Chapter 14
He earns money with his body; there's nothing shameful about that!
Lan Hua entered the temple hall, with the Federation's great painter and the high priest of the prophet following him cautiously, like his attendants.
Bern, dressed in a white toga robe and a gold belt inlaid with colorful gemstones, sat high on his throne, his expression majestic and disdainful as he looked down at the group of people walking out of the appointment hall. His hands gripped the armrests of the throne tightly, his gaze cold and hostile as he watched Lan Hua approach.
"Who goes there?" Bern asked coldly. Although his voice wasn't loud, it could be heard throughout the entire temple.
"Guess?" Lan Hua strolled leisurely onto the altar, but did not stop. Instead, she walked through the altar toward the throne where Bern was located.
As Lan Hua approached, Bern's feigned composure gradually crumbled. If he weren't still clinging to his prophetic airs and pride, he would have already shouted at Lan Hua—"Don't come any closer!"
Bern had been tense ever since Lan Hua entered the hall. The ominous premonition grew stronger with Lan Hua's approach, so intense it seemed to solidify, making it hard for him to breathe. He gripped the armrests of the throne tightly, afraid he would succumb to his instinctive urge to flee.
"Stop!" Bern shouted, his voice trembling with fear, as Lan Hua approached him. But Lan Hua clearly wasn't going to listen to him.
"Mania!" Bern shouted through gritted teeth. He no longer cared about saving face as a prophet; could face help him stop this person who didn't follow the rules?
“I’m here.” The priest peeked out from behind Lan Hua, weakly raising a paw to indicate his presence. “The button to summon the guards is next to the megaphone button,” the priest reminded him. He was an office worker, and such a scene, seemingly on the verge of tragedy, was not suitable for a delicate office worker like himself to rush forward. Although the priest didn’t know Lan Hua’s combat abilities, her imposing aura had already overwhelmed him.
"Did I appoint you as my priest so you could just sit around and do nothing?" Bern snapped. "Why aren't you coming to my rescue!"
"But I don't think I can beat him." The priest leaned forward. "I've given you the best advice. Press the button now, my lord."
"Hey!" Bern roared, "Back when you couldn't find a job after graduating from university, I shouldn't have given you a priest position out of consideration for our childhood friendship. I should have let you experience the harsh realities of society." Now, it's his turn to be beaten up. Although the newcomer looked stunningly beautiful and tall, not like someone who could fight, Bern's intuition was always accurate; this person was definitely a formidable demon king!
He cursed and swore as he pressed the button to summon guards to protect his life. He was now filled with regret; he shouldn't have tried to show off. He should have listened to his intuition and summoned guards to protect him before the man entered!
But the moment Bern's fingers twitched, Lan Hua strode forward and grabbed his wrist. They were instantly very close, face to face, and Bern could feel the warmth of Lan Hua's hand. Seeing Lan Hua's face up close was so stunning that Bern momentarily forgot his immense sense of danger. He felt a dryness in his throat and unconsciously swallowed. But the sharp pain in his arm and the overwhelming sense of oppression he couldn't break free from pulled him back to reality. He suppressed the overwhelming beauty and stammered, "Let's talk this out... violence won't solve anything."
兰华啧了一声，“话说先知能预感到自己会被揍吗？”这个先知看上去就比麻杆画家好一些，身体素质也就是一般人的水准，看上去不禁揍。
“Yes,” Bern said, sounding aggrieved. “I had a bad feeling before you came in. I didn’t want you to come in, but I also had a feeling that if I missed you, I might miss some crucial information.” He didn’t want to see this person either! He didn’t have any masochistic tendencies; on the contrary, he had always been inclined to seek advantage and avoid harm, and he had never been wronged since he debuted as a prophet.
Bern was almost crying from the pain. "Can you loosen your grip a little? It hurts so much."
"Aren't you supposed to be a 'superhuman'? Your physical condition isn't so great." Lan Hua eased her grip a little; if she continued to grab him, Bern's claws would indeed be ruined.
“My abilities come at a price, so while my mental strength is great, my physical abilities aren’t much better than Tali’s,” Burn said.
He cited Tully as an example because Tully was famous, and it was common knowledge that Tully was physically weak. Tully's bloodline was so thin that it was almost the same as that of an ordinary person, placing him at the low end of the "superhuman" hierarchy. However, Tully's professional abilities were so outstanding that he was highly respected in the Federation.
Tali: "..." Are you being polite? Bern will never be able to get him to do anything in his life.
"Can I ask you something?" Bern swallowed hard. "I have no grudge against you, so why did you hit me?!"
"No grudges or enmities?" Lan Hua sneered. "Does my appointment being scheduled for thirty years in advance count?"
Bern was almost in tears: "How can you blame me for having a lot of appointments because I'm famous? You're being unreasonable!"
"I'm not one to make a fuss over nothing," Lan Hua scoffed. "It's a waste of time to reason with people."
Bern: "..." He's like a scholar encountering a soldier!
"By the way, how come he can get an appointment so quickly?" Lan Hua asked, pointing to Tali behind her.
“I cut in line for him because I wanted him to paint,” Berne said.
Lan Hua: "..." His explanation makes perfect sense. If it were him, he probably would have done the same.
Lan Hua released Bern, who slumped back onto his throne, clutching his injured claw and hissing in pain. This guy's just an ordinary person, right? But his strength... he could tear a spaceship apart with his bare hands! This defies both theology and science!
"You two go down," Lan Hua said, turning to the stunned painter and priest duo.
The priest glanced at Bern. Bern snorted coldly, "You may leave." That unreliable fellow. But his eyes signaled to the priest to fetch reinforcements. The priest gave a nod, intending to leave the hall and lead the guards back to reclaim the dignity of the Prophet's Temple.
"Don't even think about calling for reinforcements, just behave yourself." Lan Hua didn't care about the two's little tricks at all, chuckled, and gently stroked Bai En's neck, like the most tender lover, "If anyone breaks into the main hall before I come out, I'll break their neck."
Bern: "..." Scared, my neck is so cold.
The priest: "..." He wanted to give up.
The painter: He longs to be touched like this by a beautiful woman! He's never even touched a beautiful woman's hand...
"You may leave," Bern said, on the verge of tears. "No one is allowed to come in without my order."
"Don't do anything unnecessary," Lan Hua said softly, gently stroking Bern's neck.
“Yes!” Bern raised his hand in agreement, though his neck ached.
After the doors leading to the reservation hall closed, only Bern and Lan Hua remained in the empty hall.
"Come down," Lan Hua said to Bern as she walked toward the altar.
Bern said "Oh," and obediently stepped down from the throne, following behind Lan Hua, his neck hunched like a quail.
“Find me someone.” Lan Hua stopped in the center of the altar and turned to face Bern. The playfulness, laughter, and cynicism had vanished from his face, replaced by a cold and gloomy expression. The blue firelight reflected on his beautiful face, making him all the more chilling.
“This isn’t something I can do just because I’m willing.” Bern felt like he was being stared at by a dangerous beast, and the chilling sense of danger made the hairs on his body stand on end.
He flinched slightly and explained, "The universe operates according to its own laws, and so does the use of power."
“Continue,” Lan Hua said.
“My ability is to detect information, and all information in everything has energy.” When talking about his job, Bern gradually lost his tense and timid expression, becoming solemn, his voice low, and his speech slow and serious. “Therefore, if you want to obtain information, you must pay a price equal to the energy of that information.”
“Hmm, an equivalent exchange, quite reasonable,” Lan Hua said. “Then what? What exactly is the so-called cost?”
Bern: "..." The sacred atmosphere he had just created was ruined by this person. How annoying.
"Others learn information through you, so essentially you pay a price to exchange information. What did you pay?" Lan Hua asked.
Bern: "..." He felt like his business secrets were about to be exposed.
Looking at Bern's expression, Lan Hua said, "Let me guess—your abilities are very strong, which means your mental strength is very strong, so your bloodline ability will grant you equally strong physical qualities." As Lan Hua spoke, the sacred aura that Bern had created gradually dissipated.
Lan Hua smiled and continued, "And your current physical condition is about the same as an average person. Although many people make appointments with you, you can't necessarily meet with people every day, so—the price you pay is your physical condition."
Therefore, this prophet was considered diligent to see one person every two or three days, and the appointment fee was roughly equivalent to ten years' worth of income for an average family without spending a penny on food or drink. Furthermore, there were additional costs associated with obtaining the desired information. Even so, appointments were booked decades in advance. Clearly, information is always the most valuable asset.
Bern: "..." He didn't want to speak. Having such trade secrets revealed completely, without the added mystique and divine aura, it didn't seem high-end or classy at all. All the atmosphere he'd painstakingly created with the temple priests' thrones and altars had been ruined by this person! He really wanted to hit him, but... he couldn't.
"What price did you make others pay? Money?" Lan Hua asked.
"Money, of course. Besides money, valuable items are fine too. What else could it be? We can't exactly take their lives, can we?" Since his business secrets had already been exposed, Bern stopped pretending and simply laid his cards on the table. He made money with his body; there was nothing shameful about it.
Lan Hua pulled out a huge ruby from the particle space, larger than the prized ruby embedded in Bernkin's belt, and of visibly higher quality. He placed the ruby on a small tray extending from the torch stand, saying, "Deposit."
Bern: "...!!! His name, and objects that carry his scent. The objects must have had contact with him, the deeper the bond, the better." Such tempting gems...
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