Don't force me to use my right fist.

This thing is supposedly an encyclopedia of magic, so knowing how to counter time stop isn't particularly unreasonable. Even Lian Ye just scoffed and gave up on the idea of ​​taking the key from the Western Lands. Once time stop is broken, her options are limited. After all, the opponent was once the brewery's trump card, so she had to respect her opponent. The rescued Western Lands obviously didn't know what had happened; he simply sensed danger and took two steps back, hiding behind the Index. As for the Index who had moved to the front, the magic circle in front of her was erected once more, and a huge amount of magic power gathered towards her, forming a white light in front of her.

"Prioritize the following: magic below, books above."

Dragon

The expressionless girl slowly uttered a single word, and an even greater amount of magical power rapidly gathered before her, waiting to reduce Saya and the others to ashes after her incantation ended. But at the crucial moment, Saya flashed to the girl, whose body was covered in strange defensive runes.

"I know you're definitely using that Dragon King's吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or sarcastic remarks), but still... a mage daring to stand in front of you casting spells like that, you really have no brains. Do you think being able to decipher this world makes you so powerful?"

While complaining, Saku pulled a minecart out of his backpack and shoved it under the girl.

"I bet you've never seen this thing in your book."

The surrounding magic vanished instantly, leaving only a girl sitting obediently in the minecart, and the expressions of the others that seemed to have their jaws about to drop.

Chapter 285 Consider this a gift to you

"What did you do?" If you were to ask who was the most surprised, it would undoubtedly be the Western Lands, who had been confident of victory and waiting for Index to wipe out everyone before them. Who could have imagined that Sawa would simply pull out a small black box from somewhere and directly bind Index, whose face had just been radiating invincibility, under the control of Auto-Write?

"Unable to analyze, unable to decipher, item composition unknown, rules unknown, unable to decipher..." The Forbidden Book Index, sitting in the minecart, seemed to be trapped in a program that was stuck in an infinite loop, constantly repeating the sentence "unable to analyze." It stared intently at the minecart that had trapped it.

"I didn't do anything, I just wanted to calm the innocent girl who was being controlled down so she wouldn't hurt herself or others. It's normal, isn't it?" Saku, annoyed that the girl in front of him was repeating herself too noisily, took out a piece of bread from his backpack and stuffed it into her mouth, silencing all her repeating words.

"So, now that's all that's left, it's you who hasn't been dealt with yet. Are you going to obediently surrender, or can you call your friends to rescue you again, like last time?"

Although Zuoyou said this, he had already prepared the magic in his hands and secretly crushed it into pieces.

"No need for you to worry about it." The Western Lands clearly knew that since even the Catalogue of Forbidden Books was in trouble, it was better to retreat first.

As a result, just as he was about to summon the Eastern Fire to take him away, as he had done last time, the entire space once again fell into a black and white color scheme.

The only one unaffected, Renya, glanced helplessly at Zuoyou. This guy really had a lot of secrets she didn't know, and these secrets seemed to be multiplying. Just when everyone thought they had figured out his last trump card, he would pull out something new from who-knows-where, giving everyone a surprise.

Of course, Zuoyou didn't care what Lianye thought. With light, quick steps, he walked to the western figure, shoved a minecart under him, and then stuffed a loaf of bread into the guy's mouth. This guy's spell could be activated simply by speaking it, and the minecart couldn't silence him; it was better to be cautious. As for the thing in his hand, Zuoyou simply took it from him. He'd seen several of those silver keys before. Could these guys really be connected to that all-powerful, all-around big bubble?

However, remembering that Shub Chiya, another of the Three Pillar Gods, had mentioned that their god didn't care about them at all, Zuoyou felt that there was some truth to it. That Bubble was the kind of guy who wouldn't care if his son was bitten to death by a dog, so why would he care about the thoughts of these cultists? It was probably just wishful thinking on the part of someone falsely claiming divine decree. Just as Zuoyou was thinking this, the effect of the time stop wore off. After all, he couldn't compare to Lianye; his limit was only a few seconds, and he couldn't achieve the level of time stop while explaining. When the Western Lands, who hadn't noticed anything, came to their senses, they found themselves sitting in the minecart as well, unable to move their limbs, and even with a piece of bread stuffed in their mouths.

"OK, the matter is resolved. Here's the item. I think we should discuss the payment now." Sōyu snapped his fingers and handed the silver key to Shōjiū, who was standing nearby. He wasn't particularly interested in the little yellow book; although it clearly wasn't human, and maybe killing it would yield some loot, it was still something from the brewery, so it was best not to interfere. As for the Western Lands, Sōyu had quite a few questions he wanted to ask, but the problem was he wasn't good at asking others. Perhaps it would be better to leave it to the professionals at the brewery?

"No, this matter isn't as easy to resolve as you think. Those intruders haven't stopped yet." Haruyu took the key from Saya. She hadn't expected him to be so cooperative. Once she truly set aside her prejudices and tried to communicate with Saya again, she would find that he was actually quite easy to talk to.

"No way, brother, I have to do this?"

Sawa felt that ever since this guy discovered they could cooperate, he'd been making the most of him. Why did he seem more exhausted than Renya, a full-time employee?

"If I'm not mistaken, the girl next to you is your companion, isn't she? We haven't mistreated her since she came to the brewery; we've fed and cared for her well. If you want to take her away, don't you think you should offer some kind of reward?" Having completely let go of his prejudice against Saya, Haruji's sharp wit came into play. After a quick glance at the pumpkin-headed girl who clearly depended on Saya, he deduced the relationship between the two. He didn't force Saya; instead, he directly stated the brewery's past actions. Haruji believed that Saya would definitely repay this debt of gratitude.

"Hiss. You really know how to do business. What can I say? Consider this a gift, but I hope you're prepared to pay for what happened earlier, okay? Let's keep things separate, right?" Zuo You sighed. He really had to repay this favor. If the brewery had mistreated that guy, he would have torn it down long ago. But since he had really provided him with good food and drink, he really owed him a favor. Of course, Zuo You also understood where the problem lay. Although this guy's true form should be an Enderman, why did he accept that Endermen weren't weird? Wasn't this targeting Zuo You? Despite his resentment, all Zuo You could do was slam the pumpkin on the head of the girl he was protecting behind him before turning around and heading into the brewery, where gunshots were still coming from.

"Just wait here patiently, I'll be there soon."

Before leaving, he whispered a few instructions to her. Saya's figure disappeared at the end of the distillery corridor. Haru, watching Saya's retreating figure, picked up her headset and gave instructions in a slightly more relaxed tone.

"Notify all team members present that they are forbidden from attacking the headless knight who may appear. That guy is here to help."

Chapter 286 Time to Receive the Reward

With Saya's current strength, it would feel a bit like bullying ordinary people or monsters if he were to fight them.

Moreover, the invading Church of Truth members, having lost the leadership of the Western Lands and Sherry, were already disorganized and posed little threat. The vampires summoned by Sherry, however, were a different story. Constantly converting fallen Church of Truth members into low-level cannon fodder, they resembled necromancers. The distillery employees were struggling largely because of these creatures. Fortunately, since Sherry's death, these uncontrolled vampires began fighting the Church of Truth members. It seems that supernatural beings, by their very nature, are unlikely to coexist with humans, let alone cooperate.

Saya was an exception, but only him. However, with Saya's arrival, everything changed. He practically chopped through the crowd, stunning the True Word Church followers and eliminating the undead monsters. It was no different for him than a max-level account grinding in a newbie village. He almost completely crushed the remaining enemies fighting the distillery staff, ending what should have been a long battle in less than half an hour. There was no way around it; after the elite leader fell, the rest were just weaklings whom Saya couldn't even withstand a single strike from. However, Saya's trip wasn't entirely fruitless. At least by killing these undead and vampires, he leveled up, returning to level 70. With enough Karma Crystals, he wouldn't have to worry about enchanting later. As for other things... Goodwill Crystals were indeed not easy to obtain. Even after sweeping through the entire distillery, he only got less than three.

Not to mention the even rarer Karma Crystal, which only dropped when Sherry was killed. He's currently one crystal short of the enhancement enchantment he wants. And it wasn't all that troubled him along the way. Seeing the rooms where the strange creatures were originally imprisoned wide open, he knew that the sake brewery would be busy for a long time. That wasn't what Saya cared about, but seeing that Dio's and Kawashita Takae's laboratories, which looked somewhat familiar, were also open, he didn't know how to react. Since he couldn't chase after them now, Saya could only put it aside for the time being and focus on eliminating all the attackers in the brewery before returning to the place where he had parted ways with Haruka and the others.

"So fast?"

After finding a place to sit down and letting out a sigh of relief, Renya looked at Saya, who seemed to have just done some exercise and hadn't even caught his breath, and asked with some disbelief.

Sōyū looked around and, sure enough, spotted the girl in the corner who, as always, seemed to be socially awkward, squatting on the ground drawing circles.

Every time he told her to wait for him, she looked like this; anyone who didn't know better would think he was bullying her. He walked over, grabbed her shoulders, and helped her up, giving her a once-over. So much time had passed, and with the battle just now, he'd forgotten to check what changes had occurred to her. Compared to her former somewhat dull, two-section-tall, pumpkin-headed, big-headed black stick figure, now, aside from her still-present aura, her appearance had changed quite a bit.

A long black sleeve completely covered her upper body, even her hands were hidden inside the excessively long sleeves. Her lower body was transformed into a short skirt and black stockings, making the Enderman's signature long legs particularly eye-catching after transforming into human form. If it weren't for the skirt and stockings, and the beautiful long hair extending from the pumpkin head to her waist, Zuoyou wouldn't have been able to tell her gender just by looking at her flat chest. However, Zuoyou, who had always treated her like a younger sister, didn't have much of a problem with her current appearance. As long as she wasn't injured, that was the best thing; he didn't really care what she looked like.

Sōyū, instinctively wanting to lift the pumpkin head she was wearing to see what her face, once as black as charcoal with only two pairs of red light bulb-like eyes, looked like now, was hidden by...

Seeing her like this, Sōyū breathed a sigh of relief, confirming that she was indeed no different from before. He clapped his hands and turned around to look at Shōyū, who was using her earpiece to instruct the remaining employees to clean up the mess.

"I'm taking that girl with me, and I want her to have a normal identity so she won't be harassed. I think you can do that, right? But in return, I'll ensure she won't harm the humans of Xitong, and I'll try my best to keep her abilities from being exposed. This isn't a matter of negotiation. There's absolutely no room for discussion about taking this girl with me, Saku."

"And what about the compensation?"

Qingjiu frowned. To be honest, after all their research, the only conclusion they could reach about leaving this girl here was that the water flow might be able to stop Sawa's teleportation. The rest...

If they could slice her up, they might be able to study her teleportation ability or something, but that would depend on Saya finding out. So, Haru had nothing to say about Saya's suggestion. The favor the sake brewery owed Saya couldn't be repaid with such a small matter.

"As for other rewards... let me think about it." But at that moment, the pumpkin-headed girl seemed to have overheard their words, instantly teleporting to Sōyū's side and presenting him with an obsidian cube as if offering a treasure.

"When did you steal this? Or did you intend to give it to him all along?" Haruyu paused for a moment after seeing what the pumpkin-headed girl was holding, but could only sigh in resignation. Since she already had it, she might as well give it to Saya; after all, they had studied it for a long time...

"Huh? This is just a regular obsidian block."

Saya scratched his head and took it from the girl's hand.

[Infinite Obsidian Block]: Obsidian containing a portion of the power and authority of some unnamed being. Make good use of it. whl

After glancing at the introduction, Saku almost dropped the thing, and his expression became somewhat subtle.

"I'll take this as payment."

Chapter 287 An Irresistible Proposal

Obsidian doesn't actually have a particularly significant role in Minecraft.

First, it's difficult to obtain this thing through normal means; second, there aren't many places where this thing is needed.

Generally speaking, in normal gameplay, obsidian is only used in two places when crafting an enchanting table, and a little bit when venturing into the Nether. For the rest of the time, without adding any unnecessary mods, its usage rate is really low.

However, this doesn't prevent it from being theoretically the second hardest ore in vanilla Minecraft, second only to bedrock.

Even with a diamond pickaxe of efficiency level 5, knocking this thing down wouldn't be an easy task. Not to mention, this block is one of the very few solid blocks with explosion-proof properties, so much so that even the Wither boss's explosion couldn't destroy it.

From the moment Sōyu held the Infinite Obsidian Cube, he felt as if it had become an extension of his own power, allowing him to shape obsidian into various forms at will. This strange feeling was something he had never experienced even when his mods were installed. Therefore, Sōyu decided that instead of hoping for something better from the brewery, he should just accept this, even though theoretically he was still losing out. He could consider it a favor to the brewery, and there would be plenty of time to deal with them in the future.

"You really are interested in this thing, huh? Is it from the same world as you?"

Haru, who had always felt that something about Saya was familiar, finally realized that Saya's hand seemed to have the ability to control Shiranui, and the cube in his hand was the same type of thing as this.

"Pretty much. If you don't object, I'll take this and leave. There are still many things to resolve, and you won't bother me anymore, right?" Saya didn't elaborate on this matter, mainly because it was one of his personal secrets. Perhaps he could share it with Kaguya and Amakawa Tsubasa, but he couldn't fully trust Haruyuki.

"There's no problem. But how should I put it... I do have a request here. I think you'd be quite interested." Qingjiu rubbed her temples in annoyance. Of course, Saya could just walk away, but the mess left behind at the brewery couldn't be completely cleaned up with high-end orders. More trouble lay with Takayuki. Just thinking about it made her head throb. So, Saya, this high-level henchman and laborer, absolutely couldn't be let go so easily.

"Why do you think I'd be interested? Are you sure you're not trying to trick me?" Whi Zuoyou pursed his lips, feeling that Qingjiu was increasingly using him as a tool. The problem was that he always seemed quite willing to be that tool.

"I've seen quite a few strange things that you haven't been involved in. You saw it yourself; after the distillery was attacked today, many of the strange creatures that were originally imprisoned escaped. Could I ask you for a favor and help deal with those strange creatures?"

Harujiu maintained his composed expression as he looked at Saya. The matter he was asking was practically the same as what Saya would have asked anyway; it was something Saya would never refuse. He cared more about the supernatural than anyone else. Saya, who had been about to leave with the girl with the pumpkin head, stopped. He knew that what Harujiu was talking about was both incredibly troublesome and incredibly appealing to him.

If this guy weren't driven by personal desires and hatred, and he calmed down, he would indeed be a terrifying individual.

Given the so-called request he was now making, Saya had no reason to refuse. Just as Harujiu had guessed, Saya was now eager to farm all the monsters on the map, hoping to get more mods or experience drops, which would be a huge boost for him. So, after sighing, Saya covered his face and turned to look at Harujiu, who was looking at him with a hint of a smile.

"I find you even more disagreeable now than before. I hope you understand that, okay?"

Sōyu shook his head helplessly, then reached out his hand to the guy.

"I'll take a look at the documents when I have time, but don't count on me too much, I'm very busy, you know?"

Haru snapped his fingers and handed over the information he had compiled before Saya left, detailing the information about most of the strange creatures imprisoned at the brewery. This was a win-win situation for both sides; he had long wanted to find an opportunity to eliminate these imprisoned strange creatures.

"Let me make this clear first. I'm not going to help you capture anyone. If the monster falls into my hands, I'll most likely kill it on the spot." Saku took the information. There were some things he needed to explain first. He could help fight monsters, but if he had to keep these guys alive, that would be too much trouble.

"Of course I know that. Anyway, the research value of these anomalies is limited. If they continue to cause trouble after they leave, it's only right that you eliminate them; it aligns with our goal." Qingjiu didn't seem to be targeting Saya. He wasn't targeting Saya, but that didn't mean he wasn't targeting other anomalies. As long as these creatures continued to threaten humanity, he wanted to kill them all.

"However, there's something else I'd like to discuss with you." Haruyu pointed to the two people still trapped in the corner by Saya's minecart.

"Could we borrow that thing that's trapping them both below to study? This kind of thing that can restrain strange things is extremely important to our distillery."

A serious expression appeared on his face. Zuoyou's minecarts were indeed of great use to their organization, which researched the supernatural.

"Of course. All of these can be traded, and our distillery is even willing to pay a high price to acquire your alchemical puppetry technology."

What Saga showed was not just a little bit of stuff. Whether it was the strange minecart or the two mechanical maids outside who were going on a rampage, they were all technologies that the brewery desperately wanted.

"You can study the minecart thing slowly after you've dealt with these two. Consider it a gift from me. Just share the interrogation results with me later. That shouldn't be a problem, right?" Saya pondered for a moment, stroking his chin, before answering Harujiu's question with a similar seriousness.

"As for that mechanical maid, you should ask Saya from the Yuzaki family, not me, right? After all, I am not him, you said that yourself."

Chapter 288 Have You Changed Your Personality?

After a battle that had been almost non-stop, Saku finally emerged from the brewery.

There are also two mechanical maids who are about to run out of magic and are in standby mode.

Looking around, Saya was no longer worried about being exposed. His current identity was essentially an open secret; as long as he didn't do anything wrong, the brewery shouldn't bother him anymore. He walked directly to the two mechanical maids. Saya didn't say much, but after infusing them with some magic, he removed his diamond armor and signature pumpkin head. From now on, he was Saya, the bodyguard of the Hanezaki family, not some strange headless rider. He wouldn't acknowledge anyone else.

He gained quite a lot from this trip, but the most important thing to him was the black-haired girl who had been following behind him, secretly tugging at the hem of his clothes as if afraid he would fall behind.

"You wait here, I'll be done soon, and then I'll give you a piece of my mind, you clueless idiot."

Even through the pumpkin head, the girl looked like she'd been scolded and was crying. Her small hands, completely hidden by her sleeves, covered her head, making strange gurgling sounds. Saya, on the other hand, was annoyed just looking at her. After tapping her pumpkin head a few times with his fingers, he pulled out his phone like an older brother speechless with anger towards his sister and dialed Kaguya's number. She should be awake by now, and probably knew quite a bit about what was happening at the brewery. As for where to go next, he'd let her decide.

"Why weren't you by my side when I woke up?" The call was answered immediately, but the resentful tone coming from Kaguya sent a chill down Saya's spine, even through the screen.

"I think I can explain this. I resolved the crisis around you, but then some things happened here that I had to deal with. That's why I left you there. But I can assure you, I only left after I made sure you were safe." Sōyū hurriedly explained to Kaguya, knowing he would be in trouble if she threw a tantrum.

"You see, the fact that you can answer my call so easily means you're absolutely safe, right?"

Saya gave an awkward laugh. It didn't make sense to leave someone unconscious. It was normal for Kaguya to be a little upset.

"Is that a battle at the distillery?"

Kaguya's deep breaths came from the other end. She wasn't the kind of person who was unreasonable. What she said to Saya just now was just to vent her dissatisfaction.

She naturally wouldn't blame Saya for something happening to him. However, Kaguya also wanted him to understand that it was a different matter if she was angry because he abandoned her for other things.

And most importantly, it was only past noon, and she had clearly promised Saya that she would spend the whole morning with her, but all they did was watch a movie, and she even fainted right after it ended. By the time Kaguya woke up, that time period had already passed. It would be strange if she wasn't furious.