Chapter 618: “‘Life Exhaustion is a Blasphemous Lie Told to the Strong’”

Feng Yeshan was gambling.

He was betting that this “Altos” didn’t actually care about their lives.

He was also betting that as long as they didn’t resist, the other party wouldn’t be bothered to kill them either.

After all, they had no grudges, no conflicts—before today, they hadn’t even met face to face.

Congratulations. He gambled correctly.

Ye Qiyan had never been interested in killing people without benefit.

Just as Lisette had said, he was here to rob them.

“You three... want to live?”

He didn’t need to pull out the 【Demon Card】.

Arrogance... Bewitchment...

These weren’t summon-type Demon Cards. Even without taking them out, he could still use part of their power.

Because they belonged to Ye Qiyan, and they couldn’t leave Ye Qiyan.

Like drowning men desperately clinging with everything they had to the one ship that could escape the icy sea.

The 【Demon Cards】 that belonged exclusively to Ye Qiyan could no longer leave him.

And this didn’t count as breaking this world’s rules~

After all, these abilities weren’t being actively used by Ye Qiyan.

Besides, Wish War’s 【Incomplete Power】 allowed him to choose two options.

He had only chosen 【Lord of Absolute Supremacy】 and hadn’t made the other selection yet.

Because right now, it didn’t seem necessary~

Cold sweat drenched Feng Yeshan’s back. The other two people were even more terrified, wanting to run away.

He swallowed hard, forcing down the fear in his heart as he answered:

“O-of course, Mr. Altos, I understand what you mean. May I ask... what do we need to pay to survive?”

“You should ask yourselves that question. How much do you think your lives are worth?”

This kind of answer was the most terrifying.

Feng Yeshan’s face turned deathly pale.

For someone who had lived a long time, nothing was more important than their own life.

So, to buy his life from this man, the price would be...

“I understand. Thank you, Mr. Altos, for sparing our lives! We have no way to repay you, so please... accept this!”

He signaled the man and woman behind him, then produced a box.

Opening it, he revealed a third of a jade fragment inside.

The other two did the same.

The three fragments were combined into one, forming an emerald-green jade toad.

【Jade · Life-Span Toad (Level 8)】

【Made from “Deity Number—A-7—Life Span,” it can be used to extend any being’s life by 200 years.】

【Note: “Useless thing. Garbage creation only needed by the incompetent.”】

【Note 2: “A Train Conductor just needs to keep moving forward. Why would they need something like this? Life span doesn’t deserve to exist in the System’s information—utterly meaningless——”】

【Note 3: “How could the strong be troubled by life span?”】

Looking at the jade toad Feng Yeshan held so preciously in his hands, a Nanite Bee made contact and revealed its appraisal information, causing Ye Qiyan to raise an eyebrow.

Extending... life span?

Come to think of it, he’d never actually heard of a Train Conductor dying from running out of life span.

In fact, it seemed even stamina wasn’t about life span, but about vitality.

Even though Ye Qiyan hadn’t been in the Wasteland long, he could already sense one thing.

As long as you were strong enough—whether in spirit, physical stamina, or even just powerful items—you would never face death by natural causes.

And judging from the System’s notes, it didn’t just disdain something like 【life span】; it outright detested it.

It was as if it was saying:

【“‘Life exhaustion is a blasphemous lie told to the strong’”】

So what was the point of an item like this?

The point... was to let the weak live longer?

Oh... no wonder the System hated it.

Even though the System favored Train Conductors, that favor only fell on those who kept moving forward and kept growing stronger.

The weak, the stagnant, the slothful...

In front of people like that, the System would reveal its cold and cruel side.

Time flowed differently in the Advanced Station Worlds.

There were absolutely worlds with ratios of hundreds to one, or even thousands to one.

Since countless years ago when Train Conductors first entered this world, how many had actually hidden themselves away?

Stagnation led to being forgotten, just like Zhao Xi.

Her abilities had steadily declined over ten years. If she kept staying in Suoluo City forever, in the end, she might even forget her own life.

The Nanite Future Bees formed a tray and brought the toad before Ye Qiyan.

So, if even the System despised it this much, this item’s value probably wasn’t very high.

As a hero who “robbed the rich to help the poor”~ Ye Qiyan was quite dissatisfied with this.

He casually tossed it up and down in his hand a few times, speaking in an uninterested tone:

“Your lives are only worth this much?”

“Th-this much? Sir, this item... is very expensive...”

Feng Yeshan wiped the sweat from his brow. He hadn’t expected this Altos to say such a thing.

Life-span items truly meant nothing to the strong.

But in the cities, in the stations with high time flow rates—the old fossils who had stayed put for many years loved these things most.

The fact that the God of Life Span could reach the A-7 level was entirely because it had been slowly supported by those old fossils.

【“Damn it, he’s right too... This is a top-tier Train Conductor. Someone like him probably really does look down on such a small thing. Then I’ll have to...”】

He gritted his teeth and, with some reluctance, took out another box from his storage space.

Under the incredulous and betrayed gazes of the green-haired man and the woman, he produced another identical toad.

“Sir, this... this is all we can offer...”

Were they really that poor?

Could they only bring out such trash items to buy their lives?

Ye Qiyan looked somewhat disdainfully at the Nanite Future Bee swarm as it brought over the other toad as well.

“Fine, whatever. By the way, you mentioned you hired Abukado mercenaries for this Wish War, right? Hmm... do you want to buy their lives too?”

Feng Yeshan’s face went from deathly pale to ashen. He and the remaining man and woman prostrated themselves in terror.

“N-no, no, no! I, we, we—! Abukado, it was Abukado who wanted to come on their own...”

“Oh, doesn’t matter. Anyway...”

Ye Qiyan revealed a smile full of malicious amusement.

“One of you told me this information in advance. Really, thank you so much~”

【Bewitchment~】

Even without using the Demon Card,

the lies spoken by the master of demons entered their ears and transformed into an absolute truth they believed~

The three people’s expressions changed again.

Until Ye Qiyan swaggered away, disappearing with the two plundered items and The Hunt.

Only then did they slowly rise and look at each other, their gazes no longer filled with the same trust as before.

“H-he must have been lying, right?”

“Right. If we really wanted to surrender, we could have discussed it among ourselves.”

“Mm... Don’t let him divide us. We...”

They didn’t say much more, but there was always a hint of awkwardness and strangeness in their words.

Hou Jie clenched his fist.

“But, Feng Yeshan, didn’t we only get two Life-Span Toads originally? Where did you get that one from?”

The seed of suspicion took root and sprouted~ Under Ye Qiyan’s Bewitchment, it grew into a towering tree.