Chapter 149: Which to Choose

Chapter 149: Which to Choose

Zheng Yichen’s current situation was not good, but it wasn’t the worst. The worst would be if he was found…

Looking at the black crystal in Dan Marina’s hand, the young girl fell silent. This thing could even affect her and bring misfortune. If they used it as a basis to do something to that Little Dragon, that Little Dragon might really be struck by misfortune. If it were anyone else, she might not believe it, but if it was Dan Marina doing it… then it was very likely!

“When will you start?”

“Huh? So eager?”

“Too much time passing will bring variables.” The young girl stared at Dan Marina. Although the main quest this time was escorting this dangerous crystal, it wasn’t the most important. The most important quest was keeping an eye on Dan Marina to prevent this woman from pulling any tricks. For so many years, the Sanctuary Church had maintained close surveillance on Dan Marina—there was no point hoping to win her loyalty.

She was probably thinking about how to escape the Sanctuary Church’s control every single moment!

“Worried the Witch’s Power might recover because of this?” Dan Marina chuckled softly. After a Witch Rampage, changes in power could cause issues with their consciousness, turning them into mindless engines of destruction. This state could last a long time… So, Witches nearing a rampage would make ample preparations beforehand to deal with this situation.

At the very least, they could ensure they safely passed through the phase of impaired consciousness—provided they could evade the Witch Hunt launched by the Sanctuary Church. This time, Loris’s case was a bit special. Before those Black Mist particles that should have returned to her could do so, the person had been snatched away by Zheng Yichen.

Nearly ninety-nine percent of the remaining Black Mist was left behind, forcing the Sanctuary Church people to leave most of their forces to clear that mist. Because of this, Loris hadn’t absorbed much of the changed Witch Power at the time. The period of her consciousness being impaired would be much shorter, meaning her power recovery time would be much quicker!

Once Loris’s power recovered, finding Zheng Yichen later would be difficult. A powerful Witch focusing on hiding a Little Dragon? Even with the Sanctuary Church’s vast influence, finding them again wouldn’t be easy. Especially since they could even restrict Dan Marina’s abilities, which further lowered the chances of finding Zheng Yichen.

According to Dan Marina’s analysis, Loris’s consciousness would recover in about half a month… Coupled with that troublemaking Little Dragon, the process might even be accelerated.

A week had already passed. There really wasn’t much time left, and at the same time, the opportunity she was waiting for was approaching.

“Relying solely on this thing isn’t enough.”

“What else do you need?”

“Hmm~ these.” Dan Marina directly pulled out a list. She had clearly prepared this in advance, which made the young girl somewhat unhappy. She took the list and looked it over.

She frowned slightly. The things listed weren’t necessarily extremely precious; with the Sanctuary Church’s resources, nothing could be considered exceptionally rare. Things others might view as extremely valuable seemed quite ‘ordinary’ in the Sanctuary Church’s stockpile. Often, such items weren’t even as highly valued as things that weren’t particularly rare but were extremely scarce in quantity.

Several items on the list were of the hard-to-find variety. Finding one might not be too difficult, but gathering all of them would take at least five days or so! As for other factions? Even the Dark Church wouldn’t be able to gather them all in less than half a month. In short, just looking at the materials on the list gave one a feeling… that this was deliberately making things difficult!

“As a Witch, you should have these things, right?” Witches were not poor. Their long lifespans allowed them to accumulate vast wealth without even realizing it.

“Hey! This is clearly your Sanctuary Church’s business. Why should I pay for it?” Dan Marina crossed her arms and chuckled lightly. “Do you think I’d comply beyond the terms of the Contract?”

“What do you need? We can exchange, at a higher price.” An equal exchange? The person before her was a Witch, not some acquaintance. Especially since the Sanctuary Church didn’t want to miss certain things, an equal exchange was even more impossible.

“The problem is, even for exchange, I don’t have everything.” Dan Marina said with a smile. Judging by her reaction, she wasn’t the least bit anxious about this matter… Although, due to the Contract, she couldn’t slack off when it came to actually doing the work.

But when faced with some unavoidable situations, that was another story. Dan Marina took out a pen and quickly crossed out several items on the list: “The crossed-out ones are materials I already have. You’ll have to figure out the rest yourselves. Anyway, I’m in no hurry.”

“…” The young girl looked at the remaining material requirements and felt speechless. Even though Dan Marina had crossed out a significant portion, she hadn’t crossed out many of the main ones. The most time-consuming items to collect remained glaringly on the list… The time needed had been reduced from about five days to about three, but still… This woman was still deliberately making things difficult, right?

Seeing her faint smile, a slight twitch appeared at the corner of the young girl’s eyebrow. She was definitely doing it on purpose, right?

“Don’t look at me like that~ I’m starting to feel a bit embarrassed.” Dan Marina shyly avoided the young girl’s gaze. A mature-looking woman making such an expression only reinforced the young girl’s previous impression.

“This is the best plan, you know? If you want to use a plan with a lower success rate, I have one of those too. You wouldn’t even need to collect the materials. But do you want to consider that kind of plan?”

“No, we’ll go with this one.” The young girl said. Based on the Contract, Dan Marina wouldn’t slack off when truly working, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t exploit loopholes. Her current suggestion was undoubtedly a way to exploit a loophole. Choosing her second plan would mean the Sanctuary Church was authorizing her to slack off… In that case, she wouldn’t be bound by much Contract restriction while doing this.

“Then I’ll await your good news.”

“Ahh… Hmph!” In the Forbidden Zone, Zheng Yichen rubbed his nose and let out a soft grunt. Looking at the Loris before him, who had shrunk from a mature woman back to a girl, the clothes he had prepared for her now seemed a bit too loose. He gently knocked on his own head. This was a good thing, no doubt, but this good thing had resulted in Zheng Yichen having almost no rest for the past two days.

He didn’t even have the spare time to send out his Alchemical Avatar to gather information from the outside world. He had been focused entirely on the changes happening to the Witch before him. By now, Zheng Yichen was also certain that the reason she maintained her current state was probably due to some power sustaining her. Once that power on her was completely depleted… Loris should be able to recover!

However, this consumption was passive. She wouldn’t actively deplete this power herself. That meant it required external provocation…