Chapter 157: An Empire’s Tale of Deception
A demiplane filled with pink mist.
Shana lay on the floor, devoid of all will, gazing at the unchanging sky, floor, and walls, and sighed deeply.
Why, in a fit of madness, had she chosen such colors? Where was the warmth of the bridal chamber? Looking at it for too long only made her feel increasingly lonely, isolated, and cold…
Amidst the girlish pink, a profound silence reigned. She was utterly alone, a tenfold blow to any young girl’s heart!
Even the most mundane gray and white would have been less agonizing than this.
She never imagined that Roger would be so uncooperative, especially that he would conspire with the Empress of Eternal Night and trap her here.
In short, it was all Roger’s fault!
The Little Angel made the huge pot on a certain person’s head even larger.
Although her true form was known as the Shepherd of Time, proficient in time-based spells, that was all based on divine power.
Shana herself could cast ordinary-level time stops using magic power.
But in the already agonizingly slow passage of time, what use was that?
She tried to sleep, but she couldn’t.
After all, she hadn’t done anything physically taxing.
Feeling a certain anticipation from her body, she considered imitating the actions of that scoundrel to find some pleasure…
But there was no cover here. What if the Azurevine Empire’s negotiation delegation happened to arrive at that very moment? Wouldn’t that be incredibly embarrassing?
Wasn’t she once a Six-winged Angel, now the second strongest in the empire beneath the Empress? Didn’t she have any dignity?
So, she would just lie there obediently, waiting for Little Ao or other people from the empire to open the door and let her out…
Thus, her heart yearned, her only toy was herself, but she couldn’t play with it, leaving her to wait in boredom.
She waited until she doubted life itself, until she doubted if Little Ao had forgotten her…
She accidentally guessed correctly.
If the two of them hadn’t also grown bored, and if Roger hadn’t reminded them, the Empress of Eternal Night would have truly forgotten about her.
In any case, as far as Shana was concerned, it felt like thousands of years had passed before she finally sensed a spatial fluctuation.
With a whoosh, she stood up, watching obediently as the spatial gate appeared, and Roger and the Empress of Eternal Night walked out, chatting and laughing.
“So Your Majesty has visited such interesting planes before…”
“Yes, the planar laws there are very strange. They are born old and then gradually become younger…”
Well, she was initially bored, but thinking of Shana reminded her of the Seven Gods, and thinking of the Seven Gods reminded her of planar travel.
So the two of them began to discuss the strange worlds they had seen and visited, finding new topics.
This was the normal state when a man and a woman were attracted to each other.
All the external hustle and bustle was merely an excuse for them to get closer and understand each other better.
Even an Angel was no different from the information provided by a movie or a roasted sweet potato.
It was all just an excuse, giving the two of them something to do to be together.
So, they chatted along until they reached Shana. They hadn’t made any particularly intimate gestures, but their tone and demeanor, from afar, reeked of an overpowering, putrid scent.
Coupled with the pink background, the solitary Little Angel, seeing them together, suffered a ten-billion-fold blow.
Hmph, it’s not even spring, you two lovebirds, tone it down!
Shana rubbed her eyes and picked at her ears, suspecting she was hallucinating from being locked up for so long.
Speaking of which, shouldn’t this be a formal meeting between the two major factions, a solemn and grand exchange of transactions and intelligence?
Even a stern interrogation would have felt normal.
But them strolling over while chatting, and then the Empress of Eternal Night glancing at her and casually asking, “Have you thought about it? Do you still want to continue the negotiations?”
Shana’s composure completely crumbled.
Do you even take me seriously?
This was the tone of someone asking a food stall owner if they wanted to continue business at midnight. Seriously?
We are about to trade information from the top factions and the strongest powerhouses in the Multiverse!
Roger, seeing Shana’s fluctuating expression and her constipated distress, sighed. “It seems she hasn’t made a final decision yet. Let’s go play somewhere else.”
“Okay.” The Empress of Eternal Night readily agreed and opened another spatial gate.
“Wait, wait!” Shana exclaimed, stopping them.
Are you two joking with me? You’ve made a judgment before I’ve even spoken?
I’ve already decided! I’m willing to trade!
The young girl’s composure had completely collapsed. She was terrified that if these two left, they would forget about her again, and she would be locked up for who knew how long…
Roger turned around, his tone impatient. “Is there something else?”
That indifferent tone made Shana, who believed she held valuable bargaining chips, start to doubt herself.
Had other Angels fallen into Little Ao’s hands?
Had they already gathered enough intelligence, making my information irrelevant?
So, no matter how long I’m held captive, it’s no loss to them, and I’m just extremely bored here, right…
In a flash of lightning, Shana had thought of dozens of possibilities. She felt that if she didn’t trade her information soon, she wouldn’t be waiting for a good price, but would be bored to death and her true self would drag her back. She said cautiously, “Um… I can actually trade.”
“What are your terms?” The Empress of Eternal Night also turned around, asking with feigned modesty.
“Um…” Shana glanced at Roger unwillingly, feeling that if she made any more excessive demands, her hope would be slim. She said dejectedly, “Let me out, and I’ll answer three of your questions!”
The Empress of Eternal Night and Roger exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
“My loyal subject is correct. As long as I wish to leave, she will indeed be impatient.”
“This move of ‘borrowing a knife to kill’ and ‘turning the tables’ is a secret technique of the Charles family.”
“Excellent, excellent! We’ll cooperate again next time we have the chance!”
“No problem, I understand the actor’s self-cultivation!”
The two of them chatted amongst themselves as if Shana didn’t exist.
Wuwu, that scent of dog food is getting stronger and stronger, I want to cry!
Shana dejectedly lowered her head and looked at her hands, as if they were not skin but silicone products…
So I’m not an important captive at all, just a small prop for them to deepen their feelings and lubricate their lives, right?
A single girl yearning for love, being force-fed dog food by her parents.jpg
Just as Shana was lost in the feeling that this world was worthless and she should return to her divine kingdom, the Empress of Eternal Night solemnly handed her a long list:
“Once you earn 100 points, you can leave.”
Shana held the meticulously designed list, filled with hundreds of questions, each with points assigned. She realized this was a protracted scheme.
These two were playing a strategy of “retreat to advance”; they actually valued her intelligence greatly but deliberately made her appear worthless to minimize their cost and gain her cooperation!
This “retreat to advance” tactic was one she had used before, and the Empress of Eternal Night hadn’t fallen for it then.
Yet now the Empress of Eternal Night and Roger had cooperated to use it, and she, failing to see their insidious ploy, had begged them not to leave…
This was heartbreaking!
Aren’t you two deliberately seeking revenge?
Two adults, conspiring to ambush a newly born child like me who’s less than three days old. Is that really okay?
Shana held the list, wishing she could tear it to shreds, and roared that she would never stoop to answering a test in humiliation!
But then, through the spatial gate the Empress of Eternal Night hadn’t yet closed, she saw the bustling world of the City of Mysteries.
The Empress of Eternal Night herself stood gracefully by the gate, gazing at Shana, her beautiful eyes seeming to ask if she saw her freedom beckoning.
Just answer a few questions, and you can leave this boring, empty pink demiplane and enjoy life!
Roger took out a large hourglass from his spatial ring, his actions telling Shana that this was a timed test.
Shana felt completely overwhelmed.
Please don’t do this, I can’t bear it, I really can’t!
Freedom was within sight, freedom was being counted down, and being locked up here was truly too boring…
She lowered her head, looked at the question list, and began to choose and calculate how to reveal the least crucial information in exchange for freedom.
She surrendered.
…
…
As the hourglass was about to run out.
Shana returned the list to the Empress of Eternal Night, her face full of pent-up frustration and indignation. She said fiercely, “Insidious human!”
This list was a magical item.
By simply thinking of a question, the corresponding answer could be recorded without manual writing.
It also had a certain truth-detection function. When Shana tried to intentionally record false information or had wicked thoughts, she couldn’t input an answer.
She also couldn’t make up information she didn’t know.
This lie-detection function wasn’t from the list itself but from backdoors left in her body, cooperating with the list.
This made Shana even more frustrated.
She had no idea how many hidden measures the Empress of Eternal Night had left in her body, causing her to feel apprehensive whenever she looked at this woman.
Who knew how many more methods she hadn’t used, to have easily dealt with her…
She couldn’t even win against her, yet she easily crushed her pathetic projection and still played mind games to torment her. You are truly too much!
Her Little Ao shouldn’t be like this…
It must have been Roger who corrupted her!
Roger, inexplicably glared at again by the young girl, felt truly wronged.
What did his leaving backdoors have to do with her?
Although the question list and his cooperation with the Empress of Eternal Night tonight were indeed all his idea…
But you foolish projection with insufficient nerve, are you blaming me?
The Empress of Eternal Night took back the list, confirmed that Shana’s answers met their baseline, and stepped aside to reveal the spatial gate:
“You are free.”
“That’s it?”
Shana was also stunned.
Based on the partial memories she inherited from her true form, Naliner always had a chain of conditions, slowly squeezing out all value.
From seeing the list with numerous questions, where answering about a tenth would suffice for the points needed to leave, she felt this was a familiar pattern.
The other party presenting this list meant they were serious about wanting to trade with her.
These questions were carefully designed, and the points were very scientific (benefiting the甲方).
When one party appears quite greedy, it can lower the other party’s guard, as the one with no desires is the hardest to deal with.
Shana was mentally prepared for the other party to nitpick for various reasons and claim she hadn’t completed the task, thus requiring her to answer more questions to extract more value.
She was at a disadvantage from the start in this kind of game, so she didn’t expect to gain the upper hand, only to be at their mercy like the targets Naliner had manipulated before.
But the current outcome was the Empress of Eternal Night directly declaring her free.
“Just like that, you can leave anytime.”
Seeing her surprised expression, the Empress of Eternal Night felt a sense of joy.
Did you think you could guess my intentions?
This was originally their time for entertainment. The list contained many questions about the Seven Gods’ gossip and privacy, questions unrelated to core interests.
So, the basic goal had been achieved, and even though they held the advantage, they wouldn’t be insatiably greedy.
This was a respect for a promise, not setting up petty tricks in the rules.
Moreover, she still had a contingency plan: hoping this little angel, with nowhere else to go, would eventually defect to the empire.
So, the Empress of Eternal Night left Shana, who was still pondering what had happened, and took Roger to teleport away.
The spatial gate remained open, and Shana could sense that the reinforced space had suddenly lost its restrictions, allowing her free passage from then on.
“So, this is what a true transaction is…”
Shana’s twisted worldview was finally corrected.
A transaction was when both parties got what they needed, an exchange of interests, not one party manipulating the rules to win twice in a single transaction.
However, this could also be interpreted as them not valuing her that much, but rather being immersed in the joy of their world for two. She was just a temporary prop for their amusement…
“Outrageous, outrageous… I will make you value me sooner or later! I certainly will!”
She muttered and left the space she had long grown tired of, then casually destroyed the demiplane that symbolized her past mistakes.
Upon returning to the City of Mysteries, there was no guide this time, and she was quite unfamiliar with the world, not knowing where to go.
Fortunately, her appearance was sufficiently distinct from Shady’s, and her attire suggested she was from a wealthy family. No one dared to bother her while she was daydreaming by the roadside.
“First, I need more information… The Grand Library?”
Shana recalled some of the introductions Roger had given her, knowing it was a marvel of the Azurevine Empire. As long as one reached the level of an Archmage, they could browse freely without needing Azurevine Empire citizenship.
Her silver and red hair shimmered under the moonlight. To regain control and become a powerful figure who could toy with that scoundrel Roger at will, the Little Angel chose to postpone her enjoyment and learn more information through study.
Even when enjoying life, one shouldn’t act like an animal; one should know how to eat and play, be tasteful and elegant, right?
While confined in space, she had repeatedly reviewed her brief “encounter” with Roger, understanding the disdain in his eyes.
Next time, next time I’ll make you unable to reach me!
I will get back every bit of the suffering I’ve endured!
