Sky Petal can’t understand why the flowers don’t want to be planted in this spot and act like spoiled children when she tries to do it. It’s not as if she’s being unreasonable, on the contrary, the soil has the perfect moisture and is neither too close nor too far from the stream, a place where she herself would want to be planted if she weren’t conscious of herself.
“Alright, alright. It’ll be there, don’t all speak at once.”
Sky Petal flies and in just seconds arrives at the location the plants had insisted on.
“Why are you happy now? What’s different about this place from the other?” When she hears its answer, she frowns. “You don’t know, you just feel that this is where you should be…”
In the personal dimension, she has been carrying out the task of planting day after day and on more than one occasion has encountered this type of situation, plants that simply feel that another place is the right one for them.
Even when days later they die.
“Now then, what insects do you like? The one that goes zz zz? What color is it? Ah, that one.”
Only she, being a plant, can understand the ramblings of a plant that lacks consciousness, because that is the only word that can describe the reasoning of a plant that is not part of a collective consciousness.
After getting the answers she was looking for, Sky Petal heads towards a place where she keeps various types of boxes and cages, with animals, insects, and seeds inside, as well as an extensive garden in the surroundings.
She takes a small box and returns to the previous location, and as soon as she releases the insects, the plants fall silent. Until now, only 10% of the plants have started talking again, it’s as if after fulfilling their basic needs they lose all strength to keep communicating.
Seeing such silent plants is no different from seeing the stones on the ground. She hopes this situation will be resolved soon.
“Hm?”
It is then that she notices something and looks around without being able to find it.
“Again... What is this strange presence?”
Something is emerging in the personal dimension, something different from everything she knows but at the same time something natural, with which she has lived all her life. After thinking for a long period of time in the same place, Sky Petal suffers a sudden inspiration.
“It could be... Absolute Prominence, only she could confirm it.”
The image of a certain qilin comes to her mind and she sighs, she did not think that yesterday’s enemy would be necessary to strengthen Lawrence's personal dimension.
She continues with her labor, until a woman emerges from one of the stationary doors.
“Sky Petal, it’s time.”
Who approaches her is Serene Will. She, along with Coldness Divine, has planned how to assassinate the next big shot of the Unquenchable Fire Brothel. Although the list has diminished, the most difficult ones still remain.
“This woman has a level 600, only one of her bodyguards surpasses level 700. As long as you activate the magic formation Denial Domain, it won’t be difficult to deal with them. Even the ranker won’t be a threat.”
Sky Petal listens to Serene Will’s explanation as they both walk toward the stationary door. After walking through it, they appear inside a simple house. An old and familiar house.
Ice Petal City, Heavenly Path Kingdom.
“Level 450… Tsk, nobody in this place is a threat.”
Feeling the presence of two people, Coldness Divine enters the house.
After the incident in White Utopia City, Lawrence decided to temporarily retreat while finding another hunting ground for these women, and the city chosen is none other than Ice Petal City. No one would believe that rankers of level 600 are hiding in this place, a city where the average level of hunters does not exceed level 400.
“Once we cross the portal, we’ll begin the hunt.”
Everyone nods, this isn’t the first time they’ve done this.
+++
In a spacious and sophisticated room, very important characters sit around a table. All possess different qualities and a pride that prevents them from staying silent when someone tries to ridicule them, no matter how minimal the insinuation.
What's interesting is that they all fall silent when an old man with long white hair and a beard enters the room.
No one knows his true name, everyone refers to him as the founding partner.
Underground City of Agares, Unquenchable Fire Brothel. Heavenly Path Kingdom.
“A new client has died.”
As incredible as it may seem, this meeting is chaired by the very founding partner, which can mean only one thing. There will be significant changes.
“There are no traces of the killer, everything was carried out in complete silence.”
No one can invade the privacy of their clients, even they themselves, so it’s impossible to know the exact time and place where the events occurred, let alone where they will occur. This information comes directly from the hand of one of his heirs, an heir with whom they have already established deep ties. It is to be expected that this information is reliable.
“As you suggested, we established relationships with the next generation of each of the clients long before they were murdered, so this is nothing more than a disguised blessing. By securing the next heir, we have expanded our network of contacts.”
That the head of the group is cut off is not the end of the business, someone else will replace it. Knowing this in advance, they can anticipate the facts and gain benefits from it. The problem are the rumors, they cannot allow their brothel to be tarnished.
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The words of the founding partner can also have another meaning.
“We can assume that the attackers must have some connection to the women: Serene Will, Sky Petal, and Coldness Divine. Either that, or someone is using their record to discredit us.”
With no conclusive evidence, the partners remain divided between those who think that they are behind all this or that someone is taking advantage of the situation.
“Be that as it may, I gathered you on this occasion to break one of our codes.”
All the partners tense up when the word
is mentioned.
Like any business, the Unquenchable Fire Brothel is not unfamiliar with a regulation that everyone must comply with, the partners may be exempt from most of them, but there are still some that they cannot break under any circumstances.
“We will disclose the situation to our most important clients, subjects that we cannot afford to lose.”
As they tensed up, now they all relax after knowing that it's just that. It remains a matter of importance of course, but not as much as a certain code in particular. The code related to their life or death.
The attitude of the founding partner makes the partners understand that he expects their opinions and one of them does not take long to raise his hand.
The partner Spectral Verse asks: “Only those related to those women?”
“Yes, only them.”
“If that's the case then it won’t be necessary to reveal absolutely everything, the founding partner must be thinking the same thing.” The eyes of Spectral Verse shine with madness, “As long as they are aware that their life is in danger, we do not have to be the cause of the tragedy, am I wrong?”
The founding partner smiles, but still does not respond, he allows another to do so.
The one who does is the partner Gentle Break, the only woman with feathers on her body and a bird's head. “After we rid ourselves of the blame, we must make sure that none of them have contacts with each other, we don’t want our little lie to be discovered.”
The following comments only served to strengthen the plan, very few of them had the acumen to make substantial changes.
“As long as one of them survives, we will discover the identity of our enemies. We will spare no resources in order to hunt them down, all those who dared to threaten us will die.”
The words of the founding partner resonate in the room, all the partners feel a shiver run down their spines. When everyone believed that the meeting was about to end, the founding partner speaks again.
“To wash our image and quell the rumors, I have entrusted two of our partners to carry out a project in secret. Impure Caprice and Dark Root, you are allowed to speak.”
“Huh? A secret project?”
This is a surprise for all those present. They are partners of this brothel, nothing should be secret from them, for they are the ones who plan the secret matters! But today the founding partner reveals that a project has been hidden from them, what does this mean? Does the founding partner not trust them?
The partner Impure Caprice is the first to appease the discontent. “You’re thinking too much. If this project has been hidden from you, it’s simply because there were chances of failure. If not for the profound knowledge in this area of partner Dark Root, I alone would not have been able to achieve it.”
When everyone looks at Dark Root, he coughs and tries to disguise. For although this old woman appears to have been educated with him, the truth is that she was mocking his extensive history with women.
“Cough… Along with Impure Caprice we have been working on this project for 4 years, but the foundations of this go back much further--”
Before he can continue explaining, his old enemy Wicked Fortune interrupts him. “Don't beat around the bush, get to the point.”
Dark Root snorts and frowns, but after seeing the rest of the partners, he decides to do just that. “The acclimatization of this subspace now allows us to trade level 500 prostitutes.”
“What?!”
Many of the partners cannot contain their excitement and stand up from their seats, it is Impure Caprice who confirms the words of Dark Root.
“That's right. We have secretly dealt with some women of level 500 and there have been no negative effects on this subspace, we can now take the next step.”
The information they receive next is conclusive. It is viable to start the improvement process, their products will no longer be of level 300 but of level 500. This has been one of their biggest disadvantages to date, a disadvantage that their competitors have known how to take advantage of to steal their clients. And despite this, no one has managed to shake their position.
“This subspace is limited, the breaking point had always been level 500, so we were forced to only accept women of level 300 so that our security personnel could exceed that limit. It was this number that at some point caused a rumor, which we hurried to take advantage of.”
That the barriers that restrict access and exit from this subspace could be breached by hunters of level 500 was nothing more than a farce. The initial rumor was another.
Dark Root continues explaining. “The breaking point has increased to an incalculable level, easily a hundred rankers of level 800 could enter without destabilizing this subspace. Something that had been unthinkable decades ago!”
The excitement on the faces of all the partners is considerable, even his old enemy no longer dares to interrupt him.
“As soon as our business begins to trade level 500 prostitutes, we will start the next acclimatization. We are constantly strengthening this subspace, there will come a day when we can offer prostitutes of level 900. No one will be able to stop us!”