"Haven't seen you in a few days, why do you seem to have lost a lot of weight?"
At this moment, Su Ming was sitting on a black stone chair, surrounded by nothing but a circle of lava, the heat causing the air to constantly flicker, and the strangulation retracted back into his body.
In front of him was a shriveled devil, with red skin seemingly covering only bones, the ribs clearly visible.
The devil looked at Su Ming with a grin, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth, squatting like a monkey on his throne, he touched his stomach with sharp claws upon hearing this.
He was like many starving people, emaciated, yet with a large belly, appearing extremely sickly.
"Hehe, lately my appetite hasn't been very good, I heard you've become the Supreme Mage, haven't had the chance to congratulate you yet."
"This isn't anything to celebrate, maybe someday you'll end up killing me, who knows, hehe..." Su Ming exchanged pleasantries with the devil with a full smile, crossing his legs, hands folded upon his knees.
The shriveled devil turned sideways, wedged himself in the groove of the throne, his head resting on one side of the armrest, legs raised high.
"At least I, Mephisto, have no intention of invading the Main Dimension, just doing a bit of business like this is enough."
Su Ming smiled, Mephisto's business wasn't small, his monopoly on Earth's soul trade was almost unchallenged, with countless devils under him constantly searching for clients.
The clients were generally gamblers who'd lost everything, patients beyond cure, desperate prostitutes, or overly curious fools.
Mephisto would give them what they wanted, money, love, health, hope, anything imaginable, he could do it.
Of course, these were mostly fake, either hallucinations or fleeting illusions.
Money was counterfeit, love was succubus, health was temporary revival, hope was actually despair.
He was a Demon King, his job was to harvest souls.
"I know, that's why my hell tour starts from here with you, doesn't it?"
Mephisto glanced at the woman next to the newly appointed Supreme Mage, the woman with long golden hair was playing with the lava using her combat boots.
Hell for the first stop? Where did you get that Hell Lord beside you? Being able to lie with open eyes is even more powerful than The Ancient One.
Mephisto bounced up from the throne, not intending to wrangle over trivial matters.
Deception, lies, intrigue, these traits suited his taste better, if before he had 1% welcome for Su Ming's arrival, now it was 2%.
He grabbed a human head from beside his throne and stuffed it into his mouth, casually chewing as if it were betel nut, and spat it out: "Shall I give the Supreme Mage a tour of my Hell?"
"Hehe, it's exactly what I wish."
Su Ming could see through Mephisto's scheme, he was showcasing his influence, indicating his role in maintaining balance.
The Supreme Mage, he wasn't afraid, in Hell, no one could hurt him.
But if the Supreme Mage targeted the little demons heading to the Main Dimension for business, Hell would go bankrupt.
Su Ming wouldn't do that, because in his view, Mephisto's tricks were more like euthanasia, many who sold their souls died muddled, which wasn't entirely bad.
Take the little match girl as an example, she could only warm herself with matches, seeing food and family through hallucination, then died of cold and hunger in the snow.
If she made a deal with the devil, she would at least eat real food, see real family, and die smiling, without pain.
Though both result in death, the latter's way of dying is better, devils' terminal care is better than the priests'.
What happens to the soul after reaching Hell is another story, in Mephisto's Hell, few souls are actually used as instruments.
He has his own set of standards, only the ones who most loved arguments in life are tied to the spire.
Mephisto loves gambling, his Hell is mostly filled with degenerate gamblers.
Thinking along these lines, Su Ming followed in the Demon King's steps, Mephisto smiling broadly as if planning to walk alongside him.
Su Ming nudged the Secret Guest to walk with Mephisto: "You Lord of Hell should communicate more with each other, I'll just look around."
Hearing this, the Secret Guest nodded seriously, while Mephisto couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
What good is there in exchanging between Hell and Hell Border? One's boss is Death, the other's boss is Ancient God, simply not the same path.
Hell's current method is 'power by ghosts', souls are both labor and currency. Hell Border? It's all tentacle monsters relying on survival of the fittest, chaos and corruption.
But Mephisto quickly regained his smile, clapped his hands, and from the scorching lava beside him, a large door rose and opened with a clanging sound, emanating a familiar sensation.
Hope and despair mixed, the atmosphere of smoke, alcohol, and noise intertwined.
"Come, take a look at my masterpiece." Mephisto walked quickly taking steps, leading into the door.
The Secret Guest gave Su Ming a glance, he merely nodded lightly, and they followed him inside.
Upon entering, it was like instantly transitioning to another world, before the three was a row of endless slot machines stretching to the edge of vision, seeming never-ending.
Countless souls with pale faces and crimson eyes sit numbly yet feverishly in front of these slot machines, pulling the levers over and over like robots, watching the three rows of symbols whirl rapidly as the machines constantly emit jingling sounds.
This is Mephisto's most famous infernal slot machine. These souls are gamblers from Earth, and their task is to keep gambling until the end of the universe.
Mephisto told them that these slot machines have a one-in-a-million chance of winning, and if they hit the jackpot, they could instantly ascend to Heaven.
Thus, these souls keep gambling, their coin-inserting and lever-pulling actions providing Hell with energy, from which Mephisto profits.
In fact, many of these souls are aware that casinos always favor the house, but Hell has amplified their obsession and belief in lucky breaks, making them determined to gamble.
Heaven? It doesn't exist.
"Grand scale, just a bit noisy." Su Ming looked around. The slot machine reels were actually completely blank, only appearing with symbols in the souls' eyes.
"Yeah, I feel the same way." Mephisto raised his claws, moving his palms across his face.
The surrounding environment seemed to shift like a phone screen being dragged, instantly passing by the three of them, changing to a new location.
This place was significantly better than before, a gigantic nightclub where primarily succubi worked, and many souls were being drained of soul energy by their SM methods, with music drowning out the ongoing moans.
Mephisto casually picked up a cherry from the nearby table, but a frightened face emerged on the cherry, screaming, and he shoved it into his mouth without a second glance.
"How about this place? Want to stay for a few days?" Mephisto invited a few succubi over, seeming to intend to entertain Su Ming with them.
Su Ming calmly declined. Succubi weren't much better than female vampires, Howard might enjoy, but he would pass.
"The smell is too strong here."
Next, Mephisto showcased the Seven Deadly Sins to Su Ming one by one, but Su Ming remained expressionless, as if even seeing countless souls didn't matter to him.
Finally, the three returned to the black lonely peak, back to the starting point.
Mephisto restrained his smile, stepping up to his throne, sitting upright, fully embodying the posture of Lord of Hell.
"Speak, Supreme Mage, what do you want after going around in such circles?"
"Weren't you the one circling all along?" Su Ming took a cigarette from his pocket, stuck it into the nearby lava to light it: "I must say, it smells quite good lighting a cigarette with lava."
"Hehehe..."
"Hehehe...."
One man and one ghost exchanged smiles, as if competing to see who had more Qi or could laugh longer. But with the Time Gem, Su Ming could laugh with him until the end of time.
The lava around the throne kept bubbling, the scent of sulfur filled everyone's nostrils until Mephisto realized he couldn't drag this out indefinitely.
"Have you come to change the contract?"
"Of course, I respect Master Gu Yi greatly, but some of the rules left behind... those are from eight hundred years ago; times have changed."
Su Ming continued sitting in his chair, quietly smoking a cigarette, responding to the question casually.
"Indeed, I used to let gamblers play poker, recently changed to slot machines. But some things better not change..." Mephisto leaned his neck forward, speaking with a bit of a sinister tone.
Su Ming flicked ash on the ground beside him, leaving fine marks on the black slab: "Don't worry, your business remains unchanged, but there's an issue we need to discuss."
"Go ahead."
"Your agents are active in the main dimension, I can allow that, but your enforcers always loiter in my territory, isn't that inappropriate?"
Su Ming asked with a half-smile, glancing at Secret Guest with an inquiring look; Secret Guest's small head nodded up and down, indicating it indeed wasn't appropriate.
Mephisto felt nauseated, truly sickening.
He and Deathstroke were mutually constrained with no recourse, but facing another Lord of Hell made the situation different.
Although Secret Guest wasn't as strong as him, she possessed the attributes of a Lord of Hell, if Hell invasion was to be launched, she wouldn't care if tentacle monsters died, but his losses would be tremendous.
One who walks barefoot never fears one with shoes.
"You mean Evil Spirit Knight, what do you want? His ownership isn't technically mine."
Mephisto's tone softened a bit; failing to intimidate the opponent, continuing the tension would break the string.
"He's just a tool, his master isn't here, you're just the caretaker." Su Ming blew out a smoke ring, took a swig from the bottle he fetched from his pocket: "How about lending him to me?"
"Everything else proceeds as usual?" Mephisto's eyes shifted.
"As long as you don't want change, everything proceeds as usual, hehe..." Su Ming chuckled cryptically too.
Mephisto replaced his face with a smile again, he patted his belly and stood up: "Your contract should be ready, honestly, you're more cunning than any black mage in the main dimension, I quite like you."
"I'll keep my soul for my own use, don't think about it, time to sign now."