"If you've been hurt enough, use your hands to cut it open quickly, curse yesterday..."
As the prison bell rang full of energy, Ash got up and washed up. While brushing his teeth, he thought about Sword Lady's strange behavior in the past two days.
Instead of chatting about nothing, Sword Lady suddenly asked Ash many targeted questions in the virtual world, such as what color he liked, how to make friends, whether he liked suspense or horror, etc. She even asked Ash whether he liked big breasts or flat breasts, which made Ash very confused - isn't this nonsense? Is there anyone who doesn't like big breasts!
Moreover, Sword Lady's attitude towards Ash can change into four different styles in one night: sometimes gentle and considerate, sometimes cold and arrogant, sometimes sexy and seductive, and sometimes innocent and cute.
Ash's thought on this is: It would be better if you could change clothes at the same time when you change your personality.
Ash also asked Fiora what was wrong, but Fiora said it was nothing, which made Ash nervous.
He thought about it and wondered if Sword Princess was conducting a psychological test on him. Apart from that, he could only think of one possibility - Sword Princess had reached her monthly blood metabolism period.
Thinking about it carefully, her mood changes and her chatterbox curiosity seem to be quite consistent with the characteristics of women during the blood metabolism period. Ash didn't think much about it except sighing that "paper people also have menstruation".
When the light curtain was opened, a message popped up in Aurora's Magician's Manual:
"The training of the Death Mad Sword Princess has ended. Please check the growth report and set up the training strategy for this week as soon as possible."
"Death Mad Sword Princess' Growth Report 4.19~4.25"
"Swordsmanship faction: Silver → Silver"
"Light Mage Faction: Silver → Silver"
"Water Buffs: Silver → Silver"
"Psychic Faction: 0 → Silver"
"Magic power: Silver half wing → Silver full wing"
"Training evaluation: A!"
"Because she received an A-level evaluation, the Death Mad Sword Princess received a job enhancement in the Magician's Handbook: Silver Magician of Destruction → Silver Magician of Soul Destruction"
"Soul-breaking Silver Magician·Professional Features: Each effective attack deals an additional 1% soul damage."
This new job feature made Ash's eyes light up. The enemies in the virtual world are undoubtedly souls, which is equivalent to Sword Princess causing extra real damage to the enemy. In addition, Sword Princess's attack speed is not slow, so the accumulated extra damage will be considerable.
The magic faction has not grown much. In the past two days, they only obtained a water magic orb. After feeding it to the Sword Princess, the water magic faction naturally remains in the silver realm.
If it weren't for the upgrade of the Psychic Faction from 0 to Silver, and the breakthrough of the Magic Power from Half Wing to Full Wing, the training evaluation would definitely not reach A. However, Ash still had a grudge about this - why was there no growth report for his 'End Watcher'? He also wanted to obtain the job enhancement in the manual and change to a new job!
Until now, his profession is still a useless cult leader! The blessing of the four pillars has never taken effect!
Ash checked his points. Although they had hunted a lot of intellectual creatures these days and obtained many magical spirits, because Sword Lady said she needed money to buy magical spirits, the spoils were split 60% and 40% respectively, with Ash taking 6 and Sword Lady taking 40%.
After exchanging all the temporarily unused magic spirits for points, Ash now has 124 points, which is not enough to buy a bag of source crystals worth 198 points.
Without the card drawing ceremony, Ash directly arranged the training strategy for Sword Princess next week. Originally, he wanted to follow the usual practice and directly increase the sword training, but thinking that Sword Princess needed to rest during the special period these days, he pondered for a moment and decided... Let Sword Princess rest for an hour, today only.
Ah, my heart aches. Is this what it feels like to be a boss? Seeing my employees taking a break makes me feel like I have lost a lot of money.
Ash quickly implemented his training strategy so he wouldn't regret it, and went to the restaurant for breakfast as usual, only to find the central hall crowded with people - were they here to recruit volunteers (cannon fodder) again
However, it was not the case. The prisoners just gathered together to watch the news on the screen in the hall. Even Igula was staring at the screen intently.
Ash leaned over and asked Igula: "What did the news say? Did the citizens find their conscience and decide to boycott the inhumane system of the Blood Moon Trial?"
"It's more exciting than a citizen's conscience." Igula stared at the light screen and murmured softly: "Finanxue has fallen."
"who?"
"Mayor of Kaimon City is about to fall!"
Ash was slightly startled and followed along to watch the news.
"… The current casualties are estimated to be more than 10,000. Countless people were killed and injured in Tianjie New Town. Fires broke out in many places in the Upper Town, and corpses were scattered all over the streets. They might be employees going to work, couples shopping, future legendary magicians, or ordinary people living diligently, but at this moment, they have become pale corpses because of an invasion that should not have happened."
In the light screen, a female host with a decent appearance and a good figure stood on a tall building. Her face looked a bit similar to Igula, her eyebrows and eyes were full of charm, and she seemed to have a little Veela blood. There was a circle of pink and purple fur sleeves on her hands, which was very cute.
But her expression was extremely angry at this moment, and her voice was filled with suppressed anger: "Please look, everyone, behind me is the most prosperous upper city of Kaimen City, but what can we see now? Ruins, flames, corpses, bloodstains, exposed steel roots, broken dolls—"
"Kaymon News is the mouthpiece of the church and the research institute." Igula said softly, "When the host shows obvious political inclinations, it means that the Blood Moon and the other tribes want to offer sacrifices to appease the anger of the people."
"Forty hours have passed since the first attack. We can't help but wonder, why hasn't the Criminal Investigation Department caught the attacker yet? Why are attacks still happening? Why is the Upper Town still a high-risk area, and even medical teams dare not go in to treat the wounded?"
"Where did our taxpayers' money go, and who squandered it? Why did a region rated as the safest in the country suffer such a disaster? Why do ordinary people like us who live and work in peace and contentment in Kaimen City have to suffer such misfortune?"
"Why would there be a large-scale organized group of attackers from other countries sneaking into Kaimen City? What on earth did the Government Office do without telling us?"
"We need answers. The dead need answers! Someone must be held accountable for this disaster—"
Phew!
Seeing the screen covered with blood, the death row prisoners in the central hall exclaimed. They had seen many deaths in the Blood Moon Trial, but it was the first time they had seen the host being suddenly killed during a live broadcast.
The live broadcast channel fell into darkness, but soon switched to a new picture.
The background this time is a clean, tidy and grand office. Sitting behind the desk is an ogre in a dark suit - yes, an ogre. Although he has no fangs, his nails are neatly trimmed, and he doesn't look aggressive at all, and even looks friendly, he is indeed a blue-skinned ogre, and the big-butt chair that is big enough to seat two Ashes is enough to prove it.
When he spoke, Ash was stunned.
"I am Alandol Financier, the mayor of Kemon City." The ogre said in a heavy tone, "I am deeply saddened to tell you that the number of innocent people killed in the terrorist attack has reached 13,000. The Criminal Hunting Department is already operating at full capacity, and the Government Affairs Department has also mobilized adventurers from the nearby Lakeview War Zone to assist in the hunt. It is hoped that the roaming attackers will be caught as soon as possible."
"These attackers are butchers who came to Blood Moon from other countries through the virtual channel. I have to admit that I have to bear some responsibility for this. The joint research and investigation of the virtual channel was the result of a joint decision by the Government Affairs Office, the Parliament, the Crime Hunting Office, and the Lakeview War Zone. If the Government Affairs Office had made a better plan and made a more careful judgment, perhaps..."
"He hasn't given up yet." Igula grinned, "He is threatening the other conspirators. If he dies, the others will not have a good ending either. He can lose, but he doesn't want to leave."
"… For this reason, I am willing to accept the inspection of the Criminal Investigation Department and temporarily resign from the position of mayor. The mayor's duties will be taken over by Deputy Mayor Gu Luo."
Finally, Financier stood up and bowed deeply: "I am very sorry for my mistake in my work."
"oh!"
"Haha, Finanxue, you have come to this day!"
The central hall was filled with celebratory noises. Although the noise ordinance prohibited loud laughter, the sound of so many people cheering at the same time still filled the hall with joy. It turned out that only when they saw others in trouble could these scum feel genuinely happy.
However, when Ash saw that the usually calm Igula was so excited that his ears were red and he could hardly hold back his smile, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Igula, do you have a grudge against Financier? Even if you are gloating over someone else's misfortune, you shouldn't be so happy, right?"
Igula grabbed Ash's shoulders and said, "Don't you understand? The mayor has fallen! He has been accused by the Criminal Court!"
Ash was puzzled: "I heard it, what's wrong?"
It was obvious that Igula wanted to make a personal attack on Ash's intelligence, but the chip prevented his rude behavior.
After holding it in for a long while, he whispered in an excited voice: "During his term of office, if the mayor is accused of a serious crime and has to be suspended immediately, in order to ensure his personal safety and prevent him from committing suicide, the mayor will be detained in the nearest Blood Moon Prison for isolated investigation."
Ash remembered that he had heard this rule when he was discussing the correct way to escape from prison with the medical staff.
Ash vaguely realized something: "You mean..."
Igula stared straight at Ash, his eyes so bright that it seemed as if he wanted to suck Ash in.
"We don't have to wait for the transport ship on the first of next month. When Finanxue is escorted to Broken Lake Prison, that will be our chance to escape!"
"So when will Finanxue be imprisoned in Broken Lake?"
"Generally speaking, the sooner the better, but before coming here, you must stay in the Crime Hunting Hall for a night to modify the restricted permissions in the chip in advance. In other words—"
Ash and Igula looked at each other and said, "Tomorrow, the Blood Moon Judgment on the 27th!"
PS: Thanks to the reader for reminding me that I quoted the content of the original NGA post "Let's talk about the tricks of women I encountered in blind dates in recent years" in Chapter 113 without marking it as an inappropriate infringement. I have sent a short message to this netizen on NGA to ask if he has authorized it. If not, I will delete it. Speaking of this kind of authorization fee, I don't know how to calculate it. I just use the current after-tax income of 100 words * the number of words quoted to calculate it.
However, this is also the first time I use nga's internal messaging system. If he doesn't reply, I will at him in the original post tomorrow.
I personally have the habit of excerpting. When I come across interesting sentences and stories, I will excerpt them. The main sources are the daily life of the mentally handicapped bar and WritingPrompts. When quoting, I rarely pay attention to whether it is legal, and sometimes I can't remember the source. I will pay more attention to it in the future.