Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 426 Is it a price you can’t pay?

"Your Excellency the Countess!?"

Seeing the silver-eyed countess turn around and leave the main hall, someone stood up subconsciously and called her to stop, with an urgent tone. Not only him, but everyone felt the same at the moment. After witnessing the miracle of resurrection from the dead, how could they still be indifferent to the eternal life in front of them?
Now they have come to a grand party, where they will compete for the qualification to follow eternity in this party that is destined to be recorded in the history of time and space. The Countess who holds the "Tooth of Eternal Life" is the host of the party. She will send an invitation to the person she likes through a mysterious call, a casual gesture or a proud sneer, inviting him to join this feast called eternal life.

The party had just begun. How could the host with the invitation just leave without saying goodbye and leave her guests looking at each other in bewilderment?
But before that, they seemed to have forgotten that if this party had a host, the first host should be the person who gathered them here.

Gundaruf sat in the highest seat, looking down at everyone's reactions, his eyes dark and deep, no one knew what he was thinking. His emotions did not fluctuate much from beginning to end, whether it was when the silver-eyed countess personally demonstrated the power of immortality, or when the guests in the seats called the countess's honorific title to try to make her stop, he remained indifferent, as if he was watching a plot in another world, or a funny performance on the stage.

It was not until Nevile's back disappeared at the end of the dim corridor and even the sound of her footsteps gradually faded away that he sneered. The laughter, which was full of sarcasm and contempt, was so penetrating that it drowned out the noise of the crowd below and reached everyone's ears accurately, making them all clearly aware of the contempt based on negation contained in this laughter, which pierced those fragile hearts like a sharp sword.

"Gundaluf," someone looked up and said grimly, "Your laughter is still as annoying as it was many years ago. Perhaps this is the only thing you inherited from your ancestor and the thing that is most like him?"

Gundaruf's ancestor was the greatest king in the history of Metosh, the Saint King Neo who galloped in the Taguao wilderness in the name of the divine wolf. He gave his descendants the surname of strength with the honorific name "Nioersu". Until now, he is still a great hero who occupies a considerable space in textbooks and is worshipped and followed by many humans. Although he is actually an alien, a werewolf, the alliance of the cults that overthrew his rule and brought it to an end did not bury his achievements or take away his great deeds. In a sense, gaining the recognition of his enemies is his greatest achievement.

However, as a different species, only a few people recognized Saint Junio, especially the other four ancient clans who were also members of the Five Fangs Alliance. They were even more dismissive of his achievements, thinking that it was purely luck. Even if there was no Saint Junio, there would still be people from other races who could have accomplished this great feat and received the same honor as him.

The best evidence of this is that the former Saint King Neo did not completely conquer the four major families. He could only sign an oath and form an alliance with them, allowing them to be on the same level as the Neoersu family and jointly rule the new Motosh.

The man who made the sarcastic remarks had this idea in mind and was determined to do so. He was Lawrence Joe from the Senya Este family, and he was one of the people who had been ridiculed by the countess before. However, he seemed to have forgotten this unpleasant memory and began to ridicule the organizer of the banquet instead.

He certainly did not do this out of boredom, but because he knew that Gundaruf's purpose in gathering the swamp aliens in the Forloze Castle was to emulate the great deeds of his ancestors and rebuild the alien kingdom. But Lawrence Joe never had such an idea, nor did he think it could succeed, so he used this seemingly sarcastic remark to remind Gundaruf and the others present: After all, you are not Saint Junio, his era has passed, and you cannot accomplish what he ultimately failed to accomplish.

But Gundaruf turned a blind eye to his ridicule and didn't take it to heart, because in his eyes: "Lawrence Joe."

The werewolf with a hideous scar on his face glanced at the deer-headed spirit casually. Others saw the head of the Esther family, but he only saw a vulgar, despicable and self-depraved soul, which was disgusting. "It seems that you have forgotten what the Countess said. A person who killed his two brothers, three sisters and an uncle, is he really qualified to say this to me? Or is this the only thing you inherited from your ancestor and the thing that is most like him?"

Are the deer-headed spirits of Senya Esther only capable of killing their own kind and siblings?
Lawrence Joe read this meaning from his playful eyes, as well as the strange looks from all around him. The self-deprecating Deer-Headed Spirit snorted coldly, shrouding himself in a gloomy and heavy black mist, and seemed to have nothing to say.

Not everyone cares about this boring political drama. After all, they came here for the secret of eternal life and never thought about restoring the glory of the aliens in Metosh or other messy things. You can think that they have been frightened by the cruel cleansing of the cult, but you can also think that the remaining beast nature in them dominates their desires. When beasts want something, they always go directly to plunder and conquer, and never try to beat around the bush.

"Stop with those insincere pleasantries, Gundaruf." Jacob Tang from the Lionfang Divans family grinned, and a deep and rich voice rolled in his throat: "Tell me bluntly, what are your conditions, and what should we do to obtain the power of immortality from Her Excellency the Countess - don't talk about other irrelevant topics, I'm not interested." Although Nevi'er had mocked this old lion man who became less courageous as he got older, he still used the honorific. It was not because he was magnanimous, but just for the sake of immortality.

"hehe."

Gundalufu smiled, his cold teeth colliding lightly, making an unsettling sound. He looked around and asked with interest, "Do you all have the same idea?"

There was silence, but this silence was already an answer, a side voice from one's heart.

"Very good, it seems that the Countess is right. Your desires have always been so shallow and sad. Apart from the pitiful and sporadic greed, there is nothing good about them. In this case, let's get straight to the point."

He stood up from his seat and slowly walked to the edge of the platform, facing the entire hall, just like standing at the highest point of an arena, looking down with contempt and arrogance, the undisputed overlord: "You want eternal life, but I'm afraid eternal life is not such a cheap thing. If everyone here can eventually get eternal life, I'm sure many of you will be dissatisfied, right? What I have, why should others have it? This is the truth that the ancient philosophers taught us. It is so profound and has been confirmed before my eyes. Is it true?"

Still silent, dead silent, you can hear a pin drop, but the guests looked at each other with a strange look in their eyes. Just as Gundaruf said, the immortality that everyone can get is cheap and meaningless. They all realized that they had become competitors, and there was no other relationship except winning or losing. At this moment, the ancient castle seemed to have really turned into an arena, about to witness countless cruel fights, killings and deaths.

but.

"That's not what I want to see." Gundaruf shook his head and said with regret: "It's too sad for the same kind to kill each other. Since the dark cleansing, we aliens have been forced to retreat to the Void Root Swamp. We are already struggling to survive. Why should we kill each other for the so-called eternal life and consume more energy? Doing so will only make our enemies happier. Other than that, it is meaningless."

"So, what is your point, Gundalufo?"

Borefar of the Valenhild family said coldly, not believing that Gundarov was actually a compassionate guy as he appeared to be.

"The Countess has just made it very clear to me what I want to express." The ugly and ferocious wolf face slowly opened into a cold smile, full of malice, ridicule, and undisguised expectation. He said softly, word by word: "The price of eternal life -"

“But it’s very tragic.”

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)