Chapter 293: Jealousy

"."

Injecting rat-people blood, teeming with germs, into the body to treat skin diseases?

And they are naturally prone to the Beast Transformation Disease?

Which genius came up with this treatment plan? Such a person should be caught and hanged!

Let me mention this briefly.

Not all rat-people carry the Beast Transformation Disease; for many newborn rat-people born after magical isolation, the disease factor becomes recessive. As a price, their brains are not very sharp.

"I know what you are thinking, Mr. Rod, but according to those farmers, the method did work at the beginning, suppressing symptoms in many patients."

said the tiefling girl, Cecile.

Her face also showed disbelief:

"The Hans River runs through the Corus Plains. The mutated Sahua Fish-people there are eager to drive away races and monsters that affect humans, mainly to exchange for food and equipment from the local city hall. Precisely because of this, rat-people are rare in the Corus Plains, meaning the rat-people blood in Guanbei Town is running low.

To cover the high treatment costs, the Rescue Association had to start looking for new blood sources. The turning point came a month ago, when a mage in black robes holding a recording stone told them about an unfinished underground city, now collapsed and burying a large number of rat-people corpses."

Rod's heart skipped a beat.

No way...

That sounds exactly like something our Rat-Slaying Squad did...

But before we left, Lady Kali clearly set up a purification ritual that would clean all the Beast Transformation blood in the underground city within a day...

"So, they found rat-people blood inside?"

"Yes, a large number of untreated rat-people corpses. They said at least one or two days had passed since they died."

Hearing this, Rod immediately understood.

Shortly after they left, someone dismantled Lady Kali's purification ritual.

And that person was likely the mage in black robes holding the recording stone.

But why do this?

A mage in black robes? Rod immediately thought of students from Bahadur Magic Academy.

Then he immediately gave up guessing the other party's motives.

If it really was that damn academy, no need to overthink it; just crush them directly.

Seeing Rod's expression turn serious, Cecile couldn't help but ask with concern:

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Continue, what happened next?"

"What happened next was simple: this batch of rat-people blood had problems, infecting everyone who received the blood therapy with the Beast Transformation Disease. On a certain night, they all erupted simultaneously, going on a mad slaughter spree. The Rescue Association, residing in the inner town, was terrified, locking their gates tight, trapping uninfected humans and Beast Transformation patients together. These refugees in the outer district had noticed something was wrong long ago and escaped early; after all, many things cannot be kept secret."

Rod thought carefully.

Something felt a bit off.

He had encountered a Beast Transformation patient a month ago in the Corus Plains, namely the hyper-aggressive woman named Jenna who confronted the Sahua Fish-people.

Perhaps the outbreak of the Beast Transformation Disease in Guanbei Town happened even earlier than they imagined.

"Done."

The zombie Selena trotted up to Rod, expressionless.

She had finished setting up the 【Wind Wall】 ritual and successfully activated it.

A hemispherical wind wall rose up; the wind force didn't even need to be strong, just enough to block the assault of wind and sand.

"Good job."

"Today's quota isn't finished yet. I'm going back to avoid someone rushing me."

The quota, of course, referred to the daily specified number of magic rings to be manufactured.

Rod shrugged:

"Don't treat me like a heartless boss exploiting employees. Today's quota can be reduced by a quarter."

The sales results of the first month for the imitation Ban De Mo Fa magic rings were good, selling out completely.

But this couldn't prove anything immediately; if after-sales service and sales volume could be stabilized subsequently, he would consider increasing production.

"Wow—really? After working all morning, the quota can actually be reduced by a quarter? You are simply a charitable great lord, my master."

Selena remained expressionless, her tone not changing at all, sounding as if she were being sarcastic.

No need to listen to the tone; she was definitely being sarcastic.

Rod didn't mind; instead, he was amused by her and rubbed her head hard through his hood.

Although the scars on her face had been healed, she still cared about her overly pale zombie face and often covered her features.

【Jealousy +23】

Hmm...

Looking at the negative emotion points provided again by the tiefling girl.

To be honest, Rod was a bit surprised by her personality.

The skill related to Jealousy in 【Absorption of Negative Emotions】 is 【Dark Plunder】, which can temporarily plunder the enemy's skills, energy, or buffs; if consumption is increased, it might even permanently plunder them.

However, the consumption for both permanent and temporary plunder is ridiculously high; Rod has never had the chance, nor the heart, to use it.

Use Cecile to farm Jealousy points?

No, no, no. The mental damage to an adolescent girl would probably be huge. Rod is a decent person; he wouldn't do something like harming a friend's disciple.

Thinking of this, he felt a bit sorry for her.

So Rod smiled and patted the girl's head.

Cecile froze for a moment, looking overwhelmed with surprise.

"Mr. Rod?"

"I'm very happy that Cecile asked for my help; I feel like I haven't been paying much attention to you lately."

"How could that be!"

Saying this, she giggled foolishly, rubbing her fingers together in a flustered manner.

【Jealousy +201】

【Jealousy +65】

【Jealousy +134】

【Jealousy +】

Oh!

Jealousy points came from all directions!

They were Cecile's admirers!

Shi Ying Town is a remote place, so the people here are not heavily influenced by stereotypes; as a Tiefling, she surprisingly has quite a few admirers!

But it is probably because she is good-looking enough and resembles a human.

Her most obvious features are just her tail and slightly reddish skin.

Her spiral devil horns grow backward, hidden between her dyed black hair, and are not very conspicuous.

Speaking of which, devil horns are very sensitive.

After Tally reached the seventh tier, when she was at the peak of excitement, her two horns would emit a pink light; at that time, if one grabbed them with a hand, her body would tremble and spasm to varying degrees depending on the grip strength, which was quite fun.

So when Rod performed a head pat, he deliberately avoided the Tiefling girl's horns.

However, even though he actively avoided them, he couldn't stop her from actively nudging his palm with her horns.

"Mm~"

She even let out a low moan that could be easily misunderstood.

Look, the zombie Selena suddenly looked over, her expression strange.

"."

Cecile suddenly woke up, hurriedly stepped back, and her originally slightly reddish skin turned even redder.

Her face was full of embarrassment and shame.

"No, my lord Rod, it's not like that! I, I..."

"Sorry, I forgot that Tiefling horns are very sensitive; I accidentally touched them, I'm sorry."

Rod chose to take the blame.

After all, I am a decent person; one must always take care of a little girl's sensitive feelings.

After he finished speaking, Cecile's embarrassed expression eased a bit, but she no longer dared to look at him.

He had just wanted to change the subject when 【Spider Sense】 suddenly sent a warning.

Rod turned his head to look.

He saw that to the south was a murky yellow haze that could not be penetrated.

But his perception clearly told him that at the boundary of the distant farmland, three fierce men with wild beast fur had appeared.

(End of this chapter)