"It went up! It went up!"
Night had fallen. Luke was enjoying the cool breeze on the open-air rooftop at home when the elven goddess appeared, looking rather excited.
"What went up? Your weight?"
Still lying in his rocking chair, he answered without even lifting his head, then gave a bored yawn.
Janna slowly produced a question mark, then frowned, slightly annoyed. "How could it be my weight? My weight has never changed, thank you very much. I'm obviously talking about followers!"
As a goddess, even if she did eat a little too much from time to time, she had, after all, been blessed with the kind of body that never gained weight no matter how much she ate.
She had absolutely no weight anxiety, all right?
Luke perked up a little and said, "Oh. You can observe your follower count in real time?"
"Of course." Janna spoke as if it were only natural. "If I couldn't even sense how many followers I had, then my path as a goddess would be over."
Luke asked curiously, "So how did you notice it went up?"
Janna thought for a moment. "Usually through prayers. That, and sincerity. As long as someone prays to me, I can sense it. And with some especially devout believers, I can sense them even if they aren't praying."
After listening, Luke nodded and smiled. "Congratulations."
"It's barely worth mentioning." Janna waved a hand with feigned modesty, though the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth could not be hidden. With a proud little huff, she said, "Although it's still nowhere near the number of followers I had at my peak, this proves your method really does work. As a reward, go make me some pudding right now."
"?"
Luke produced a question mark and sat up. "Where's the reward?"
Janna blinked. "Making me pudding."
"I have to say, you've gotten a lot funnier lately. You can even make jokes like that now."
Luke looked at her with a "fond" smile.
The two of them stared at each other and chuckled.
The next second, Luke's face went cold and he lay back down. "No."
The mood was doused like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over it, instantly turning rather awkward.
"I was just joking." Janna gave a dry cough to smooth over the embarrassment, then put on an aggrieved look. "I already gave you my most precious thing. What other reward could I possibly have?"
The Blessing of Wind was not something anyone could obtain so easily. Across the entire sweep of history, Janna had only given it to Luke alone.
Although the reason was that, at her peak, she had never needed to do such a thing.
But saying Luke was the first was still not wrong.
Moreover, wind affinity was not something that ended with a simple blessing. It was a power closely connected to Janna herself.
In other words, the more power Janna recovered, the stronger the blessing's effect would become. It was something with plenty of benefits both now and in the future.
Thinking about it that way, it really was the only reward Janna had to offer.
But if they were talking about her most precious thing, then obviously it was not that.
For other people, gods rewarded their followers. Once it came to Luke, the situation had somehow flipped the other way around.
In the middle of the night, he still had to go make a certain gluttonous goddess a pudding snack, and if he made some, there was no way he could make only one serving.
Sure enough, the moment Luke went downstairs and headed for the kitchen, multiple gazes turned toward him at once.
"I'm making a late-night snack. Raise your hand if you want some."
Luke stopped. As soon as his words fell, little hands shot up one after another.
Although it had only been three hours or so since dinner, clearly none of them minded adding another late-night meal.
Luke had known this would happen. He sighed softly.
At this point, making a little pudding was not going to be enough. He might as well make more snacks.
In the Undercity.
Inside a factory.
"Are you sure we're making our move tonight?"
Konda asked with some hesitation. The dim yellow light in the room left him uneasy, though perhaps it was also because they were about to cause a major disturbance.
"Hesitation means defeat. Winners always strike first. The longer we drag this out, the easier it will be for him to react."
Beside him, Darms calmly exhaled the last mouthful of smoke, then tossed the cigarette to the ground and crushed it underfoot. A cold gleam flashed in his eyes. "When you're dealing with a calculating old fox like him, the more unexpected the timing, the more effective it will be."
Konda was convinced by that reason. He took a deep breath and nodded. "Then we'll act according to the plan."
"Listen closely. Once the timing is right, each of you sends out your people."
Darms gave his final instructions, looking at the people around him. "At the critical moment, no one can mess up. We absolutely cannot give him the chance to react. As long as we get rid of him, the Undercity will be ours to run."
The others listened and nodded.
Konda's eyes flickered. He had been rooted in the Undercity for so many years. Back when he followed Vander, he had counted as one of the old hands.
He believed that, no matter how anyone looked at it, he was no worse than Silco. What he lacked was merely an opportunity.
Tonight was his opportunity. He had to seize it.
With that anticipation in mind, Konda walked toward the factory exit, intending to go back and begin preparing for tonight's operation.
He pushed open the main door, and a layer of darkness instantly enveloped him. Konda was frowning, wondering why it had become so pitch-black outside, when a violet-pink glow suddenly lit up.
Then the source of the light appeared. Someone was leaning against the wall, quietly wiping down a long blade.
Seeing that person, Konda froze. "Sevika? What are you doing here?"
Hearing him, Sevika glanced sideways at him. "Passing by. Does that answer satisfy you?"
Konda subconsciously took a step back, his entire body going on alert. "You don't look like the type of person who passes by a place like this."
"Since you understand me so well, you should know why I'm here."
Sevika straightened up. The long blade in her left hand lit with a blood-red glow.
Konda retreated another step. Then, without hesitation, he turned and ran back inside. He did not forget to shove over a pile of boxes near the doorway, panic creeping into his expression as he shouted, "Darms, the plan's been exposed!"
His voice rang out loud and clear in the night, instantly alerting Darms and the others who had left in different directions.
Sensing that something was wrong, they all began returning the way they had come, soon gathering together again.
"What did you say?"
"Sevika is outside. If she showed up here, she obviously already knows about our plan."
Konda was panting, his forehead covered in cold sweat. He looked back once, but Sevika had not pursued him.
Yet as an old hand, he understood all too well what it meant for the person who could be called Silco's personal secretary to appear here.
Darms' expression went cold. "Someone sold us out."
The other two small bosses glanced at each other and both saw the fear deep in the other's eyes. Clearly, neither of them was the traitor.
"No need to suspect one another."
At that moment, Silco's voice suddenly sounded. He stepped out from the shadows and said calmly, "Everything you did was right under my nose. How could I not know?"
Along with him came a group of subordinates, Sevika among them, every one of them wearing a cold expression.
"Winners always strike first. I rather agree with that statement."
Silco looked at the four of them with an icy expression. Although he was not tall, in this moment he radiated tremendous pressure. "I actually gave you a chance, but you were too greedy."
At this moment, all four of their faces changed. Gloom, fear, terror, they had never expected Silco to move this quickly.
Their plan had not even begun, and they were already surrounded by Silco's people.
Konda's throat bobbed twice, but he could not get a single word out. He understood Silco's personality and knew that, at this point, saying anything would be useless.
Darms, by contrast, remained fairly calm. He looked coldly at Silco. "Impressive, Silco. Clearly, you never trusted us."
Silco smiled faintly. "The relationship between us never reached the point of trust. I gave you work to do, and you obeyed me. That was our relationship."
Darms sneered. "Back then, you were nothing but a nameless nobody. What gives you the right to make us serve you for the rest of our lives?"
"Did I ever say you had to obey me for the rest of your lives?" Silco remained composed and said calmly, "The king rules, the loser falls. That law never changes. Judging by the result, you simply lost."
"You're right. When it comes to cunning, we're still too green."
Darms chuckled. Then he took a button-like device from his pocket and pressed it without hesitation.
In an instant, there was a thunderous boom. Firelight erupted from above the factory, followed by debris raining down.
Silco's expression changed, and he ordered, "Get out!"
With the second thunderous explosion, the steel factory itself seemed to begin swaying on the verge of collapse. Everyone immediately scattered toward the exits.
Darms was also among the first to run.
Konda and the other two reacted a little slower. Just as they stepped forward, several gunshots rang out. Bullets instantly passed through their bodies.
One bullet seemed to hit Darms in the leg, but no one had time to pay attention to that anymore.
Rumble!
Even Silco had not expected Darms to plant so many bombs here. Had he anticipated that the plan might be exposed and prepared in advance?
Or was it all just coincidence?
Standing outside the now-ruined factory and watching the raging flames, Silco's face was cold. Those bombs had ruined his mood tonight.
Once the fire died down, Sevika returned not long after and reported, "We found four burned bodies. All of them had gunshot wounds. Their identities can no longer be confirmed."
Hearing that, Silco asked, "Any casualties on our side?"
Sevika shook her head. "No. We were closer to the exit, so everyone got out before the factory collapsed."
In that case, there was no need to confirm the identities of the four bodies.
Even so, Silco's mood was still not very good. If they had not run fast enough, he might really have been caught in that trap.
Who went and planted a pile of bombs in their own secret base?
"Temporarily take over the four of their territories. During this period, slowly look for people who can replace them."
After thinking for a moment, Silco gave Sevika the order.
"Yes."
Sevika answered.
No one paid attention to tonight's farce in the Undercity. Perhaps only after some time had passed would anyone discover that four minor gang bosses had quietly disappeared without a sound.
The night had yet to pass.
In an unknown area of the Undercity, a room door was pushed open, and Darms dragged his wounded leg inside before collapsing into the room. After panting for a few breaths, he said directly, "The plan was exposed. That old fox Silco really was prepared. Before we could even act, he had already moved first."
Inside the room, a long-haired man was calmly reading a book. Hearing him, he set the book down, revealing a young face.
"About what I expected. Good thing we prepared in advance. Is your injury serious?"
"It's nothing."
Darms slowly stood and sat down on a chair, still breathing heavily. "Carroll, what's Mr. C's next instruction?"
Carroll said, "We're going to find an alchemist. This person is the main developer of the Shimmer drug behind Silco. If we want to rule the Undercity, simply toppling Silco won't be enough."
Silco was undoubtedly the overlord of the Undercity. Almost the entire Undercity was under his control.
And his means of controlling the Undercity, aside from the prestige he had built in earlier years and his outstanding ability, was the Shimmer drug.
So in truth, even if they simply got rid of Silco, they still would not be able to become the masters of the Undercity.
The Shimmer drug did not just represent a vast economic chain. It also represented where people's hearts leaned.
Darms frowned. "Then what are we waiting for? Go find him."
"If he were that easy to find, we wouldn't have needed to prepare so many plans."
Carroll said calmly, "Silco would naturally protect someone that important very well."
"The exposure of tonight's plan has only one possible explanation. Silco has far more eyes planted throughout the Undercity than we imagined. In that case, we can no longer easily test where his bottom line lies."
"True. That guy is as slippery as a fox." Darms nodded in agreement, then said with a dark look in his eyes, "Now that we've missed this opportunity, with his cautious personality, it won't be easy for us to keep probing."
"No rush. We take it slowly. Mr. C's other instruction is to secretly interfere with Silco, create trouble for him, then clean out his informants bit by bit. After that, all that remains is to wait for the right moment."
Carroll glanced at Darms and continued, "Then we find a way to locate this alchemist."
At that moment, Darms remembered something and frowned. "We also need to find a way to deal with that capable right-hand woman beside Silco. If we want to move against Silco, we have to get around her."
"Sevika, huh…"
Carroll fell into thought. Then he said, "I can think of a pretty good candidate. Someone who can deal with Sevika and create trouble for Silco at the same time."
Darms could not help asking, "Who?"
"Someone locked up in prison who hates Silco." Carroll smiled faintly. "We need to find a way to get her out."
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