Chapter 730 We Are All Volunteers
Leipzig, White Dove Opera House.
The overture, played by the orchestra while the audience took their seats, ended.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Our performance today is about to begin!"
Before the curtain opened, a tall and thin man with a white dove mask on his face and a voice as loud and clear as a radio host stood in the center of the stage with his arms outstretched diagonally upwards.
It's like praising the sun with all your heart, or embracing the night sky reflected from above the open-air theater.
Under the grand lights of Leipzig, the night sky is no longer pure black, but a chaotic color between dark blue and dark purple.
The audience was very polite—they didn't cheer, but applauded enthusiastically.
The applause continued for a long time. Even in the VIP room above, a few faint sounds could still be heard.
The decoration style of the White Dove Opera House is like a watch with a strange shape but no hands.
The main stage below is a bright crescent moon, and the audience is in the dark space facing the crescent moon.
On the second floor, there were twelve large rooms that protruded inward, with the rooms at twelve, three, six, and nine o'clock being particularly large. In addition, there were forty-eight smaller spherical rooms.
If someone were to look down from above, they would find that the audience were like broken diamonds dotted on the dial; and the sixty VIP rooms made up the rest of the dial.
At this time, the honey badger was staying in the VIP room above.
The room she was staying in was the luxurious VIP room at six o'clock. Because the "crescent moon" on the main stage was located from ten to four o'clock, it was basically one of the best seats for watching movies.
The soft crimson carpet attracted everyone's attention as if it were soaked in blood.
However, the room was not as magnificent as the honey badger had imagined - instead, it was decorated in dark tones that were quite mysterious and low-key.
In the purplish-black room, resembling the night sky, large amethysts were dotted one after another. A strange pink glow emanated from these amethysts... and the feeling of it upon my body was as gentle and ambiguous as the whisper of a sigh.
The honey badger, dressed in a fitted butler's uniform, stood at the front of the room, holding a half-full wine glass.
This place was like a diving platform, the farthest away from the shore. Yet, she didn't feel the slightest instability or shaking.
The front half of the room's walls were almost entirely made of transparent glass. However, according to the manager, this glass was one-way... you could see outside from the inside, but you couldn't see inside from the outside.
The voices of the host and the first opera singer on stage could be clearly transmitted directly into the room; however, the voices of the audience were suppressed to the lowest level - if she was not a transcendent who had adapted to the Tao, she would not be able to detect any noise other than the applause.
There are also two knobs near the wall that can adjust the one-way visibility of the glass and the sound extraction of the audience seats respectively.
Just as the honey badger was looking down at the entire opera house with an indifferent and almost nonchalant look, the crimson curtain was just opened.
However, at the nine o'clock position opposite the stage and also behind the audience seats, the foggy gray wall suddenly became clear.
Several figures blurred through the glass wall—a few bodies pressed against the wall, entangled in an ambiguous state. The male figure reached out toward the wall, seemingly turning a knob... and then the glass became even more transparent.
At this moment, the singer began to sing the opening song, and the movement in the room intensified. A man pressed one woman's hands against the glass window from behind, while two other women clung to him, entwined, on either side. This action seemed to possess a certain cinematic language, like another dazzling spectacle.
From the singer's perspective, she could obviously see all of this - but she didn't show any strange expression. Instead, she smiled sweetly in that direction, and with an elegant transition, she jumped like a deer and disappeared behind the scenes to the other side.
Then, it was like an invitation, opening the prelude to extravagance and chaos——
Under the honey badger's gaze, the VIP rooms in the other three directions also gradually cleared their view. Different performances were performed one after another like a show of show, and the lights in the sixty VIP rooms, like a wall of fog, turned on and off one after another.
From the honey badger's perspective, it all feels like a fast-paced puppet show, each room a window, each one a play of joy, anger, sorrow, and joy.
Some were moments of mutual ecstasy, others of slaves suffering torture, others of slaves displaying the wonders of bondage, and still others of guests flaunting their bodies, the very things they were proud of... These guests included both men and women, and their slaves were also both men and women, with varying numbers and attire. Almost every room lit up briefly for a few seconds before dimming again, leaving behind fleeting yet memorable afterimages.
Rather than watching the opera being performed on the stage, the guests seemed to prefer watching the "pantomime" performed by each other.
Under this spectacle, the opera singers could not panic or hesitate in the slightest. They had to perform everything perfectly and could not react to what they saw - although their performance was wild and almost crazy, it was all theoretically a secret.
Watching the rooms light up and go out, flickering like the signals of a lighthouse.
—Some viewers noticed all this, while others didn’t.
The honey badger was still holding the red wine and standing in the front with an expressionless face.
"……gentlemen."
Of the two bunny girls brought in by "Mr. Ezio" earlier, the smaller one bravely came over.
The other one realized that the honey badger was in a bad mood and hid behind the smaller one.
The first call didn't make the honey badger turn its head, so she called again in a slightly louder voice: "Mr. Ezio..."
The honey badger turned around and looked at the two girls with indifferent eyes.
They had washed their bodies and changed into another set of clothes without knowing it. Although it was still a bunny girl costume, this one did not cover any key parts.
They exude the fragrance of fruit and a hint of wine, and their skin is a beautiful pink.
"Mr. Ezio, is this dress okay? Do you need to change?"
The girl whispered softly.
She looked outside with some concern and asked, "Don't we need to turn on the video here?"
“Is it usually necessary?”
The honey badger glanced at her and asked back.
The girl shuddered at the sharp gaze, which was as sharp as a knife. She had never seen such a sharp gaze before. It looked as if it wanted to peel her skin off instead of cutting her clothes off.
"This is probably... to confirm each other's identity. The atmosphere in Leipzig is sharing and open. People who are too selfish will be excluded by others."
Seeing her companion remained silent, the older girl whispered, "So, it's best..."
"so."
The honey badger replied simply.
Suddenly, she threw the wine glass that she was holding tightly in her hand away and smashed it against the wall.
The glass wall surprisingly didn't break. Or rather, the honey badger used its clever strength to shatter the glass, but not a single piece of broken glass hurt the girl, nor did it cause any damage to the wall.
The blood-red wine spilled directly onto the glass, hanging on the wall for a short while and forming a gorgeous painting.
The sound of the glass breaking startled the two girls. The younger one fell to the ground with her legs going limp, and the older one was pulled by her and half-knelt on the ground.
The honey badger simply pulled his tie a little askew and then unscrewed it.
She stretched out her hand and brushed across the bright red wine on the wall, smearing it on the glass wall, drawing a bloody handprint, and then slowly clenched her hand.
She maintained her dead-cold gaze and expression, standing at the front with her chest held high. Behind her were two girls, one half-kneeling and the other sitting on the ground, their eyes blank.
The murderous intent without any distractions made the silent and serious middle-aged man at this moment appear to have a dangerous yet rational charm.
The evidence is that after that, several female guests in the VIP room turned on the visualization of the private room wall and boldly blew kisses or showed off their figures in that direction.
The honey badger did not avoid looking, but looked carefully at everyone who invited him - and saw the shining bright red light in the eyes of every such female guest.
After she memorized all the faces of these Moon Children, she finally nodded.
With a blank expression and a stern look, she tilted her head slightly and licked the remaining red wine from her hands, indicating that she would one day drink all their blood. Then, the honey badger reached out and turned the visualization knob back to off.
"Is this... the White Dove Opera House?"
The honey badger murmured softly, "It's really not appropriate... to let that 'young lady' come here. I must be responsible for her purity with my life."
The solemn, low, killer-like voice of the middle-aged man made the honey badger look like a strict butler.
“…Not really.”
The slightly older bunny girl reacted.
She whispered, "That kind of service isn't necessarily necessary... We're customer-centric here, after all. If that young lady comes to play, she doesn't necessarily need a boy... We can serve her. Or we can simply satisfy her 'satisfaction', or even entertain her with things like playing cards or chess...
"...And among us, besides those who understand these things, there are also those who are good at music, painting, and acting. Opera singers occasionally come here part-time. Recently, the Earl has also recruited a group of extraordinary people who understand politics, economics, literature, as well as alchemy, demonology, and necromancy... who can discuss those overly serious topics with guests."
...Count Leipzig is quite thoughtful. I don’t know what he has been through.
The honey badger shook his head silently.
She knew that these people considered themselves to be "parental housekeepers."
But in fact, the honey badger refers to the true identity of "Miss Aleister".
The fiancé of Isabel, the "Iron Queen" of Avalon, and the rumored girlfriend of the current Acting Pope of the Theocracy, she could not, under any circumstances, appear in such a chaotic and corrupt place; the dangers and uncertainties it brought were simply too great.
The honey badger turned around and sat on the soft sofa.
She took the wine handed to her by the girls, took a bite of the fruit the girls fed her, and then asked, "How long have you been here?"
The older one consciously stood behind her and gave her a gentle massage, while the younger one skillfully snuggled into her arms.
"This question is generally not allowed to be asked."
The younger girl spoke up, "But you're a VIP, so it's okay—I've been here about half a year."
"...It's only been half a year, and you've already adapted to this environment?"
"Because of the kiss from the Moon Children."
The girl whispered, unzipping her collar and pulling the honey badger's hand inside, revealing the scorching "hickey" on her chest. It was completely invisible from the outside because it was hidden by the heavy clothing.
"Once you've been kissed... your body can no longer do without blood. It's a poison more deadly than any other."
The honey badger narrowed his eyes slightly, and his murderous intent towards the Son of the Moon became even stronger.
"Have you ever thought about it," the honey badger asked casually, "what are you going to do next?"
"After that..."
The girl paused, a beautiful hope shining on her face: "If possible, I hope to be adopted by a Master of the Moon."
“…Is that all?”
"For us, this is already a luxury."
The older girl replied softly, "We are all dead... We are lucky to be alive."
"Dead people? What do you mean?"
The honey badger was stunned for a moment and then asked.
The older girl looked to be in her twenties or thirties, which was an age at which she might have committed a capital crime.
And that girl... didn't even look 20 years old. Why would she be considered "dead" at her age?
"money."
The little girl answered simply, "Because our family has no money. The family's debts have reached a point where they can't be repaid no matter what. So we have no choice but to come here... The Count of Leipzig is a very kind person and will give our family a large sum of money as 'employee resettlement fee'."
"…Human trafficking?"
The honey badger murmured, "Isn't this just the slave trade during the Empire?"
"That's not the case. We all volunteered."
The older bunny girl said seriously, "At least here, we can maintain a safe and decent life... This is a job for us. It's better than death, not to mention being able to save our families."
"No one forced us into this path... and no matter how much debt we have, Count Leipzig will at least write it off for us. We weren't sold here by our families; the Count wouldn't accept people like that. We all volunteered... This is simply a very dangerous job that makes it difficult to return home."
...Is this the desire to dedicate?
The honey badger's heart moved, and he vaguely realized something.
Through this method, the blood slaves who come to apply are at least "good people" with a desire to serve...
And just at this moment.
The honey badger suddenly heard a scream.
She frowned slightly, picked up the girl in her arms and walked straight to the front.
There was chaos in the audience—she followed the audience's gaze and soon found the source of the chaos.
That was one of the VIP seats on the second floor, the VIP seat at three o'clock.
The visibility knob there is turned up to maximum.
The broken bodies were scattered all over the ground.
Blood flowed outside along the glass.
Update completed! I have something to do today, so I'll do two in one first!
(End of this chapter)
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