“How do you know all this so clearly?”
Evans toyed with the glass bead in his hand, shifting his gaze from the bead to the Sword-man's face.
His tone sounded casual, but a small glob of black liquid had already quietly seeped out from his collar, like a perked-up ear.
The Sword-man fell silent for a moment.
For that brief second, his usual carefree expression vanished, his eyes staring fixedly at nothing in particular.
“Because,” he spoke, his voice so quiet it sounded like he was talking to himself,
“I saw it with my own eyes—someone handing this bead to that original greatest beauty.”
Evans's pupils contracted slightly.
He recalled the conclusion he and Ren Yi had reached last night after their discussion: “Test the Sword-man.”
With the opportunity right before him, he almost blurted out his next question.
But the Sword-man did not give him the chance.
“Alright, alright,” the Sword-man said, suddenly slapping his hand down on Evans's head.
His face returned to its usual playful grin, as if that brief moment of silence had been nothing but an illusion.
“Hurry up and eat! I have so many stories, I couldn't possibly finish them all in one go.”
“If you ask about every single one like this, you won't even finish this bag by nightfall.”
Evans opened his mouth, but swallowed his words back down.
Fine.
He reached back into the burlap sack and continued pulling things out.
The next item he pulled out was a neatly folded piece of clothing.
Evans shook it open—it was a simply styled robe, devoid of any decoration, as plain as a rag.
“What's this?” he asked.
Ren Yi silently glanced at his panel.
【Anomaly File: B-198】
【Alias: Clothing that cleans itself】
“Clothing,” the Sword-man said, a clear tone of disgust in his voice.
“If you wear it and get it dirty, just leave it overnight. When you wake up the next morning, it'll be as clean as if it had been washed. Saves water and effort.”
“Then why don't you wear it?”
The Sword-man glanced at the clothing, the disgust on his face growing even more pronounced. “It's too ugly. That's for servants to wear. A dignified person like myself—”
He paused and coughed twice.
“Anyway, I'm not wearing it.”
Evans expressionlessly folded the clothing and set it aside.
He was already used to the Sword-man's style of only telling half the story.
Next.
He fished out two fruits from the sack. One was a reddish-purple, and the other was a bright, glossy green.
【Anomaly-170: Fruit that makes you gain thirty pounds upon swallowing】
【Anomaly-171: Fruit that makes you lose thirty pounds upon swallowing】
Ren Yi fell into deep thought.
What on earth were these things?
Would there be a market for them if he took them back to sell as weight-loss pills?
He suddenly remembered that Evans could digest Anomalies, so... these things would be ineffective on him, right?
If they did work, the mental image would be quite something.
Evans tossed the two fruits aside.
Then came even more items...
A stone that could make all kinds of sounds.
A piece of wood that released a massive amount of cold air when snapped in half.
A palm-sized wooden carving of some four-legged beast Evans didn't recognize, with two black pebbles embedded where its eyes should be.
The Sword-man said that this wooden carving would turn itself in a different direction every night at midnight, as if it were forever tracking something.
“Tracking what?” Evans asked.
“No idea,” the Sword-man replied honestly. “Anyway, it's never caught up to whatever it is.”
Once the sack of strange items was emptied, a small mountain of junk had piled up on the table in front of Evans.
He glanced at the small mountain, then back at the Sword-man.
Great. Indeed, none of it was of any use.
“Alright,” Evans said. “You can leave now.”
The Sword-man was taken aback. “Huh?”
“I don't like being disturbed when I eat,” Evans said in an unquestionable tone. “Get out, and close the door behind you.”
The Sword-man opened his mouth to speak, but looking at Evans's expressionless face and the thin layer of black liquid silently spreading from beneath his feet, he wisely chose to shut up.
“Fine, fine, take your time.” He stood up and patted his pants.
Walking to the doorway, he suddenly turned back and winked at Evans. “Don't choke yourself to death.”
Then, with a loud thud, the door shut.
Evans waited for three seconds, confirming that the Sword-man's footsteps had faded into the distance, before reaching to tap the inside of his collar.
“You can come out now.”
Ren Yi's white cloud body drifted out from the lining of the collar, his tentacles stretching out like a flattened sponge soaking up water again.
“We split them fifty-fifty,” Evans said, dividing the pile of Anomalies into two with clean, swift movements. “Just as we agreed.”
Ren Yi's gaze landed on the glass bead with the red spider, which Evans had swept into his own pile.
“Maybe,” he hesitated, pointing a tentacle at the bead, “you shouldn't eat that one.”
Evans, who was picking up another Anomaly, looked up upon hearing this.
“Huh? It's fine. I can digest Anomalies, nothing bad will happen.”
“I'm not worried about your digestive capacity,” Ren Yi's muffled voice came from the center of the white cloud.
“It's just... well, this thing's effect is a bit too bizarre.”
“It's an A-rank, of course it's bizarre,” Evans said dismissively. “But I've even swallowed S-ranks. This is nothing.”
“Don't worry, the effect won't trigger on me.”
I know it won't take effect, but it's going to leave me with a psychological shadow.
Ren Yi remained silent for a moment, his tentacles twisting together in front of him, deciding not to dwell on the subject.
Then, he said something that made Evans freeze.
“The Sword-man... he might not be from this world.”
Evans's movements halted.
“And,” Ren Yi added, “he probably isn't human, either.”
The entire room suddenly became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.
He just stared at Ren Yi, the black liquid beneath his feet churning slightly of its own accord... He was truly shocked.
“...What do you mean?”
“Pops said at the beginning that their earliest memories of the New Era were a bit hazy.”
Ren Yi didn't try to lecture Evans with too much background information.
It was too complicated, and the Sword-man was still waiting outside, so they didn't have much time right now.
“But doesn't that suggest they already existed at the very beginning of the New Era?”
“There shouldn't be any method of extending one's lifespan in this world. Ordinary humans can't live that long.”
Evans fell silent.
He thought of the Sword-man's perpetually grinning face.
Well, even from just a physical standpoint, that guy felt completely out of place.
Like an antique placed in the wrong exhibition hall, he clearly didn't belong here, yet he had stayed quietly for so many years.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“I'm not sure,” Ren Yi replied honestly. “But I think it's highly likely.”
Evans fell silent again, then took a deep breath... Though he had no lungs, the action helped him simulate a thinking rhythm.
“Let's eat first,” he said eventually. “We can talk after we finish.”
Ren Yi did not object.
For the next half hour, Evans began his “breakfast.”
When he was rational, his manner of eating was not brutal at all—one might even call it elegant.
Black liquid seeped from his palms, enveloping the Anomalies, which then slowly vanished into his hands.
With no other movements, they were silently swallowed up, one by one.
Ren Yi watched from the side.
He also picked out a few smaller Anomalies, wrapping his tentacles around them and letting them silently sink into his mist.
Ren Yi glanced at his task panel.
【Mission 1: World Exploration: 59%】
【Mission 2: Obtain at least one item containing world rules. Current Progress: 75%】
【Mission 3: Find the Fugitive, dead or alive: 0%】
The progress of Mission 2 was encouraging, but unfortunately, Mission 3 still hung there with a glaring zero.
The conclusion: there was still a risk of failing.
Rate on N.U.
