Chapter 48: Feilon
Fisher stared at Feilon’s back as he left the room for a long time, suddenly grabbing Raphael beside him. Raphael thought he was going to hold hands, instinctively extending his hand, only to be coldly rejected. Annoyed, he turned to look, only to find Fisher looking at him seriously.
“Listen, Raphael, we are leaving here tonight. You keep an eye on Ral and the others here, while I go upstairs to pack my things.”
Raphael was slightly taken aback. Although he didn’t quite understand why Fisher was in such a hurry to leave, since he had spoken, there must be a reason, so he agreed.
Fisher had already sensed that many things in Feilon City were off and had certain suspicions about what was happening. He was very sure that Feilon had set his sights on a few of the dragon people beside him. The reason he had stayed here was that he needed supplies before embarking on his journey, and since he had bought those supplies today, he could depart at any time.
Waiting any longer would be very foolish, placing himself and the dragon people in danger.
Thus, Fisher decided to take Raphael and the others out of the city tonight. The best scenario was that Feilon would only realize they had left when they forcefully broke through the city gates, by which time, even if Feilon wanted to pursue them, he would no longer be able to catch up.
While he was out in the outer city today, Fisher had also memorized the routes within the city. After leaving from here, he would head straight for the northern gate, ready to leave the city regardless of any unnecessary losses.
Fisher nodded and grabbed his staff as he exited the room.
The entire Feilon Mansion was eerily quiet; the rooms were brightly lit, but no living beings could be seen. Fisher’s steps did not pause as he headed straight for the second floor.
The restaurant fell silent. Mill, Keshil, and Fashir had learned from Fisher about the seriousness of the situation, so they cautiously stayed by Raphael’s side and confiscated the toys from the rambunctious Ral to prevent her from running around.
Feeling wronged, Ral fell silent under Raphael’s stern gaze, shrinking into a seat in the restaurant as she quietly stared out at the moonlight.
The moonlight outside was hazy, with clouds resembling scales obscuring the bright moon, casting a layer of indistinct shadow over the earth.
In a daze, Ral gazed up at the distant moon, imagining it turning into a giant pancake, then dipping it in the dragon people’s favorite flame juice, before devouring it in one bite. That would surely be the best food!
Ral swallowed her saliva, but when she looked back at the moon, she noticed that it seemed to be obscured by some shadow. When she focused on the outside, she saw a tall figure with bull horns and an emotionless expression—it was a minotaur. She was slightly startled and immediately shouted in panic to Raphael beside her,
“Lord Raphael, there’s… uh! Let go of Ral!”
The huge arm smashed through the window glass, and with the sound of shattering, it tightly grabbed Ral by the neck.
When…
Why didn’t I feel the presence of any living beings?
Raphael’s eyes narrowed into a thin line as she looked at the towering figure outside the window. It was an adult male minotaur, robust and approximately 1.9 meters tall, with its upper body bare, and the skin bore a strange gray pallor. The horns on its head had completely vanished, leaving only smooth stumps, and it stared expressionlessly at Ral, whom it was gripping.
“Let her go!”
Raphael’s scales stood on end, and in the moment her body released steam, all the windows shattered, and one after another, expressionless male minotaurs burst in from the outside.
“Don’t move, Raphael.”
The moment Raphael wanted to move, a gentle voice sounded from behind her. She turned around in disbelief, only to find that her companions were already being restrained by the large male minotaur.
“Lord Raphael…”
“Let me go!”
In the courtyard outside, tall figures stood in dense rows, each with only stumps for horns, expressionlessly lined up as they gazed into the restaurant.
“Miss Nana?”
Among those minotaurs was Nana, dressed in a gown. After stopping Raphael’s rebellion, she did not respond to Raphael’s query because she needed to seize the time.
Nana sat on the shoulder of a massive minotaur, snapped her fingers lightly, and the minotaur holding Mill and the others quickly ran towards the courtyard, apparently unwilling to fight Raphael here. The dense minotaurs also expressionlessly obstructed Raphael’s view as they ran towards a direction outside the courtyard.
Raphael’s night vision was excellent, and in the darkness, she saw that a door leading downwards had opened at some point, leading to the unknown.
Is this meant to lure me in?
Raphael hesitated for a moment as she glanced upstairs, then looked at the open tunnel in the distance, before she finally sprinted towards the tunnel.
Fisher, who had finished packing his belongings upstairs, heard the sound of shattering glass. He paused for a moment, then sighed.
The worst-case scenario had happened; the other side had indeed discovered his intentions. It seemed Feilon was keeping a close watch on him. In such a cautious situation for both parties, even a slight movement could disrupt the balance.
At this moment, Fisher decided to relax, placing his packed luggage down before carrying his staff and heading downstairs, not stopping as he passed through the now-empty restaurant.
Raphael should have chased after Mill and the others. Fisher felt the contract of the slave mark and realized they were heading underground, where there should be some hidden structure.
But Fisher did not pursue Raphael and the others; instead, he silently hoped that Raphael could handle the situation on that side.
The reason was simple: when he slowly walked out of Feilon’s house into the courtyard, he saw Feilon, dressed in a suit, standing quietly in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, looking at the inner city, and then towards Feilon City outside the inner city.
The night-time Feilon City was peaceful. From the higher vantage point of the Lord’s Mansion, he could just see the lives of the subhumans below. It was late at night, and they were either resting or sleeping. Currently, there was not enough noise from the Lord’s Mansion to spread outwards.
“Good evening, Mr. Fisher.”
“Good evening.”
Fisher lit a cigarette and walked over to stand beside Feilon, gazing at the serene and harmonious inner city.
“Mr. Fisher, it saddens me that you want to leave so late. Now that you know what I’ve been doing, haven’t you?”
Fisher nodded.
“You are selling souls; you’ve made substantial profits through this trade, and you have your sights set on the souls of those dragon people. You’ve been conducting similar research for a long time, capturing the souls of the subhumans in the wilderness as well.”
“Ah, what a clever brain you have; it seems nothing can escape your notice.”
Feilon remarked with a tone of admiration towards Fisher, as if it was just as he expected.
“Mr. Fisher, do you know how much energy is contained within a human soul? A human can release a tremendous amount of magic in their lifetime, and all that energy comes from their soul. After compressing their souls to a high degree and releasing them by ignition, the energy generated is more than enough to surpass tons of coal.”
“Initially inspired by Soul-Loss Syndrome, since profound despair can cause their souls to resonate, I wondered whether love could do the same. Experiments showed that it indeed could. The deeper the love for a target, the greater the amplitude of the soul’s vibration, leading to easier extraction of the soul.”
“But, Mr. Fisher, people are always guarded against each other. Whether it’s creating despair or eliciting love, designing it to target a single subject incurs heavy costs and isn’t suitable for mass production.”
Fisher’s thoughts quickly aligned with Feilon’s trajectory, and he seemed to have realized something, seamlessly finishing his statement.
“So you are looking for targets that can lower the standards for generating despair or love, searching for groups whose despair and love can be easily instilled. In the end, you found the answer.”
“Exactly, Mr. Fisher, that is children!” Feilon clapped his hands, looking at Fisher with great admiration, as if applauding his wisdom. “Only naive children, with their purity, can perceive love and happiness without any defenses, and express it.”
Fisher remained silent, watching the scene outside, only deeply inhaling a puff of his cigarette.
“So, you produce those children for profit?”
“Profit?” Feilon’s mask did not move, but Fisher saw the eyes hidden behind the gas mask suddenly twist in anger at Fisher’s reasoning. However, a second later, his eyes returned to normal, and his tone became calmer.
“Do you know, Mr. Fisher, that my hometown, Ulen, was originally a quiet and peaceful place, until the geological survey team from Saint Nali discovered coal beneath my homeland? In order to gain profit, people from various places entered my homeland with the same intent to seize the land we lived on.”
“In the aftermath of the resistance, they set my village on fire, and all my family and friends I had lived with since childhood were burned alive in that fire. I survived by hiding under my brother’s corpse, but when I stood up the next day, his body was glued to mine, and I couldn’t wash it away.”
Feilon’s expressionless eyes drilled into Fisher as he tapped the gas mask on his face with a finger. “If given a choice, I, my brothers, and every child in Ulen would willingly sacrifice their lives in exchange for the coal they wanted to mine, so that so many would not have to die!”
“Mr. Fisher, look at those subhumans living in the inner city. Their homes have been destroyed, and they are on the brink of extinction. For what? Because humanity craves their resources, seeking to eradicate them.”
“If I hadn’t intervened, they would have been exterminated, dying quietly in the wilderness without any awareness. I have provided them with a good living environment, but is all this without cost? So much money needs to be paid—can mere passion save them?”
“If you were to ask any subhuman in this city whether they would be willing to exchange peace and comfort for these children, what do you think the answer would be?”
“The energy efficiency of the dragon people’s souls is seven to eight times that of humans. Sacrificing one dragon person could save the lives of seven other children! Is that not worth it? So I am sorry, but I must take the souls of those dragon people.”
“But Mr. Fisher, I can let you and the red dragon leave. You are one of the few scholars of Nali, and I do not wish for such a bright mind to remain on this continent in this manner.”
As the time of a cigarette passed, Fisher pinched out his cigarette in his hand. Seemingly unfazed by his lengthy monologue, he turned seriously to Feilon and asked,
“I just want to know, where are those children now?”
Feilon paused slightly, as if already knowing the answer. His voice, full of magnetism, carried a hint of amusement.
“Thanks to you, Mr. Fisher.”
Suddenly, his suit burst open, revealing a slightly bulging steam device on his back. The originally miniaturized steam rings had been replaced with a larger backpack, where dozens of metal cans were deeply embedded, as if melting into his body. Steam continuously poured out from the surface of the backpack, with wires linking it to his right prosthetic arm and some device covering his left hand.
The backpack trembled slightly, and with a phantom wailing sound, streams of pure blue energy flowed through the wires into his prosthetic arm, instantly causing his entire body to emit massive amounts of steam. Then, the backpack opened slightly, covering the transmission lines with metal armor.
His gaze, devoid of eyelids, pierced through the gas mask as he addressed Fisher, word by word,
“They are with me now.”
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(End of chapter)
