Slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder, Lin Gui called out to Elvia, who was still lingering reluctantly by the gambling table, and prepared to leave.
Under the watchful eyes of countless onlookers inside the casino, he led the two ladies out of the noisy core area of “Dice and Blood.”
They stepped into the darker, damper passage leading back to the surface.
However, they hadn't gone far down the passage when, just around the corner ahead, several silent, lethal figures blocked their path.
The leader, with a hideous scar on his face and eyes as sharp as a hawk's, was none other than the rebel leader, Caesar.
Behind him followed four cold-eyed assassins emitting powerful auras.
They were clearly the core members preparing to execute the “Saintess Assassination Plan.”
At this moment, the expressions on the faces of Caesar and his assassins were identical pictures of shock and disbelief.
Their bodies tensed instinctively, like leopards ready to spring.
Their gazes were locked tightly onto the cloaked young woman behind Lin Gui.
Seeing Caesar, the corner of Elvia's mouth twitched imperceptibly.
Meanwhile, Holy Saintess Eve, the target of so many murderous glares, seemed entirely oblivious.
She even let out a very soft, slightly amused chuckle from beneath her hood.
Lin Gui remained as calm as ever.
It was as if the group of murderous rebel elites before him were nothing more than pebbles on the side of the road.
One of the sharp-sensing assassins behind Caesar leaned in and whispered urgently in his ear in a barely audible breath.
“Leader... there's no mistake... Even though her face is covered, that aura, that holy yet detached feeling...”
“I saw her once from afar. I'd never mistake her! It's her! The Holy Saintess of Light! How... how could she be here?!”
His voice carried an irrepressible tremble and a sense of sheer absurdity.
“Should... should we make a move?”
Another assassin asked in a low voice.
His hand was already resting on the weapon at his waist.
The target was right in front of them; it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Caesar's brow furrowed deeply, his eyes flashing wildly as an intense conflict raged in his mind.
The other party's complete disregard for conventional logic, and their bizarre action of bringing the assassination target straight into their hideout, made him instinctively feel extremely uneasy.
Was there... some massive trap behind this?
Just as he was hesitating, Lin Gui had already walked up to them and stopped.
He raised his eyelids, calmly swept his gaze over the people blocking the path, and spoke in a flat tone.
“Could you step aside? I still have things to do.”
The assassins looked at Caesar with strange expressions, waiting for his order.
Caesar stared intently into Lin Gui's calm, rippleless eyes.
Then he glanced at the Holy Saintess, who stood behind him looking completely at ease.
The muscles in his jaw tensed and relaxed.
After repeatedly weighing the hair-raising bizarreness of the situation against the potential risks, he finally squeezed a single word out from between his teeth:
“...Move.”
He stepped aside to clear the path.
Although the assassins behind him were full of confusion and frustration, they could only step aside one after another.
Lin Gui nodded and, leading the Holy Saintess and Elvia, walked right through the middle of the murderous group of assassins.
As Elvia brushed past Caesar, she finally couldn't help but whisper to him in a very low, exasperated tone:
“I gave you an opportunity, and you couldn't even use it!”
Caesar: “???”
He looked utterly stunned and bewildered, completely failing to understand what the Seventh Princess meant.
Once the figures of Lin Gui's trio disappeared down the other end of the passage, Caesar waved his hand with a grim face.
Two assassins skilled in tracking immediately followed them noiselessly.
He, on the other hand, hurried back to the casino with a mind full of doubts and found Muze in the corner.
“That man... that Lin Gui, what on earth did he do coming here with the Holy Saintess?” Caesar asked in a deep voice.
Muze's face still held lingering shock. Swallowing hard, he replied dryly.
“He... he came to deliver letters.”
Caesar: “...Deliver letters???”
He felt like he had just heard the most ridiculous joke of the year.
...
Meanwhile, Lin Gui's group of three had already left the filthy, foul-smelling sewers and returned to the surface.
The cool evening breeze blew past, dispersing some of the foul underground air.
Taking a deep breath of the relatively fresh air, Elvia couldn't help but ask.
“Hey, where are we going to deliver letters now?”
Lin Gui oriented himself and replied, “Outside the city.”
The abandoned mine where Theia was temporarily hiding came to his mind.
It was located in a barren hilly area outside the Royal Capital.
The entrance was concealed, the shafts ran deep, and the interior space was massive and complex.
At this point, Lin Gui turned his gaze to Holy Saintess Eve beside him and began his “interrogation.”
“Miss Saintess,” he spoke in a flat tone.
“The guard lineup for your trip this time must have been extremely luxurious, right?”
The Holy Saintess smiled faintly, seemingly not surprised by his question at all, and answered frankly.
“Two Mid-tier Legendary Disciplinary Knights, one Low-tier Legendary Holy Church Priest, and forty-five High-tier Transcendent Temple Warriors escorting me.”
Lin Gui raised an eyebrow. “Even a lineup like that couldn't protect you?”
The Holy Saintess nodded, her violet eyes “looking” toward Lin Gui, her tone carrying a strange certainty.
“Yes. In the Carter Royal Capital, only by your side can I remain safe and sound in the upcoming unknown catastrophe.”
“Why me?” Lin Gui pressed.
“What specific images or information did you actually see in your prophecy?”
The young Holy Saintess only maintained her faint, mysterious smile and shook her head gently.
“Prophecies lose their efficacy once spoken aloud. So, it is a secret.”
Facing this standard “riddler” behavior, Lin Gui was all too familiar with it. Back in the Magic City, that fellow did this all the time.
Since the Holy Saintess refused to explain the truth, then Lin Gui didn't need to be polite either.
Without wasting another word, he bent down and casually picked up a brick from the side of the road, weighing it in his hand.
Then, he turned around and asked the Holy Saintess very seriously.
“By the way, Miss Saintess, what is your actual combat strength?”
Holy Saintess Eve was slightly taken aback by his sudden action and question, but she still answered honestly.
“...Low-tier Transcendent.”
Lin Gui nodded thoughtfully, evaluating,
“Low-tier Transcendent... Fortunately, you're not a warrior.”
Lin Gui weighed the brick, deep in thought.
“Still, it'll probably take a lot of strikes to make sure you're knocked out. That's a bit troublesome.”
Holy Saintess: “???”
Her pure violet eyes widened slightly, a rare occurrence.
She looked at the plain, unadorned brick in Lin Gui's hand.
Then she looked at his deadpan, serious expression.
For a moment, she actually didn't know how to respond.
She instinctively took half a step back, only to bump into a soft body.
Elvia grabbed the Holy Saintess's jade-like shoulders and laughed gleefully at her misfortune.
“Don't worry, Your Holiness. By the time you wake up, it will all be over.”
Rate on N.U.
