Sloth

The Administration had made its move.

Outside the main entrance of Bainiao Food Company, the group, having replenished their potions and relics and completed their treatment and supplies elsewhere, had just stepped out when they immediately spotted the moon in the sky.

It was hard not to notice, as its presence was overwhelming.

That bright moon was staggeringly large, appearing as if it were hanging directly over their heads. However, the moonlight was incredibly soft, inducing a strong sense of drowsiness.

The others did not feel it as strongly, experiencing only a slight fatigue, but the moment Su Mian was exposed to the moonlight, she nearly fell fast asleep!

Her vision blurred, and she pitched forward toward the ground. Fortunately, she was relatively close to the others as they came out, and Jiang Xun, quick-witted and agile, caught her in time.

“What is wrong with you?”

Looking at the demon whose face was thick with weariness, the man found it strange. Su Mian wanted to say something, but after letting out a yawn, she suddenly found it too much effort to speak.

She did not know what was happening to her, but in that instant, she could not be bothered to think. Even the boiling desires within her body seemed to fall silent.

An incredibly gentle voice whispered softly in her ear—just go to sleep, do not think about anything, do not worry about a thing. Everything can be dealt with later. For now, you only need to close your eyes and have a beautiful sleep.

Under the hypnosis of that gentle voice, the girl felt her eyelids grow as heavy as a thousand pounds. She was held up by Jiang Xun like she was boneless, and faced with the sweet scent of vitality wafting toward her, she did not feel even a hint of interest.

Too lazy to move, too lazy to eat, too lazy to breathe, and even too lazy to think. She only wanted to close her eyes like this and sleep until the end of time.

This thought had appeared very suddenly, yet it was more intense than anything she had ever felt, strong enough to easily override even her desire for survival.

But just then…

“Hmph!”

Accompanied by a faint, phantom-like cold snort, the crimson energy within her body, which had been relatively stable due to suppression, suddenly rioted and became a thousand times more fervent!

Rolling power erupted like a volcanic explosion, dispersing all sluggishness in the blink of an eye. It then merged into Su Mian’s body and consciousness, making her snap awake while simultaneously igniting a towering rage.

Boom!

The erupting crimson aura pushed those nearby far away, swallowing all moonlight and blood mist in its path, thoroughly dyeing the surroundings in black and red.

The girl stood at the center, slowly looking up at the moon in the sky. Within those blood-red eyes, besides anger, there was a desire so strong it nearly solidified—to eat it!

However, she quickly withdrew her gaze from the moon, as it was merely a reflected projection; the source was not in the sky.

She immediately thought of the previously mentioned Yujing Lake.

Is it in the lake?

She locked onto a direction, instinctively wanting to stride toward Yujing Lake.

But at that moment, the Succubus’s lazy voice suddenly rang out:

‘Enough, we do not have such a large appetite right now, and now is not the time to deal with that thing.’

Before the words finished, another force spread through her body. The desire originating from Gluttony shouted a few times in protest but eventually subsided.

Su Mian also came to a halt. As the desire receded, she quickly calmed down, but looking down at her own body, she could not help but frown.

The desire of Gluttony was even easier to lose control of than she had thought before it was satisfied. Trying to master it completely was clearly going to be much harder than she had imagined!

Ultimately, she was still too hungry.

If she could eat, the power certainly would not riot so easily.

But food or whatever would likely be available soon, however…

“What happened just now?”

Looking up at the moon again, she was no longer affected by the moonlight, but Su Mian did not relax because of it.

That feeling of being too lazy to breathe or even think just now was truly terrible, as if everything other than sleep no longer mattered.

She had never experienced this level of extreme sloth. More importantly, it seemed only she had been affected. Why was that? Because she was a demon?

The girl was utterly perplexed.

To this, the Succubus’s reply consisted of only two words: ‘Sloth.’

“Sloth?”

Su Mian naturally knew that the feeling just now was sloth, but what she really wanted to ask was whether this sloth originated from within herself or from the outside.

Did this moonlight carry the power to make one lazy? Or did the moonlight merely induce her own sloth?

The Gluttony power being provoked suggested the former, but the fact that only she was affected made it feel closer to the latter, leaving the girl very confused.

However, this time there was only silence in her mind.

The Succubus did not respond, whether because she did not know or did not want to say.

So, after attempting to ask several more times with no response, Su Mian had to give up.

‘Forget it…’

In any case, it definitely had something to do with that Inscrutable Class relic in Yujing Lake. But just as the Succubus said, she could not do anything about it now.

Even if she could, the current trouble had not been resolved yet. It was better to wait until this crisis had passed. That thing was most likely in the lake and would not run away anyway.

Thinking this, Su Mian withdrew her thoughts and looked at the others.

She saw them standing a distance away, staring at her with faces full of vigilance. In particular, the girl with the hair bun codenamed Zhi Yuan had even drawn that massive handgun.

Clearly, the commotion just now had frightened these people, making them realize that this Miss Demon was not as soft and cute as she appeared on the surface, but was a genuine time bomb!

Su Mian felt very innocent. After all, she had not known that the power of this Inscrutable Class relic would affect her. Given she was unprepared, the fact that she had not injured anyone in the end was the result of her extreme self-control.

Otherwise, in the instant that crimson aura erupted, while it was hard to say for the others, Mr. Jiang Xun who was supporting her would certainly have been the first to suffer.

Now, this man had only been pushed back a distance like the others, which proved Su Mian had not completely lost control.

However, this was not easy to explain to the others, so she had to use her usual tactic—playing dumb.

Thus, under everyone’s gaze, the girl who had just been surrounded by crimson light and staring frantically at the sky with a terrifying and oppressive aura instantly turned into a delicate little flower.

She scratched her head awkwardly, her small face turning red. Her large eyes, full of apology, lingered on each person in turn. She stuck out her tongue and said, “Um, I am really sorry. It seems I was affected by the power of the moon just now. Are you all okay? Do you need me to check on you?”

Everyone from the Administration remained silent, which made Su Mian a bit embarrassed, starting to wonder if she was so unskilled that her acting was too fake.

But she could not help it.

She was an archaeology major, not an acting student!

In short, the atmosphere in front of the gate froze in an eerie silence for several seconds before Jiang Xun was the first to step forward.

He shook his head to rid himself of the influence of that pink halo, took a deep breath to calm his heart, and then spoke earnestly:

“Miss Su, you are a succubus, watch your influence!”

Su Mian felt very innocent because she had not used the Succubus’s power at all. Otherwise, one look would have made all these people collapse.

Then, that watery, innocent gaze made the man opposite feel even more uncomfortable.

Fortunately, the members of the Administration were not ordinary people and quickly snapped out of it, but no matter what, they did not dare look at that face again.

In any case…

“You said the moonlight affected you just now?”

Perhaps due to his rich experience, Jiang Xun was the first to pull away. He looked up at the moon and frowned slightly.

This moon was certainly related to the Inscrutable Class relic used by the Administration, but why did the relic only affect this succubus? Was there a connection?

Not only was he confused, but the others were also curious. However, Su Mian herself was not entirely sure what was going on, so she naturally did not know how to explain it to them. In the end, she just shook her small head. “I do not know what happened either, but it was just a minor issue. It is resolved now.”

“Fine then.”

The girl clearly looked like she was hiding something, but Jiang Xun did not ask further. Ultimately, Su Mian was not part of the Administration, nor was she even human. Her secrets were not their concern, nor could they be.

Seeing that Miss Succubus indeed seemed fine, they stopped worrying about her issue. There were more important things to do.

“Time is running out, prepare to move.”

Jiang Xun shifted his gaze from the succubus and looked toward the distant light. At this moment, Yujing had been completely enveloped by the Shadow Realm. Despite the hazy moonlight, large patches of blood mist could still be seen!

This indicated that the Truth Society’s ritual still existed!

However, the relic had certainly caused massive damage to it, which was evident from the fact that the blood mist was significantly thinner.

Moreover, the relic’s power was still increasing, so the color of the blood mist was becoming lighter. If left alone, it might be completely purified by the moonlight before long.

Of course, that was assuming it was left alone.

But that was clearly unrealistic.

Just as the Administration could not sit by and watch the Truth Society act recklessly, the Truth Society, having prepared for so many years, would not watch their meticulously prepared ritual be so easily destroyed.

They would definitely react.

According to the plan, that would be the time for Jiang Xun and the others to play their part.

They would find these lunatics from the Truth Society and eliminate them one by one, or destroy the ritual to end it completely!

These actions had to be swift, because the power of the relic was dragging Yujing toward the abyss, a result not much different from the Truth Society’s ritual.

Therefore, they had to destroy the Truth Society’s ritual before the Inscrutable Class relic pulled Yujing entirely into the abyss, and then the Administration would re-seal the relic’s power. Only then could the city truly be saved.