Chapter 2992: Peace Talks?

A bright red signal flare rose into the sky, exploding like fireworks. Large patches of blinding red light particles appeared in the high sky, lingering for a long time without dissipating.

In a tavern that was still noisy in the middle of the night, a man wearing a leather round hat and covered in iron ornaments was drinking heavily. Just then, red light shone through the tavern window. The man turned his head to look. At first, he didn't care, but suddenly thinking of something, he rushed out of the tavern, not caring about the bartender's angry curses behind him.

In a side alley by the street, there were vaguely sounds that made people's imaginations run wild. Red light shone in. A few seconds later, a disheveled wild couple ran out of the alley. After seeing the large patches of red light particles in the sky, they immediately ran in one direction.

Drunks, homeless people, wild couples, and even laborers who had worked for a day all walked onto the street. They were all walking in one direction: the headquarters of the Kodo School.

The entire Dank City was like a hornet's nest that had been stabbed hard. Patrol teams holding torches were on every street, searching in alleys, and the sound of rude knocking on doors and dog barking rose and fell one after another.

The beginning of all this was because the Goddess of the Kodo School had been abducted half an hour ago.

Outside, the Kodo School had a bad reputation, but in "Dank City," the Kodo School was the absolute manager here, either obeying or disappearing.

The high-ranking members of the Kodo School were enraged. Not only had someone killed their people on their turf, but they had also kidnapped the Goddess. This was equivalent to a big slap in the face. Could they endure this?

Several bishops in power at the Kodo School had their blood pressure rise, almost suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, which was why the scene before them happened.

"You guys, go check that low-rent apartment over there. Under the bed, in the wardrobe, don't miss any place where people can hide."

"There are footprints in the sewer here!"

Shouts rose and fell one after another. Innkeeper Marcia leaned against the wall. She was waiting for someone. According to the agreement, that person would arrive soon.

At the same time, West District, inside an underground wine cellar.

The hanging lamp above lit up after being connected to the 【Particle Battery】, and the yellowish-white light drove away the darkness.

The bottoms of the wine barrels formed a wall. The Goddess sat leaning against the wall, her head tilted down, looking unconscious.

"Wake up, don't pretend. They've already started looking for you outside."

Hearing Baja's words, the Goddess's tightly closed eyelids trembled, and she opened her amber eyes. She said calmly:

"Who on earth are you guys? You actually dare to capture me in Dank City? Have you considered the consequences? And this isn't worth it at all. If the Kodo School wants to, they can cultivate a new Goddess in a few months."

The Goddess looked around at Su Xiao and the others. Just now, hearing people looking for her outside, her originally uneasy mood calmed down. It was time to show the power of language.

"How about this: you guys go get some scapegoats, kill them, and say they were the ones who kidnapped me. Afterward, you notify the Kodo School, and I will speak for you, letting you get a lot of Crystal Fat."

The Goddess knew where her advantage lay: acting. She had used this talent to deceive many people.

"My proposal, you guys consider..."

Click.

Su Xiao cuffed the 【Endless Darkness】 collar onto the Goddess's neck.

"Oh? You have this kind of hobby? Actually, someone is interested in me? You guys should know what's in my body, right."

The Goddess's smile was a bit strange, and also carried a few points of teasing.

Su Xiao ignored the Goddess. He activated the 【Endless Darkness】 collar. Almost instantly, a curse energy sank into the Goddess's neck and spread toward her brain.

"Ah!"

The Goddess let out a wail, which surprised Su Xiao a bit. He then thought that it was the curse power and the Ancient God energy repelling each other. This was irrelevant; there was very little Ancient God energy in the Goddess's body.

Sure enough, ten seconds later, the conflict between the two abilities ended. Both had dark characteristics, so even if there was a conflict, it wouldn't be too intense.

"Heh hahahaha, just like this? Do you know, when I was a few years old, pain also represented pleasure to me. This is the school's insurance measure."

The Goddess laughed very strangely, but in reality, her inner thought was "It hurts me to death." She endured the pain, which was pain; there was no so-called pleasure at all.

【Hint: Curse of Lies (Passive) has been triggered. Charisma attribute is undergoing reverse judgment...】

【Enemy's true Charisma attribute: 135 points.】

【Own Charisma attribute: -3 points.】

【Judgment complete. Own Charisma attribute has reverse-crushed the enemy's Charisma attribute. Curse of Lies (Passive) has been activated.】

Su Xiao finished checking the hint. The Goddess in front of him went limp all over, as if she were leaning against the wall like a noodle. Lifting her arm was very strenuous.

From now on, every time the Goddess told a lie, her willpower would decrease by 10 points, until it dropped below 3 points.

Amu took a wooden chair and placed it behind Su Xiao. He sat on the wooden chair, looking at the Goddess sitting paralyzed in front, and asked:

"Where is the King of Light."

"In... in the Old Royal Capital."

As soon as the Goddess's voice fell, her amber pupils tightened rapidly. She felt she had lost something, but this feeling was too subtle.

Not knowing if it was an illusion, the Goddess found that the one person, one dog, one cow, and one bird in front of her weren't as hateful as just now.

"Really want to eat vanilla cake, ah ya ya ah~"

The Goddess lost her worries.

"Where is the King of Light."

"Didn't I already say it? In..."

The Goddess stopped halfway through her words. She noticed something was wrong. Just now, she was actually thinking about eating vanilla cake? Was she stupid? At this time, she was still thinking about eating vanilla cake?

The thoughts in the Goddess's brain turned rapidly. She guessed something and prepared to test it. Her eyes looked at Su Xiao, and she silently recited in her heart: This is a hateful person, this is a hateful person...

"In the Old Royal Capital."

The Goddess had just finished speaking when she herself laughed, looking at the lightbulb above.

"The sun is so bright, ah ya ya yo~"

The Goddess's carefree state lasted for a few seconds. Her gaze became clearer. She had already guessed something in her heart. She couldn't speak anymore. Every time she answered a question, she became like a fool.

"Where is the King of Light."

Su Xiao still repeated the previous question. The Goddess turned her head and didn't speak.

Curse of Lies (Passive) couldn't be triggered? It didn't matter. First drop her "integrity," then lock her in the "small dark room."

Su Xiao activated the Black Prison (Active) effect of the 【Endless Darkness】 collar. On the collar at the Goddess's neck, several blue gems the size of rice grains lit up one after another.

For an enemy whose willpower had already been reduced, in the Black Prison, 1 second was equal to 20 days. It was absolute darkness, no sound, no light, nothing at all.

The Goddess's pupils began to dim, and darkness shrouded her consciousness.

Su Xiao took out a timer and pressed the timing button. Three seconds later, he interrupted the Black Prison.

The focus in the Goddess's eyes recovered. After seeing Su Xiao and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, she was dazed for a full few minutes. Afterward, she could no longer care about her noble status and pride, and burst into tears.

"The King of Light is in the White Town. I never thought about harming you..."

Before the Goddess could finish her words, the Curse of Lies (Passive) ability activated. She instinctively told a lie.

A few minutes later, the collar on the Goddess's neck was removed. She sat on the ground, yawning. A flying insect flew over her head, and she instinctively opened her mouth to bite it.

"I'm hungry, I'm hungry! I'm hungry!"

The Goddess looked at Su Xiao and the others angrily, innocent and naive. Her current state wouldn't last forever; it would probably recover in 1 to 5 days.

Su Xiao obtained quite a bit of intelligence. First, the King of Light was in the White Town. How to reach the White Town, the Goddess had already explained clearly.

Besides this intelligence, Su Xiao also learned other things. The Kodo School wasn't united, and most of the high-end combat power was in a lazy state.

Learning this, the doubts in Su Xiao's heart were resolved. Those people who protected the Goddess just now were simply too weak to bear looking at. They were all dead before he even drew his blade.

"Xiang Bubu, you can start."

"Woof."

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang barked and ran out of the wine cellar. In the current "Dank City," there were a large number of civilians patrolling the streets, and there were also members of the Kodo School. Once discovered by these extraordinary people, they could only fight their way out.

It wasn't that Su Xiao couldn't fight his way out, but there was no need for that. If he couldn't even hard-clash with a Kodo School, then he wasn't qualified to go looking for the Ancient Gods.

At this time, inside the headquarters of the Kodo School, it wasn't as chaotic as imagined, but rather very quiet. The defensive strength here had been strengthened, and the rest had all gone out to search for the Goddess.

Candlelight flickered. In the library on the fourth floor of the headquarters, an old man wearing a dark white robe stood in front of the bookshelf. He was one of the five bishops of the Kodo School and also one of the five most powerful people in the Kodo School, representing the God-Blaspheming faction. His name was Noah.

Bishop Noah took a book off the bookshelf. He didn't take tonight's matter to heart. Tomorrow morning, the Goddess and the corpses of a group of thieves would be discovered. After the Goddess was kidnapped, she had put up a heroic resistance and was unfortunately killed by the thieves. Afterward, under the joint suppression of the believers and the public, the thieves were wiped out. This was Story One.

As for the Goddess still being alive? That was fine; Story Two would unfold. Nothing else was important; the face and credibility of the Kodo School were the most important.

Thinking of this, Bishop Noah shook his head. This kind of thing wasn't the first time he had made a mistake; he was an old hand at this. The whole thing was set up without a single leak.

As for that priest, because of his negligence, he was demoted and sent to "Old Royal Capital: Talu" to guard the branch there for 49 years, during which he was not allowed to leave the Old Royal Capital for a single step. Does this story feel familiar? Of course, it had happened once more than 30 years ago.

Bishop Noah opened a new page, and a slip of paper appeared in the crevice of the book page, which caused a hint of suspicion to appear on Noah's old face. He picked up the slip of paper, and a line of crooked small characters was written on it.

"The Goddess matter."

Seeing this line of words, the book in Bishop Noah's hand closed with a snap. To say he wasn't shocked would be a lie. When did the enemy sneak into the headquarters?

While Bishop Noah was still full of doubts, the metal cup beside him tipped over, and the liquid inside spilled onto the small round table. A few seconds later, this wooden table actually began to sprout branches.

The branches grew wildly. After reaching a certain degree, they exploded with a crackle. The splashing juice corroded the surrounding bookshelves and books with a hissing sound, finally turning into black slag.

Witnessing this scene, Bishop Noah's old face began to twitch. He hadn't sensed danger just now. That cup of water was brought by a servant he had ordered. If he had drunk it, then the result...

Bishop Noah turned to leave. A fragment of a book page that hadn't been corroded drifted in front of him. This book page fragment was only a very small piece, and the remaining few words on it were: "We are watching you."

Bishop Noah stopped on the spot. Only then did he realize the severity of the matter.

With a bang, the door of the library was pushed open, and a panting attendant ran in.

Ten minutes later, on the top floor of the headquarters, around a large round table carved from black stone, the five bishops of the Kodo School gathered, all silent.

"Must ferret out that thief."

"Too much deception!"

A hot-tempered bishop slammed the table, but for some reason, the atmosphere of this temporary meeting was a bit strange.

"Gentlemen, have you also received this thing?"

Bishop Noah took out a slip of paper, on which was written: "The Goddess matter."

Once this slip of paper appeared, the atmosphere became awkward to the extreme. The complexions of the other four bishops began to look wrong.

The four bishops looked at each other. After a moment of silence, these four old guys each took out a slip of paper from their cuffs or bosoms.

The content of the five slips of paper pieced together was: "The Goddess matter, let's talk tomorrow morning. Prepare 100,000 Lang of Crystal Fat. We'll talk about the rest tomorrow morning, believers of the Ancient Gods."

Seeing this information, the five bishops fell into silence again.

"Are we just going to compromise like this?"

"I just... had my head bitten by a pillow."

"I was almost poisoned to death."

"I..."

The last bishop suddenly stopped speaking. His pressure was very high now. If he didn't hold his breath, the filthy things in his abdomen would rush out, and he would lose face. This made his complexion turn green.

Bishop Noah's gaze swept over the other four. The other four bishops remained silent.

"This matter, we must be cautious..."

Bishop Noah's words were only halfway through when he heard a "pfft" sound, and a sour stench spread. This made a brief look of astonishment appear on his face, while Bishop Dulu, who was sitting diagonally opposite him, had a complexion that was green with yellow, just like an old cucumber. This idea was a combination of Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang + Baja.

Everyone's gaze was focused on Bishop Dulu's face. He almost died on the spot. In anger, there was another "pfft" sound, and the sour stench in the room became stronger. This meeting was held with a smell of shit.

Bishop Noah's complexion also turned a bit green. To his level, he didn't take life and death too seriously, but he truly couldn't afford to lose this face.

"Gentlemen, let's talk to that side tomorrow morning."