The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix’s Novels Also Desires Happiness - Chapter 194
119. The Lonely Me and Her
After the violent explosion, everything finally settled.
Under the soundproof array set up by the mages in advance, the explosion that could awaken half the city failed to break through this courtyard, but the swirling smoke still mingled with the thin mist in the gentle breeze by the river.
After three shots from the magic cannon at maximum power, and the expenditure of a total of one thousand three hundred and fifty arrows, this basement had completely transformed into a massive pit, with an unobstructed ceiling revealing a few dim stars peeking through the gaps in the dark clouds.
The blood pool had been forcibly filled in, and within this pit, there was no longer any “non-human” being capable of standing.
The rioters had retreated under Mu En’s orders, leaving the exceptionally empty pit. Mu En stepped on the charred remains, making his way to the edge.
In that far corner, the succubus was left with only half of her body, no longer possessing her previous allure and beauty, instead exuding a burnt stench that made her even less approachable than a beggar by the roadside.
Yet she was still alive, her half-ruined form struggling and twisting, her blackened heart exposed and still beating, her heavily made-up beautiful face almost entirely charred, rendering her true appearance unrecognizable.
What a terrifying vitality, but this was merely a clone.
From this, one could infer just how formidable and troublesome her true form must be.
What a pity, it’s not the true body.
“How do you feel, Miss Succubus? Do you like my grand gift?”
Mu En removed his top hat and politely inquired.
It seemed Mu En’s indifference had pricked her nerves; she cast a resentful glare at him, her charred lips constantly writhing, as if cursing something.
“Hmm?”
Mu En heard nothing and was momentarily taken aback before realizing.
He took out the earplugs that had isolated the cannon fire from his ears and offered the succubus an apologetic smile:
“Sorry, what did you just say? I didn’t hear…”
“……”
—
Watching the female demon’s eyes widen in fury, as if she wished to swallow him whole, Mu En blinked and earnestly suggested:
“How about… you say it again? This time, I will definitely listen carefully.”
“…I want to kill you! I will definitely kill you afterward!”
The female demon howled with a twisted face, her piercing screams releasing an indescribable hatred.
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In the corner of her vision, the shadow butcher had already turned to scattered char under the beam of the magic cannon, with only the bloodied cleaver stuck in the disordered stone mill, looking particularly desolate.
As for the other moon beasts and living corpses… they had long since flown away to who knows where.
“So… you too can feel hatred for the death of a companion.”
Mu En lowered his gaze, studying the female demon’s face, whispering softly.
“I hate it, of course I hate it.”
The female demon mournfully cried out, and from the corners of her eyes, crystalline tears began to flow.
“He, he was my backup food, you know how much losing him would make my path to advancement so much harder? I have been waiting, waiting for the moment the great moon descends to devour him, to merge with him, thus reaching a higher…”
Pfft.
Mu En plunged the short blade into the remnants of the female demon’s body, holy light surged in, the intense burning sensation made her howl again, interrupting her words.
Mu En’s expression turned cold once more, suppressing the nausea in his heart, his voice slightly frigid.
“To think I was naive enough to believe someone like you could shed tears.”
“Someone like me?”
Even enduring intense pain, the female demon burst into laughter after hearing Mu En’s words, as if she had heard a particularly funny joke.
“It sounds like you really dislike cold-hearted people like me, ha ha ha, how wonderful, how wonderful indeed.”
Mu En frowned.
The demon’s laughter only served to irritate him further, so he didn’t want to delay and went straight to the point.
“Answer me, where is Senior Sister Anna?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I have no reason to deceive you. I made a small deal with her, and according to the terms, I cannot interfere with her actions for the time being, so where she goes is her freedom.”
“Would you really let Senior Sister go so easily?”
“Let go? What are you talking about, making it sound like we would harm her.”
“Isn’t that so?”
“Ha, ha ha, of course not. On the contrary, in this world, we are the only ones who would never harm her, so she will eventually return to us willingly.”
The female demon revealed a genuine smile, speaking with deep affection:
“We are her family.”
“Shut up!”
The short blade plunged once more into the female demon’s body, and Mu En coldly rejected, “You are not her family.”
“Not us? Haha, if we’re not, then who is her family? You? Mu En Campbell, on what grounds are you standing here?”
The demon’s laughter grew increasingly mocking.
“This question has nothing to do with you.” Mu En lowered his gaze.
“Haha, indeed it has nothing to do with me, but I’m curious, Mu En Campbell, even if you find Anna Carberlin, what then?”
“I will save her.”
“Her snake transformation disease has already reached its final stage; she is one of us now. Even if you don’t care, do you think anyone will accept her?”
“Has nothing to do with you.”
“You seem very confident. Do you have a way to cure the snake transformation disease?
…No, you have no assurance at all.”
The demon widened her eyes, as if she suddenly realized something.
“Mu En Campbell, you are the son of a duke, the son of Duke Campbell! You could easily pull a strictly regulated magical cannon from the military in the city of Berland if you wanted. With the Campbell family’s influence, getting a crowned one to help you wouldn’t be difficult at all.
Even if you can’t get a crowned one at this special time, you could still call upon the knight order, the guard squad, or even the Adventurers’ Association, or those mercenaries under the Mitsui banner. But…”
The demon tilted her head back, straining to get closer to Mu En’s face, as if trying to break through his cold and false mask to shatter his fragile heart.
“But none of these situations have occurred. Instead, you’ve gone through so much trouble to hide your identity and specifically recruit those rats to work for you. Why? Why? What is the reason for this?
—Because you are afraid, Mu En Campbell!
You understand that Anna Carberlin has become an enemy to all humanity, yet you lack the absolute certainty to change her back. So the more you want to save her, the less you will trust anyone.
In the end, you can only be like I anticipated, pitifully alone, fighting a lonely battle!
Haha, isn’t it ridiculous? Clearly possessing a noble identity, vast resources, and power, yet bound by that very noble identity, left to such a sad state…”
The mocking laughter abruptly ceased.
The surrounding rubble suddenly trembled, and the dust that had just settled began to rise again.
Mu En grabbed the demon by the neck and slammed her hard onto the ground.
The blade pointed at the pitch-black heart.
That face, not belonging to him, remained expressionless, but those pale blue eyes seemed to have frozen into ice.
“Stop with the nonsense. I will ask you one last time, where is the senior?”
“Really stubborn, didn’t I say? I don’t know.”
“Is that so? Then you are of no value.”
The pure white blade slowly pierced into the pitch-black heart, foul blood gushing forth as the demon’s remaining body began to convulse violently.
Even in her split form, this body seemed to still possess the sensation of pain, and with the convulsions, she began to wail in agony.
Looking at her wails, Mu En felt regret for the third time today; this time, what he had captured was not her true form.
“Whitechapel District!”
But just then, the female demon suddenly spoke.
“Although I don’t know her exact location, the last place she disappeared was in the Whitechapel District.”
“Hmm?”
Mu En raised an eyebrow, looking at her in confusion.
This guy actually spilled the beans so easily?
Or is it… another trap?
“I’ve changed my mind.”
The female demon’s expression twisted, her eyes fixed on Mu En, filled with malice.
“Perhaps it would be better for you to meet her.”
“…”
“Ha, I’m really looking forward to it. What kind of expression will you have when you see her like this? That feeling of hope plummeting from the heavens into the abyss, turning into despair—hahaha… I’m truly looking forward to it!”
Hiss.
A massive holy light surged into the suddenly tainted heart, and amidst the endless agony of burning flames, the vitality in the female demon’s eyes gradually faded.
From the gaps in the dark clouds, thin starlight fell, illuminating Mu En’s profile, making it as cold as marble.
Mu En stared at the female demon and softly asked:
“Can you help me convey a message to your true form?”
“Ha… please, go ahead.”
“Tell her that the next time we meet, I will kill her.”
Mu En lowered his head, with a resolute, firm, and unshakeable will, he declared earnestly.
“I will kill her with the most painful method, with my own hands.”
……
……
“What a pity.”
Outside the courtyard, the Rat King watched with a pained expression as the magic cannon dissolved automatically after three shots, turning into a pile of scrap metal, reluctant to part with it.
It was exhilarating.
Just now, when he was controlling the magic cannon to fire, watching that blinding beam tear everything apart, it produced a feeling that was no less than .
Unfortunately, three shots were too few.
He hadn’t had enough fun.
—
And if he had this thing in hand, why would he ever worry about being the most dashing guy in the lower district?
“Power that doesn’t belong to you can only bring you destruction.”
In his ears, a detached voice rang out, causing the Rat King to stiffen upright.
“Mr. Bruce.” The Rat King bowed respectfully.
In just one short night, the things this man had revealed had completely made him submit, leaving no room for other thoughts.
Now, Rat King Tom was already a loyal dog under Bruce Wayne.
“If the guards or the Knights discover something like a magic cannon, even nine heads wouldn’t be enough to chop off.”
Mu En glanced at him and said lightly.
“I… I know, I was just thinking, just thinking.”
The Rat King wiped away a cold sweat, driving out all those inappropriate thoughts from his mind.
“Does Mr. Bruce have any further instructions?”
“Have you found everything I asked you to investigate?” Mu En inquired.
“I have found it!”
The Rat King straightened his back, waving his hand, and a subordinate quickly ran over, presenting a thick stack of documents with both hands.
“Everything you wanted me to look into is right here.”
“So much.”
Mu En took the documents, exclaiming.
“That’s only natural; the scope of what you wanted us to investigate is simply too broad,” the Rat King replied.
Urban legends.
Rumors and tales.
Strange behaviors.
People hiding their identities.
Abnormal personnel movements.
Though limited to the last two days, in the densely populated lower district, these combined amounted to an enormous amount of information.
“Actually, I’m a bit puzzled.”
“Speak.”
“Mr. Bruce, from your requests, it’s not hard to see that you seem to be… looking for someone.”
The Rat King stared at the large stack of documents, confused as he said:
“But why don’t you elaborate a bit more? As long as you can provide detailed characteristics, we can definitely help you find the person you’re looking for.”
“Definitely?”
“That’s right.”
The Rat King puffed out his chest, a hint of pride on his face as he said:
“If it were just a single gang, I wouldn’t dare to guarantee anything to you. But now, nearly all the major gangs have united. Even if the person you’re looking for can turn into a rat and hide in the sewers, as long as he is active in the lower city, he absolutely won’t escape our watchful eyes!”
“It sounds tempting, but I simply can’t do that.”
Mu En lowered his gaze, flipping through the heavy documents in his hands.
Uniting these gangs to form a net that envelops the entire lower city was, after all, one of Mu En’s objectives.
Because those who make up these gangs are not just thugs who only know how to fight.
The vast number of “lower-class people” who survive under the gangs’ rule are the truly terrifying aspect.
But Mu En couldn’t do that.
Because the consequences of mobilizing these numerous, mixed ordinary people would be that…
The entire city would know someone is searching for Anna Carberlin.
That absolutely cannot happen.
Just as the siren said.
No matter how noble his status or how many means he possesses, he cannot trust anyone when it comes to saving his senior.
In this matter, no one would stand by his side.
He could only walk alone, stepping into the darkness, searching for that equally lonely girl in this vast city of millions.
Thus, Mu En could only resort to a cumbersome method of sifting through information.
“But fortunately… this time it’s not entirely without gains.”
Mu En flipped through the documents, eliminating all useless information and leaving only the content related to “Whitechapel District.”
The scope was suddenly narrowed significantly.
“Then, senior, where would you hide?”
His finger lightly tapped the document, and Mu En instinctively began to think from Anna’s perspective.
“If it were you…”
His gaze moved quickly, and Mu En soon pinpointed a piece of information.
“Locarda Academy, the abandoned campus, suspected sightings of the heart-extracting siren from urban legends…”