiously, "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's what I'm saying! Your ability is so powerful, it must take a lot of energy, right? Is it really okay to use such a precious ability on a scavenger's mother?!"

Irene puffed out her cheeks, a little embarrassed and indignant, saying that she had to make herself so clear.

have to say.

After the "Holy Healing" spell, the girl regained the youthful beauty that she should have at her age, and her good looks, which had been buried by the hardships of scavenging and sleeping in the open, were now shining brightly.

Liao Ji found it hard to believe that he could see a hint of "cuteness" in Yilin at this moment.

"First of all, you are no longer a scavenger. Secondly, I have signed a contract with you, and you have become my calamity-inducing one. At least during the term of the contract, you are my person. You work for me, and I am naturally responsible for my subordinates."

"As for the last one, don't worry. I was a big shot five hundred years ago. Although my strength has weakened a lot now, I can still easily use that healing ability four or five times a day."

Having received Liao Ji's personal promise, Yilin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course, when the young man said something like "You are mine," the girl couldn't help but blush and mutter to herself.

But no matter what.

Irene suddenly realized that having someone "protecting" her seemed pretty good.

"Alright, Miss Irene, let's get to work. I really don't want to stay in this awful place for another second."

Faced with the young man urging her on but showing no intention of helping, Irene obediently became a worker, considering that he could treat her mother.

She painstakingly crushed the kobold candles, extracted the flammable material, and then distributed them evenly throughout the sealed room.

After doing all this, Irene picked up Liao Ji and, using the kobold's shovel, climbed out of the hole they had come from.

She used to never believe she could climb a cave more than ten meters high, but now she can even hold a grown person in one arm.

This is the power brought by the Cursed.

Liao Ji, who had been put down by Irene, smoothly arrived at the upper level and took the simple torch that Irene had made in her spare time. The crackling flames reflected the young man's handsome face.

"So... does this count as the prologue?" Liao Ji muttered to himself.

"What did you say?"