Chapter 19: Hand in Hand to the End

Because she was worried about scaring the other woman, Luo Wei summoned every ounce of tenderness she had ever possessed. She wore a smile as radiant as the one she used when successfully convincing her manager to grant her a vacation.

While Luo Wei felt no psychological burden whatsoever in killing these cultist priests, she wanted to squeeze every bit of value out of them before they expired.

She still needed to hoard more Candlelight to forge a body of her own!

Since Skol turned into a regular Louis XVI after reciting four incantations, I’ll be more careful this time. I’ll only let Sera read three.

Wait, to be safe… let’s make it two…

No, just one!

Luo Wei made up her mind; the moment Sera finished the first word, she would slam the Grimoire of Forbidden Curses shut.

She only needed to establish a connection to tap into the Information Stream! Once the Dominion Level appeared, Sera’s fate would no longer be her own to decide.

At that thought, Luo Wei’s smile grew even more brilliant. Her gaze was so soft it could almost be described as “affectionate.”

If not for the fact that reciting the incantations required the subject’s own consciousness and prayer—rendering deceptive pronunciations or direct manipulation like the one she used on Claudia useless—Luo Wei could have thought of nine different ways to force her to read. Nine!

“No… no…”

Sera, however, scrambled backward in terror as if “Claudia” were the most horrifying demon in existence.

She trembled violently, and a pool of yellow fluid began to seep from her lower body. Sera was completely mastered by fear; the foul stench of her incontinence mixed with the fragments of brains and flesh on the floor, emitting a pungent, nauseating odor.

“You’re this cowardly? How did you even become a cult priest!”

Luo Wei frowned slightly. She felt she needed to be a bit more assertive.

She thrust the first page of the Grimoire of Forbidden Curses directly in front of Sera’s eyes. Her tender tone vanished, replaced by a vicious snarl.

“Either read it for me, or die right now!”

As expected, coercion was more effective. Amidst her shivering and dread, Sera finally opened her mouth, uttering the phonetic sound of the first incantation.

But she never made it to the second.

It wasn’t because Luo Wei had closed the Grimoire.

It was because… she was already dead.

Sera’s body went limp like a pile of mud, collapsing into the filth covering the small room.

Her eyes remained wide, glazed and devoid of life, still reflecting the remnants of her final terror. In her dying moments, Sera had ultimately sold a portion of her soul to the Grimoire, and the corresponding Information Stream began to flicker in Luo Wei’s mind.

Through it, Luo Wei discovered Sera’s cause of death.

“It seems… she was scared to death by me…”

Luo Wei fell into a brief silence.

She hadn’t expected this specific end.

Luo Wei took a moment to reflect on her actions. Was I really that scary?

Ultimately, she decided it was Claudia’s fault. It had to be because Claudia was too ugly!

Hmph, if I were in my original body, I would never scare someone to death.

Who would be afraid of a threat from a beautiful girl? Luo Wei tilted her chin up slightly, feeling quite satisfied with this logic.

However, satisfaction couldn’t compensate for the loss. The forty units of Candlelight she had almost reached had flown away… well, technically it was thirty-eight point five.

“Even though the transaction was tiny, I still got some Candlelight feedback.”

From Luo Wei’s secondary perspective, the dim Candlelight in the small room brightened slightly, reaching a total of two units. At least there was some harvest.

More importantly, after this incident, Luo Wei realized that the Grimoire of Forbidden Curses wasn’t something just anyone could read. In the future, she would have to be very careful about holding “study sessions.”

It didn’t matter for villains; being mindless or headless wasn’t a big deal. The main concern was being cautious when showing it to allies.

Thinking of this, Luo Wei couldn’t help but feel that her luck had been quite good. The first person she encountered was Claudia, who specialized in expending her own life essence. If it had been anyone else, she would be sitting in this room staring blankly at a headless corpse.

Well, technically, the corpse wouldn’t have eyes to stare back with.

“But the current problem is…”

Luo Wei looked around, her face clouding with worry again. Because of the “Chrysalis Curtain,” the commotion hadn’t spread outside yet, but the room was quite literally covered in flesh and blood. Even without looking inside, one could smell the intense, metallic stench of gore.

She had to deal with these two bodies.

Due to the Dream Sanctum’s recent frantic sacrificial rituals, Kolun County was currently under high alert. Even the slightest abnormality would draw an investigation.

Luo Wei initially wanted to use a supernatural ability to clean the scene, but Claudia’s Inspiration was dangerously low; simply maintaining the “Chrysalis Curtain” was pushing her to her limits.

“Wait!”

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit Luo Wei as she looked at the two corpses. She attempted to use Dominion, and it succeeded almost instantly. Although their Dominion Levels were low, they were already dead, meaning they couldn’t resist her control.

The two priest corpses stood up unsteadily, their movements supported by the residual biological activity in their muscles.

“They can only move for half an hour, and their movements will get slower and slower.”

Luo Wei didn’t waste any time. She immediately ordered them to start cleaning up the fragments of flesh and bone in the room. She had them stuff the remains into Sera’s mouth, forcing her throat to swallow everything until her stomach acted as a biological trash bag. This way, no extra packaging was needed.

After that, she used their clothes to mop the floor and then made them put the soiled garments back on.

While performing these operations, Luo Wei hid the Information Stream details, knowing the sensory feedback would give her some “visceral” surprises she’d rather avoid.

Fortunately, the room was small. Luo Wei managed to finish gathering all the biological debris and cleaning most of the floor before the “Chrysalis Curtain” dissolved. Although the smell was still strong, it had weakened significantly. Mixed with the naturally foul odors of the Slums, it wasn’t overly suspicious.

At most, people would assume someone had died nearby—an all too common occurrence in this part of town.

“Let’s see, there’s a Mass Grave about 1.5 kilometers from here. I’ll dispose of the bodies there.”

Luo Wei didn’t need to carry the bodies herself. With fifteen minutes of “activity” time remaining, Skol and Sera’s physical prowess was more than enough to get them there.

As she prepared to send off the two priests, Luo Wei thought for a moment and stuffed a box of matches into their hands.

“Better to go with cremation. Although a Mass Grave is just a pile of messy burials, considering the evil you’ve done in life, don’t dream of resting in peace underground.”

And so, under the pale moonlight, the two priest corpses walked hand in hand toward their destined Mass Grave.

This was mainly because Skol lacked a head and couldn’t process visual information via the Information Stream, so Sera had to lead the way.

“What a happy and harmonious couple!”

Watching the receding backs of the two priests, Luo Wei, playing the role of matchmaker, wiped the sweat from her brow and felt an instant sense of achievement.

Soon, however, she looked down at the Thorn Ring on Claudia’s finger, her expression turning serious.

This was the Ritual Vessel Hume had gifted to Claudia—the key to entering the Dream Sanctum’s headquarters, “The Shelter.”

“Now, it’s time to deal with Claudia’s brain-death problem.”

After all, if Claudia didn’t wake up, Luo Wei wouldn’t be able to keep extracting Candlelight from her.