Lai Er's Past

When Bai Wei saw Lai Er spit out a mouthful of blood, he belatedly realized that he had almost forgotten the basic premise of spending his life.

While it's not entirely his fault upon closer examination, given that after Ulu, each of his hosts proved incredibly resilient, Jie La Er's steel body far surpassed that of ordinary people, He Wei Ni Ya's musical body was exceptionally durable, and neither A De nor any of them became his hosts. As a result, when Bai Wei used Lai Er, a true mortal, he didn't immediately realize that his power had side effects.

Moreover, it was the extremely powerful [Domination] ability. With just a few words, Lai Er's lifespan was already reduced by half. If it were a couple more words, Bai Wei would already be considering finding a new host.

"Visas-sama." Seeing that Bai Wei hadn't spoken for a long time, Lai Er became even more flustered. "What's wrong with me? Please, please don't scare me."

"Ah, don't worry," Bai Wei said slowly, "It's just a minor side effect."

Lai Er looked down at the blood he had vomited, his lips twitching slightly. "Just a little side effect?"

"Yes, believe me, this won't kill you... for now."

Temporary?!

Lai Er panicked even more. He was about to say something when he heard Bai Wei sigh softly, "Alas, I didn't expect your body to be so fragile. You couldn't withstand even a little bit of my power. Compared to my former apostle, you are indeed far inferior. It seems that I still can't lend you my power in the future."

Bai Wei's words abruptly cut off what Lai Er wanted to say. He struggled for a long time, his face turning red, before finally managing to say, "I'm sorry, Visas-sama, my body is indeed somewhat inadequate... but please believe me, I will definitely work twice as hard in other areas and not be inferior to your other apostles!"

Bai Wei gave a faint "hmm," which made Lai Er breathe a sigh of relief, but then he felt a surge of frustration rising in his heart.

Half of this was due to his inexplicable serious injury, and the other half was because... Visas-sama actually had other apostles?!

Is it from the past or the present? If it's from the past, that's fine, but if it's from the present... doesn't that mean he's still competing with others for the job?!

Seriously? Even being a lackey of a cult leader requires fierce competition these days? What will happen to Lord Visas-sama's coveted Pope after his resurrection?

This is really... well, never mind. If I can't be the Pope, being a high priest is fine too. That would be a position of power, and I wouldn't have to worry about my reputation like the Pope does. I could use my power to take on some shady jobs and maybe even live a more comfortable life than the Pope.

Thinking of this, Lai Er's previously gloomy mood gradually returned to normal. This made Bai Wei, who had taken in all of Lyle's inner turmoil, sigh inwardly, "What a pure person he is."

"Visas-sama, what should we do now?" Lai Er looked at the desiccated corpse before him, feeling somewhat uneasy. "Is this the envoy from the Contract Land? Why has he turned into this?"

He still thought it was Bai Wei who did it.

"This is the consequence of breaking the 'contract'," Bai Wei said calmly. "The Contract Land relies on this to guard their secrets, and it has to be said that it is very effective."

"Um," Lai Er asked cautiously, "Did you get what you wanted?"

Bai Wei said with a smile, "Of course."

If Bai Wei truly only had one finger or one eye, then there was indeed nothing he could do with the [Contract]. But having both eyes and ears, he wouldn't miss an answer as soon as it flashed through the other's mind.

Of course, this was also because of the timing. If it had been any earlier, he wouldn't have recovered from the negative state of [Visas Phantom], and it would have been impossible to break the [Contract].

From this perspective, the [Contract] is indeed a very powerful rule, and dealing with that Ring Finger will definitely be quite troublesome.

Fortunately, there's no need to confront that Ring Finger for now.

"See that seed in your hand?" Bai Wei said to Lai Er. "This is your identity document from the Contract Land. From now on, you are the envoy of the Contract Land."

Lai Er blinked, then understood. "You mean, you want me to approach that old man from the Star Relic Church in the name of an envoy from the Contract Land?"

"That's right." Bai Wei originally wanted to use Lai Er's body to go by himself, but the first-level descent also consumes the body. He didn't want Lai Er to go to see Ulu before the matter was completed, so he could only let him go and go to see Isaiah by himself. "At that time, you just need to show your identity and tell him an address."

"What address?"

"I'll tell you later," Bai Wei said calmly. "Alright, I've been awake long enough and need to rest a bit more. Don't wander around until I wake up. Stay in this town and don't contact that guy beforehand, understand?"

"Ming, I understand."

Bai Wei hummed in response, and then fell silent.

Lai Er waited a moment before cautiously asking, "Visas-sama, are you already asleep?"

Bai Wei did not respond.

Lai Er finally breathed a sigh of relief, then began scratching his head incessantly, his expression gradually turning bitter.

Being around Visas-sama is really too stressful, and it's not just stressful, it's also dangerous. If you're not careful, you could lose half your life.

And was Visas-sama really sleeping?

Lai Er couldn't help but think of the other "Apostles" that Bai Wei had mentioned earlier. Then his thoughts wandered again, wondering if Visas-sama really had other Apostles at this time, how did he contact them? Was it the same way he contacted him?

Could it be that Visas-sama uses body parts as a medium for his consciousness to travel back and forth?

Lai Er thought the conjecture seemed a bit far-fetched, but upon closer examination, the fact that Visas-sama could still live to this day after being dismembered was beyond the realm of common sense.

Sigh, forget it, I'd better not guess. What could someone with his level of understanding possibly guess? At least he knows that Visas-sama isn't watching him all the time, which makes him a little more relaxed.

... Yes, Visas-sama is not here right now.

Lai Er suddenly thought of something, then subconsciously glanced in a certain direction of the Nameless Town, and then began to feel itchy.

Visas-sama only said that he cannot leave Nameless Town and cannot contact the old man from Star Remnant ahead of time, so other things should not matter, right?

With that thought in mind, Lai Er made up his mind and immediately left, arriving at a dilapidated house on the other side of the Nameless Town, where he knocked on the door.

An aged male voice came from the inner room. "Who are you looking for? Tell me their name and identity, and I'll give you a quote based on the situation."

Upon hearing this sound, Lai Er stopped lingering at the door and pushed it open to enter.

Amidst the swirling dust, he saw a gaunt old man sitting in the corner of the room, peering at him sideways.

"Oh?" he said with slight surprise, "It's you."

"It's me, Lao Lai." Lai Er swaggered in. "Didn't expect that, did you?"

"Hehe, I really didn't expect that," the old man said calmly. "What's a small copper merchant like you doing running to headquarters? Is this a place for you? Do you want me to take you on a big business again? Wait until you become Silver Merchant before you talk about that."

"Don't look down on me." Lai Er smugly pulled the two Seed of Covenant out of his pocket and waved them in front of the old man. "Look what these are?"

The old man, who had been looking dejected, immediately became interested when he saw the golden Seed of Covenant: "Oh? Where did you get this? Headquarters? My goodness, you stole it from headquarters and then came here to sell it? Not bad, not bad, I have high hopes for you. Let me see its quality."

"Fulfill your stolen goods my foot!" Lai Er said, clearly annoyed. "What do you mean 'stolen'? I'm Gold Merchant in training now, you know?"

"Gold Merchant in reserve?" The old man stared blankly at Lai Er. "You?"

"Heh, so you old codger are no longer useful." Lai Er mocked the old man. "You have such poor judgment of people, no wonder you're getting worse and worse off."

The old man in front of him was named Ha Luo. He was Lai Er's mentor in the black market and the one who brought Lai Er into the "normal world".

Yes, Lai Er's hometown is somewhat special. He does not belong to any of the current Eight Great Churches, but comes from— the No Man's Land.

The No Man's Land is an extremely special place, shrouded in mist all year round. Even on the best days, it's difficult to see the horizon. But the people living there don't find anything wrong with it, believing that the world has always been like this, including Lai Er.

His village has only a few hundred people, and like most other villagers, he had a normal life of marriage and children in the first half of his life, and it was foreseeable that there would be no change in the second half of his life.

Then one day, a man named Ha Luo came to their village, bringing news of the "outside world".

The outside world was a fantasy to everyone in the village, including Lai Er. He couldn't imagine the world Ha Luo described—a world without fog, a world with blue skies, a world of magic and machinery in addition to farm tools and livestock.

But he simply couldn't imagine it, while the villagers couldn't believe it.

So Ha Luo asked Lai Er if he would like to come with him to the outside world and experience a different life.

Lai Er hesitated for only a short time before resolutely abandoning his wife who had just given birth and his infant son who was still crying for milk, and followed Ha Luo on the road out of the mountains.

Five years have passed since then.

Even now, the moment Lai Er sees Ha Luo, the image of that day still flashes through his mind, and he hears his wife's desperate cries and his son's instinctive sobs echoing in his ears.

And he did indeed see a new world and have a new life.

Unfortunately, this new life was not what he had imagined. The world was bustling, but it had nothing to do with him.

Ha Luo brought him out of the shadows and did teach him a thing or two, turning him into a black market merchant, but that was all. After all, Ha Luo himself was just a Silver Merchant, and doing the least lucrative and most laborious kind of "messenger" business. Ha Luo couldn't do the truly profitable business himself, so Lai Er could only start as a lowly copper merchant, but after five years he hadn't made any progress and almost lost his life.

"If you get a good job, you should take me with you!" Ha Luo sat up straight, staring intently at Lai Er. "I was the one who brought you out here! Don't forget that!"

"That's only because I'm not a member of the Eight Great Sects, so I don't have any taboos," Lai Er bluntly exposed Ha Luo.

Yes, selecting suitable "seeds" in No Man's Land to expand the scale of black market operations is an old tradition of black market traders.

In this world where divine authority reigns supreme, even those aspiring to be black market merchants harbor some degree of reverence and fear for the gods, preventing them from going too far in many matters and transactions. However, the inhabitants of the No Man's Land are different. They have never known of gods, and therefore lack such apprehension, allowing them to be even more ruthless, much like Lai Er.

Of course, not all residents of the No Man's Land are like Lai Er; otherwise, they wouldn't have been trapped No Man's Land for so many years without ever thinking of going out to see the world.

At that time, Lai Er didn't know the reason, but he guessed it later.

That means someone doesn't want them to leave the No Man's Land, doesn't want them to see the outside world, and only wants them to stay there forever.

Forever.

Seeing that Ha Luo was still glaring at him angrily, Lai Er waved his hand. "Alright, alright, don't look at me like that. I'm not a Gold Merchant yet, you know. If I really become Gold Merchant, I'll give you a hand."

Find another cannon fodder for Visas-sama.

Lai Er thought to himself.

"What do you mean by 'team up'?" Ha Luo said, dissatisfied. "It's clearly a partnership, to make big money together! Do you think I'm doing badly? Let me tell you, I've been..."

"Alright, alright, enough of that nonsense," Lai Er interrupted Ha Luo impatiently. "I'm here on important business."

In the past, Lai Er would have definitely wanted to know what lucrative business Ha Luo was up to and would have begged him to come along, willing to do anything to make money.

But now that Mr. Visas is here, he doesn't care about those jobs anymore.

So he pulled a large bag of money from his luggage, threw it in front of Ha Luo, and raised an eyebrow. "The usual."

"Wow...you really made a lot of money," Ha Luo asked. "All for me?"

"What do you mean 'for you'? It's for my son!" Lai Er glared at Ha Luo. "Of course, you can take what's yours, but according to the rules, the rest is yours..."

"Change to the best-selling items here, and take them back to your wife and children. I understand." Ha Luo deftly put away the money bag. "I just want to know, you're almost a Gold Merchant, and you still care about your son? You could have a much better life."

"So what? How can I show them I was right if I don't slap them in the face with this?" Lai Er was still somewhat reluctant as Ha Luo took the large bag of money. Most of it had been taken from those thugs and Rhine Knight. Visas-sama didn't care about money and gave it all to him, but he hadn't used much. Now it was all going to Ha Luo, but he had to pretend he didn't care. "I clearly told them to leave with me, but they refused, even refusing to let me take my son. Heh, one day I'll go back myself and throw this in their faces, letting them know how powerful I am now. I'll make my wife kneel and beg for my forgiveness, and let my son experience the life of a superior being!"

Ha Luo gave Lai Er a thumbs-up and said with a smile, "Very idealistic."

Lai Er felt that words could not accurately express his ideals. He wanted to continue, but for some reason, the words caught in his throat. His mind was filled with the misty sky and his weeping wife and children.

"Hmph." He turned and left. "That day is coming soon."