Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 422 Does eternal life require a price?

"I don't want to keep you in suspense."

Gundaruf said bluntly, his cold voice echoing under the towering dome of the main hall of the castle. On every cold and moldy brick, the ghosts passing by also held their breath and listened: "I know that you all gathered here to pursue the mystery of eternal life. You may still have some doubts in your hearts, but I don't mind, because people's vision is always limited by their location. People living in swamps cannot see the scenery of the mountains, and souls trapped in the abyss can hardly reach out and touch the moonlight above their heads. The mediocre are inactive, and the despicable are incompetent. This is not your fault, but the law of the world."

This was said as a matter of course, without any sarcasm, as if it was the truth. The guests present were all of noble status and powerful. If it were any other time, they would definitely not allow such an insult. But now, they couldn't be sure whether Gundaruf was deliberately provoking them and trying to force everyone to lose their composure. The secret of immortality was of great importance. In order not to reveal any flaws, even the most irritable person restrained himself at this time, remained silent, and looked coldly at him.

Gundalufo saw their reactions and grinned. His smile was as cold as his exposed fangs, shining with pale cold light: "Then, let's skip these boring pleasantries and directly invite the owner of the Fang of Eternal Life, the legendary Undead Witch, to show us the power of eternity."

"I think you have all heard of her name before, even though you have only heard of her and never seen her in person."

"The Silver-Eyed Countess from the Bloodfang Valenhild family, Lady Never."

"It is my great honor to be here today."

His precise words fell like a guillotine, cutting off the complicated thoughts in the guests' minds, just like removing a boring and harsh noise from the interlude of a beautiful piece of music, leaving only a simple and neat echo. Then, the huge bronze door of the main hall of the castle was pushed aside slowly and laboriously by the twelve fully armed werewolf guards, and the creaking sound was like gears biting hinges and pistons driving valves.

In the shadows that were pouring in like a tide, everyone saw a tall and slender figure.

Snow-white hair that fell to her waist, an elegant and gorgeous wide-sleeved rose-red court dress, a crystal-like cold and mean face, and a temperament that despised authority. Of course, the most eye-catching thing was probably her silver eyes, which were different from ordinary vampires. All vampires had blood-red vertical pupils, which were said to be a symbol of the "Night Mother", the ancestor of the blood clan. However, her eyes were shining with silver light, staring coldly into the void, ignoring the heavy gazes around her as if they were nothing.

The oldest surviving elder of the Valenhild family, the silver-eyed countess, and the undead witch under the moon, walked to the center of the main hall with the crisp sound of her heels stepping on the castle bricks. She looked around, examining the vulgar and despicable people around her with her arrogant and contemptuous eyes. For some reason, although they were clearly at the same level, these outliers all had the illusion that they were being looked down upon, and a sense of oppression that came from their souls and blood.

He clenched his fists silently. Although he hated deeply in his heart, he still pretended to be calm on the surface. Nevi'er didn't care. Her eyes continued to move and soon fell on the next person. It was a golden-maned lion man who looked brave and majestic, but he couldn't hide the deep wrinkles on his face and the cloudy shadows in his eyes.

Borrefa, who was also a descendant of Valenhild, was gloomy after hearing her words. He felt that there were strange eyes around him. Being an illegitimate child was a big stain in his life, and he had poisoned his biological father in order to gain power, which was a secret buried deep in his heart for many years. Who could have expected that it would be ruthlessly exposed in front of so many people today?
The Silver-Eyed Countess...how did she know about this?

Never's sight suddenly fixed on one of the guests, an old bat with cunning and panic in his eyes. The corners of her mouth slowly turned upward, outlining a disdainful sneer: "Berlefa, I didn't expect you to be here too. Could it be that before your old and blind father was poisoned by you, he took your illegitimate son who crawled out of the sewer with him? I thought he was cruel enough, but I didn't expect that he was still not decisive towards you, which is why you can still sit here openly and squander the little face he left for you."

"Jacob Tang, you're still alive. It's the biggest joke God has played on the Divans family. Tell them that you can live well without a brain." The Countess shook her head slightly, and said in a playful tone, "But it's indeed the habit of you reckless men to let a guy with a fist bigger than his head rule the family. I just wonder if you lived up to the expectations of your people when you ran away with your tail between your legs when facing the army of the Holy See?"

The head of the Lionfang Divans family had never been insulted like this before. His face immediately turned red, and a low, threatening roar rolled out of his throat, as if to warn the countess that despite her noble generation, there were some things she couldn't say casually. But Nevelle just glared at him coldly: "Shut up."

She blocked all the roars that the golden-maned lion man was most proud of in her throat. She didn't even look at the guy's angry and helpless expression, and continued to look at the next person, the current head of the Esther family: "Lawrence Joe? I hope I'm wrong, after all, you should be dead, or the people who died in that internal fight were not you, but your two brothers, three sisters and an uncle? Then I really feel sorry for them, after all, a flower watered with blood may not be a rose, but a rotten and poisonous flower." The few aliens sitting next to the deer-headed spirit subconsciously moved to the side, because they could feel a biting chill and murderous intent emanating unrestrainedly.

The Countess looked around, and no one dared to look at her. It was not until then that they realized what the most intuitive manifestation of immortality was - the proud and beautiful girl in front of them was actually an ancient ancestor who had fought side by side with Saint Junio. The inheritance and rise and fall of the Five Fangs Clan had all passed through her eyes, and they, and even their father, grandfather or great-grandfather, were just younger generations to her.

She used her long life to master everyone's secrets and weaknesses, and mocked and reprimanded them from the perspective of an elder, but no one dared to say anything. After all, immortality symbolizes not only eternal life, but also eternal power. The Silver-Eyed Countess is definitely stronger than most people present.

The only exception was Gundaruf on the platform, who grinned and laughed silently, very wildly and wantonly. Perhaps the Countess's words really touched his heart, and he poured out everything he wanted to say but disdained to say or felt unnecessary, like a knife, without mercy, leaving no face for anyone.

He thought that the only thing he and the Countess agreed on was her assessment of this group of vulgar and despicable people.

To the relief of many aliens, the countess seemed not to intend to continue talking. Perhaps she was tired of the forbearing and sinister expressions of those whose secrets were exposed. They were exactly the same as they had been for hundreds of years and there was nothing new about them.

"Let's not play dumb." She stood in the center of the main hall, as if she was standing on a stage that belonged only to her, and said lightly: "I have heard about this from Gundaruf. You all gathered here to pursue the power of eternal life. This is not surprising. After all, your desires have always been so shallow and sad. Apart from the pitiful and sporadic greed, there is nothing good about it. In this case, let's get straight to the point."

She smiled slightly, and gracefully took out a star-shaped crystal dagger from her wide sleeves. The pale blue light suddenly became brighter, making everyone's face pale, and even plunging the main hall into a brief darkness. The blue crystal reflected every hidden blood vessel on the countess's wrist, as if the light would penetrate into the blood and inject it with surging echoes.

"The teeth of immortality are like the kiss of a god, granting eternal life and power." Nevi'er looked at everyone present with a half-smile, her eyes as dark as the night: "But before that, have you thought about how much you will have to pay for this?"

The whole place was dead silent; this attitude said it all.

Nevile was not surprised, as she had long known how greedy and stupid these guys were. She gently turned the tip of the dagger upside down and pointed it at her chest, while silently saying, "I'm sorry."

"Leticia."

The dagger stabbed down without hesitation, and a gorgeous blood-red poppy suddenly bloomed in the shadow.

immediately.

Click——!
It was the sound of a mirror breaking.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)