Chapter 120: Envy Royal Family! The Mysterious Tracker
Chen Rui never thought that the lady would take him to the Silent Night Wetland!
According to common sense, one could not reach the Silent Night Wetland in three days. The noble lady must have used some special means.
“The Silent Night Wetland is huge. We simply just walked to the edge.”
Chen Rui groaned slightly and asked, “Have we not shaken off the followers?”
The noble lady gazed deeply at him. “Richard, you’re really smart. To be honest, I still don’t fully believe your teacher, even though you have already taken out the black potion and Jiu Tian Xuan aura fruit. However, even if you did not have those, you are a very excellent talent in your own right. I am willing to recommend you to Her Majesty Catherine, and I can guarantee that you can get more than you expect.”
Chen Rui was a little surprised, and he smiled slightly. “I can get even more? Including a mysterious beauty?”
“At Demon Realm, as long as you are valuable, there is nothing you cannot obtain.”
The lady’s answer was very clever. She neither acknowledged nor denied it.
Chen Rui remembered that Shea had also said something similar. For some reason, he suddenly missed a certain boss lady.
“Sorry, I don’t know what I can get. However I am certain that if I agree, I will lose more than I expect.”
Dark Shadow Empire was initially a good choice, but Athena would not leave Dark Moon. Shea and Alice also had a certain place in his heart, and there were also friends like Aldas… He had many ties left that made him unable to give up Dark Moon. Of course, the most important thing was that Paglio had not unlocked <Lock of Light and Dark>; he could not leave Blue Wave Lake. As a contractor of their mutualistic contract, even if Chen Rui took Athena to the Dark Shadow Empire, his life would not be guaranteed.
“Your choice makes me feel regretful,” the lady sighed, “However, I appreciate your frankness. I hope that you can survive today and I hope… we will not become enemies too early in the future.”
Chen Rui said in his heart, frankness, what bullsh*t. The crux is that your intelligence is far too scary, otherwise I would have used the fake surrender strategy, the fake self-injury strategy or the handsome guy strategy, unfortunately even escaping is a problem now.
The noble lady took Chen Rui deeper into the Silent Night Wetlands. He saw various demonic crocodiles and giant sticks along the way. If these creatures existed on Earth, they would already be known as powerful predators. However, they were merely below the middle of the food chain here. Chen Rui saw with his own eyes a strong lizard easily tearing into a fish that was twice as large as those on Earth, and also saw a carnivorous giant tortoise with strong defenses become an empty shell after getting eaten by a few terrifying dragonflies.
The noble lady did not provoke these creatures, generally avoiding them. Sometimes when she went near a powerful demonic beast, the energy she emitted deterred the beasts into running away.
Gradually, the sky darkened.
The swamp was very cold at night. From time to time, the creatures’ cries could be heard from far away.
Chen Rui did not see the magic house that was on the carriage, because the special characteristic of this tool was that its master could control the interior of the space. However, its exterior defense was not enough, so someone had to guard it. Therefore, it was not suitable to be used in a place like this.
The noble lady used a tent, which was actually also some kind of magic space tool. On the outside it looked small, but on the inside, it was almost equal to a ten meters square of private space. The ground was lined with thick carpet, and the tent had everything they needed such as floor mattresses and magical lights. The greatest function of the tent was that the view outside the tent could be observed from the inside at any time.
This type of magic tools were very valuable. Ordinary people rarely got to see them, but this mysterious, rich noble lady unexpectedly had two. She was really worthy of a descendent of the Dark Shadow Empire royal bloodline.
Every two hours or so the two rested in the tent. The noble lady ate an aura fruit, then she sat with her eyes closed to digest it. Chen Rui did not dare act recklessly because of the faint energy from her body.
Chen Rui’s feeling from before was right. The noble lady’s power was indeed slowly weakening. With every aura fruit she ate, her powers diminished. However, when he used <Analytical Eyes>, it still showed “unable to determine”.
In contrast, Chen Rui was obviously very bored. In the few days he spent in Town Leia, he already finished converting all the remaining waste ores in the storage warehouse. As of now, the total aura had reached 1.1 million, but he couldn’t use it unfortunately.
“What were you humming just now?” The noble lady asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor after she finished consuming the aura fruit.
“A song that I hum when I am bored.” Chen Rui grinned. “I bet you have never heard it; I created it myself.”
This famous song was from Earth. This was truly the first time it was sung here. Chen Rui unceremoniously claimed the copyright as his own.
“You’re right, I have never heard it, but I can tell that it was supposed to have a melodious tone. Your humming was all nothing like that. I find it hard to imagine that you are the creator.” Chen Rui blushed and wanted to insist that “you just have no standards for appreciation”, but the noble lady took something out from the storage ring and put it in the veil. She blew gently, and it was actually the song he hummed just now.
Not only was it accurate without any mistakes, but it also corrected some of the parts that were off-key. It even had a melodious and profound charm found in the original song, as if she was the true original creator.
Chen Rui was dumbfounded for a while. All tricks were impossible in the face of this absolute power. Luckily, he did not try to justify himself just now, otherwise he would have ended up embarrassing himself.
The noble lady stopped playing the music. “Sorry, I used to like music very much. Now, I hear a new song, I could not help but show my incompetence. Do you have any other songs?”
Is this considered incompetence? Chen Rui felt like hiding in shame. He hummed another familiar nocturne more carefully this time.
After listening, the noble lady did not immediately start playing. She was silent for a while, then she started to play. In the mist of the wetland, the melody resounded quietly, like a fairy walking alone in the night, enjoying the embrace of the dark loneliness.
The music gradually quieted, and for a moment Chen Rui felt empty. He had to praise her, Genius, she is a genius! She only has to listen once to grasp the melody of the music.
“I really like this song. What is it called?” the lady asked suddenly.
“‘Dancing alone in the Moonlight’. I think it was created by a human minstrel.” Of course, in front of the expert, Chen Rui did not dare to pretend to be the creator again. He tentatively asked, “Don’t you think this song is lonely?”
“Are you trying to ask whether I’m lonely? I have seen this sort of pickup too many times. If you wanted to use this to improve our relationship, it would instead make me lose a little bit of the candid fondness I initially had.”
Seeing Chen Rui’s expression froze, a hint of laughter appeared in the noble lady’s eyes. “Anyway, thank you for the song. I might play it when I’m lonely. To be honest… I’m too busy. I don’t even have time to feel lonely. This might be the first and last time I play music.”
Too busy to feel lonely? Chen Rui suddenly thought of what Shea said, “I don’t remember the last time I laughed.” Somehow, it felt as if the same emotion could be seen faintly from these two sentences. He immediately shook his head and stopped thinking about this strange association.
“I’m cold and hungry now, can Lady make something to eat. You can’t get those songs for free, right?”
“These two songs only worth some food? In the eyes of a music lover, it is a priceless asset.” The noble lady shook her head. “At least, these two songs are now mine”
Chen Rui also shook his head. “I wanted to ask you let me go in exchange for those two songs. But when I think about this, I am more valuable than these two songs, so I held my tongue and didn’t say it.”
The noble lady could not help but smile lightly. “You truly are a very special person. Even I can’t help but get infected by your emotions. When I’m with you, I get a rare feeling of being at ease. To be honest, I appreciate your wisdom and optimism. If… there weren’t too many impossibilities, who knows, you might really touch my heart.”
“I would not dare to have too many high hopes. For example, I am still carrying this incompatible thing,” Chen Rui held up the gold crystal shackles. “If I didn’t have this, I think we would already have some semblance of a friendship.”
“Friend?” The lady looked at him lightly. “As long as you are willing to join Dark Shadow Empire, such a day could happen.”
“Plans can never keep up with changes. It is too early to say these things.” Chen Rui didn’t want to completely seal this path for now, so he vaguely said, “It’s best if Lady prepare some wild game meat so that we can barbecue it. Who knows, the fragrance may attract some huge dragons or powerful predators that will save me from your possession.”
“…”
One night had passed. The noble lady was consuming one aura fruit every two hours or so. Chen Rui slept for three days before this, that was why he did not feel tired. The lady had taken a total of seven, her strength had obviously deteriorated to a whole new level. He was not sure if he was seeing things, but it seemed like she was also slightly decreasing in height. However, his <Analytical Eyes> still showed that her powers were “unable to determine”. Chen Rui was secretly shocked. Thankfully, he didn’t act rashly. There was still a little venom from the poisonous dragon, but after learning a lesson from Barnacle, he did not dare to behave recklessly. This noble lady was a hundred times wiser than Barnacle, he definitely could not make any mistakes.
At dawn, the two chatted and ate some food. The noble lady suddenly stood up, waved her hand, and the fire went out instantly. Chen Rui knew that something was wrong and shut his mouth immediately. The noble lady grabbed him and galloped away at the speed of light until they reached a redwood forest. She placed him behind a tree, then disappeared after getting up and down a few times.
Chen Rui secretly reckoned that when the noble lady came to Silent Night Wetland, she was planning to get rid of the followers and find a safe place to absorb the power of the “Jiu Tian Xuan aura fruit”. She did not expect the tracker to be good enough to follow her all the way here.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. It was a good opportunity, but at his current strength, even if he unlocked the gold crystal shackles, he could not be the oriole. Although the noble lady had been very polite all the way, and the two had a harmonious and friendly atmosphere between them so far. However, it was hard to tell one’s true intentions. Chen Rui was still a captive; once he stopped being valuable, who knew how this “amiable” noble lady would treat him.
Now, the crux was that he did not have “Dark Will” in his hands. With his strength, the possibility of escaping this completely unfamiliar Silent Night Wetlands was practically zero.
About half an hour later, the noble lady still did not return. Just when Chen Rui could not resist transforming the gold crystal shackles, a prompt appeared in <Analytical Eyes>. Someone appeared in front of him.
To Chen Rui’s surprise, it was not the noble lady shown in <Analytical Eyes>.
Race: Envy royal family.
Comprehensive Strength Assessment: Unable to determine!