Act 19: Loser

[Part 1: The Necronomicon]

"Man Yin, go and deal with that little girl."

Mr. Fret took a fine silver comb from his inner pocket and began to style his hair.

He was not afraid of silverware, nor even sunlight; he was not a blood donor.

"She's pretty; she can be made into a clay figurine, just don't damage her face."

Man Yin a little nervous. "I'm going alone?"

"They took both keys, and the men are all staying in one room," Fret cursed. "You spineless little bastard, trying to outnumber me? You're going to call for backup when you're dealing with a woman?"

Man Yin stammered, "Flavia Cici Marcus! That's the Red Flash Butterfly with Soul Power!"

Before making contact with the enemy, the manager had done his homework. Man Yin was very familiar with the background of the White Snake and Black Snake sisters. However, at this moment, he was frightened by the superpowers of the [Yin Yang Demon Realm].

It was a blood-soluble toxin with an extremely fast onset and a very high lethality rate; both dosage and toxicity mattered. Flavia's spirit released a very large amount of venom at once. Even if this venom were splashed out and absorbed into a living organism through mucous membranes, inhaled through the nostrils, or splashed into the eyes, it would only take about twenty seconds to kill a person.

This time Gloria deliberately separated the two sisters and seized the opportunity to find Fret for help, hoping to send the General of Tears into a helpless situation. Without the help of the [Timeline], Bu Liuxing would not be able to skip the bet and directly assassinate Gloria.

The duke was stunned by the General of Tears's amazing performance. In the arena of the Magpie Mountain Palace, Bu Liuxing wanted to use Mr. Bohua's soul power to kill Gloria directly. If the stone ball continued to roll, Gloria's two opposing dice would fail, and her long life would come to an end.

Unfortunately, this cowardly agent didn't dare to do that and could only disarm and surrender.

To avoid a situation exceeding risk assessment, Gloria once again resorted to underhanded tactics, leaving Duran at the Church of Dionysus Bu Liuxing and Flavia, along with two ordinary people, to confront the great demon Fret and his three minions. The duchess, accompanied by her butler Parker, followed the Candy Tricycle to the Flower District docks, and finally, with the help of Axue, completed this underhanded scheme.

She forced Meteor into Fret's hotel. Flavia was in a bad mental state and couldn't help much. The two shipwrights would become a burden, and the General of Tears's soul power could only protect one person at a time, so he had no strength to fight back.

But at this moment, outdated intelligence stopped Man Yin in his tracks.

He is Boss Fret's close confidant. As the manager of the Violet Sunrise Hotel, he has never received any Blood Ceremony. He is a mortal with the addition of demonic spiritual energy, giving him a portion of the superpowers of demonic magic.

Flavia's [Yin Yang Demon Realm] is incredibly destructive.

Fret: "You don't dare?"

Man Yin was prepared to be scolded, and she lowered her head, looking aggrieved.

Fret: "You little genius!"

The sudden change in attitude left Fret completely bewildered—he had never understood his boss's thought process.

"Do you need to call for help to deal with a girl? That's right! Of course, you have to outnumber her! The strong should humiliate the weak!" Fret said, and immediately went to the bookshelf, opened the treasure chest and took out psionic items.

"No, this won't do."

"This, this, this... it seems to be expired."

"And this one! And this one too!"

"When we were making clay figurines for old tailor Derek last time, did we run out of adipocere?"

Man Yin replied, "Indeed. His daughter is very tall."

After Christina Don's death, it was Lady Goelia who recommended her, and Lord Fret took charge, using necromancy and medium tools to turn the dead into a walking corpse. Derek could also use his spiritual power to control his daughter, making her eat and speak naturally.

But ultimately, it was just a terrifying puppet created by magic.

"Then I'll give you these two items to use!" Fret pulled out his most treasured possession, the [Necronomicon]. This book was not the Necronomicon depicted in movies, television, or the Cthulhu Mythos.

It is merely a demonic power born from the Original Seed, one of the many spells of the great demon. If the Command Contract is considered a contract, then the Necronomicon is the demon's ledger.

If Saint Josh Joris had succeeded, built his own cult, and maintained good relationships with Saladin's friends, he probably would have had his own Necronomicon.

People who make deals with the devil about money and friendship will eventually have to pay their debts. If they can't pay them off by the time they die, they'll be locked in the Necronomicon to continue paying. The wager between the Hunter King and Gloria was witnessed by Fret, Old Bones incredibly powerful psychic abilities. So Mr. Fret brought out various sapphire crystals, magic items, and mediums to create a casket for the Hunter King, which was also another MaxPro version of the Necronomicon.

Two yellowed old sheets of paper were torn from the thick pages of the book; they looked light and flimsy. But when they were actually handed to Man Yin, Mr. Fret had something to say.

"Wait a moment! I need to double-check the employment contracts of these two heroes."

"[Helping hand]! Open its innermost page!"

Like the housing contract signed by Meteor, what appears to be a simple indenture is actually quite complex, with countless additional clauses, like layers of insurance.

"Forget it! How can it be so damn long!" Fret only glanced at it briefly before immediately becoming agitated. "Was I out of my mind when I wrote this? What was I thinking?"

Man Yin didn't dare to respond. He knew his boss was mentally unstable. This devil would occasionally unleash amazing talent, and there was always a strange sweetness in being with his boss, because power itself was a kind of beauty.

"Take it!" Fret once again used his [Helping Hand] superpower, his two sharp, spirit claws compressing the thick pages into thin sheets of paper. "They will help you."

At one o'clock in the morning, Flavia finally finished checking the bills, gathered the money on the table together, and carefully put it into her cloth bag.

She didn't rush to shower and change. She was very career-driven. After all, this was the first business deal for the Fairy Tale Kingdom in Shambhala, which was of historical significance to her company. It was a small step for the Fairy Tale Kingdom, but a giant leap for Flavia's life.

If we can win over the governor with candy and make the leader of this land fall in love with sweets, then happiness will spread like a contagious disease to every unfortunate person.

Thinking this, a smile immediately appeared on her lips.

Spiritual energy is invaluable; these positive emotions can change a person, rekindle courage, and allow love and friendship to nourish the earth.

[Fairy Tale Fairy Tale Kingdom] is unlike drugs like opium, which have side effects such as high blood sugar, obesity, and weakened immunity from long-term use.

If you eat the right kind of sugar, bad moods will be swept away, true feelings suppressed by anxiety and fear will emerge, and treasures buried by negative emotions will reappear in your life.

That's why Gloria repeatedly used mind control on Flavia; she valued the girl's psychic abilities highly—candy was the true god of wine, more so than the dice of [Sing For Me].

It's intoxicating, it's blissful.

It makes people crazy and brave; it makes people heal themselves without medicine.

[Part ② - Terrifying]

"It's a pity Duran isn't here! I won't have anyone to sleep with at night!"

Flavia unfastened her sash, took off her skirt, and hung the gorgeous dress on the balcony to air it out.

Chattering to herself the whole way, she arrived at the dressing table.

"I don't know what will happen tomorrow."

"If General of Tears loses, and loses to Gloria, will I have to stay in East Horse Port for the rest of my life?"

"No, no, no, we have to think of a way."

"But according to Duran, that woman's soul power was so strong."

"Oh dear! Why should a little Karami with no fighting skills think about these things?"

She untied the rope from her head, revealing blood-red strands in her dark hair.

He pulled a bottle of hair dye from his handbag. This was a treasure that Duran and Flavia used to disguise themselves as hybrid monsters and reintegrate into human society. Most of the blood-granting units had blood-red hair and were always questioned by armed employees when traveling.

She took out a comb, applied bleaching oil as a cleanser, and began to carefully comb her hair. If she didn't do this, the black hair wouldn't turn out well when she took a shower and washed her hair to get it dyed.

"Flavia! Don't think about it so much!"

The sound echoed in every room of the suite.

--This house is spacious and empty, with a ceiling height of five and a half meters. Starting from the entrance, there is a dressing room, tea room, living room, bedroom, kitchen and dining room, bathroom, toilet, balcony, and open-air greenhouse, totaling a huge space of more than 160 square meters.

Its emptiness made Flavia uneasy; she had a feeling that there were other people there.

With each stroke of the comb through her hair, the person in the mirror grew increasingly unfamiliar.

--When the bright red hair reappeared, Flavia's psychological pressure grew increasingly intense.

She felt that the figure was somewhat familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before, but she couldn't quite place it.

That's not a reflection at a particular moment; as we've mentioned before, a mirror's reflection is completely opposite to the real face.

The left hand in the mirror is our right hand, and the left and right halves of our face in the mirror are completely opposite to our real appearance.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door--

Flavia was so startled that she dropped her comb.

She shouted, "Who is it?! Room service? What time is it?!"

No one answered the door, so he continued knocking.

Flavia finally began to feel afraid. She tiptoed to the door but didn't open it immediately.

She lay on the carpet, peering through the gap between the door and the floor—

She could see a pair of leather shoes; she recognized them.

"Is that the manager? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Flavia was sulking.

"I didn't call room service! I need to shower and go to bed! Manager! Let's talk about it tomorrow! It's embarrassing to be out in public without clothes on!"

As she said this, Flavia looked through the peephole again.

It would have been better if she hadn't looked; that one glance almost stole her soul.

There seemed to be nothing outside the door.

--Yes, there was nothing there except the dim lighting in the corridor.

The narrow view only allowed glimpses of the wall opposite the corridor, where cobwebs hung on the yellowed wallpaper.

She could still hear the knocking, so she crawled back down to the floor and peeked at the shoes through the crack.

"Manager... I... I..."

Flavia's voice began to tremble.

"--I admit I was a little loud just now."

"Could you come again tomorrow morning? I... I live alone and I'm a bit timid."

"Don't, don't, don't scare me! If you mess with me, you've really messed with me!"

With that, Flavia fled back to the dressing table like a shot. She covered her ears, closed her eyes, and fumbled for the comb from memory.

"I can't hear you, I can't hear you, I can't hear you"

"Demons and monsters, leave quickly! Demons and monsters, leave quickly!"

"Is this hotel haunted? That's impossible."

She opened her phone to send a message to her best friend.

--Upon launching the social media app, I discovered that this godforsaken place, Great Xia, had absolutely no signal.

Her memory wasn't very good either; she only realized it when she clicked on Duran's profile picture.

With nothing else to do, she, like every self-proclaimed "If you don't sleep, I don't sleep, we're all bald little darlings" cultivator, opened the "Gunsmith Enthusiasts Exchange Group" and frantically read through the chat history—wanting to see what kind of witty remarks and strange pictures the sisters had said in the group before leaving Eureka.

[Lanna: I've found a gunsmith as a meal replacement.]

[Yukili: Fluffy fluffy fluffy fluffy fluffy!]

[Lana: Please use a more advanced mobile app to receive this image.]

[Yukili:???]

[Fries are so delicious: Why can't I see them? Even my iPhone 17 can't see them?]

[Jiang Bailu: She's lying to you. This message is just asking you to use a more advanced mobile app to receive this image.]

[Yukili: When I have money, I'll definitely buy a phone that can view pictures]

[Fries are so delicious: So why can't I see it? I know! What kind of phone do I need to see it?]

[Jiang Bailu: That's right, please use a more advanced mobile version to receive that! Hey! Hey hey hey!]

This is the modern lifestyle—very healthy.

"Hehehehe!~" Flavia's smile was extremely mischievous. She perked up and started combing her hair again, and the frantic knocking on the door disappeared.

She picked up the comb, her gaze shifting from her phone to the mirror—

In that instant, she saw a "dirty rag" sitting in front of the dressing table.

The monster in the mirror was hidden in a dark, furry ball, baring a pair of sharp fangs towards the outside of the mirror.

She got goosebumps all over her body, and for a moment she lost her mind, almost paralyzed with fear, unable to even make a sound, and forgot to run away.

She stared at the illusion, frozen in place, until it slowly, very slowly disappeared from the mirror.

--That is the spirit form of the [Yin Yang Demon Realm].

Flavia's heart was pounding; she was terrified, her legs were trembling, and her underwear was soaked with cold sweat.

She shuffled her hips little by little, covered the mirror with a blanket, and slowly walked to the bathroom.

"It's an illusion, it's an illusion."

She muttered to herself.

"What can't scare me is an illusion."

"Courage can overcome evil!"

This is a phrase that Bailu often says in the group chat, just like her older brother—it's kind of corny.

Steam filled the bathroom, and in the misty air, Flavia unbuttoned her underwear and washed away the mud and sweat.

Outside the door--

Man Yin, holding his head in his hands, felt utterly embarrassed.

Specifically, it means holding the head with the right hand, maintaining the strange state of being separated from the body but not dead.

He has already summoned two helpers through the Necronomicon, one of whom, a handsome young nobleman, has transformed into an evil spirit and is following him around, knocking on the door.

The young nobleman was filled with astonishment, marveling at the extraordinary power of this Homo sapiens' soul.

"Mr. Man Yin, why are you holding your head up like that? You won't die? Won't it hurt? Won't you bleed? You're amazing—it seems like you wouldn't care even if you were cut to pieces by swords."

Man Yin it comes to rules and etiquette.

"I have an agreement with my guests: if I disturb them, I will have to pay with my head."

"But why?" the young nobleman pressed on. "Why can't we break down the door? Do you adhere to the etiquette of the vampires? Can't we enter without the master's permission?"

"It's so embarrassing!" Man Yin said, blushing. "I've never seen a girl's body before!"

"She wasn't wearing any clothes! In this situation..."

These words sounded utterly unbelievable to the evil spirits.

"Are you shy?"

"No! I'm protecting myself!" Man Yin said firmly. "Think about it."

"If I were a pure and innocent young woman..."

"Inside the room was a naked, smelly man—"

"--Just charge in like that! I feel like my soul is being defiled! I'm no longer clean!"