Victor soon arrived at the place he had designated in advance, a dilapidated and low house located at the end of the alley, on the edge of the civilian area. Behind it was the place where the townspeople piled garbage.
The house is low and dilapidated, with patches of black mold growing on the mottled exterior walls, like a dying old man, exuding a rotten smell. In fact, there is no sunlight in this alley, and the ground is damp and cold. Most of the other houses are also like this. Only a few old and frail half-elves live here, relying on garbage collection and charity from well-wishers to survive.
Their bodies and minds have deteriorated, their eyesight is deafened, they can neither hear nor see clearly what is going on outside, and they have no energy to mind their own business. They just huddle in the tomb-like dilapidated house and wait quietly for death.
This is actually a kind act. Most of the residents of Water Snake Town live a decent life, and the mayor does not make the lonely old people who have lost the ability to work homeless, at least providing them with a place to stay.
In any case, this alley is a neglected and forgotten place.
Gently pushing open the dilapidated wooden door, Victor bowed his head and walked into the dark room. A musty and rotten smell hit his face. He frowned slightly, his talent for gluttony automatically adapted to the nose-blocking smell in a short period of time, and his dim vision helped him see things in the room clearly.
Harvey, Maddie, Ruth, Jessica, and Stephanie all covered their mouths and noses with wind masks, obviously unable to bear the filthy smell in the room.
"Sir, have all the secret whistles been dealt with?" Maddie came up to greet them and asked in a low voice.
Victor nodded and turned his eyes to the corner of the room, where there was a low bed made of wooden boards, with an old man with messy white hair lying on it.
His body was haggard, his face was swollen, especially his eyes were so swollen that he could not open his eyes. He lay motionless on the dirty sheets, only his chest was rising and falling, and his throat was breathing like a broken bellows, and his whole body was exuding pollution. The stench of indoor air.
"When we came in, he was like this...he was dying." Harvey explained to Victor: "But, it seems that someone gave him food and water in the last day."
There was a small table at the head of the bed, with a plate of mud melon paste on it. The food was cold but not spoiled. The half-elf old man who was dying had no strength to eat.
Victor stared silently at the old man who was about to die. He had seen bloody death on the battlefield, but this was the first time he had seen a half-elf die of natural old age.
Disease and aging are the destined deaths of all living things. The old half-elf has reached the end of his life. The life-changing body is collapsing. The elemental body will eventually return to its origin, while the mental body loses the foundation for its existence. This process is almost irreversible. Victor was curious, what was the mental state of the old half-elf at the final moment when he was on the verge of natural death?
He has lost all five senses and is unable to communicate with the outside world. Is his mental body distorted by pain, fear, and unwillingness, or is he calmly recalling the past, or even transcending himself, secretly observing the uninvited guests who broke into his house from another perspective?
"My lord, my lord? Do you know him?" Harvey gently woke up Victor who was in a daze.
Victor shook his head and realized that he still had important things to do and couldn't continue to waste time here. He took a step back and said, "The way this man looks now makes me feel uncomfortable. Kill him."
"Okay, I'll help him out now."
Harvey nodded and stepped forward. At this time, Stephanie suddenly rushed over and bravely stopped in front of him. Her little face turned red with excitement and pleaded: "He is just a paralyzed old man, deaf and blind. He is not a threat to us and will not inform... "
"Get away!"
Harvey shouted low, pushed the little girl aside, and hit the old man's chest with his index finger, causing his heart to stop beating, and watched him take his last breath.
Stephanie's eyes widened at this, her shoulders twitching and shaking. Maddie had to grab her from behind and cover her mouth with one hand to prevent her intended apprentice from yelling.
It would be bad if it alerted outsiders, but Maddie was more worried that Stephanie's actions would offend Victor, so she asked in her ear: "Do you know this old guy?"
Stephanie shook her head repeatedly, broke away from Maddie's hand, turned back angrily, and shouted in a lowered voice: "I almost suffocated you to death!"
She also knew that she couldn't shout loudly now... Maddie smiled, and then asked seriously: "Since you don't know him, then explain why you stopped Harvey just now?"
"I...I just feel sorry for him."
Stephanie glanced at Victor secretly, lowered her head and murmured: "He is like an old man I know, my neighbor on Island Street. When he was dying, he was killed on the bed by soldiers who broke into the room. I I was hiding under his bed, not knowing what to do... The soldiers thought he smelled bad, so they killed him and left without searching the room carefully. I think he saved me."
"Child, they are not the same person, and we are not city-state soldiers who massacred the residents of Island Street." Maddie pointed to the old man on the bed and patiently persuaded him: "He may have to wait for one or two days before he dies. Sir, order Harvey Killing him relieves his pain."
"I know." Stephanie nodded in frustration, but couldn't help but say: "But we will all grow old. Do we really want someone to kill us when we are too old to move?"
No one can give a standard answer to this question.
Harvey snorted and said: "Anyway, I will never die in bed. That is the behavior of a weak person!"
In fact, not everyone will age. For example, the Takuu tribe and the Hemo tribe will either die in battle or go to the throne of the Earth Mother and disappear forever, but they will never get sick, let alone die of old age. Because of this, the rock elves always lack empathy and emotional resonance towards the Disa half-elves. Naturally, they will not pity those old and weak half-elves.
Lord Victor is probably immune to aging and disease just like the rock elves, so don't expect him to sympathize with an old guy who is about to die... Maddie thought to herself.
Death is a mystery, full of mystery and unknown. But Victor had no time to explore the meaning of death now. He asked Harvey to finish off the dying half-elf, lest he lose his mind, waste time, and end up missing the point.
That's all.
"There is a treasure hidden under the fireplace. Harvey, go dig it out." Victor turned around and ordered.
"okay."
"Ah, is there any treasure in this shabby house?"
Maddie looked in disbelief. He ran to the fireplace and worked with Harvey to dig up the floor tiles to find the treasure underneath.
Stephanie looked around and asked Victor: "Dear Master, I..."
"I haven't decided to accept you as my servant yet." Victor said unceremoniously with a cold expression.
The little girl almost cried, and she changed her words tremblingly: "Dear sir, can I pray for him?"
Victor did not comment, but stepped aside.
Stephanie walked to the bed and knelt on the ground, clasped her hands on her forehead, gathered her mind, and prayed for the deceased according to the ritual commonly used by half-elf civilians:
"Poor soul, may the great goddess allow you to enter his kingdom of God. She is the mother who gives love to her children; she is the wife who gives warmth to her husband; she is the daughter who gives passion to her father... Poor soul, May you fall into the embrace of the goddess and no longer be afraid, lonely, or cold..."
The Island Street Orphan prayed sincerely and over and over again. The spider mark on her palm quietly emerged. In the invisible field of vision, the soul of the deceased took the initiative to put into the spider mark.
Soul Eater!
Spiders symbolize death, and the Spider Lady is also known as the Lord of Death. She has authority over the soul, the psychic realm, the dead, and trickery. One of the basic abilities that the Spider Favorite must master is soul-eating.
Of course, there are restrictions on the use of soul-eating laws by spider favored ones, and the restrictions on weak favored ones like Stephanie will be particularly strict.
A soul that naturally ages and dies, is fresh and complete, and actively responds to the call will do the least harm to Stephanie, and is the only soul she can currently devour. The heroic souls who died in battle and the resentful souls who died violently had strong fluctuations in the will of the deceased, which was definitely not the power that Stephanie could bear now. Therefore, they were shielded by the spider mark and could only dissipate in the material plane, and finally returned to the origin of the world.
Stephanie unintentionally met the conditions for soul-eating, and obtained a usable soul source through the spider mark, stimulating a hidden trick ability, and then generated complete information related to the trick in her mind.
Trickery: Decay.
Forcing living beings to experience the decay process of the deceased's soul will cause negative effects such as insanity, degradation of the five senses, and slow thinking on the target. If the target fails a saving throw against the Decay trick, death results and soul energy is supplied to the caster.
The spider mark eats the dead soul of the half-elf old man. He has just obtained 5 units of soul energy. He can cast Decay Trick up to 5 times, or use all the soul energy at once. The more soul energy consumed, the stronger the Decay Trick is. The higher. When the soul's energy is exhausted, the caster cannot use Decay unless she consumes a new soul.
Stephanie's face lost all color and became as pale as paper. The information that came to her mind made her particularly panicked. According to her understanding, she inexplicably devoured the old man's soul, and could also cause other people to be haunted by ghosts, experience the painful process of the old man's decay and death, and finally complete the harvest of their souls.
The little girl is used to hearing horror stories about vampires, and she has also seen "with her own eyes" how a real vampire kills people and sucks blood. Now, she felt that she was even more evil than the vampire.
The teachings of the Earth Goddess have been spread throughout the Disa Alliance for thousands of years and have been continuously improved. Half-elves believe that after the death of their followers, their souls will fall into the arms of the goddess. The goddess uses severe methods to wash away the evil in the soul until they become pure and flawless babies. The goddess then sends the pure baby spirit into the body of a certain mother to start a new life.
The natural cycle of life can be seen everywhere. The Disa half-elves certainly believe and hope that their souls can cycle, which represents immortality.
Therefore, the teachings of the Earth Goddess make this point clear and resonate widely among believers.
Then, devouring the souls of the dead is undoubtedly an evil act. Soul-eaters are simply more vicious than vampires who make a living by sucking blood!
Stephanie cannot accept that she has become a different kind of monster, but she will never reveal her secret to others.
The little half-elf girl who had experienced a tragic experience was so distraught that she didn't know what to do. She just puffed her mouth hard and tried to spit out the soul of the deceased from her mouth.
"Are you scared?"
Mr. Victor's cold voice came from behind, and Stephanie jumped up from the ground like a frightened rabbit. She turned her head and saw Mr. Victor's ice-blue eyes. They were beautiful and charming eyes, but they revealed a profound power that seemed to be able to see into all things.
"Ah, no... no, I, I'm a little scared." Stephanie didn't dare to look into Victor's eyes, lowered her head, and explained incoherently in a thin voice.
"Sir, there is really a treasure hidden here!"
At this time, Harvey and Maddie dug a small square pit covered with wooden boards under the fireplace and took out a sealed tin can from it.
Harvey poured all the treasures in the jar on the ground and excitedly reported to Victor: "They are gems and gold nuggets. I estimate that I can sell them for about 2,000 gold pagodas."
Looking at the treasure shining brightly in the darkness, Victor showed a hint of pride on his face. Facts have once again proven that his dream evolution is accurate. Even if these valuable gems and gold are hidden very secretly, as long as there is air, there is no way to escape the evolution of the dream arena.
Maddie was curious as to why Victor knew that there was a gold hiding place here, but was not stupid enough to ask Victor directly about the secret, so he said to himself: "Who on earth hid the treasure in this place? "
"I know!"
Stephanie seemed to have escaped death just now. She tried her best to express herself, stepped forward and picked up a faint blue diamond from the treasure pile, and said: "I know this gem. I stole it half a year ago and handed it over to the Jin Dynasty." Finger Pym. So, this is Pym’s hidden gem!”
It is easy for Goldfinger to get money, but it will take at least several years to accumulate wealth worth 2,000 gold pagodas. Pim was so cunning that he actually hid the treasure in the lonely old man's deathbed. It can be seen that he is the one who delivers food to the old man living in this house, and the old man invisibly acts as the guard of the gold spot.
Victor ordered: "Pack up all these treasures... There is an abandoned well behind this room. It is actually an underground secret tunnel dug by Mayor Middleton. We can leave Water Snake Town through that secret tunnel."
The abandoned well behind the alley is old, and its platform is covered with moss. It is said that in order to facilitate the lonely elderly people to use water, the kind-hearted mayor of Middleton paid his own money to hire people to dig the well. Unfortunately, the well did not produce water and had to be abandoned. But the real situation is that you can enter the underground cave space by digging the side wall of the well bottom. It is basically a secret entrance prepared by Mayor Middleton for himself. There are three similar entrances to underground secret passages in Water Snake Town, located in different places.
Victor chose the entrance to the abandoned well mainly because it was secluded enough and close to the rental house. It was just incidental that he dug up the gold hidden by the thieves' gang.
Harvey went down to the bottom of the well first and demolished the stone walls with his bare hands, revealing a dark cave. Then, Victor threw Ruth and Jessica directly into the well, and Harvey caught them. It was Stephanie's turn to jump down.
When Maddie was about to go down, a quick bell suddenly rang outside, and the sleeping town was instantly awakened.
"A warning bell for a foreign invasion? Could it be that there is really a group of bandits attacking Water Snake Town?" The old scout recognized the signal conveyed by the alarm bell, was stunned for a moment, and murmured.
Victor's eyes flashed and he said: "Don't worry about it! Let's go down, there is something more important than treasure waiting for me down there..."
(End of chapter)
