Li Jiehao clearly wanted to know more, but his priority was getting back to the firm, so the two walked back along the street. After walking for a while, Li Jiehao couldn't help but ask, "So, does this mean... it didn't work out?"
"Even though we gave up exploring one path further, it wasn't a wasted trip."
Li Jiehao pondered those words for a moment, then stopped asking questions and focused on holding Fenri.
Back at the office, the living room lights were on. Carlo was leaning back in his chair, a damp towel draped over his forehead, holding a cup of black tea and slowly stirring it with a spoon.
Isaac took the twenty dice out of his pocket and placed them on his desk. "Boss, why are you suddenly telling me to leave? The situation with Glen isn't completely over. If I stay, I might be able to get some more results."
"Staying here longer might yield some further insights, but it's unnecessary." Carlo continued stirring his tea. " Glen is the kind of person who talks a lot of nonsense."
"The fact that he talks a lot of nonsense means that he has some say, and others won't completely ignore him. But he can't make the final decision either. He can only test you by going around in circles. It's not too late to talk after he passes the message back to the person who can actually make the decision."
"If you keep wasting time with him, he can't give you any promises or guarantees. All he can do is go around in circles with you. It's not worth wasting your time on this kind of person, unless you enjoy spending three days and three nights dealing with him and watching him play all sorts of tricks on you."
"If I just leave like this, he'll get suspicious."
"Suspicion is inevitable, but we have the ring. What they want is with us. Even if they're suspicious, even if they think you're playing them, the ring is very important to them. They won't give up completely just because they're suspicious. If they want the ring, they'll have to come to you. If you leave, they'll get anxious, and when they get anxious, they'll react more decisively than before. That's your chance to seize."
Isaac nodded. Carlo's idea was to keep control in his own hands, rather than going around in circles within someone else's defined boundaries. Judging from Glen's reaction, this strategy seemed to be effective. At least Glen was completely baffled in the end, a little stunned and a little anxious.
"And this operation wasn't entirely in vain; at least we learned about the situation in Hailin."
" Hailin— " Isaac realized, it was Carlo's usual abbreviation, " Halperin?"
"Yeah, speaking of Glen and Hailin, they sound like good brothers, don't they?"
Li Jiehao clapped his hands. "I get it, Brothers Grimm!"
What the hell?! Isaac gave up trying to understand the two time travelers' thought processes, "Boss, you know Halperin?"
"I wouldn't say I knew him, but I never expected him to still be alive, let alone in such a wretched state. I heard years ago that he was pursuing the secret arts of the lich, and now it seems he's succeeded."
Li Jiehao listened from the side. "A lich? You mean that kind of thing—that turns itself into an undead creature, seals its soul in a box, and can resurrect itself even when its body rots?"
"You know quite a lot."
"I saw it online—" Li Jiehao coughed, "So there are such things in this world!"
"If someone can create walking corpses and communicate with gods through rituals, it's not surprising that someone would seek to become immortal. Hailin does indeed resemble a lich in appearance; most liches are skin and bones, and Halperin is a fairly typical example."
"So he succeeded?" Isaac asked, though Glen seemed unconvinced on the surface.
"Who knows? Considering his age, the fact that he's still alive suggests he's managed to hold on by some means."
"Hmm... right, boss, about liches, I think my father mentioned something about liches before. He seemed to have mentioned encountering one himself."
As Isaac said this, he glanced at Carlo.
Carlo glanced back at him. "What, you think I'm a lich?"
"Well, boss, you certainly meet the criteria of living a long life and not dying easily." Isaac rubbed his nose.
"That's a huge slander," Carlo clicked his tongue. "Have you ever seen a lich with a face as handsome as mine? Oh, you haven't seen many liches either."
Isaac was speechless.
Li Jiehao, who was listening intently, suddenly remembered something and asked, "Do vampires exist in this world? You know, those blood-sucking monsters, and I heard they're quite handsome."
"Yes," Carlo said, picking up his teacup. "However, if you said something about vampire monsters in the Southern Territory, you might get arrested on the spot."
"Why?" Li Jiehao asked, puzzled.
"Because the Southern Territory is ruled by vampires. If you call them blood-sucking monsters, they'll capture you, hang you up, beat you, and then drain your blood."
Li Jiehao was stunned. "They're just letting vampires establish a nation like this? Aren't the other churches going to do anything about it?"
Carlo gestured with his chin toward Isaac: " Asa, see that? This is how the mindset of a time traveler is exposed. In Jacob's understanding, the Church and vampires are enemies. If vampires seem evil, then the Church should eliminate them. Pretty classic, huh?"
Li Jiehao blinked. "Isn't that how it is?"
Carlo took a sip of tea. " The Church of the Holy Blood is also a member of the orthodox church order. Like other churches, it has a recognized legal status and even a dominant position in the Southern Territory, which is stronger than the Church of the Golden Bough in the Western Territory. After all, the Church of the Golden Bough allows other churches to coexist, while the Church of the Holy Blood was much more ruthless in the beginning."
"Vampires, or bloodlines, are transformed from the blessed members of the Church of the Holy Blood. Of course, not all of them are bloodlines; the general public remains ordinary people. Only nobles accept conversion, and there are also examples of believers of humble origins receiving the blessing, but they are few in number."
"In short, it's a place where a few immortals rule over the majority of mortals, and it's much more stable than the Western Territory, although outsiders don't quite adapt to the way of life there."
Li Jiehao exclaimed, "It sounds pretty good. Although it involves drinking blood, the promise of immortality and eternal youth is much more reliable than the Ghoul Cult."
"Tsk tsk, that's pretty cool, provided you're a nobleman, and slavery is most developed in the Southern Territory."
Li Jiehao's expression froze for a moment: "Slavery—"
Although many people in his original world complained about being exploited by their bosses like slaves, the actual system of slavery was quite foreign to him.
Carlo shook his finger. "The vampires need a stable food supply; we can't let them bite people randomly in the streets when they're hungry. Besides, the Southern Territory operates on a plantation economy, which also relies heavily on slaves."
"Holy crap, will the Western Territory Southern Territory start some kind of civil war—a southwestern war?"
Who knows?