Chapter 190: Indifference—

Chapter 190: Indifference—

The little girl’s reaction made Zheng Yichen feel a bit more comfortable. At least her response was indifferent, which was still better than constant crying and tantrums. It was just too unusual. His dragon face was practically pressed up against her, and besides the menacing teeth being a bit frightening, he really wasn’t that scary.

Zheng Yichen thought the rest of him was perfectly normal. After studying Alchemy and Engineering, he had even managed to create toothbrushes and toothpaste…

“Not hungry?” Zheng Yichen shook the Lollipop in his hand…

Indifference—

“Alright, we can wait and talk about this later.” Zheng Yichen put away the Lollipop that was as big as a human head. He coughed lightly, trying to salvage some of his seemingly diminished dignity. Honestly, his dragon appearance… though he was probably a handsome dragon among the Dragon Clan, in human eyes, it was either frightening or awe-inspiring.

As for intimidating this little girl, Zheng Yichen never even considered it. Her soul had been taken away, and she unknowingly turned into some kind of soulless “living dead.” That was pitiful enough. If he went and did scary things himself, his moral standards would be way too low. Better to be gentle, to use such approaches.

Muttering to himself, Zheng Yichen rummaged through the three pockets he was carrying. He had organized the items inside, but there were still many small components. After searching for a while, he completely gave up. It seemed there were no toys suitable for a child to play with.

“Can you let me go back?” Just as Zheng Yichen was thinking about how to break the little girl’s indifference, she spoke up on her own.

“Huh? Why? Wouldn’t going back be worse?” Zheng Yichen asked. When he snatched her during the day, those burly men with fierce faces who chased after them clearly weren’t good people. The moment he took her away, they reacted immediately. It was obvious they were using this little girl as bait, waiting for something.

Back on Earth, Zheng Yichen often browsed the internet and had seen too many similar setups. Plus, though the little girl in front of him was dirty, her face was relatively clean and tidy. A very pretty little girl, with her looks and the backdrop of being a lonely little beggar—it was all too easy to gain sympathy or stir up evil intentions.

This kind of bait-and-switch scam was all too obvious. Zheng Yichen felt he had already figured out their trick the moment those men jumped out!

Before?

Before, he just wanted to snatch someone without any significant connections, someone whose disappearance wouldn’t have far-reaching effects. Taking her away could be considered rescuing a poor little girl from human traffickers, right?

“I have something I haven’t finished yet,” the little girl said, her face tense. Zheng Yichen was taken aback. This little girl had such intense killing intent… not directed at him, but aimed at someone else.

“What is it? I don’t mind helping you with a small favor,” Zheng Yichen said, scratching his chin and patting his scaly chest. “I am a dragon, after all.”

“Oh… but I want to do it myself.” The little girl nodded coldly, speaking very calmly. Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but shake his head. This felt a lot like dealing with Loris, and it was quite unpleasant. At least with Loris, they could communicate normally. She talked little, but usually, she wasn’t this dismissive, let alone indifferent. Loris acted that way because of her personality, but this little girl seemed to reject all goodwill.

“You should at least tell me what it is, right?”

“Killing.” The little girl glanced at Zheng Yichen and said coldly. Zheng Yichen wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt a strong sense of unwillingness in her tone when she said this. It was as if a villain, in the middle of planning something big, had been abruptly interrupted. That she didn’t fly into a Berserk rage showed she had good self-control.

“Would it be those burly-faced guys?”

“Some of them.”

Seeing the dark, hostile little emotion on her tense face that seemed to say “all must die,” Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but take out what might have been a catnip toy he forgot from last time from his pocket. He gently tapped her head with it. “Let’s talk about this later. Come on, let big brother check you over first~”

As he spoke, Zheng Yichen cast a Soul Detection Magic. This Magic was much more detailed than the previous one, allowing him to gather more information. There really wasn’t a trace of a Soul left. Logically speaking, even if someone’s Soul were taken away and they were still alive and capable of thought, shouldn’t a new, faint Soul start to form?

It was like a developing fetus. Even when the embryo was alive, it shouldn’t have a Soul. Only after growing to a certain stage and being able to receive external information would a Soul appear. The little girl had received plenty of information, yet there was still no sign of a new Soul emerging.

This meant the possibility of a conscious living being redeveloping a Soul by absorbing external information didn’t exist here.

Jotting this down in a small notebook, Zheng Yichen flipped through his Magical Grimoire and found a new Magic. This one wasn’t for detecting Souls but for detecting living bodies, providing a detailed understanding of the target’s physical condition—very detailed, in fact. Using this Magic naturally made it easier to be detected. When used on ordinary people, it would at most make them feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Hmm… body condition is okay… tsk, abnormally good, actually!” Zheng Yichen muttered. According to the Detection Magic’s feedback, the little girl in front of him was in decent shape. She looked malnourished and thin, but she was actually exceptionally healthy. There were no hidden issues in her body, nor any signs of Negative Energy corroding her. He wondered how the person who used that large-scale Soul-extraction Magic managed to do it.

Out of ten Soul-extraction Magics, nine and a half involved Negative Energy. People affected by such Magic, even if they showed no outward signs of injury, would still show traces of Negative Energy upon careful inspection. Yet, there wasn’t the slightest trace of it in this little girl’s body. As for detecting whether her Soul was tainted…

Detect what? The Soul was gone, disappeared who knows where. How could he detect anything? Continuing to flip through the Magical Grimoire, Zheng Yichen tried a few more Magics. Finally, he found some useful information with an anomaly detection Magic. The little girl’s body contained an extremely subtle factor that was completely blended with her flesh and blood, becoming an integral part of her, indistinguishable from herself. That was why he hadn’t discovered anything in the previous detections.

It was this special factor that made her appear malnourished on the outside while her body was actually abnormally healthy. Zheng Yichen estimated that it was this power that allowed her to stay alive and active even without a Soul.

Aside from these benefits brought by this power, Zheng Yichen guessed there must be other side effects. As for mercy? Zheng Yichen curled his lip. Could someone who unhesitatingly harvested the Souls of everyone in a Town be called merciful? Maybe it was a special preparation made to collect Souls without wanting to kill people?

It was possible, but Zheng Yichen had no desire to go and confirm it with the person responsible. Tsk, honestly, this kind of behavior was probably even more extreme than just killing people…