Chapter 292: Chapter 292: Han Dong’s Speculation
Mia stared at the odd demon sword, trying to keep herself from salivating.
“Nicholas… I just absolutely adore this demon sword!
Moreover, since it’s something from the World of Fate, there must be a way to take it out. If necessary, I could spend some my points… Last time, I had a tough time controlling the [Maternal Body] in Stuart Manor.
If I can get this demon sword, I will definitely use all my skills to clear this fate event!”
Mia could clearly feel the power of the demon sword.
Once she gets her hands on it, her future ‘Knight’s Path’ will be much smoother.
Han Dong asked in a low voice: “Does this count as your ‘request’? We’ve just arrived in the paradise, if we mishandle this, we will fall into an unrecoverable situation.
A debt of 100 points will throw us into the abyss.”
“Request… request…” Mia looked aggrieved.
Han Dong continued: “If you’re not willing, I will choose a safer way to ‘score up’.”
“Fine… I’ll use up my ‘request’.” Mia frowned, her mental image of forming a big family with Nicholas and giving birth to a human spider baby completely shattered.
“Alright.”
The ‘request’ has been used.
Han Dong was relieved of one restriction… otherwise, if Mia came up with a request where she constantly wants him in bed, Han Dong would lose a great deal of study time.
Also.
As Mia said, she really helped Han Dong a lot in obtaining the ‘land deed’.
The store owner suddenly added: “You won’t lose out on this deal… let me leak some information.
The ‘store’ in this area is the only one, and the most valuable item is this demon sword, which is a combination of ‘Clue and Spiritual Instrument’. Its quality will allow you to deal with some historical ‘Strange Tales’.
Also, this demon sword is the only one of its kind, not available in other ‘stores’.
It’s impossible to advance you 10 points and let you have it.
If you give up this opportunity now.
When the next team comes here, they will spare no cost to buy this ‘demon sword’.”
“Deal! How should we make the payment?”
“Extend your arm…”
Mr. Aha prodded with his dirt-filled fingernails.
Splotches of rainwater and red umbrella material slowly and painfully emerged from under Han Dong’s skin.
“You’ve already completed the Strange Tale of ‘Rain Girl. Red’? Not bad.”
Mr. Aha went over to the knife rack after receiving his payment.
Inside was a small drawer containing a note.
[Demon Sword Huan Ghost] – Please look for a crooked neck tree growing in a dark and damp corner of the ‘commercial district’. Take the demon sword there and you will encounter something. ≯
“Be prepared… I’ve warned you, this demon sword is the most valuable item in this ‘store’, and to get it, it’s not that simple. You may even have to pay a certain price.”
Han Dong decided not to use the remaining 8 points for now, keeping them as a reserve in case of emergencies.
He bid Mr. Aha goodbye.
Mia, holding the demon sword and rubbing it excitedly on her face.
Han Dong kept the clue note.
As soon as they shut the door to the store, Han Dong spoke softly:
“We’ve been fooled…”
“Ah? By that shop owner just now?” Winry immediately looked furious, as if she was about to break down the door and demand an explanation.
“No… I mean, we’ve been fooled by the humans in the background of fate.”
“What do you mean?” Winry tilted her head, completely puzzled.
“I was wondering right from the beginning why this ‘store’ doesn’t fit the style of the technologically advanced humans.
Also, the book of devices that Mr. Aha showed us doesn’t include the ‘Escape Pass’ mentioned in the train’s announcement, which could be exchanged for 100 points.
Furthermore, Mr. Aha is not a human.
With 70% certainty, I think the ‘store’ that sells various devices is also a ‘Strange Tale’… all controlled by ‘Mr. Aha’.
The humans in this world are not really in control of the park.
They’ve merely learned about the ‘store’ through information gathered by previous batches of death row inmates and regard it as a relatively neutral ‘Strange Tale store’ they can exploit to help the inmates investigate deeper into the park.”
“What?!” Winry was visibly shocked, she hadn’t thought of it that way before.
Her thought process was simplistic.
As long as they continue to solve the Strange Tales and earn enough points… then they can exchange for an ‘Escape Pass’ in the store, which would successfully end this fate event.
If it were a two-star difficulty fate event, Han Dong might really think the same way.
But this is a five-star difficulty, and Han Dong had doubts when he heard the broadcast on the train, thinking it was too simple… Now that he has met with Mr. Aha, he is even more certain.
The most difficult point of this fate event [Strange Tales].
Is probably how to ‘escape’.
If you want to earn more Strange Tales points, you have to go deeper into the park.
But the deeper you go, the harder it is to break away.
If this contradiction is not resolved, Han Dong and his team will be stuck here forever.
Han Dong continued with his conjecture:
“Humans can’t control the paradise at all.
In fact, they have even actively input ‘bionic humans’ into the park to build a sound city that ‘Strange Tales’ would be satisfied with, in order to stabilize the park and ensure the world is not affected.
Then, through a ‘Policy of Condemned’, they select excellent death row inmates from prisons around the world, form them into suicide squads, and try to probe for information about the park.
The humans from outside then utilize this information to try and stabilize this [Strange Tales Paradise].
If they can’t control it well, this world might become like ours, where humans can only live within a small range and the wandering ones outside the city are all kinds of Strange Tales.”
“That makes sense…”
Abe nodded, mostly agreeing with Han Dong’s hypotheses.
Han Dong took a deep breath, “In short, we have to handle the demon sword first… After increasing our combat prowess, then we will slowly find the ‘balance point’ for the ‘contradiction’.
To make a highly advanced human society fear and spend everything to maintain balance.
The danger of the park itself is beyond our imagination.
Therefore, even if it’s a full five-star difficulty, our ultimate goal is just to [escape], not to fully uncover the secrets of the park or to kill some ultimate bosses.
We should obtain as many points as possible without going too deep in… and then, leave this place.”
They got back to the main street.
Knowing the prowess of the prisoners, the team didn’t split up again.
They enquired about the [Crooked Neck Tree] through various channels.
Most of the received information needed to be filtered out… only one piece of information seemed sufficiently useful to Han Dong.
There was a rumor that an occasional crooked neck tree would appear in the forest behind an open-air hot spring inn… some even heard the sobbing of a woman while bathing.