Six-Armed Serpent Demon

Page 140

The dragon-type thugs heard the commotion coming from the room and looked at each other in bewilderment.

One of them couldn't help but say, "That room isn't just for..."

Another person gave him a push.

"Go and take a look."

The man who had been trembling earlier was now furious: "If you want to go, then you go! Why the hell don't you go yourself?"

By then, the family of three had finished cleaning the bedroom walls. The two adults limped out of the room, followed by the crawling zombie child.

Ivy Beatrice heard the dragon thugs outside the room howling so loudly they were hoarse.

Everyone fled in panic; those who couldn't reach the main gate escaped through the windows, and the entire area was cleared out in less than three seconds.

In the blink of an eye, only three zombies remained in the house, diligently cleaning.

Ivy Beatrice was very satisfied.

Isn't this great? Killing these thugs is easy, but the bloodstains in the cracks of the walls and floors are hard to clean up, and the smell is hard to dissipate.

After all, I'll be staying here for the next ten days or so.

Chapter 190 The Devil's Pact

It gets dark later in Dugin than in Keogu and Beate Island.

As night was about to fall, Ivy Beatrice saw a ball of fire rise in the distance, followed by a huge explosion.

That direction…

She recognized that it was the direction she had come from, and judging from the sound, she figured it was the courtyard where she had found Steo.

Before long, more flames rose up from all over the city.

The Canterbury family is completely finished.

Ivy-Beate stared intently at the clusters of firelight in the darkness. Having lost their core family members, they were utterly powerless to resist the other five families' struggle for their assets.

But that has nothing to do with her anymore.

Ivy-Beate took out the communication crystal ball and first contacted Blue Bubble, who was at the Geo Ancient Tavern, and then contacted Maui, the goblin on Beate Island.

Upon learning that both locations were safe and sound, she turned her attention back to the family of three who were cleaning up the trash.

At this moment, the family of three was tidying up the living room that the gangsters had previously occupied.

The two large zombies only knew how to mechanically clean with brooms, and their speed was far slower than that of the child. The baby zombie, wrapped in a rag, crawled vigorously on the walls and ceiling, scrubbing away any dirt that was there.

Ivy Beatrice looked at it with satisfaction for a while, then suddenly noticed that the living room floor was filled with faint magical light.

What's going on here? What kind of magical junk did these cowardly guys leave behind when they ran away?

Her curiosity piqued, she looked down and saw various colored coins scattered on the floor, along with many brightly colored pieces of paper. The faint magical light was emanating from these papers.

Ivy Beatrice reached out and beckoned.

The papers scattered on the floor automatically stacked into a pile and flew lightly into her palm.

Upon closer inspection, she discovered that the topmost document was actually an IOU:

On a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, the borrower, [name], mortgaged the property located at [address] on a certain street to borrow 6,000 gold coins from the lender, [name]. The two parties agreed on an interest rate of [percentage]% and repayment was due on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year. If the loan was overdue for three months, the property would belong to the lender.

Below are the signatures of both parties; the handwriting has faded, and the document appears to be from several years ago.

However, below the signature on the IOU, there was a newly written line of small print: Loan Extension Agreement on the back.

Ivy-Beate didn't bother to look closely and flipped to the next page, only to find it was another IOU. She flipped through several pages and found that the pages below and the pages below that were also IOUs.

A whole stack of them, all of them IOUs.

The borrowers and lenders on these IOUs are all different, and the guarantors and collateral are also different, so it shouldn't be money borrowed by thugs.

"Thugs set up the stage, and finance plays the part. Impressive."

As Ivy Beatrice flipped through the loan agreements, she exclaimed with amazement, "I never imagined that I could witness financial innovation so far away in the Abel world. This..."

She guessed that these thugs probably used some means to obtain these soon-to-be-overdue IOUs—most likely they bought them in bulk from the lenders, or they might simply be the lenders' henchmen—and then extorted money from them under the guise of "debt collection."

But something's not right. Below the signature on each IOU, there's a newly written line of small print: "Loan Extension Agreement on the Back".

— Surely these thugs can't just get hold of an IOU that's about to be overdue and then open the door for the borrower, offering to help them extend their loan, right?

Curiosity led her to flip over the IOU and look at the so-called "Loan Extension Agreement" on the back.

As soon as she flipped it over, Ivy Beatrice's expression immediately turned blank.

Her emerald eyes stared at the watermark on the back of the IOU, which bore the three Chinese characters "Zaire" written in her previous life and carried a faint magical glow.

Sure enough, the term "financial innovation" sounds so familiar.

She sneered and quickly flipped through the stack of IOUs one by one. Surprisingly, every single one of them had this magical watermark on the back, making them all IOUs certified by the devil.

The magical aura he had sensed earlier emanated from the "Zaire" watermark.

Ivy Beatrice looked at the terms of the loan extension agreement.

It's really similar to opening the door to warmth: borrowers don't need to pay late fees; as long as they re-sign the contract to prove their intention to fulfill the contract, they can extend the repayment period for another three months.

There's no such thing as a free lunch, especially with that watermark that's practically a deceptive certification.

Ivy Beatrice discovered that, besides the watermark, some text in the contract terms possessed magical aura, and these words could be misinterpreted as hidden meanings in Purgatory. Extracting these magical words and reinterpreting them in Purgatory revealed another sentence: The borrower voluntarily sells his soul to the devil. Combined with the accompanying "Zaire" magical watermark, this contract became a "named contract," meaning the soul's owner designated which specific devil their soul would belong to after death.

All of these contracts point to the great devil Zaire.

Once someone re-signs their name on this so-called "loan extension contract," the magical text on it is activated, and the contractual terms take effect. The soul of the signatory becomes Zaire's property upon their death.

Yes, that's devilish.

As Ivy Beate looked at the stack of contracts in her hand, her mind was filled with images of robberies and murders raging throughout the city.

As we all know, the devil likes to deceive others through contracts, and what they really want is the immortal essence of living beings, that is, the soul.

The devil is known for keeping his word; if the contract states that he will take your soul after you die, he will never take it while you are alive.

However, they can manipulate the exact time you die.

After all, for beings in lower planes, souls are like funds. And the faster funds turn over, the better.

So, could there be Zaire's sinister influence behind the chaos in Dugin?

—But didn't that guy get himself sent back to the deepest hell?

Ivy Beatrice tried hard to recall whether the guy's demonic mark had disappeared when she left the circular basement of the Sanlac Mountains. If the demonic mark disappeared, it would mean he had returned to the Material World. But she couldn't remember; anyway, it hadn't disappeared for a long time, and she hadn't paid attention to it when she left.

Perhaps that guy is using the contract to collect souls in Dujin as a backup plan for his return to the Material World.

It's even possible that he has already been resurrected and is now hiding somewhere in Dugin...

Alright, if we happen to meet again, I'll stab him a few more times and send him back to the deepest hell. That's what I call "stabbing him again if fate allows."

Author's Note: Something came up last night, so this is a make-up chapter for last night. There will be another update tonight.

Chapter 191 Zamin, the "Merciful" One

Ivy Beatrice thought about it and decided to put the matter aside for the time being.

I'm mainly here to relieve some boredom, and I won't be staying long before heading back to Keogu. There's no need to make a big fuss. My main goal here is to observe and relax, establish an identity and address first, and then act when the opportunity arises.

As for that bastard devil, let him be for now.

If you meet him, it's fate, so kill him; if you don't, consider him incredibly lucky.

Thinking about it this way, she suddenly felt much more at ease and relaxed.

Just then, the emerald green vertical pupils snapped open and swiftly caught several dark figures that were lurking at the door.

The dragon-blooded scoundrels actually returned.

“This is it, this is it, Boss Jalda.”

The dragon-blooded rogue, Bairs, cautiously pointed to the wide-open door ahead: "The house is full of resurrected dead people, it's haunted..."

"Screw you."

The dragon-born Jarda, tall and strong, stood outside the front door of the house occupied by Ivy-Beate, glaring fiercely at the timid and tongue-tied Byrbes beside him, feeling nothing but annoyance.

"You've been living here for so long, and three dead people have been lying in the bedroom the whole time. Why did it have to be haunted today of all days?"

Such a beautiful night, and the Canterbury Jaben family is finished again. Wouldn't it be a huge loss not to seize this opportunity to grab a piece of their spoils? If it weren't for those lost IOUs, why would I have bothered coming to this godforsaken place? But…

Recalling the methods used by the borrower, Jalda couldn't help but shudder.

Jalda said, "There's probably some negative energy item that you bunch of good-for-nothings activated today, causing those three dead men to transform into undead creatures. Just smash it."

As he spoke, he pulled out a short cast iron staff about the thickness of a fist.

Jarda charged through the dark gate, brandishing his cast-iron staff and roaring.

But as soon as he went in, there was no further movement.

Silent and still, as if swallowed up by the gate.

The thugs looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Boss Jalda?" Byrbes cupped his hands in front of the dragon's mouth and tentatively called out in a low voice, "Jalda... Boss?"

They stared in disbelief as the cast-iron short staff flew out of the door, landed with a clatter not far from them, rolled around and around again before finally coming to a stop.

Dragons have a very keen sense of smell.

For example, right now, all the dragon scum could smell the fresh stench of blood emanating from the gate through which Jalda had vanished.

Without saying a word, Baybas turned and ran.

He completely forgot about the cast-iron staff lying on the ground, the whereabouts of Jalda, and the lost IOU.

The other thugs weren't to be outdone, and they ran wildly until they disappeared at the end of the road.

At this moment, in the living room, Jalda, who had inexplicably shrunk in size, stood in a pool of blood with her knee-length severed leg, looking up in terror at the beautiful red and white dragon in front of her, and the sharp black sword in her hand with green runes flashing on its spine.

Two lower legs, which had just parted from the rest of his body, lay quietly on either side of Jalda's body.

Jalda trembled all over in pain.

But he didn't dare to say a word.

As a debt collector, Jalda was quite skilled at valuation. He only glanced at it before recognizing that the magical sword in the hands of the red and white dragons was a renowned sword he had never seen before.

Those who can wield such a sword are all super big shots, and he can't afford to mess with them at all.

He could only endure the pain without complaining, hoping in his heart that Ivy Beatrice would ignore him, an unknown nobody, and spare his life.

The prisoner with the broken leg remained silent, as did Ivy Beatrice.

In front of Jalda, she pulled one out of the stack of IOUs and quickly folded it into a paper airplane. With a gentle wave of her hand, the paper airplane flew straight out and shot into the darkness outside the door.

Ivy Beatrice stared at the faint magical glow emanating from the IOU paper airplane, but no one ever picked it up.

Then she asked, "Who gave you this IOU?"

Jalda, who had held on until now, was almost unconscious from bleeding to death. Hearing the bigwig inquire, he barely mustered his strength to answer, "Madam, this is the tax farmer's loan certificate..."

"What? A tax farmer?"

Ivy Beatrice found it strange.

After Jalda's stammering explanation, she realized that she had been thinking too simply.

Since the Red Dragon era, the city-state of Dujin has implemented a tax farming policy. The city-state's treasurer contracts with three families, granting them the right to collect taxes. These families then contract the tax collection work to the treasurer, who in turn collects taxes from the city-state's citizens. This ensures the city-state's revenue and makes the treasurer's job easier. Meanwhile, the tax farmers amass great wealth, arbitrarily raising tax rates on ordinary citizens, imposing various additional exorbitant taxes, and even forming their own private tax-collecting armies, acting with absolute arrogance.

Now that the city-state republic has been established, the tax farmer policy remains unchanged. This is because these three tax farmer families were once the three most powerful families among the six major families. However, they have now become the two most powerful families among the five major families.

Yes, the Canterbury family was one of the three tax farmers' families, and now they have been completely eradicated.

This stack of "tax-deductible loan certificates" is a kind offer from the tax contractor when you are unable to pay your taxes. They can kindly use real estate or other assets to offset the tax arrears. The tax contractor will then issue you a loan certificate with this tax deduction function, indicating that your tax arrears come from their loan.

In other words, you can't actually get the money from this kind of loan agreement; the loan only exists on paper, but the tax collector actually receives real money in interest.

Furthermore, after the establishment of the Republic of Dugin, the parliament promulgated the "Tax Farmer's Loan Law." This law clearly stipulates that if a borrower fails to repay the loan within the stipulated period, not only will the mortgaged property be confiscated by the tax farmer, but the borrower will also have to pay back taxes.

Ivy Beatrice's eyes widened.

—You guys at Du Jin really know how to play dirty tricks. This is at least ten times more insidious than the "financial innovation" of the previous life.

This explains why the powerful Zaire regime is pushing for an extension of the treaty.

The poor who signed the loan certificate were inevitably driven to desperation by the tax farmers.