794 The Price of Meddling

794 The Price of Meddling

Behind Lumian, Vijepan continued questioning Heraberg, the clergy of the Church of Knowledge, “In a legal duel, can I do anything to the other party without facing punishment?”

“Yes,” Heraberg confirmed.

Vijepan’s eyes lit up, feeling as if he had found paradise.

He excitedly swallowed.

Gulp… He heard a similar sound next to him.

He turned his head and saw that the sound came from a woman with long brown hair, Julie.

The “collector” was also excited, while the human chef, Lez, licked his lips.

He was already hungry.

Lumian didn’t bother watching the other offenders’ performances. He left the library-like cathedral and surveyed the surroundings.

The buildings in this area were ancient, reminiscent of early Fifth Epoch styles with their heavy columns and arches, giving a sense of grandeur and simplicity.

Behind the cathedral was a seemingly endless graveyard. Tombstones stood amidst the trees, with many raised graves dotting the landscape.

This reminded Lumian of a line from the 0-01 sealed information: “Place it in an underground mausoleum with a large number of soldier mannequins. Construct a cemetery with more than a million corpses above it…”

Is the underground mausoleum sealing 0-01 right below? Just as Lumian withdrew his gaze, the previously sunny sky darkened. Thick clouds gathered, and the sound of thunder rumbled.

The weather changes so quickly… No wonder the information mentioned Morora frequently experiencing extreme weather… Lumian sighed as he looked into the distance, seeing mountain ranges resembling giant beasts lying at the horizon, blocking anyone who might want to leave secretly.

Of course, this was just a metaphor, as the residents of Morora never thought of leaving the city.

Lumian felt a slight reluctance too.

The underground was calling to him.

“We need to find a place to settle down quickly, or we’ll get soaked,” Guei’s voice came from beside Lumian.

He had also left the cathedral, and as a local of Azshara, his words were quite formal.

“Yeah,” Lumian replied with a smile as he walked into the large square in front of the cathedral.

Guei followed, glancing back and saying in surprise, “There’s such a large graveyard here?”

“A graveyard with over a million, even tens of millions of corpses,” Lumian replied casually.

Guei nodded thoughtfully.

“History books record a large-scale grave relocation in the early Fifth Epoch in the Lenburg region to address the aftermath of the Pale Disaster. Was it moved here?”

“Perhaps,” Lumian said as they crossed the square. He quietly activated the black mark representing the Abscessed Hand, but did not actually use it.

He was sensing the approximate location of the other two parts of the Abscessed Hand.

To his surprise, he sensed more than two parts. Different directions within the City of Exiles had subtle responses.

Hand Bro’s body parts got dismembered? Lumian silently muttered.

He chose the direction with the strongest response.

After walking about a street’s length, he heard the clashing of metal and saw two men fiercely fighting with sharp swords as a crowd watched.

Duels with fatalities happen daily… Lumian reviewed the 0-01 sealed information. He didn’t hurry, deciding to watch for a while.

Guei did the same, seemingly assessing the strength of Morora’s residents.

The fight lasted two or three minutes, ending with a man in a black jacket being slashed across the chest and stomach, his intestines spilling out as he convulsed and died.

A team of men and women in black robes, their expressions indifferent, appeared, silently dragging the stripped corpse away and cleaning the blood from the street, like machines following a set procedure.

The onlookers dispersed. A small man in a brown-green cap, smiling kindly, walked past Lumian and Guei, glancing at them.

“New here?” the small man asked warmly.

“How can you tell?” Guei asked curiously.

The small man laughed.

“You still have that new look, not yet fully integrated into Morora!”

His voice suddenly turned sharp, as if possessed by something unknown.

Lumian watched the small man in silence, observing his changes.

The small man waved.

“Haha, I’m Worms. Let’s have a drink sometime.”

As Worms walked down another street, Guei suddenly spoke to Lumian, “Don’t you feel like you’re missing something?”

“I noticed,” Lumian replied nonchalantly. “He’s quick.”

He had only noticed his Traveler’s Bag was about to be taken when Worms withdrew his hand.

He must be a real Beyonder, a true Marauder. That sudden state change was likely a performance to distract attention.

“Why didn’t you expose him if you noticed? Afraid of retaliation?” Guei didn’t understand Lumian’s reaction.

“I wanted to see what he would do,” Lumian replied with a smile, hands in his pockets, slowly following the route Worms had taken.

Guei watched his back for a while, then decided to find a place to stay first.

…

Once out of Lumian and Guei’s sight, Worms quickened his pace, darting through several alleys in a circuitous route.

After confirming he had shaken off any potential pursuers, he stopped in a secluded alley and took out a dark black coin pouch from inside his clothes.

It was Lumian’s Traveler’s Bag.

“Haha, these new fools are so careless. Let’s see what’s inside…” Worms reached into the Traveler’s Bag.

His expression changed slightly, filled with intense surprise.

He could “see” the pouch’s value, sensing many items with spirituality inside, but he hadn’t expected it to be a rare spatial item, holding what felt like a small room.

What a pleasant surprise… Worms pulled out one of the items.

What greeted his eyes was a half-decomposed, dark blue swollen corpse, dripping yellowish-red pus.

Smack!

Worms recoiled, letting the half-corpse fall to the ground.

Wh- His face turned horrified.

Who carries a half-decomposed corpse around?

And a highly decayed corpse at that!

Even in Morora, filled with countless murderers, this is the most twisted thing!

No wonder he was exiled here!

Steadying himself, Worms reached into the Traveler’s Bag again, pulling out a piece of smooth, white leather.

He couldn’t take his eyes off it, as if staring at the skin of a dream lover.

He quickly noticed some black words on the leather that he didn’t recognize.

Seems to be words that can trigger Beyonder powers. This leather must be very valuable. I should copy it and find someone to decipher it without arousing suspicion, Worms thought in delight, caressing the leather, unwilling to let go.

Suddenly, he felt his throat itch.

Cough, cough, cough!

He started coughing, more and more violently.

Within seconds, he coughed so hard it felt like his heart would tear apart.

Pfft!

Worms spat out a mouthful of blood.

This isn’t right! How did I suddenly get so sick? Worms, vaguely understanding, threw the leather to the ground.

But his coughing continued, even more violently.

While coughing, he thought of a way to save himself: That guy put such dangerous leather in his pocket, he must have prepared a cure…

Yes, there must be one!

Worms reached into the Traveler’s Bag again.

He first pulled out a gray-white lightning-shaped brooch.

A thick, silvery-white lightning bolt suddenly descended from the stacked clouds, striking him.

Boom!

The thunder echoed, and Worms fell, his body charred and twitching.

Already gravely ill, the lightning strike left him near death.

How… how could I suddenly be struck… by lightning… I, I… Worms’s vision darkened, his confusion and regret lingering as he closed his eyes.

He soon stopped breathing.

About ten seconds later, Lumian turned into the alley, walked to Worms, looked down at his body, and shook his head with a smile.

“Rummaging through others’ belongings is very dangerous.”

After a pause, Lumian regrettably sighed.

“I wanted to follow you and get in touch with Morora’s Beyonders. You let me down.

“And you didn’t even get to the more dangerous items.”

As he spoke, Lumian picked up the Traveler’s Bag, placing the items back inside in their compressed form: the Fury of the Sea brooch, the Demoness of Despair human leather, and the half-corpse of the Abscessed Hand.

“I guess being a generous soul is all you can do,” Lumian muttered, extracting 537 sassen gold from Worms.

That was about 2863 verl d’or.

Pocketing the generous soul’s gift, Lumian waited for Worms’s Beyonder characteristics to manifest.

About two minutes later, a team of black-robed enforcers entered the alley. The leader looked at Lumian expressionlessly and said, “Did you kill him?”

“No, he was struck by lightning. Maybe he did too many bad things,” Lumian replied with a smile, explaining earnestly. “He was a thief and stole my stuff, so I chased him here.”

The enforcers stared at Lumian as if verifying his truthfulness.

After a moment, the leader nodded. “You may leave.”

Lumian didn’t move, smiling as he said, “His belongings should be mine, right?”