I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

According to the information Zun found from the floating city network, the person in front of him was Noel, who was officially listed as "dead" ten years ago, and was Norton's older brother. Hayes Cavendish, who recently died in the Silent Ones' Clash, was Noel's son.

“That’s right, but how did you know?” Duke asked curiously. He was genuinely curious about the truth behind the Cavendish family’s infighting. “Do you know who that ‘Noelle’ outside who’s impersonating you is? Do you know how Hayes died?”

Noelle held the cigarette between two fingers, took it from her lips, and said with a cold smile:

“The Noel outside isn’t an imposter; he’s the real deal. I’m the fake. Hayes’ death was also part of my plan, because if I were to be resurrected, I would have to take over my son’s body, wouldn’t I?”

Duke had long known that his values ​​were incompatible with those of these scoundrels who roamed the underworld, but he still overestimated their moral bottom line countless times.

In order to revive herself and regain her eyes, she didn't hesitate to kill her own son. This is something that most parents would despise, but Noelle made it seem perfectly natural.

"If the Noel outside is the real you, then what are you?"

"His conscience."

Noelle picked up her cigarette again, took a deep drag, and exhaled slowly. "Never mind that. We're already inside the Tower of Babel. What do things in the real world have to do with us? Noelle outside can do whatever she wants, and we can't stop her, can we? Alright, let's get down to business. What do you want from me?"

Bugatti, standing to the side, didn't care whether the Noel in front of him was real or fake, or whether the Noel outside had truly taken over his child's body. Paying homage to the already low-ranking kings, he was a typical resident of the floating city's underground world; his moral standards, if not outrageously low… were practically nonexistent. He yelled at the top of his lungs:

"It's very simple. You should know how to liberate the monsters from the Tower of Babel, right?"

Noel immediately became alert, turning to look at the Bugatti who was frozen on the ground. His menacing expression hardened as he stomped heavily on the ground in front of the Bugatti, lowering his body abruptly. A chilling aura emanated from him as he questioned Noel with a hostile expression:

"What do you want to do?"

“What I’m doing is what Norton wants to do, except we belong to different factions of the mute, and we can’t coexist.” Despite the murderous aura emanating from Noel, Bugatti remained unmoved—he was, after all, a legendary figure, and even though he was now just a head, he wouldn’t be suppressed by Noel so easily: “But he’s a normal legend now, while I’m just a weak and helpless head, so I have to find some outside help, don’t I?”

"What did you say...Norton entered the Tower of Babel?"

Noel didn't hear a word Bugatti said after that. The previously somewhat dejected Noel transformed instantly, turning from a weathered, disheveled man into a sharp sword. He turned away and hurriedly returned to the gates of the Tower of Babel.

Duke peered inside curiously. Near the doorway stood a bed, surrounded by a jumble of belongings; the messy floor perfectly reflected Noelle's disheveled image. He rummaged through his pile of trash for a while, then pulled out a staff and shouted:

"I'm going to kill him!"

Noelle outside the Tower of Babel wanted to kill Norton, and Noelle inside the Tower of Babel wanted to kill Norton as well.

Tsk, what's up with the Cavendish family?

A father killed his son, a brother killed his brother, a nephew killed his uncle... This extreme filial piety has affected the entire family!

Duke curled his lip, while Bugatti continued his overly familiar manner (clearly, he and Noelle weren't very familiar with each other, otherwise Noelle wouldn't have been so disrespectful to him just now), shouting, "Hey, are you kidding me? You're just a hero-level mage, you think you can kill Norton? He's known as the mage killer Norton... Let me show you a way, Noelle. As long as you release the monsters sealed in the Tower of Babel, I'll guide them to kill Norton."

"And then what? After killing Norton? Let them destroy the world? Let them escape the Tower of Babel and destroy the real world?"

Noelle coldly rejected Bugatti's offer:

"Unless I die, no one can enter the Tower of Babel and unseal the monster sealed inside!"

"Hey, don't be so rigid. There are many benefits to cooperating with us..." Bugatti was not giving up. He continued to persuade Duke while winking at him. This scoundrel seemed to want him to launch a sneak attack and take down Noelle.

But Duke ignored him, even interrupting his rambling, and asked repeatedly:

"Do you want to kill Norton?"

"Do you want to clear out the monsters sealed here?"

Do you want to leave this witch game and return to reality?

Noel turned his gaze to Duke once again, this time with a look of confusion and surprise in his eyes.

"Kick this annoying head off, let's work together."

Duke pulled out his cheating device.

Chapter 272 Cheating Tools for "Overdrafting the Future"

"Kick this annoying head off, let's work together."

Bugatti: "?"

When Brother Tou heard Duke say this, he immediately became furious. He jumped up and down on the ground, shouting, "Duke, what did you say? Duke, are you kidding me? Didn't we have a plan? As long as you help me achieve my goal, I'll become the Floating City Lord, and you'll become the Floating City Deputy Lord..."

But Duke ignored Bugatti's chatter. Nine out of ten of the things this talkative, overly familiar man said were nonsense, and the other one was only half true. After a brief encounter, Duke concluded that Bugatti was not a good partner, nor was he as "innocent and harmless" as he appeared.

Bugatti is a legendary professional whose destiny is immortal. His calm and unhurried demeanor proves that he must have some trump cards up his sleeve, which may even allow him to temporarily return to his peak condition... But it doesn't matter. Even if he returns to his peak condition, Duke is not afraid of him.

Because Duke simply pulled out a cheat device.

【Item Name: Cheating Tool】

[Item Description: "Invincible! Dazzling! Like a shooting star! The strongest player in gold! Hyperion!"]

[Item Effect: Allows you to choose one of the following cheat modes: invincibility, invincibility, instant kill, teleportation, unlimited money, resurrection, or unlimited mana. The effect will last for three seconds and then end.]

This item is very powerful, but it also has huge limitations; every use requires paying a price.

For example, if you choose unlimited mana, you will indeed have unlimited mana for three seconds. However, you will need to replenish mana for as long as you use it within those three seconds – this essentially overdrafts Duke's future mana within those three seconds! The same applies to unlimited money. During the three-second effect, any credit Duke possesses will be considered "sufficient money" by others. For instance, he can use one dollar to buy goods worth one thousand dollars within those three seconds. However, after the effect ends, an unexpected event will occur, causing Duke to lose one thousand dollars in other ways.

In other words, the actual effect of this cheating tool is to "mortgage the future".

The cheat items offer various effects, including invincibility, invincibility, instant kill, teleportation, unlimited money, resurrection, and unlimited mana. I've tested the effects of all the cheat items except for resurrecting Duke.

Invincibility and invincibility seem to be defensive cheat effects, but they are actually different. Invincibility makes you immune to damage and impervious to weapons, while invincibility prevents you from dying from fatal wounds. After the effect ends, the former makes you extremely vulnerable for a period of time, while the latter makes injuries harder to heal.

The item could instantly kill any opponent (this was Cecil's assessment; she sensed a deadly threat emanating from it), but the duration of the resulting weakness would vary depending on the strength of the user and their opponent. Duke dared not use this move to instantly kill near-legendary, legendary, or even merely hero-level professionals, because doing so would likely leave him unable to recover from the weakness for years, even decades.

The side effects of teleportation are simple and tolerable—after the effect ends, Duke will temporarily lose his sense of spatial orientation, turning right instead of left, or landing face-first on the ground instead of moving forward. The strength and duration of the effect depend on the number of teleportations and the distance traveled within those three seconds.

The side effects of the cheat device were so severe that Duke dared not use it recklessly, but in any case, it gave Duke a means that could potentially "definitely kill" the legend, something even Deus Ex could not do.

It's important to understand that Duke actually led Talia to her demise by using Deus Ex Machina twice and even bringing Lady Scarlet along as a partner. He almost died before finally succeeding! As for the cheat item's "instant kill" option, as long as Duke is willing to endure a few years of weakness from not being able to lift his hands, he can instantly kill everything.

Noelle frowned and looked at Duke: "We'll cooperate? I won't cooperate with my brother's people."

“I am not one of Norton’s men; I am Norton’s enemy. In fact, sooner or later, my comrades will kill Norton and destroy all order in the underworld of the floating city.”

Duke was referring to Cecil, who made a great vow. As a near-legend, she must fulfill the great vow she made at this stage; otherwise, even if she truly becomes a legend, she will ultimately be an incomplete legend—this is why the Witch of Wishes Eve is still a near-legend.

“I think you’re a more reliable ally than Bugatti. My partners include the commander of the White Bone Legion outside, Monica, the former city lord I found in another memory world, and the cat on my head. It’s quite a group of talented people. How about it? Let’s cooperate.”

Noel scrutinized Duke, seemingly assessing the veracity of his words. He raised his hand, took a drag of his cigarette, and then, amidst the swirling smoke, slowly said, "I don't think we can leave this Tower of Babel."

"Why? The mute are watching this world of memories. If we find the right method, we may be able to leave by using the power of the true god."

“I understand the Tower of Babel, and I understand this alternate dimension. The rules of this alternate dimension are self-consistent and cyclical, and there is no way out from the beginning.” When Noel entered the Tower of Babel, the concept of the Witch Game did not exist, so he called this place an alternate dimension. “If you want to take us out of here, you must open up a new path, but how easy is that? So many legendary professionals over the centuries have failed to do it, and even true gods of the same rank as high-level legends may not be able to do it.”

"Who says there's no way out?"

"You think there's a way out of this alternate dimension where countless memory worlds coexist?" Noel laughed. "Then prove it to me! Otherwise, I have no reason to cooperate with you, Duke."

"It's very simple."

Duke reached out, grabbed Noelle's shoulder, and then pressed the remote-controlled cheat device in his hand.

Teleportation—

The next instant, the two of them, along with the cat on Duke's head, arrived in a completely new world of memories. Noelle's eyes widened, because he recognized this place—this was his own world of memories!

But he and Duke clearly didn't answer the question, nor did they correctly answer the question about the will of the world, did they?

"At home, the two brothers loved each other dearly, but when the younger brother brought the older brother to the floating city, they became enemies."

"why?"

Chapter 273 Overspending on the future, paying back the past

Since Amber can freely jump between memory worlds using her spatial talent, Duke can also do the same using the teleportation function of cheat items.

However, compared to Amber, who could come and go freely, Duke, who relied on cheat tools to teleport, could not control the landing point of the teleportation and could only move forward randomly. Otherwise, he would have definitely returned to the first memory world immediately to rescue Cecil.

"Why?" Noel's eyes widened, and the cigarette he was holding fell to the ground in surprise. "Why?"

He asked two "whys" in a row. The first was asking how they came to this world of memories, and the second was asking why he was brought to this world.

Clearly, Duke understood the meaning behind his two "whys." He picked up the little black dog from his head, held it in his arms, and answered Noel's second "why": "Because I want to prove to you that I have the ability to take you away from the Tower of Babel."

"The Tower of Babel I'm talking about is the real Tower of Babel, not the one I'm in here, you know!" Noel snapped irritably. As he complained, he bent down, picked up the half-smoked cigarette butt that had fallen to the ground, and put it back in his mouth. "Fine, I'll just watch your show... What are you doing? Are you drunk?"

Duke, standing in front of him, was swaying unsteadily, struggling to maintain his balance. He could barely stand up straight. The little black cat he was holding was also woken up by the shaking. It meowed unhappily, swatted Duke with its paw, and then arrogantly released its shadow to help Duke regain his footing.

"No... I'm a little dizzy." Duke slowly exhaled. The price of using the cheat item to teleport was losing his sense of direction and spatial awareness, and even the ability to partially control his body. He couldn't move normally right now, and if he took a step, he would probably fall straight to the ground. "I don't need to pay attention to these details anymore."

Cheating items have no cooldown time, but during the "overdraft" process, the abilities being "repaid" cannot be used. For example, if Duke teleports a step away, he will lose his sense of direction for about one second. During this second, of the many abilities of the cheat item, Duke will only be unable to use teleportation; the others, such as invincibility, invincibility, and instant kill, can be used normally.

This is a kind of overdraft on the future, and also a kind of repayment for my past.JPG.

And teleporting from one memory world to another... Duke couldn't estimate how long it would take to recover from such a teleportation; in any case, he wouldn't be able to return to normal anytime soon.

However, with the help of his capable wife Xiao Hei, his temporary "hemiplegia" is not particularly critical.

Although Duke still has the scratches from Xiao Hei's cat claws on his face, it doesn't stop him from calling Xiao Hei his good helpmate—otherwise, if he angers it and it runs away, who else can help him?

“Alright.” Noel had no idea what Duke was up to, and frankly, he didn’t care what he was up to. He was more concerned about whether Bugatti, whom they had left in the original memory world, would cause trouble while they were gone, and he was also more concerned about whether he could actually show them anything. “Do you need me to tell you about the situation in this memory world?”

"No need, we have enough clues, and this turtle soup isn't too difficult to make."

Duke waved his hand, declining Noelle's offer, and then looked down at his surroundings.

This is also a large room, likely somewhere in the underground world of the floating city. However, unlike the floating city that held everyone's memories, this world of memories is incomplete; it only contains this one room. Just like the church square and shadow laboratory in previous games, once you leave here, nothing remains.

"Are these two brothers Noelle and Norton?"

"Yes, you have nine questions left."

Whether it was just his imagination or not, Duke felt that the voice of the world's will suddenly became much louder as soon as he left the previous world of memories. It seemed that the mute was only focused on that particular world of memories and had no time to pay attention to the other worlds of memories.

"Does Noelle dislike the floating city?"

"No, you have eight questions left."

"Do Noelle and Norton have ideological differences?"

"Yes, you have seven questions left."

"Was Noelle's arrival in the floating city involuntarily?"

"Yes, you have six questions left."

"Is Noelle's involuntary participation directly related to Norton?"

"Yes, you have five questions left."

Noel raised an eyebrow in surprise, then smoked the cigarette butt in one gulp, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it: "How did you know?"