Chapter 995
Past is Past, the Present is Perverted
After the unpleasant transaction concluded, Alice unceremoniously abandoned Arsen and left with the money box he brought.
While she personally didn’t care for the money, the funds obtained from selling her “used, original scent clothes” would actually go towards the organization’s expenses. The Eagle Eye organization had promised that this money would be used to improve the living conditions of the orphans, which was why Alice was willing to part with her clothes.
She was, to some extent, still a girl. Even though she had admired the Phantom Thief Arsen since childhood, even viewing him as her idol, and thus didn’t dislike him wearing her clothes… they were still her favorite clothes back then.
If she hadn’t liked them, why would she have worn these dresses to attend the grandest and most formal banquets?
Now that she had truly calmed down, she suddenly realized where that money for “improving the living conditions of orphans” had gone.
Clearly… it was for the Cley Party.
Although Alice was indeed naive, her social status was ultimately that of a reporter. She couldn’t possibly be unaware of the existence and rules of the Cley Party.
Engaged in the media industry, one couldn’t be entirely innocent and ignorant. It was a dyeing vat filled with all sorts of malice and sin.
Weren’t those people also “orphans”? Bought over by the Eagle Eye’s subordinate organizations to carry out various illegal activities. And these children also had to receive money from their higher-ups… didn’t this also serve the purpose of “improving the living conditions of orphans”?
She hadn’t been completely ignorant of this matter before. It was just that she always stubbornly believed that the Child of the Moon was the culprit behind the chaos, sin, poverty, and depravity of the Iris Flower nowadays. To solve various problems, one had to first solve the Child of the Moon—and conversely, if the Child of the Moon could be resolved, those messy minor issues would likely heal themselves.
Therefore, these “not-so-perfect minor issues” were all considered “necessary growing pains on the road to expelling the Child of the Moon.”
—Until today, when she suddenly realized that the organization had never truly trusted her. She wasn’t even considered a person, but rather an intermediary for the transaction between her family and the Eagle Eye organization…
When her filters shattered, her intelligent mind took over.
Things she had known in the past, but intentionally ignored, now flooded her mind.
She planned to go back and carefully figure out what else had been kept from her!
—Then she would muster her emotions and tears and properly complain to her father!
At this moment, the reporter lady, known for her “rebelliousness and independence,” always dressed provocatively and behaved frivolously, now seemed to have regressed, turning back into the little girl she once was.
But from another perspective… transitioning from “playing an adult” to “playing a child” actually proved that she had indeed grown up.
However, until Alice left in a huff, she hadn’t realized what “Ibn the Ritualist” had intentionally overlooked.
Arsen gazed at her retreating back and let out a light laugh, “As expected… still a child, aren’t you?”
“She’s already quite good.”
Eivass, disguised as “Ibn the Ritualist,” raised an eyebrow and commented, “A bit too green, and most importantly, not resolute enough.”
“Yeah…”
Alistair, whom he held in his arms, said with a smile, “Because she heard even bigger news, she unconsciously forgot her original purpose and questions… I miss those days. I had times like that too.”
“Those days?” Eivass asked at the opportune moment.
“Mmm, when I was still a clear-headed, foolish university student.”
Alistair, who appeared no older than fourteen or fifteen, said briskly, “If I remember correctly, she also seems to be a fresh university graduate.”
Everyone present, without exception, had concealed the same thing from Alice.
—That is, why both the Child of the Moon and Eagle Eye were simultaneously monitoring this location.
Alice only felt a slight puzzlement, but her attention was easily captured by Arsen’s exaggerated performance, and she soon focused on the extra key in the luggage.
But the overlooked matter was actually the key.
Although the assassins of the Eagle Eye organization were skilled at stealth, the Child of the Moon could sense others’ blood qi; and even though the Child of the Moon appeared identical to ordinary people in their normal state, Eagle Eye had long studied them—coupled with the perception and intuition of Path Adaptation, they were essentially exposed before each other’s eyes.
“The child has left.”
Eivass looked at Arsen and said, “Next, let’s talk about matters for adults.”
The white-haired vampire chuckled menacingly, but Arsen showed no signs of nervousness, instead leaning back.
“Speaking of which, this is also why I’ve confirmed you’re not a bad person,”
Arsen said casually, “You don’t want this child to get involved in any trouble, do you?”
Indeed. Eivass thought.
No matter what conspiracy her family was brewing, she was indeed innocent… and was dedicating herself to the country and humanity at the risk of her life. It was precisely for this reason that Eivass had let her go when he captured her. Otherwise, as merely the daughter of a duke in the human kingdom, involved in a major case like assassinating the Eternal Pope, how could she have left so easily?
But the white-haired vampire merely sneered, “I just found her to be a nuisance.”
“Alright, alright…”
Arsen waved his hand, accepting it as stubbornness or professional pretense, “Since the nuisance has left, I need to tell you something more important.”
With that, he leaned back in his chair, beckoned lazily, and snapped his fingers, announcing, “Alright everyone—could you please step out for a moment?”
The next moment.
Everyone in the previously boisterous tavern suddenly fell silent in unison.
Diners, drunks, sailors, bards… even the person working as a part-time receptionist, cook, bartender, and boss, all stood up simultaneously and prepared to leave.
“Hey, you can’t leave!”
Arsen suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the boss’s sleeve, “Get me some beer—and I’ll also have beef burgundy, cream and pepper tripe, chicken liver mousse, and a donut. Oh, and a rice pudding, with ice, and linden honey. Put it on my tab—and Mrs. this gentleman’s tab too.”
“Don’t even think about it, you despicable thief! Scoundrel! Duck!”
The boss struggled to break free, retorting unceremoniously, “You’ve charged it three times already, my small business can’t handle your vile freeloading!”
“I’ll pay you back next time… I didn’t bring money this time… You know, it’s not really suitable for me to carry money when I go out…”
“No next time, Arsen! You’ll just drink water!”
The boss left in a rage.
Yes, it was not mental manipulation.
—It was simply that everyone in this bar was his people.
As a phantom thief who had been active in Iris Flower for over a decade, his stories still held such popularity even now, and could even be written into novels and sold overseas… if all of this were spontaneous, it wouldn’t happen even in thousands of episodes of a sitcom or a children’s cartoon.
As a phantom thief on the Path of Devotion, he naturally had his own influence.
He had always been a champion of the weak and the poor, and a robber of the rich and a giver to the poor. Even though he gave away almost all the money he stole, completing a “reasonable redistribution,” it didn’t mean he lacked the ability to form an organization. After all, many people he had saved, and many people who were hated, had been severely punished by the phantom thief. It was only natural for these people to become the phantom thief’s followers.
It was precisely because of his solid foundation of connections in all walks of life that he could always issue accurate “crime notification letters.” He couldn’t investigate such matters thoroughly on his own, as some crimes could only be truly understood by industry insiders, while outsiders might not even grasp the professional terminology.
After all, this was an era without search engines, and industry knowledge was such a high cognitive barrier.
…However, after they had become thoroughly familiar with him, the “idol halo” around him gradually faded, and people’s admiration turned into disdain.
As an idol known throughout the country, he shared a similar yet opposite fate with Sherlock—the more people became familiar with Sherlock, the more they revered and distanced themselves; while he was shunned and distanced by the “relatively conservative thinking” Iris people due to his increasingly undisguised perverted behavior.
Eivass knew some of his dark history—after all, Arsen had been a frequently appearing event NPC from the mid-game onwards. The usual event format was that he would hide a newly stolen treasure in a designated location and then create a riddle for players, who were his close friends, to find it. If found, they would receive some insignificant in-game currency tokens…
Considering that one could cheat on the riddles if they couldn’t solve them, as a purely benefit-giving NPC, Arsen was quite popular.
And the most perverted, and most admirable, thing Arsen did was make a bet with the player in the main storyline. Naturally, he would lose the bet—and if the player chose the most ludicrous-looking punishment option out of three, “dancing the Can-Can in the street wearing only underwear”…
—He would actually do it.
Arsen agreed without hesitation.
Although it sounded like a stylish act of “willing to lose a bet,” his agreement was so firm, even somewhat eager, that it made some players have the strange thought, “He didn’t want to do this in the first place, did he?”
The official also designed a complete CG for this option—he wore a fiery red skirt, but his makeup and disguise had been removed, revealing his handsome, deep, and weathered face, while his lower body was clad only in underwear.
The Can-Can dance is famous for its hip-lifting and high-kicking dance moves, characterized by revealing skirts and thighs, splits, and high kicks.
When the police arrived to arrest him upon hearing the news, he continued to dance the Can-Can while flexibly disappearing into the streets, becoming an urban legend that made people feel as if they had experienced a collective hallucination.
—A person like this could get along quite well with the players.
This was why Alistair subconsciously recognized him as a pervert—in a sense, she was the least qualified to speak about Arsen.
It was precisely because he keenly sensed goodwill, and because Arsen had sent Alice away, that Arsen was able to roughly determine the possible identities of Eivass and his companions and confirm that they were not allied with those Children of the Moon.
So Arsen began, “Those Children of the Moon are not here to snatch the Moonlight Key. They have no use for this key… they want to destroy it.
“Because some Children of the Moon seem to intend to use this key for some extremely dangerous ritual. And this ritual could even affect the entire Child of the Moon clan… To prevent accidents, other factions of the Child of the Moon want to destroy this key instead.
“They know this key is being escorted by Alice. So for her safety, even if you hadn’t intervened, I would have ‘unintentionally’ revealed the truth to her. This way, they wouldn’t think the key was still with the girl, and thus would choose not to attack her—or at least reduce the probability of her being attacked.”
“How gentle.”
Ibn sighed and replied softly.
Arsen shook his head and continued, “As for the Eagle Eye organization… After all, this key was actually brought to me by them through Alice. They have held this key for over a hundred years. This way, even if our cooperation were leaked, only she would be held responsible. It could be targeting her, or her father who could die at any moment…
“I believe they’ve stayed here the whole time precisely to prevent Alice from defecting. This is probably also to monitor me, preventing me from saying too much to Alice.”
Arsen said, unconsciously tightening his grip on the key and holding it up to the light on the ceiling, “After all… this key seems to allow one to physically reach the Dream Realm. Sometimes I think, what if I were a Phantom Demon? Living without the need to eat or drink, or sleep. Living carefree… without having to worry about anything.”
“—The Dream Realm has thousands of entrances, and once you enter, you might never find your way home again,”
Eivass offered a symbolic warning.
But he also knew that persuading someone of this was likely futile.
However, Arsen’s words revealed another piece of information:
“You want to leave Iris Flower?”
Suddenly, the white-haired Child of the Moon realized the underlying meaning behind Arsen’s words and asked, “Do you have any intentions?”
“Go to Avalon, I think Avalon is currently the strongest nation in the human world.”
Arsen replied indifferently, “Or go to Star Antinomy, anywhere. As long as it’s not the desert where I have to eat sand.”
“Then my suggestion is Avalon.”
Eivass also replied unceremoniously.
Hearing this, Arsen felt reassured.
Regardless of whether he was involved with the Pope or not… he could at least confirm which side he was on.
His statement was a probing question—and it also preempted the easy excuse of “I’m an Anxi native, so I suggest you go to the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi.”
But in reality, even if he hadn’t asked, Eivass had no intention of hiding it from him.
He had disguised himself as Ibn because he feared that those holding Sherlock captive might react defensively and suddenly silence Sherlock. He had already quickly determined Sherlock’s exact location and no longer needed to continue the act; the remaining task was to rescue him first.
He planned to find an excuse to shed his disguise once they entered the Dream Realm and found an opportunity.
As for whether Arsen’s words were genuine, Eivass couldn’t care less.
—If he wants to come, let him. He’s not a thief who harms people indiscriminately anyway.
If you can truly put aside the messy political situation of Iris Flower, you are always welcome to come!
It’s just that Avalon has been too quiet for too long, and it’s time for some master of mischief to enlighten people…
“However… one side wants to kidnap Alice, and the other side is monitoring Alice. Indeed, both sides are not good things,”
Eivass lamented softly, “If not for your help, Alice would have surely died today. Both sides would probably blame the other for her death.”
“After all, isn’t she a ‘talent’ who assassinated the Pope and was then pardoned by the Pope? Coupled with her background… if she were to grow up, the influence she could bring would be immense. Yet, no one knows what kind of talent she will become in the future.”
The Phantom Thief said meaningfully, “The sole survivor of a regicide—everyone believes she is powerful. In such a situation, silencing her is the best and most thorough choice. And today, everyone can just shift the blame to the other party.
“As far as I know, both sides are somewhat unwilling to fight now. But if Eagle Eye and the Child of the Moon were to cease hostilities and cooperate, it would be tantamount to binding certain people to a stake—so they must escalate the conflict and fight more fiercely.”
“—That’s why I ate them,”
Alistair said with dissatisfaction, “I’m not an unreasonable person. Most of the things I can eat are not good things. The traces left by being preyed upon by the Child of the Moon are obvious, so at least the problem won’t be passed to the other side—I think Lily thinks the same way, she probably also left traces of shadow energy.”
“Yes.”
Lily’s gentle voice responded.
Eivass heard this and reached out to pat Alistair’s nose.
“You little thing…”
He leaned to Alistair’s ear and asked, “Didn’t you say before that you don’t drink others’ blood?”
“I eat them whole, it’s not considered drinking blood, it’s predation. I didn’t even kiss them, I just used my power to extract their blood.”
Alistair turned back and smiled, revealing a pair of ferocious and sharp little canine teeth, “I’m ‘pure love’ now—want to taste yours?”
Eivass flicked Alistair’s head, not responding.
Instead, he directly looked up and asked, “When do you plan to enter the Dream Realm? You’re not going to drag it out until the end of the month, are you?
“I have important business with him—I can’t wait until the end of the month!”
“…I know, it’s the Avalon Queen’s birthday. I’ve seen his letter too,”
The Phantom Thief replied, “I said I’d go later to trick that child away first. My suggestion is to depart now—give me about twenty minutes to replenish my inventory, and then we’ll go directly. It’s around this time that people take naps, we can just find someone who’s napping and borrow their dream… Do you want to come with me?”
“Certainly.”
The white-robed vampire nodded, sparing with words.
“Then let’s go together,” Alistair readily agreed, “I’ll go find someone sleeping first. If he hasn’t slept well, I’ll make him sleep even deeper.”
Lily didn’t respond but silently re-entered Eivass’s shadow.
However, speaking of entering the Dream Realm to save someone…
Eivass also thought of another matter.
The mission he had previously accepted from Madam Haibasha could also be completed concurrently.
Completing a bunch of related missions together sounded very friendly to his obsessive desire for order!
(End of this chapter)
