Milton naturally noticed Mel’s gaze, well aware of his terrible temper. He feared Mel might blurt out something to anger Isis and the others, so he quickly added, “Go, hurry back to the church now. I won’t pursue this matter of skipping class.”
However, Mel did not obediently leave and return to the church as he usually did. He stared intently at Isis and Beacai, his brows furrowing deeper with each passing moment. Finally, he let out a cold laugh.
“Don’t tell me you’ve brought some strange people again, hoping to save my parents?”
Milton’s heart skipped a beat, and his aged face flushed slightly with anger. He let out a heavy snort, commanding, “How dare you speak like that? What do you mean by ‘strange people’? Apologize to Miss Isis and them at once!”
“Hmph, I won’t!”
Mel grew agitated. After all the past experiences, all his hidden emotions erupted today.
“After so many years, when have any of the people you found ever succeeded? They only want to trick you out of your money, why don’t you understand?”
“And what’s most hateful is that every time they come, they take away some of my parents’ body tissue, claiming it’s for studying the curse. I think they just refuse to admit their own incompetence!”
“If this continues, my parents won’t just fail to awaken; their bodies won’t even be complete!”
Mel’s words deeply pierced Milton. He walked up to him, raising his hand as if to slap him, but he gritted his teeth and ultimately lowered it.
‘With outsiders present, he truly didn’t want to make a spectacle of his family’s misfortune. Having lost his daughter, he was already in immense pain; if others were to witness their plight as a joke, it would be like tearing open an old wound. Such suffering would only become more unbearable.’
“What nonsense are you spouting now! Miss Isis is not what you think she is!”
“Hmph! What good could anyone you bring be? Anyway, with me here, you won’t take them inside!”
Mel spread his arms, guarding the basement door, while glaring fiercely at Isis and Beacai, treating them as true enemies. Milton pointed at his nose, fuming for a long moment, but found himself speechless.
****
Yet, to everyone’s surprise, a flash of white light suddenly appeared. The next moment, Mel, who had been guarding the door, stumbled, collapsed to the ground, and fainted.
“…Mel?”
Milton gasped, rushing to Mel’s side and pulling him into his embrace. Only after confirming he still had a heartbeat and was breathing did he let out a great sigh of relief.
“I merely quieted him down a bit, Mr. Milton. There’s no need to panic too much.”
The one who had acted was Beacai. She elegantly propped her chin with one hand, a hint of wicked disdain gracing her beautiful face, as she looked at Mel with the gaze one might reserve for trash.
“After all, you wouldn’t want a mosquito buzzing around when we’re trying to save your children, would you?”
Milton was speechless, only able to look towards Isis. Isis, in turn, quickly changed the subject.
“Cough, cough, Mr. Milton, since Mel is alright, let’s go inside and take a look. Saving them is the priority.”
In truth, when Mel had mocked her and Beacai earlier, she could already feel Beacai’s anger surging. From her perspective, the fact that the wicked god had only knocked Mel unconscious after losing her patience meant Milton should be grateful for Beacai’s mercy.
Milton felt that Isis was right. He picked up Mel, pushed open the basement door, and stepped inside. Beacai, observing this, let out a soft, triumphant hum.
As a wicked god who had committed countless evils, when had she ever been suspected and ridiculed by a mere human like this? And this fellow had not only mocked her, but also her mother. That was something she absolutely could not tolerate.
‘In the past, such a person would have long since turned into a puddle of blood in her hands. Keeping him alive now was purely because Mother was here. Killing someone in front of her would make her unhappy.’
Although Isis didn’t know Beacai’s exact thoughts, her understanding of Beacai allowed her to grasp the general idea. She only hoped that when Mel woke up, he wouldn’t make such a foolish mistake again.
Upon entering the basement, Milton gently placed the unconscious Mel on the floor. He then clapped his hands, and the magical sconces lining the basement walls illuminated.
Isis looked around, noticing that the walls were covered with various strange black magical inscriptions. Though she didn’t know their specific function, she understood they were definitely related to a seal.
At the very center of the basement stood a high platform. The platform’s core was filled with a transparent, slightly green liquid, within which a man and a woman were sealed, completely nude. Their bodies appeared uncorrupted.
Overall, the platform resembled a large amber block, with the black magical inscriptions likely forming the magic circle used to seal the man and woman. Both individuals possessed long, elven ears, indicating they were part of the elf race.
The man’s appearance bore a resemblance to Milton, clearly his son, while the woman looked entirely different, evidently his son’s wife. Since the woman married his son, she was, by extension, his daughter.
After a careful examination, Isis unexpectedly found that the bodies of the man and woman were not entirely complete.
“Their hands…” she inquired.
At the mention of this, Milton averted his gaze, filled with self-reproach. “In the past, I also sought out some people who claimed they could lift curses and restore life. Upon seeing this curse, they said they needed to take some body tissue back for research, otherwise, it would be difficult to remove…”
“So you agreed?”
“Yes, but later I realized something was amiss, so I no longer allowed them to do so.” He seemed reluctant to discuss it further, quickly stopping the conversation. Isis understood that he had been deceived by those who claimed to be able to lift curses.
They were all after his money. When they arrived and discovered they couldn’t cure the curse, they would claim they needed to take some body tissue back to research it. During this ‘research’ period, many of them likely absconded with the money.
This explained why Mel had been so frantic, jumping to his feet and showing them no respect, as soon as he saw Milton bring two more ‘curse removers’ over. If they were to take away any more body tissue, his parents’ bodies might truly become incomplete.
Seeing that they had also studied the current state of his children, Milton rubbed his hands together, asking with a hint of trepidation, “I wonder, Miss Isis… do you have any way to awaken them?”
He had waited countless years for an affirmative answer to this question. Ever since the incident, he had been waiting, and several times during that period, hope had seemed to appear, only for it to prove a deception in the end. He had experienced the feeling of falling from heaven to hell many times, and should have grown accustomed to it by now. Yet, as he asked again, he was still incredibly nervous.