AZI Volume 4 Chapter 5

"Surnamed Shao, since we managed to make it this far, it's only appropriate for us to take a few items, right?"

One of the Sinners, who hadn't signed a contract with the Ashen River Hall, asks this, and towards him, Shao Tianming smiles, and answers—

"Of course."

Hearing this to be the case, the Sinner smiles back, and quickly makes his way forward.

"…"

"…"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone nearby, the Sinner walks into the oasis's waters, and looking around, he picks up a lavishly decorated dagger, while remarking—

"This should be worth enough for me to pay my way out of service."

Turning towards the group, the Sinner opens his mouth to say something else, but in the same instance—

"Care-!"

Before Ye Chen can even finish his sentence, a portion of the oasis's water rises upwards, and taking on the form of a scythe's blade, it mercilessly severs the Sinner's head off.

"…"

"…"

As fresh blood dyes the oasis's waters crimson, silence looms over the remaining survivors.

"Surnamed Shao…"

Recovering from his state of shock, Ye Chen directs a glare at Shao Tianming, who is smoking a cigarette, and asks—

"What's the big idea of not saying anything?"

"I didn't finish explaining, and the guy immediately went for it. What was I supposed to do?"

"…"

Ignoring Ye Chen's look of doubt, Shao Tianming turns to the remaining survivors, and says—

"Well, as you can see, things like this can happen during the reward session—if you're not careful. Treasures are indeed free for the taking, but they're only free—if you have the skills to grab them."

Having said this, Shao Tianming shrugs his shoulders, and turns to face the oasis without doing anything else—seemingly waiting for something, as he continues to smoke with an air of leisure.

Turning to Long Hua, Yu Ji directs an expression of uncertainty towards the former, and asks—

"Surnamed Long, you mentioned how souls that die in the desert get stuck here forever, and those monoliths that we saw on the way here, are they…?"

Shrugging a shoulder, Long Hua replies—

"50-50 chance of this oasis serving as… I guess, an offering ground for the people—who got their names carved onto those monoliths?"

Forming an expression of distaste on his face, Ye Chen remarks—

"Bunch of graverobbers, these guys from the hall…"

Hearing this remark, Shao Tianming replies—

"Surnamed Ye, I've already told you before, what the dead cannot use is better off being left in the hands of the living."

"I don't give a shit about the treasures; tell me where the exit is, so I can be on my way."

Towards Ye Chen, who had been so quick to ask about the exit, Shao Tianming smiles, and replies—

"Smart, a very good question to ask, and to answer you… Well, unfortunately, I don't know either."

Twitching an eye, Ye Chen replies—

"…So, we're stuck here then?"

"I guess?"

Despite how bad the situation is, Shao Tianming doesn't seem to think much of it—almost as if it's someone else's business.

Puffing a smoke, and lowering the cigarette, Shao Tianming goes on to ask—

"Oh, I nearly forgot. How many of you had signed a contract with us in the beginning?"

"…"

"…"

As everyone looked around, a few Sinners came forward, to which, Shao Tianming advises—

"Stick close to us, then—not like we'll bite."

All of a sudden, the remaining survivors are seemingly divided into two factions—those that are contract-bound to the Ashen River Hall, and those that aren't.

And using the oasis as a divider, the two groups maintained their distance from one another.

With a headless body floating about on the waters' surface, not a single person dared to head into the oasis's waters at this point.

Walking over with his group, Teng Hao looks at Ye Chen with an expression of concern, and asks—

"Colonel Ye, any ideas?"

"Ai, hell if I know…"

Off to the side, Long Hua bandages his flesh wounds.

Similarly, Tian Cheng does the same—despite there not being a real need for it, as her made-up wounds are only there to make a convincing argument, that they had nothing to do with the duo in black.

"Why the hell did that surnamed Shao say—to stick close to their group? Do they perhaps have some other means to escape from this place—outside of a teleportation magic array?"

As soon as Qing Yue asks this aloud, Li Xue blinks her eyes, and replies—

"When we met them for the first time, didn't they use a talisman—to send us to their nightclub?"

Recalling this as well, Ye Chen mutters—

"…An alternative means to return to their own base, is it?"

Simultaneously, everyone who had heard this, turns to the Ashen River Hall's direction.

"Caught on, huh?"

Noticing the massive number of stares that they are receiving, Shao Tianming looks back at the other side with a smug expression on his face, and loudly remarks—

"Only a dumbass would think to use the teleportation magic array to get out of here when the military is outside. They'll probably attempt to gun us down the moment we appear."

"Uh…"

"…Dammit."

As soon as Shao Tianming had said this, the members of the Ashen River Hall—who are only a part of their group due to their contract, can't help but pale, as the likelihood of that happening is far too high to their liking.

"Surnamed Shao, what exactly happens to those—who go against the details on that parchment of yours?"

Towards Ye Chen's question, Shao Tianming answers—

"The papers those contracts are written on, they come from something called a contract book. Anyone who goes against the contract after signing it… Well, let's just say, they tend to suffer retribution—with a high likelihood of death."

"Ah?"

"That's…?"

Towards the Sinners, who are on his side, and have an expression of anxiety on their faces, Shao Tianming turns to them, and asks—

"What are all of you worried about? Not like you'll go against that contract now, will you?"

"…"

"…"