185 At The Border 2 The Sinners's Queen

Ten minutes later...

"Speaking of petty... He made these two ran off to the borders? Just to make my life a bit harder?

Sofony's face which was still that of the short-haired athletic-looking young woman contorted for a second, reminiscing back to that dude wearing the guise of a middle-aged man.

Her eyes then went to the two miserable looking people sprawled messily on the dirty moist ground, cushioning themselves onto the dry leaves, grasses, stones, and twigs. One had his two feet and hands and even tongue cut off. The other was less miserable since his hands were still attached to his body. For some reason, instead of finding a secluded mountain or forest to settle themselves in just as Chris commanded, they appeared at the borders, specifically in the hundred meters mini-forest which lied before the endless ocean of sands.

Her gazes settled at the first man whose eyes were now full of unshed tears. He lifelessly looked up to the red skies that appeared quite ominous and bloody beyond the dark green leaves of the intertwining crowns of the trees.

Nothing changed from her expression. Sofony just continued staring at him, and she didn't feel gross out by the gory sight of the freshly amputated arms and legs. Pity did cross her eyes. However, it was for another matter altogether.

"Shall I assumed that he purposely commanded you to do this to yourself so that I'll be forced to spend tens of thousands of points to heal you?"

The woman didn't know since she forgot to ask if Chris had made these two foreign mercenaries do something to themselves. Chris too didn't mention the punishment or, say, retaliation that he did against them.

"What to do?" Her pretty face scrunched up, showing just how she hated to fall for what she assumed was that man's petty schemes.

The devil-like being inside her brain graciously suggested after a long burst of laughter.

The system probably raised this suggestion since she also tried to inquire intel about the man but gained nothing in return. It meant the host was either someone at the same or higher level than her, or places so much importance to this person to personally request anonymity from the system. It said to kill him since there was a chance that his memories would go to the system. And if that was to happen, it meant that it would be available for a memory transplant.

This had been used on Felicity before.

When the real Steffany Jimenez died, her memories went to the system's bank of knowledge and records. Sofony happened to purchase it, and then she transplanted them to Felicity to make it appear like she was the real 'Steffy' and that she owned the memories.

Sofony could definitely try the method. It was just that she would rather not. It was not that the act was against her code. If she really wanted to, there was another guy nearby whose hands she could use to do the killing. So many years had passed, but she'd stuck to this modus operandi due to her wish of never having to personally tarnish her own hands with somebody's death.

However, she felt apprehensive about the system's suggestions since there was a chance that this person's master or host had given instructions to the system to make the memories vanished into nothingness once he dies. Wouldn't her efforts go to waste then? She was not like her gambler MIA father, hence, she chose the less risky method.

'... Ah, what a bothersome matter. If hypnosis won't work, then I guess it just can't be helped. Damnable devil, heal his tongue. I only need him to be able to speak.'

She heard a scoff in her mind. The system must have disliked her choosing one of the most points-saving options. It always loved to see her wasting large amounts of system currency so it must be expecting her to heal his whole body. What a lowly bastard. If she only has the choice, she would have long exchanged it with Chris' AI.

'Wonderful.' Sofony half-heartedly replied to it.

She began hypnotizing the man. It took quite some time since a certain's bastard's seed had rejected her ability at first. This was not really something Chris had ordered. It was just that there was a natural rejection due to the source of mental power being different.

"I am deeply sorry for what you've gone through. It's just that there's nothing more that we can do in your current state. I don't have the miraculous ability to cure you of your ailments and disabilities," she lied with a straight face. "Thankfully, your assailant has spared your tongue, thus, you can still speak."

"...Help...me....please...." The man who was still an elite C Empire hitmen just a couple of hours ago had tears running down his blurry eyes. It expended him tons of energy to turn his head to the hazy figure of a woman that suddenly appeared by his side. Despite his dulled sight, he knew she looked beautiful. He thought that she might be a goddess. Goddesses could cure sickness and guide people back to their homes, couldn't they?

It seemed when people were at their lowest, not would only their imaginations run wild, they would also try to pin their hopes onto practically anything and anyone they would come across with.

"Please....help...me...." he weakly pleaded, the fluids coming out of his eyes and nose mixing together.

As she beheld the unsightly face of the man, Sofony shook her head, lying again, "I'm just a normal being like you. But if you have some wishes or messages that you want me to relay to your loved ones, I may be able to lend you a helping hand. Come, tell me, what do you want to say to them? I'll gladly pass them on for you."

She must be quite bored to actually take a roundabout way of fishing out the information from the sobbing human swine. Or perhaps her heart had just somehow become twisted due to missing her lover so much.

Maybe the fact that she would never do this to anyone blameless and innocent was already something to celebrate about.

She laughed as she stood up. More or less ten minutes had passed since she began speaking with him. All that she could squeeze out from the person's mouth were obtained, hence, she no longer had any business with him.

'Quite a fruitful trip. Thankfully, Chris did not go as far as to omit important intel about this poor soul. Otherwise, I won't learn about some fantastic things going on nearby without my knowledge.'

She smoothed down the loose strands of hair floating before her when a strong gust of wind passed by. Before walking off, she hypnotized the two men to never commit suicide or kill ever again as her personal retaliation for their unforgivable act of trying to assassinate one of her prized talents.

...

A brief trip to a not-so-distant past...

Hours ago, the same time as when the individual Sofony termed as a human swine executed Chris Meyer's first commands, someone from a hidden fortress in the part of the barren dessert nearest to C Empire reacted, feeling the subtle connection between him and the most trusted person who betrayed him being shaken a bit.

It was not the feeling of his mental energy lingering to that person's body and mind being broken through. Different from it, to put into words, it was a very-hard-to-explain connection between a host and his main non-host supporter, the ordinary human a system's blessed person had subconsciously designated as his pillar of support in his initial days of being a host.

The place was in a dark, dungeon-like prison cell. Only a kid was inside of it.

Dirty. Chained. Full of all sorts of bruises, wounds, scars. Some of the injuries looked fresh and recently inflicted. The scent of burn and blood even lingered in the air, heavily.

In reality, the same set of descriptions could be used to every person bound and jailed in the underground stronghold, yet this cell was one of the most unsavory ones since its tenant was one of the youngest here, only ten or so years old.

The tortured kid's eyelids twitched. He wanted to open them, and his brain complied. However, despite the signals and commands being sent to it, his left eye failed to cooperate, most probably lacking the ability to do so due to the wax poured all over it.

Perhaps this was the reason why he settled with just imagining the eyeball of his left eye to be also looking over to the direction his right one was directed to. Using a very dry and hoarse voice unbefitting of a child, he called out within his mind.

'Sys...tem....?'

Silence met its excited report. The kid had taken a minute to digest what he heard. Later though, she still couldn't speak or reply as tears began to stream down his deadly pale cheeks.

The being inside his brain started to console him, reminding him of the situation he was in and why he ended up this way. A lovely and pretty boy who should be at home being showered in love, playing with his schoolmates or having fun with a Gameboy or smartphone mini-games...

Indeed, how did a little treasure like him end up wearing dirty and tattered clothing, lifelessly lying on the cold, moldy, and damp stone floor?

At its words, the child closed his currently only functioning eye. Even his system didn't know what thoughts and ideas crossed his little mind during the period that he kept his quiet.

Not long after though, it clearly heard, in a voice so void of emotion, yet also full of yearning.

'... I beg you... miracle...'

'Those brethren to... liberate us... by destroying this place....'

'Please... lead a kind soul to this... god-forsaken place...'

'...I really...want to die...'