Chapter 1007: Chapter 1006: Sacrificial Pillar
Fang Zheng, Walnut, and Kurumi all keenly observed that when Katie’s father called out, the faces of a few staff members around him changed drastically, while others who were further away didn’t react at first, but soon seemed to realize something as well, and their faces turned pale.
This wasn’t surprise, nor was it astonishment, but rather... fear.
"Father?"
Looking at her father’s terrified expression, Katie was a bit puzzled, but she still handed over the inventory list.
"Look, this is the inventory list..."
"Don’t come any closer!"
To Katie’s surprise, at that moment, her father suddenly shouted angrily, and then backed away as if he had seen something filthy. He then picked up something from the side and threw it at Katie without even looking.
"Get out! Get out now!"
"Wait, what are you doing?"
Seeing this, Walnut was startled and hurriedly rushed forward to pull the stunned Katie away, standing in front of her. However, Katie’s father only glared at them viciously, looking like a fierce and hungry wolf. Not only that, but the staff around also cast dissatisfied and fierce looks at Katie.
"Do you know how much hardship Katie went through to bring these goods back, and this is how you treat your daughter?"
Walnut was furious, but Katie’s father didn’t care about her words at all, and just waved his hand angrily.
"Get out! Get out of my association, guards, guards!! Drive them out!!"
"You...!"
Seeing Katie’s father’s behavior, Walnut immediately took out a shovel from behind her, but at that moment, Kurumi stepped forward and placed her hand on Walnut’s shoulder.
"Sister Kurumi?"
"Don’t cause trouble here, let’s leave for now."
"... Ugh..."
Hearing Kurumi’s advice, Walnut held onto the shovel, truth be told she really wanted to cause a scene here, but after being a mercenary for so long, Walnut had matured quite a bit. She looked back at Katie behind her, then at the aggressive guards ahead, and finally stomped her foot.
"Hmph! Let’s go! Katie!"
Saying this, Walnut glared at those people fiercely, then reached out to grab Katie and turned to leave, while Kurumi also smiled faintly and then turned to leave. Only Fang Zheng looked meaningfully at Katie’s father and the association... She could see that the line of destiny emerging from Katie’s father was so radiant.
Interwoven with the fate of the association, inseparable.
"What kind of people are these!"
After taking Katie far away from the Holy Silver Merchant Association, Walnut finally couldn’t help but complain.
"What kind of father is this! His own daughter went through so much hardship and finally came back, only to be driven away immediately!"
"Ugh... woo..."
At this point, Katie couldn’t hold back anymore, she lowered her head and began to cry softly.
"Ah, don’t cry... don’t cry..."
Seeing Katie like this, Walnut was at a loss, hurriedly and clumsily trying to comfort her. But even Walnut was encountering something like this for the first time and didn’t know what to do.
Watching this scene, Kurumi also shook her head, then she looked at Fang Zheng.
"Little Hong, what do you think?"
"What do I think?"
Hearing Kurumi’s inquiry, Fang Zheng snorted.
"It’s simple, I’ve already found the source of Katie’s bad luck... Kurumi, do you know what a Sacrificial Pillar is?"
"Well... of course I know."
Hearing this, Kurumi frowned slightly, then replied softly. A Sacrificial Pillar was a common ritual in ancient times; simply put, it involved using a living person as a sacrifice to ensure the smooth completion of construction or the successful completion of a ceremony.
"Katie is the Sacrificial Pillar of the Holy Silver Merchant Association."
"Huh...?"
"I just investigated a bit."
Fang Zheng looked at Katie and whispered to Kurumi.
"The Holy Silver Merchant Association’s luck is unexpectedly good, like that of Europeans, and... their good fortune is somewhat too perfect, almost as if it’s man-made. Can you imagine a merchant association encountering no problems at all in its development, always smooth sailing, always achieving what they wish for? Doesn’t it seem a bit fake?"
"So you mean...?"
Hearing this, Kurumi’s expression slightly changed, and Fang Zheng nodded.
"They transferred all the misfortune faced by the association entirely on Katie, which means as long as Katie remains unlucky, until she dies, the Holy Silver Merchant Association will always have smooth sailing and prosperous development."
Saying this, Fang Zheng’s mouth curved up in a mocking smile.
"Perhaps this is the reason why everything Katie tried failed since she was a child, each of her failures meant helping the Holy Silver Merchant Association offset a ’curse of misfortune’. But this time it’s interesting, on this journey we helped Katie fend off so many misfortunes, causing these misfortunes to not be offset but instead to ’accumulate’. "
Saying this, Fang Zheng twitched his fingers.
"As the saying goes, you reap what you sow; the backlash of misfortune is terrifying, yes... I think the people at that association probably know this too, otherwise they wouldn’t have been so terrified when they heard Katie ’successfully’ completed her task. Obviously, they have also realized what they might encounter next."
Moreover, Fang Zheng had an unexpected piece of good news.
Perhaps Katie didn’t know, but the moment Fang Zheng entered the association, he immediately knew her father’s true identity.
In fact, Katie’s father was a cultist.
And he was also a high-ranking member of the Doomsday Church, which Fang Zheng planned to deal with.
What a stroke of luck... to find what I sought without any effort at all...
Fang Zheng hadn’t expected to find his target so easily, it seemed... his luck wasn’t too bad after all.
"What should we do next?"
"I’m preparing to take action."
Of course, Fang Zheng wasn’t going to miss this golden opportunity. "Ratziel" had informed Fang Zheng that these cultists were planning to hold a ceremony tomorrow night at a secret location in Silver City, which was his best chance.
"Next, I’ll operate alone to arrange the upcoming matters. I’ll leave Katie under your and Walnut’s protection. Her father won’t easily let go of Katie, after all, the backlash of the curse of misfortune is quite terrifying, it could lead to big trouble. To ensure the misfortune continues to flow through Katie, her father will definitely try to cause trouble for her, and might even send people to assassinate her. Your task is to protect Katie as much as possible during this period, don’t let anything happen to her. The rest will be dealt with after I’ve taken care of those cultists."
Quickly giving instructions, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but smile smugly.
Although he had been quite unlucky on this journey, it seemed that his luck was turning, after all, during the upcoming period, Katie’s father would be plagued by misfortune. Even if he realized something was wrong, he’d only think it was his bad luck...
For Fang Zheng, this is indeed good fortune.