Act 15: Sweet Tooth, Sweet Enough to Hurt

[Part 1: Selling Candy]

When Meteor received the gift from Flavia, he was overjoyed, suddenly feeling like he had a superhuman arm that could beat Jian Chen up—it was like receiving good news from the delivery room, and his teammate was about to become a father.

These chocolates contain incredible power; according to the information provided by Flavia, they possess various effects, including hybrid of calamity beasts, food supplements, and even psionic soul power.

However, Flavia found it difficult to clearly explain to Meteor exactly how to utilize this ability after eating the chocolate.

After all, it's just candy, not a magic pill that can cure all diseases.

Judging from the psionic theory of meteors and the experience of the discipline of metaphysical analysis, even if these chocolates are of little help in the duel, they can still resist the holy blood of Gloria Sebastian.

The underlying principle is complex. Wood Plark once used chocolate milk to combat the brainwashing and amnesia caused by the "Regret Pill"—this food itself possesses special psychic properties.

The carefully prepared chocolate candy, catalyzed by Flavia's spirit, is essentially very similar to the Blood Ceremony, except that the "blood master" has changed from a specific person or calamity beast to an alchemical substrate and Flavia's soul power.

The boss once told this story—

--If we consider the Skull and Bones Society's blood-giving practices as a form of human resource integration, then the Universal Elixir provided to passengers by the railway administration is also a form of blood-giving.

The Universal Elixir derived from the flesh of the Taowu was ingested by the passengers, which was another form of blood donation.

However, it does not have a specific master-servant contract, nor any particularly obvious side effects. The Blood Master is a living corpse devoid of spiritual essence, and can no longer command the Blood Slaves. Without the involvement of the Vita Imprint, the passengers can enjoy the holy blood of Ming De to their heart's content.

Before the bet begins, Meteor must drink the holy blood of Gloria Sebastian, and Flavia's chocolate will also participate in this Blood Ceremony. This is an act of tampering with the Blood Lord and obscuring the blood pact.

The mental damage inflicted by Gloria's spiritual pressure will gradually weaken; [Fairy Tale Fairy Tale Kingdom] and [Sing For Me] will continuously rewrite the blood pact, constantly vying for the General of Tears's bloodline power.

--With this life-saving charm, Meteor can sit at the gambling table and play with Gloria forever, until she doesn't want to gamble anymore.

However, there is a price to pay, and a condition to be met.

As the sun gradually sank into the Pompeii Sea, the evening glow burned a riot of colors across the sky.

Flavia stated the condition and explained the price.

"You! You have to help me sell candy!"

Bu Liuxing had already changed into a clean and neat work vest and was pushing his tricycle with all his might as he walked down Que Mountain Street and back into the bustling city center. Soon he would be able to see the workers' school in East Horse Port.

The four large characters "Guyuan Vegetable Market" are hung above the gate tower. Low buildings and narrow alleys are squeezed into one part of the main road. A dozen or so day laborers are gathered by the dock, all sitting on wooden planks with their feet soaking in the seawater for fish therapy. Some workers are smelling snuff, while some who have no money take out dry tobacco and roll it up to smoke.

"Me? Help you sell candy? Sell chocolate?"

Before Meteor could even raise any questions, he had already done the work; his body was moving faster than his mind.

But when he reached the entrance of the Guyuan vegetable market, he realized that something seemed amiss.

Is selling candy really that important?

--I have another appointment to keep tomorrow, so I have to keep working hard!

"Uh..." Meteor frowned, looking puzzled, but the clothes had already been changed, the two of them had run out of the Church of Dionysus, and the merchandise display case on the tricycle had been tidied up. Everything seemed so simple and natural.

"You already fulfilled the bet early this morning!" Flavia counted on her fingers. "The rest of the time Gloria didn't cause you any trouble, so I thought, I'll help you make candy, and you help me sell candy—we'll cooperate."

"You have the strength to fight against Gloria's blood slaves, I'll sell the candy, recoup some of the costs, and then slowly expand the business so that the children of East Horse Port can enjoy my happiness candy!"

"How about it?!"

Flavia spun around on the spot, then tugged at her skirt and bowed slightly.

Meteor didn't know what to say; he could feel the intense and sincere Inspiration Pressure emanating from Flavia —something he couldn't refuse.

"Okay! I'll help you!"

The two children held hands and made a pinky promise.

"Speaking of which, Flavia, how are you going to sell this candy?" Meteor decided to ask about the product first before discussing marketing. "Is it like the chocolate you gave me? Is it a psionic artifact created from Soul Power?"

"No, no, no! I'm not that powerful!" Flavia quickly waved her hands and shook her head. "My spirit can only make a little over 280 grams of candy a day at most—it runs out of power in no time! It doesn't have much stamina!"

"Even though I don't have psionic powers, I still have these hands!"

As she said this, the "little girl," who was actually a few years older than Meteor, patted the candy cabinet triumphantly.

"My candy is suitable for all ages and genders! As long as you can find buyers, preferably those unlucky folks whose faces are always covered in their frustration and annoyance, I can definitely cheer them up!"

After a few minutes, Meteor tried his best to shout and hawk his wares, but he couldn't attract many customers.

The residents of East Horse Port have seen many foreign things, so they are not very interested in candy itself. After dinner time, not many families come to the vegetable garden to buy ingredients.

Flavia gradually began to feel anxious. She knew in her heart that as long as she could close the first deal, more customers would naturally come later—she was full of confidence in her work.

"General of Tears! General of Tears, your skill is amazing! Everyone's almost gone!"

Now that things had come to this, Meteor stopped hiding his true intentions. He took off his coat, and the dignified second-in-command of the nameless gang began to perform on the street.

His latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles were swollen and bulging, exuding an irresistible masculine aura. This tall man, who was 1.9 meters tall, lifted the tricycle and carried Flavia on it, lifting it above his head.

"Fellow villagers! Come and take a look!"

"Try the candy from the Fairy Tale Kingdom! It's a famous household delicacy in the Nine Realms!"

Flavia hugged the bike frame tightly, her face full of surprise.

Wow! You're really strong!

Bu Liuxing: "How about it, boss? How about we have an opening event? The first three people can try our food for free?"

"Sure!" Flavia replied.

Lured by the "free" offer, three boatmen quickly gathered around the vendor's stall.

Flavia handed out three portions of corn jelly, and the three boatmen, holding bamboo skewers, listlessly chewed and smacked their lips until they finished, then discarded the paper bags, walked away with cigarettes dangling from their lips.

"Sigh!" Bu Liuxing wanted to say something more, but couldn't find any topic to keep the guest company.

Flavia, like a defeated rooster, was listless and didn't quite understand why the sugar couldn't win over the boatmen.

The people who had initially come to the stall because of the General of Tears's striptease performance gradually left and dispersed.

[Part ② - Finally all spent!]

"Flavia, you seem very sad?" Bu Liuxing asked.

"Why is this happening?" Flavia was completely baffled. Ignoring the dirt, she picked up the paper bags the boatmen had thrown away and gathered all the bamboo skewers in her hands.

"My corn syrup is made from calfskin, the best corn syrup Adulis bought. It also contains powder from Mirana larvae (a type of dung beetle that sprays a sticky substance that can cause hallucinations). If you swallow it, you'll remember the most wonderful things in your life!"

The paper bags were empty, and the bamboo skewers had been licked clean by the boatmen.

She lifted the lid of the counter, took out some corn candies, and she and Meteor each tried one.

The two children stared at each other blankly, and then both fell into a hallucination.

Meteor's face was covered in a silly grin.

He recalled happy memories, the first time he met 3301 on the train.

He stood there dumbfounded on the platform, while 3301 was inside the carriage.

In that instant, a sweet feeling of love welled up in his heart.

Flavia covered her head, almost mesmerized by Duran's kisses in her memory. As she pulled herself out of this sweet illusion, she suddenly became alert, a terrifying expression on her face.

"Does that mean those three uncles didn't have any sweet memories in their lives?!"

Just then, Gloria Sebastian silently leaned against the stall, pulled a corn candy from the counter, and greedily licked the bamboo skewer with her long, bright red tongue, not missing a single bit.

"If life consists only of tears, one will naturally lose the right to seek pleasure." —Flavia

Meteor asked warily, "Why are you here?"

"Can't I come?" Gloria replied, "I'm just curious! I want to see what kind of art my friends are doing and satisfy my thirst for knowledge."

"And"

Gloria gently nudged Meteor's arm with her elbow.

"I want you to take off your clothes and show me your beautiful body, and you'd be a thousand times, a million times, unwilling."

"And yet you're exposing your breasts in public? Heh!"

Meteor quickly pulled his shirt off, no longer arguing with this devil.

Flavia was still reeling from that astonishing fact—

She couldn't imagine, couldn't understand, why these three boatmen's minds were filled with bitterness, without a trace of sweetness.

"Life is a living hell. Babies come into this world crying, and no one ever asks them if they want to be born." Gloria clutched her chest, lost in the illusion brought on by the corn candy, her cheeks flushed with excitement, almost dancing before Flavia: "As we grow older, we shed more and more tears."

"If one day you stop crying, then you must stop crying. Parents don't allow their children to cry, and life doesn't allow them to cry."

"On the day of death, they lamented that they had suffered enough and were finally free, but they were reluctant to die."

So, just as he came crying, he left crying.

"Aren't you right?"

Flavia wholeheartedly agreed, convinced by Gloria's seemingly nonsensical words.

--Her inner evil thoughts and self-destructive desires took over, and her complexion became increasingly strange.

Bu Liuxing immediately roared, "Don't listen to this witch's nonsense!"

"Ah!" Flavia perked up.

Bu Liuxing bent down and grabbed Queen Cici's shoulders. "Those three uncles must have been saving face! They were so happy! They just didn't want to show it! Flavia! Your candy is amazing!"

Flavia's brain was practically shaken to its core by the General of Tears before she finally came to her senses.

"Really? Really?"

"Ha! I'm a good judge of character!" Bu Liuxing said confidently, "If your candy was bad, why would they have licked the bamboo skewers clean?!"

Flavia: "Is that so?"

Bu Liuxing nodded vigorously. "Yes! That's it!"

When the two came to their senses, Lady Goelia had already vanished, appearing and disappearing in a flash.

It was almost 10 p. m., and no other customers had come. The few pedestrians on the street came and went, seemingly without even bothering to ask the price.

Flavia's skill in making candy wrappers and coatings was so exquisite, and the packaging of the Fairy Tale Kingdom was so beautiful, that people in East Horse Port mistakenly thought it was a luxury item for the nobility, something they couldn't afford.

Occasionally, you'll see wealthy ladies bringing their children to the beach and walking their pet dogs.

--The bodyguards on either side of the lady, who was guarding the house, glanced at the stall, and the lady showed a look of disgust, as if she looked down on the storefront, and hurriedly left.

At exactly 10:00 AM, the first work stoppage bell rang at the dock.

A figure rushed over from the dockside canteen; it was a mother holding her child, her expression anxious.

She rushed into the market, seemingly having finished her day's work and needing to buy some leftover ingredients to cook at home.

--I heard the child crying as I came out.

"Mommy! Mommy! Candy! Candy!"

"Oh dear! Oh dear!" The mother was flustered and hurried away with the vegetable basket. Because the child was struggling and making a fuss, the eggs in the basket were crushed by the meat stick, and the egg liquid was leaking out of the bamboo basket.

She cursed and yelled at Flavia, "You motherfucking bastard! Give me back my eggs!"

The meteor wanted to say something more.

The shrew immediately retorted, "What are you looking at! Just because you're handsome doesn't mean you don't have to pay compensation?!"

"Madam... Oh... I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry!" Flavia was stunned by the roar and dared not say anything, as if the black snake in her heart had disappeared.

In the past, would Flavia have tolerated such humiliation? She would have killed any woman more beautiful than herself out of jealousy!

Without looking up, she took out the last two silver coins from her skirt pocket—

--Finally, I've spent all thirty silver coins.

"Tch!" The mother, who was furious, couldn't stay angry when she saw the money. She took the two silver coins from Flavia's hand and left without looking back.

The child is still crying.

"Mom! I want it! I want candy!"

The mother was still yelling and cursing.

"Say that again and I'll kill you!"

Flavia quickly chased after her, grabbed a handful of candy from the counter, and stuffed it into the baby's clothes.

"What are you doing following me!" The woman rolled her eyes, fearing she might be tricked or deceived.

Flavia quickly explained, "It's for the baby! Sister, just consider it a gift from me! It's free!"

"No money?!" The woman looked at Bu Liuxing, who had thick eyebrows and big eyes, with suspicion.

--The General of Tears's appearance truly suggests he is a good person among good people. Judging by his appearance alone, he is an upright and honorable man.

"Thanks."

Squeezing out those two words through gritted teeth, the woman hurriedly left, needing to go home to cook for her husband and get some sleep before midnight, as she had fishing work to do during the flood season the next morning.

The two worked all night, but it seemed they hadn't earned a single penny and had even lost two silver coins.

At midnight, when the night watchmen and firefighters passed by the stalls, the officials asked about the closing time, but they had no interest in eating candy; they were all preoccupied with various worries.

As it grew darker, Flavia began to have second thoughts and told Meteor to push the cart back to the Church of Dionysus.

At this time--

--A couple hurriedly walked out from the entrance of Hujia Alley on the south side.

That was one of the three boatmen, and he was with his wife.

The wife, heavily made up, was pulling her husband's ear so hard it almost bled.

"Where are they?! Where's the candy seller?!"

Flavia had no idea what was going on and was intimidated by the aggressive housewife.

As the two approached, the boatman pointed to the goods in Flavia's counter.

"I... I ate this."

"It reminds me of how good you are."

Then... then

When the boatman's wife saw Flavia, she first laughed in exasperation, then got down to business.

"What kind of spell did you cast on my husband?! He came home and started making paper-cut window decorations!"

"First, he hugged my leg and cried, then he said, 'Oh! You're sorry? You want to get me two more wedding dresses and marry me again?!'"

"Is he crazy?"

Flavia, only half understanding, said, "Madam... you..."

"What do you mean, 'you' or 'your'?!" The boatman's wife's rouge wasn't evenly applied; it was obvious her husband had hastily smeared it on for her. "Explain what happened first!"

"I must have been under a spell! After eating that candy, my soul left my body. I don't dare talk to Ma Zi (another boatman) for fear of crying and embarrassing myself!" The boatman crouched down, pressed against his wife's armpit, his ears frozen in place. "Just take it as a joke! Or... or buy some more candy to take home? That's how I felt after I ate it! It seems like you're all I can think about now!"

Flavia quickly replied, "Yes! Yes!"

"Wait! Let me try it first." The boatman's wife was skeptical.

Although we don't know what happened, Meteor definitely has to work overtime.

"Yay!"