I want to just drift through life in Type-Moon.

Page 62

After he finished speaking, his and Orange's auras became very elusive, and Rani controlled the ethereal rays that she had intended to bind them to pass directly through them.

Sensing that her abilities were failing, Rani immediately stopped and quickly calculated in her mind, while simultaneously setting up a warning line around herself.

"How did you escape?" Rani asked, while calculating all the numerical changes in the room, looking at the two people who were still standing there.

"Oh, just a little trick." Yue Zhengling said dismissively, looking at the purplish-black mole on her forehead.

Although Rani was very interested in Lok Chung-ling, she was very dissatisfied with him revealing his information, and some of the things he said just now were things she herself didn't even know.

“…I don’t want you to continue revealing things about me.” Rani quickly calculated, assessing the true nature of this person from Le Zhengling’s appearance, personality, and even the magical fluctuations in the air. She had a rough idea of ​​what was going on and concluded that she couldn’t interfere with this person.

“No problem, and I’ve already said what I wanted to say.” Le Zhengling put her arm around Chengzi’s slender neck and looked back at Weber on the other end of the communication screen. “This transaction is complete. Do you want to continue? Right now, I’m available to grant any request, and it’s a clearance sale!”

Weber took a deep breath. Although he had just provoked the magician from the Atlas Academy, the information given by Yue Zhengling confirmed that this girl was a key figure. Now he regretted exchanging items using the teleportation array.

Although he knew he wouldn't have known this information if he hadn't taken out those items, he immediately regretted it after learning it. If he had known, he would have sent the girl over and controlled her no matter what.

"So, what do you think we can trade?" Weber suppressed the thought that had just crossed his mind.

"Hmm... Actually, you guys need quite a lot of information, but I don't need that much." Looking at the things in her hands, Yue Zhengling suddenly felt that she should change her clothes or find a small bag sooner.

He was wearing a hospital gown, and the robe he had before didn't have any pockets, which he found a bit inconvenient. Then he remembered that there was a floor here that specialized in selling clothes, and he wondered if he should go and take a look.

As he pondered this, he looked at Grey and then said to Webber, "Grey has been your bodyguard for a long time, hasn't she?"

Weber, whose topic had jumped too far, exclaimed "Huh?"

"Well, it's nothing. I just wanted to ask her to help me choose a few clothes. After all, if I remember correctly, she's the one who takes care of your outfits when you go out."

Grey looked at Yue Zhengling with a confused expression. She was, after all, an enemy of his, so why was he suddenly bringing up choosing clothes for her?

"Lingjun, wouldn't it be better if I handled this?" Orange said, holding him with dissatisfaction.

"No, Sister Orange's personality is too wicked. If she falls into your hands, she'll become a dress-up doll." Thinking of Sister Orange's ever-changing appearance, Yue Zhengling felt that if this task were given to her, she might be put through a lot of wringer.

Orange pinched his cheek unhappily, and Le Zhengling's face immediately looked very strange.

Webber gave Gray a wink, and Gray nodded in understanding. Then she said in a cold voice, "Okay, I agree."

Yue Zhengling gave her a thumbs-up, then asked Weber, "So what do you want to know?"

Without hesitation, Weber replied, "How can we save the world?"

"Well, there are three methods. As the price of the deal, I'll tell you the most difficult one." Yue Zhengling beckoned to Arthur, who walked over helplessly.

Orange knew they had to get down to business, so she let go of his hand, but still held onto Yue Zhengling, because she knew that Yue Zhengling was currently unable to move, which meant that he hadn't adapted to the completion of his spirit origin yet.

"The most difficult? Why didn't you tell us the simplest method?" Weber asked anxiously. Since the other party said there were three methods, it meant that there was still hope for this world.

“Because the price isn’t high enough…” Yue Zhengling shrugged. “Then, would you like to hear it first?”

"Of course I'll listen." Weber forced himself to calm down, staring intently at the screen, afraid of missing a single word.

"The most difficult method is to defeat the Sands of Osiris, and then directly break the World Egg. After that, it's up to you to restore human civilization."

Le Zhengling looked at Weber.

"You mean, if we choose this method, the sand won't turn back into a human?"

"Well, that's not part of the deal. If you want to know, you'll have to pay a different price." Le Zhengling looked at Weber as if it were none of his business.

"Please wait, I'm making a deal with you on behalf of the Atlas Institute." Realizing she couldn't do anything to the other party, who held the Atlas Institute's Achilles' heel, Rani had no choice but to speak.

Chapter 146 The Deal to Save the World (Part 2)

Rani had previously acted as if it were none of her business, but she hadn't expected this person to know so much. Now that it involved her master's ultimate goal, it was far too crucial for her to step forward. She repeatedly raised the danger level of Yue Zhengling, and now she was extremely wary of him.

"Okay, what price range can your Atlas Institute offer?" Le Zhengling turned to look at Rani, revealing an unusually happy smile. There was no other way; the Atlas Institute had too many good things. If it were Rani, she should be able to hand over some of the items or information to him.

He wasn't completely in a slacker state right now, just half-slacker. In order to be even more slacker in the future, he felt it was necessary to get some things done.

Strength is necessary, but it's not something that can be achieved overnight. Besides, in his view, using strength is already the worst stage.

As the saying goes, the poor rely on mutation, while the rich rely on technology. Brutal strength is not as good as wisdom. The Atlas Institute, as the highest representative of wisdom and technology, is far superior to the Clock Tower, which only conducts research.

"Wait! We can trade with you too, we can trade with the Clock Tower!" Webber realized something was wrong when he saw Rani intervene.

"It's alright, you two just make your bids, and I'll choose from here, right?" Le Zhengling looked at both sides with a smile.

Orange nodded in agreement, while Arthur just shook his head and smiled wryly, then tapped Yue Zhengling on the head.

"What does it matter? Anyway, this timeline is a testing ground, and I don't think you want to go through all the trouble of running around. Part of this deal is for you, so no matter which side wins the bid, you'll feel much less guilty, right?"

Le Zhengling rubbed his forehead and looked at Arthur with feigned displeasure.

"How come I didn't know you were so mercenary?" Arthur smoothed out Le Zhengling's messy hair.

"This isn't called being mercenary, it's called wisdom, okay?" Yue Zhengling, who was comfortably squinting his eyes, did not reject Arthur's closeness, but no one knew what he was thinking.

As he shifted between the two bodies, he realized that his soul was truly riddled with holes. Yug's existence had consumed a portion of it, but it had also filled in some of the missing parts. Arthur and Merry's existence had filled in another portion. Only after all the filling was done could he now be considered a complete soul.

Looking back now, my previous state wasn't just a matter of my soul shrinking and my psychological age declining; it was as if a lot had been taken away from my complete soul—memories, intellect, and even the essential elements that make up a complete personality.

According to the Chinese theory of the soul, which speaks of three souls and seven spirits, he had one soul and three spirits extracted, almost half of himself, and then the remaining parts were used to shrink into his current form.

Actually, he had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he didn't know who had taken these things away. After these things were missing, he began to behave abnormally without even realizing it.

Looking back now, Merlin must have discovered something, but as an observer, he would never have said anything unless asked. He might have just watched from the sidelines. However, not saying anything doesn't mean he did nothing. At least he buried the Infinite Saint Quartz into his soul, preventing it from dissipating further while using it to replenish the energy his soul needed, allowing it to slowly heal and grow.

Merlin's counterpart, Merlin, also noticed this, but her choice differed from Merlin's. She preferred to try to bring him into her camp using her own methods, and the robe she gave him seemed to have some other purpose as well.

Arthur probably knew something, and for some reason, he directly sacrificed his spiritual foundation to repair his soul. Of the three, Arthur's thoughts were probably the purest.

So the question is, where did my lost soul go, or where was it lost?

Yue Zhengling already had a general idea. He would confirm it the next time he saw Merlin. He had a strong feeling that he would meet him again and that he would not stay in this world forever.

When he was in despair, he took the initiative to contact Gaia of this world, just like Shirou Emiya who became a guardian, and made a contract directly with one of the two wills in order to obtain answers and peace.

As it turned out, Arthur appeared at the last moment as if guided by fate, interrupting the process.

He believed that coincidences didn't exist, so who was behind what happened to him? Now that his soul had been repaired, he was very interested in finding out.

Given this, accumulating power has become a very important matter. Moreover, in this abandoned timeline, Araya's power has been greatly weakened, and among the surviving humans, the strongest fighter is at the level of Orange Sister.

Orange Sister is on my side. I haven't seen Aoko yet. As for the Heroic Spirit, although Arthur won't let me do whatever I want, he's no longer in his Savior Spirit Origin Mode, so he'll accommodate me to a large extent.

Given this situation, abandoning the Clock Tower and joining forces with the Atlas Institute is a good option.

Since this isn't my own world anyway, and this world has become like this, it's not a bad thing to be a little unrestrained and have some fun.

Thinking of this, he unconsciously licked one side of his lips, revealing a wicked smile.

Sensing his thoughts, Arthur shook his head and then tapped him on the forehead again. "Don't go too far. Because of your spirit origin, I can sense what kind of bad ideas you're plotting."

"What do you mean 'bad idea'? This is a good idea!" Yue Zhengling glared at him unhappily. "Besides, I'm clearly being influenced by your spirit foundation, which is why I came up with this idea!"

"No, impossible, absolutely not!" Arthur pretended to be surprised and joked with Yue Zhengling. "What you're thinking about now is the influence of Meryl's spirit origin. I am an honest and upright king, while Meryl likes to play tricks on people. You have definitely been influenced by her."

"Haha, you really have a thick skin. One of you is cunning and the other is completely black. Don't think I don't know. When you were little, you were quite the troublemaker. When you were eight, you rode a horse into the woods and then lit the prayer fire—" Yue Zhengling was about to reveal something when the other suddenly covered his mouth.

"Ling, what did you just say?" Arthur smiled kindly and approached Yue Zhengling.

Le Zhengling blinked, shifted her gaze to the side, and revealed a smug smile through her covered mouth. If Arthur were to release his hand, everyone would see that "funny smile" emoji.

"You two, stop fooling around. Don't you know this is a serious occasion?" Orange looked speechlessly at the two who had suddenly become very boisterous, not understanding why they could completely ignore the oppressive atmosphere and start making a fuss.

Chapter 147 The Deal to Save the World (Part 2)

Orange has always felt that men are very strange creatures. No matter how young or old they are, sometimes they will act recklessly regardless of the occasion when they meet someone they like. The two in front of her now are a good example.

She wasn't unaware of Arthur's feelings. Although he said he had probably become Lingjun's father, judging from his current appearance, he was no different from a friend. But perhaps this was a special way for fathers and sons to get along?

After all, it's not uncommon to see fathers playing and frolicking with their children.

Lingjun, however, was a little confused. He was probably trying to find a safe distance between himself and Arthur in their current relationship.

Seeing him like this, Chengzi felt a pang of pity. Although she had said she wanted to be Lingjun's older sister, seeing him like this, her maternal instincts kicked in a bit more, after all, she was already this age.

Thinking about this, she felt a little jealous of her counterpart in another world. After all, that counterpart was only sixteen years old, two or three years older than Lingjun. Perhaps her mindset was a bit younger?

She knew that Lingjun would return to his original world one day. So, how would she and he interact in that world?

Orange smiled slightly, a strange idea welling up in her mind. However, after thinking about it carefully, she decided to put it aside for the time being. That idea would be impossible to complete without Qingzi's help, and given how the world had changed, it would be quite difficult to implement.

Upon hearing Orange's words, Arthur and Yue Zhengling also stopped. Arthur let go of his hand, while Yue Zhengling looked at him with a teasing gaze.

The three of them watched the standoff between Rani and Barthemello Loreleia as if they were detached from the situation.

“Ling, you’ve seen how our world has become, and we’ve even learned about the murderer because of your existence. So, can you really trust the Atlas Institute, which has joined forces with us?”

Taking advantage of the stalemate, Weber attempted to explain the pros and cons to Le Zhengling.

"It's alright. To be honest, in my heart, the Atlas Institute is much more trustworthy than your Clock Tower. You Clock Tower people are just a bunch of idlers, while the Atlas Institute is a technology company, and they meticulously uphold the spirit of contracts. On the contrary, you..."

Looking at Weber on the screen, Yue Zhengling realized that, with very few exceptions, he had absolutely no goodwill towards the Clock Tower. If it weren't for Weber and Orange Sister appearing now, he probably wouldn't even have given the Clock Tower a chance to speak.

"...Don't you have some misunderstanding about our Clock Tower?" Weber looked speechlessly at the smiling Yue Zhengling.

“No, there’s no misunderstanding, just prejudice.” Le Zhengling retorted without any attempt to hide it. “Apart from you and Sister Chengzi, and a very few other people, I have no good feelings towards your Clock Tower.”

Weber looked at him with a slight headache. That's why seller's markets are the worst! Putting aside the issue of initiative, he couldn't even figure out what that kid was thinking!

This kind of analysis is only effective for people who play by the rules; it won't work on children or people who like to let their imaginations run wild.

That's why he feels helpless now.

"Oh dear, don't look so pitiful. Although the question about saving the world is being auctioned, you can ask other questions too," Yue Zhengling said with the shrewdness of a businessman, trying to coax him.

“No, actually I’m very poor. Luckily, what you asked for was my personal belongings, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have been able to pay at all.” Weber looked at Yue Zhengling warily.

"Oh, I see. You haven't paid off your debts yet?" Yue Zhengling knew that Weber was carrying the debts that Director Ken had incurred during World War IV, but now that it was the end of the world, the creditors should have been mostly dead by now.

But it doesn't matter, I don't need the money or anything, it's just an unconscious quirky sense of humor when I'm with Weber.

“You must have some very special personal belongings. Why don’t you trade those for something?” Yue Zhengling knew that Waver had handled many things in the El-Melloi II case, and many people had given him many things as souvenirs. In addition, there were the gifts from his disciples who graduated from his classroom for Christmas and Thanksgiving. In fact, Waver was quite wealthy.

"What do you want?" Weber looked at Yue Zhengling, who had ill intentions, and felt that he was about to be tricked again.

"The Emperor's cloak?" Yue Zhengling asked tentatively.

"Absolutely impossible!" Waver frowned, a hint of reminiscence flashing in his eyes. As someone who followed the King of Conquerors and promised to stand by his side one day, that thing was more important than his own life.

"Hmm~ then what about Director Ken's Moon Spirit Essence Liquid?" Yue Zhengling had long been eyeing that special magical costume. That thing was a perfect balance of offense and defense, and it was automated. In the current field of magic, unless you encounter unreasonable methods, that thing had almost no weaknesses.

“…I don’t have the finished product, only the production process.” Weber thought for a few seconds and decided that they could make an exchange.

"There's no finished product? Oh well, never mind." But to his surprise, upon hearing this, he instantly lost all interest. "I'm just an ordinary person. Even if you put the production process and materials in front of me, I still can't make it."

Weber's eye twitched upon hearing this reply. "Well then, I can only say it's a pity."

"Never mind, it doesn't matter. Hmm, let me think about something else..." Yue Zhengling waved his hand, indicating that Weber didn't need to worry about it, but then he didn't say anything more.

"Or, I can exchange all my research notes, which contain all the tutorials for modern magic from beginner to advanced, and have been greatly optimized."

Weber thought for a moment. As a poor man, he had nothing else to offer, and his greatest strength was theory. So he decided to try using his research materials as a bargaining chip.

“Great! These things are very useful! What I lack is systematic information. Oh, by the way, doesn’t this information have a name? You bound it into a book, and it’s called ‘Modern Magic: From Beginner to Burial’?”

Weber was taken aback by Le Zhengling's unusual way of thinking. Although the other party had agreed, why didn't he feel happy?

"So, Weber, what do you want to ask? Well, according to the principle of fair trade, we can actually add a few more things. If we do that, I can tell you a slightly easier way to save the world than the one I mentioned before."

Le Zhengling smiled as he added to his own stakes. Although he was chatting with Webber, he was also paying attention to Rani and Barthemello. His real purpose was to tell Webber and the others the second method and get them to try it.

Weber looked at Le Zhengling, who kept giving him meaningful glances, with surprise, and seemed to understand his true purpose.

If the previous method of salvation was bait to lure Rani into the trap, then now it's about reeling in the bait and reaping the rewards. Although he talks as if he hates the Clock Tower, he is actually dissatisfied with the current state of the world.

Waver didn't know if this was due to the influence of King Arthur's spirit origin or something else, but judging from Yue Zhengling's attitude, although he seemed neutral, he was actually using transactions to cover up his bias towards them.

Most importantly, Yue Zhengling doesn't seem to be afraid of the culprits who caused the world's dramatic changes, and perhaps that's why he acts so freely.

As expected, after hearing what Yue Zhengling said, Lani immediately ended her negotiations with Barthemello and stared intently at this side.

"So what do you want me to add?" Having figured this out, Weber clenched his fist excitedly.

"Well, about the distribution of power among all the families in the Clock Tower, the characteristics of their magic, methods for dealing with and analyzing them, and the route we'll take to Japan." Le Zhengling looked at Weber's face, which was slowly becoming serious, with a half-smile.

"Don't be nervous. For your world, the information about magician lineages is mostly useless now. Instead of getting hung up on these things that have been buried under the yellow sand, you should listen to my second method."

Le Zhengling turned his head to look at Rani, "The second method is the Holy Grail War, which is different from the one you had in Fuyuki City. It is a Holy Grail War that can actually grant wishes and save the world."

“I’ve already destroyed the Greater Grail, how could it still be—” Waver looked at Yue Zhengling with suspicion, seemingly not quite believing the news.