Chapter 2831 - 1341: Toadtail Alley_2

[Should I say it really is the sir...]

Cole’s face stiffened as the corner of his mouth twitched. Even though he’d been watching this "master and maid" duo interact since their time in the City of Freedom, their way of "messing around" still hit him just as hard as ever.

Honestly, the relationship between those two didn’t look like any normal master–servant dynamic. Putting aside how Motan treated Liz almost like she could do no wrong—what you really had to know was that not only would she casually threaten him with lines like "If I throw this punch, master, you might die," she’d even occasionally beat him to the ground and stomp him like crazy.

Back then, in the worldview of that country bumpkin Cole Shuren, the "Maid" profession absolutely did not look like Liz, and the sir was definitely not a normal master either...

To be honest, Cole felt that if the sir liked Miss Lizi and wanted to pursue her as a partner, that would at least make some kind of sense. But that just wasn’t the case, and in fact, Cole—who’d served as wingman in most of Tan Mo’s romance routes—had long since been utterly confused.

In his eyes, whether it was in front of Countess Ressa, Master Diana, or Liz, as long as he wanted to, the sir could give off the feeling that he was deeply in love with the other party. But when Cole thought about it more carefully, he figured his sir could probably pull the same act even in front of a Mudkaqiu.

Forget it...

Cole shook his head, abandoning the suicidal idea of trying to guess what the sir was thinking (mostly because it was bad for his mental health), then quickened his steps to catch up with the two in front, staying constantly alert to the movements around them.

After all, the people who gathered here were basically not what you’d call morally upright good citizens. And even when they did do "good things," those things were usually not that good, so being careful was still necessary.

Granted, strictly speaking Cole’s strength was the weakest among the three of them. Even though their paper combat power was about the same, in the few times he’d sparred with the sir, this High-level thief whose talents were already considered pretty decent had been toyed with so badly he’d completely lost his bearings, and had even set the humiliating record of being "killed" sixteen times in a thirty-minute simulation.

Honestly speaking, Cole didn’t think that was his fault. You had to know he wasn’t that green rookie thief from back in the day anymore; he had a clear sense of his own strength now. He hadn’t yet reached the High-Order Pinnacle, but among people at his level, he could at least be considered one of the stand-outs. Yet in front of the sir, he was nothing but powerless—utterly powerless.

Losing isn’t scary. What’s scary is losing without understanding why. What’s truly terrifying is losing without understanding why every single time.

In short, when it came to combat power, Cole was unquestionably the worst of the master–maid–goon trio. After him came Motan; even though he was indeed a good deal stronger than Cole, compared to Liz—whose Physical Fitness had unquestionably already advanced to Epic Tier—he was still far behind.

"Relax a bit. Even though this is the Black Street, it’s still under the jurisdiction of the Law Enforcement Force."

Motan turned his head and smiled at the slightly nervous Cole, speaking cheerfully: "So as long as we don’t deliberately wander off into some deserted little corner, there won’t be any danger."

"Yes, si... sir?!"

Before Cole could even finish exhaling in relief, he saw Motan directly turn into a rarely-trodden little alley, and he panicked on the spot.

"Goon."

Liz, standing at the mouth of the alley, turned to glance at Cole and asked curiously, "If the two of us don’t go in, will the master be in trouble?"

"Move it—"

Ignoring the eager "looking forward to the master having a little accident" expression on Liz’s face, Cole spat out a quick line and hurriedly rushed after Motan.

...

Five minutes later

A breeze of some invisible substance seemed to lightly brush past from within the Darkness—

"Who’s there!"

Cole’s gaze sharpened, and he was just about to raise the Dagger in his hand when his entire body suddenly froze on the spot.

Without the slightest warning, a chill spread across the back of his neck. It was a sensation Cole Shuren knew all too well—simply put, it meant someone had silently pressed a sharp blade to his throat; and judging by the motions of the person behind him, the other party definitely had the ability to kill him before he could make any evasive move.

"Don’t move."

A clear voice came from behind him, sounding like it belonged to a girl no older than twenty.

"You don’t move either."

Two points of red light flared. Liz, who had at some unknown point merged completely into the Darkness, appeared abruptly behind the attacker. A bloody gleam flashed in her eyes, and her fair right hand had already "gently" pressed against the other party’s back.

Meanwhile, Motan, leaning against the wall, just stretched lazily like nothing was happening, then smiled at the black Shadow that had quietly appeared not far away and said, "Yo, you’re here?"

"Mm."

The man in the Darkness inclined his head slightly, then spoke in a slightly distorted, calm voice: "Sorry, that Child is a bit sensitive. Come back, Ying."

In the next instant, both the cold sensation at Cole’s neck and the pressure against Liz’s right hand vanished abruptly. When the two of them came back to their senses, they realized that the girl who’d been standing between them was already at the side of that black figure.

It was a petite girl draped in a Grey cloak, dressed in a sleeveless Black jacket, matching shorts and long boots, wearing a black face-covering shaped like a mask, with silk-smooth white hair and beautiful phoenix eyes.

[So fast!]

Cole carefully drew his Dagger and held it horizontally in front of him, subtly covering the angle in front of Motan. Together with Liz, he carved out a "safe zone" for their sir.

[This girl... is no joke...]

The blood-red glow in Liz’s eyes grew stronger and stronger. On the smooth, fair left half of her pretty face, dark red runes began to surface, radiating a sort of seductive, Demonic beauty.

Motan’s expression also turned serious as he stared at the girl reverse-gripping twin crescent gun-blades. After a long silence, he finally asked softly, "So this is... a legal loli?"

"You could put it that way."

The man in the Darkness smiled faintly and raised the hand hidden beneath his Black robe, Gently stroking the girl’s silky hair. "She just celebrated her eighteenth birthday not long ago."

Motan clicked his tongue and sighed in a faint voice, "Must be nice... what a sinful life..."

"Ying is my important partner, nothing more."

The man said mildly, then added softly, "I think you should know she’s not the same kind of being as us."

Motan gave a relaxed smile and said pleasantly, "You can be more explicit, buddy. These two next to me may be NPCs, but they understand the Otherworlders setting very clearly."

"Mm."

The other party nodded indifferently, then pulled out a Crystal bottle filled with transparent liquid. "I brought the goods. Want to inspect them?"

Motan nodded cheerfully. "Of course. But I’ll have to trouble you to come over. To be honest, I don’t really trust your chamber of commerce."

"I’m representing myself right now, not the [Viper]. But if you insist, I don’t really mind."

The man spoke casually, but still walked slowly toward Motan, raising a hand to stop the girl who wanted to follow. He said blandly, "It’s fine, Ying. If I get taken out, kill all three of them, then wait for me at the second location."

The girl hesitated for a moment, but in the end obediently stayed where she was.

"These are something I acquired through private channels. The price goes up thirty percent. As for the quality... see for yourself."

The man shrouded entirely beneath the cloak walked up to Motan and lifted the Crystal bottle in front of his eyes, giving it a little shake.

"The goods are fine. How do we settle up?"

"Five thousand Gold Coin. Clean."

"Can I buy on credit?"

"Ying..."

"I mean, can I transfer outside the game?"

"Possible, but you add another ten percent."

"Deal. But you hand over the stuff first."

"And then?"

"I leave my body here and log off. I transfer the funds, you confirm. If there’s a problem, have your legal loli wipe out the three of us. If there isn’t, you take her and leave."

"All right."

Chapter 1341: End