Chapter 182: Chapter 161 Moon Shadow_2
“No problem,” Emi said nonchalantly, waving her hand. “Helping each other out is pretty normal among friends, right?”
Igula’s mouth curled into a smirk, “But I’m a criminal, and you’re a Blood Frenzy Hunter.”
“So what?” Emi tucked her feet under her on the chair, tilting her head at Igula, her tail curling inward, a puzzled look on her face.
“You’re a criminal, I’m a Blood Frenzy Hunter, but what does that have to do with us being friends? When we play together, we play gambling games, not the hunter and criminal game…”
“I’ve never heard of anyone locking their friends in a storeroom and feeding them dog food,” Igula said coldly.
“You’re a rude bad kid. Isn’t it normal to get punished?” Emi declared righteously. “You still haven’t admitted your wrongdoing!”
What wrongdoing should I admit? You locked me in a storeroom on the first day!
Unreasonable, incomprehensible.
Shaking his head, Igula walked to the entrance to put on his boots, and Emi came over and said, “You’re leaving now? Be safe on the road.”
“By the way, I won our bet just now. I want to exercise the winner’s right to have you answer a question honestly.”
“Did you report me to the Crime Hunting Hall when they arrested me?”
Emi blinked, her face showing bewilderment.
“You were arrested by the Crime Hunting Hall? No wonder I didn’t see you for over a year… wait, are you telling me you’re an escapee? You were serious when you said you were a criminal?”
Igula was shocked. “You didn’t see my wanted poster?”
“The pursuit of the Shattered Lake escapee is entirely the captain’s responsibility. I’ve been in charge of the deputy mayor’s security detail recently…” Emi shook her head, “As for you being arrested by the Crime Hunting Hall, I didn’t even know who you were, so how could I have reported you… wait a second.”
“Speaking of which, about a year ago everyone suddenly congratulated me, saying I served as bait to lure a wily Swindler into a trap, even the captain praised me, treated me to a meal. At the time, I had no idea what was going on, just went along with it, enjoyed a feast, and even got a promotion…”
Though it sounded incredible, Igula felt Emi was not lying.
From their initial meeting, Emi gave Igula the impression of being quite cute and dopey, which is why Igula was relentless in pulling the wool over her eyes, accumulating the contract time to 9000 minutes. It wasn’t because he thought a fool was easy to deceive.
In truth, Igula didn’t want to believe Emi had reported him, or he wouldn’t have asked the question, which would imply a serious flaw in his ability to judge people.
If he couldn’t even distinguish between a dog and a wolf among his clients, he might as well lose his credibility as a Swindler.
Fortunately, Emi didn’t disappoint him. She truly was a natural airhead, and the Crime Hunting Hall had caught him by chance, not because he had walked into a trap laid by Emi. The only person who could ever outwit him remained that half-brained cult leader.
With this in mind, Igula also grinned in relief and said, “Thank you, Emi.”
But Emi, dissatisfied, asked, “Is there nothing else you want to say to me? Like an apology or something…”
“I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you…”
“That, I’ve already said I don’t mind. It’s not about that!”
Then what is it about? Even as a Spirit Mage, Igula couldn’t fathom what was on Emi’s mind and simply pushed the door open to leave: “Thanks for your care. I hope we have the chance to meet again.”
“Next time, I’ll definitely beat you!” Emi called out loudly.
Walking out of the apartment complex, Igula took a long breath, the gloom of the past few days dissipating, his steps growing lighter.
In fact, aside from her temper and peculiar habit of treating people like dogs, Emi wasn’t a bad client. Given enough time, Igula was confident he could even turn Emi into his inside man at the Crime Hunting Hall.
Emi had an unexpected reverence for friendship, wore her emotions openly, and had a simple mind, not caring about breaking the rules, just like a child…
Igula found the bicycle that Emi had prepared for him. Just as he was about to ride away, he suddenly heard Emi’s voice from above.
“Next time you ask someone for help, you should start with ‘please’!” Emi leaned against the balcony, yelling without any concern, “Don’t be so impolite in the future!”
Igula was slightly taken aback and could only nod hastily, pedaling the bicycle away from the awkward crime scene.
He wondered why Emi had suddenly blurted out such a statement; it took him a while to remember that he indeed hadn’t said ‘please’ when he first approached her.
Igula was both annoyed and amused. Could it be that Emi was still angry just because he hadn’t said ‘please’ when he initially commanded, “I order you to help me escape from the Kingdom of Blood Moon”?
“You’re a naughty child with bad manners; isn’t it normal to be punished?”
Igula braked hard and looked back at Emi’s apartment building.
He recalled some information about the Moon Shadow Clan.
The members of the Moon Shadow Clan, besides becoming priests through church examinations as adults, had another path—the Beloved Church would identify infants with the most suitable talents and leave them behind to be directly raised in the church’s nurseries.
Unlike most nurseries, the church nurseries were completely sealed off and not subject to social supervision.
In a regular nursery, no matter the quality, cameras had to be installed to allow the public to see what was happening inside. Chaos among the children could be tolerated, but corporal punishment by the nursery staff was strictly prohibited.
You could educate through verbal warnings, resource allocation, or even collective isolation, but direct harm or depriving children of their freedom was not allowed; children had the right to refuse.
Many people suspected the church nurseries of militaristic training due to their closed nature.
However, the Moon Shadow priests who came out of the church nurseries often allayed people’s suspicions—they were so pure, adorable, passionate, naive, diligent, and properly mannered that they seemed like grown-up angels.
By the way, the Crime Hunting Hall was solely responsible for hunting down crimes; if Blood Moonians encountered issues like neighborhood conflicts, lost pets, light bulbs stuck in mouths, tongues stuck to railings, or bodies jammed in washing machines, it was pointless to contact the Crime Hunting Hall. The correct approach was to seek help from the Church.
Whenever help was summoned, no matter the time, the nearest church would send a Moon Shadow priest to assist. They were always cheerful and enthusiastic, never shying away from trouble, and patient with any situation, which instilled the concept in Blood Moonians that “when in trouble, go to the Church.”
Almost everyone had received help from a Moon Shadow priest at some point, and no one disliked them. Currently, 60% of Blood Moonians were regular worshippers at the Church, with most of them convinced by the Moon Shadow priests that the Extreme Master of Blood Moon they prayed to was indeed a being of absolute benevolence.
Fernand’s speech hadn’t caused much of a stir mainly because of the existence of the Moon Shadow priests. If people thought that the fruits of their brutal labor were funneling only to the Blood Saint Clan, they would be furious, but if it benefitted both the Blood Saint and Moon Shadow Clans, they might hesitate—sacrificing their flesh to nourish the Moon Shadow Clan seemed somewhat acceptable.
In Kaimon City, there was a saying: “False first-class, Jade Garden; true first-class, Church nursery.”
Lanna, the likes of him, calling him a Werewolf wasn’t far off, his presence only tarnished the name Moon Shadow.
Igula suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Lanna before his escape.
“The Beloved Church raising a Moon Shadow like you is strange indeed.”
“What’s strange is that the Church didn’t raise any other Werewolves.”
Is that what it meant…
Igula should have guessed earlier—how could an adult be afraid of being locked in a storage room? Igula wasn’t afraid even without a chip; had he had a chip, he could have even carried out Veil-anonymized swindling from the storage room.
Only a naive child, bewildered by the world, would fear such severe punishment.
Moreover, why would Emi have dog food at home when she clearly didn’t own a dog? Just now, she even pointed to the dog food, calling it a snack.
Adding that to her unusual emphasis on manners and her child-like personality, the truth was almost ready to reveal itself.
Igula looked up at the slowly rising Blood Moon, shook his head gently, and rode off vigorously on the bicycle to escape.