The price of meddling

Behind Lumian, the gloomy Wijepan was still questioning the Clergy Heraberg of the Church of Knowledge:

In a legal duel, can I do anything to my opponent without being punished?

"Yes," Heraberg confirmed Wijepan's guess.

Wijepan's eyes lit up immediately; he felt that this was Heaven.

He swallowed excitedly.

He heard a similar swallowing sound coming from beside him.

He turned his head and looked Past, discovering that the voice came from Julie, Women with long, flowing brown hair.

The "Collector" was equally excited, while the Human Flesh Chef Lies, licked his lips.

He was hungry.

Lumian didn't bother watching the performance of these Serious Criminals. Instead, he stepped out of the Library- like Church and surveyed his surroundings.

The architecture in this area is very ancient, resembling the style of the early Fifth Epoch, characterized by columns and arches, heavy and solid, grand and simple.

Behind the Church lies a seemingly endless Cemetery, with numerous tombstones standing amidst the trees, and many Tomb protruding from the ground.

This reminded Lumian of a line mentioned in the "0-01" seal data:

"Place them in Underground Mausoleum, enclose a large number of Soldier Puppets, and build Cemetery above them containing over a million corpses..."

Is the Underground Mausoleum that seals "0-01" right below here? As soon as Lumian looked away, he felt the once Sunlight sky suddenly turn dark, with thick clouds gathering high above and muffled thunder rumbling and echoing.

"The weather changes so quickly... No wonder the data said that Morola often experiences extreme weather..." Lumian sighed as he gazed into the distance, seeing the continuous mountain ranges in the dim environment like giant beasts crouching on the edge, blocking anyone who wanted to sneak away from here.

Of course, this is just a metaphor, because the residents of Morola never have the idea of leaving the city.

Lumian was also a little reluctant to part with it.

The Underground was calling him.

"We need to find a place to settle down quickly, or we'll get soaked in the rain." Gei's voice rang in Lumian's ears.

He also walked out of the Church whose name he didn't know, and as a native of Aisala, he used rather formal language.

"Yes." Lumian smiled and walked into the large Square in front of the Church.

As Gei followed, he glanced back at the scene and said with considerable surprise, "There's such a large Cemetery here?"

"Cemetery with over a million, even tens of millions of corpses," Lumian replied casually.

Gei nodded thoughtfully:

Historical records indicate that in the early Fifth Epoch, there was a large-scale relocation of graves in the Lenburg region to address the problems left over from the "Pale Disaster." Were the graves moved here?

"Perhaps." As Lumian walked across the Square, he subtly activated the Black Mark representing the "Abscessed Severed Hand," but did not actually use it.

He was sensing the approximate locations of the other two parts of the "Abscessed Severed Hand".

This sensation startled Lumian, because it wasn't just two parts; subtle feedback came from different directions within the "Banishment City."

"Severed-Hand Brother's two body parts were brutally dismembered?" Lumian muttered silently.

He chose to move in the direction that provided the strongest feedback.

He had only walked about one street when he heard the clanging of metal and saw two men engaged in a fierce fight with sharp Straight Sword, surrounded by onlookers.

Every day, duels with casualties occur... Lumian reviewed the contents of the "0-01" sealed data, not in a hurry to move forward, but stopped to watch.

Gei did the same, as if assessing the strength of the residents of Morola.

The fight lasted two or three minutes, ending with the man in the thick black jacket being cleaved open in the chest and abdomen by a sword, his bloodied intestines spilling out, and him convulsing as he died.

A group of people dressed in black Robe appeared nearby, both men and women, their expressions indifferent.

They silently dragged away the naked Corpse and silently cleaned the bloodstains from the street, like Machine operating according to a fixed procedure.

The onlookers gradually dispersed, and among them, a short man wearing a brown-green Flat Cap and sporting a kind smile passed by Lumi and Gei, glancing at them a few times.

"Are you new here?" the short man asked warmly.

"How did you figure that out?" Gei asked curiously.

The short man laughed and said, "Your demeanor hasn't changed yet; you haven't truly integrated into Morola!"

When he finished speaking, his voice suddenly became shrill, as if something unknown had taken over his body.

Lumian silently watched the small man, observing his Change in demeanor.

The short man then waved his hand:

"Haha, my name is Worms, let's have a drink together sometime."

As he watched Worms walk down another street, Gei suddenly spoke to Lumian, "Haven't you noticed you're missing something?"

"I found out." Lumian nodded casually. "He's very quick."

He only realized the "Traveler’s Bag" was about to leave his body the moment Worms withdrew his hand.

This must be an Beyonder, a true "Thief," and his sudden Change in demeanor just now was most likely a performance to attract attention.

"You found out but didn't expose him, afraid of retaliation?" Gei was a little confused by Lumian's reaction.

"I want to see what he's capable of," Lumian, his hands in his pockets, as he slowly followed the route Worms had taken, tracking the thief.

Gei watched his retreating figure, pondered for a dozen seconds, and decided to find a place to stay first.

Once out of Lumian and Gei's sight, Worms suddenly quickened his pace, passing through several alleys and winding his way through them.

After confirming that he had shaken off any potential pursuers, he stopped Depths in an empty alley and took out a dark black Coin Pouch from inside his clothes.

That was Lumian's "Traveler's Bag".

"Haha, these new idiots are really not vigilant enough. Let me see what's in here..." Worms, wearing Flat Cap, reached into the "Traveler’s Bag".

His expression changed slightly, revealing a strong sense of surprise.

He could "see" the value of the Coin Pouch, sensing that it contained many spiritual things, but he never expected it to be a very rare spatial item, with what appeared to be a sizable room inside.

"This is truly an unexpected delight..." Worms grasped one of the items in the "Traveler's Bag" and pulled it out.

What came into his view was a mutilated, half-body, bluish-black, swollen Corpse, already rotting and oozing yellowish-red pus.

Snap!

Worms abruptly withdrew his hand, letting the half- Corpse fall to the ground.

"This..." His expression turned extremely terrified.

How could someone carry half Corpse with them?

It was still a highly decomposed Corpse!

Even in Morola, where there are countless murderers, this is the most twisted kind!

No wonder he was Banishment here!

Worms composed himself, reached into the "Traveler’s Bag" again, and took out a piece of clean, fine Leather.

He couldn't take his eyes off the Leather, as if he were gazing at the skin of his dream Lover.

He immediately noticed some black Vocabulary on the Leather that he didn't recognize.

"Like those languages that can leverage extraordinary power, this Leather must be very precious. I need to copy it down and have someone decipher it, but I can't let anyone doubt it." Worms happily stroked the clean, smooth Leather, completely reluctant to let go.

Suddenly, he felt a tickle in his throat.

Cough cough cough!

He started coughing, and the coughing became more and more intense.

In just ten or twenty seconds, he coughed until his heart felt like it was being torn apart.

Puff!

Worms coughed up a pool of blood.

"This isn't right! How could I suddenly become so sick?" Worms vaguely understood something and abruptly threw the pristine white Leather to the ground.

But his cough continued, and it was still severe.

As he coughed, he pondered ways to save himself:

That person who put such dangerous Leather in their pocket must have also prepared medicine to treat the corresponding illness...

Yes, definitely!

Worms once again reached into the "Traveler’s Bag".

The first thing he pulled out was a Gray-White Lightning -shaped Brooch.

A thick Silver-White Lightning suddenly fell from the piled-up dark clouds in the sky and struck him.

Boom!

Amidst the echoing thunder in the sky, Worms collapsed, his body charred black and convulsing.

He was already seriously ill when he was struck by lightning, leaving him on the verge of Near-Death.

"How, how could I suddenly be struck by lightning... I, I..." Worms' vision went black, and he closed his eyes in a state of confusion, fear, and regret.

He stopped breathing very quickly.

Only a dozen seconds later, Lumian turned into the alley, walked up to him, looked down at his Corpse, shook his head and laughed, "Rummaging through other people's things is a dangerous thing."

After a pause, Lumian smiled regretfully and sighed, "I wanted to get to know the Beyonder of Morola with you, but you're so disappointing!"

"And we haven't even touched the more dangerous ones yet."

As he spoke, Lumian picked up the "Traveler’s Bag" and, by directly touching the opening of the bag and Accumulation it in, put the "Sea’s Wrath" Brooch, the "Witch of Despair" Human Skin, and half of the "Abscessed Severed Hand" Corpse back into it.

"I can only ask you to be a good Samaritan this once," Lumian muttered as he pulled 537 Sasson Gold from Worms's pocket.

This is approximately 2863 Felkine.

Lumian accepted the gifts from the kind-hearted and awaited the emergence of Worms' Beyonder Characteristic.

About two minutes later, a team of law enforcement officers dressed in Black Robe with indifferent expressions entered the alley. The leader stared at Lumian expressionlessly and asked, "Did you kill him?"

"No, he was struck by lightning. Maybe he'd done too many bad things." Lumian laughed and explained seriously, "He was a thief who stole my things, which is why I chased him here."

The law enforcement officers stared at Lumian, as if to confirm whether he was lying.

After a moment, the leader nodded and said, "You can leave."

Lumian didn't move an inch, chuckled, and said, "Shouldn't his things belong to me?"