The villain's way to tame the protagonist

"Um...what should I call you, Miss Adventurer?"

Marina didn't mind small talk because she could always take the initiative in the topic and use it to break down the other party's defenses. However, based on the few short conversations just now, she could conclude that this girl would never fall into a passive position so easily.

Then let's abandon the unnecessary preparations and get straight to the point.

"Me? Just call me Ze Rui." She answered carelessly, "I don't have a surname. I'm an orphan."

"...Zerui?"

"Yeah, well, uh...what happened?"

Noticing a slight change in Marina's expression, Ze Rui began to get a little nervous: "First of all, I have to make it clear that I have never committed any crime in the imperial capital. If you hear a similar name... it's definitely not me!"

"No, nothing." Marina smiled and shook her head, "But this name does remind me of someone."

Ze Rui coughed lightly: "Although I don't know what he did, it definitely has nothing to do with me. I don't have many brothers or sisters... and this name is not special, there should be many names with similar pronunciations."

"Yeah..." The witch narrowed her eyes slightly, "Maybe it's just a simple coincidence."

Coincidence? The girls in the soul chat room didn't believe it.

"This guy came from the Theocracy, and his name is the same as the one among the first generation of bishops who offered his soul voluntarily and was favored by the pioneers?"

Xitana shouted without any belief: "If she is okay, I will eat the church's warships directly!"

"But..." Miss Xin, a true "ghost", tilted her head and looked at Ze Rui, "Her soul is very clean and normal. In her memory... there is nothing related to the church."

"…You have already searched through her memories?"

Ming Fuluo, who had absolutely no way of being in the same room with Ze Rui, asked this.

"Not yet, because Miss Ze Rui's mind is a little... too active. There are a lot of very trivial things in her memory. If you want to read through them all without missing anything, it will take a long time."

Having just finished reading Ze Rui's nearly three hundred-word personal evaluation of the lunch a month ago, Xin hadn't felt his task so arduous for a long time.

"But I can be sure that she has nothing to do with the church. I can sense the aura of divine arts. Everything based on the system built by the pioneers and the first generation of bishops cannot be hidden from my eyes."

"However, her soul is indeed somewhat special... well, it is the kind of soul that can easily fall into the abyss."

"Does this mean this guy is a bad guy?" Xitana immediately became alert.

"No, it means that her talent is extraordinary... No wonder she has learned so many messy tricks without systematic guidance." Ming Fuluo thought thoughtfully, "Matching with the abyss means affinity with the elements, but she has embarked on the road to heaven... And never fell into the abyss?"

"On this basis, she may also have some different talents. We can only know what they are by letting her use them," Xin added.

"Who cares? Even if she's not a bad seed, it proves that she is special enough."

Miss Wolf, who felt that she had come to life, rubbed her hands and said, "Since she is a special one, she must be a chess piece of fate! Let me deal with her!"

"But it's also possible... that it just follows this idea."

Marina, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up at this moment: "In order to package a guy who is actually insignificant into a big threat that cannot be ignored, disrupt or even destroy our plan."

"...What's even more disgusting is that He might also want to use this idea of ​​Marina to make us think that she is not important, but she is actually very important."

There was obvious irritation in Ming Fuluo's voice.

This nesting doll confused Xitana, and Xin sighed with some sadness:

"This is the pressure and pain that An has been enduring all along... It's such a frightening unknown."

Even more, the purpose of that existence that is looking down on all this from high above may not be to make the girls regard Ze Rui as a big enemy, nor to make the girls completely ignore Ze Rui, but just to make them fall into great struggle and dilemma at this moment.

Ming Fuluo guessed this possibility, but she didn't say it because such words would have no meaning other than adding pressure to everyone.

"But Mr. Anser is watching us."

In the silence, Marina's gentle voice sounded: "So it's okay, isn't it? Leave it to me... and Su Silun."

"Ms. Ze Rui, the reason I suddenly invited you here in such a rude way is because I have a very important matter that requires your assistance."

Her smile was warm and gentle, and except for Anser, no one in the world could see the... malice hidden under this gentleness.

Ze Rui was stunned for a moment, then her eyes widened in disbelief: "Just to help?!"

"Well... for now, this is the case."

"The boss of the black market and that red-haired sister are both planning to ask me for help?"

"Yes."

"Then why don't you just say it directly!"

Her powerful voice was deafening.

Marina responded with a polite smile: "Because every time before I could say anything, Miss Ze Rui ran away."

"Oh... this is a reflex. Sorry, sorry."

The adventurer who had seemed so confident just a second ago now recalled how panicked she was when she tried to escape, and apologized with a wry smile.

"It doesn't matter. After all, it was me who asked Mr. Shadow to keep you here... To be more precise, I asked someone to contact him - my 'sister'."

"...She is still involved in the black market?" Ze Rui asked in a low voice.

“No, no.” Marina waved her hands and smiled. “She just has some connections with Mr. Shadow. The reason she came to you…”

Miss Witch paused for a moment and said, "You may not believe it, but... many people died on a ship of the church. It is not an exaggeration to say that a river of blood flowed."

"Hahahaha, sister, you really know how to joke."

Ze Rui laughed out loud: "Most of the Inquisition are stationed on the ship. Even if the most ordinary Evangelist ship was attacked, those black guys would rush over on the spot. How could there be a river of blood? Oh... You mean, the attackers were killed and the blood flowed like a river, right? What a great pun!"

Marina now somewhat understood Ming Fuluo's feelings, but she remained unchanged and explained patiently: "There really was an inhumane massacre... You can see this, this is the scene at that time."

She showed Ze Rui the three-dimensional image of the bloody killing scene on the deck, and the smile on the face of the adventurer lady, who had been laughing just now, disappeared instantly.

She stared at the horrific scene of broken flesh and body parts on the screen, and after a moment of silence, she asked softly, "Not long ago?"

"Not so long ago."

Marina waved her hand to remove the image and sighed softly, "Miss Ming Fuluo told us that she met a stowaway from the Theocracy. This massacre hadn't happened yet... or we didn't know about it yet. Not long after the massacre, we realized that you might know something. Combined with your identity, it was easy to infer that Miss Ze Rui would go to the black market in the sewer, but we didn't expect you to arrive not long ago."

"…So the black market boss was just trying to trick me into telling him about the church?"

Elalo was indeed trying to ask questions according to Marina's intention. Marina and the other girls did not expect that Ze Rui seemed too honest and said too much.

This "talking a lot" does not mean that she revealed a lot of valuable information, but that she passed certain information to people who should not know it.

Although she is very proactive, Marina always carries out Ansel's orders to the end when it is not necessary. Since Susilun is her partner, she will of course disclose the information to Susilun in real time - even if it is unnecessary and meaningless.

So, when Marina and the other girls were listening to Ellalo's questions, Susilen was also listening - but of course she was not qualified to join the chat room. Xin simply used a method that Susilen could not understand to let her join in as an observer.

And something Ze Rui said during this process made all the girls regret letting her join in as an observer.

Ze Rui said: The church deliberately stuffed a group of death row prisoners into the fleet.

Chapter 25: Habit

Su Silun clearly heard what the strange adventurer in front of her said.

When this fact came to light, Su Silun instantly thought of many things, some of which were conservative and reasonable, and some of which were... radical and absurd.

As for which inferences to choose as answers, she needs to refer to Marina’s current interrogation of Ze Rui.

"There is one thing that concerns me about your conversation with Mr. Shadow... You said that the church deliberately brought a group of death row prisoners." Marina put her fingers together and stared into Ze Rui's eyes. "Are you sure, Miss Ze Rui?"

"Of course! I just blend in...wait."

After meeting the witch's gaze, Ze Rui also revealed a thoughtful expression: "Are you trying to say that those dead people might be the death row prisoners brought here by them?"

Marina nodded slightly: "This is a possibility. What do you think, Ms. Ze Rui?"

"……I?"

The adventurer pointed at herself, then scratched her head helplessly.

"You ask me this... I don't know how to answer. Although I have a certain degree of understanding of the church, I can't think of the reason why they do this."

She paused, then held the ring containing the spoils between her fingers and shook it. "It's no exaggeration to say that the church's presence this time is so grand that it's like they're here to look for my father. They brought so many things with them. But if they really wanted to submit to the church, wouldn't there be no need to do this?"

What's the point of bringing death row prisoners and committing murder?

Ze Rui didn't know, and neither did Su Si Lun. If the church had no motive for doing such a ridiculous thing, was there some unknown secret, or...

Did someone order them to do this?

Su Silun first glanced at Marina inconspicuously. She thought for a moment, then took the initiative to attack: "Ms. Ze Rui, according to what you said... your way of sneaking across the border was to pretend to be a death row prisoner brought to the ship, and then escape. But how did you escape from under the nose of the church with the power of the third level?"

"Business confidential, sorry... er, can I not tell you?"

Ze Rui clasped her hands together and begged for mercy from Marina pitifully: "Can you please leave me some of your family fortune? I rely on this to live!"

Su Silun smiled politely: "That won't do. We need--"

Marina raised her hand, forcing Suslen to remain silent.

"If Miss Ze Rui doesn't want to talk, it's okay." The easy-to-talk witch smiled, "But I still need your help for some things."

Of course it didn't matter. After all, Xin Lian could find out what she had eaten on her third birthday. In their eyes, this young adventurer had no secrets at all.

Ze Rui was relieved that the secret was kept, but the second half of the sentence made her alarm bells ring again.

The girl coughed lightly and asked tentatively: "Um... do I have a choice?"

Marina smiled but said nothing.

Miss Ze Rui, a natural adventurer, covered her face with her hands in sorrow, to prevent the woman in front of her, who looked easy to talk to but was definitely extremely dangerous, from seeing her gritting her teeth.

After this time, if I set foot on the territory of the empire again, I will be a dog!

*

Ivora, who was standing outside the tavern, finally waited for Anser.

"Considering various restrictions... this pub can actually be rated around eight points."

Anser stood at the door and looked back at the tavern's sign, looking quite satisfied: "Judging from the waiter and bartender's reaction to your willful behavior, Ivora, I will raise the service score a bit."

Ivora's eyes twitched twice: "Just now, your woman used me like a cat catching mice. Don't you want to ask something?"

"Why ask you?" Anser asked back, "Shouldn't I ask them?"

Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess took a few deep breaths and said nothing.

Anser found Ivora's mentality quite interesting. On the one hand, she aggressively tried to drag Anser into the abyss; on the other hand, she would appear weak at times and want to get Anser's attention or even recognition.

The "accelerated ripening" of fate seemed to have caused her psychology to become torn, but since this was within a reasonable range, it meant that there was indeed a possibility that Ivora could fall to this point... and this was indeed the case based on her mental state.

Young Master Hydra walked on the street, seemingly aimlessly. "I was originally planning to go to the restaurant at the end of the street and order some East Port specialties... Although the chefs in the manor are still the same, Savile finalizes the daily menu, so the food is less fun."

He glanced at Ivora, who looked slightly nervous. "But for the sake of the store, I'd better go another time."

"Savier..."

Ivora ignored the words in Anser's words that disgusted her and captured what was most important to her.

She stared at Anser's profile and said word by word, "That old butler, is he still alive?"

Ivora knew very well that if Xavier was really dead, then the Ansel Hydra she knew would never mention anything about the old man in such a calm tone - he would not even take the initiative to mention anything about the butler.

"When did I say he was dead?" Ansel looked a little surprised.

"you!"

When? Is that even necessary? Flamel died without a sound, so how could his contracted head survive? And now you, a bastard, are saying that the old butler is still alive?

Ivola's mind was in a mess. She first got information about Wang from the church, but Wang was dead. And now Ansher told her in a matter-of-fact tone that Xavier was still alive and well.

Are the other leaders of Flamel still alive? What are they doing now?

At the thought, a biting chill ran down Ivora's spine.

If Flamel's pledges were still alive...if they obeyed Ansher's will and lay dormant, then wouldn't all her previous fantasies about the future have no possibility of realization from the beginning?

Even if she really grasped that one in ten million chance that even fate could not create, and both she and Anser would suffer heavy losses or even win, this monster... still had a hidden card that would definitely destroy her?

"I'm glad you took the initiative to seek information about Wang from the Church, Ivora."

At this moment, Anser gave Ivora the recognition she wanted, but Ivora did not feel any joy, not even the most superficial satisfaction.

Anser continued to himself, "Besides me and them, you should be the only one in the world who remembers all of my father's deeds. You took advantage of this and seized this opportunity to try to break the situation and suppress the outstanding Su Silun. This is good."

"But you should also know that if I want to, I can ask anytime."

A saint who betrayed her faith, a bishop who lost hope... If Ansel wanted the answer to a question, he would have gotten it long ago.