"Sigh, why can''t you answer honestly and save us both time? If you have demands, say so. We''re all adults here. There''s no need for these childish games and play to be tough, right?" Myne helplessly tossed aside the iron rod in his hand, breathing heavily. Before him lay an almost beaten-to-death old man, his face especially bruised and deformed beyond recognition.

    Even if his mother saw him now, there was no way she could recognize him.

    The old man''s limbs were broken beyond repair; he couldn''t even move his fingers except for his right arm, which was still in somewhat decent condition, thanks to his painstaking efforts. Nearly half of his bones were broken, and many wounds were gushing blood, contributing heavily to the pool beneath him.

    "Hehehe, no matter how much you torture me, you''re not going to get anything out of me. This kind of childishness is nothing to me. I torture myself more during my prayers...

    But who the hell are you, bastard, and what do you want with me?" The old man, whom Myne had been chasing to learn June''s location and eventually caught in his basement, spat out blood before mocking him and then asked seriously.

    "It doesn''t matter who I am. I just want to know where you keep the slaves you buy from outside. One of my friends has gone missing, and my investigation leads me to you. So, why don''t you just tell me where he is? I promise, after I get him, I''ll leave and never come back. How about that?"

    To avoid unnecessary trouble, Myne didn''t reveal June''s gender, referring to her as "him," and asked with a smile that looked harmless to both humans and animals.

    After hearing Myne''s request, the old man fell silent for a moment. Although he could claim while hammering his cheat that no amount of pain could shake his iron will, that didn''t mean he wasn''t afraid of death. At 120 years old, with a long life still ahead of him, he couldn''t just let some random guy kill him after coming this far.

    Moreover, this madman before wasn''t asking for anything particularly important—just the location of their slave prison, which, while somewhat secretive for confidential reasons, wasn''t impossible to find with proper investigation.

    After considering his options and seeing Myne''s something not so friendly expression, the old man finally gave in. After all, it is a well-known fact that the more you live, the more you fear death.

    Under Myne''s vigilant gaze, with great difficulty, he moved his injured right arm, took out a scroll from his storage pouch and tossed it toward him.

    "Fill out this contract, and we both sign it. You don''t expect me to trust someone who attacked me openly, sneaked into my house and beat me half to death, do you?" Said the old man, turning around and lying on his back in the ankle-deep pool of blood.

    Myne, who had almost believed the old man would resist the death and remain silent no matter what had already considered this mission as a failure and was preparing to kill him, dumbfounded to see the scroll under his feet. He awkwardly took the scroll from the ground and unfolded it, but nothing was written on it.

    Unsurprisingly, he also didn''t know how to write a magic scroll as well, and could only look at the old man with an awkward smile.

    "Since you provided the scroll, why not give me a quill and ink as well?"

    Of course, Myne didn''t forget to add another hidden condition: "he could kill the old man if he ever patted his shoulder after they sign the contract."

    After seeing the revised terms, the old man finally nodded with satisfaction and dropped a few drops of his blood on the contract to sign it. Myne did the same and handed a high-quality healing potion to the old man, helping him recover to peak condition, which wasn''t difficult for him.

    ...

    "What kind of potion is this? It''s so powerful. It can heal people to peak condition so quickly, even broken limbs can be regenerated."

    After getting healed and wearing new clothes, the old man and Myne walked out of the basement and started walking towards the northeast of the cave. However, the path was long and boring, so the old man couldn''t help but ask curiously.

    "It''s a special potion, very hard to get your hands on. Only a few handfuls of people in the entire kingdom can obtain it, so you might as well forget about it. This isn''t something you can get with money or playing tricks... But if you''re willing to tell me what you guys are doing in this cave or some general details about your evil plan, maybe I can give you some," Myne asked with a knowing smile.

    Now that he and the old man were partners, relying on the old man''s identity, he didn''t have to hide. So he simply wore a black robe and roamed freely in the cave. Even if someone had doubts about his identity, no one dared to come and check him, fearing that the old man might skin them alive. His image among most people in the cave wasn''t positive.

    "Forget it. If I really told you about it, I might die before I have a chance to use it," The old man shook his head regretfully and didn''t ask anything again. He simply led Myne to a heavily guarded tower-like building from a lot of guards coming and going nonstop. They entered without a word, and the guards also acted as if they didn''t exist, continuing their work.

    The main hall of the tower was dark and creepy as if no one ever came there, but it was actually a restaurant. Many guards were eating and drinking while a dozen or so beautiful waitresses in revealing outfits served them with open minds. Even when some of the men touched their private parts, the waitresses would giggle and walk away with provocative expressions.

    In a random dark corner, Myne even spotted a couple having in-depth conversations while some rough-looking guys bet on how long the man would last.

    =======

    A/N:

    I wanted to let you know that due to an unexpected emergency, I won''t be able to upload chapters recently. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

    As a thank you for your patience, I''ll be releasing two advanced chapters tomorrow to make up for the delay!

    Thank you for your continued support!