Whispering Verse

Red butterflies flew out of the fog, and the butterfly group reunited beside the bonfire that illuminated the black fog. Shade walked out of the phantom of the butterfly group.

But there was no look of expectation on his face. The small camp of Miss Witch Higgins and Old Mrs. Miles was still beside the campfire. The soul of the boy who was frozen in the air was still in the same place, but it was missing here. The witch and the old man.

"what happened?"

He searched carefully and found a pressed note under the stone beside the campfire. This should be a message from Miss Higgins, telling Shade that they are going to buy a very important item. If Shade comes, there is no need to look for them.

"But I only have 50 minutes."

He thought to himself, turned around and said to the bonfire:

"Come out, I know you're watching me."

The bonfire that was originally burning quietly suddenly shot up to a height of at least ten meters. Densely packed coins of all kinds flew out of the flames, forming the devil's face in the fire with a clattering sound. The strange flames were simmering in the gaps between the coins. When the face opened its mouth, Shade smelled the smell of sulfur and even felt the high temperature licking his eyebrows.

"Invited guest, you are finally back." (Devil's language)

There were traces of fire rippling on the surface of the coin. Although it was indeed in the shape of a human face, it looked even more disgusting than those non-humanoid ones. Compared with the demon in front of him, Shade still admires the stone mirror demon-Goethe's kind of demon that appears in a real human form:

"Where are the witch and the old man?"

The devil laughed in the fire:

"Oh, guest, guest, this is a place of fair trade. Don't try to get any information without coins."

Shade got one coin when he came for the first time, won three coins in the last card game, and spent two more coins when the [Destiny Base] divined his own origin. Therefore, he has two coins left. However, because items from the past cannot be brought to the present, the two coins were given to Miss Higgins for safekeeping when they left. Apparently Miss Higgins and Mrs. Miles forgot to leave the coin here when they left.

Shade frowned slightly:

"When I left last time, didn't I give you a deposit to buy this soul?"

Shade pointed at the boy fixed in the air, and more fire appeared in the coins in the devil's eyes:

"You brought 50 coins?"

"It's 48 coins. I gave you two last time. Okay, I didn't bring enough coins, but I don't want to exchange my own existence with you. I'm not that generous. How about this, I have one good idea."

Shade looked at it, and the huge face made of coins also looked at Shade.

"I'll make a bet with you. If I win, the boy will be mine. You tell me where the witch and the old man left went. If I lose, I won't want the boy's soul."

The devil looked at him, and the fire in the crack of the coin had turned red:

"Do you need me to remind you? This soul was originally mine, and he sold it to me voluntarily. The reason why I didn't take it away now is because you offered to trade. It was originally my thing. You lost, why The price is just to give my stuff back to me?”

The flames licked Shade's face, but Shade relied on his extremely high fire resistance to stay still. So, the devil put forward his own idea:

"However, it is an interesting proposition to make a bet. If you win, the souls will be yours, and I will tell you where they went. If I win, I will take away your sins."

"It's been fooled!"

Shade whispered in his heart that this was an expected situation, but he remained calm on the surface:

"Sin? What do you want? How much do you want?"

"Gluttony, I want 3 seconds!"

According to the information that Shade got from the [Sin Mansion], sins can be divided into "flaws", "ordinary", "perfect" and "treasures". Last autumn, Shade only had [Gluttony] that reached the level of treasures. The condition given by the owner of the [Sin Mansion] at that time to allow Shade to leave was that Shade hand over his 3 moments of [Gluttony].

Apart from Shade himself, the only owner of a "treasure"-level sin that he has come into contact with is the head of a thief in the "Eternal Night City" art museum. The other person was sealed in the art museum forever because he tried to steal in Eternal Night City. , and even tried to trick Shade into taking it out.

"You are too greedy. A treasure-level sin, you want 3 moments for it as soon as you open your mouth? Do you think I don't understand anything? This ugly and dirty soul is worth 3 moments of a treasure-level sin?"

In order to appear genuine, Shade rejected the other party's proposal immediately. Moreover, the offer itself was unreasonable:

"I just want to save him, not to let you blackmail me. The maximum is 1 moment. If you win, I will give you the treasure [Gluttony] for 1 moment. Moreover, it is up to me to decide what to bet on. We will bet on cards."

The firelight licked the inside and outside of the coin's giant face, and it also made a condition:

"One moment is fine, but we don't bet on cards. Since you know sin so well, then I can never trust you, just like a devil won't trust his own kind. I will only give you one chance, and we will bet coins. If you don't agree, , forget this deal."

In fact, Xia De also prepared other plans to ask the other party to offer coins. He did not expect that the other party would be so cooperative with him:

"You yourself are a coin. Now you are betting on coins. Am I going to watch you play tricks?"

He immediately asked:

"Just like you don't believe me, why do you think I can trust you? I have no problem with the bet, but we still bet on cards. I can let you check my deck."

"Outside guest, the more you say this, the less I can play cards with you. If you have coins on you, we can use your coins to bet."

The sentences composed of devilish language made Shade desperately suppress the smile on his face. He stared at the eyes with flames in the cracks and said after a while:

"Yes, but I have to add a condition: if I win, you have to tell me where the god of wealth is."

"This is impossible. If you want to meet the great one in the camp, you need to find a way yourself. This is the basic rule here."

Shade smiled and took out the handful of gold coins given by the doctor from his pocket. In fact, they were all gold-plated, and then twisted the specially made one:

"What you said itself gave me a clue. The grammar of Devil's language not only has time pronouns, but also indicates spatial location. The gods are indeed here. Well, let's bet coins and guess heads and tails. The outcome of the game will be determined. "

As he spoke, he flicked the coin and let it fly into the air. Under the firelight, the golden coin shone with a strange and dazzling light:

"Do you want to check it? If not, we'll start now."

The huge face looked at the coin in Xia De's hand, and after a moment of hesitation, he did not raise any questions:

"This is a currency I have never seen before, but it looks quite ancient. Is it a product of the Third Age?"

"It does not matter."

"Okay, let's start now, but it's not you and me who will flip the coin. To be fair, let him do it."

After the devil's words fell, the boy's soul that was frozen in the air fell back to the ground. The soul regained its ability to move. He looked at the face in horror and wanted to hide behind Sha De, but he thought of what he had done, so he did not dare to get close to Sha De.

Shade threw the coin to the boy, and the boy caught it hurriedly, then realized that Shade was not looking at him.

"Do you guess the sun side or the moon side? Or should I choose?"

Shade asked, and the demon in the flames let out a weird and gloomy laugh:

"It's your choice."

"I choose the moon."

"Okay, I choose the sun."

Under their gaze, the boy tossed the coin in his hand in panic. After it fell into his palm, he immediately showed the result.

On the upward side, is the moon.

Shade was not surprised by the result. Since the doctor said there was no problem, there must be no problem. The giant face of the devil in the fire did not immediately give any opinion. The face that originally had a arrogant expression showed a look of contemplation. The boy holding the coin stood there tremblingly, not knowing what to do at this time.

A simple soul is more easily corrupted in a weird place like "Black Mist Camp" than a living person protected by a body. Even if the bonfire could protect him, he was now standing in front of a genuine ancient evil spirit.

"Give me back the coin."

Shade said to the boy. After taking his coin, he slashed it into the air. As unstable cracks appeared in the air, the light of the dark moon penetrated the cracks and shone on the faces of Soul and Shade.

Even though he didn't have any common sense about mysticism, the boy now understood that this was where he belonged. He bowed and wanted to thank Shade, but Shade stopped him:

"I rescued you not because I think you are pitiful, but because as a human, I cannot watch my soul fall into the hands of the devil. Leave now, you don't need to thank me."

The boy still pursed his lips and bowed to Shade, but before crossing the crack, he still trembled and left his last words:

"But sir, what can I do? I'm not you, I'm just an ordinary person. I know I shouldn't do anything to that Miss Higgins, but...what can I do? I don't have your power, I don’t have your knowledge, I’m just an ordinary person.”

He stepped into the beach illuminated by the dark moon, and the crack closed.

Shade ignored the boy's last words and looked at the huge face floating above the bonfire. The latter also looked at Shade at this time;

"I get it, you're cheating."

Shade, who was twisting the coin, was not panicked:

"Please tell me carefully how I cheated."

There is no expression on the demon's face, and the rigid distribution of facial features makes it look even more terrifying than when it laughs wildly:

"There is a strange power, I can't be sure what it is, but that power is specifically aimed at me, yes, I can feel it."

PS: 13/20. There is one more week to go.