The atmosphere in the room turned cold for a moment.
“Let’s not talk about those grand plans for a moment.”
Evans tapped two fingers lightly on the table beside him, creating a crisp “tick, tick” sound.
“You anticipated this event and even had someone wait to pick me up as if you were clairvoyant.”
“Therefore, regarding what happened earlier, I have every reason to believe you were using me...”
“Don’t you think you owe me an explanation for this?”
Faced with the youth’s questioning, Pops was quite blunt.
He spread his hands, adopting a shameless posture of a man who had nothing left to lose:
“I won’t deny that.”
“I did have a bit of a psychological expectation. And since things have come to this, I don’t want to find some high-sounding reason to defend myself. But—”
Pops elongated his tone.
“Child, we need to be clear about something.”
“Is there a possibility... that the target of the nuclear bomb dropped by the City of the Sky Lake was never just those poor Tide-Followers from the start?”
“It was more likely intended for you, S-099.”
Evans raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest as he let out a cold laugh. “Oh? I’m all ears.”
“To some people, a nuclear bomb is just a slightly larger firecracker until it lands on their own heads. Once they drop the first one, there will be a second.”
“That strike on the surface just happened to kill two birds with one stone; it just so happened that both the Tide-Followers and you were within its blast radius.”
“Regardless, that man would have discarded and then weakened you to prevent you from influencing his New Era.”
“And regardless, that nuclear bomb would have fallen the moment the Red Tide arrived, greatly accelerating the progress of the New Era.”
Evans rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Although Pops’ words sounded like an attempt to shift responsibility, the logic was indeed sound.
Pops added,
“By the same token, for certain reasons, you might have encountered the same thing here in the Abyss ahead of time.”
“So, I made my choice.”
Evans let out a cold laugh.
“You’re quite cold-blooded toward your own kind.”
Pops didn't answer that. Instead, he looked at Evans with an inquiring gaze.
Evans nodded, essentially accepting Pops’ explanation.
But... accepting it didn't mean he was going to let it slide.
A line of text was surfacing on his retina.
【Don’t try to out-reason him!】
After seeing this line of text, Evans’ gaze instantly became firm.
“Fine, stop acting all profound.”
Evans slapped the table directly, putting an end to the pointless moral condemnation.
“In any case, this matter can’t just be forgotten!”
Pops’ eye corner twitched. He let out a sigh and looked at the youth, who had suddenly become mercenary, with a bit of a headache. “What do you want?”
Evans slid his hands into his trench coat pockets and tilted his chin up righteously.
“Look at what you’re saying. I took a nuke to the face, you know? And I haven’t even received a sincere apology yet?”
“But I also know the People of the Abyss are stubborn. Forget about superficial things like apologies.”
“Let’s get practical... where’s my compensation?”
Pops was sipping tea and choked upon hearing this, coughing for a good while.
Nearby, Sword-man was currently leaning his head toward the pile of metal boxes, winking and whispering to the Wu Erhun Cross in his hand:
“See that? Little Cross, look, look!”
“How do you Wilderness folk teach your children? How did you teach this kid to be like this!”
The Wu Erhun Cross was unable to move under Sword-man’s clutches. It cursed Sword-man’s ancestors up to the eighteenth generation in its mind, but on the surface, it naturally didn't dare to speak its anger.
Pops rubbed his throbbing temples, completely giving up on the idea of playing psychological games with this kid. He waved his hand tiredly:
“Fine, just state your conditions.”
“What compensation do you want? As long as this old body of mine can afford it and it’s not too excessive.”
Evans had been waiting for these words.
He cleared his throat, his eyes lighting up slightly as he spoke with righteous dignity:
“The matter of eating!”
“What?” Pops was stunned.
“I said, I want to eat,” Evans said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Look, I was just blasted by a nuclear bomb until my flesh was torn open. Although my foundation is tough and I didn't die, my body is currently severely depleted.”
“How about this: give me a hundred or so live Anomalies. I need a lot of Anomalies to supplement my health.”
“Anyway, you have plenty of Anomalies in the Abyss, and your warehouses are full of these little things, right?”
“...A hundred or so? To supplement your health?”
The corners of Pops’ eyes and mouth twitched frantically at the same time.
What did this kid think Anomalies were? Wild rabbits on the Wilderness or heads of cabbage?
Sword-man couldn't listen anymore either. He looked at the two heavy metal boxes he was holding, then glanced at the Cross in his hand and couldn't help but mumble:
“Don’t you already have plenty of snacks?”
As soon as Sword-man finished speaking, before Evans could even refute him, Wu Erhun was the first to get upset.
“Hey! What do you mean by that?” The wooden mouth on the Wu Erhun Cross snapped open, its voice filled with terror and rage:
“What are you implying? Are you trying to induce Lord Evans to chew me up as a pre-meal dessert right now?”
“Don’t you dare think of killing an Anomaly with a borrowed knife! Lord Evans, he’s a bad man! He’s trying to sow discord in our pure master-servant relationship!”
Sword-man was thrown off by the Cross that had suddenly jumped up to bite him, and for a moment, they just stared at each other.
In short, after a thrilling negotiation, Pops eventually made a compromise with a dark face.
“I can give you some Anomalies, but a hundred or so is absolutely impossible!”
Pops gritted his teeth. “Ten at most, and we must choose the types.”
Pausing for a moment, Pops seemed afraid the kid would make another ridiculous demand and hurriedly added:
“Regarding the issue of your body needing to replenish energy, that is only right.”
“However, I have other, more efficient methods here. In short, I guarantee I’ll help you recover!”
Since things had been put this way, Evans knew he had pretty much reached the old man’s limit.
If he pushed any further, this old man might just use a black hole to see him out.
“Fine, I suppose that’ll do.”
Evans grumbled, walking away with a look of reluctance.
From that disdainful expression, one would have thought he was the one who had suffered a great loss.
He turned around and followed Sword-man, who let out a long sigh of relief, out of the room with large strides.
The moment they stepped out of the building, Sword-man’s face instantly changed.
“Here, here, here! Take them all! Don’t you dare expect me to help you carry this pile of junk anymore.”
Sword-man irritably shoved all the metal boxes he was holding into Evans’ arms.
However, while throwing everything over, the hand Sword-man was using to play with the Cross pulled back with extreme agility.
He was trying to secretly keep the Cross, which was currently playing dead, in his own hand.
Rate on N.U.
