Chapter 414 - 413: This World

Chapter 414: Chapter 413: This World

A single casual swing of her blade, and Cloudmute would be dead.

There is no greater sorrow than a broken spirit. After coming to terms with her situation, Cloudmute lost all will to struggle.

She sat collapsed on the ground, staring blankly for a long moment. Once the panic in her eyes faded, only an ashen emptiness was left.

Seraphina Sinclair just stood opposite her, watching quietly, and surprisingly didn’t attack.

After a good while, Cloudmute took a long breath. Her gaze toward Seraphina Sinclair was incredibly complex. Her lips trembled a few times before she managed to speak. "Why?"

Seraphina Sinclair knew exactly what she was asking—why use an Arena Certificate on her?

’Isn’t this just how the rules of this world work?’

’Anyone, at any moment, could have an Arena Certificate used on them.’

’The only reason she’d hesitated so much before using it was because she had principles. She wasn’t the type to kill indiscriminately.’

’But in this damn place... was there any shortage of people who did?’

Seraphina Sinclair believed the question needed no explanation.

Her silence seemed to make Cloudmute misunderstand something. A shocked expression suddenly appeared on her ashen face. She pointed at Seraphina Sinclair and said haltingly, "You... you know? Our plan... all of it... you... you know?"

Seraphina Sinclair raised an eyebrow slightly.

’Interesting.’

’So they had more than one scheme going on.’

Seraphina Sinclair deliberately bluffed, "I know everything. The Expansion Crystals... aren’t they all in your hands?"

"They are in my hands. Or, to be precise... they *were* in my hands."

Cloudmute admitted it readily. After all, things had already come to this; there was no point in lying.

She smiled with a touch of pride, filled with the satisfaction of having completed her mission. "You still haven’t seen through our plan."

Hearing this, Seraphina Sinclair found a clean spot to sit on the floor, her longsword laid across her lap. "Do tell," she asked, her interest piqued.

Cloudmute stared at her for a moment, as if not expecting her to say that.

Then she suddenly broke into a bright smile. "Alright, let’s talk. A Team Certificate—you know what that is, right?"

Of course Seraphina Sinclair knew. She had obtained one a long time ago and even sold it to No-Effort Today.

Seeing her nod, Cloudmute continued, "The goods we’ve been hoarding are stored in the warehouse that comes with the Team Certificate. If you kill me, Artemis will immediately retrieve everything. We’d rather throw these Expansion Crystals away than let you get your hands on them."

Seraphina Sinclair’s hand on her sword didn’t move, but her pupils contracted slightly.

She lowered her gaze to look at Cloudmute.

The other woman was collapsed on the ground, head tilted back, that same "mission accomplished" smile lingering on her lips.

Only then did Seraphina Sinclair realize this wasn’t relief at all.

This woman was gloating.

’What an eyesore. A real eyesore.’

But Seraphina Sinclair said nothing, maintaining her good-tempered demeanor. Her next words, however, made Cloudmute’s heart tremble.

"How strange. None of you signed a Trade Contract, so why do you trust Artemis so much?"

Seraphina Sinclair’s lips curved into a slight smile.

"Do you know what she said when she invited me to join her? The profits, she said, would be a fifty-fifty split between us. Her request was simple, too: I take care of you, and she takes care of Mountainwind. That would only leave Nathan Kane, who’s nothing to worry about."

Seraphina Sinclair saw it clearly. The moment her words fell, the hand Cloudmute had resting by her side began to tremble.

Just as Seraphina Sinclair had said, they hadn’t signed a Trade Contract. If Artemis could conspire with them on one plan, she could just as easily conspire with Blacktiger Ford on another. No matter how the three of them ended up, Artemis... would always be the winner.

Cloudmute shuddered and muttered to herself, "She... sent you to kill me?"

"Why?"

Her voice suddenly rose, her eyes turning bloodshot.

"Is she too scared to face me herself?! She clearly—"

Her words cut off.

Cloudmute looked up.

The redness in her eyes seemed to overflow, streaming down from the corners and carving two wet tracks across her ashen face.

She looked at Blacktiger Ford, a look of sudden realization dawning on her. "That’s right. If she hadn’t been working with you, why would you have suddenly attacked me?"

Cloudmute’s voice was low, but the Arena space wasn’t large. Seraphina Sinclair naturally heard every word.

"You’re not that kind of person... I offered you all my supplies to tempt you, and you still wouldn’t make a move against Artemis."

A tear fell to the ground. Cloudmute kept her head down, as if she didn’t even notice.

"If you weren’t working with her, why would you suddenly attack me?"

’So that’s why Cloudmute believed my story so easily.’

Seraphina Sinclair nodded to herself. ’My bluff hit the mark completely by chance.’

"You didn’t even accept my offer, which proves you’re not someone who acts just for supplies. Artemis said you refused to join only because you cared about your reputation. So, since you cared so much about your reputation, we decided to just drag you down with us, forcing you to join our side."

"She promised that was the only way I’d be safe... that it was the only way I could survive... Why... why is she the one who wants me dead in the end! I trusted her so much!"

’So that’s how it was.’

Artemis’s four-person alliance had never broken. Cloudmute hadn’t betrayed them, and neither Mountainwind nor Nathan Kane had any intention of defecting.

From beginning to end, it was all an elaborate web woven by Artemis.

Making Cloudmute leak the information in the group chat was part of the web. Having Mountainwind and Nathan Kane separately approach Blacktiger Ford was part of the web. And having Cloudmute cry in the regional channel, spam all the casual chat groups, and play the part of a pitiful wretch who’d been kicked out—that was also part of the web.

The web’s sole target was her: Blacktiger Ford.

Drag her down, envelop her in the web, and then tempt her with benefits to keep her docile and prevent her from attacking anyone.

Seraphina Sinclair slowly exhaled. Cloudmute was still talking, her voice growing quieter and quieter.

"She told me to leak it in the group... she said it would drag you into this... The more people cursed you, the more you’d need us... and the safer we’d be..."

"She told me to cry... to cry in the channel, in the casual groups, in front of everyone... the more pitifully I cried, the better... That way, if you wanted to kill me, you’d have to hesitate... After all, what good would killing a pathetic wretch like me do you?"

Her words trailed off. She had been rambling incoherently, but Seraphina Sinclair had pieced everything together perfectly.

Cloudmute raised her eyes and looked at her.

Her gaze was filled with tears, with bloodshot veins, with so many inexpressible things—but the hatred was gone.

"I don’t actually blame her." Cloudmute forced an incredibly pained smile. "Because that’s just how this world is. Everyone is on guard against everyone else. But for some people, it doesn’t matter if you’re on guard. No matter what you do, a single Arena Certificate can take your life."

"That’s just how this world is."

She repeated it again, as if comforting herself.

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t answer, merely continuing to watch Cloudmute in silence.