11: Chapter 11 The Market Reunion

The Free Market of Paradise Lost

Mia wore the "Identity Concealment Cloak" provided by the system, the hood obscuring half her face, revealing only the faint red hue beneath the cosmetic contact lens of her right eye. She walked toward the weapon manufacturing and upgrade area. Adventurers hurried past, none noticing her fingers tightly gripping the nail of faith beneath her cloak.

When passing by an [Appraisal Shop], a virtual light screen automatically popped up:

"Special appraisal! First service for only 100 points!"

Mia stopped.

She wasn't sure if this nail would be defined as a "contraband item" in Paradise Lost, but her intuition told her that if she didn't figure out the situation with the Worldstone fragment, the next dungeon would likely cost her her life.

"Appraisal." She reached out.

The shop's AI screen scanned the nail, paused for two seconds, and then unexpectedly popped up an error warning—

[Data corruption... This item involves high-level permissions, unable to parse...]

Before she could react, the lights of the entire shop flickered, as if the air had frozen for a moment, and a figure stepped out from the shadows at the back of the shop.

"Rare guest... Miss Priest." A hoarse male voice rang out, and a face covered in scars slowly lifted from beneath a hood. "In your hand, it seems you are holding something that shouldn't appear here."

Mia's heartbeat accelerated suddenly.

"This NPC, why does he know her?"

"Are you really taking me for an NPC? I already said I count as, at most, half an administrator, just someone with a bit of participation."

"I am the Black-Robed Merchant who fell for your Charm skill and Adoration skill last time."

"Speaking of which, it's strange. Why does a priest like you have demon-type talent skills?"

"Could it be that you really are a succubus? If so, my loss wasn't unjust." The scarred man rubbed his nose, smiling as he reached out to grab Mia's wrist.

On the metal appraisal table, the rusty nail vibrated slightly, as if resisting some invisible shackle. Vein-like patterns spread deep within the rust, like the blood vessels of a living thing, emitting an ominous halo.

As soon as Mia's fingers touched the nail, a burning sensation shot straight to her nerves, and a low whisper immediately rang in her ears:

"Bearing the Saint's blood, piercing the authority of gods and demons."

"Huh? A pure-blood succubus, and not some fake bloodline sold by the system?"

The Black-Robed Merchant's mechanical prosthetic limb clicked as it clamped onto her wrist. Mechanical gears turned, and a red light shot from his fingertips to scan the nail. He suddenly grinned, revealing a row of sharp teeth modified with metal.

"...Heh, it seems you didn't lie to me." He lowered his voice. "This thing really has nailed a god to death."

The corner of Mia's eye twitched imperceptibly. She wasn't entirely unaware—at the end of the [Rose Manor] dungeon, the heart pierced by the nail clearly didn't belong to an ordinary demon, but rather... a higher existence.

"Worldstone, do you know what that is?" Mia feigned calmness.

The merchant narrowed his single eye, his mechanical pupil contracting as if evaluating her.

"...I know." He replied hoarsely. "That thing isn't some holy relic, but a cage."

Before the merchant could finish speaking, Mia's inventory suddenly vibrated, and the withered black rose jumped out of thin air, hovering eerily between the two. The withered petals now radiated an eerie vitality, and new text slowly appeared on the stone tablet deep within the pistil:

[Worldstone Archive (Completion)]

① nail of faith (Present World · Li Qianzhou's heart) → Suppress divinity

② Fallen Nail (Hell · Azmodan's Treasury) → Imprison demonic nature

③ Chaos Nail (Paradise Lost · ???) → Distort reality

"...It seems you don't know yet, you are the target of the third nail." The merchant's throat emitted a low laugh, his mechanical finger pointing at the black rose.

"What?!" Mia's pupils shrank suddenly.

"Every black rose is an eye of the 'Crimson Queen'." The merchant's voice became sharp. "...You have already been targeted."

Mia felt a sudden stinging pain in her left eye—deep within the iris of that eye, runes identical to those on the stone tablet faintly emerged.

"You are the container chosen by 'her'. If I'm not mistaken, although I don't know what method you used, your male soul has completely defeated the consciousness of the Original Owner of this body. Feeling temporarily safe? No, no, no! You have already been targeted by her. The Crimson Queen is peeping at you, just as you borrowed her authority. This is very unfair, right? Hahaha~ Also, who said that just because you won for now, you've actually won? Even if the original consciousness dissipated, it wouldn't stop you from becoming her replica, right?"

Mia's heartbeat quickened, and she subconsciously looked down at her attire.

The originally pure white nun's habit now shimmered with a pearlescent luster in the dim appraisal shop, as if stained with light interwoven with holiness and filth. The Blood Rose on the waistband came alive, its petals unfurling, extremely bewitching. Beneath the high-slit skirt, the taboo leg ring on her left leg flashed with dark gold scriptures, interwoven with demon leather, faintly exuding a blasphemous aura.

"...Dressing like this is simply inviting trouble." The merchant raised an eyebrow mockingly. "This set of equipment will make people crazily want to possess you—whether by capturing you alive or killing you."

Mia's fingers unconsciously brushed over the twin cross on her chest, her heartbeat quickening. She could feel that this outfit was subtly changing her temperament—her movements becoming more elegant and dangerous, her skin becoming like a finely carved artwork, and even the breath in her speech carrying a faint Charm.

"This 'Bride's Mourning Garment' will make men willingly go to their deaths." The merchant sneered.

"Tell me." Mia took a deep breath. "The Chaos Nail... where exactly is it?"

The merchant's single eye flickered, and a low laugh like mechanical friction came from deep in his throat: "...The price is not low."

He suddenly lifted his cloak, revealing a chest that was not flesh and blood, but a black heart wrapped in countless gears—the rhythm of its beating was like a demon's whisper.

"10% soul pollution level." His voice was seductive and cold. "Trade?"

Mia's left hand reached for her heart uncontrollably, the waistband of the blasphemous nun's outfit tightened suddenly, and pain spread like an electric current. She knew that once she agreed, the pollution level would reach 70%, which meant... she would lose her last qualification to resist and be completely permeated by the influence of the "Crimson Queen".

"...No." In the end, she gritted her teeth and pulled her hand back.

The merchant revealed a mocking smile: "A pity."

Just then—

[System Warning!]

"High-risk item resonance detected!"

The entire appraisal shop shook violently, and the nail and the black rose simultaneously erupted with dazzling blood light! The merchant retreated abruptly, his mechanical arm clicking, seemingly sensing some extreme threat.

"...Damn it." He cursed in a low voice.

Deep within Mia's pupils, the phantom of the third nail suddenly appeared—that Chaos Nail was summoning her from some unknown space.

"It will come to find you." The merchant's voice sounded distant, as if resisting some invisible force.

"Who?!" Mia's heartbeat was like a beating drum.

"...Another 'container'." The merchant's body gradually blurred, as if being forcibly erased by the system.

Deep within the pistil of the black rose, the text changed again:

[When the three holy nails gather, the Worldstone will shatter—]

[Reality, Void, Chaos... will eventually become one.]

A familiar female bass voice suddenly rang in Mia's ears: the voice of the [Crimson Queen].

"We will meet again... very soon."

In an instant, space twisted violently!

[Adventurer will be forcibly teleported out of Paradise Lost for emergency avoidance, teleportation countdown: 5 seconds]

The black rose suddenly embedded itself into the right lapel of her chest, forming a weirdly symmetrical blood-colored totem with the cross.

Mia's nun's habit moved without wind, like a flag interwoven with gods and demons in the turbulent magic flow.

—The next second, she disappeared into the twisted vortex.

Black-Robed Merchant's Equipment Archive —

Abyss Relic Attribute Archive

— [Mia · Scarlet Dawn] Exclusive Equipment Permission Detected —

(Warning: The following data has been encrypted by the Scarlet Contract, and the pupil imprint will trigger a burning effect after reading)

black rose

[The curse that never withers, beginning with the first drop of god-slaying blood]

Type: Growth-type Abyss Relic (Brooch/Hair Accessory, Chest Tattoo Position)

Quality: ■ ■ ■ (System Error: This item cannot be judged by conventional cognition)

Current Awakening Stage: Stage III (Requires drinking blood to advance)

Attribute Panel

Abyss Synchronization Rate: 89% (Mia Exclusive)

Mental Pollution Resistance + 40%

[Scarlet Tears]: During combat, for every 1% HP lost, critical hit rate increases by 0.5% (Cap 70%)

[Thorns of Reverse Life]: When receiving fatal damage, consumes 1 [Corrupted Petal] (0 / 7), immediately recovers 30% HP and triggers 3 seconds of invincibility

[End Bloom] (Unlocked): When the holder dies, ??? (Data covered by scarlet graffiti)

Fallen Nail

[The rusty nail driven into the angel's left wing]

Type: Conceptual Weapon (Invisible Implant Type)

Quality: S-Rank (Pseudo-Divine System)

Attribute Panel

Implant Location: Mia's left ring finger bone

Pain Dulling: Forcibly blocks 70% of pain nerve signals

[Original Sin Resonance]: Deals an additional 200% damage to targets with Faith > 50

[Hypocrite]: Can simulate the fluctuations of any religious holy artifact (continuously consumes Sanity)

Activation Cost: Loses 1% of memory fragments per hour (prioritizes forgetting happy fragments)

nail of faith

[The thirteenth forging residue of the Spear of Longinus]

Type: God-slaying Weapon Fragment (Necklace form can be used as gem inlay)

Quality: EX-Rank (Law-level)

Attribute Panel

Divine Pollution Value: 832 (Critical Value)

[God-slaying Mark]: Causes unhealable wounds to divine beings

[Barbs]: 50% of damage dealt is converted into true damage, but the user simultaneously takes 20%

[Endgame Truth]: ??? (Requires completion of the Sevenfold God-slaying Ritual to unlock)

Warning: When the user's Faith < 10, the fragment will begin to devour the holder's soul

Archive Endnote:

"When the black rose blooms on the twelfth night, the Fallen Nail will pierce the eye of the false god, and the residue of faith... will it cry?"

— ■ ■ ■ ■ (Recorder ID has been forcibly erased)

Note: In Diablo II, the Worldstone is actually the cage holding Diablo and other hell lords; in Diablo III, it is exclusive to Diablo. Here, it is borrowed as the cage for the Crimson Queen.