"Are you surprised that I have my own cards? I told you I can satisfy all your desires, including playing cards, of course."
The woman with her head out of the water said with a smile, still pushing the deck of cards to Shad with one hand, and Shad still didn't see her shoulder.
"Want to come over and check it out? I don't have any special cards."
"No, I guess not, but I have special cards."
Xia De shook his head. He would never approach the pool on his own initiative before winning the game.
"It's okay, add your Vientiane card, it will be more interesting this way."
The woman chuckled, and Shade looked at her in surprise, reaching into his pocket and putting Genesis Balance and Genesis Silver Moon into the deck. In this way, Shade's deck of 54 cards now had eight special rule cards.
This woman actually knew about the Card of Impermanence, and even knew that he had it on him. Her danger level was even higher than Xia De thought.
Even now, the stranger still didn't know what he was facing. The only thing he was sure of was that the other party was a relic, but he didn't know the danger level, characteristics, or even the most basic appearance.
There was no record in the book snatched from the fishman, so Shade could only vaguely guess that the other party was related to desire. Wealth, power, and flesh, this woman could stir up the most primitive desires and emotions in people's hearts, but fortunately, Shade's goal was very clear, and the other party could not satisfy his desire to become a god.
The woman asked:
"So, how do you play cards?"
She gently stroked the top of the deck with the tips of her fingers. Then, because she had only one hand out of the pool, she simply pulled out the cards in the middle of the deck and put them on the top. After doing this several times, she stopped shuffling.
Xia De also stopped shuffling the cards, thought for a moment, and sat down, leaning against the door frame. He put his stack of cards in front of him, and then looked at the beautiful woman's head:
"We play with the most basic rules, three games, best of three. If there is a tie, then the tie does not count."
"OK."
The woman smiled and took the lead in drawing the cards, but she did not use her sleeveless arm to draw the cards, but bit the first card on the top of the deck with her mouth. She shook her head slightly, and as her wet long hair splashed a few drops of water out of the pool, the cards in her mouth flew in front of Shade.
Moon Three, of course, the card does not represent a number, but a special pattern. It is a gorgeous lady's dress worn by the puppet. Even though Shad is a man, he appreciates the design style, color matching, and small decorations on the cuffs and hem of the dress.
Shad also drew a card, Moon 5.
Both parties continued to draw cards. The woman's second card was Star 13, which was a ruby on a velvet cushion in a wooden box. Shad's was Flower 7, which was the origin of balance. If he held this card and failed in this round, he could discard all the cards and start over.
"Oh, everything is impermanent."
The woman sighed softly, and the smile on her face became more obvious:
"Your current burst of emotions is very interesting. This card is related to your ultimate desire. I can feel it. This desire is really wonderful."
Xia De didn't say anything, and then they drew cards again. The woman had the Sun 6, which was unfortunately a bust. Xia De had the Flower 5, and the three cards totaled 17 points, so he won the first round.
Neither party cheated, it was purely a gamble of luck. Xia De didn't understand why the other party could still smile so happily even though he won. It was not a fake smile, but a smile from the heart.
"What can you get by playing cards with me?"
He couldn't help but ask.
"I can see into your heart and your desires."
This answer was as expected. Xia De did not start the second round directly, but asked again:
"So what do you think of my desires?"
"You are the greediest person I have ever met."
Because it was a best of three games, if Xia De won again, he would really win. When he was drawing the cards, he felt that even if he didn't have the good luck brought by the two founding cards, the woman still couldn't beat him this time.
As expected, the first card Shad drew was the king.
The woman smiled at the result. Although she could try to win the King with 21 points, she gave up:
"You win, you can leave now."
The iron door opposite the pool creaked open automatically, letting more sea breeze in. The sound of waves could be faintly heard, and it was obvious that the door was very close to the exit.
"You can open the door yourself? Are you really imprisoned here? What do you want to do?"
Shade put away his cards and asked with a puzzled frown.
"I originally wanted to seduce you in order to gain a new soul and get myself out of here. But it's enough. I've tasted your desire, and that's enough for me."
"You... can leave too?"
Xia De subconsciously took a step back:
"It will take a little while, but the seals of those stinky fishmen are no longer effective. Come to think of it, even they don't know what I am."
"So what are you?"
"You can come and see for yourself."
The woman's deck of cards turned into a pool of water, and the hand was retracted into the pool, leaving only the head by the pool looking at Shade.
"No, sorry, my curiosity isn't that serious."
The length of the pool was about six or seven meters, and Ragley's maximum jumping distance was ten meters. As long as he calculated the distance well, he could move directly to the other side of the pool and then jump out of the door, trying to avoid getting too close to the woman.
"I sense that you are regretting and afraid. No, even if you don't show up, the seal will fail. They don't know my power, and they just happened to use the power of God to imprison me. If that thing had stayed here, I would definitely not be able to leave, but that golden pearl has returned to the old temple in the abyss of the sea..."
The woman said softly, her beautiful eyes looking at Xia De's face:
"You, want to know how to get it?"
Xia De's whole face was trembling, and he tried hard to restrain himself from saying "I want to". This time the woman accurately discovered his desire.
"I still want to merge with you, but it's also interesting to let you step by step towards the end of your desire and watch your desire become stronger. Promise me one request, and I will tell you how to get the pearl and give you a gift. Of course, you can also leave directly."
"What do you want?"
Xia De asked in a low voice. He knew he shouldn't ask at all and should just leave at this moment.
"Come closer to the pool, look at me carefully, and then tell me what you see."
Xia De knew very well that now was not the time to let the darkness of greed take over his heart. He should just ignore the woman's words and leave. But when it was really his turn to face the current situation, he had no intention of moving his feet.
"Look~"
The head that looked like a work of art was laughing softly:
“No one is without desire. And I am desire.”
The voice in her ear said nothing, she would not interfere with Xia De's own thoughts. Xia De also repeatedly weighed the current situation in his heart. In the end, he did not leave, but took a step forward.
He still had a drop of divinity on him, so he had to take this chance no matter what. A few weeks ago, he even dared to face the gods in the blood feast for a drop of divinity. Now it was just a relic, and he didn't lack the courage to face it, but was just wondering if it was necessary.
"Courage, arrogance, caution, greed, desire, fear, hesitation, determination. You really have so many emotions right now."
The thing in the pool smiled and its head retracted under the water. Without the voice of the charming woman, the dark room regained silence for a moment.
The water gurgled, and blue and white light shone through the bottom of the pool.
Amid the whistles and bells, the life ring behind Xia De slowly emerged. In his heart, keeping "her" ready to ignite divinity at any time, the stranger took another step forward.
At this moment, he actually heard the sound of his own heartbeat. You know, even when he first met Miss Feliana and rushed to the charity dinner in the blood mist, he was not so nervous.
"So, what is that woman?"
The answer was immediately revealed, because Xia De took another step and he could clearly see the entire pool.
Unlike the illusion that the pool led to a bottomless abyss, the pool was about the same depth and length. The water was clear enough for Shade to see the flat ground at the bottom of the water.
He saw the head, hands, and feet of the beautiful woman. But what he saw was not a person, but a mass of flesh, a huge piece of flesh made up of a head, dozens of hands, and dozens of feet.
It completely goes against human aesthetics, completely goes against the laws of nature, and completely goes against the most basic rules.
If we were to describe what it looked like, it could barely be considered a mermaid. It had a human upper body and a fish lower body. However, the upper body consisted of constantly swaying hands, while the lower body consisted of densely packed legs.
Just one look and the strong feeling of dizziness almost made Xia De fall into the water.
He covered his forehead and shook his body a few times. Even if he closed his eyes, the image of the "mermaid" that was enough to induce the most primitive fear was still shaking in front of his eyes.
There is no spring at the bottom of the pool, and the gurgling sound is the head exhaling upwards.
The pretty face looked at Shad from under the water, and the strange hands and feet slapped the water, not regretting that he didn't fall:
"Please look at me carefully. What do you see?"
There was no need to leave at this point, so after calming down, Xia De opened his eyes and looked at the thing again. He himself did not realize that on the life ring behind him, Gluttony and Greed were glowing at the same time.
If the influence that Shade received when he first entered the dark room was only the desire for darkness in his heart, then the sight of the strange flesh and blood creature at this moment directly affected his body. No matter who created this terrible thing, the strange beauty and complete chaos, under the combination of the two, the balance of a mortal's body would be affected if he just looked at it.
Even if the soul remains awake, the mortal body is still the mortal body.
"You, what did you see?"
The head asked as if humming.
Shad noticed that the exposed back of his hand was showing signs of skin dissolving and blood about to seep out, and he also realized that by looking at it closely, the dark visions in his heart began to emerge again.
The stranger stood there with his teeth gnashed, his eyes, nose, mouth and ears bleeding at the same time:
"I saw..."
He wanted to describe the appearance of the monster, but as the pool's halo swayed, the scenery he saw changed. The monster disappeared in the pool, and the water became increasingly turbid, then, like an oil painting, another scene appeared.
"What did you see?"
The voice was still asking, but it seemed to be no longer in the pool, but everywhere. Xia De looked at the scene in the pool in shock, and even the physical and mental pain was ignored at this moment:
"Is this... my desire?"
"What do you see?"
The voice was still asking questions, this time it came from behind Shade:
"See me, if the mortal has not collapsed, then he can see his truest desires, which will make you completely understand what you really want. The truest..."
Pairs of women's hands dripping with water and painted with red nails climbed up the rotating life ring behind Shade, emitting an extreme aura of gluttony and greed.
What Shade saw was not himself becoming a god, not possessing endless wealth, not being surrounded by girls, not Rhodes cards and cats, and not even the gradually abandoned idea of returning to his hometown.
He saw that he was standing in the bathroom on the second floor of St. Teresa's Square, facing the mirror. Outside the mirror was Shad Hamilton, but inside the mirror was a woman with long silver hair, who was vaguely visible.
He held his breath:
"I saw... another me?"
The stranger stood there in a daze as if struck by lightning; he had not expected such a scene.
"Interesting, the truth behind your endless desire is actually the desire for yourself. Your desire is yourself?"
That charming voice rang in Shade's ears. But unlike usual, this time there was really something behind him, and he could even feel the sweet breath blowing on his ears.
"What I want is myself?"
Xia De widened his eyes and stared at the picture in the pool, trying to see clearly what the woman reflected in the mirror looked like.
When the stranger came to this world, his first question was "Who is she?" At this moment, he vaguely understood that perhaps his greatest desire was to become a god, but his deepest desire was actually... He felt extremely ridiculous.
"I know the ring wizard system of the Sixth Age. Although your 'other self' is a little strange, she is you and you are her. How can you actually have desires for yourself?"
The woman's voice was still whispering, with a smile in her tone:
"I see. That's why there is such a terrible intensity of desire. The id, the ego, and the superego, me and the other me, the front of the soul and the back of the soul. Narcissism, crazy and morbid pursuit, desire for oneself, desire for one's own desires, and desire for the desire of desires..."
Shad's ears felt itchy from the woman's breathing.
The stranger stood by the pool, and he didn't know when the "mermaid" had left the pool, and the terrible fleshy body was wrapped around him like a python. The legs were clasped together, the hands were holding his life ring, and the beautiful head was behind him, and the slender eyes were extremely weird at this moment.
The "mermaid" is hunting, but the prey by the pool is motionless.
In the dark room, only the blue light at the bottom of the pool clung to Shade's body, sighing softly, and seemed to be singing in a low voice:
"Gluttony, self-absorption, inability to extricate oneself.
Greedy, never satisfied, thirsty for itself.
If you were born in the First Age, you would be eligible to compete for the Sin Mark;
If you were born in the Second Age, you might...
If you were born in the Third Age, you would become an evil spirit or demon after you die.
If you could be born in the Fourth Epoch, the chaotic Dark Ages would be much more interesting;
If you were born in the Fifth Epoch, even witches would be amazed at how terrifying you are.
It's so interesting that you were born in the Sixth Epoch."
Dangerously thin arms were around his neck:
"Man, please tell me, why are you included in the story of the Sixth Epoch?"