The Story's Beginning

Hearing Jessica's question, Feng Xue shook her head:

"Madam, please think before you ask your questions, and you'll find how ridiculous they are."

"What do you mean?" Jessica's expression turned somewhat unpleasant upon hearing Feng Xue's clearly sarcastic words. However, given the "rarity" of the person in front of her, she didn't immediately retort. Instead, she began to ponder what exactly was wrong with her question.

Then she realized her mistake--

The demon who calls himself "the Transaction" and the demon he calls "Cooking" share a common characteristic: they do not exhibit direct desires themselves, but rather tend to arouse desires in humans.

So if there really is a raging demon, then his style of doing things should be "enraging," not like what we see now, like a religious terrorist bombing churches everywhere.

Thinking about it this way, the one who bombed the church was indeed much lower in class, which explains why the other party's response to this question was barbed.

Although she was a wealthy heiress, Jessica had traveled extensively for several years and knew how to deal with people, so she immediately apologized:

"Sorry, I really didn't think before I asked that question."

"It's alright." Feng Xue waved his hand, but then noticed that the woman seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally contemplating the Seven Deadly Sins. However, once such a major theme was involved, the difficulty of becoming Weird Tale increased exponentially. So he immediately waved his hand dismissively and added—

"By the way, 'cooking' and 'trading' are not jobs, but hobbies. After all, we're all in the same industry. It's like a group of journalists giving each other code names, but they wouldn't use 'journalist' as their code name."

"I see." Upon hearing this, Jessica recalled the rumors about the "Demon Chef," which included statements like "have something good to eat after work."

In other words, is the other party truly not one of the seven deadly sins?

Slightly disappointed, but then feeling it was only natural, Jessica readjusted her mindset and continued to ask:

"You say it's a hobby, meaning Mr. 'Cooking' enjoys cooking, while you prefer making deals with people?"

Feng Xue did not answer this question, and Jessica simply took it as an admission, then continued:

"Then can you tell me why you distributed those so-called 'inferior counterfeit products' before?"

"Because the power of the genuine product is easily abused," Feng Xue replied matter-of-factly. Jessica, recalling how she had even stopped changing clothes halfway through in order to keep quiet, nodded in agreement, but inwardly thought to herself—this didn't sound like an answer from a demon at all.

However, she didn't say it aloud, because she remembered that the other person didn't seem to like being called a "devil."

After gathering her thoughts, Jessica began to consider if there were any particularly sensational topics.

After all, the information obtained so far, while still considered confidential, is not enough to pique the "interest" of readers. In this information age, it's no longer like a hundred years ago when publishing a royal recipe in a newspaper could generate reader interest.

She needs something more explosive!

However, aside from the fact that the story of the Demon Coin actually happened in reality, it is no different from stories about righteous thieves and assassins. In fact, in terms of the event itself, it is not as widely circulated as fictional stories.

Of course, as an exclusive interview with this Mr. Demon, it certainly generated buzz, but she couldn't prove that she actually conducted an interview and wasn't just making up a "setup" out of thin air.

"Wait, a hundred years ago?" Jessica suddenly sat up straight, remembering what the other person had said before.

The lines of Sherlock Holmes quote engraved on the numeral side of the genuine coin seem to be the motto of some century-old organization?

What is that organization you mentioned before? Does it still exist?

Hearing Jessica's question, Feng Xue finally breathed a sigh of relief. She immediately picked up the expensive-looking porcelain cup, took a sip of water, and then placed it on the table with both hands clasped together, saying in a tone that seemed to say, "I have a story, do you have any wine?"

"'Libra,' you can call it that. As for whether it still exists... that's what I want to know, which is why I spread those imitations. But unfortunately, it seems they have indeed disappeared."

"Libra...an organization I've never heard of." As a member of a wealthy Victoria family, Jessica had learned about many secret organizations from her father and brothers. During her various adventures, she had also learned many secrets and legends from the explorers. However, she had never heard of this name before. But without a doubt, it must be related to the scales on the "Demon Coin" with gold on one end and a heart on the other.

"This is... well, you can think of it as an 'assassin' organization, although I don't want to use that word derived from narcotics (referring to Assassin), but this organization is indeed a group that trades lives."

Feng Xue began to tell the story he had prepared long ago. This was originally a story he planned to spread online after the issuance of the "new currency," but if it could be published in newspapers, its significance would likely be quite different.

Hearing Feng Xue's deep voice, Jessica was also intrigued. She put on a listening posture and even checked the recorder to make sure it was still working properly.

Feng Xue didn't keep him in suspense, but instead spoke slowly in a tone reminiscent of a "Victoria legendary narration" (the kind of monologue that opens The Lord of the Rings, The Dark Dungeon, and the Ring of Elden):

"More than a hundred years ago, an archaeological team discovered the ancient Ancient Sargonic ruins. The size of the ruins far exceeded their expectations. In those days, archaeology was not much different from tomb raiding. In order to race against the authorities and other colleagues, they chose to hire a group of laborers to excavate the outer layers."

At this point, Feng Xue's lips curled into a mocking smile:

"Of course, a pampered young lady like you probably doesn't understand what laborers represented back then."

"I studied history too!" Jessica retorted immediately. "The laborers you're talking about are probably the 'slavery-like' people who were lured and sold from underdeveloped countries and colonies under the guise of 'indentured labor' during the colonial era, right?"

"That's right." Feng Xue nodded slightly, but didn't elaborate on the labor issue, instead continuing his story—

"During the excavation, a small team discovered a heavily weathered metal box with a scale pattern. Inside the box was a palm-sized metal plate engraved with three languages: Ancient Yan language, Ancient Sargonic language, Aztec (the Aztec were destroyed, so there is no Ancient Aztec language)..."

"You must understand that the composition of the labor force was very complex, including poor farmers and fishermen from Yan, remnants of the Aztec from Colombia, and of course, native Sargon..."

"Those guys who call themselves intermediary companies but are actually slave owners will mix laborers from different regions and countries together for the sake of convenience, making it difficult for them to communicate with each other."

"Under such circumstances, the relationships between labor teams are often quite unfamiliar, and naturally there is no tacit understanding. Even if they unearth some treasures, they cannot even communicate or divide the spoils. This is why archaeological teams dare to entrust the excavation work to laborers."

At this point, Feng Xue suddenly stopped speaking, picked up her porcelain cup and took a sip of water, while Jessica impatiently pressed on with another question:

"Could it be that this team kept the secret? Did they manage to bring Dong XZ to justice?"

I think the rules regarding coins are explained very clearly: the person proposing the transaction is Party A, and the person accepting the transaction is Party B. You can apply this relationship to the real-life scenario of Party A (the father) and Party B (the employee).

First of all, as an employee, the only reason you can refuse a customer's order is "the price isn't right" (meaning the price isn't sufficient), not "I don't want to take it."

Secondly, the price can only be determined based on the client's needs. Just like when a company is negotiating a project, you can ask the client for more money because the client's needs are too complex, material costs have increased, or the technology is difficult. But you can't ask the client for more money under the pretext of "our project team hasn't been paid for months" or "I need to save money to get married".

Of course, if the employer "intentionally" makes you work when your wife is about to give birth, you can ask for more money. The difference lies in whether the employer had this intention.

In other words, it depends on whether the order is "you make this for me" or "you make this for me while your wife is giving birth."

That's why I said "the coin only considers the client."

Since Jessica had no intention of tricking the protagonist, and was unaware that he was being hunted, the order was simply "going home," not "risking being caught to go home." Therefore, the coin toss determined that the protagonist would accept the order, and the transaction was completed.