Chapter 85: To Die or Live, That is the Question

Turning around, I comforted the trembling little village girl beside me, gently rubbing her head while Miss Vilyric smiled and casually explained, “Don’t worry too much. Getting a seasoned old hand in the underworld to spill their secrets isn’t easy. Especially if he realizes that the secret he holds might be our only lead right now, he could very well use it as leverage to bargain for his life. I’m not keen on spending an eternity trying to outsmart him.”

Hearing the priestess’s confident words, Lan couldn’t help but feel a twinge of self-doubt. She closely observed the body of the man beneath them, who was lying in a pool of blood, his chest no longer rising and falling, and sighed in disbelief. “I understand what you’re saying, but what if there’s a chance he’s really dead?”

Miss Vilyric chuckled mysteriously. “Hey, that might not be the case! Just watch.”

“Huh?”

Just as the Acting City Lord was puzzled by the black-haired girl’s overly confident demeanor, the sudden sound of urgent gasping and coughing echoed through the cell, as if someone who had been drowning for ages had just been hauled back to shore.

“Guhah! Cough cough cough cough…”

“???”

To Lan’s utter disbelief, Oliver, who should have been dead with a pierced heart and a pool of blood around him, suddenly pushed himself up with his hands, struggling to sit back up!

The twin-tailed girl’s mouth dropped open in shock, but Vilyric merely shot her a calming look, allowing Lan to stifle her urge to gawk and focus on maintaining a facade of calm.

“What the…?”

Oliver, the one in question, appeared more confused than anyone. He looked down at his bloodstained prison garb and the uninjured skin beneath it, then made eye contact with the black-haired girl in front of him, who seemed to smile without mirth, and suddenly began to panic, backing away in a state of bewilderment!

“Ah!!! Y-you! You you you…!!”

“How does it feel? The taste of death, is it as refreshing as a clear spring?”

The girl continued to smile, but within Oliver’s eyes, her grin appeared monstrous and terrifying as if it had originated from the depths of hell. Even her flawless figure and serene presence couldn’t hide the deep-seated fear that had been carved into his heart by the experience of death itself.

Oliver trembled uncontrollably. The despair and anxiety he had faced at death’s door were horrors that those who had never experienced would never comprehend. The notorious underworld lord, who prided himself on having overcome and prepared for every challenge, now never wanted to relive that experience again.

What was that just now? An illusion created by a demon? Or perhaps some malevolent curse that induced extreme terror?

Oliver didn’t know. He didn’t even have the courage to look down at the thick, sticky blood that had stained the ground—blood that should have taken a human life completely.

His psyche had been shattered by the reality of death.

He no longer dared to ask, “Who are you?” or “Why do you want to know this?” The questions loomed heavily in his mind, but all he could do was tremble and produce a desperate cry from his throat, resembling a pitiful plea.

“W-what do you want to know!? The information that should’ve been revealed, I already told you during the interrogation days ago!!!”

“Really? So… does that mean there are still things you haven’t disclosed? I’m a bit curious, so could you please tell us everything in detail?”

The black-haired girl lifted her seemingly harmless, delicate hand, golden light dancing around her fingertips like a sprightly elf, performing an elegant dance. But the sight caused Oliver’s pallid face to go even paler.

“Ugh! Please don’t! Let’s take it easy! I’ll tell you everything! You want to know how the Ghost Thieves found that Moonshadow Clan cub, right?! I’ll tell you!!!”

The golden light suddenly halted, and Miss Vilyric nodded in satisfaction, her smile returning to that ambiguous edge of pleasure.

“Very well, I suggest you don’t try anything funny, because I won’t give you a third chance.”

“Y-yes… I won’t dare…”

It seemed Oliver had accepted his fate. Shaking, he tried to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, but his blood-covered hands only smudged it further, making him look even more disheveled.

Seeing that he couldn’t clean himself properly and not wanting to keep Vilyric waiting, he awkwardly lowered his hands, avoiding the black-haired girl’s gaze that, though not fierce, still made him uneasy to meet. He stammered, “Well, to explain this, we need to go back about six months. There was a major incident in our Ghost Thieves group; our previous leader, Aidan, died unexpectedly, which threw the organization into chaos and on the verge of falling apart.”

“At that moment, a mysterious man appeared. He called himself a Summoner and possessed strange, immense powers, able to control magical beasts to serve him.”

“The Summoner used an iron-hand approach to forcibly gather the scattered members of our group, eliminating anyone who dared oppose him. Finally, he appointed a woman named Aileen as the new leader. Naturally, no one dared to oppose him out of fear.”

“Although Aileen became the leader, she rarely took charge. In fact, many members hadn’t even seen her in person. Mostly, it was I, the vice-leader of the Ghost Thieves, managing the organization’s operations above and below ground. Only for major decisions would we need to consult with the leader…”

“Wait.”

“Uh, yes, do you have any questions?”

The moment Vilyric opened her mouth, Oliver instantly fell silent. After this brief pause, he seemed to have calmed down considerably, and a more flattering expression appeared on his face.

Perhaps understanding how to bow down to true strength helped him survive the upheavals within the Ghost Thieves and rise to the position of vice-leader.

“Did that Summoner ever mention his name?”

“His name…?”

Oliver tapped his head, thinking hard, before suddenly exclaiming, “Ah! I remember! Although that man never publicly revealed it, there was one time when leader Aileen spoke with him privately and called him Syl. I happened to be there to report something, so I overheard.”

Could it be the same person…?

Syl was probably short for Sylvester Burwell, the Summoning Alchemist. It seemed he was the true mastermind behind the scenes, and Aileen undoubtedly had some close connection and collaboration with him.

That, in turn, shed reasonable light on the existence of the legendary artifact, the Box of Sealing, suggesting that the Ghost Thieves were merely pawns in someone else’s game.

“Didn’t the Summoner stay with you afterward?”

“No, he was very low-profile and mysterious. After appointing Aileen, he quickly disappeared. But he hadn’t truly left because Aileen is just an ordinary woman with no real strength; without the Summoner’s secret support, she wouldn’t be able to maintain her position. Even if the Summoner were to leave, he must have left her some form of support.”

In a manner that felt resigned, Oliver continued explaining, “Actually, some people tried to challenge Aileen after realizing she was now in charge and vulnerable. But these people usually met untimely ends before they could put their plans into action, just like Aidan did back in the day.”

   

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