The boy froze.
He opened his mouth, unable to utter a word.
In those blood-red eyes, vigilance had not completely faded, but a trace of confusion had taken its place.
Lin Gui looked at him, forming a general judgment in his mind.
The criterion for completing the Dalton family's special commission was for the goods to be delivered.
And the recipients of this grain were most likely the half-demons hiding deep within the Withered Wood Wasteland.
The boy in front of him was the best proof.
Lin Gui scrutinized him closely.
Thin.
Far too thin.
The contours of his collarbones and jawline were clearly visible, as if about to pierce out from beneath his skin.
His wrists were frighteningly slender; Lin Gui could encircle one completely with a single hand.
This was the appearance of prolonged hunger and severe malnutrition.
Lin Gui withdrew his gaze.
He unslung a sack of grain from behind him.
The sack wasn't heavy, but for the frail boy in front of him, it was likely no light burden.
Lin Gui handed the grain sack over.
The boy instinctively held out both hands to take it.
The sack weighed down on his arms, causing his body to sway slightly, but he still managed to steady himself.
Lin Gui looked at him.
“Can you sign for it?”
The boy froze.
He opened his mouth, unable to utter a word.
In those blood-red eyes, vigilance had not completely faded, but a trace of confusion had taken its place.
He looked down at the grain sack in his arms.
Then he looked up at Lin Gui.
Then down at the grain again.
Then up at Lin Gui again.
Sign for it?
Sign for what?
What was this human talking about?
Was he asking him to accept... the pile of goods behind him that was large enough to bury him alive?
Beside them, Elvia also knitted her brows.
Crossing her arms, her golden eyes were filled with confusion.
She had thought Lin Gui was just joking, so why did it feel like he was actually taking it seriously?
Asking this skin-and-bones half-demon to sign for so many goods?
The boy didn't look like someone who could pull out several million gold coins either.
Lin Gui squatted down, looking straight into the half-demon boy's eyes, speaking at a measured pace.
“Just say, 'Goods received.'”
The boy's mouth parted slightly.
He was still dazed.
Still trying to figure out what this human was up to.
However, Lin Gui gave him no time to keep pondering.
That flat voice poured directly into his ears like a straight line, leaving no room for deliberation.
“Goods received.”
The boy instinctively repeated after him.
“Goods... received.”
His voice was rasping and bewildered.
The words fell.
Lin Gui waited a moment.
In his mind, no notification of commission completion sounded.
Total silence.
Lin Gui let out a soft sigh.
As expected, that wouldn't work.
It seemed he had to deliver the goods directly to their hideout.
He raised his head, looking toward the sky.
That thin magic veil still hung high above.
It was almost invisible to the naked eye, but when the wind blew across, extremely subtle ripples shimmered along its edges.
And at the exact center of that veil...
...deeper within that mountainous region, encircled by all the hunting families...
...lay the true gathering place of the half-demons within the forbidden zone.
It was also the actual center of this hunt.
Lin Gui withdrew his gaze.
He had to deliver the goods there.
Which meant if he wanted to complete the commission and claim the reward, he had to get involved in this turmoil.
However...
Lin Gui lowered his eyelids.
Even if it weren't for the commission...
...even if the System deemed the task completed right now...
...he would still actively get involved.
Because the target of this hunt was the half-demons.
It wasn't out of soft-hearted sentimentality that Lin Gui couldn't bear to see half-demons hunted down like game.
Nor did he possess some knightly chivalry that compelled him to lend a hand whenever he witnessed injustice.
Rather, ever since he began planning the revival of Spark back in Caran City...
...the first allies he had thought of were the half-demons.
Half-demons were far more worthy of his trust than humans.
He was fully aware of the half-demons' status within the City-State Alliance.
Wretched, even lower than slaves.
He was also certain that his promises and assistance could buy their utmost loyalty.
Especially after they had endured last year's expulsion resolution.
All the way from Caran City, Lin Gui had been intentionally and unintentionally observing the presence of half-demons.
Particularly after entering the territory of the Central City-States.
Along the journey, he hadn't seen a single familiar silhouette of those who should have been at the bottom of the city-states.
He hadn't expected...
...that they were all gathered in the Withered Wood Wasteland.
The primary cause behind all of this was very likely last year's Alliance regulation regarding the expulsion of half-demons.
Although that regulation had been rescinded by now...
...upon receiving the news at the time, the half-demons couldn't possibly just sit around waiting for the deadline to arrive.
What awaited them wouldn't be polite expulsion.
Most likely, they would be thrown straight into the wilderness.
What puzzled Lin Gui, however...
...was why the City of a Thousand Towers was hunting these half-demons who were already at the bottom and held nothing special.
Targets for human experimentation generally fell into three categories.
The first were mages of high talent.
However, due to the laws of the City of a Thousand Towers, they couldn't act openly against them.
The second were magical creatures from the Golden Age.
They were extremely rare, priceless and hard to find.
The third were high-ranking demons from the Dark Age.
Yet, for a demon to serve as research material for a Legendary mage, its rank had to be Legendary as well.
And Legendary demons all had their own territories and demon swarms.
Subduing them was exceptionally difficult.
As for half-demons...
Lin Gui pondered for a long time.
He couldn't see what value half-demons held for enhancing magic.
However, that didn't matter to Lin Gui.
All he needed to do was help the hunted half-demons break free from their predicament.
And thereby earn their friendship.
The friendship of the dwarves in Shield City couldn't be converted into his own true force.
But the half-demons on the margins of the city-states could.
However, the enemies this time were likely the strongest Lin Gui had ever faced.
Lin Gui narrowed his eyes, examining the vast perception veil across the sky.
From its very center, eight distinct magic torrents extended outward in eight directions.
Corresponding to eight magic pillars maintaining this massive perception network.
And simultaneously corresponding to eight magic families.
Lin Gui withdrew his gaze and walked over to Irene.
Irene was lying on the ground.
Seeing Lin Gui approach, she subtly pulled her right hand back under herself.
The dagger was concealed between her body and the dirt.
Her dark eyes were filled with vigilance.
Lin Gui didn't care.
He reached Irene and bent down.
Then he squatted, rummaging through the dry grass on the ground.
He pulled a tissue from his robes and wiped the ground.
The tissue scraped across dirt and grass blades, quickly stained with red.
Blood.
It belonged to that assassin.
Left behind during his brief clash with Elvia earlier.
Lin Gui activated his Eyes of the Netherworld, looking at the blood on the tissue.
No soul thread extended from it.
It wasn't that the soul carried by the blood had dissipated.
Rather, the target had already left the tracking range.
Too far away.
Lin Gui turned the tissue over again.
Beside the bloodstain lay an extremely fine strand of hair.
Black and very short.
A soul thread extended outward from the hair, reaching far into the distance in a certain direction.
That belonged to the assassin.
Lin Gui stared at that fine thread, remaining silent for a moment.
“You intend to meddle in this matter?”
Elvia's voice came from behind him.
She stood with her arms crossed, looking down at the blood-stained tissue in Lin Gui's hand.
Her golden eyes carried a probing gaze.
Lin Gui nodded.
“Yeah.”
Elvia asked, “Why?”
Lin Gui stood up.
He folded the blood-stained tissue neatly and tucked it into his robes.
He looked at Elvia and said,
“You know we can't keep fighting alone forever.”
“We need allies.”
“Allies who share the same demands and are trustworthy at the same time.”
“Right now, the half-demons are trapped in a crisis.”
“If we help them through this crisis...”
“...they will become our strength.”
Lin Gui paused as he looked at Elvia.
“You ought to understand this very well.”
Elvia looked at him, speechless.
“Of course I understand.”
“The whole 'providing help in times of need' strategy.”
She raised a hand, pointing at the nearly transparent magic perception veil overhead.
“But I also know...”
“...the people who can pull off something like this are by no means simple.”
“There might even be Legendary figures involved.”
“How confident are you?”
Lin Gui said softly, “We need to assess the situation first.”
“We don't know much about this hunt.”
“At the very least, though...”
Lin Gui pinched that strand of hair and looked up at the veil in the sky.
“...we can pull out these eight nails first.”
Elvia let out a sigh.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I suspect everyone coming to hunt in this forbidden zone is a High-tier Transcendent at minimum.”
Lin Gui narrowed his eyes and said,
“We only need to solve one problem.”
“Then everything will be manageable.”
Elvia raised an eyebrow.
Then she turned her gaze with an odd look toward Irene lying on the ground.
Lin Gui did the same.
Irene silently got up.
On the palm of her right hand, Water Healing was still actively being cast.
She didn't try too hard to hide the dagger in her left hand either.
Elvia let out a soft laugh and said,
“Do you... know Mana Restoration?”
Although this Transcendent spell was the signature standard of Transcendent Priests...
...many Transcendent mages who weren't Priests would also learn it.
Because it was genuinely useful.
Several Transcendent mages working together with Mana Restoration could even cast a Legendary spell across a whole major rank.
Hearing Elvia's question...
...Irene silently nodded.
“I do.”
Elvia smiled and pointed at the half-demon resting nearby.
“I see you seem to be helping the half-demons.”
“Coincidentally, so are we.”
“These supplies were brought all the way from Whitecliff City by us to support the half-demons in the forbidden zone.”
“He can vouch for that.”
“By the way, what's your name?”
Elvia asked the skin-and-bones half-demon beside them.
The half-demon boy said softly, “Guy.”
Guy looked at Irene, remained silent for a moment, and said,
“The Dalton family has indeed been secretly assisting us ever since the sanctuary was established.”
“They... are not like those evil humans.”
“They can be trusted.”
Irene looked cold as she stared at Lin Gui.
“But he isn't from the Dalton family. He's... a member of the Ashley family, a dark-element magic family from the City of a Thousand Towers.”
Irene's gaze was hostile.
“People of the Ashley family cannot be trusted.”
Hearing this, Lin Gui speechlessly rubbed his hair.
This was already the second time someone had mistaken him for a member of that magic family.
He sighed and said helplessly, “Is it possible that this is natural for me?”
Irene said coldly,
“There are no naturally black-haired and black-eyed humans in Akara.”
“Only those with an extremely high natural affinity for dark-element magic will have hair and eyes of this color.”
“And such traits only appear in the bloodline of the Ashley family.”
Hearing this, Elvia couldn't help but chuckle.
She looked Lin Gui up and down, her tone laced with teasing.
“Maybe you really are an illegitimate son of the Ashley family out in the wild.”
“Such things aren't exactly rare among royalty either.”
Lin Gui was speechless, yet had no idea how to refute it.
He was positive he didn't have half a copper's worth of connection to whatever that family was.
Because his appearance upon arriving in this world was identical to his appearance on Earth.
The only change was that he had reverted in age, becoming a small kid a few years old.
Furthermore, if there were any bloodline connection, it would be impossible for no soul threads to extend from him other than those connected to Elvia and Theia.
Lin Gui's expression wasn't very pleasant.
Having held no goodwill toward those noble rulers for a long time, being insulted as their illegitimate son was virtually a disgrace.
Lin Gui looked at Irene and said coldly,
“Since you say black hair and black eyes must mean someone is from the Ashley family...”
“...then are you from the Ashley family too?”
Irene said indifferently,
“I used to be.”
“It is precisely because I used to be that I hate the Ashley family.”
“Asking me to help someone from that family is impossible.”
This almost prejudiced view...
...made Lin Gui certain that this black-haired girl harbored a deep hatred toward that family.
Lin Gui reached out his hand to Irene.
Irene was puzzled.
Lin Gui said flatly,
“Whether I'm from that family or not, don't you have other means to verify it yourself?”
“Little girl who's been constantly sneaking looks at us all along the way.”
“Levitation, an eighteen-year-old Transcendent, and high soul affinity.”
“The City of a Thousand Towers really produced quite a formidable figure.”
Irene's pupils shrank slightly.
A flash of shock passed through those black eyes.
She hadn't expected all her subtle observations along the way to have been completely noticed by him.
Lin Gui said flatly,
“Don't worry.”
“I have no interest in your secrets.”
“Since you have the bloodline of the Ashley family and firmly believe I am one of them...”
“...then there should be a soul connection between you and me.”
“The soul cannot lie or be severed.”
Facing the hand Lin Gui held out, Irene hesitated for a moment.
She still reached out and grabbed Lin Gui's wrist.
She closed her eyes, carefully mobilizing the soul force inside her body to perceive.
Time ticked by, minute by minute.
Just when Lin Gui was growing a bit impatient...
...Irene opened her eyes.
Lin Gui asked, “Well?”
Irene hesitated a moment, then said with a slightly flushed face,
“I... haven't systematically studied soul magic.”
“Those are secrets not shared outside the great families, so...”
Lin Gui let out a sigh.
Irene's meaning was simple.
She was a beginner when it came to soul magic, requiring a region of denser soul presence to directly sense it.
Lin Gui grabbed Irene's hand and placed it against his chest.
The chest contained the most heart's blood, which was also the area with the highest concentration of soul energy.
Irene didn't touch it directly, but sensed it across the slight gap.
A moment later, she finally opened her eyes with a complex expression, looking at Lin Gui.
In those black eyes, the vigilance and hostility faded bit by bit.
Taking their place was a subtle, unexplainable expression.
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