Chapter 471: Return and Scissors
2 days later, Chen Rui who was lying on the bed finally opened his eyes. The first person he saw was Alice. The little loli’s big eyes were s.h.i.+ning with tears of joy, and she jumped onto him, “Brother, you finally woke up!”
It turned out that after Chen Rui exhausted all the remaining power of the [Royal Star Transformation] to send Monroe and others to Tim’s hands in the Walan Fortress that night, he was about to collapse, so he quickly launched the [Star Gate] to return to Town Leia. He told the little loli that he was about to sleep for 2 days, and he dozed off.
Judging from the haggard face of the little loli, she should have been taking care of him for the past 2 days. Chen Rui did not break free from her hug and touched her head, “Don’t worry, I’m fine. This room is…”
“It was arranged by Celine. Due to the trade fair, the hotel is full…”
Chen Rui nodded. When his stomach groaned suddenly, Alice grinned, “You slept for 2 days and haven’t eaten anything. Even your stomach is protesting. I’ll go out and order something for you to eat.”
Soon, the food came, but Celine personally delivered it. The little loli grabbed the bowl first and brought it in front of Chen Rui. She ignored her outstretched hardworking hands and took the spoon to feed him.
Celine just watched Alice’s actions with a smile with a carefree and generous appearance. The difference in age between the 2 was 1 or 2 years old, but Alice seemed too immature in front of her. She was like a child.
The more calm Celine was, the less convinced the little loli was. She kept looking back to demonstrate her strength, but her unyielding psychology was directly reflected in the frequency of the spoon. Chen Rui almost choked.
“Okay…” Chen Rui finally couldn’t stand the little loli’s quick feeding. He grabbed the spoon and ate by himself.
When the little loli lost her weapon to demonstrate in front of the enemy, she pouted her mouth in dissatisfaction.
Chen Rui finally persuaded Alice to go out. Celine rolled her eyes and turned on a certain soundproof item, then she stepped forward and respectfully offered a s.p.a.ce ring, “Master, all the seeds and materials that you want are all inside.”
Chen Rui took the s.p.a.ce ring and checked it with his mind. All were inside indeed. He slightly nodded.
“For the past 2 days, master’s sister who claims to be your ‘fiancee’ has been taking care of master. Even if I sent a maid to come, she refused it.”
When Chen Rui heard Celine personally said that the little loli took care of him all day, his heart was warm. Celine asked carefully, “May I ask master, that matter…”
“You don’t have to worry about Monroe’s matter.”
“Thank you, master!” Joy flashed in Celine’s eyes. She asked tentatively, “Did master get rid of them? Also, is your injury healed? I have a high-purity healing potion configured by Master Angegille…”
Before she finished speaking, she felt that 2 sharp knife-like gazes directed into her heart. At the same time, a terrifying coercion came. Celine felt dizzy. Immediately after that, she felt as though she was in the furnace of the refinery where her soul might be wiped out at any time. She freaked out and hurriedly begged for mercy, “Master, please forgive me!”
The terrifying feeling gradually disappeared. Chen Rui’s cold voice sounded, “Don’t ask more about matters that should not be asked. Otherwise, there will be no next time, understand?”
Celine was drenched in sweat. She hurriedly bowed and said, “Celine understands.”
According to a plan in Chen Rui’s mind, the Custer Family would still be of great use in the future. Meanwhile Celine, the heir, looked young, but her scheme was too deep. Even with the constraints of the master-servant contract, she must be taught a good lesson.
“Have you heard of the name Terdila?”
Celine was stunned. She replied, “I once learned from the occasional opportunity that Terdila is one of Catherine the Great’s close guards. His strength is unfathomable. It is said that he has reached the Demon Overlord level.”
“Intermediate stage of the Demon Overlord.” Chen Rui corrected her.
Celine was a smart woman. She immediately reacted, showing a look of horror, “Did the master run into Terdila that day…”
In Celine’s memory, Master “Arthur’s” strength was the Great Demon King. How can he possibly survive in the hands of Terdila at the intermediate stage of the Demon Overlord? By the way, even the Great Demon King level guards are afraid of the powerhouses next to Monroe. Master has actually solved this matter. Could it be the master’s strength…
“Terdila is indeed a terrifying opponent, but I inflicted heavy damage on his golden puppet. It will probably take a while to recover.”
This sentence made Celine even more shocked: He fought with Terdila, and even heavily damaged the Asmodeus Royal Family’s highest rank gold [War Puppet]!
There was more genuine respect in Celine’s expression. If she was forced to become a Great Demon King servant, she still felt a little dissatisfied, but now a Demon Overlord master was enough to make her truly surrender.
Anyway, the master-servant contract couldn’t be changed. The stronger the master, the greater the benefits for the Custer Family and herself in the future.
Chen Rui felt the change in Celine’s heart. He knew that the effect had been achieved. He immediately took out one more thing, “This devil fruit is for you. It’s up to you whether you want to eat it or auction it.”
The devil fruit! Celine was shocked again. This is the treasure that all demons besides the royal family dream of! It even triggered the war of lords back then. There were 3 in the Dark Moon auction last time, and they were sold at a sky-high price. I didn’t expect my master to actually give it to me casually!
Celine’s goal was not power but business. Catherine the Great promised that as long as the collection of devil pomeg was completed, the newly opened auction house of the capital would be managed by the Custer Family.
With this devil fruit, it would be possible to hold an auction that would cause a sensation in the Demon Realm like the Dark Moon. By then, the Custer Family would benefit a lot in terms of interest and status.
Celine tremblingly took the devil fruit. She carefully placed it in the s.p.a.ce ring, and she bowed earnestly, “Thank you, master.”
This was exactly the effect Chen Rui wanted. Although the method of carrot after stick was old, it was extremely effective.
Celine didn’t know that although the devil fruit was a treasure in the outside world, in Chen Rui’s Galaxy Garden, the quant.i.ty was calculated by kilograms.
“I will be lurking in the Dark Moon for the time being. You try to collect this part of the mechanics material and pa.s.s it to me through the Custer Family in the Dark Moon’s joint chamber of commerce. Also, if you find this kind of map fragment in the future, you must keep it…” Chen Rui specifically gave her some instructions, then he signaled her to leave. This time Celine did not make any more scheming requests for service. She retreated respectfully.
“Okay, Alice, come in.” Chen Rui had sensed that the little loli was eavesdropping at the door long ago, but Celine was prepared. She turned on the soundproof item during the conversation, so the little loli’s efforts were futile.
“Hmph! What in the world are both of you talking about?” The little loli looked suspicious.
“I’m consulting Ms. Celine about where else can I take my sister to have fun for a few days in Town Leia.”
“It’s fiancée!” The little loli seriously corrected the sentence. After confronting Celine, it was now logical and granted for her to say this word as if she had realized her ident.i.ty. Nonetheless, after the little loli heard that she could have fun for a few days, her eyes couldn’t hide the joy.
Chen Rui had to pretend to be silly like he didn’t hear it. He added, “But before that, you must have a good sleep. Otherwise, you won’t have the energy to go out and have fun.”
“En en!”
For the next 2 days, the little loli wandered around with Chen Rui all day long. She was all smiles. However, the good day came to an end earlier. Chen Rui received an urgent notice from the Dark Demon that the White Feather Estate Lord Sicali was about to visit, and Shea asked Chen Rui and Alice to rush back to the Dark Moon in advance.
The White Feather Estate was 1 of the 4 major estates. Lord Sicali was the Lucifer Royal Family member. He was once one of Shea’s admirers, at least on the surface. In fact, Sicali was good at fawning on whoever he came across. On one hand, he got close to Shea on a personal level. On the other hand, he supported the capital’s decision in order to please Regent Obsidian. His visit this time was based on the reason for Shea’s birthday celebration. This was the first time he took the initiative to visit after Shea became the lord for several years.
Needless to say, it must be related to the current flouris.h.i.+ng development of the Dark Moon.
The little loli was the little princess and Chen Rui was the financial officer. Besides etiquette, Shea mainly summoned Chen Rui’s return to discuss Sicali-related matters.
As the little loli saw that her “honeymoon trip” (self-regarded) was actually interrupted because of Sicali, she hated him so much. She cursed the lord of White Feather Estate thousands of times in her heart, and she finally helplessly followed Chen Rui to return to the Dark Moon City.
In addition to Chen Rui who returned to the Dark Moon this time, there was Loki who was a puppet.
In the past few days, Loki came to Town Leia in disguise. Monroe, Fini and Feyman didn’t know about Loki. They only learned from Tim that the three of them were brought to the fortress by Aguile who was injured. They were all grateful to “Aguile”. They listened to Tim’s suggestion to secretly recuperate in Walan Fortress.
Chen Rui got an important intel related to Broc from Loki.
After falling into “Charles’” trap in the Fallen Angel Capital last time, although Broc had a chance to escape from the hands of Obsidian, he was seriously injured and his lower body was gone. Later, he found a mysterious mechanical master. They spent countless efforts and materials to specially modify Broc’s body to turn him into a “half-robot”.
Half of him was flesh while the other half was items, or it should be called weapons. Loki explained that for some unknown special reason, Broc did not weaken in strength after repairing his body. Instead, he had already surpa.s.sed the peak stage of the Demon Emperor and advanced to the Demon Overlord level.
Due to Empress Catherine’s means, the Fire Blade Legion in Broc’s hands experienced a lot of turmoil. Especially the “spiritual officer” responsible for psychological work. Broc’s control of the military’s mind was greatly reduced, and his network within the Dark Shadow Empire was also weakening step by step. This was exactly the plan of Chen Rui and Catherine at that time.
The reason why Broc brought his wife and father-in-law to Jergal Fortress was also to let Catherine spare him in consideration of the good people. After all, Broc’s father-in-law, Frentz, was Catherine’s uncle. He earned the top merit during the capital rebellion. He was once the number one man in the military, and his prestige in the military was extremely high. With Frentz’s presence, Catherine couldn’t do anything to Broc directly.
The current situation was that Broc was constantly being weakened by Catherine, but Catherine couldn’t launch the biggest blow at the moment. According to Loki’s understanding, Broc would never just sit back and wait for his death. On the surface, he tolerated and retreated, but he must be preparing something big secretly.
These were just Loki’s inferences. Even if Loki was Broc’s diehard confidant, he wouldn’t know the specific actions. Broc would not trust anyone except himself, let alone revealing any key intel.
Jergal Fortress was the strongest fortress in the Demon Realm. Its defense force was extremely st.u.r.dy. At present, Broc couldn’t get out of Jergal Fortress. Although Chen Ru did not need to worry about the safety of Delia and Roman, he did not have an optimal solution for now.
However, Catherine was also dealing with Broc currently. Let her cut off Broc’s power one by one first. It would not be too late to choose a suitable time to attack and kill Broc by then.
Loki’s ident.i.ty as a puppet was seen through by Terdila. As a chess piece that might be useful in the future, it was not suitable for him to return to Jergal Fortress at present. Instead, he changed Loki’s face and brought him back together. At the very least, the peak stage of the Demon Emperor strength could also play some role.
Back in the Dark Moon City, Shea was watching the Flame Legion’s martial arts compet.i.tion organized by Athena. Chen Rui sent the reluctant little loli back to the palace, temporarily arranged Loki in the Dark Moon’s hotel, and returned to his house to rest.
There was no one in the house. Even Paglio and Krobelus weren’t there. They might have gone to watch the martial arts compet.i.tion, but even the little black horse was gone. Chen Rui felt a little strange. Suddenly, a familiar feeling came out, and the ground suddenly collapsed into a huge pit. Chen Rui’s figure flashed to the side of the pit instantly. If he didn’t react quickly just now, he would have fallen into the pit.
At this time, a large amount of white mist that quickly evaporated from a small puddle had wrapped around him. The overwhelming white mist exuded a terrifying chill. It was even superior to Loki’s territory. Everywhere the mist pa.s.sed through was frozen into ice.
Chen Rui’s figure teleported again to avoid the white mist, but before he could stand firm, all kinds of traps such as ice, snow, thunder and sharp blades were fully activated. Chen Rui did his best to s.h.i.+ft and dodge, and he finally managed to avoid it. In the blink of an eye, the gra.s.s under his feet grew more than 10 meters. They were like living arms which entangled him tightly. His limbs were stretched out in all directions in the air. He was unable to move.
“Spare me, Zola!” Chen Rui blurted out without hesitation. In this house, the person who could turn a simple environment into such a powerful trap and use the ancient runes that even he knew little about, was none other than Zola.
When he came back last time, Zola was experimenting behind closed doors. It did not end even when he brought Alice out. She should have come out from the closed doors experiments now. Speaking of it, he missed Ms. Fairy Dragon very much after not seeing her for a long time.
At this moment, the green gra.s.s in front was covered with a layer of white mist. It quickly froze into the shape of a pair of scissors.
Chen Rui had gooseb.u.mps for a while. If that part was really “snipped”, even if it could regenerate, it would leave an everlasting trauma in him.
“Zola, stop playing around…”
“Snip snip…”
“Zola, I have something important to tell you!”
“Snip snip snip snip…”
“Dear Zola, I have the most precious gift for you!”
The “scissors” stopped abruptly. A figure gradually became clear. She was purple-haired in a long dress, a slender figure, and a pair of gla.s.ses on her perfect face. It was Ms. Scientist.
However, the word “unhappy” was obviously on Ms. Scientist’s face.
What did he plan on comforting Ms. Scientist?