Chapter 247: White Orchid Rain Festival (Twenty-nine)
A blue flame spread out from the pawn ticket of Yizhihua. Although it had no temperature, it burned more and more fiercely.
Bei Xi was the first to react. She immediately took out props from the control panel and tried to put out the aggressive blue flame. Others followed suit.
The guild alliance immediately started to think of a solution together. After all, the system prompt sound had not yet sounded, which meant that the forced special side quest had not yet been completely completed. Perhaps putting out the fire would have a different result.
The Gamblers' Guild President and the Corpse Drivers' Guild President also reacted immediately and wanted to stop it, but before the Corpse Drivers' Guild President could do anything, he was stopped by the Gamblers' Guild President.
"No need, look..."
There was a rare hint of gloating in his tone, and for a moment he forgot that this mission was about to end, and he still hadn't figured out the secret of how those unknown beings left the pawn shop.
The Corpse Drivers' President was puzzled at first. He didn't understand why the Gamblers' President wanted to stop him when now was a good time to press on the victory. But when he followed the other party's gaze and looked over, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
The pawn ticket had been burned to almost nothing, and no matter what methods the guild alliance used, they could not stop the spread of the fire.
What's more, the blue flame that jumped out of the pawn ticket was no longer satisfied with just burning the ticket. The blue dots fell randomly on the endless antique display shelf behind the crowd like fireflies in the night sky.
In an instant, the entire pawn shop began to shake violently, even more violently than the initial vibration caused by the pawn ticket, and a sharp cry broke out. It was not just one sound, but more like many kinds of wailing sounds mixed together, which made people tremble in their hearts.
"Ouch, my clothes..."
President Alice saw that the blue flame on the antique display case quickly ignited more pawn tickets. She was stunned for a moment and saw sparks crawling up the corner of her clothes. She reached out to hit it, but ended up touching Bei Xi's iron hammer.
“Don’t use your hands…”
Bei Xi used a sharp iron pick to sever the connection of the clothes. President Alice's long robe suddenly turned into a short skirt. The clothes thrown on the ground were soon engulfed by the blue flames. "The fire can't be put out at all. No matter what it is, it will be burned to nothing..."
Alice was stunned for a moment, and when she saw her intact fingers, she felt a wave of fear. This flame had no temperature, which would make people instinctively ignore the danger. If it weren't for the captain's quick reaction, her hand, no, herself, would have been no different from a piece of clothing.
"Ignore the flames. Stay away."
Bei Xi quickly gave up on using traditional methods to put out the fire, because when she saw the scene in front of her, she quickly realized that they might have misunderstood this special side quest from the beginning.
After Nan Huan came out of the pawn ticket, she kept staring at the blue flames, because she could sense a familiar aura from them.
She did not forget that the black air wrapped around the dragon envoy in the ticket turned into this blue flame after her wish was successful and the mark of the evil god was born. And she did feel the same familiar breath from the blue flame that she had felt from the strange black air before.
Unfortunately, Nan Huan could still absorb the strange black gas in its previous state, but now it has turned into a blue flame state. Nan Huan found that he could no longer absorb the black gas in this state.
Just as the system said, the mark of the evil god was born, as if something had awakened.
The shaking inside the pawn shop became more and more violent. People could no longer rely on their balance to stand on the ground. The antique display shelf on the top of the house had an unstable foundation that had been eroded by the blue flames and collapsed like a giant mountain.
The pawn tickets poured down like falling snow, hitting the blue flames and burning faster and faster.
"Chairman, Miss, what should we do now?"
Feeling powerless and confused is not a good feeling. For the first time, the Workers' Union President felt that he had a lot of energy but nowhere to use it. "The system notification sound has not sounded. Is there really a bug again?"
"No, it's not a bug," Nan Huan kept frowning. She had transformed into wings at some point and brought Bei Xi closer to the blue flames. She was not sure what she was trying to confirm. Only after she heard the question from the Workers' Guild President in the communication channel did she pay some attention. "This is the real test we will face in this special side quest."
Nan Huan explained to the two in a calm voice, "Look carefully at those burning pawn tickets..."
The current situation in the pawn shop not only puzzled the guild alliance, but also made the gambler's guild president, who had the upper hand, feel doubtful.
Logically speaking, under the current circumstances, the special side quest should be considered completed. Although judging from the results, the owner of the pawn ticket should be the Dragon Envoy, they are not sure what wish the Dragon Envoy made or what transaction he made. However, the system prompt did not sound when they returned to the pawn shop. In fact, they are still trapped in the pawn shop, experiencing an earthquake.
So when Nan Huan reminded President Alice and President Workers to carefully observe the pawn tickets that were lit by blue flames, President Gambler was also observing the situation inside the pawn shop.
President Alice didn't quite understand what the eldest lady meant, nor did she know what was so good about the lit pawn tickets, but she still observed them carefully, rubbed her eyes, and asked the president of the working people next to her, "Well, it shouldn't be my eyes, how could I be so young..."
"No," the president of the workers' union said firmly, interrupting her nonsense. "Every time a pawn ticket is ignited by the blue flame, a shadow will appear. It only lasts for a short time before being quickly engulfed by the blue flame. The flame seems to absorb energy and becomes larger, and then this vicious cycle continues."
This process is very short. If you focus on the blue flame, you won't notice this process at all. If the flame hadn't grown faster and faster and the young lady hadn't noticed something was wrong, I'm afraid they wouldn't have noticed it either.
If this blue flame is the mark of the evil god, then the burning process can be regarded as the process of marking the owners of the pawn tickets.
"I see. This time it's the pawn shop crisis described in the special mission."
The workers' guild president suddenly realized why the system had not sounded any prompt sound for mission failure. It turned out that the mission had not yet been completed. But looking at the current situation, they seemed powerless.
"There is more than one unknown entity. If they escape the control of the pawn shop, that means when all the pawn tickets are burned and the rights holders of the pawn tickets are all marked with the mark of the evil god, our mission will fail completely."
When it comes to such a serious topic, President Alice changes her usual eccentric personality.
If only one special side quest failed, it would mean that they would not get any clues about the withered dragon scale paper. But now that the 'Mark of the Evil God' was born, they seemed to understand why the system had to forcibly punish this special side quest, and there was also a suspected appearance of Man Wugui in this quest.
All these things seemed to tell them that this was not just a simple side quest, but had other deeper meanings. As for what the consequences would be if they failed, no one knew.
But this was the first time that President Alice hoped her premonition was inaccurate.
“So this is the real mission of the system.”
The Gambler's Guild President stroked his chin, watching the blue flame growing bigger and bigger. He was glad that he had chosen the right camp. After all, from a certain perspective, choice is more important than hard work.
They didn't need to put in any effort in this mission. Although he didn't know who the mysterious dragon lord was, because the other party's goal was the same as theirs, they were considered to have taken advantage of it. As for the mark of the evil god, it didn't sound like a good thing, but now the dust had settled and the burning flames had no resistance at all. Everything would have to wait until the mission was over.
"What do you mean? What is the real mission?" Although the scene before him was very shocking, the head of the corpse-driving group was obviously only concerned about their mission. "We have already succeeded, what else do we need to do now?"
The mission ended a little suddenly, and the system's prompt hadn't sounded yet. The president of the corpse-driving guild felt a little uneasy.
The Gambler Guild Leader was right. "There is nothing we can do now. Once this blue flame burns the entire pawn shop and takes all the pawn tickets, the mission will be over. We can neither help it burn faster nor put it out. Fortunately, we chose the right camp."
"And I seem to have found a way to survive."
The Gambler's Guild President lowered his voice so low that only he could hear the last sentence.
Although it is unknown why the Communist Alliance chose the pawn shop camp under such circumstances, it is a good thing that they chose the opposing camp, allowing the Gambler's Guild President to see the mark of the evil god. This is the only feasible way for him to get rid of the pawn shop.
Although Nan Huan was very anxious, he still calmly took Bei Xi around for a walk. After confirming the facts, he landed on the top of an antique shelf.
Nan Huan: System, since I am the owner of this pawn shop, I should have the right to void all the pawn tickets and release those special beings trapped here by the pawn tickets.
They were unable to stop the fire now, so Nan Huan had to consider the problem from another angle. Rather than becoming the owner of the pawn shop, inheriting the previous pawn tickets, and watching those unknown beings being marked with the mark of the evil god in this way, it would be better for her to exercise her rights as the owner of the pawn shop and let them leave.
System: Even if you are the new owner of the pawn shop, you cannot exercise such rights.
The system finally went online after Nan Huan asked the question, but unfortunately its answer was not what Nan Huan wanted.
System: Even though the pawnshop is now out of the control of the system, its original intention and the foundation of its existence have not changed. Once a pawn ticket is issued, it cannot be easily changed or revoked unless there is a more powerful force that is enough to fundamentally destroy these pawn tickets.
Before Nan Huan could ask any questions, the system had already given an explanation.
System: Now the mark of the evil god has awakened, it has invaded your pawnshop, and reached an agreement with those unknown beings to help them get rid of the pawn tickets, get rid of your continued control, and willingly become believers of the evil god. The unknown beings have indeed felt the powerful force from the other party, they are wavering, and your pawnshop is already in danger.
I don’t know if it was Nan Huan’s illusion, or if this special task was indeed related to the system in other ways. This time the system explained it in great detail, as if it was afraid that Nan Huan would not be able to understand it.
Hearing this, Nan Huan raised her thin eyebrows, she seemed to sense the deep meaning of the system's words.
Nan Huan: The mission prompt has not ended yet, which means that even though we think we have reached the end of our rope, there is still a possibility of a turnaround. This means that we have a power that is more powerful than the Mark of the Evil God?
System: Players need to rely on their own efforts to complete the task, and the system cannot give more hints.
Nan Huan's frown finally relaxed a little. After such a long time, the system still hadn't learned how to deal with cunning humans. This cautious tone, in a way, had confirmed that Nan Huan's guess was correct.
At this point, Nan Huan naturally had no intention of playing tricks on the system, so he relayed the system's words to the other three people.
At this time, President Alice and President Workers had used props to get to the side of the eldest lady and President Yi. Seeing that President Yi's expression was not very good, the two thought that President Yi was thinking about who among them had such potential.
President Alice was the first to be affected. Her eyes moved between President Yi and the eldest lady for a long time before finally settling on the eldest lady. However, her words were directed to Bei Xi. "President Yi, don't blame me. Although your combat power is already the ceiling of the players, I vote for the eldest lady on this matter..."
"Me too..." The worker pretended not to notice the boss's increasingly dark face and followed suit.
Nan Huan actually laughed, but after receiving Bei Xi's gaze, she readily returned to her serious expression, "I promise I'll be careful. Besides, don't we still have the dragon-shaped wooden amulet that Old Man Zhang gave us?"
She patted her chest, signaling Bei Xi to rest assured. Under the other party's eye attack, she turned her back to Alice and the president of the workers' guild and whispered to Bei Xi's ear, "Don't I still have 0.1 more health points? It's really okay. Besides, I can't just watch this evil god destroy the pawn shop I just got, right?"
When President Alice and the Workers' President saw this, they knew that the eldest lady must have thought of a solution, so they both turned around to avoid danger and did not want to watch the eldest lady coaxing the president, for fear of retaliation afterwards.
Bei Xi was still not very happy, but she was not targeting Nan Huan. Instead, after so many copies and each time it came to this point, she understood that they wanted Nan Huan to take action.
"I'll go with you."
She did not ask the other party to be careful, but directly asked to stay with the other party.
Nan Huan didn't want to agree at first, because she anticipated that the scene would not be good later, but under Bei Xi's firm eye attack, she couldn't refuse.
"good."
Following Nan Huan's agreement, she flapped her wings and swooped down from the top of the antique shelf, while Bei Xi held her waist tightly.
Bright blood fell from the sky like plum blossoms and landed on the pawn ticket that was ignited by blue flames.
After galloping for a while, the blue flame finally encountered a strong opponent. The blue flame was suppressed because of the red blood. The originally high flame became timid as if it was extinguished by water.
The vague shadow that had been absorbed by the blue flame appeared briefly as if it had sensed a more powerful force.
It has been in the pawn shop for who knows how many years, and finally found a chance to leave today. Although it would be absorbed by the evil god's mark and become his believer, it still agreed uncontrollably the moment it came into contact with the blue flame. Until now, the bright red blood seemed to contain some powerful force, which allowed it to briefly return to its sanity.
“You… who are you?”
Suddenly, an old voice came from the damaged pawn ticket, "Your breath is very familiar, I should have seen you somewhere, where exactly?"
The aura from Nan Huan seemed to evoke some memories in the other party, but it was not known whether the memories were too long ago or the impression was too vague. In any case, the other party did not continue his words here.
Although Nan Huan was very curious, she also knew that this was not the time to discuss these matters in detail. Blood was still dripping from her wrist.
"I am the new owner of this pawn shop. Don't believe in the mark of the evil god. Stay here. I will feed you with my blood..."
Nan Huan could feel how much the unknown being loved his blood, because the damaged pawn ticket was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye because of the bloodstains.
And the blue flame did not seem like the black energy on Man Wugui's body wanted to take over his blood, but it was avoiding it like a plague, and it even seemed a little desperate.
Although the unknown being did not give a clear answer to Nan Huan's proposal, the damaged pawn ticket, which originally flashed green light, emitted red light all around after it was restored to its original appearance, making the blue flames dare not approach.
It seems that this trick is quite effective. Apart from the fact that it wastes a bit of blood and is a bit painful, there is no other problem.
[You have gained the trust of the unknown being and become the true owner of the pawn shop. You can now write your own rules.]
Nan Huan flapped his wings and flew high. His blood fell like rain all over the pawn shop. The pawn tickets that were half burned suddenly stopped burning. The blue flames, driven away by the red blood, retreated in a panic and dodged in frustration.
The pawn ticket, which was glowing with green light and blue flames, was engulfed by the red light in a short period of time. The shrill howling sound gradually disappeared, and the unknown being that was being nourished seemed to have found a suitable home.
Nan Huan's body seemed to have lost a layer of water, and her face turned extremely pale. Although Bei Xi, the Workers' Guild President, and Alice, who understood what the young lady was doing, had come over and continuously replenished her with medicine, the impact of this damage could not be recovered from all at once.
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