Chapter 177 Brothel Star – Chang'e
Cao Mao gave Ma Moxi a bit of pocket money to spend tonight in the brothel. As for himself, he left the building without bothering with the local prostitutes as the girls were subpar by his standard.
Ten girls were brought to Ma Moxi after Cao Mao had left. When the brothel mama returned, she didn't see Ma Moxi's friend anymore.
"Young master Ma, where is your friend?"
Ma Moxi's face was gloomy before the mama returned. When the girls showed up, he immediately roleplayed as a debaucherous young master.
"Forget him. He's a virgin wimp. I'll take all of them by myself!"
"Oh, my! You're quite different today. Don't you want to see Chang'e today?"
Chang'e was the alias of the brothel star, who only sold her music art, not her body. She insisted on maintaining her purity and refused to sleep with any customer, including the previous owner of Ma Moxi's body.
Before the hitman soul took over this body, Ma Moxi pursued Chang'e as if his life depended on it. Of course, he was rejected because of his fame and his family status.
Ma Moxi had a portion of the previous owner's memory. When he recalled the deed the other Ma Moxi had done, he sighed in disappointment.
"No. I just want bed partners. You can leave us."
"…Sure."
The mama left the VVIP suite.
Ma Moxi adjusted his mindset and began his job. He started playing with the girls and bragged about his knowledge, including various rumors. He mixed in Liu Bian's information along with other rumors so that these girls wouldn't find out that he intentionally leaked the intel.
.
Meanwhile, Cao Mao walked down the stairs and sighed in regret.
'Haiz. Is the protagonist's plot armor at work? I could have summoned KQ and detonated him with the bomb switch back then.'
Cao Mao regretted that he picked Liu Bian as the target. Had he picked Ma Moxi from the beginning, he could have ended the mission today.
Still, no one could tell what kind of stupid missions or questlines the system would have given him had he picked the other choice. Instead of meeting Ma Moxi early, the System Sponsor might have influenced his decision to move closer to Liu Bian instead.
'No point crying for the spoiled milk. I have to turn the crisis into an opportunity.'
The system had hinted at Cao Mao one thing when he was choosing his target. It was hidden in Zhu Qiao's details.
Note: To make the main character your ally, do not accept the character's hunt campaign, or you'll be forced to kill the person.
If this note could apply to Zhu Qiao's campaign, it might be possible to turn other protagonists as his allies or convert them into either a neutral character or an antagonist.
Still, Cao Mao was taking a huge gamble when he decided to befriend Ma Moxi.
Should Cao Mao win this gamble, he could secure a reliable friend. But should he fail, he would end up raising his enemy's strength instead.
The stake was extremely high.
Then, again, the system couldn't be trusted. It could be another diversion or false information.
Now, Cao Mao had three options.
One – Kill Ma Moxi ASAP.
Two – Cooperate with Ma Moxi to kill Liu Bian. Then, turn Ma Moxi into an ally.
Three - Cooperate with Ma Moxi to kill Liu Bian. Then, kill Ma Moxi.
Option one was the safest route, but it was the most troublesome one to deal with after the deed. After all, the Qiang Clan seemed to be Ma Moxi's rival. Without the protagonist's presence, this antagonist clan would be too prosperous like Wei Huang and Xu Xiuying.
The second option was the riskiest, but the reward could be huge. It depended if the system had told him the truth or not.
And then, the last option had many risk factors. By the time they could kill Liu Bian, Ma Moxi's strength would have increased by a few realms. The aftermath showdown would be a lot tougher.
Thinking this far, Cao Mao's feet stopped. He was on the 8th floor at the moment, so it wasn't too late to return and kill the troublesome protagonist.
Cao Mao summoned KQ and hid the katana behind his back. He turned around and backtracked, returning to the previous suite that he had left.
On his way to Ma Moxi's room, his right eyebrow twitched. His instinct sent out a life-threatening alarm.
Cao Mao stopped moving again. He looked around to see if someone or something threatened to kill him.
At the moment, Cao Mao was on the half-turn staircase between the 9th and the 10th floor. On the half-turn wall, a giant mirror, embedded into the wall, was in front of Cao Mao.
Everything was normal around Cao Mao, except for this mirror. The mirror reflection was showing something that shouldn't exist behind him.
A gorgeous dark-green-haired lady in a pink Chinese silk Hanfu dress was walking up the stairs. She was carrying a giant harp, which didn't suit someone from the Chinese culture.
Cao Mao's eyes and the girl in the mirror's eyes met.
The girl smiled and bowed toward Cao Mao. Then, she proceeded to the tenth floor.
Cao Mao turned around, but he couldn't see anyone behind him or on the stairs. He looked back into the mirror. The pink-dressed girl was still there.
In a panic, Cao Mao expanded his sense to check the surroundings. Without difficulty, he located the girl in question. She was using a camouflage skill to hide her real body from plain sight.
Realizing that he wasn't cursed or possessed, Cao Mao heaved a sigh of relief.
'That invisible spell is neat. Well, I should spar with her clone and get that skill. Also, she's probably the only beauty here that can compete with Wei Yuan and others. The rest is just meh.'
It was a strange encounter.
Cao Mao recalled that he was supposed to kill Ma Moxi as soon as possible regardless of his potential. He went up the stairs and returned to the suite.
By the time that he got to the front door, an array spell had already been erected. It prevented Cao Mao from proceeding further.
Beyond the array, there were messages on the surface of the barrier.
[Occupied by Ma Moxi]
[Busy - Do not disturb]
Cao Mao stared at the array with a deep frown. He was surprised that Ma Moxi could use an array spell.
While Cao Mao was staring at the barrier in front of the suite door, the pink-dressed girl canceled her invisible spell and appeared behind him.
"Are you young master Ma Moxi's friend?"
Cao Mao turned around to look at the harp girl. Now that he could admire her beauty without being scared, he finally noticed her pearl pin and pearl crown, which made her stand out.
This pink-dressed girl didn't wear heavy makeup like other prostitutes. Her natural pale and spotless skin suited with the light-colored dress. With her youthful pretty face that rivaled Wei Yuan and other yin slaves, she could easily dominate the brothel as the top girl.
Cao Mao guessed that she might be one of the top prostitutes of this brothel. Although he had the urge to ask for her service right away, he refrained from saying something shameful. If he wanted her that badly, he could violate her clone in the space later on.
"Sort of."
"This is the first time I've seen you here. Is this your first time?"
Cao Mao shrugged, "You can say that. I'm here for a business."
"I see. Then, you might not know that there is an array mechanism in this brothel."
"Array mechanism?"
"Yes. When a customer is using our service, the room's array will activate and prevent others from entering the room. Until the customer is done or our employees leave the room, the barrier will stop everyone from getting in… Well, except for our mama."
The girl formed a hand incantation and waved her palm at the barrier dome. Then, a square screen appeared on the barrier array, showing the image inside Ma Moxi's room.
The screen was similar to a CCTV. It showed the live-action scene of 10 naked women giving service to a naked man.
Cao Mao's face distorted in disgust. The naked guy was Ma Moxi.
"It seems that your friend has started without you."
Cao Mao rolled his eyes, "I'm here for business, not to play. Anyway, can you do something about the barrier? I have other businesses with him."
"Unfortunately, I can't dispel the array. I'm merely a musician in the brothel."
"Hmm."
Cao Mao groaned. After realizing that he was influenced by Ma Moxi's plot armor, being temporarily stupid, he was eager to pay back and get rid of this protagonist. Yet, another obstacle appeared and prevent Cao Mao from completing his task.
'Damn plot armor! Plot armor level 3's power is quite tough. Do I have to drag this bastard to a wasteland to kill him as I did to Xie Tian?'
While Cao Mao was restraining his rage, the girl inspected Cao Mao's expression and complexion, taking notes about what she should do with this new customer. Then, she noticed his leaked element Qi and his cultivation base. She widened her eyes in surprise.
"I'm amazed. You're quite young, but you've almost reached the 4th-stage. Excuse me if I'm being rude, but may I know your name?"
"Mao Miaomiao," Cao Mao said without thinking.
"Even your name is quite cute. Say, since you've already come here, do you want to listen to my new song? I've just composed it yesterday."
"I'm sorry. I'm not in the mood. I'll be leaving."
The girl raised her eyebrows. This was the first time that a customer refused to be with her. Normally, horny men always flocked around her, asking her to bed them.
Chang'e, the star of Victoria Group Brothel, was somewhat offended. She had her pride as a star musician, but Cao Mao ignored her.
Trying to get a bit of revenge, Chang'e activated her skill and flicked her harp strings.
Strange melodies were audible, but it contained mysterious power that froze Cao Mao's legs and influenced his mind.
Seeing the effectiveness of her special sound power, Chang'e grinned. She coyly walked toward Cao Mao to seduce him, "Won't you stay a bit longer and listen to my songs? One song costs only 100 refined stones. It's very cheap."
It was a rip-off. Yet, many horny men fell prey to this seduction and became smitten with her pretty face and sound techniques.
But when Chang'e got to see Cao Mao's face again, she was shocked.
Cao Mao gave her a death glare.
[Ding]
[A song technique has attempted to control your mind.]
[You are immune to the aphrodisiac effect.]
[You have resisted against a hypnosis spell.]
[You have resisted against a mind-controlling spell.]
Losing, dying, and fighting stronger foes in the Isolation Training Space for over 10,000 times refined Cao Mao's mental strength. He was less susceptible to anger, bloodlust, and other negative emotion. Also, he was satisfied with his harem, so he managed to keep his lust in check.
The girl's cultivation strength base was merely level 2 of the 3rd stage. Her Yin Qi was a lot weaker than Cao Mao, who had over 1,000 liters of Life Essence water.
Cao Mao gave Chang'e a warning, "If you don't want me to fuck you senseless and turn you into a mindless seedbed, don't do that again."
"!!!"
Chang'e flopped on her weak knees, shaking in fear. As for Cao Mao, he ignored her and went down the stairs, leaving the brothel.
.
Five minutes later, Chang'e managed to regain her leg strength. She struggled to stand while she stared forward in a daze.
"T-This kind of threatening, this smell, this aura, there's no mistake!"
Chang'e was so excited that her transformation spell was partially undone. Her creep-like mermaid ears replaced her human ears. Even after her human hands became webbed hands, she took out her phone and texted her mermaid friends.
[Girls, you won't believe who I've run into. I've run into an orc! There's still an orc on this continent!]
[ol][li data-annotation-id="a1abec13-6453-5754-8e29-69565424d759"](Chapter 150)[/ol]