Red butterflies flew out of the fog, and the butterflies gathered again around the campfire that illuminated the black fog. Shad walked out of the phantom of the butterflies.
But the look of expectation was no longer on his face. The small camp of the witch Miss Higgins and old Mrs. Miles was still by the campfire, and the boy's soul frozen in the air was still there, but the only missing people were the witch and the old man.
"What's going on?"
He searched carefully and found a note under the stone next to the campfire. This should be a message from Miss Higgins, telling Shad that they were going to buy a very important item, and if Shad came, he didn't need to look for them.
"But I only have 50 minutes."
He thought to himself, turned around and said to the campfire:
"Come out, I know you're watching me."
The bonfire, which was originally burning quietly, suddenly shot up to a height of at least ten meters. Densely packed coins of various shapes flew out of the flames, forming the devil's face in the fire with a clattering sound. The strange flames gathered in the gaps between the coins, and when the face opened its mouth, Shade smelled the smell of sulfur and even felt the high temperature licking his eyebrows.
"Invited guest, you are finally back." (Devil's language)
The surface of the coin was covered with traces of fire. Although it was indeed in the shape of a human face, it looked even more disgusting than those non-human creatures. Compared to the demon in front of him, Shade still appreciated the Stone Mirror Demon - Goethe, a demon that appeared in a real human form:
"Where are the witch and the old man?"
The devil laughed in the fire:
"Oh, guest, this is a fair trade place. Don't try to get any information without coins."
Shad got a coin when he first came, won three in the last card game, and spent two more when he used the Destiny Pedestal to divine his origin. Therefore, he still had two coins left. However, since items from the past could not be brought to the present, when he left, he gave the two coins to Miss Higgins for safekeeping. Apparently, Miss Higgins and Mrs. Myers forgot to leave the coins here when they left.
Xia De frowned slightly:
“Didn’t I give you a deposit to buy this soul when I left last time?”
Shade pointed at the boy fixed in the air, and more fire appeared in the devil's eye coins:
"You brought 50 coins?"
"It's 48 coins. I gave you two last time... Well, I didn't bring enough coins, but I don't want to exchange my existence with you. I'm not that generous. How about this? I have a good idea."
Shad looked at it, and the huge face made of coins also looked at Shad.
"I'll make a bet with you. If I win, the boy will be mine, and you'll tell me where the witch and the old man who left went. If I lose, I won't want the boy's soul."
The demon looked at him, and the fire in the gap between the coins had turned red:
"Do I need to remind you? This soul originally belonged to me. He sold it to me voluntarily. The reason why I didn't take it now is because you proposed to trade it. It was originally mine, and you lost. Why should the price be just to return my things to me?"
The flames licked Shad's face, but Shad relied on his high fire resistance to remain motionless. So the devil came up with his own idea:
"But it's an interesting proposition to make a bet. If you win, the souls are yours, and I'll tell you where they went. If I win, I want your sins."
"It's been fooled!"
Xia De whispered in his heart that this was what he had expected, but he remained calm on the surface:
"Sin? What do you want? How much do you want?"
"Gluttony, I want 3 quarters!"
According to the information Shade got from the Sin Mansion, sins can be divided into "defective", "ordinary", "perfect" and "rare". Last autumn, Shade only had Gluttony that reached the rare level. The condition given by the owner of the Sin Mansion at that time to allow Shade to leave was that Shade handed over his 3 minutes of Gluttony.
Apart from Shade himself, the only owner of a "treasure" level sin he had ever come into contact with was the head of a thief in the "Eternal Night City" Art Gallery. The thief was sealed in the art gallery forever because he tried to steal in Eternal Night City, and even tried to deceive Shade into taking it out.
"You are too greedy. You want three minutes of precious sin right away? Do you think I know nothing? Is this ugly and dirty soul worth three minutes of precious sin?"
In order to appear authentic, Xia De rejected the other party's proposal immediately. Besides, the offer itself was unreasonable:
"I just want to save him, not to let you blackmail me. One moment at most. If you win, I will give you one moment of treasure gluttony. Also, I will decide what to bet on. Let's bet on cards."
The fire licked the inside and outside of the coin's giant face, and it also made a condition:
"One minute is fine, but we won't bet on cards. Since you know so much about sin, I absolutely cannot trust you, just like a demon won't trust its own kind. I'll only give you one chance, we'll bet on a coin, and if you don't agree, the deal is off."
In fact, Xia De had prepared other plans to let the other party take the initiative to offer the coin, but he didn't expect the other party to cooperate with him so much:
"You are the coin. Now let's bet on the coin. Do I have to watch you play tricks?"
He immediately asked back:
"Just like you don't trust me, why do you think I can trust you? I have no problem with the bet, but let's play cards. I can let you check my deck."
"You are my stranger, the more you say that, the more I cannot play cards with you. If you have any coins, we can use your coins to play."
The sentence made up of demon language made Shade try hard to suppress the smile on his face. He stared at the eyes with flames in the cracks for a while before saying:
"Okay, but I have to add a condition: If I win, you have to tell me where the god of wealth is."
"That's impossible. If you want to meet the Great One in the camp, you need to find a way yourself. This is the basic rule here."
Xia De smiled and took out the handful of gold coins given by the doctor from his pocket... Actually, they were all gold-plated, and then picked up the special one:
"What you said gave me a clue. The grammar of demon language not only has time pronouns, but also indicates spatial location. The gods are indeed here. Well, let's bet on the coin and guess heads or tails. We'll decide the winner in one round."
As he spoke, he flicked the coin and made it fly into the air. Under the light of the fire, the golden coin flashed with a strange and dazzling light:
"Do you want to check it out? If not, we'll start now."
The huge face looked at the coin in Shade's hand, hesitated for a moment, and did not raise any questions:
"This is a currency I have never seen before, but it looks quite ancient. Is it a product of the Third Age?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Okay, let's start now, but instead of you and I flipping the coin, let him do it to be fair."
The devil's voice fell, and the boy's soul, which had been frozen in the air, fell back to the ground. The soul regained its ability to move, and he looked at the face in horror, wanting to hide behind Shade, but thinking of what he had done, he did not dare to approach Shade.
Shad threw the coin to the boy, who caught it in a panic, then realized that Shad was not looking at him.
"Do you want to guess the sun side or the moon side? Or should I choose?"
Shade asked, and the demon in the flames laughed strangely and gloomily:
"You choose."
“I choose the moon.”
"Okay, I choose the sun."
Under their gaze, the boy panicked and tossed the coin in his hand. After the coin fell into his palm, he immediately showed the result.
On the upward side is the moon.
Xia De was not surprised by the result. Since the doctor said it was fine, then it must be fine. The giant demon face in the fire did not give any opinion at the first time. The face that originally had a wild expression showed a thoughtful look. The boy holding the coin stood there trembling, not knowing what to do at this time.
A pure soul in a strange place like the "Black Mist Camp" is more easily corrupted than a living person with physical protection. Even if the bonfire can protect him, he is now standing in front of a genuine ancient evil spirit.
"Give me back the coin."
Shade said to the boy, and after taking his coin, he suddenly slashed it in the air. As unstable cracks appeared in the air, the light of the dark moon penetrated the cracks and shone on the soul and Shade's face.
Even though he had no knowledge of mysticism, the boy now understood that this was where he belonged. He bowed and wanted to thank Shade, but Shade stopped him:
"I rescued you not because I thought you were pitiful, but because as a human being, I couldn't bear to see your soul fall into the hands of the devil. Now leave, you don't need to thank me."
The boy still pursed his lips and bowed to Shade, but before crossing the crack, he still trembled and left his last words:
"But sir, what can I do? I am not you, I am just an ordinary person. I know I shouldn't do that to Miss Higgins, but... what can I do? I don't have your strength, nor your knowledge, I am just an ordinary person."
He stepped onto the mudflat illuminated by the dark moon, and the crack closed.
Shade ignored the boy's last words and looked at the huge face floating above the bonfire. The latter also looked at Shade at this time;
"I see, you're cheating."
Shade was not panicking as he twisted the coin:
"Please tell me in detail how I cheated."
There was no expression on the demon's face. The rigid distribution of its facial features made it look even more terrifying than when it was laughing wildly:
"There was a strange force, I couldn't pinpoint what it was, but it was directed specifically at me, yes, I could feel it."