AutumnXd
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Chapter 43: Conspiracy
🕑 Added 2025-06-11 10:45:24 +0000 UTCEthan was still immersed in his meditation, diligently absorbing the surrounding Aura. Suddenly, a sharp knock on his bedroom door interrupted his thoughts.
"Ethan, come out and eat!" his mother's voice came from outside the door.
Ethan slowly opened his eyes, took a deep, centering breath, then stood up to open the door. Eating is the most important thing, after all. If you're not enthusiastic about eating, there must be something wrong with your brain!
After finishing his meal, Ethan returned to his room to continue channeling Aura.
Sigh, I have all these credits, but I can't even spend them, he thought, frustrated.
Just as he was thinking about his financial situation, his phone chimed with a notification. He picked it up and saw that his share of the earnings from their wilderness trip had arrived. The three of them had split the profits from the Ice Serpent parts evenly. Ethan had received 20,000 credits.
"Twenty thousand?" Ethan was a little surprised.
(In the 'Monster Hunting Trio' group chat)
Seraphina: "@Ethan, @Marcus, the payment came through. Iris Thorne is really loaded. She spent 40,000 credits to buy that Ice Serpent venom sac without even haggling. I also found a good buyer for the serpent's gallbladder. After paying me back for my share of the Astra Vine, you each successfully got 20,000 credits."
Marcus: "Amazing, amazing! When it comes to bargaining, Sera, you're the most amazing person I've ever seen."
Seraphina: "Not at all. When it comes to real bargaining, my aunt is much better than me. I can't even compare to her now."
Ethan: "Ahem, speaking of bargaining, my mom has never lost to anyone. A 200-credit new dress, she can bargain it down to 40. But my mom's skills are for ordinary things. For high-end items for psionicists like this venom sac, those everyday tricks are useless. So you're still the capable one, Seraphina!"
Seraphina: (งᵒ̌皿ᵒ̌)ง⁼³₌₃
After chatting, Ethan looked at the newly arrived 20,000 credits in his account. To be honest, after experiencing the initial surprise and excitement of getting the Aura Cores from the wild, and then the incredible thrill of earning an income of nearly a million at The Gauntlet, looking at this 20,000 credits now, Ethan's heart was truly without a ripple of excitement. He even felt that it was a bit… too little.
Tsk tsk, it seems I've really become a bit arrogant and don't know my place. After all, 20,000 credits was not a small sum for many people. This was his parents' combined salary for a month! And he had only gone out into the wild for a single day to get such an income. This was already a huge sum. But perhaps it was because his recent experiences had been too smooth and incredibly lucky that his concept of credits had become a bit skewed. In reality, for most ordinary people, wanting to get an explosive income like theirs was extremely difficult. They were just lucky.
After channeling Aura for a while longer, the sky outside was already dark. Ethan covered himself with the blanket and entered the land of dreams.
......
The next day, early in the morning, Ethan had already returned from his morning exercises. His Mom and Dad had already made breakfast and were sitting at the table, but he didn't see any sign of Lily.
"Mom, where's Sis Lily?"
"She went out early this morning," Sarah replied. "She said she had to go meet with some city officials to discuss the specific details of next year's college entrance exams. She'll be back around noon."
"Oh."
To be honest, Ethan was very curious about what form their college entrance exams would take. Could it be that it was no longer just about fighting each other in a simple tournament? Anyway, there was no point in wracking his brains over it now. Ethan decided not to think about it anymore and sat down to focus on his meal.
In the wilderness outside New Veridia, a group of people dressed in concealing black robes were systematically slaughtering a large pack of Direwolves. Their strength was extremely formidable. Even the alpha Wolf King only lasted a few rounds against one of them before it was tragically killed under his claws. That's right, under his claws. The hands that the man in the black robe revealed were not human hands at all, but a pair of powerful, sharp tiger claws! That pair of tiger claws was incomparably sharp, glinting with a cold, deadly light, making one shudder.
After the surrounding Direwolves were all killed, the group didn't waste any time. They skillfully cut open the chests of the Direwolves and dug out their still-warm hearts. Then, each person took out a fine, long needle from their sleeves, carefully inserted it into a heart, and extracted a tube full of blood. All the extracted blood was a fresh, vibrant red. Coupled with the sinister attire of these people, the entire scene exuded a strange, ritualistic aura.
All the blood was extracted and put into a special, sealed container. Then, one of them carefully carried it in front of the man with the tiger claws and said respectfully, "Deacon, the materials have been collected. Once they are sent over, the experiment can begin immediately."
The person addressed as Deacon nodded, indicating his satisfaction. He looked at the container filled with blood, and a trace of fanatic excitement flashed in his eyes. He said in a low, gravelly voice, "Very good. This is a mission assigned by Headquarters itself. We must go all out. This experiment is very important. If we can succeed, it will have a huge, transformative impact on the entire progress of our Evolution Cult. Therefore, everyone must be on high alert and not make any mistakes."
Then, the Deacon continued to drone on, his voice filled with fervor, "Do you know? If this experiment succeeds, it will be a major breakthrough for our evolution. It can allow our own strength to be greatly enhanced, and it can even change the entire landscape of the Evolution Cult. Headquarters was angered by those failures in the capital, so they couldn't implement the plan themselves and handed it down to us. I hope everyone understands this principle and goes all out to complete this mission. Remember, this plan can only succeed; it cannot fail! Our future will be bright, so this operation only allows for success, no failure!"
Finally, the Deacon shouted loudly, "The Evolution Cult is eternal!" The others also echoed in unison, "The Evolution Cult is eternal!" Then, those people quickly and silently left, leaving behind only a bloody mess on the forest floor.
A single, dying Direwolf, hidden under a bush, thought with its last breath: Tell the superiors… we're all dead. Have the Wolf Emperor… avenge us...
......
Lily called out as she opened the apartment door. "I'm back!"
No one responded. Ethan was channeling Aura in his room. Sarah and Simon had gone to work. She walked with light steps to Ethan's room and, without knocking, directly opened the door. Ethan was startled from his deep meditative state. Because there was no one else at home, he hadn't thought to lock his door.
He looked at her and said helplessly, "Sis Lily, you should really knock before you enter!"
Lily simply smiled and took out a secure case. Inside were thirteen vials of advanced-grade psionic potions, glowing with a bright, beautiful light, as beautiful as captured stars in the night sky.
Ethan's protest died in his throat. "Come, come, Sis Lily, please come in. You must have been busy for half a day, right? I'll go pour you a glass of water." He immediately pulled her over to sit on his bed, then went out to pour her a glass of hot water.
Lily held the water glass and rolled her eyes at his sudden change in attitude. "My dear nephew, inside this case are the three vials that Mayor Thorne compensated you with, and there are another ten that are my own personal sponsorship for you. Take them and go train."
Ethan hurriedly took the case, looking as if he were afraid she would suddenly go back on her word. He opened the case and saw the advanced-grade psionic potions shimmering inside, his heart filled with immense gratitude. "Thank you, Sis Lily! I will definitely make good use of these potions and improve my strength as much as I can."
