Echoes of the Past

Chapter 38 Acting as a middleman, earning the price difference

Another small Rubik's Cube detached from the giant structure and landed, stumbling and floating over.

While Nan'an was still wondering, the new Rubik's Cube expanded like an inflating balloon, opening a soft halo around its edge, and in the blink of an eye, it swallowed the "brother" that was trapping the fly fog.

Witnessing the matryoshka doll take shape, Nan'an looked at the giant structure in the distance with a sense of enlightenment.

The purification and absorption process is isolated from the main body. By using the newly separated individuals to create layers of nested structures, a series of buffer and isolation barriers are built to prevent unexpected and uncontrollable events from triggering a chain reaction.

But why didn't you do that last time?

Could it be that the "darkness" has a smaller impact than the Nightmare Fragment taken from the Living Eclipse?

The fourth element added to Nan'an's contemplation was "battlefield".

The deep, dark light, representing "darkness," adheres silently to the layer of radiant white energy that represents light, like the thinnest veil.

Immediately afterwards, the vibrant green of the plants and the deep, rich yellow of the earth began to complement each other.

The raging fly fog gradually subsided, and the first layer of the Rubik's Cube that enveloped it slowly shrank, followed by the second layer.

When they were compressed to the size of an infant's fist, the dark red cube that had been slowly rotating in mid-air suddenly lost all buoyancy, shuddered slightly, and then fell to the ground with a "thud".

After hesitating for a moment, Nan'an stepped forward.

The Rubik's Cube is a deep, dark red, like congealed blood.

Touching the surface, it feels cool to the fingertips, with a texture somewhere between crystal and liquid.

As he touched it, ripples spread across the dark red surface like waves on water.

Through the gently rippling water, one can vaguely see its interior.

Inside the Rubik's Cube, it seemed as if a small piece of frozen time and space was sealed, with countless tiny, dark red flies frozen in place, maintaining the posture of struggling and flapping their wings in their last moment.

Like an insect sealed in amber.

He took a deep breath and gripped the Rubik's Cube tightly.

The cold and obscure information, like a torrent being unleashed, poured directly into the depths of his consciousness without warning.

It is not language, nor images, but a more direct "understanding".

Nan An's mind stirred slightly, and she followed that sudden guidance...

The Rubik's Cube's surface trembled slightly with a dim light.

A thick, swirling mass of dark red mist erupted from inside the Rubik's Cube.

The fog quickly spread, covering an area roughly the size of a quilt.

The hypothesis was confirmed: the giant cube could not only purify and devour the Nightmare, but also seal its power and use it for its own purposes.

The only question is whether the purified Nightmare God fully retains its original power.

After observing for a long time, Nan'an felt that the giant Rubik's Cube was not a simple and cold device that operated only to execute a certain program.

It has a sense of the outside world and a vague understanding of it, as evidenced by its ability to prevent the cat food from being eaten last time.

So he raised his head and said it directly.

"What do you want me to do?"

no respond.

But this was within Nan'an's expectations, and he stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment.

"I feel that the Rubik's Cube's form is inconvenient to use, perhaps..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Rubik's Cube in Nan'an's hand spontaneously disintegrated into countless tiny cubes the size of grains of rice, rapidly reassembling into…

A thin card?

The lifelike card image of Fly Mist almost leaped out of the frame, as if it could shatter the dimensional barrier and pounce on people's faces at any moment.

It even includes a card description section, as if to say, "Play however you like."

Nan'an couldn't help but rub the corner of his eyebrow.

It has perception and a vague understanding, but no emotions; it only responds to needs and does not engage in further dialogue or provide answers...

Even knowing there would be no answer, Nan'an couldn't help but ask.

"What exactly are you?"

The magical technology of the Gray Star era could never have created such a magnificent and spectacular structure.

Once vision cleared, the first thing that came into view was Suiyue lying on the dining table, drooling over the cat food curled up in the chair.

An uninformed person seeing this might think that the cow is starving and is plotting how to cook the weasel.

"Wow! Nan'an, you're finally out!" Suiyue turned around immediately upon hearing the noise, her face full of grievance as she complained, "The cat food...it didn't cook for me!"

As if in response to her accusation, Cat Food, who had been resting with its eyes closed, slowly opened them and lightly jumped off the chair.

It glanced at Nan'an first, then walked gracefully to the kitchen not far away, skillfully using its tail to pick up the wok and spatula, and began its work.

"Hey, hey, hey, what does this mean? Why do you obediently cook as soon as the old man comes out, but ignore my pleas?!"

Nan'an was both amused and exasperated: "You misunderstood. Cat food probably just means they don't want the food to get cold."

Cat food makers are not only skilled at cooking, but also very particular about what they eat.

Hot food should be eaten quickly once it's served to avoid missing the best flavor. Therefore, he makes sure everyone is ready to eat before he agrees to cook.

"Just let me know if you get hungry."

"What if...you're busy thinking about something important?" Suiyue asked cautiously. "I can't just disturb you, can I?"

Nan An smiled and said, "Okay, I'll cook you some late-night snacks tonight."

"Great!"

Before Suiyue could lower her raised arms, a card that appeared to be made of bloodstone, hard in texture and slightly translucent, floated before her eyes.

"When did you accept Corella's gift?"

Nan'an said helplessly, "It's not that kind of card. Bring me a piece of raw meat."

Despite her doubts, Suiyue obediently ran towards the storage area.

A short while later, she returned carrying a whole frozen rabbit that had been processed but was still frozen solid.

Nan'an waved the card that the Rubik's Cube had turned into, and the dark red fly mist instantly enveloped the frozen rabbit completely.

In the fog, countless tiny individuals, invisible to the naked eye, were frantically wriggling and drilling.

A tooth-grinding, subtle "rustling" sound echoed, like the stress-relieving polishing videos that Nan'an loved to watch in his past life.

The frozen rabbit's hard surface was eroded with holes at a visible speed, and the surface of the meat began to exude a nauseating smell of decay.

As time went on, the meat's color changed, becoming a disgusting dark brown, as if it had been naturally rotting in a damp, filthy corner for weeks.

Nan'an waved the card again, and the swarm of flies returned in a whooshing sound, disappearing into the card like a receding tide.

"This..." Suiyue was greatly shocked.

How do you feel?

"I don't feel anything."

"Where's the magic?"

"I haven't felt any magical burden yet." Suiyue swallowed. "This is the power of the Divine Nightmare. You can use it freely?"

"I feel that you can take it freely."

When Nan'an handed her the card, Suiyue waved her hand repeatedly, just like you when you're being given a red envelope by your elders during Chinese New Year and you have to pretend to refuse.

The only difference is that Suiyue truly doesn't want it.

The fear of the power of the Nightmare God is deeply ingrained in the bones of most Nora people.

Mei Mei admired her panic and disarray, and Nan An suddenly felt a few years younger.

Elementary school boys are nothing special, right?

Nan'an also did a test, sticking a card containing fly fog on the cat's food, and as expected, there was no reaction.

Cat Food seemed to take a slight interest in the "same kind" in the card, holding it in both hands and examining it for a long time before tossing it onto the table in a bored state.

Suiyue stuffed the last piece of meat into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's, and mumbled, "Ugh... didn't you lose out?"

"Where did we lose out?"

"You gave all the corpses to Coralina and the others," Suiyue said, swallowing hard, her voice clearer. "What if there's some decent, powerful Nightmare God energy among the remaining corpses?"

This reminded Nan'an that he hadn't been clear about the specifics of the Rubik's Cube's absorption at the time, but now that he saw it could be used for his own purposes, he didn't dare to delay and rushed back to Keren after finishing his meal.

The two hurried through the twilight that was beginning to fall over the city of Kren.

The temporary accommodations that Pierion arranged for Corella and her party were right next to the Consul's residence.

With the Eclipses launching attacks around the city-state several times in succession, their audacity growing ever more astonishing, Pirion dared not gamble on whether these dangerous elements had already infiltrated the city.

He decided to keep all the important visitors from Shuangmiancheng under his watchful eye and "take care" of them.

When Nanan arrived at the makeshift morgue, he discovered that there was much more than just Cora's small group at the scene.

The moment he pushed the door open, everyone in the room stopped moving.

Almost all the members of the Tears of Fire Academy who came to visit Kren this time gathered here.

They sat around a long table covered with a white cloth in the center, on which lay a partially dissected, rotting corpse.

Several lamps made of high-powered crystals overhead cast a pale light, illuminating the corpse and the young faces around it wearing masks and gloves.

Nan'an Suiyue's sudden arrival made her the most dazzling star in the room, and everyone stared blankly at her dashing figure—she remained in the position of pushing open the door, completely mesmerized.

Is that correct?

Wasn't it agreed that the corpses were research materials "exclusively" for Corella's small group?

Why are there so many people here? It's as lively as a consultation with specialists for some difficult and complicated disease.

Corella was the first to react. She quickly removed her mask and surgical cap, and her long, black hair slid down her shoulders.

She understood everything from Nan An's slightly furrowed brows and reacted immediately.

"Miss Suiyue, Senior Nan'an." Her voice was exceptionally clear in the quiet room. "Are you two here specifically to have a follow-up examination because you're worried that the remnants of the Divine Nightmare might be abnormal? You're really... too dedicated."

As she spoke, she quickly approached, and from a distance unnoticed by others, she leaned close to Nan'an's side and whispered something rapidly in a very low voice that only the two of them could hear.

"Please help me... I've sold tickets."

Nan'an immediately tugged at Suiyue's sleeve—this was the signal the two had agreed upon to keep quiet when they were out.

He coughed and said, "You guys continue, I just happened to be passing by."

The members of Tearfire nodded slightly, adjusted the angle of the lampstands made of high-powered lighting crystals above their heads, and continued to work their knives on the living, eroded corpse.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Coralina led Nanan to a corpse in the corner, turned her back to everyone, and explained in a low voice.

"I told them... I have a way to get in touch with you and obtain these valuable research samples." Her voice trailed off, "But it requires a slight... um, a slight modification to the standard procedure for handling live erosion in El Deer, so..."

"So, you told them they needed money to pave the way..." Nan An laughed angrily, "I'm doing you a one-off deal, and you turn around and charge them for corpses?"

"Senior, you're short of money, and so am I," Coralina said, clasping her hands together in a pleading gesture. "We're both poor students, so... we can only be a little more flexible, right? That way, the money I collect can help me pay off the debt I owe you as quickly as possible, right?"

"Speaking of which, we haven't agreed on a price for a corpse yet, have we?" Suiyue tilted her head. "Depending on the condition of the corpse, it shouldn't be a single price."

"Gulp..." Clara made a muffled sound from her throat, her eyes beginning to wander.

Nan An laughed: "Since you're so good at making money, then I should be more careful with my spending."

"No, no, no! Senior!" Corella hurriedly waved her hands, her ingratiating smile almost bursting off her face.

"Don't what?" Nan An raised an eyebrow slightly. "You're using my status as a member of the Erlu clan as collateral. There are too many people here, and gossip can easily get back to the Senate. What if they say that Erlu members are privately dealing in live corpses? Wouldn't I be the one to take all the blame?"

Clara scratched her cheek sheepishly, her voice even lower: "Actually... it's not that serious. The rules set by Lord Raven are the highest standards for high-risk Nightmares. These few are just insignificant minions with very limited pollution. Apart from the Evil Deer, the rule of mandatory on-site incineration... is strictly enforced in very few places."

Upon hearing this, Nan'an's tense expression relaxed somewhat. He recalled that Huoya had indeed mentioned at the review meeting that those strict rules had a considerable amount of redundancy.

It was originally designed to deal with the most extreme situations, and the Senate leaders also agreed with this, which shows that everyone understands that the current high-specification Elu does not have the versatility to be promoted throughout Nora.

"How much money have you received?"

"Most of them are temporary IOUs, and we haven't tallied them yet," Coralina shrugged. "Nobody carries around a bunch of currency around like that."

They were nobles, but all were poor students.

Nan An sighed softly. It's true that it's hard to earn money from students.

"What else did you say to them?"

"Well?"

"You really were hiding something!" Nan'an had only intended to bluff, but he hadn't expected Corella to actually have a trick up her sleeve.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I just told them in advance that if they want to eat corpses alive in the future, they can contact me. Through me, they can get the goods from the senior at a cheaper price."

"You've even become a middleman!"

"Then wouldn't I be trying to recruit you, senior?" Seeing that her plan had been exposed, Clara decided to be frank. "The market demand is huge. As long as you can continue to sell on demand, I'm confident I can help you get in touch with the academy mentors of Shuangmian City. You won't have to worry about sales."

"Are you really a nobleman?" Nan An had a headache. "Is there such a disgraceful nobleman as you?"