People are in Honkai Impact 3rd, there's a villain simulator.

[You saw the fear and anxiety in the people's hearts, and their longing for salvation, so you began issuing indulgences, claiming that as long as they purchased indulgences, the gods would forgive their sins, protect them from disease, and even if they died of illness, they would ascend to heaven to enjoy eternal peace.]

The church has a long history of using indulgences to amass wealth, and you've also negotiated with the higher-ups of the Moth Chaser organization to have them take the lead in investing money. After the matter is completed, the gentry's money will be returned in full, and the common people's money will be split 30/70.

The leadership of Moth Chaser readily agreed.

[Encouraged by the higher-ups of the Firemoth faction, the people generously donated money, hoping that the gods would protect them from the Honkai disease.]

[You have accumulated $10 million through the Indulgence Scrolls and received a reward of 10 Crystals.]

[You have accumulated $100 million through the Indulgence Scrolls and received a reward of 100 Crystals.]

[You have accumulated $1000 million through the Indulgence Scrolls and received a reward of 1000 Crystals.]

[The maximum amount of crystals obtainable from this act of wrongdoing has been reached; no further crystal rewards can be claimed.]

Qiao Qiao originally thought that by issuing indulgences, she could not only make money indefinitely, but also create an infinite crystal manufacturing machine.

However, it now appears that there is a limit to the amount of crystals that can be earned with the Redemption Scroll; 1000 crystals is the limit.

[With the issuance of indulgences, your wealth snowballed, quickly making you the richest person in Twilight Street. You immediately announced the construction of a colossal statue of Saint Aponia to commemorate the most beautiful goddess in your heart.]

Upon receiving this news, the public was stunned, never expecting that the money they had donated would be used by you to chase after celebrities.

The streets were suddenly filled with people protesting your money-grabbing schemes.

"rnm, refund me!"

[But your use of indulgences to raise funds was approved by the church and the government; it was a voluntary act from the beginning, so no matter how much the public protests, it will be to no avail.]

And as you might have predicted, one night, the church's vault was emptied.

[All the assets you painstakingly acquired using the Indulgence Scroll have been given away to the common people of Twilight Street. The higher-ups at Moth Chaser are furious about this, but you are overjoyed.]

[You never intended to hand over such a large sum of money to the Firemoth's leadership. Watching them make money hurts you more than you lose it. The gold being stolen and returned to the people is exactly what you wanted. The Cat Team has done a great job.]

Under the bright moonlight, you also saw a cat-haired girl in a white cloak silently moving between the rooftops on the twilight street.

When Pado returned to her base, she found a strange priest sitting on her bed.

The cat-haired girl seemed to notice you and was about to turn away, but you called out to her, "Miss Padofelis, I've missed you for a long time."

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Collar Qiaoqiao Gives to Pado

For JoJo, to end the current rampant Honkai in Twilight Street, she must first find the Fifth Herrscher and end the Fifth Honkai.

But this was obviously not an easy task, and coincidentally, Qiaoqiao happened to know an expert in finding people.

One of the Thirteen Heroes, the Dream of Emptiness: Padofelis.

Qiaoqiao amassed wealth on a large scale in order to deliberately seduce Pado into coming to steal things, and then wait for her to come to him.

When Pado heard Qiaoqiao say that she had missed her for a long time, she took two steps back, wanting to seize the opportunity to escape. She had just stolen money from the church and donated it to the people of Twilight Street, so she was convinced that you wanted to ask her for the money back.

If Jojo catches her now, she won't be able to pay back the money, and it might even lead to a scenario like, "Padophilia, you don't want your identity as a phantom thief to be exposed and you'll be locked up in jail, do you?"

Padre seized the opportunity, turned around and ran towards the window, wanting to give Luddar a break. Once outside, the intricate streets of Twilight Street would be Padre's territory, and no one could catch her.

But the next second, just as Paddy was about to break through the window and escape, she suddenly felt everything go black and she was back in the spot where she was standing.

"What's going on?! Could it be...?"

Pado glanced at Qiaoqiao, who was sitting on the bed not far away, looking quite relaxed, and realized that he must have done something good.

In the past, Pado had encountered some people with strange and unusual abilities on Dusk Street, and perhaps Qiaoqiao was one of them.

Could it be that his ability is to control the floor?

Pado realized she had nowhere to escape, so she immediately knelt down and said, "Boss, I'm sorry. I will never steal again and will live a peaceful life. Please let me go."

Hearing Pado's words, Qiao Qiao smiled slightly. It seemed that it would be very difficult for the future Thirteen Heroes of Chasing Fire to live a peaceful and stable life.

“Pado, you don’t need to care about the stolen gold. That thing is not important to me at all. Since I let you take it, I never intended to get it back in the first place.”

No matter how much money JoJo has in the simulator, she can't bring it back to reality.

Therefore, in his view, losing a lot of money is not a big deal.

Hearing Qiaoqiao's words, Pado raised her head in confusion, scratching the back of her head in bewilderment. Just how rich was this priest that he wasn't even angry about losing so much gold?

Pado inwardly scoffed, but outwardly she still said with a grin, "Hehe, boss is so generous, then I'll be leaving now."

Having said that, Pado turned around and swaggered away through the gate. After thinking it over, she realized that she had given the stolen money to those in need on Twilight Street, which was a good deed. She had no reason to be afraid of this priest who cheated people out of their money.

But just as Paddo was about to open the door and take a step toward the street, suddenly everything went black again, and she found herself suspended in mid-air in the room, falling to the floor like a stone.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." Pado sat on the floor with his legs in a 'W' shape, sticking up his sore bottom and rubbing it. This time he finally understood how he had ended up back in this room.

After opening the door, a black hole appeared in front of him, its destination unknown.

Once Paddo steps into the black hole, she will fall back to her original position through another black hole.

"You'd better not struggle. You can't escape my grasp," Qiao Qiao said leisurely, tossing a silver coin in her hand.

Seeing the familiar silver coin in Qiaoqiao's hand, Pado quickly touched the silver coin in her chest pouch that she used to stop bullets.

Sure enough, it disappeared.

Pado didn't even realize when Qiaoqiao made her move. Her belongings had vanished and appeared in Qiaoqiao's palm. For a thief, there is nothing more humiliating than being completely unaware of being robbed.

"Didn't you say you wouldn't argue with me about the gold?!" Pado said angrily to Qiaoqiao, "Why are you still bothering me?"

"I've taken a liking to you. From now on, you'll stay by my side."

Upon hearing Qiaoqiao's words, Pado immediately assumed that Qiaoqiao had fallen for her. Otherwise, why would anyone want to be with her when she had neither money nor any remarkable abilities?

Isn't it just that they're after my young body?

Although Pado is usually carefree and appears easygoing, she is quite confident in her looks.

Qiaoqiao was completely unaware of Pado's inner thoughts and continued, "I know you are good at investigation and infiltration, so I want you to become one of my people. Don't worry, I won't treat you badly."

Hearing Qiaoqiao's words, Pado breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the other party did not use her theft to blackmail her.

Paddo bowed her head and apologized to Jojo, saying, "I'm sorry, Father, I just want to live a simple life of sleeping in late and basking in the sun every day. What you're going to do might be too dangerous for me. You should find someone else to help you."

Qiaoqiao wasn't surprised by Pado's reply. After all, if a priest who was plundering the people's wealth just a day ago suddenly came to your door asking you to go with him, anyone with a sound mind would refuse.

After Padovaris declines the invitation, what will you choose...?

Option 1: Leave obediently.

[Option 2: He said with a wicked grin, "Paddo, you don't want people to find out you're a phantom thief and throw you in jail, do you?"]

Is there even a need to choose?

Since Pado wouldn't listen to his kind advice, he had no choice but to resort to his usual methods.

A cold glint flashed in Qiaoqiao's eyes as she said with a wicked grin, "Pado, you don't want people to find out you're a phantom thief and end up in jail, do you?"

[The "Savior of Villains" talent has been triggered, increasing the success rate of evil deeds.]

[Congratulations, host, you have received 100 crystals and one chance to 'duplicate an item'.]

Upon hearing Qiaoqiao's threat, Pado panicked. She had nowhere to escape and Qiaoqiao had caught her red-handed, leaving her with no chance to resist.

"You..." Pado looked at Qiaoqiao with pitiful eyes: "What do you want me to do for you?"

Seeing that Padofelis had obediently given in, Jojo smiled happily: "I want to find someone for me."

"Find someone?"

Hearing this, Padofelis's eyes lit up: "I'm very good at this, but... what kind of person are you looking for?"

“Hmm… I don’t know what she looks like either.” Qiao Qiao thought for a moment and said, “A while ago, a nearby city was hit by an unprecedented Honkai infection. I need you to help me find a survivor who escaped from that city, and she must be someone with extremely strong Honkai energy resistance, in other words… someone who survived the Honkai infection unscathed and was not infected.”

"This is a bit tricky..." Padofelis said with some difficulty. They didn't know her appearance, age, or even gender. The only clue was that she came from a region ravaged by Honkai disease, yet she herself was unharmed. Finding her was indeed quite difficult.

"You can't do it?"

Qiao Qiao said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Not really…” Padofelis smiled shyly, “but… about the price…”

“That’s easy. I have a treasured item here that’s worth a lot of money.”

When Paddy heard that Jojo was going to give her something valuable, her eyes immediately lit up with excitement. If it was a priest's treasure, it must be very valuable!

But in the next instant, Qiaoqiao put a collar around Pado's neck.

Caught off guard, Pado looked down at the collar around her neck, which didn't look like the valuable thing Qiaoqiao had described.

“Father, what do you mean by this…” Pado’s voice trembled slightly, lacking its usual confidence: “Didn’t you say you were going to give me something valuable?”

"Yes."

Qiao Qiao nodded and said, "There's a miniature bomb inside this ring. It will explode if I just press a button. It's worth two million US dollars. Isn't that worthless?"

Upon hearing Qiaoqiao say there was a bomb in the collar, Pado panicked and tried to pull it off her neck by wedging her fingers between the collar and her skin: "I don't want this as payment!"

"If I were you, I wouldn't want to tear it off. It would explode the moment it detached from your body."

Upon hearing this, Pado was so frightened that she let go of his hand and cried as she hugged Jojo, pleading, "Father, I'm sorry, I got carried away just now. Life is more important than money. I can help you find someone for free, please defuse this bomb!"

"And he calls himself a priest?"

Qiaoqiao gently lifted Pado's chin, a smile playing on her lips, but her face was incredibly gloomy, and her eyes gleamed with a strange purple light: "From now on, you must call me 'Master,' little kitty."

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Qiao Qiao Who Likes to Get Things for Free

Under your threats, Padofelis had no choice but to whisper "Master" to save her life.

[You have successfully obtained the cat's help, and she has begun investigating the Fifth Herrscher's prototype according to your instructions.]

[Padophilia truly lives up to her reputation as one of the Thirteen Heroes of the Flame Chaser. While her direct combat abilities are lacking, her intelligence gathering skills are off the charts, and she quickly discovered the trail of the Fifth Herrscher's original body.]

With only four days left until the day Aponia predicted your death, you call Aponia and arrange to meet her and Padofelis in Kanria, the city closest to Dusk Street.

In this snow-covered city, there's a club called "Venus," a gathering place for figures from both the underworld and legitimate society of the surrounding cities, where numerous illicit transactions take place.

Aponia, visiting such a chaotic underground club for the first time, asked with great confusion, "Jojo, you said you wanted to defeat the Honkai Disease, so why did you bring me to a place like this?"

You ordered a cocktail and replied, "Don't underestimate this place; you might find something unexpected here."

Aponia glanced around at the chaotic and noisy crowd. Each person was bound by different threads of fate; some were happy and content, while others seemed to be indulging in pleasure. She couldn't believe that a way to overcome the Honkai disease could be found in such a place. "What exactly is this 'gain' you're talking about?" she asked.