Ignoring the girl's playful antics, Lin Guang took a deep breath, calmed his emotions, and quietly stabilized his suddenly accelerated heartbeat.
The two tentacles in the darkness suddenly approaching almost triggered his PTSD; he almost hallucinated a giant wide-door elf pouncing on him, and could only force himself to maintain a poker face.
However, he didn't feel any particular emotion due to the girl's malice and duplicity.
There were simply too many wild Spirit Beasts in this world with a bigger temper and an unyielding spirit; sometimes, signing an Equal Contract was useless. If they couldn't harm the Spirit Master, couldn't they choose passive resistance or even suicide?
That's why the mainstream in the Spirit Master world was currently the Slave Contract, rather than the Equal Contract, which could better unleash potential and intellect.
However, regardless of whether she was that W from Terra, the moment he realized his talent was activated by her, he indeed signed the contract almost without thinking, instinctively.
Since a contract was signed, he had to take good responsibility.
“You don’t have to be so reserved… Hmm, this isn’t the place to talk.” He shook his head, “Let’s talk when we get home.”
The girl was suddenly stunned, her crimson eyes wide: “…Home?”
She stopped, and it took her a few seconds to regain her composure, then she sneered: “That’s not funny at all.”
“Even a toddler knows that Sarkaz have no home.”
This sentence was about to blurt out, to retort against his utterly boring joke, but her lips had just parted when she hesitated.
Lin Guang’s face showed no hint of insincerity, and it was quite calm, without any sign of guilt; it even seemed he himself subconsciously didn’t realize there was anything wrong with that statement.
The girl fell silent.
“Among those human traffickers, there aren’t any who can communicate. It’s probably very rare to find someone who speaks the Terra common language.”
“Forget it, I’ll follow him for now.”
Thinking this, the girl stepped forward.
At this moment, she herself didn’t realize that in such a short time, her mental state had stabilized significantly.
The two walked side by side in the dim black market, ignoring the gazes filled with various emotions from the people hiding their figures nearby.
She frowned unhappily, then suddenly thought of something, looked at Lin Guang, and said, “By the way, why do I feel like you were trembling a little at first?”
“I guess I still scared you, didn’t I?”
Lin Guang looked at the two red tentacles dangling and shaking with her steps, and stiffened imperceptibly: “…You’ve been hungry for too long and are hallucinating.”
“Hmph, I don’t believe it.”
The two returned the way they came, and when they arrived at the entrance, the manager happened to rush over, a hint of surprise and disdain in his eyes behind the mask.
Someone actually willing to contract such a Spirit Beast, and even after their clear warning? Are young people these days all crazy?
Next time he comes, they absolutely shouldn't lend him money. Who knows, he might go insane any day.
“Tsk tsk tsk tsk…”
His tone seemed a bit regretful, but he said nothing, had the masked man bring a card machine, and after confirming the payment was received, he turned and left.
Led by the burly man, the two entered a different staircase from the entrance, and the three ascended the steps.
After climbing the long staircase, the moment they pushed open the stairwell door, what greeted their eyes was a small alley hidden between the buildings.
It was cluttered with Sundries and looked unremarkable.
The burly man casually grabbed a cloak from a nearby cart and threw it to the girl, then pointed in a direction to Lin Guang: “This alley can lead directly to the road from there, no need to go through the mall interior.”
Lin Guang understood: “So this is your internal supply channel.”
“Yes, then I wish you… you both good luck.”
He left a thought-provoking remark and turned to walk back.
Glancing at the receding figure of the burly man, the girl looked down at the cloak in her hand, which could completely cover her body. She curled her lips, her smile full of mockery.
Heh, a supply channel, huh.
Sure enough, in these people’s eyes, I’m just like those strange animals…
However, at this moment, Lin Guang suddenly snatched the cloak from her hand.
“If you dislike it, then you don’t have to wear it.”
“…”
Taken aback, the girl’s amber eyes narrowed. She looked at Lin Guang’s profile: “Aren’t you afraid I’ll be discovered?”
Lin Guang folded the cloak in his hand, put it into the tote bag for materials, and said: “You have already signed a contract with me. Since you haven’t done anything that violates my principles, then as a Spirit Master, I have the responsibility to protect your most basic rights.”
“As long as this contract exists for one day, no one can take away your right to walk in the sun.”
“…”
“Quite a big talk. Who knows what that Equal Contract you mentioned actually is, whether it’s real or fake.”
The girl finished speaking with feigned disdain, stared at Lin Guang for a moment, then suddenly turned her face away, not letting Lin Guang see her eyes, her tone unreadable:
“But this is good too, I don’t want to wear that kind of thing again.”
“Then, let’s go.”
Lin Guang walked towards the exit, and the girl followed closely behind him.
The moment they stepped out of the alley, the setting sun enveloped them.
Having been in the dimness for so long, Lin Guang instinctively squinted to avoid looking directly at it.
Then he suddenly realized that the girl beside him was standing in the sunlight, stunned.
She slightly raised her head, her amber eyes reflecting the setting sun currently embraced by tall buildings, and the bustling street with its surging crowds nearby.
Even as the sunlight stung her eyes and brought tears, she didn't blink, and the slightly constricted cruciform pupils held an unknown emotion.
“So this is what this world is like.”
Lin Guang didn't speak.
But perhaps because they were both visitors from another world, he inexplicably felt that he understood her thoughts at that moment.
Casually hailing a taxi, the two got into the car. The driver was a northern-looking man who seemed quite talkative, but he was unusually quiet throughout the journey, perhaps having sensed the low spirits between the two.
After seeing the sunset, the girl’s professional fake smile disappeared. She silently watched the scenery outside the car window, and having not washed up, she looked quite disheveled and somewhat haggard.
“We’re home.”
Lin Guang's home was at Haiyue Community, Building B, 201. There were several bags at the door, containing the ingredients he had just ordered on his phone.
Click.
The key turned, and Lin Guang slowly pushed open the door.
“The bathroom is the first room on your left. You can go wash up a bit first. Dinner will be a while, I’ll start cooking right away.”
Saying this, Lin Guang went into the kitchen, carrying the ingredients.
The girl turned to examine the room.