Chapter 120

【Ding! Congratulations, host, you've gained 6 emotional value points!】

【Ding! Congratulations, host, you've gained 57 emotional value points!】

【Ding! Congratulations, host, you've gained 2 emotional value points!】

【Ding! Congratulations, host, you've gained 5778 emotional value points!】

【Ding! Congratulations, host, you've gained emotional value points!】

The scandal big enough to ripple across all prosperous regions of the continent kept Lin Cheng's system interface constantly scrolling—had Lin Cheng not been able to mute the system alerts, his head would have exploded.

In the first hour, roughly from eight to nine in the morning, Lin Cheng's emotional value balance surged from barely ten million to over fifteen million, an increase of over five million points.

The next hour brought even more explosive growth: seven million points in just one hour.

Then came eight million, then nine million—by one in the afternoon, when Ranzō and Eruza boarded the express magic train back to Magnolia, Lin Cheng's emotional value income reached its peak.

One hour yielded twelve million emotional value points.

Lin Cheng's emotional value balance rose from the initial ten million to fifty-three million.

For Lin Cheng, this was unquestionably a massive sum—before this, his total accumulated emotional value had never exceeded twenty million, and now it stood directly at fifty-three million.

If Lin Cheng were willing to accumulate more, he could easily secure an S-class puppet at a guaranteed base price of one hundred million; after all, even someone like Ranzō was only S-class.

"You seem unusually happy?"

"Since this morning, your emotions have been elated."

Watching Lin Cheng walk ahead, casually swinging the Dragon's Cry Staff, Jellal was perplexed.

Though the mission assigned by the organization had been completed smoothly, his level of joy was excessively exaggerated—Jellal simply couldn't understand it.

Jellal himself wasn't particularly enthusiastic about joining the Akatsuki.

Mainly because his own plan had failed, and he truly didn't know what to do next; more importantly, after everything he'd endured, even if unwilling to believe, deep down he'd unconsciously chosen to believe.

He believed the Akatsuki's claim: that the original Dark Mage, Jellal, had not died four hundred years ago.

Not only had he not died—he was still active in this world.

"Hahaha, it's just because I completed the organization's mission!"

"If I complete a few more missions, maybe I'll be promoted to Jellal's official senior member!"

Upon hearing Jellal's question, Lin Cheng gave a half-hearted laugh.

A very insincere excuse.

"If you don't want to say, fine."

Seeing Lin Cheng's complete lack of sincerity, Jellal spoke faintly, then stopped paying attention to him.

But unlike Lin Cheng, whose attention was entirely fixated on emotional value and who was utterly carefree, Jellal appeared weighed down by thoughts—by the way, the reason Lin Cheng could now drag Jellal around was entirely because Lin Cheng had previously informed Eclair and Mengmeng he'd be away for about a week.

Just like that, after a while longer, Jellal couldn't hold back anymore. Looking at Lin Cheng ahead, he asked: "What do you think Jellal did over these four hundred years?"

"There hasn't been a single word about Jellal for four hundred years."

"As the original Dark Mage, did he vanish from the world's sight solely because of a curse?"

It could be said that, ever since being brainwashed by Urûtiya atop the Tower of Paradise eight years ago,

Jellal had become a kind of psychological knot for Jellal.

In the original story, Jellal finally awakened at the critical moment, replacing Eruza as the core consciousness of the R System, and later survived due to various factors.

Eventually, through fate, he broke free from the brainwashing and his psychological knot.

But now, due to countless butterfly effects, though Jellal's personality and attitude had improved considerably after being battered by society, the psychological knot remained.

As for the current Jellal, because of all sorts of butterfly effects, although he has been beaten down by society and his personality and attitude have improved quite a bit, the knot in his heart still remains.

"What kind of person do you think Jellal is?"

Lin Cheng glanced at Jellal, who trailed behind him looking troubled, and silently shook his head inwardly.

As for Jellal, Lin Cheng, having read the original story, held no particular animosity toward him—the original's redemption arc was reasonably handled, not abrupt, so Lin Cheng didn't dislike Jellal.

The only thing he disliked was that Jellal and Eruza had developed noticeable romantic undertones in the original story, which Lin Cheng firmly disliked, so he decided to deny Jellal any chance at redemption.

The only thing to be disgusted about is that Jellal actually had quite a few hints with Erza in the original work, which Lin Cheng was decisively not very happy about, so he decided not to give Jellal a chance to be whitewashed.

In the future, just stay loyal and play the villain role under Lin Cheng.

Thinking of this, before Jellal could say anything, Lin Cheng smiled and said: "The Anshelam Curse is both cruel and simple: gain eternal life, and the more you cherish and value life, the more lives you'll be forced to take."

Thinking of this, before Jellal could say anything, Lin Cheng just smiled and said: "Anquiseram's Curse is both vicious and simple — it grants eternal life, and the more you cherish and treasure life, the more lives it will take away."

"Is a completely good person."

"The more lives he takes, the better a person he is."

Lin Cheng spoke while shaking his head.

Lin Cheng couldn't fully grasp Jellal's feelings—he wasn't someone who cherished life, but rather a selfish person—but having read the original, he could at least understand Jellal's pain.

After all, he so deeply valued life, understood its preciousness, yet personally took away one life after another.

【PS: I know some readers familiar with Bleach think Ranzō's S-rank is too low, since everyone assumes Bai Huzi—likely S-rank—must be weaker than Ranzō. That's true, but even within S-rank, there are tiers. Here, the author clarifies: S-rank has strength subdivisions. Bai Huzi is S-, Ranzō is S+. For example, Sloth's combat ability leans toward A-, while Ace is standard A.】

【PS: I know some readers familiar with the God of Death feel Lundy Sōjūsai is rated too low for S-class, since everyone assumes Bai Huzi—likely an S-class—must be weaker than Lundy Sōjūsai; this is indeed true, but within S-class, there are still strengths and weaknesses. Here, the author clarifies: S-class has tiers—Bai Huzi is S-, Lundy Sōjūsai is S+, while Sloth's combat ability leans toward A-, and Ace is standard A.】