Lord of Rot

Porcupine Territory, Betty’s Alchemy Workshop.

BANG!

Chuina set down her hammer. The red-hot tool slammed onto the ground, leaving a crater in its wake.

Snatching a cup from the table and chugging a mouthful of water, Chuina looked toward the slender figure. ”Miss Betty, how do you think the Lord is doing now?”

”How is he doing in what way?” Betty didn’t stop her research.

Chuina didn’t dare underestimate her research. The last time she’d gotten curious about why Betty was adding sugar—what danger could sugar possibly pose?—she’d nearly paid with her life. If Chuina hadn’t been a Transcendent, her head would have been blown clean off.

It was only her quick reflexes that had saved her life. She’d jumped back and grabbed a nearby iron plate to shield herself just in time.

Ever since then, Chuina had known: one shouldn’t be fooled by the sight of Betty researching with incomprehensible materials. The power she wielded was terrifying—far more so than Chuina could have ever imagined.

Chuina said, ”I mean the war! Didn’t the Lord say he was going to fight because of some rebels?”

Betty asked, ”Are you worried?”

”Of course!” Chuina nodded matter-of-factly. ”We only have this good life because we’re in Porcupine Territory. Plus, working with you, Miss Betty, isn’t hard, and the pay is great. I really like these peaceful, leisurely days. If something happened to the Lord... No, no, nothing will happen to the Lord!”

Betty paused her work. ”Go get that cannon. We’re going to Pig Spine Valley to test-fire it.”

She never seemed to worry about the Lord’s safety.

’Is this a form of absolute trust?’ Chuina thought. ’I’m thinking too much. It’s disrespectful to the Lord’s strength.’

As a fellow Transcendent, she could sense the approximate strength of the nobleman Lacy and that four-armed Mercenary; neither seemed to be her match. But the Lord always gave off an unfathomable aura.

The Lord was already a Transcendent, yet he had somehow stuffed the powers of three more Transcendents into his body.

Chuina believed this was a testament to the Lord’s power. It was only natural that she couldn’t see through him.

”Yes!” Chuina placed the cup on the table.

Just as Chuina pushed herself up from the table, her expression suddenly changed. ”Someone’s coming! They’re fast!”

She took a huge stride forward and lifted her hammer with one hand.

FWOOSH! The hammer erupted in flames, casting a red glow on Chuina’s face.

The footsteps outside came to a halt.

A small, red-haired figure stopped at the entrance to the Alchemy Workshop.

Her face was inhuman and exceedingly ugly. She had a pair of mismatched, scaly claws, and she radiated an unsettling aura.

”Chuina, put down the hammer,” Betty said, immediately raising a hand to stop her.

During her time imprisoned in the dungeon, Betty had lived with this figure for a long time and was very familiar with her.

”What do you need?” Betty asked directly. She knew that since this figure had come, she must have brought news from Leech.

’Leech would only be interested in the Alchemy Workshop for the weapons I’ve been researching.’

The figure lifted one of its claws and made a sweeping gesture around the Alchemy Workshop.

”Everything?”

A nod.

A brilliant smile spread across Betty’s face. ”Make sure he comes back and tells me how well they work!”

”Chuina, move everything out of the Alchemy Workshop!”

”Yes, Ma’am!” Once Chuina confirmed the visitor wasn’t an enemy, she immediately obeyed and started moving things outside.

All the weapons recently produced in the Alchemy Workshop were carried out.

The items piled up in the clearing in front of the workshop, forming a hoard the size of three small hills that nearly buried the short, red-haired figure.

Chuina looked around but saw no carriages, nor were there any flying horses in the sky.

”How are you going to take all this?” she asked, curious.

The space beside the red-haired figure suddenly split open.

On the other side of the open rift seemed to be a forest, where the ground was littered with corpses.

Chuina instinctively recoiled.

Just a brief glimpse of that sea of blood and mountain of corpses made her heart pound uncontrollably.

”What is that!” Chuina exclaimed. She reflexively glanced at Betty, who also had a curious look in her eyes. It seemed she didn’t know what it was either.

The red-haired figure picked up an item, leaned halfway through the portal, set it down, and quickly pulled back.

Amazed, Chuina walked around the Space Gate and found that the item had truly vanished!

The figure worked nonstop, and the three small hills of Alchemy Creations were quickly moved to the other side.

After one last glance at Betty, the red-haired figure leaped into the Space Gate, and the rift in space healed shut.

Chuina walked over and waved her hand a few times in the spot where the Space Gate had been.

She felt nothing.

She tried poking her head forward, but again, there was nothing.

If the Alchemy Workshop weren’t now empty, Chuina would have thought she was dreaming and decided to just go back to sleep.

”Chuina!”

”Ah? Yes!” Hearing Betty call her name, Chuina immediately stopped what she was doing and stood obediently in place.

”You can go home and rest for a while,” Betty said.

”But weren’t we going to test...”

Chuina suddenly realized—with everything taken away, what was there to test?

”Until we get the results from this field test, we can both take a break.”

...

Leech stared at the three small mountains of equipment before him, his expression solemn.

He could recognize most of the weapons. Even for the ones he didn’t, he could guess their purpose from their shape and structure.

For example, there was a massive firearm with a barrel about six feet long.

’Probably a sniper rifle,’ he thought.

He had talked with Betty about firearms before, even bragging about the concept of the Tsar Bomba. Although he couldn’t build one from scratch, it was still fun to boast about its power.