Chapter 61: Empty-Handed

If the second-generation Magic Weapon Contract was something rare and hard to find in the market, then the “original” was truly a chance encounter. Some people might still have original copies of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book stored away, but their numbers would be extremely small!

So, when Zheng Yichen offered an original copy of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book as a trade item, she agreed to the deal right away. The trade was simply for those drinks Zheng Yichen wanted… just in a large amount.

As for the production method, it was a unique recipe on their side, and the cost wasn’t high at all…

And so, a long-term trading relationship was established. Zheng Yichen would come by regularly to collect the goods. Based on the quantity shipped, she had tried to guess how many people might be behind him, but the amount he picked up each time was always the same, while the timing was irregular!

Sometimes he came every two days, sometimes once a week. It made it impossible for her to figure out the specifics. “Please be careful during your activities recently, sir. People from the Sanctuary Church have come to Sta City.”

“The Sanctuary Church… tsk, what do you think of them?” Having interacted with this female server many times, Zheng Yichen spoke casually now. He had discovered that besides sourcing “drinks” here, the tavern servers were also very well-informed about news. Of course, if you wanted to ask about something specifically, you had to pay extra.

But if they brought it up themselves, there was no need to worry about that.

“A bunch of meddlesome people,” the female server said, a faint smile still on her face.

“Thank you for the warning. I’ll be careful,” Zheng Yichen nodded. The people from the Sanctuary Church… After learning from Loris that they were different from the churches in novels, Zheng Yichen hadn’t paid much attention to them. After all, his own affairs had nothing to do with them. As long as he didn’t do anything foolish, they wouldn’t come after him no matter what.

In short, just think of the Sanctuary Church as an organization that checks water meters.

After leaving the tavern, Zheng Yichen put the matter out of his mind and headed out of Sta City toward a secret hideout in the wilderness. That was the delivery location provided by the tavern—a hidden warehouse where all the things Zheng Yichen needed were stored. When Zheng Yichen arrived, several Ghost Maids were already waiting there.

“Let’s get to work! Take everything we can carry. Not even a single thread should be left behind.” Acting like a bandit leader, Zheng Yichen waved his hand grandly. The Ghost Maids immediately sprang into action. There were quite a lot of goods, requiring a transport cart to take everything. The Otherworld version of a transport cart… was basically pulled by horse power, ox power, or Magical Beasts.

Zheng Yichen couldn’t find anyone to pull the cart. If he used his real body, it would draw too much attention. As for the special Magical Beasts in the Forest of Illusions… they were all small to medium-sized and couldn’t be relied on. Fortunately, these Ghost Maids were strong enough… besides the more than twenty Ghost Maids with magic-based professions, the others were combat-oriented. Despite having bodies that were somewhere between solid and ethereal, their strength was nothing to scoff at. Lifting a thick log in their daily tasks was as easy as anything!

If not for their size limitations, they could have carried seven or eight logs without issue!

So, they ended up pulling the cart with Zheng Yichen.

The tavern server’s attempt to guess Zheng Yichen’s background through this was doomed to fail. He had no plans to distribute the drinks; they were for his own use. Everything he took back was stored away. The irregular timing of his pickups was only due to transportation capacity. If he had enough transport power, Zheng Yichen would have taken everything in one go, without all this dawdling.

“I feel like a landowner exploiting laborers…” Watching the Ghost Maids pulling the large cart, Zheng Yichen muttered to himself. His Alchemical Puppet body had considerable strength, but compared to these Ghost Maids, it was useless—the difference in power was still huge!

So, this Alchemical Puppet body still needed upgrades. But before that, Zheng Yichen considered whether he should first create something classic like a tractor. Magic in this world was so advanced that the development of many things was limited. After all, their way of thinking was different, so even some straightforward concepts would seem like incredibly novel and imaginative ideas to people here!

Worldview and knowledge determined everything!

As they approached the Forest of Illusions, several Ghost Maids appeared at the edge of the forest. They were responsible for clearing the area to prevent anyone from noticing what was happening. The reason the castle’s location had never been exposed wasn’t just because of the Barrier Loris had set up, but also because of the maintenance by these Ghost Maids.

“Another dead end!” In the evening, inside the secret warehouse, Belin pinched a bit of soil and tossed it to the ground. Apart from the cartwheel tracks, there was nothing else left behind. If there was anything slightly special, it was the faint trace of chilly energy lingering here. It was a very, very faint wisp. While it resembled something from an Undead creature, this chilly energy was pure and didn’t carry the Negative Energy typical of Undead beings.

Negative Energy was highly corrosive; even residual traces could linger for a long time before dispersing, like tar—once it stuck, it wasn’t easy to wash off.

But this chilly energy was too faint and too natural, making it impossible to find any useful information from it.

“Sis, you’ve been trying for so long without success. Just give up,” a girl who looked almost identical to Belin said with a laugh. Hadn’t their master said they didn’t need to pursue this matter too deliberately?

“…I know. I wasn’t really holding out hope for this place anyway,” Belin snorted softly. About Zheng Yichen’s background, she didn’t need to pursue it too deliberately, nor would she go against her master’s wishes out of curiosity or stubbornness. So, even though it was uncomfortable, by now she had basically given up on using such probing methods to uncover Zheng Yichen’s secrets.

Even though there were cartwheel tracks here, she was certain that once they left, those tracks would completely disappear!

“At least now we can confirm he has some connection to the Forest of Illusions,” Belin said to Beisi on their way back.

“That wasn’t hard to figure out,” Beisi shrugged. The aura of the Forest of Illusions would dissipate shortly after leaving the area, and even the plants were the same. However, the characteristics of the plants would linger for a while. When Zheng Yichen left the Forest of Illusions, he had accidentally carried a blade of grass with him once again. It was through this blade of grass that they confirmed Zheng Yichen’s origins were linked to the Forest of Illusions.

As for what that link was… they had no desire to go inside and find out…