Chapter 402: Night Raid Takes Notice
"Yes, this is the item you wished for—a wallet that can endlessly produce gold coins."
Looking at Leone's stunned face, Fang Yi named the price for the transaction.
"The Devil's Wallet is worth roughly five thousand contribution points—about the same as half the power contained in your belt-type Imperial Arm. So…"
Before he even finished,
Leone suddenly felt heat at her waist—
specifically, the Lion King belt was burning, as if scorched by flames.
What did you do to me?!
She opened her mouth to ask, but Fang Yi gently answered before she could speak.
"I took half of the origin power stored within the belt. Don't worry, it won't affect your ability to use it normally."
"Imperial Arm!"
Leone's pupils shrank. Her brows furrowed like a hunting lioness as she growled,
"So you did recognize me. You've been targeting the Lion King Belt from the start, haven't you?"
Truthfully, despite being a top-tier assassin group, Night Raid wasn't as cold and ruthless as one might expect.
It felt more like a cozy little company.
Because of that,
they had major intelligence leaks.
Especially considering how many spies the Empire had planted within the Revolutionary Army.
"You could say that."
Fang Yi gave an ambiguous response, but then nodded to confirm.
Using the artifact-based traits of the Imperial Arms World to forge the Tower of Death was the reason he had come here.
Naturally, he would eventually need to use some of these powerful tools.
But he hadn't gone out of his way to approach Imperial Arms users,
because that would've been too troublesome.
There were forty-eight Imperial Arms and several Ministerial Arms scattered across the world, each in the possession of people from wildly different backgrounds.
Collecting them all fairly would take forever.
Of course,
that was assuming he followed the Reincarnation Game's rules—that all acquisitions be based on the players' willingness to trade.
If he chose to ignore the rules,
with his current strength, Fang Yi could crush every wielder and take them by force.
But he wasn't going to do that.
Just like he was patiently negotiating with Leone, he didn't want to break the system.
Because once that line was crossed, especially the first time,
you could never go back. It would shake players' faith in the game's fairness.
"You bastard!"
Leone was now furious. She felt deceived, toyed with.
She had almost found Fang Yi pleasant to talk to—
now she wanted to punch him.
If she wasn't so wary of his bizarre powers, she would've already tackled him to the ground.
"Relax."
Fang Yi raised a hand to calm her.
"All trades are completely voluntary. I won't take your belt—unless you choose to sell it."
"I would never sell the Lion King!"
Fang Yi's nonchalance only made Leone angrier.
Her Imperial Arm activated, beastly energy flooding her body as she entered a semi-transformed state.
In this world,
wielding an Imperial Arm required one's energy wavelength to match the weapon's.
The two would slowly develop a bond—similar to a low-tier version of a Shinigami and their Zanpakutō.
Under these rules,
to Leone, Fang Yi wanting to buy her belt was equivalent to trying to steal her partner.
"A pleasure doing business. I hope we meet again."
Fang Yi politely waved goodbye, took Afu's hand, and began walking away.
"Not so fast!"
Leone hesitated for two seconds, glanced at the coin sigil on her hand,
then decided she had to stop this mysterious man.
Not even the Revolutionary Army's libraries mentioned a Contract-type Imperial Arm.
Swish.
In her beast-form, Leone exploded forward with incredible speed and strength.
Her dainty ankles cracked the stone pavement beneath her as she launched herself like a golden lightning bolt.
At this speed,
she should've tackled Fang Yi within seconds.
But instead, her eyes widened.
What's going on?!
She kept pushing her muscles harder, running like a golden leopard—
yet Fang Yi, still holding the silver-haired girl, walked calmly ahead as if strolling.
Between them seemed to stretch a space-time barrier.
No matter how fast she moved, the distance only grew.
Until finally,
she watched helplessly as Fang Yi disappeared into the street's horizon.
Panting,
Leone stared at the spot where he vanished, her expression solemn.
"A bizarre encounter… I have to report this to Najenda immediately!"
Najenda—former general of the Empire, now leader of Night Raid after defecting.
Level-headed and strategic, she was better suited than Leone to handle mysterious situations like this.
"Damn, I almost forgot my mission!"
Leone snapped back to reality.
She had come to the capital on a secret assignment—
to assassinate a supposedly kindhearted noble who was actually a sadistic monster.
He and his daughter, Aelia, took pleasure in torturing civilians.
More importantly,
this noble was funneling illegal wealth to the Empire's Prime Minister.
Killing him would sever one of the Prime Minister's financial arms and weaken his grip on the capital.
Two hours later.
In a soundproof room of a Revolutionary Army-infiltrated inn.
"That's what happened,"
Leone said gravely, recounting her entire encounter.
She described Fang Yi's strange, almost spacetime-defying ability, his contract-based transaction,
and even demonstrated the power of the Little Devil's Wallet.
"Those are real gold coins?"
Mine, holding her pumpkin-shaped sniper cannon, stared in shock.
She had never seen a power that could create money out of nothing.
Beside her, the bespectacled, always-dazed Sheele wiped down her pristine Imperial Arm scissors.
"So… couldn't Leone just buy a game item from him that kills the Prime Minister?"
"In theory, yes… But don't be stupid, Sheele! Things like that don't exist!"
Leone reflexively nodded, recalling Fang Yi's claims that his game items could grant any wish—
then immediately grabbed Sheele and rubbed her knuckles against her head.
In the slums,
children grew up on fairy tales of gods who could grant wishes and free them from poverty, hunger, and slavery.
But anyone who'd seen the darkness of the capital no longer believed those stories.
They were bedtime lies.
That Sheele still believed…
So typical of our ditzy, glasses-wearing sweetheart, Leone thought.
"Contract-type and space-manipulating Imperial Arms…"
The towering Brand looked grim.
He was the heavy-hitter of Night Raid, wielding Demon's Possession, an armor-type Imperial Arm.
A former imperial soldier, he once earned the title Hundred-Man Slayer.
Even the Empire's strongest general, Esdeath, would struggle to take him down easily.
But hearing Leone's story,
even Brand found it alarming.
Not even he could control two Imperial Arms at once.
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