309: A darker corner of the world

Bai Wei chattered for nearly an hour.

During this time, Shen Bei also finished cleaning up the money.

Stacks of banknotes lay before Shen Bei, and in a trance, Shen Bei seemed to see blood seeping from the money.

This blood wasn't necessarily his own; it could also be someone else's.

To understand the past and present of the Golden Water Jug, Bai Wei introduced a concept Shen Bei had never heard of.

That was "Wondrous Item."

Wondrous Items are not produced on earth's surface but come from the Dungeon.

Strictly speaking, the Martial Skills that Martial Artists currently Cultivate, the weapons they use, or herbs, etc.—everything that does not originate from earth's surface can be categorized as a Wondrous Item.

However, as time passed, the threshold for Wondrous Items became increasingly high.

Materials such as Ore, herbs, flesh, and Martial Skills produced in the Dungeon gradually faded out of the Wondrous Item category.

They became commonplace.

They also circulated in the earth's surface's trading markets.

The current scope of Wondrous Items has been elevated to objects like the Golden Water Jug, which possess specific functions.

According to records, the Golden Water Jug first appeared in a small African country.

It then circulated, appearing multiple times in various countries on earth's surface.

According to Bai Wei, anyone who acquired the Golden Water Jug would quickly discover its effects.

As long as it was given emotions of pain and sadness, it would produce banknotes.

Initially, even if the owner of the Golden Water Jug fell and scraped his skin, it would spit out banknotes.

This would entice human greed and desire.

People would begin to torment their own bodies.

For example, using a small knife to cut the skin, hitting one's head against a wall, and all other harmful behaviors—the Golden Water Jug would provide feedback, resulting in cash rewards.

But as time passed, minor injuries could no longer satisfy the Golden Water Jug's appetite.

Eventually, the Golden Water Jug would not spit out any banknotes for self-harming behaviors.

To obtain money, the owner could only seek other methods.

Other methods were also simple: absorbing the pain of others.

For example, Bo Tao and Ren Qianna mingled among the bereaved families at the funeral parlor, absorbing a large amount of sad emotions, and once again made a fortune.

However, the threshold for the emotions required by the Golden Water Jug would continuously increase.

After only a few uses of others' normal sad emotions, the Golden Water Jug would no longer spit out banknotes.

At this point, the owner would naturally think of creating greater pain.

The owner would not cut off his own fingers, so he could only cut off others'.

But this was a crime.

He could only go all the way, kill the person, and also obtain painful emotions.

Of course, this could only satisfy a part of the Golden Water Jug.

As the Golden Water Jug's appetite grew, simple killing was no longer enough.

Then, torture and murder began.

Various cruel methods and instruments of torture were used in turn, tormenting the victim to death.

The banknotes spit out by the Golden Water Jug became even more violent.

Under this step-by-step enticement, the owner's psychology and personality underwent severe distortion and perversion.

Imagine, if torture and murder also made money, once one stepped into the abyss, there would be no coming back.

In the end, the owner no longer cared about money.

He became a slave to the Golden Water Jug, a pervert who only engaged in torture and murder for pleasure!

Overall, the Golden Water Jug was a silent demon.

It step-by-step enticed the owner's desire and greed for free money, leading him into an abyss from which he could not extricate himself.

At this moment, Shen Bei looked at the Golden Water Jug on the table and shivered all over.

Most people couldn't resist such temptation.

If he had obtained this Wondrous Item alone, would he also have walked into the abyss?

Shen Bei couldn't give a definite answer.

But he would definitely carry the Golden Water Jug with him at all times, and during battles, there would inevitably be more torture and murder.

Shen Bei sniffed: "It's too terrifying."

"Right?"

Bai Wei locked the Golden Water Jug back in the safe: "When this Wondrous Item was abroad, it caused over three hundred deaths at most, and the owner was a prominent wealthy man in that area."

"They say that when money is siphoned, it carries blood and sweat. But this Golden Water Jug will tell you what true blood money is."

Shen Bei nodded, then raised a question: "Earlier, I mentioned that I wanted to arrest Bo Tao, even though it was about a flight ban. But you already knew the Golden Water Jug would lead its owners to kill; why didn't you order the arrest of Bo Tao and Ren Qianna?"

"How do you know they have progressed to killing?"

Bai Wei retorted: "They are Seventh Rank Martial Artists; you can't arrest people based on suspicion; you need evidence."

"What's more, according to your description, you also saw them at the funeral parlor. The Golden Water Jug shouldn't have been in their hands for long, and they haven't reached the point of killing yet."

Shen Bei frowned: "This is merely your guess."

"But you also can't provide facts," Bai Wei said.

Shen Bei fell silent for a moment, thinking carefully. What the hell did this have to do with him?

Why care about Bo Tao and Ren Qianna?

That wasn't the point.

The point was profit!

Shen Bei immediately rubbed his hands and said, "That Golden Water Jug must weigh two catties, right? I just handed it over like that, no reward at all?"

"I'll correct a wrong idea of yours."

Bai Wei put the safe back on the shelf, her expression calm, only explaining slowly: "This Wondrous Item was brought back by Zhuang Bifan."

Shen Bei: ...

"Then I saved Zhuang Bifan's life!"

Bai Wei's beautiful eyebrows arched: "Who saved him?"

Shen Bei: ...

"Then, then I flew back with Zhuang Bifan and even got fined."

"You can ask Zhuang Bifan for reimbursement."

Shen Bei: ...

Damn it!

So, the Golden Water Jug is just gone, is that it?

Shen Bei suddenly found himself in the wrong everywhere; this Bai Wei was too cunning!

After thinking for a moment, Shen Bei finally said: "What's that, could you take out the Golden Water Jug for a moment? I'll be ruthless and make one last harvest, as compensation for me."

The Wondrous Item was still in Bai Wei's hands, so making money quickly was the real deal.

It would be sealed in the national treasury tomorrow, and it seemed it would never see the light of day again, never to be taken out of the treasury.

Every bit of money he could get was something.

Opportunities were few and fleeting.

Bai Wei looked at Shen Bei, who was extremely excited, his face somewhat distorted, his eyes radiating intense greed, and she patted Shen Bei's head.

Instantly.

A cool sensation flowed through Shen Bei's entire body.

It was like a scorching hot summer day, with sticky, smelly sweat all over, suddenly taking a sip of negative three-degree Martial Artist cola.

Extremely refreshing, exhilarating to the heavens.

Shen Bei couldn't help but hum.

"Look at you, you got hooked after just one try."

Bai Wei's voice was exceptionally sharp, piercing into Shen Bei's mind.

Shen Bei suddenly shivered, his gaze gradually returning to normal.

"I..." Shen Bei shook his head, sighing: "This... this thing really has a magical power."

Bai Wei nodded: "Otherwise, why would every appearance inevitably lead to a bloody incident? But it must be said, you get hooked more easily than other owners."

Shen Bei felt awkward, rolling his eyes: "I'm just afraid of being poor."

What kind of life did Shen Bei live before he became a Martial Artist?

Working part-time while studying.

In this Martial Artist world, ordinary people at the bottom were just trying to survive, which showed how poor Shen Bei's life had been.

"Oh, right," Shen Bei changed the subject: "I remember you said the Golden Water Jug's first appearance wasn't brought out of the Dungeon by humans?"

Bai Wei nodded, saying with a heavy expression: "Mm, it was an alien who deliberately placed Wondrous Items on earth's surface, perhaps for amusement, or perhaps simply to harm people. Whatever the reason, it's not worth tracing."

"But one thing is certain: the complexity of this world far exceeds your imagination. When the Golden Water Jug first appeared in a small African country, we suspected that country had already fallen."

Shen Bei: ???

"Fallen?" Shen Bei didn't quite understand what Bai Wei meant.

Bai Wei pondered for a moment, then said: "This is classified national secret information. Logically speaking, you shouldn't know it; only those at the Divine-Grade level can know."

Shen Bei made an empty promise, patting his chest: "You tell me first, and I'll Cultivate to Divine-Grade in the future, won't I? This is called 'pre-consumption.'"

Bai Wei: ...

"You're getting a bit ahead of yourself..." Bai Wei glanced sideways.

Shen Bei asked very steadily: "The fact that you can tell me so much also means you recognize me. Otherwise, why wouldn't you tell Du Ziteng? Or Qi Chuanyu?"

"Because they are all useless; their growth potential is not like mine."

Bai Wei coughed: "It's not good to speak ill of people behind their backs."

Shen Bei scoffed: "I say the same thing to their faces."

"Are you sure you're all in the same organization?"

"Of course," Shen Bei spread his hands and said, "Those scoundrels even dare to criticize me to my face, and even threaten to kill me. What did I say? Didn't I just not bother to stoop to their level?"

Bai Wei's mouth twitched.

She had a sense of déjà vu regarding the internal dynamics of Zha Tian Gang.

Is this what they call 'hitting is affection, scolding is love'?

Bai Wei sighed softly, taking a sip of her already cold coffee: "This top-secret information is..."

...

Half an hour later, Shen Bei left Bai Wei's temporary office.

He returned to his "cell."

He stuffed the banknotes into his backpack.

The harvest was good; over three hundred thousand in cash felt much warmer than the cold numbers on a bank card.

Another topic that had been brought up by the Wondrous Item, the Golden Water Jug, was a small African country.

After Shen Bei heard about it, he felt his worldview was about to collapse.

Behind this world, there existed endless mysteries.

Shen Bei had originally thought that his multiple encounters with the Apocalypse Cult and the Headhunter Tribe had already unveiled a corner of the world's darkness.

He didn't expect that it had been unveiled, yes.

But with Bai Wei's intensified efforts, boundless darkness spread, with no end in sight.

The complexity of the matter far exceeded Shen Bei's imagination.

Leaving aside other things, just one sentence from Bai Wei was enough to blow Shen Bei's mind.

"Nine Lives Raven might not be from earth's surface at all, but an alien."

This was Bai Wei's speculation, with no concrete evidence, but there was a hidden incident that could serve as corroboration.

That was when someone in the Dungeon obtained an alien technique, translated as "Great Thousand Countenances Technique."

However, on his way back to the earth's surface, he accidentally entered a beast tide and died tragically on the spot. The technique book was also trampled to pieces, mixed with mud and water, completely beyond restoration.

Only the translated characters left by this Martial Artist were vaguely visible on the pages.

With this hidden incident, it could be attributed to Nine Lives Raven.

Nine Lives Raven had nine faces, which was consistent with the Great Thousand Countenances Technique.

A reckless guess: if Nine Lives Raven was an alien disguised as a human, then... were there other disguised aliens on earth's surface?

Where were they distributed?

And what roles did they play on earth's surface?

These were all questions one dared not ponder deeply.

The more one thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

And regarding that small African country, there were even more suspicions.

This small country also had a Permanent Dungeon, and Bai Wei suspected that this small country had already become a Puppet regime for aliens.

Shen Bei's head grew several sizes just listening to it.

Therefore, Shen Bei's biggest gain in the capital this time was not the banknotes obtained through the Golden Water Jug.

Instead, it was the concept of "Wondrous Items" and a darker corner of the world that emerged from it.

...

In the following days, Shen Bei went out during the day to do odd jobs and boost his attributes.

Zhuang Bifan was still feigning illness, saying he would no longer monitor Shen Bei.

Bai Wei didn't bother to manage him either, as long as he didn't cause trouble during these few days of confinement.

The Xing Sha Dungeon would be rectified in a few days, and then Shen Bei and Zhuang Bifan would go down to search for the so-called "Martial Dao Pinnacle."

In the evening, Shen Bei returned to his "cell" to quickly Cultivate his Martial Skills.

Especially the Magnetic Pole Cyclone Yuan Skill.

He had to practice this.

It was only twenty thousand volts now; the distance to a million volts was not a small gap!