133: Chapter 133 Late Night Conversation

Sensing the paupers being beaten in the alleyway, Nie Ning could only say they deserved it.

If not for his Malice Perception, which allowed him to stop those with ill intent in advance, even Lilith would not have escaped being harassed.

Under the Guards' suppression, the other paupers behaved themselves much better.

However, because of this, the classmates who had originally come with Lilith were unhappy and soon found excuses to leave.

In the end, out of the more than ten people including Lilith, only five remained.

Although the speed of distributing supplies slowed down significantly, Lilith remained as enthusiastic as ever.

To her, at least the supplies brought by those classmates were left behind.

...

As night fell, the students who had left began to return one after another.

To get home as early as possible, the group sped up the distribution of supplies.

“Have you seen Sunny and Kara? Why haven't they come back yet? Did they head back first?”

Just as the supplies were almost gone, Evinny noticed that two people were missing.

“Don't know. Sunny and Kara said earlier they were going for a stroll on that small hill over there. They're a couple, so they might have already gone back.”

A boy said teasingly.

Hearing this, the others all shared a knowing laugh.

“Maybe we should go look for them.”

Lilith put down her things and said with a worried expression.

“What's there to fear? Sunny is about to be promoted to a Mid-rank Knight at least; is someone actually going to harm them?”

The boy who spoke earlier said nonchalantly.

It wasn't the first time Sunny and Kara had done this.

The last time they went out, the two of them disappeared into a small woods as well, making everyone search until midnight only to find out they had gone to an inn.

Hearing this, the Guard Captain's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately walked over to the students.

“Why don't you guys head back first? I'll send people to look for them and notify you once they're found.”

Regardless of whether those two were missing, the priority was to send the rest away first.

Otherwise, if something really happened, it would be the death of him.

The others did not object.

After a long day, they just wanted to go back and get a good night's sleep.

As for those two repeat offenders, they must have slipped away because they were tired; they would teach them a lesson when school started!

Though Lilith was reluctant, she hadn't brought Norma today and didn't dare stay here overnight, so she had no choice but to return with the group.

While everyone was packing up, a wisp of white mist drifted out of Nie Ning's body and headed toward the nearby hill.

The hill wasn't large; given the Jerky Bear Head's ability to fly, it managed to return just before everyone left.

However, Nie Ning didn't find the two students; he guessed they really had gone back as the others suggested.

Moreover, one of them was already on the verge of advancing to an Intermediate Knight.

In comparison, Nie Ning had only seen a few apprentice-level people in this slum; they couldn't possibly be a match for a Peak Elementary Stage Knight.

The group then returned directly, finally parting ways near Shangrong Alley.

...

Over the next half month, Nie Ning returned to his normal life.

He spent most of his time cultivating and studying runes, occasionally visiting The Federation to see if anything related to Corruptors had occurred.

However, even after so long, there was still no news regarding the sealing box.

Nie Ning felt quite helpless about this.

Because he knew that since the sealing box hadn't been found for so long, the Corruptor's escape was inevitable; only the timing remained uncertain.

He only hoped the sealing box wasn't in a densely populated area, or it would be bad news for all of Ska City.

...

Night.

Detective Agency.

Nie Ning and Borton were sitting across from each other, drinking tea and chatting.

Having not come out for a breather in a long while, Nie Ning happened to stop by to see Borton.

When the conversation turned to how business had been lately, Borton declared high-spiritedly that he no longer needed Nie Ning.

With Duru joining, the agency's case-solving efficiency had improved significantly, and its reputation had grown accordingly, leading them to invite two more people to join.

Now that the agency was starting to take shape, it was no longer as financially strapped as before.

Borton even planned to move his tavern here, hoping to leverage his clients' networks to bring in more people.

After practicing the Blood Flame Secret Art, Borton's stagnant cultivation had shown some progress.

Unfortunately, he was too old, and his vitality was beginning to decline; having passed his prime cultivation years, reaching High-Tier Knight in the future would be quite an achievement.

Borton didn't mind, though.

As he got older, he became more open-minded; if he could reach the High-Tier Knight level, he could die with no regrets.

“I want to give the Blood Flame Secret Art to Quis. What do you think?”

As they were chatting, Borton suddenly spoke with a complicated expression.

Nie Ning shrugged. “I don't mind, but I'm afraid you'll run into trouble.”

Quis wasn't necessarily a good or bad person, but young people always liked to be aggressive and competitive, just like when Nie Ning first met him and he wanted to challenge Nie Ning.

Moreover, Quis was single-minded; Nie Ning feared he might be tricked into revealing the Blood Flame Secret Art.

“Sigh.”

Borton sighed and then spoke slowly, “Duru and Marina are getting married.”

Hearing this, a look of surprise appeared on Nie Ning's face.

Although Borton had mentioned this before, Nie Ning hadn't expected things to develop so quickly.

From Borton's tone, it was clear that Quis and Marina were childhood sweethearts; if he hadn't recruited Duru, perhaps the ones getting married now would have been Quis and Marina.

Clearly, Borton felt he owed Quis, which was why he thought of teaching him the Blood Flame Secret Art.

“As you wish. Since Quis is obsessed with the Way of the Knight, maybe this is a good outcome.”

Nie Ning smiled and comforted Borton.

As a friend, Borton had almost no flaws other than being greedy for money.

The Blood Flame Secret Art is just an object after all; people can die just from walking normally, so there's no need to go out of one's way to avoid potential dangers because of it.

If Quis achieved something in the future, he might take even better care of Borton.

However, for Borton's safety, Nie Ning took out two Earth Spirit Puppet rune orbs and gave them to him.

...

“We've been talking for so long, but you haven't said how you've been doing lately.”

Borton put away the rune orbs and asked with a smile.

“I'm the strongest person in all of Ska City right now, so I'm definitely living more comfortably than you.”

“It's a pity my current position is too dangerous, otherwise I'd have recruited you to be a civil servant.”

Nie Ning joked.

The Federation was not a place for ordinary people after all.

Aside from the receptionist Milei, the rest were all Wizard Apprentices; Borton wouldn't be of much use there and might even be in danger.

If he encountered a Corruptor, that would be far more serious than any issue with the Blood Flame Secret Art; a one-in-ten chance of survival wouldn't even begin to describe it.

“Forget it, these old bones of mine can't handle any more trouble.”

Hearing this, Borton waved his hand, then changed the subject and spoke mysteriously.

“Speaking of danger, a few young masters and young ladies have died in the city recently. I heard their faces had turned blue, as if they were scared to death.”

...