Chapter 515: Couldn’t Hold Back Anymore

Chapter 515: Couldn’t Hold Back Anymore

Zheng Yichen, who was unknowingly labeled as a greedy dragon, was still puzzling over why that young woman held such a big grudge against him. Even if it made her uncomfortable, she still wanted to target him. How could someone be so twisted?

“Come, come, Lena. You’ve lived long and seen plenty. I want to ask you about someone. Do you know the Chief Supervisor of the Isolation Zone?” Zheng Yichen immediately went to Dan Marina as soon as he returned. As for Oss and the others, they were naturally off fighting monsters to level up. For Oss, though, the recent monster fights felt terrible. Those humans had no blood to drain. Even after becoming dangerously powerful because of the Soul Spirits inside them, a slash yielded no blood to suck. If he managed to draw anything out, it was just Negative Energy or things related to Flesh Seeds. Gobbling that stuff up felt downright pointless.

Zheng Yichen used a Mana Thread to sketch out a Magic Rune Array, projecting an image. Dan Marina glanced at the woman in it and shook her head. “Haven’t seen her. Don’t know her.”

“You’re not fake, are you?” Zheng Yichen was shocked. There was someone this woman didn’t recognize?

“I know most people outside The Church. But as for those within the Sanctuary Church system… what do you think that Contract I once carried was for?”

The thing Dan Marina once carried? Hmm… a super, super powerful Contract. From what she mentioned before, that Contract was even made from human skin… her own skin. While losing a big layer of skin wasn’t a big deal for a Witch, given Dan Marina’s style, she obviously wouldn’t casually cut off a useful piece of her own skin to make Contracts, would she?

“Back then, restricted by the Contract, I couldn’t do many things. Especially probing or knowing about certain people within The Church. The ones I knew were only those I’d come across personally. I never met this young lady before, so of course, I don’t know her.” Dan Marina gave a light shrug. “My abilities? I can’t use them now anyway. So there you have it. If you want to find out, you’ll probably have to explore it yourself.”

“You have no idea how sharp she is. Even if it makes her uncomfortable, she insists on making things difficult for me.” Zheng Yichen said, sparking Dan Marina’s interest. “Tell me, tell me. What happened?”

Zheng Yichen recounted the earlier encounter. After listening, Dan Marina gave him a look of sympathy. “Oh, you poor thing. Getting targeted this intensely… are you sure you never offended her before?”

“Are you kidding? This was the first time I ever saw her! Otherwise, why would I come back here to ask you?!”

“Well now you’re in for it. Since she’s the Chief Supervisor here, it shows how much The Church values her. The Church’s way of operating is to usually grant authority to whoever is overseeing a major project. So if she really wants to make trouble for you, it would be effortless for her.”

“What the hell… Seriously? That’s just abusing authority, right?” Zheng Yichen was stunned. “Isn’t she afraid The Church will demote her straight to the bottom?”

“Why would they? It’s just giving you a hard time. It’s not affecting the bigger picture. If things inside the Containment Zone get resolved cleanly, she’ll probably get praised. There won’t be any ‘demotion’ like you said.”

Zheng Yichen felt awful!

“So this means… I really have to temporarily give up on this place?”

“Huh? No more money-making?”

“Just not as easy as before.” Zheng Yichen shook his head. It wasn’t that he couldn’t make money anymore, but compared to before, when he just tossed out designs without much thought and got paid, it was a lot more complicated now. It made Zheng Ychen really wish he could find a spokesperson to argue things out with that sharp-tongued young woman.

Based on how she deliberately made things hard for him this time, Zheng Yichen didn’t believe she’d be civil the next time around. “Why don’t you be my spokesperson?”

“For free?”

“Of course not… you’ll definitely get paid. Gotta match your status. Speaking of which, how did you set up that family behind you?” Zheng Yichen asked with confusion. A Noble family wasn’t something anyone could just whip up easily. Even creating one under fake identity wasn’t simple. Plebians? Too many, hard to keep track. But Nobles have a whole registry system. You couldn’t just call yourself a Noble; they could trace it.

“I have lots of aliases. This is also one I came up with long ago. Once it’s ready, I can just pull it out anytime I need to use it.” Dan Marina said with a playful smile.

Zheng Yichen understood her maneuvers less and less. “It’s just you, right? You say you have many aliases, but how do you usually maintain them?”

“It’s super difficult for others to maintain. But for me? Piece of cake. But ah, since my real body is sleeping now, some preparations might slip out of control a bit. Doesn’t really matter though. Aren’t you here?”

“Me… I’m also all alone.”

“Ah~ Didn’t I just say I’m here too?”

“Alright, alright, whatever you say. Let’s draft a Contract. I’ll hire you. You handle the arguments with that young woman. I’ll just focus on creating.” Zheng Yichen waved his hand dismissively. Dan Marina gave a light chuckle and started walking towards where the Chief Supervisor of the Quarantine Camp was stationed. Of course, she couldn’t draw up the Contract herself. This was something the people from the Sanctuary Church had to do. A small smile played on her lips. This body… really was getting better the more she used it.

She believed any Witch who got used to an Avatar would feel similarly… Well, maybe. Witches like her, who enjoyed playing around within Human society, were certainly satisfied with using Avatars. Other Witches depended on their personalities. Like Annie appreciated Avatars more than Irene; Irene didn’t demand much, just an occasional stroll outside was fine.

Annie needed to collect the research products she’d scattered out there, so her need was much more frequent. But those Witch traits… best not to mention them. Apart from her, the Witch who loved Alchemical Avatars the most was Qin. Her need for Alchemical Avatars was even higher than Dan Marina’s. You could say both she and Dan Marina were the types who enjoyed playing around among Humans.

The difference was Dan Marina herself was the adventurous wanderer type, while Qin was the business-runner type.

News of Dan Marina seeking to buy a Contract from The Church reached the Chief Supervisor of the Isolation Zone soon enough. Contract Scrolls had to be made; you couldn’t just whip one out by chanting a spell. The Church handled this sort of business. In the past, whenever anyone needed to sign a contract, they’d usually buy one from a Church branch. After all, Church branches were practically everywhere; buying wasn’t difficult.

Some merchant associations also offered them. But the Church’s reputation stood firm. Compared to shady contracts from merchant associations, people preferred choosing the more reliable Church Contract Scrolls. So the Church’s Contracts were always the first choice.

For Dan Marina to find the Quarantine Camp’s supervisor and buy the Contract Scroll through his channels wasn’t all that strange. Even using the Magic Weapon Summoning Book would work. But since she was ‘hired’ by Zheng Yichen, she needed to signal something. The fact that she bought the Contract Scroll here was immediately known by the Chief Supervisor. The contents of the Contract Scroll were filled in by the Church before delivery. Furthermore, relating to the Containment Zone meant that sharp-tongued Chief Supervisor getting wind of it was only natural.

And knowing about it only made her more annoyed.

“Stingy lazy dragon…” That was her new evaluation of Zheng Yichen after learning this. He actually got someone else to deal with the trouble!? Frankly, Zheng Yichen’s move caught her off guard. Dan Marina actively seeking out Church officials to buy the Contract Scroll was also interpreted by her as Zheng Yichen sending her a signal through authorization – a challenge.

Perhaps Zheng Yichen found the mental wrangling tiresome, but once he found a substitute, it wasn’t his problem anymore. Like hiring a lawyer or outsourcing: I pay, you work. The mental battle was no longer his own. As for if it would work? Well, that depended on who he found. Regardless, Zheng Yichen’s maneuver truly upset her. She had such strong feelings against Zheng Yichen that causing him trouble felt satisfying… Yet now?

Dueling wits with a strange woman… After learning about this, she immediately dug into Dan Marina’s information. To put it simply, she was also a very capable woman. Her identity was flawless. As a Noble, she enjoyed adventures. Now she travelled with an Adventurer Team. Past records existed too. With the Church’s intelligence-gathering power, plenty about Dan Marina surfaced.

Under the management of this Noble lady, the Adventurer Team that Oss led maintained highly efficient logistics and intelligence networks. This was clear from their Quest records – Oss’s team had zero records of failed or low-efficiency Quests. All this was built on the management of this Noble maiden named Lena.

As for a Noblewoman adventuring out in the world? Young people always had restless spirits, wanting to explore while still young… Having an extra person like Dan Marina wasn’t the least bit strange.

Therefore, driven by some intuition, the Chief Supervisor felt this woman wouldn’t be easy to push aside. Maybe she could try flexing the Church’s muscle? Hmm~ While the Church didn’t meddle in politics, its influence was undeniable. Applying a little pressure should be possible, right? After all, that woman was now working for the dragon now. Thinking this way lifted her mood quite a bit. She even felt a little expectation for what came next. If the person the dragon hired also returned empty-handed… Hmph!

Later, she realized she had overthought things. The young woman standing before her with that perfectly practiced Noble smile was… unexpectedly thorny… No, extremely vexing!! Why did that dragon have such good luck! Damn it!

“Ah~ Hah~ Kaja… Haven’t been back in so many days.” Inside Kaja, Zheng Yichen looked at the city scenery and yawned. He had several backup Alchemical Avatars. But for psychological reasons, he didn’t make too many, keeping to a ‘one avatar active’ rule. As long as his current Alchemical Avatar was intact and functional, he wouldn’t activate a new one.

Ignoring the fact that he was currently in a dragon body, he practically treated this Alchemical Avatar as his ‘main body’. Hence, he didn’t want to use more than one Alchemical Avatar simultaneously. Even if using multiple could greatly increase his work efficiency, he chose the slightly less efficient method of walking places and doing things one by one.

This time, however, Zheng Yichen had a specific reason for making an exception to activate an additional new Alchemical Avatar upon returning to Kaja.

Zheng Yichen’s return didn’t go unnoticed. Some people even wondered: Wasn’t that dragon over at the Containment Zone? Back in Kaja, Zheng Yichen didn’t dally. He went straight to Qin’s Bar. The Madam Proprietress was still lounging against the counter with her usual lazy grace, silently observing the patrons and effortlessly fending off anyone trying to flirt with her.

Only upon seeing Zheng Yichen enter did she step away from the counter and walk towards him. This naturally irked some patrons who’d consistently – and unsuccessfully – poured on the charm. The stark contrast irritated them, but they could only watch… Perhaps the Madam Proprietress was into Alien Races?

Aliens came to the bar too… While the Dragon Clan could be categorized as an Alien Race, they weren’t human! Not even human-shaped! Calling them monsters suited them just fine.

“Looking for someone? Has your Witch disappeared? That shouldn’t be a big problem, right.” Qin asked about Zheng Yichen’s request. For a Witch, being away for ten days, a fortnight, even ten or eight years was normal. After all, that time didn’t mean much to them. A Witch staying in one place for decades was entirely possible. Take Irene for instance: Before Dan Marina brought Zheng Yichen to give her ‘trouble’, she’d lived in that place for over a hundred years… an extreme loner record long enough to outlive generations!

“The problem is I’m worried! I’ve held back for over a week!”

“…Over a week? Okay then.” Qin fell silent for a moment. Really? Only a week over a week and you couldn’t hold back anymore? Your behavior truly is more Human than the usual slow, meandering dragons. “Wait here for a bit. I’ll see if there’s any information you need.”

Qin put down her tankard – large enough to potentially concuss someone – and temporarily left. She returned about six or seven minutes later, picked up her heavy tankard, and sat down. “Her trip this time wasn’t ordinary. It’s probably related to a Derivative Witch. Hmm… For specific details, you should read the message I sent you later on the Magic Weapon Summoning Book.”

“Thank you!”

“The cost will be deducted from your share of the profits. Also, the Attribute Transformation Potion is about ready for official sale. You…”

“Sales strategy? I’m not skilled at that. Just run it however you think works. Whatever I say probably isn’t helpful.” Zheng Yichen said. Qin handling any and all Magic Potion sales? He’d long stopped worrying about it. Thinking about it was pointless anyway. Learn sales tactics? Why bother… Better to study two more sentences on Spatial Expansion techniques.

“But that potion has been held back quite a while, right?”

“Not long. Too much happened lately. Releasing it then wouldn’t have offered much benefit. Now’s the right timing.”

“Okay then. I’ll head back.” Zheng Yichen didn’t linger. Once he had the information he needed, he left directly, not disturbing Qin further.