Su Zhao was about to fall apart.
Her mood experienced drastic ups and downs, mostly downs, downs, downs, downs, downs, downs.
Plummeting all the way to the bottom of the abyss.
$-30!!!$ $30$!
That was a ridiculously precious 30 points of favorability!
Su Zhao felt as though she had been struck by lightning, unable to believe that she had suffered the biggest blow since entering the game, just like that, so casually!
Compared to this painful lesson, the Waterloo she had encountered with the succubus was nothing at all.
Not to mention the effect of a $-10$ favorability penalty from the entire Dark Faction. This was practically like someone taking a knife and stabbing her right in the heart without any mercy!
Su Zhao only felt a sharp pain in her chest.
Her heart was bleeding.
Her heart hurt so much she could not breathe.
With trembling hands, she repeatedly touched that line of text.
Having lost her mind with anger, she even delusionally attempted to wipe its existence away with her hand.
Did those jerk developers have any idea how much effort she had poured into gaining those 30 points of favorability?
She had painstakingly stayed up late for so long, completed so many tedious quests, sacrificed countless brain cells, worked herself to the bone without sleeping or eating, and finally managed to accumulate this hard-earned favorability from her target!
Yet now, just because the other party held a tiny grudge, her 30 points of favorability had vanished into thin air in an instant!
Was the dignity of a Grand Duke really so worthless, so easily offended?
Su Zhao repeatedly reminded herself to take deep breaths, deep breaths. After a long while, her trembling body slowly calmed down.
Calm down, calm down, calm down.
Mammary health is important; well-being comes first.
Playing games is all about having fun. It is not worth getting angry over; really, it is just not worth it.
At least the older sisters are all very pretty.
The Vampire Grand Duke is pretty, too!
Su Zhao forced a smile.
Patiently coaxing herself.
At the same time, she recalled the magnificent, beautiful face of Ophelia from her memory.
A 360-degree, all-angle, dead-end-free visual beauty crit.
The Yan-dog’s smile gradually grew sincere.
Slowly, she grew calm and collected.
She had successfully coaxed herself.
The cards in her hand looked more upsetting the longer she stared at them.
Adhering to the principle of out of sight, out of mind, Su Zhao was just about to put the card away. But after staring at it for a moment, she suddenly remembered something.
This card was indeed something she had managed to get her hands on from that troublesome Grand Duke Ophelia back when she was doing a vampire-related walkthrough quest.
As for that quest, the less said, the better.
The mere memory of that quest gave Su Zhao a headache. She had relied on countless reloads just to complete it while out of her mind with stress.
As soon as the quest ended, without even waiting to look at the rewards, Su Zhao had immediately made her escape and fled in disgrace.
Unless she wanted to collect all the achievements, Su Zhao swore she never wanted to see this vampire again in her life.
The negative effects of this card were simply infuriating. The positive and negative effects could not cancel each other out at all; Evelyn’s 10 favorability points were simply not worth mentioning compared to that terrifying $-10$ all-faction favorability.
Grand Duke Ophelia was indeed difficult to deal with, but since she had already offended her and there was no turning back, she had no choice but to accept reality. Knowing that Ophelia’s favorability was extremely hard to grind, Su Zhao simply chose not to waste any effort on her.
However, on the other hand, the succubus of the same Dark Faction, whose favorability had been so painstakingly hard to grind, was now implicated as well.
Su Zhao could not help muttering softly, “Can I catch a break or what?”
She really wanted to just die for a bit.
Yet she felt as though the one who deserved to die was someone else entirely.
Sure enough, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. The moment the game gave her a tiny benefit, it would hit her over the head with a sledgehammer, leaving Su Zhao dizzy and disoriented. How could she even care about the precious favorability boost from Evelyn? She only wanted to destroy this item immediately.
She could do without this item.
She flipped through it back and forth numerous times, almost shredding the uniquely textured card, until finally, after much searching, she spotted a few grains of rice-sized black characters in the bottom right corner of the card.
[This item cannot be discarded.]
Su Zhao: “What is this?”
Is this considered fishing law enforcement?
Or a forced sale?
The crimson glow seemed to be mocking her.
Su Zhao could only watch helplessly as the succubus’s two-thousandths progress bar instantly shrank back.
While she was beating her chest in despair and unable to bear watching, it started over from zero and violently surged a large chunk in the opposite direction!
Help!
Su Zhao reached out an Er-Kang hand.
No, do not do this!
The progress bar ruthlessly retreated.
Vividly dragging the succubus’s favorability down into the negatives.
Su Zhao wore a blank expression.
The auctioneer, who had been sneaking glances at her expressions the entire time, watched her face shift through various dramatic changes before finally freezing in a gloomy, disheartened expression.
Unable to hold back any longer, the auctioneer finally asked cautiously, “Are you alright?”
Su Zhao put away the item with a completely numb face.
She forced the corners of her lips upward and tried her best to smile.
“I am fine, exceptionally fine, especially fine, not bad in the slightest, practically beyond wonderful, so good it is close to being impeccably flawless! I am just so deeply moved!”
The auctioneer looked at her expression, then listened to her tone, and her heart instantly turned half cold. Completely plunged into despair with trembling lips, she stammered:
“So, are you seriously planning to go on a killing spree and paint Lanster City red with blood?”
Su Zhao: “Huh?”
Her words came completely out of left field, leaving Su Zhao utterly baffled.
She was currently suffering over favorability points. Had she said anything at all about Lanster City? What did the sins committed by the succubus have to do with the other people in Lanster City? If she wanted revenge, she would go straight after the succubus, wouldn’t she?
The auctioneer swallowed hard, bowed slightly, and spoke in a humble tone.
“Your Highness, I am willing to be your dog, to become your most loyal servant. You can order me around however you wish, use me however you like, as long as you spare this dog life of mine.”
Su Zhao: “Huh?”
She even involuntarily leaned back slightly, distancing herself a bit from the seemingly unhinged auctioneer for fear of catching whatever mental disease she had, staring at her with wide eyes.
This world has truly grown deranged to a degree she could no longer comprehend.
Seeing her reaction, the auctioneer grew even more desperate.
“T-then please make it quick,” she said, on the verge of tears, her legs trembling as she stammered, “I am scared of pain. I beg you to grant me a swift death.”
Su Zhao: “Never mind.”
Su Zhao waved a weary hand. “I am not killing you. Go play by yourself and stop showing up in front of me.”
She was tired; stop coming here to torment her.
As if granted a royal pardon, the auctioneer happily gave an enthusiastic response and scampered out joyfully.
This was a genuine, personally promised exemption from the princess herself. Even if her luck turned abysmal later on and she accidentally bumped into the Holy See Knights, she could still righteously pour her heart out to them.
Compared to her previous miserable situation, wandering around blindly like a headless fly all by herself, risking her life at the slightest distraction, this was truly heaven and earth.
It was well worth all the groveling and subservience she had put up with for so long!
Having suffered consecutive blows and relentless torture, Su Zhao was listless and unable to summon a single shred of spirit.
She really wanted to shed a sympathetic tear for herself.
She had originally started walking outward, intending to find her older sister and let loose a flood of little pearls in front of her to vent the grievances she had suffered today.
Yet after walking a few dejected steps, Su Zhao remembered something and scurried right back.
She strode up to the auction stage, using both hands and feet to climb up to the top of the cage.
Stepping onto the cage’s roof, her height was finally sufficient. Su Zhao stretched out her neck and looked toward Box 12, which she cared about so deeply.
Peering inward through the open window, Box 12 was completely empty.
Yet the cup of tea left on the table was still warm, emitting wisps of white steam, as if its owner had only just been leisurely taking a sip before casually setting it down a moment ago.
They had left the room just a second ago.
On the table, something stood out remarkably.
In the dead center of a plate sat a peach pit that had been eaten completely clean, placed there without any attempt at concealment. Its posture was brazen, yet carried an inexpressible, teasing undertone.
It was as if it were flagrantly provoking her.
Su Zhao: “That was my peach!”
Absolute pervert!
Simultaneously, a low, soft, husky voice rang out without warning right beneath Su Zhao’s feet.
Asking her, “What are you looking at?”