Chapter 480: You Definitely Want a Cut of the Loot

Chapter 480: You Definitely Want a Cut of the Loot

Due to the molds, there would be a delay for some time. This delay caused Zheng Yichen to drift his attention to other matters. The plan for creating the Alchemical Avatars for the Ghost Maids was pushed back significantly. Regarding this, Zheng Yichen felt quite ashamed.

The matter of the Ghost Maids could be discussed later. For now, after dealing with the bandit group, Zheng Yichen left the place feeling refreshed and clear-headed. Each of those people carried a sufficiently strong Grudge. If the Grudge resulted from confronting power ful beings, Zheng Yichen indeed wouldn’t have acted. But since they were imbued with the Grudge of ordinary people, their deaths were deserved…

Well, if they truly had the ability to defeat super-powerful beings, and recognized him, they wouldn’t have missed the chance to defeat him either. Therefore, Zheng Yichen acted without mercy. Eliminating a public menace not only served justice but also yielded a compressed piece of high-quality Soul Material. Why not do it…

It could be considered a good deed for the day.

He snapped his fingers. The greatsword of flames embedded in the scorched earth vanished. Zheng Yichen once again mounted his bicycle and headed towards the Stone Forest. Not long after he left, the roar of a Magic Cycle engine came from behind. Zheng Yichen looked back to see a figure wearing somewhat shabby leather armor. The figure rapidly approached. As they drew near, Zheng Yichen slightly frowned. He sensed a touch of Dark Power emanating from this person.

However, this power, while dark, did not feel evil. It was probably from someone specializing in Dark Power. Practitioners of Dark Power were not necessarily evil; it was simply a requirement, much like the Cultists of the Demon Sword Sect… Although it was the power of an Evil God, there were also many Demon Sword Cultists who could be considered good people.

As for the person chasing him from behind, they should be of that type as well. Moreover, the Magic Cycle they rode seemed to match their attire style, appearing somewhat worn. But Zheng Yichen was the producer of Magic Cycles, and his eyes were sharp. This Magic Cycle was clearly artificially aged—inside, it was definitely brand new!

“Who are you?” Before the other party showed any hostility, Zheng Yichen wouldn’t act arrogantly or reject them just because they possessed Dark Power. He had already dealt with the Demonic Sword Evil God; a mere wielder of Dark Power was nothing.

“Moser.” The person who caught up spoke in a somewhat hoarse voice. “I know you.”

“Oh, many people know me. One more isn’t a big deal.”

Moser nodded. After catching up to Zheng Yichen, he slowed his Magic Cycle, maintaining a pace side by side. Zheng Yichen noticed a mark on his arm. It resembled a scale, but most of it was shrouded in shadow. Showing a hint of surprise, Zheng Yichen asked, “Are you from the Sanctuary Church?”

“…” Moser couldn’t help but glance at Zheng Yichen a bit more before nodding in acknowledgment.

“How rare. Someone from the Church actually sought me out on their own. Or do you have some purpose?” Zheng Yichen clicked his tongue twice. The reason Zheng Yichen recognized the mark on Moser’s arm was because he had heard about it from Dan Marina. The scale hidden in the shadows, the Balancers who did not reveal themselves to the outside world. Zheng Yichen hadn’t expected to encounter one here, but this wasn’t the first time. There was also one he met a long time ago in the Canyon.

These types of beings were also part of the Sanctuary Church. They were active everywhere but never operated openly. They were covert Executors. In plain terms, they were people specifically handling ‘dirty work’ for the Sanctuary Church.

“No, you took my target,” Moser said.

“That bandit group?”

He nodded. Zheng Yichen wasn’t surprised. This was the so-called ‘dirty work.’ The Sanctuary Church rarely interfered in state affairs, but they wouldn’t ignore certain matters, like bandit groups. If they happened upon such misfortune, they wouldn’t stand by idly. Rehabilitation and education weren’t practiced in this world… Having the Sanctuary Church’s knights handle such tasks would naturally invite gossip. That’s when these Dark Executors were needed.

The existence of such individuals was semi-secret. Many knew about them, but even more didn’t. At the very least, ordinary people were largely unaware of them. Zheng Yichen remembered Dan Marina’s description of such people back then. Dark Executors were mostly individuals with troubled fates. If not for the Sanctuary Church, they could easily have taken the wrong path. The Sanctuary Church simply gave them a chance… After all, before becoming Dark Executors, they hadn’t committed any major wrongs. Indiscriminately condemning them without reason would be inhumane.

Anyway, after listening to Dan Marina’s explanation, Zheng Yichen simply thought of such people as… loners with ill-fated stars.

In short, the existence of Dark Executors reminded Zheng Yichen of the ‘Great Swords’ from a certain work. Among them, some, due to their harsh experiences, developed stronger wills, while others were more prone to Corruption. However, such individuals were basically dealt with internally within the Dark Executors. Every established Dark Executor was quite formidable. They rarely operated in groups larger than three; the vast majority of the time, they acted alone.

As for the possibility of things going wrong, the Sanctuary Church wasn’t that incompetent. Since such individuals existed, they naturally had corresponding countermeasures. So far, there hadn’t been any major incidents caused by Dark Executors.

“I’ve already dealt with them. Following me is pointless. Do you mean you want me to help you find a new bandit group?”

“That’s unnecessary. This was something I took upon myself. It’s fine that you resolved it.” Moser took out a round orb from his robe. Inside the orb, Zheng Yichen saw a mass of intertwined, twisted, dark Souls…

Indeed, a mass, not a single one. That thing was a filthy product of hundreds of Souls entangled together. Even compressed into that small orb, one could still ‘hear’ the tragic and despairing wails of the deceased within. Zheng Yichen didn’t even want this thing. Souls were good stuff, but they needed to be of the right type. This one could be considered unusable radioactive waste. Ordinary spirits touching it would immediately fall and become Evil Spirits.

Even if Humans touched it, they would transform into physical abominations due to its twisted nature!

Moser whispered to the soul orb for a moment. The twisted Souls inside actually began to gradually disintegrate. Most of the filth dissipated into the air, leaving behind a cluster of condensed light points. Those were True Spirits!

Zheng Yichen was somewhat stunned. This worked? Those True Spirits should have been tainted under the twisted Souls, yet now they were restored to normal. Was it by eliminating their lingering attachments? Seeing this method, Zheng Yichen thought… he should become a shrine maiden? Cough, that seemed a bit far-fetched.

As the orb shattered, the True Spirits it contained quickly dissipated into the air, returning to the River Styx.

“Okay, we should part ways now,” Moser said to Zheng Yichen.

However, after turning his direction, he glanced back at Zheng Yichen, who was following, and involuntarily increased the throttle a bit. Zheng Yichen, in turn, pedaled faster, still following…

“…”

“Don’t misunderstand, I’m heading this way too,” Zheng Yichen said to Moser.

“I’m going to confiscate the wealth accumulated by those bandits. Even if you stole the kill, I won’t share it with you.”

“What?” Zheng Yichen blinked in confusion, looking at this somewhat dark-themed, resolute-faced man. He felt his character image broke a bit after that statement. Previously, he seemed aloof on the outside but gentle inside. Now, how did a greedy trait get added?

“I really am just going the same way…”

“Oh.” Moser nodded, saying nothing more, and continued moving forward head down. However, he kept twisting the throttle faster and faster. Zheng Yichen thought for a moment, put away his bicycle, switched to a Magic Cycle, and followed. The latter couldn’t be bothered to say anything more to Zheng Yichen. They soon arrived at a hidden Mountain Stronghold. Moser glanced at Zheng Yichen, who followed out of curiosity.

Ignoring Zheng Yichen, Moser pulled out a black shortsword from under his tattered black cloak. He ignored the guards of the stronghold. Here, as long as someone could speak, he could basically make them unable to speak… His strikes were sharp and decisive, making Zheng Yichen’s mouth twitch. That was too ruthless!

Indeed, Moser was quite brutal. Those he struck weren’t left whole! Not even their remains were left afterward. Their bodies turned to ashes under the corrosion of Dark Power, and their Souls dissipated completely, without even the chance to Corrupt into Evil Spirits or malevolent spirits.

Then came the process of looting the valuables. His level of proficiency left Zheng Yichen speechless. What Zheng Yichen thought would take half a day, Moser completed in less than an hour. Within that hour, he even found the Secret Vault inside the stronghold. Astounding proficiency!

Clearly an old hand. The only part that seemed less practiced was the process of ‘trading’ the loot using the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. Zheng Yichen checked the backend data: the trading partner was the Sanctuary Church. Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but click his tongue lightly. Using this method to seek convenience, huh? Thankfully, he had prepared well before. With such transactions, the commission wouldn’t be small either.

Though compared to the total value of the loot, it wasn’t much, it prevented him from suffering additional losses due to this behavior. Overall, he didn’t lose out. If the operation of transferring wealth via the Magic Weapon Summoning Book’s trading function became more proficient, Zheng Yichen thought he could compress the looting time to around forty minutes.

Come to think of it, should he start considering the ‘Balance Treasure’ idea? While Moser was busy looting with the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, Zheng Yichen pondered for a moment but quickly suppressed the thought. This wasn’t the first time he had considered it, but the feasibility of implementation wasn’t high. After all, such an action would significantly impact the flow of wealth for the major Empires…

Even without charging interest, it would directly interfere with the interests of the vast majority of entities. Even without interference, not many would support such a thing!

A bank? Banks weren’t suitable for the Otherworld. Even if there were things similar to debit cards, their use was limited, confined to places with high credibility, like the Purple Vine Guild. Such things could only operate within the Purple Vine Guild first. Using them elsewhere would cause trouble. Doing this, Purple Vine Guild, what are you trying to do? Control the economic lifeline?

Even without such intentions, other power holders would think so.

Therefore, if Zheng Yichen created a ‘Balance Treasure,’ it would definitely cause some trouble. Even if his true identity remained hidden… at that time, it could really lead to a period of boycott. Who let his credibility not reach a height where all factions could feel at ease with such a function appearing?

After all, from the perspective of those factions, the Creator was also an intelligent being with their own needs. Creating such a thing, if one day the Creator’s mind went astray and wanted to cause trouble, it could potentially trigger an economic collapse, and everyone would suffer! After all, the Creator had very few attachments. Few attachments meant they could easily do such things.

In contrast, if a major Empire created such a thing, even if it was hard to accept at first, if successful, people could avoid excessive worry about the possibility of troublemaking because they couldn’t afford the consequences. Unless the entire Empire felt it had existed for too long and wanted to destroy its own foundation.

Otherwise, they would definitely maintain such a situation steadily!

So, Zheng Yichen lacked the conditions to create a ‘Balance Treasure.’ This left him quite helpless, but there was nothing he could do. Forcing it would be too easy to trigger a backlash. What he needed was stable development, not resistance and backlash. However, this idea still lingered in Zheng Yichen’s mind. The ‘Balance Treasure’ from before his transmigration could generate interest. In the Otherworld, it would definitely need modification. Charging fees would be the main point. If feasible, even with fees deducted, many people would likely use it because it was so convenient…

Unfortunately… the conditions weren’t sufficient.

Wait! Putting that aside, maybe he could try approaching it from a different angle. After thinking, Zheng Yichen took out a small notebook and wrote it down. If physical currency wouldn’t work, how about trying something similar to ‘Q-Coins’ as a test?

Magic Weapon Forum Coins… Hmm, tsk, the name could be thought of later. He’d try it out when he had time. Zheng Yichen genuinely didn’t want to miss out on this aspect. After all, if he could grasp the economic aspect, even if his identity was fully exposed in the future, he could hold a greater position. Unless most people wanted mutual destruction.

“What are you writing?” Moser, who had finished looting the stronghold and came out, glanced at the small notebook in Zheng Yichen’s hand and asked. The text on it was incomprehensible to him—probably some obscure language or cipher. Also, because Zheng Yichen only observed the whole time without interfering, Moser’s wariness towards Zheng Yichen had lessened considerably. He no longer had the previous feeling of rejection, that ‘you definitely want to steal my money.’

“People have many ideas. Many good ideas are often forgotten later. To avoid that, I write them down first.”

“A good idea,” Moser nodded in agreement.

Zheng Yichen thought of another idea: adding a memo/reminder function to the Magic Weapon Summoning Book…