Hook in Peril

Jing Yan discovered that one of his divine powers allowed him to stir up other people's desires simply by looking at them.

Specifically, he could increase the proportions of the four emotions in their minds: joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.

He could also raise or lower the intensity of the seven deadly sins.

Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust.

Jing Yan could make someone arrogant or humble, jealous or generous, furious or docile, lazy or full of drive, greedy or content with enough, lustful or free of desire.

In theory, Jing Yan felt that his Path was broader than that of Aha, the Aeon of Elation.

However, his divine power was nowhere near as profound as Aha's. If he encountered the Aeon now, he would only end up being devoured.

But if his divine power grew strong enough, he could devour Aha instead.

Now that Jing Yan had confirmed he could manipulate the four emotions and seven desires, he began to experiment further.

He wanted to see if he could directly increase Natasha's affection for him by stirring up her desires, thereby making her more susceptible to his advances.

That might earn him a system reward, restoring more of his divine power—or granting him something beyond it.

For instance, an item that could conceal him from other people's scrutiny, or perhaps some kind of Curio.

Jing Yan now heightened Natasha's joy and lust toward him.

"All right, sir. Your arm is bandaged. Just be careful not to get scraped by rusty iron again, and don't go wandering off to dangerous places like Rivethown, where there are so many Fragmentum creatures."

"Got it. Thank you, Doctor Natasha."

The young miner thanked her, then paid a hundred Winter Shields.

That wouldn't have come close to covering a single medical visit in the Overworld, but it was enough for a clinic in the Underworld.

Afterward, Natasha turned back to Jing Yan, gazing at him with tender affection.

Her eyes seemed a little dazed and unfocused as she walked toward him, drawing closer and closer.

Under the dim ceiling light of the underground clinic, Natasha's rosebud lips glimmered like pearls.

They looked especially alluring.

Jing Yan hesitated.

His actions just now didn't seem to have triggered a system reward. Perhaps the system didn't recognize advances made through divine power. Or maybe he had released too much of it, making it feel like a "forced command."

That would go against her true wishes.

But if he only used it to gently influence her, the system might approve.

After some thought, he felt that was probably the case.

If he exerted too much control over Natasha, she would surely find it jarring and unnatural once she came to her senses.

As Jing Yan was thinking this over, the clinic door suddenly swung open.

Several panicked children rushed inside.

By then, Jing Yan had withdrawn his divine power, and Natasha had come back to her senses. She stared at the children for a moment, then asked, "What's wrong, Julian? Alina? What happened? Why are you crying? Did you lose again when you were fighting over Snowy Pop-Rocks?"

Natasha asked with concern.

Just then, someone else rushed in, panting hard. After glancing at everyone inside, he said anxiously, "This is bad. A large number of Fragmentum creatures have invaded, and the lifeline over by the Great Mine has been cut off. Several people were injured protecting the ore. The barrier over at Rivethown is weakening too. It won't be long before Fragmentum creatures start appearing around Boulder Town."

"Where's Oleg?" Natasha asked.

"You mean those Underworld Fire people? Some of them have already gone to help the injured, but..."

As the newcomer reported the news, the brown-haired boy who had been crying nearby, Julian, suddenly looked up at Natasha and Jing Yan. "Big Sis Natasha, Big Brother Jing Yan, Hook—Lady Hook got trapped by Fragmentum creatures while playing hide-and-seek with us. She's still out there!"

"To hold the Fragmentum creatures back, Lady Hook used mechanical bombs to block one of the passageways between the Great Mine and Boulder Town, and then..."

Julian sobbed uncontrollably. Beside him, the little girl Alita patted his back, trying to comfort him.

"Hook is surrounded by Fragmentum creatures?" Natasha's brow furrowed at the news.

She immediately realized how serious the situation was.

"Don't worry. Seele from the Underworld Fire has already gone to rescue her. It shouldn't take long for her to get the leader of the Moles out of there!"

Another person walked into Natasha's clinic and said this. He was a middle-aged man with white hair and a capable air about him: Oleg, the public-facing leader of the Underworld Fire.

Looking down at the crying Julian, Oleg flashed a hearty smile and ruffled his hair before giving him an encouraging thumbs-up.

"Lady Seele has gone?" someone among the injured asked, their face brightening.

"Then there's no doubt everything will be fine," another patient chimed in.

Natasha, however, furrowed her brow. She propped her chin on one hand, still seeming worried.

"That girl Seele has been escorting a wanted criminal from the Overworld down here with Sampo. She hasn't slept for days. Sending her out now might cause trouble."

"Jing Yan, why don't you go help out? Take some medicine with you. If anyone needs first aid, or if you see Miss Seele injured, help bandage her up."

Natasha looked at Jing Yan as she spoke.

"Sure."

Jing Yan agreed readily.

Jing Yan set off at once, heading for the secluded entrance between Boulder Town and the Great Mine that Julian had mentioned.

"Big Brother Jing Yan, Lady Hook will be okay, right?" Julian looked up and asked.

"She'll be fine. Once you get there, you can head back. If you're really worried, you can wait at a safe distance," Jing Yan instructed them.

He was no longer the same as before.

Having recovered some of his divine power, he was confident he could handle a few Fragmentum creatures without trouble.

Besides relying on ordinary physical attacks to destroy Fragmentum creatures, Jing Yan wondered if he might use his divine power to manipulate their desires and restrict their movements.

The boundary between Boulder Town and the Great Mine was a desolate place.

There had once been a transport route here, but as the Great Mine's veins gradually dried up, some of the tunnels were abandoned. The passage connecting the Great Mine and Boulder Town had fallen into disuse as well.

Steel pipes for transporting steam and the wreckage of transport robots lay scattered across the ground.

In the distance, a streak of purple light shimmered.