The Devil's Contract Lover - Chapter 33

The steak delivery arrived just in time, and the atmosphere relaxed with a burst of savory aroma.

Two plates completely filled the small table, and the Golden-Haired person sat obediently cross-legged on the carpet.

“Why don’t you give yourself a name first?” Yao Yuan looked at the golden-haired person, whom Xing Kong had fooled into thinking was “Golden Hair,” with a headache. “You’re really not called Golden Hair.”

“What does Xiao Yuan hope I will be called?” Golden Hair’s gaze was pure and innocent. A fork suddenly scraped across her hand, the blood that seeped out healing as rapidly as it appeared.

“Watch your tone,” Xing Kong said with a half-smile, retracting the fork before Yao Yuan could stop him.

“Then, Master?” Golden Hair tilted his head.

“Xing Kong, don’t get angry at someone with amnesia.” Yao Yuan quickly grabbed the fork and looked at Golden Hair. “Just call me Xiao Yao from now on. As for a name… how about Jin Yu for now?”

“Goldfish? Okay.”

“It’s Jin Yu… forget it, Xiao Yu?”

After a flurry of activity, Yao Yuan brought Xiao Yu a stool, and the three of them sat around the table. Xing Kong flash-cooked the steak to well-done and sliced it into perfectly bite-sized square grids.

“Thank you~” She used her fork to pick up a piece and popped it into her mouth. “Now, let’s discuss our future business. I want to establish a specialized team for cleaning up abnormal events.”

Xing Kong politely clapped three times. “And then?”

“And then… the first step is definitely recruiting people,” she said, shaking her head helplessly. “After all, I can’t handle any spells right now, so I have to rely on you two. Of course, I will also practice my spells diligently; at the very least, I can’t just cry for help when I meet a monster.”

The last incident truly left a bit of psychological trauma. If she didn’t master real power, bad humans were even scarier than monsters.

A flash of tenderness flickered in Xing Kong’s eyes. “Rest well this weekend first.”

“Hmm… I’ll contact Da Ju first to see if he’s interested.”

Da Ju was the one who taught her the basics of magic. Speaking of which, she hadn’t seen his previous reply.

Yao Yuan excitedly ran to the bedside table, picked up her phone, and turned it on. As soon as the chat window opened, several messages instantly popped up. She muted the other group chats and focused on clicking on Da Ju’s profile picture.

Moonlight Stone: [Da Ju, Da Ju, do you know of any organizations that specialize in investigating supernatural events like the people we saw near the hotel that day?]

Flying Da Ju: [I know. Those people that day were from the Superpowers Association. It’s only sprung up in the last few decades.]

Flying Da Ju: [The magical energy seems to be slowly increasing. They say that in ancient times, people had to practice for decades to master the most basic qigong.]

Flying Da Ju: [Anyway, don’t get involved with them. They are super troublesome.]

…

Flying Da Ju: [Picture emoji]

…

Flying Da Ju: [Are you there? Reply?]

Yao Yuan read the last message and quickly typed.

Moonlight Stone: [I’m here! Sorry, sorry, something suddenly came up a few days ago, and I didn’t have my phone!]

Moonlight Stone: [Da Ju, would you consider joining us?]

Moonlight Stone: [I want to set up an Abnormal Event Cleanup Squad and earn money by solving strange incidents. Are you interested?]

She thought about it carefully; the possibility of him refusing was high. After all, Da Ju already ran a fried chicken and milk tea shop and made money by filming videos. He probably didn’t want to take risks.

Thinking of videos, Yao Yuan hurriedly searched for Flying Da Ju on major short video sites. The more she searched, the more her face brightened: she seemed to know how to persuade him.

Ten minutes later.

Flying Da Ju: [I thought you died. You scared me to death.]

Flying Da Ju: [But I refuse!]

Flying Da Ju: [If you want to do such a troublesome thing, go ahead. Out of ten highly suspicious incidents, at least nine are fake, and the one that’s real is super dangerous.]

Moonlight Stone: [It doesn’t matter if they’re real or fake. We can bring a camera.]

Flying Da Ju: [Huh? You want to film abnormal events?]

Moonlight Stone: [Exactly. Don’t you think abnormal events will be very appealing to the audience?]

Moonlight Stone: [You upload at least one video every week, and all your highest-viewed videos are the most thrilling extreme skateboarding clips.]

Moonlight Stone: [You definitely understand better than I do what people like to watch.]

Flying Da Ju: [Exposing the anomalies to the public is not a good thing, and it will also draw the attention of organizations like the Superpowers Association.]

Moonlight Stone: [So we only expose the fake anomalies to everyone!]

Moonlight Stone: [The real anomalies are destroyed, and the fake ones are debunked for everyone. We get both traffic and money.]

Flying Da Ju: [Address.]

An hour later, Da Ju nervously huddled against the wall. “Wh-wh-what do you mean?!”

“Didn’t you say you were coming over to help?” Yao Yuan took a step forward, and he slammed against the door. “Make that golden-haired person behind you stand further away from me!”

“You know him? That’s great!”

“Know him? His aura is very wrong!” Da Ju clung to the doorknob. “There’s a strong, ominous feeling… hmm?”

He closed his eyes, sniffed, and then relaxed, looking puzzled. “Strange, it’s gone.”

Yao Yuan felt a tremendous headache, but looking back at Xiao Yu and Xing Kong, their expressions were completely natural… probably nothing?

She weakly comforted him. “Anyway, don’t worry about it so much. How many people in our line of work are truly normal?”

“That’s true…” Da Ju vigilantly scanned the house. “Is this the studio? The environment is not bad. How many staff do you have?”

“Just them and me~” “What can you all do?” Da Ju circled the living room and study, looking from the computer to the wardrobe and then the toilet, nodding his head.

“I don’t know,” Xiao Yu’s neck seemed habitually tilted to one side. “My mind only contains thoughts of using knives to dissect different-sized creatures, and… working hard for… someone.”

“Hey, where did you pick up this strange character?” Da Ju whispered. “I hope he just came from a slaughterhouse. I don’t want to be locked up in prison.”

“I don’t know, but I guarantee he’s a good person!” Yao Yuan quickly vouched for him. “And then there’s Xing Kong. As you know, she is super strong.”

“Then did you call me over as a double guarantee, or to help with the filming?”

Yao Yuan took two steps back and bowed respectfully. “I invited you here because I hope to learn spells. If you’re willing, you can accept me as your disciple at any time.”

“Ah-ah-ah?”

She straightened up. “No matter the effort or cost, I want to become strong quickly. Relying only on myself is not enough.”

Da Ju shook his head. “Stop the nonsense. You don’t understand the situation. Just getting the lingqi (spiritual energy) from the dantian…” He reached out and pressed his hand on Yao Yuan’s pulse, his pupils widening in shock. “What… what’s going on with you? You already have an aura flowing? No, you must have had a foundation before. The aura and the magic flow are the same kind of energy.”

“I can swear to you, before I got that book, I hadn’t practiced for a single day.”

“Then, even if I didn’t want to help you…”

Ring, ring, ring, the phone suddenly rang.

“Sorry, I have to talk to my Tarot Master first!” Yao Yuan picked up the phone with a placating smile. “Hello~” “Moonlight Stone, join us.”

“Is the group owner having another dinner? I’m sorry, I haven’t checked the group lately~” “No, there are some tasks that require you to participate.”

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

The sound of a second hand turning suddenly echoed in her heart. Was her intuition hinting at something? Yao Yuan swallowed the refusal she was about to utter. Wasn’t the correct choice to refuse? If she agreed, she would officially be drawn into the unreliable plan called the Pre-Magic Era.

Or did she have to agree to join to gather intelligence?

Her silence lasted a little too long, and the person on the other end suddenly hung up.

A few seconds later, a line of text appeared in her private chat: [Contact me if needed.] This was immediately followed by a picture of a triangular card spread: The Fool (Upright) at the top of the triangle, The Moon (Upright) at the bottom left, and The Empress (Reversed) at the bottom right.

Moonlight Stone: [Master, do you want me to interpret the cards?]

There was no answer for a long time. She shook her head and put down her phone. It was useless to overthink it; she would just wait until her Master was ready to explain.

Da Ju waved his hand in front of her eyes. “Are you done chatting? Forget the apprenticeship. I don’t care if you have a Tarot Master or a Ramen Master—of course, I can be your partner and teach you a few useful things.”

“Thank you so much! What will you teach first today?”

Xing Kong wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. “Xiao Yuan, do you remember our agreement?”

A powerful aura was transmitted from his arms to the point of contact, and Yao Yuan’s mind briefly froze. “I have an idea. Let’s do the first abnormal event filming at the amusement park! They’re having an event right now, aren’t they? Going to a carnival party at the amusement park would be a great date.”

The image that truly appeared in her mind, however, was the golden light dots floating in the grass, and the twisted red figure in the falling gondola.

The amusement park on a Saturday afternoon was crowded with tourists. Perhaps because of the carnival party that evening, there was still a long queue at the ticket check.

After finally making it from the end of the line to the front, they realized the reason for the slow pace: the iron fence divided the entrance into four separate lines, with each entrance corresponding to a large area temporarily enclosed by a rectangular tent.

Ticket inspectors dressed as medieval soldiers guided everyone into different tents, and even couples who arrived together were temporarily separated.

Their group was exactly four people, so they entered one by one. There was no time to regret not mixing up their positions as the people behind them were already urging them forward.

Yao Yuan, who was at the front, entered the green tent. There was nothing particularly special inside, just some fantasy-style decorations.

Walking all the way to the end, she saw a basket of fruit candies placed at the doorway, labeled [EAT ME].

[The setting is not bad; at least the fairy-tale atmosphere is there.]

Yao Yuan grabbed a handful of clear candies, tore open the wrapper, and put one in her mouth.

When she emerged from the other end, the direction was no longer towards the main gate. A massive vine was twisted into a circle, and the surrounding area was full of plastic thorns, with colorful lights hanging on them.

The plastic thorns were clustered with street trees, low shrubs, and decorative flowers, creating the feeling of a Black Forest.

She didn’t care to admire the artificial scenery, running forward in her sandals. “Xing Kong, Xing Kong, where are you?” As she ran, she didn’t see a single golden light dot.

“My Lady, the Black Forest at night is very dangerous.” A man stepped out from behind the trees, wearing a feathered cap and long boots, and holding a toy musket with an egg-shaped tip.

“Excuse me, I don’t have time to play Robin Hood with you right now.” Yao Yuan felt embarrassed just looking at him and quickly tried to go around him.

The man’s speed was not slow, and the movement of him raising his musket startled her.

Swish—the colored egg was fired, hitting the staff member behind Yao Yuan (who was dressed as a monster) hard. It burst into colorful streamers, leaving behind a bit of purple ink.

He extended his hand to Yao Yuan. “Beautiful Lady, would you care to walk with me? I will protect you from being stained with color.”