Chapter 231: Equivalent Exchange

The madman was still wearing a dirty linen shirt and yellow trousers, seemingly having no intention of changing clothes at all.

Hearing Lu Mian's words, he looked up, revealing a face covered by a black beard.

He seemed to no longer remember Lu Mian; his blue eyes were blank and slightly chaotic.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die!" He grabbed his messy black hair that had reached his shoulders and shouted in fear again.

Lu Mian walked over, drew the "Fallen Mercury" with his black-gloved left palm, and stabbed it into the madman's shoulder with a *pfft*.

The dirty linen shirt was torn instantly. The wound wasn't deep, but bright red blood still spilled out.

The madman was completely stunned, as if the final judgment he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

After a few seconds, he slumped down, supported himself with his hands, and moved backward quickly, trying to distance himself from Lu Mian.

During this process, he kept shouting in terror:

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

Tenants in the surrounding rooms heard the commotion, but no one came to look, because this madman shouted every day that he was about to die and not to kill him.

The silver-black evil dagger had already left the madman's shoulder, while Lu Mian was still gazing at the illusory mercury-colored river.

He saw the other party's happy first half of life and the experience of his relatives dying strangely one after another, as if he could feel the feeling of his spirit completely collapsing under a huge blow.

Sometimes, Lu Mian also hoped he could completely collapse like this madman, no longer having any reason, following his instincts to do things normal people wouldn't do, until death. But he still had hope, even if that hope was extremely small, almost illusory, it was still hope. He wasn't willing to give up; he wanted to pursue it.

Therefore, he was often impulsive, often wanted to self-destruct, but was always restrained by the reason brought by that bit of hope, never truly disregarding the consequences, extremely contradictory.

Because he clearly knew which fate he wanted to exchange and roughly on what date, Lu Mian quickly found the fate of the madman encountering the Monsuri ghost in the underground of the Market District, pried it up with the tip of the knife, letting it turn into mercury-colored droplets, while the fate of drinking heavily that originally belonged to "Black Scorpion" Luo Jie entered the madman's body.

Lu Mian ignored the madman's terrified shouting, squatted in front of him, wiped the blade of the "Fallen Mercury" clean with his clothes, and helped him stop the bleeding initially.

Then, Lu Mian pulled over the only chair and sat down, waiting for the fate exchange to complete.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die!

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

Amidst the madman's shouting, time passed second by second. Finally, the "Fallen Mercury" trembled gently.

The madman's low shouting stopped abruptly. He stood up suddenly, his eyes regained clarity, and he muttered to himself:

"I have to go drink some wine, I have to go drink some wine..."

Lu Mian smiled, stood up, and said:

"Treat me, consider it the reward for helping you get rid of the Monsuri ghost."

Of course, the real reward was the fate of "encountering the Monsuri ghost." As long as designed properly and the target had no corresponding precautions, it would be an assassination weapon.

The madman was stunned for a second:

"Got rid of it?"

"You can choose not to believe it." Lu Mian turned and walked toward the dark corridor without wall lamps.

Driven by the strong desire to drink, the madman followed subconsciously.

On the way to the basement bar, he kept looking around and found that it was indeed different from usual.

The feeling that something in the darkness was watching him was gone!

With huge doubt, the madman sat at the bar counter in a daze, ordered two glasses of oatmeal beer, gave one to Lu Mian, and drank the other gulp by gulp, his mouth covered in white foam.

Because he would occasionally wake up and come here to drink, no one felt there was any problem.

After satisfying the craving to drink heavily, the madman looked at Lu Mian and asked again:

"Did I really get rid of the Monsuri ghost?

"How did you do it?"

"I killed the Monsuri ghost, but I'm not sure if it will resurrect." Lu Mian answered with a straight face, "Of course, if those who encountered it before aren't dead yet, they won't be entangled anymore. You should remember, I told you last time that I also encountered the Monsuri ghost. Look, I'm still alive and well."

"Really?" The madman couldn't believe this handsome young man could kill the Monsuri ghost.

Even the people from the church hadn't done it!

Lu Mian laughed:

"I lied to you. I just found an incantation that prevents the Monsuri ghost from entangling, but it requires the blood of the person being troubled as a medium."

The madman suddenly realized:

"No wonder you had to stab me."

He then said with some embarrassment:

"I might not be able to give you any reward for the time being. I don't have much savings left and have to find a job again..."

"How should I address you?" Lu Mian interrupted the madman's words.

"Just call me Flamant." The madman also asked about Lu Mian, "And you?"

"Charles." Lu Mian drank the oatmeal beer in large gulps.

When only a shallow layer of beer remained in the glass, the madman Flamant was already a bit tipsy, pulling Lu Mian and rambling:

"Do you know? I was originally a university lecturer and also responsible for the safety of some students.

"Many of those students were daring, daring to do anything, wanting to try everything. If we stopped them, they would shout slogans of 'freedom,' 'freedom.'

"They would even hold graduation balls in the catacombs, burning the bones of nameless corpses to warm their butts, believing in nothing, fearing nothing. Of course, I was like that back then too."

Flamant talked about his first half of life, sometimes proud, sometimes happy, sometimes criticizing current affairs, sometimes reminiscing about the good times.

"Were you trying to stop some students from taking risks that you went to underground Triers?" Lu Mian asked casually while drinking beer.

Flamant shook his head:

"No, I study minerals. The distribution of rock layers under Triers is very characteristic and worth studying. We also jointly established a 'Museum of Mineralogy and Pathology' with people from the medical school in the catacombs.

"I was coming out of the museum, detouring to the underground of the Market District, intending to go home from here, when I encountered the Monsuri ghost.

"My Sandrina... my Bastian..."

Flamant raised his hands, pressed his head, and his voice became extremely painful.

Seeing this, Lu Mian changed the subject:

"The underground rock layers of Triers are very characteristic?"

"Yes." Flamant answered instinctively, then recovered his emotions and talked endlessly, "We even gave those rock layers very poetic names, from top to bottom in order: 'Flowers,' 'Sheep,' 'Sedge'..."

Just like this, Lu Mian and Flamant chatted until dawn. The latter was excited, and his face covered in black beard seemed to become a bit ruddy.

He no longer lost his reason, and after confirming that nothing in the darkness was watching him, he returned to being a normal person.

Waving goodbye to the tipsy Flamant, Lu Mian withdrew his gaze with a slight smile, walked into room 207, and began writing a letter to Madam "Magician."

He first mentioned that he was influenced by Termiboros and almost transferred luck for Charlie, and the assassination of "Black Scorpion" Luo Jie and other subordinates of "Miss Moon," then said that the "Provocateur" potion was completely digested because of the latter, wanting to know if you, Madam, have the "Pyromaniac" potion formula and Beyonder characteristic, and what price needs to be paid to exchange for them.

Not long after Lu Mian cleaned up the environment and summoned the doll messenger to take the letter, Madam "Magician" replied:

"Not bad. You have truly realized what kind of influence that guy with the long name can have on you and what he is trying to do. Keep this vigilance.

"According to your description, that 'Miss Moon' should be Sequence 3. Being able to truly provoke such a demigod can indeed help you digest the potion quickly.

"If I remember correctly, you are going to attend Mr. K's gathering tomorrow night and indicate to him that you can believe in that existence, which means you will truly become one of them, thus completing the first stage of the task I gave you. At that time, as a reward, I will give you the 'Pyromaniac' potion formula for free.

"That 'Pyromaniac' Beyonder characteristic is still with me, but you need to follow the principle of equivalent exchange.

"In Intis, the two main materials for the 'Pyromaniac' potion are both over 18,000 Vergold, and many times they even exceed 20,000, but the price of the corresponding Beyonder characteristic is generally around 35,000 Vergold.

"What does this mean? It means many people in Intis have already become 'Pyromaniacs,' but quite a few 'Pyromaniacs' have died.

"As a holder of a Minor Arcana card, I will give you a big discount. That Beyonder characteristic only needs 30,000 Vergold.

"Good luck."

*Hoo*, 30,000 Vergold... Lu Mian exhaled, feeling this wasn't an unreachable number.

He himself had over 4,000 Vergold in savings, and that evil scythe called "Harvest Festival" could also be sold for a good price. At that time, borrowing some more from Franca and misappropriating some cash from the Breeze Dance Hall, the distance to 30,000 Vergold shouldn't be too far.

And "Miss Moon" was as Lu Mian guessed—she had changed from a "Lady" to a lady who nurtures gods, definitely not just Sequence 4.

Fortunately, in that battle before, we always acted like we were about to lose, not letting "Black Scorpion" Luo Jie seek help... Lu Mian burned Madam "Magician's" letter paper, washed up a bit, lay on the bed, and entered a state of sleep.

At six in the morning, just after he finished washing up and changed into a white shirt, black vest, brown trousers, and laceless leather boots, he heard someone thumping down from the third floor.

It was the couple Ruhl and Michelle, who were in rags and smelled of garbage.

Ruhl looked at Lu Mian at the door of room 207 and shouted in panic and fear:

"Charles, Mr. Charles!

"That madman is dead!"

That madman is dead? Flamant is dead? Lu Mian was stunned for a moment, then rushed past Ruhl and Michelle to the third floor.

The door to room 310 was open. Lu Mian looked in and saw Flamant hanging from the window.

He was facing the door, having shaved his beard clean, revealing a scholarly, thin face.

At this time, he had no breath left, his face was blue and purple, his eyes were slightly bulging, his mouth was wide open, and his body was bathed in the clear morning light shining in from the window, hanging quietly in a belt tied to the window frame.

Below him, on the wooden table, were a kerosene lamp about to go out, several thick books, and a piece of white paper pressed by a fountain pen, which seemed to have something written on it.

Lu Mian was silent for a few seconds, walked over slowly, and checked the white paper.

On it was written in rounded Intis:

"When I was mad, I still had the desire to survive.

"After I woke up, I couldn't find the meaning of life.

"Please bury me in the 'Tomb Lamp Basement' of the catacombs."

Lu Mian raised his head and looked at those slightly bulging blue eyes, as if staring at the dead Flamant.

He just stared quietly like this, as if frozen there, without moving for a long time.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 232 =====