Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

Chapter 456 Game Theory

Edwin stared at Lin Gui, his eyes filled with a terrifyingly gloomy expression.

His fingers gripped the staff, his knuckles turning white, and magic surged beneath his robes, making him look like a wild beast chained up.

But he didn't make a move.

Arthur was trampled under the feet of the black-haired mage.

Inside the three dark cages suspended in the air were Cedric, Leah, and Hewlett.

In a transaction, whoever moves their chips first loses.

"Young man, do you know what you're doing?"

His voice was squeezed out from between his teeth, low and hoarse.

"To be an enemy of the City of a Thousand Towers!"

Lin Gui looked at him, his expression unchanged.

His left foot pressed down on Arthur's back, forcing his face hard against the cold rock.

He lifted his right foot and stepped on Arthur's left hand, pinning it firmly to the ground.

Then he pulled out a gray dagger from his waist.

The dagger was dull and unremarkable, without any luster.

Lin Gui crouched down, pressing the tip of the gray dagger against the base of Arthur's little finger.

"Release him first, then I'll give him to you."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear.

Edwin did not move.

His gaze shifted from Lin Gui's face, sweeping over Morgan and then over the desolate horizon in the distance.

His senses spread silently, licking every inch of the surrounding space.

There was no ambush.

There was no hint of a third legend.

There are only these two people.

A high-ranking mage, and a legendary half-demon whose magic was abundant but not enough to threaten him.

Edwin's lips curled slightly, his eyes sharp.

"What if I refuse?"

Lin Gui did not answer.

He pressed down on his wrist.

The gray dagger cut into the base of Arthur's little finger without any resistance, like cutting into a block of tofu.

"ah--!"

Arthur's screams echoed through the wilderness.

The sound was heart-wrenching, so sharp it almost pierced eardrums.

His body convulsed violently, like a fish thrown ashore, twisting and struggling wildly.

Lin Gui's left foot pressed firmly against his back, remaining completely still.

Blood gushed from the severed finger wound, splattering onto the dusty rocks in a horrifying sight.

Lin Gui picked up the severed finger and threw it in Edwin's direction.

The severed finger traced an arc in the air before landing at Edwin's feet.

Edwin lowered his head, looking at the blood-stained severed finger, and his lips twitched.

He raised his head and looked at Lin Gui, his cloudy old eyes surging with suppressed anger.

"you--"

He didn't finish his sentence.

Lin Gui's gray dagger had been moved to the base of Arthur's ring finger.

Release them.

Edwin did not move.

He slightly raised his fingers, and a black mist surged from his fingertips, like a nimble snake, burrowing into Cedric's cage.

Cedric's body stiffened abruptly, his lips parted, and a muffled groan escaped his throat.

His face instantly turned even paler, the veins on his forehead bulged, and sweat poured down like beads from a broken string.

Edwin looked at Lin Gui, his voice as cold as ice.

"If you dare touch him again, I'll kill him!"

Lin Gui glanced at Cedric, his dark eyes remaining completely calm.

Then he lowered his head and pressed down with his wrist.

The second one.

Arthur's screams rang out again, this time sharper and more piercing.

Blood gushed out, staining the soles of Lin Gui's boots red.

He picked up the severed finger and threw it at Edwin.

"Edwin! Edwin!"

Arthur's voice was hoarse, choked with sobs, and filled with a despairing madness.

"You son of a bitch! Release him! Release him now!"

Edwin's face turned ashen.

His fingers hovered in mid-air, trembling slightly.

The black mist connecting Cedric's cage was still swirling, but he didn't grasp it again.

He looked at Lin Gui, at the dusty dagger, and at Arthur's eyes, which were filled with tears, fear, and pleading.

His lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.

Lin Gui moved his gray dagger to the third one.

Ring finger.

He didn't cut it.

The tip of the blade rests against the base, stopping there.

He raised his dark eyes to look at Edwin, his expression indifferent.

"I told you, release the person first, and then I'll give this kid to you."

Edwin's fingers gripped the staff tightly, his knuckles cracking.

His chest heaved violently, and his breathing was heavy and labored, like a bellows.

He didn't move.

Lin Gui sighed, as if he were helpless in the face of a stubborn old man who couldn't understand human speech.

Press down with your wrist.

The third one.

Blood splattered.

Arthur's screams had changed; they were no longer screams of pain, but rather a near-collapse, hysterical cry.

"My hand! My hand!! Edwin! You motherfucker! If I die, you won't live either!"

Lin Gui did not stop.

The gray dagger moved to his palm.

The blade tip pressed against Arthur's left wrist and made a light slash.

The skin split open, blood gushed out, revealing the white tendons underneath.

Arthur's body jerked violently, as if he had been electrocuted.

His mouth opened as wide as it would go, and a sharp, distorted scream escaped his throat.

"No!"

Lin Gui's gray dagger stopped there, its tip embedded in the bone of his wrist.

He looked up at Edwin.

This time, he didn't say anything.

Just watching.

His black eyes were as calm as a stagnant pool.

Morgan stood behind Lin Gui, beads of cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

His fingers gripped the Windtalker's Scepter tightly, his knuckles turning white, and his palms were sweaty.

His gaze swept back and forth between Lin Gui and Edwin, his lips moved several times, but he didn't utter a single word.

He thought Lin Gui had gone mad.

This is not negotiation, this is gambling.

Putting everyone's lives on one card.

Arthur's life was exchanged for Cedric's and the others' lives.

But what if Edwin doesn't buy into that?

What if Edwin would rather abandon Arthur than leave the three of them here?

Morgan's throat bobbed, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

He wanted to speak up, to remind Lin Gui, to tell him to tone it down.

But every time he opened his mouth, he saw Lin Gui's calm, expressionless profile.

In those dark eyes, there was no hesitation, no fear, no superfluous emotion.

There is only one kind of desperate madness.

Morgan shut his mouth again.

His heart was pounding wildly in his chest, each beat like a hammer blow.

Edwin's face grew increasingly grim.

His gaze shifted from Lin Gui to Arthur's distorted face, which was covered in tears and blood.

That young man who was high above all others in the City of a Thousand Towers, and who was cherished by all the magical families.

At this moment, he was like a worm trampled in the mud, rolling, screaming, and begging for mercy in a pool of blood.

His fingers rose and fell, rose and fell.

With each lift of his hand, black mist condensed at his fingertips.

Each time it was put down, the mist dissipated into the air.

He took a deep breath, then another.

Then he raised his hand, his fingertips twitching slightly.

Three streams of black mist emerged from his fingertips, entangling the three dark cages.

The mist on the surface of the cage began to dissipate, and the black barrier faded layer by layer, like the receding tide.

Cedric, Leah, and Hewlett's bodies fell from mid-air and crashed to the ground.

Edwin's lips were pressed tightly together, and anger, humiliation, and resentment surged in his cloudy old eyes.

He didn't speak.

He just stared at Lin Gui.

Lin Gui was also looking at him.

The gray dagger was still embedded in Arthur's wrist.

He neither pulled it out nor continued cutting.

He is waiting.

Wait for Edwin to make the final decision.

In fact, Lin Gui had already anticipated what the other party would do.

He sensed the presence of spatial power emanating from the creature beneath his feet.

He had already grasped the other party's weakness.

really.

Edwin raised his hand, manipulating Cedric to levitate.

He then planned to throw it in the direction of Lin Gui.

"Wait a minute."

Edwin's hand froze in mid-air.

He turned his head, his cloudy old eyes swirling with impatience and suppressed anger.

"I've done as you said."

His voice was deep, as if squeezed from the depths of his throat.

"What else do you want?"

Lin Gui did not answer.

He glanced down at Arthur at his feet, making sure the half-dead guy was still breathing weakly, then looked up.

His eyes turned gray in an instant.

Lin Gui saw countless thin threads of soul extending from Cedric to Edwin.

Lin Gui stared coldly at Edwin.

"Remove all the soul marks from him and destroy everything you have taken from them."

Edwin's expression froze for a moment.

He looked into Lin Gui's gray eyes and remained silent for a moment.

Then the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, with a forced smile that seemed to come out as if he had been exposed.

"I misjudged him."

His voice was deep, carrying an indescribable, complex emotion.

"I never expected him to be a soul mage."

Lin Gui didn't speak, he just looked at him quietly.

Edwin took a deep breath, suppressing his surging emotions, and his voice regained its shrewd and steady tone.

"Since you are a soul mage, you should know that the tracking mark at the soul level cannot be erased."

"Once those marks are planted, they become one with the soul."

"Unless the person is dead."

Lin Gui looked at him, but he didn't answer.

He silently raised the gray dagger and pressed it against Arthur's neck.

The knife tip pierced the skin, and a drop of blood slid down the blade.

Arthur's body stiffened abruptly, then he let out a hysterical roar.

"Edwin! What the hell are you waiting for?!"

His voice was sharp and piercing, like fingernails scratching an iron plate, and his face was covered in tears and snot.

"Take the things out! Take them out!"

"Do you want to see my head roll?!"

Edwin's lips twitched.

His lips were pressed into a thin line, and his chest heaved violently several times.

His gaze swept back and forth between Lin Gui and Arthur, like a cornered beast.

He crouched down, reached out, and searched Cedric's body.

His fingers slid from his collarbone to his shoulder blade, and from his shoulder blade to the back of his neck, with practiced and swift movements.

He pulled three thin steel needles, as thin as hair, from under Cedric's skin. They gleamed with a faint blue light, and the tips of the needles were wrapped with dark threads that were almost invisible to the naked eye.

He plucked a small tuft of grayish-white hair from the root of his hair, which swayed slightly in the wind, each strand radiating a faint spiritual energy.

Edwin held those things in his palm and stood up.

With his other hand, he pulled a small glass bottle from his waist, containing a dark red liquid—the blood he had previously extracted from the three men.

There were also a few hairs and a small piece of dried body tissue.

He spread everything out in his palm and showed it to Lin Gui.

That's all.

Lin Gui neither nodded nor shook his head.

He just watched.

Edwin raised his other hand, and a ball of crimson flame condensed at his fingertips.

The flames licked at the steel needles, fine hairs, glass bottles, and those body tissues.

The steel needle twisted, turned red, and melted at high temperatures, turning into a drop of molten metal that fell onto the rock.

The fine hairs curled, charred black, and turned to ashes.

The glass bottle shattered, and the blood evaporated in the flames, emitting a pungent, acrid smell.

Ashes and debris spilled from between his fingers and drifted away in the wind.

He spread his hands, his palms empty, and looked at Lin Gui with a gloomy gaze.

"Satisfied?"

Lin Gui did not rush to answer.

His grey eyes shifted slightly, sweeping over Cedric, who lay sprawled on the ground.

In his field of vision, the faint, lingering threads of soul that had once entwined him had indeed vanished.

No extra soul lines extended from them.

But he did not let his guard down.

Morgan.

Lin Gui's voice was very soft.

"Go get him checked out."

Morgan paused for a moment, then immediately understood what Lin Gui meant.

He strode over to Cedric, knelt down, and placed his palm on Cedric's shoulder.

Magic surged from his palms, seeping into Cedric's body like flowing water.

His expression was focused and serious, with the veins on his forehead slightly bulging.

His senses were fully engaged, and he dared not relax even for a moment.

While examining Cedric's body, he also kept half his attention fixed on Edwin's hands.

Deadly dark magic could emerge from those old hands at any moment.

But I am the ultimate goal of their trip.

Morgan thought the other party would make a move, after all, he was only about a meter away from Edwin.

But Edwin did not make a move.

He just stood there, his face grim, watching Morgan search Cedric's body.

Morgan's hands roamed over Cedric's body, his magic scanning every corner again and again.

His face grew increasingly dark.

Then his hand stopped.

His fingers dug into Cedric's collarbone, pressing hard with his fingertips.

A thread, thinner than a hair and almost transparent, was pulled out from under the skin.

The silk thread refracted a faint light in the sunlight, like a spider's web.

Morgan broke out in a cold sweat.

He continued his examination and found three small, black beads, about the size of rice grains, that were almost blended into the skin on the inside of Cedric's left arm.

Those beads felt icy cold to the touch and emitted a faint magical aura.

He pulled those things out one by one, held them in his palm, his fingers trembling slightly.

Then he stood up, turned around to look at Lin Gui, and nodded vigorously.

"It's clean now."

Edwin's gaze swept back and forth between Morgan and Lin Ghost.

His brows furrowed slightly.

How could a high-level soul mage make a legendary mid-level half-mage so obedient?

Morgan's movements were so natural.

That heartfelt obedience stirred up an indescribable feeling in Edwin's heart.

If Lin Gui knew what Edwin was thinking at that moment, he would definitely sneer.

He himself was also completely controlled by a high-ranking Arthur.

Cedric's body trembled slightly as he struggled to his feet, supporting himself on the ground.