"Oh... I’m actually not that impressive."
The slightly dim right eye blinked lightly and used some method to examine Leon, discovering that he genuinely meant what he said. The lazy young man’s mouth curled up in a smile more difficult to suppress than an AK, as he basked in the praise and cheerfully suggested,
"Well, I actually see quite a bit of potential in you. How about... I teach you sometime when you’re free?
Although lacking the support of the corresponding anomalous object might mean the effects aren’t as strong, it’s still a life-saving skill... Hmm... Hang on a bit; I need to grab that snake before the chicken pecks it to death."
After finishing a pleasant conversation with his considerate junior, the lazy young man scraped his shoe against the ground, destroying the ritual site he had just set up, and rescued the dying snake spirit from the beak of a chicken.
"Dear Snake Spirit, we meet again."
Pinching the small black and white worm with two fingers and giving it a shake, the lazy young man cheerfully said,
"Come on, hand over the person.
You know the methods of our Purification Bureau, it’s better to hand over the person now instead of holding onto unrealistic hopes and being torn apart later, don’t you think?"
The black and white snake weakly raised its head at the sound, glaring at him hatefully.
"Don’t glare at me; I’m doing this for your good."
Saying odd lines akin to something from a collaborator’s secret agent interrogation, the lazy young man dipped his fingernail in some sulfur powder, ignited it, and seized the snake spirit by the neck, persuasively advising,
"If you cooperate and hand over the person directly, and if your master is willing to pay the cost, you might be taken back. I actually kind of like your Scales Gold Sect’s gatherings because, after all, you can get... ahem.
In short, we might meet again in the future, but if you refuse to cooperate, forcing me to use severe measures for interrogation, it would be awkward when we meet again in the future... You don’t seem like the kind of Holy Spirit who enjoys awkwardness, right?"
"Stop! Stop choking! Aah!!!"
Hearing the subtle crackling sound of the sulfur’s explosive combustion and feeling the increasing pressure on its neck, along with the painful burning as the sulfur of hell polluted its Holy Spirit body, the snake spirit twisted twice before finally screaming in agony, and then spat out a green bead.
"The hand! The hand! You’ve got the person! Take your hand away!"
"Alright, I’ll take it away~"
After dipping his fingernail in sulfur powder once more and pressing a burning nail mark on the snake head, completely sealing off the snake spirit’s ability to resist, the lazy young man rummaged in his pocket, fetched a slightly dirty transparent glass bottle, stuffed the feeble snake spirit inside, and tossed the bottle to Leon.
"You guys... shouldn’t celebrate too early..."
After regaining some strength, like countless classic villains who have overturned, the snake spirit, now limp but still retaining a hard mouth, propped itself up in the glass bottle with difficulty, looking at the green bead in the lazy youth’s hand, speaking with a mixture of resentment and pleased schadenfreude,
"That woman in your Bureau, she’s been trapped in the True God’s bestowed [Dream of Verdant Green]. Having died there over three hundred times, she’s been irreversibly corroded!"
Hearing the snake spirit’s words, Leon’s heart couldn’t help but throb slightly. He then looked down at the snake spirit in the bottle and couldn’t help but ask,
"What do you mean? What happened to Senior Emma?"
"I mean, even if you bring her back, it’s useless."
Curled up at the bottom of the glass bottle, the snake spirit sneered and said,
"[Dream of Verdant Green] is a holy relic created from the shattered [Land of Bliss] of the God of Agriculture and Pastoralism; it’s essentially an independent world. Having died there hundreds of times, her soul is too entangled with the Dream of Verdant Green to be separated again.
The only way to get her out is to have her sincerely believe in our God and become a devout follower of our God or for the defeated God of Agriculture and Pastoralism to be resurrected. Otherwise, she’ll be left wandering alone forever in that Emerald Jungle!"
Through the bottle, the snake spirit looked at Leon’s furrowed brows and, after catching the anger in his eyes, chuckled before adding,
"What’s even better is, she has the Undying Body that infinitely replenishes; this means she can’t even commit suicide and can only linger in the Dream of Verdant Green like a ghost until her soul is entirely worn away by time!"
Raising his hand, Leon made a pinching motion at the empty space towards the snake spirit, igniting the sulfur mark on its head, burning it into screams, as the lazy young man glanced at Leon and reminded,
"It’s saying this to provoke you into killing it directly.
Right now, we haven’t left the Scales Gold Sect’s gathering place. If it gets killed here, it won’t even need the True God behind it to intervene. With just its own accumulation, it can buy its life back from the Realm of the Dead. Don’t fall into its trap."
So... it was all true? Senior Emma couldn’t get out after all?
From the lazy young man’s reaction, getting a sort of indirect confirmation of his question, Leon couldn’t help but sigh, remembering Senior Emma’s care for him. Holding onto the last hope, he asked,
"Senior Tom, those two dice of yours, don’t they increase the success rate of everything to sixty percent? Can’t you..."
The lazy young man shook his head at Leon’s words and said,
"My ability is to forcibly increase the success rate of ’things that possibly can be accomplished’ to about sixty percent, and it only works below the True God level. Beyond that, due to insufficient hierarchy, it is heavily disturbed.
This time falls into the category of near-impossible success, and it involves more than one True God, which just happens to be the type I’m least adept at handling. I’m afraid I can’t help much."
Hearing this, Leon remained silent for a while before speaking up to request,
"Senior Tom, I can see the intelligence of anomalous objects through contact, so could you temporarily..."
Without waiting for Leon to finish, the lazy young man handed over the [Dream of Verdant Green], then offered reassurance,
"Don’t lose heart; although I can’t help now, if I can surpass the limit of a Human God in the future and reach the director’s level, I might roll a result then.
Also, the bureau director might have a way, and the headquarters has many anomalous objects with special effects; one of them might save Emma. If worse comes to worst, we could attempt to briefly revive the God of Agriculture and Pastoralism or something. Maybe it’ll just... Hmm?"
Seeing Leon’s tense expression suddenly relax after feeling the [Dream of Verdant Green], the lazy young man blinked in surprise before his expression shifted noticeably and he quickly asked,
"What is it? Did you find something?"
"Yes, there’s a small discovery."
Seeing the characteristic mark labeled "Sacred" on the [Dream of Verdant Green]’s description, and looking at the [Deputy’s] badge allowing unconditional use of "Sacred" anomalous objects, Leon couldn’t help but smile and reply,
"I just realized, this thing actually... Senior? What’s wrong?"
Noticing the sudden cyan-purple face and Senior Tom grasping his own throat painfully, making choked sounds, Leon was startled and quickly fetched the [Plague-Infected Blood Bandage] to try to help heal him, only...
Accompanied by the strange sound of a bubble bursting, the bloody bandage in Leon’s hand instantly vanished, transforming into a currency flashing with a peculiar light. At the same time, a soft, gentle voice drifted from behind him,
"Don’t worry, he’s not injured and doesn’t need your treatment."
After tossing aside the dirty bandage, a woman with a delicate and beautiful face stepped out from the Dreamrealm, offering Leon, who was in a defensive stance in front of Tom, a slight smile.
"As for why he became like that, it’s because I bought all the air in his body at once, even the air in his lungs that hasn’t yet mixed with the blood... Besides, I paid for it."
As the mysterious woman’s words fell, the lazy young man behind Leon collapsed to his knees with a thud. Hundreds of tiny round coins grotesquely gushed from his mouth and nose, blending with copious amounts of bright red blood, erupting uncontrollably despite his feeble attempts to stop them.
Immediately afterwards, Senior Tom’s clothing burst open, and sharp-edged silver lozenge coins densely pressed through the skin of his chest, spewing out like nails shot from a gun, bursting into a dazzling blood mist of silver light in front of Leon’s eyes.