This time, I won't be the devil.

Finally, after killing 30 Nether Wolves, F4 could no longer hold on.

Just when they were in dire straits, Frey cast an earth magic spell, and the rocks on the maze ceiling began to change, eventually forming a chandelier-like platform hanging above.

Faced with this sudden movement, F4 and Nether Wolf temporarily stopped and looked up.

Frey took out a dagger, a rope, and a hallucinogenic potion, looked down at them, and said condescendingly:

"Excuse me, do you need my 'help'?"

Chapter 38 The Invisible Hand

"Excuse me, do you need my help?"

Looking at Frey on the rock platform, F4 on the ground was extremely shocked.

Of course, F4 understood that Frey couldn't have helped them out of kindness, but the Nether Wolf wouldn't give them time to think.

While they were looking up, several wolves pounced on them and bit them. The warriors' defenses were broken, and the Nether Wolf bit the weakest scout and tore a bloody piece of flesh from his leg.

Driven by severe pain and the instinct to survive, the scout no longer cared about so much.

"Please, pull me up!"

After receiving this active request, Frey tied the dagger to a rope and threw it down, and the scout quickly caught it.

While pulling the rope, the dagger scratched his skin, but in order to be rescued, he naturally had no time to care about this minor injury.

During this period, the attacks of the Nether Wolf continued, and the remaining three people were bitten one after another, and then they pleaded with Frey.

By the time the four were pulled onto the platform by Frey, they were covered in wounds and all of them were affected by the weakening effect of Shadow Blade.

"Why do I feel like... my body... is powerless..."

After F4 lost the ability to resist, Frey said:

"Okay, tell me everything you know."

Seeing that F4 was still hesitating, Frey put his hand on the pillar that extended from the ceiling and supported the platform.

"Creating this rock platform consumes a lot of magic power. I think I'm running out of magic power."

As if in response to Frey's words, the platform shook slightly, rock fragments collapsed, and the Nether Wolves on the ground howled terrifyingly.

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" the most seriously injured scout spoke quickly.

"Three days ago, we received a commission from the Hayek Consortium's Market Development Department, so we followed you."

Three days ago, when Frey began to prepare supplies for this long-distance exploration, the consortium should have received information from vendors on the commercial street.

"What is the specific content of the commission?"

"I don't know. Our orders were just to follow you and observe the situation, and report back after we get out. We really don't know anything else."

"How dare you accept such an unclear commission?"

Putting the difficulty aside, commissions with unclear information are a big taboo for adventurers.

"There's nothing we can do. If we can't pay this month's debt, we'll have to sign a slave contract."

Hearing what the scout said, Frey felt puzzled. Unlike the low-level adventurers, silver-level adventurers were considered high-income people in the entire maze city. Logically, they shouldn't have fallen to such a state.

After some questioning, Frey found out why.

The F4 in front of us accepted "funding" from the Hayek Foundation when they first became adventurers.

The relationship between the Hikari Theocracy and the Hayek Consortium is one of coexistence of cooperation and caution. Although the Theocracy needs the Consortium's funds, it does not want the Consortium's power to infiltrate the country.

Therefore, the Holy See of Light imposed many restrictions on the activities of the Hayek Foundation in the country, including prohibiting the armed forces affiliated with the foundation from entering the church.

In order to facilitate its business operations within the Church, the Hayek Foundation would train dogs loyal to it among armed idlers such as adventurers.

The consortium's salesmen would find those poor adventurers who were desperate and make them sign unfair terms in exchange for funds to continue to survive.

The terms include handing over 50% of the income, and transferring the property rights, copyrights and other income-generating rights to the consortium.

Afterwards, for those adventurers without talent, the consortium will make them work illegally and make them lose all their money, while for adventurers with talent, the consortium will increase investment.

Take F4 for example, the consortium will provide equipment and supplies to potential adventurers like them, and will even find special people to train and guide them.

At the silver level, even if half of their income had to be handed over, it was still enough to meet their living needs. In order to further control them, the consortium used new methods.

When F4 just started to emerge, the consortium sent a specialist to connect with them. The specialist flattered them and took F4 to various red-light districts and entertainment venues to cultivate their bad habits.

Finally, the swordsman in F4 lingered in brothels, and the two warriors indulged in gambling.

Scout was obsessed with various teenage idols in the music capital of Bondoli, and spent all his money on giving them gifts and buying peripheral products.

When they run out of money, the specialists will kindly offer them loans so that they can continue their entertainment, and their debts will naturally grow.

As the saying goes, if you can't control your desires, others will use their desires to control you, and what capital is best at is using human desires to achieve its own value-added.

The weak-willed F4 were reduced to debt-ridden dogs at the mercy of the consortium from promising silver-level adventurers.

Not only that, the consortium will also instill in them the idea that "the market is innocent and exploitation is justified", making them believers of Hayek and further undermining their resistance.

Frey had anticipated that F4 didn't know the consortium's purpose. After all, if it were him, he wouldn't tell any extra information to these lackeys who could be abandoned at any time.

The reason Frey fished them out was just because he wanted their bodies.

"Since you can't provide any useful information, if you want me to continue to maintain my magic, you have to pay something."

"What...what do you want us to do?"

Frey took out four bottles of hallucinogens of varying concentrations and said.

"If you don't want to fall and feed the wolves, drink it."

Because of the contract, Frey couldn't force F4 to take the drugs, but if they did it voluntarily, the contract wouldn't apply.

F4 looked at the blue liquid in the bottle and hesitated to drink it. To dispel their concerns, Frey swore:

"I swear to the goddess Alice that these bottles of potion will not only not cause any harm to your body, but will also alleviate your pain."

"The reason I let you drink it was just to test the effect of the potion."

Since Frey was not a clergyman, his oath was not binding, but at the moment F4 really had no choice, so they had to open the bottle and drink it.

The medicine took effect quickly.

The first one to drink the 25% concentration potion was the scout, who suddenly showed a sad expression.

He looked dazed, knelt on his knees, banged his head on the ground, and said dejectedly:

"I'm fantasizing again. I'm fantasizing that the girl band I'm promoting doesn't fall apart, that my stock price hits the daily limit, and that I'm being kept by a rich woman..."

As he spoke, the scout's voice choked and a piano music seemed to sound around him.

The chubby warrior who drank the 50% concentration potion suddenly burst into laughter and began to ramble crazily:

"Oh, what a nice day today! I saw an ant strengthening a pig. 70% doneness is enough for beef..."

On the other side, the swordsman who drank the 75% concentration potion first stared blankly at the void. After a while, he suddenly stared at Frey, and a look of horror appeared on his face, as if he had seen something indescribable.

"It's fake...it's all fake! The world over there is real. I understand, I understand!"

As the layers of fear continued to pile up, the swordsman finally roared as if he had a mental breakdown:

"I can't tell the difference, I really can't tell the difference!"

Hearing the swordsman's shout, the warrior who was originally laughing and talking nonsense was suddenly shocked:

"Wow! There's a ghost! I knew there was one here. Don't be afraid, everyone. Once my holy water arrives, the ghosts and gods will be scared away~!"

The soldier reached for his belt and tried to take off his pants, but because he was mentally confused, his hands were waving around and he couldn't untie them.

As for the other guy who drank the 100% concentration potion, he has now completely fainted and immersed in the world of illusion.

Looking at the guys in front of him doing confusing human behaviors, Frey came to a preliminary conclusion.

When the concentration is around 25%, the potion will make people see some scenes in their dreams based on their own reality, and once the concentration exceeds 50%, the hallucinations will make people fall into madness.

If you control the proportions, adjust the manufacturing process, and add some other ingredients, you might be able to create a smoke bomb that causes hallucinations in the enemy, or a happy water that immerses people in beautiful fantasies.

Considering that there are a large number of frustrated adventurers in the maze city, this thing will definitely sell well. If Frey needs money one day, selling happy water can be a way to get rich.

And after the experiment was completed, F4 was no longer useful to Frey.

If they were just unrelated passers-by, Frey might have let them go.

But since F4 has degenerated into the lackeys of the consortium, letting them go back will obviously do more harm than good to Frey.

"As agreed, I won't dispel the magic. This rock platform will probably last for another ten minutes. Until then, enjoy the rest of your lives."

Hearing Frey's words, the scout who still had some consciousness said quickly:

"No, no, what will we do if you leave?"

Frey already had the answer to this question in his mind.

"What are you going to do..."

"It's not my business?"

"Aren't you Hayek's followers? Let the invisible hand save you."

After saying that, Frey used the grappling hook launcher to leave the space filled with wolf howls.

Chapter 39 One-eyed Stone Man

After hearing about the gold robbery from Jacob, Frey thought that the Hayek consortium might take action.

Thirty years ago, after 30 tons of gold disappeared, the Vatican and the consortium naturally spent a lot of effort to search for it, but in the end they found nothing.

Since the true effect of Jacob's skill [Return] is currently known only to Frey, the consortium cannot be sure of the whereabouts of the missing gold.

When Didoris was negotiating with the consortium, the head of the consortium said that they had never opened the black box containing the map until it was stolen. Didoris also judged that this was not a lie through her ability to judge people.

With Didoris's wisdom, she has naturally conducted a series of investigations and inquiries on the consortium. What is certain now is that the consortium has not yet searched for Petrarch's tomb.

But if the gold was indeed Petrarch's legacy, then the cemetery would likely contain information related to it.

The foundation was probably worried that after finding the cemetery and learning the true amount of the inheritance, the Forest Country would claim compensation from them, so they sent people to track it down in order to understand the situation.

But these are just speculations at the moment. After all, even Frey himself is not sure whether the gold is in the cemetery. Perhaps the gold is not Petrarch's inheritance alone, but the sum accumulated by the consortium over the years.