Damn it! Let’s smash the darkness together!
Chapter 295 - 61: Current Situation of the Trading District and Sneak Attack (5K Votes for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 295: Chapter 61: Current Situation of the Trading District and Sneak Attack (5K Votes for Monthly Pass)

As the current president of the Astronomy Association and a Fourth-order Dongxuan True Monarch, Melanie was, of course, a person of her word.

Moreover, it seemed she had nothing else to do every day but to sit and reply to messages on the upgrade network.

Therefore, when Xu Shu sent a message, it took less than five minutes to receive a reply.

Saying she would come directly avoided the trouble of sending a special email and allowed for a one-on-one transaction, with a reward of 100 points for killing a Demon Chosen and an additional 20 points for the Qingyun List ranking, totaling 120 Contribution Points.

Xu Shu thought it made sense and proceeded to operate his interface.

The only thing that seemed a bit off was...

The phrase "Open your payment gateway; I’m going to put it in" sounded somehow inappropriate, didn’t it?

It felt strangely odd.

"Forget it, in the end, it’s about receiving money; nothing else is important."

Xu Shu silently opened the payment gateway.

[Tip: You have received 120 Contribution Points from "Melanie," with the remark: Lie Zhenzi reward.]

Seeing the full 120 points credited to his account, a smile spread across Xu Shu’s lips as he typed hastily, "Thank you, True Monarch."

"Hmm, keep up the hard work." — Melanie.

It’s worth mentioning that this Dongxuan True Monarch, who had previously said she would delete Xu Shu after paying, did not go back on her word. She promptly deleted him.

She truly was a woman of her word.

However, before deleting him as a friend, she did leave a message saying, "Keep Yu Mingluan as a friend; yes, you can talk to him if you have issues, I’ve already instructed him."

Xu Shu naturally expressed his thanks again.

The reason she specifically left such a message, Xu Shu guessed, was probably because he had twice stumbled upon the rituals of Esoteric Buddhism summoning a Demon Chosen; it made Melanie wary.

Speaking of Esoteric Buddhism, it was indeed interesting.

Delving into the history of these esoteric practices, they might have cast their shadow over human history hundreds or even thousands of years ago, but they only became sizable and seriously endangered all of humanity from the years of the Great Catastrophe.

Three years before the Catastrophe, the "Holy Hall" suddenly fell, a fact recorded in all major history books without any intent to conceal, and Xu Shu was well aware of this.

Before its fall, the Holy Hall worshipped an all-knowing and omnipotent True God: the creator.

Similar to the precursor of the Salvation Army, "Spirit Sect," but in terms of power, the Holy Hall could be called the largest Transcendent force in the Western world.

Yet, its collapse was utterly without warning.

History books record that in 2121, a long time before the Great Catastrophe was to come, suddenly one day, overnight, all Bibles mysteriously burnt to ashes, all churches under the Holy Hall collapsed, and all Transcendents of bishop rank and above died under mysterious circumstances!

This event was hailed as one of the ominously signs of the impending Great Catastrophe.

After the collapse of the Holy Hall, a large number of Believers became spiritually empty and lost, and even though the Holy Hall later sought refuge with the Dawn Church and underwent some reorganization, it could not call them back.

These people believed the lord had abandoned them, so they abandoned the only True God who had forsaken them and turned to demon worship instead, giving rise to all kinds of bizarre Cults named after their founders.

These messy and intertwined Cults still exist to this day, forming the basic components of the four major Esoteric Buddhist sects.

For example, there once was a very powerful Cult named Althias Sect, which proclaimed that there was no good or evil, no true order, only desire that is real and exists; by sacrificing five natural offerings — that is, a virgin, a Gambling man, a criminal, a scholar, a prostitute — one could summon the great master who would satisfy everyone’s desires.

This sect once thrived on Earth Star and caused great trouble for the newly established Supervision Bureau by sacrificing victims in various countries to summon many actual Demons.

And to this day, even though the Astronomy Association has become the only joint management body for all mankind, this Esoteric Buddhism has not yet died out; it’s as loathsome and hard to kill as a bedbug.

Of course, these are all things for later.

"So, Ni Ni True Monarch saw me as a piece of Demon Attraction Grass to lure monsters and tried investing in me? After all, she’s using someone else, so she doesn’t tire herself out, heh." Xu Shu quickly came to an understanding of the reasons.

He wasn’t annoyed; Yu Mingluan was very powerful, a truly significant figure to hold onto. There was no need to be pretentious.

From the pressure he exerted, Yu Mingluan’s strength might not be far off from that of Lance.

A strong presence even among the Third Rank.

A leg up offered freely would be foolish not to be embraced.

The only caveat being that he doesn’t keep on urging me to join their sect, ah, that’s troublesome.

Xu Shu shook his head, pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind.

Then, somewhat randomly, he opened up his messaging with another Astronomy Association friend.

Li Tao, a "Notary" in the D8B3 district of the Astronomy Association.

Xu Shu quickly sent him a message to inform him that he was now able to access the transaction area and that he could send over the matched bounty.

His response wasn’t as prompt as Melanie’s, taking over an hour before finally replying and smoothly transferring the funds.

Then Xu Shu unfriended him in return.

"This guy, upon seeing Lu Bingwei’s bounty info, burst into tears for no apparent reason; he’s probably up to something fishy, perhaps he has a grudge against Lu Bingwei, or maybe there’s past involvement, but it’s none of my concern~"

----

Inside the safe zone, Li Tao, having been summoned to work overtime late at night, stared at the moon outside his window for a long time, red-eyed, heaved a long sigh, and typed in, "Thank you."

[Tip: Sending failed; please add the person as a friend first.]

"???"

Li Tao’s sadness instantly froze on his face, leaving him in a bewildered state.