Chapter 7: Mind Reading? Alice’s Blood Talent
Slump. That was Chen Rui’s first impression of the New Moon City.
Not sure whether the other cities in the Demon Realm were like this. Including the palace, most of the buildings in New Moon City looked old. There were fewer shops and stalls to buy and sell. The demons he saw along the way were mostly ugly with worn clothes. The entire city was filled with a ruined, slump atmosphere.
Looking at the faces of the demons made Chen Rui felt scared. If his human identity was exposed, he would definitely be dead or worse, being eaten.
“Hey! You, keep your waist straight; don’t clasp your legs so tight; relax your shoulder!” Athena’s voice interrupted Chen Rui’s thoughts. “Despite you being a man, any child from the Wales Family is much stronger than you!”
Actually Chen Rui wanted to say that he was still a virgin, not a man in its true sense but his posture was indeed a bit strange at the moment, laid on the back of a tri-horned rhinos, both hands clasping the big, wide shell for fear of accidentally falling down and trampled into a patty by the beast.
“I’m sorry. It’s my first time sitting on this big guy.” Chen Rui was initially thinking why didn’t this world have anything like stirrups and saddle. As he was about to plagiarize the invention, he realized that Alice and the other’s tri-horned rhino was fully equipped with supporting equipment – it turned out that it’s just a different treatment.
“You didn’t have to clasp so tight even for the first time! Relax!” Athena reprimanded.
Not sure whether little loli truly understood, she kindly convinced, “Athena, don’t be so anxious. For the first time, of course, he will clamp tight.”
That sentence almost made Chen Rui fell from the tri-horned rhino. The demons along the way did notice his weirdness; they pointed at him and started gossiping. Fortunately, Chen Rui had worn a cloak, so his human identity was not revealed temporarily. Only the demons who were sensitive to smell was suspicious, but no one dared to approach with little princess and Athena there.
Upon arriving at the city gate, all four tri-horned rhinos were stopped.
“Princess Alice, where are you going?” The one who stopped the tri-horned rhinos was an armored male demon; tall and muscular; red-skinned; two large curved horns on his head; pronounced facial features; emitting a murderous vibe; judging from his looks, he was a great demon.
“Oh, it’s the sheriff, General Alan. You are inspecting personally today.” Alice smiled gently, “We are heading to the blue lake.”
General Alan frowned. “There were some incidents at the blue lake recently. I am worried that it was the sleeping poison dragon. I’ve sent scouts to investigate. Princess Alice should wait for us to confirm its safety before going there to play.”
“The poisonous dragon has been sleeping for thousands of years. There is also the strongest Lock of Light and Dark from the Lord of Midnight Sun, so there shouldn’t be any problem.” Alice pointed at Chen Rui. “Also, I’m not going out to play this time… This is Master Aldas’ new apprentice. The master asked me to take him to the blue lake to collect some herbs.”
Among the two branches of alchemy, if mechanics master gave people the feeling of “respect”, the potioneer would be “reverence”. People had more fear of the poison and its negative effect, but they ignored its curing and buffing effects.
The keywords of a potion master were usually mysterious; horrible and malicious; shouldn’t provoke. Aldas was the representative of this kind of person. Horrible cries of experimental subjects often came from the lab. Even the guard of the palace dare not approach. They really didn’t understand why did Her Royal Highness place such a dangerous character in the outer courtyard of the palace.
For such a mysterious and scary potion master to actually recruit an apprentice, Alan was curious as to what kind of demon was this new apprentice. With just two glances, his eyes suddenly became sharp; and at that moment, Alice let Chen Rui took off his cloak.
“This is the human that we caught last time!” A soldier behind Alan screamed. Suddenly, all kinds of hostile eyes were concentrated on Chen Rui. He forced himself to keep a natural look, but his cold sweat couldn’t help but flow down from his forehead.
Alan discovered the identity of Chen Rui earlier than the soldiers. He remembered when he reported to Princess Royal, Master Aldas was present. He asked to take the human being as an experimental subject and took him away. Now, a prisoner or a slave, had actually become the master’s apprentice?
Alice introduced to Alan indifferently, “This human’s name is Chen Rui. Because of his talent in pharmaceutics, he is accepted as a formal apprentice by Master Aldas and is part of our New Moon City from now on. ”
Athena added impatiently, “This is what Alice and I heard from the master today ourselves. If you still have any doubts, you can ask Master Aldas directly!”
“Athena, sorry, I don’t mean this, I…”
General Alan’s attitude toward Athena was a bit strange. Before he could finish talking, Athena interrupted coldly, “Alan, your interrogation should be over. Don’t delay our time to gather herbs!”
Athena’s blunt attitude made Alan feel helpless. He told Alice, “Little Princess, just in case, I will send a troop of soldiers to protect you.”
Alice smiled and asked, “Are you worried that Athena can’t protect me?”
Athena raised her elegant brows and her red eyes shone a sharp ray. Alan shook his head quickly and gave Chen Rui a cold gaze, “Human! Don’t try to escape or play tricks. Otherwise, I will crush all your bones.”
After Alan finished, he bowed toward little princess, indicating them to go through.
The four tri-horned rhinos left the city gate with a heavy footstep. Within Dark Moon City, the news that Master Aldas recruited a human apprentice spread quickly.
“Actually, I think Alan isn’t bad. His family status and yours are well-matched,” Alice giggled while looking at Athena. ”If he did not propose marriage to your dad directly without your permission, you might not dislike him that much.”
Athena said disdainfully, “I didn’t like him from the beginning! This guy is timid and incompetent. Relying on the influence of the Karon Family to become a sheriff, only know how to bully the weak. He doesn’t have any actual abilities.”
The “weak” on the side understood. There was actually such gossip. No wonder the violent girl treated General Alan like an enemy.
“Our previously trip to the dark rainforest, it must be him that tattletale to the elder princess. I hate this kind of person,” Athena sneered, “Still trying to hit on me? Ask my sword first!”
“That’s right, Athena is mine. No one can take it.” Little loli laughed. “Let’s speed up!”
The tri-horned rhinos began to accelerate. It was hard to believe that such rapid speed was from such a huge body. For Chen Rui, who has no supporting tools on the rhino, was undoubtedly a torment. He could only lay down tightly; he almost fell down several times. Athena trying to save troubles and changed her mount with him. Seeing the violent girl sitting on the rapid-moving giant rhino’s back with ease, Chen Rui could only admit his incompetence.
As compared to Arthur’s memory of the sunny world above the ground, the Demon Realm’s environment was much worse. The light source came from the two “stars” in the sky. Although being called a “star”, but its light and heat was far lesser than the sun for the earth. Most of the time, it was covered by the clouds of smoke in the air. In the evening, they became “the moon” again, emitting a faint icy brilliance. The temperature difference between day and night was very large.
Along the way, huge pits formed by long-term corrosion could be seen. Unknown, dark and mysterious caves, together with the strange plants formed a dark yet beautiful landscape.
The blue lake covered a huge area; surrounded by mountains; the environment was particularly quiet; blue water; flourished lakeside plants and gorgeous flowers; like a paradise in the dark world.
However, Chen Rui quickly learned from Alice that the water of the lake was blue because a huge adult poison dragon was sleeping at the bottom of the lake. The venom from its body dyed the lake into blue color. There weren’t any living things in the lake. The lush plants by the lake were mostly of highly toxic. There was also some kind of charming flower that was actually flesh-eating species. Its beautiful and attractive appearance came from the blood and flesh of the prey.
The power of the dragon was quite horrifying, especially the rare dragons who were poisonous. A slight move could extinct a city’s population, so no one dared to provoke it easily. This poisonous dragon had been sleeping in the lake for thousands of years. Four hundred years ago, the Dark Moon’s territory had a civil war. When the strongest man of the Demon Realm, the Lord of Midnight Sun led the army and passed by the blue lake, he did not dare to wake the poisonous dragon. In order to let it continue to sleep, he deliberately set a seal of <Lock of Light and Dark>.
“There is a law in the Demon Realm where the prettier things are often more dangerous.”
Chen Rui agreed with Alice’s words in his thought. He added another sentence in his heart. The same is true for female demons.
Super cute little princess; essence-sucking succubus; heroic swordswoman; which of them isn’t dangerous?
After all, the sleeping dragon in the lake was not just a display. Athena did not dare to get too close with the little princess. She carefully chose a safer mountain top that has a great view of the wide lake.
“I haven’t been to the blue lake for a long time. Athena, do remember the last time?” Alice suggested with great enthusiasm, “Since we’re here, let’s have another picnic.”
Athena hesitated a little, “Didn’t Alan mention there is something strange at the blue lake recently? Let’s just pick the fruits and return soon.”
“Did you really believe in what that timid Alan said?” Alice shook her head in disapproval. “If you invited him to come, he would immediately say that the poison dragon has been wiped out, and the blue lake is safer than his family’s bathroom.”
“I won’t invite that kind of hateful guy!” Athena snorted and agreed with Alice. “OK then, Kia will pick some Jade Dragonfruit. I’ll go hunt some preys. Hey, human, you and Alice can decorate the place.”
Actually, Chen Rui wanted to try using the poisonous flowers to increase the progress of the Super System; but considering the horrible cannibalistic flower and the dragon in the lake, he immediately gives up on this idea.
After Kia and Athena left, Alice commanded Chen Rui to get busy. The bracelet on her wrist was a space device that could store items, but the quality shouldn’t be very high as the space inside was not big enough. It was fully loaded by little loli. As a result, as soon as the space entrance was opened; a bunch of things fell out, followed by a whole lot more.
Chen Rui had to help her to clean up and he accidentally “picked up” a pile of bras. Some of them were actually large-sized with laces. Chen Rui was astounded. His first reaction was that the world already had this stuff; the second reaction was that this size did not match the underdeveloped part of little loli. Could Alice be some sort of legendary “fetish”?
Under Alice’s murderous gaze, Chen Rui pretended not to see the pile of things and went back to clean up other objects. When he turned around, the pile of things had disappeared.
The items in Alice’s storage space were complete. Soon, the full set of picnic utensils was tidied up. It seemed that this little loli was ready to play at any time.
At this moment, Athena and Kia had not returned. Noticed no one was around, Alice walked toward Chen Rui step by step. Chen Rui was nervous for a moment and asked, “Little Princess, is there anything?”
“The story isn’t like that” Alice said with a weird smile. “You should say. Don’t come over, I’ll call someone if you get any closer! Then I will say, even if you scream until you lose your voice, no one will come to save you!”
Chen Rui was speechless and rolled his eyes. He then asked, “Then when I called ‘lose your voice; lose your voice’ and the guy named ‘no one’ will come to save me?”
Alice looked surprised. “It turns out that the human world also has the book ‘Demon King and Princess’.”
Chen Rui smiled incomprehensibly but didn’t respond. It seemed that many things were similar, regardless of realm or race.
Yet he couldn’t smile afterward because Alice said, “Tell me a good story. Just like the primeval age previously. Something with a rich imagination.”
Chen Rui heart was beating fast and argued, “That wasn’t a story, but an actual incident! If I didn’t inherit the thoughts of Master Wukong, how can I make Huarong Dao and burr puzzle?”
“I’ll tell you a secret, even Athena doesn’t know,” Alice said in a mysterious voice. “When I first met you, I had just awakened one of Lucifer’s unique talent called <Mind Reading>, and… I accidentally tested on you.”
Chen Rui’s was shocked and he couldn’t speak for a while.
Accidentally your ass!
