Chapter 1810: The Notorious Twilight Society

Nanhai Prison.

*Creeak—*

Mo Yao walked to the window and slowly opened the wooden window facing the street. Accompanied by the screeching of old screws, a gentle, warm breeze brushed against his cheeks.

Mo Yao looked at the blue sky outside the window, took a deep breath... and exhaled slowly.

His fingertips reached into his pocket and pulled out a mysterious playing card. He looked at the face of the card, a faint smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

—[8 of Diamonds].

Sure enough...

It wasn't a dream.

He had truly met that mysterious woman in the black dress, and he had truly succeeded in joining the Twilight Society.

What a piece of news full of anticipation.

Mo Yao seemed to be in a very good mood. He gently pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and, leaving the window open, walked down the wooden steps with a light gait.

"Landlady, give me a cup of tea. Make sure the tea leaves are good ones."

Mo Yao seemed to live above an operating teahouse. After going downstairs, he was in the bustling teahouse. Although it was early morning, many customers were already sitting by the windows drinking tea and chatting.

The landlady, who was sitting behind the counter waving a cattail fan, raised an eyebrow and laughed:

"Oh, the stingy miser is finally spending money? What... did something good happen?"

"It did," Mo Yao paused for a moment. "But it's a secret."

"Tch..."

The landlady rolled her eyes and lowered her head to find tea leaves and brew tea for Mo Yao.

Mo Yao found a corner seat and sat down. Immediately, the conversation from the next table reached his ears:

"Hey, have you heard? Ruoshui Prison was occupied by calamities and has completely fallen!"

"Yes, yes, I heard that too!"

"Oh, who doesn't know about this now... it's all over the streets, and it's all over the newspapers."

"But Ruoshui Prison was fine, how did it suddenly disappear?"

"Don't you know? There's an organization called the Twilight Society that colluded with the calamities, directly opened the prison's outer wall, and let all those calamities in!"

"It's said that the leader of this Twilight Society, what's his name... Red King Chen Ling, he's a world-ending calamity that transformed into human form!"

"Yes, yes! He's the Calamity of Mockery!"

"Nine years ago, he wreaked havoc on the Xuanwu Avenue of the Chengtian Realm, only to be suppressed by His Majesty... Later, somehow, he managed to escape. For all these years, he's been harboring a grudge, so this time he directly destroyed Ruoshui Prison to vent his hatred!"

"The so-called Twilight Society is just a group of moles planted in human prisons by this world-ending calamity to bewitch people's hearts!"

"This beast is truly damnable!! A world-ending calamity, yet he insists on pretending to be human..."

"From now on, we all need to be careful. If we find any traces of strange personnel anywhere, we must report it to the Chengtian Prefecture immediately... It might just be those world-ending lackeys from the Twilight Society!"

"It's just a pity for Ruoshui Prison... millions of people lived there."

"Fortunately, His Majesty is wise and martial, and transferred the people in time, otherwise... the consequences would be unimaginable."

"What kind of bullsh*t Twilight Society, pfft, if I run into them in the future, I'll beat every one I see!"

"And that Chen Ling, he’d better be smart and not set his sights on other places, otherwise... His Majesty won't let him off."

“…… ”

The smile on Mo Yao’s face gradually disappeared.

Mo Yao knew what kind of existence the Twilight Society was. Although he had just joined, a series of strange things had happened to him years ago...

Perhaps others wouldn't believe it if he said it, but he had written letters to himself from the previous world.

He knew what role the Twilight Society played in this world. He believed that the Ruoshui Prison incident was absolutely not as these people were saying.

But the question was, who spread these slanderous messages, and who was smearing the Twilight Society in the public's mind?

Mo Yao only had to think for a moment to come up with the answer.

Other things aside, the destruction of Ruoshui Prison could absolutely not be attributed to the fact that the Lord of Ruoshui had reached the limit of his lifespan. Once that was said, the existence of other "Lords" would return to the public's view, and they would realize a fact...

The prisons they lived in would also perish due to the old age of their respective "Lords."

Once such news spread among the people, everyone would live in panic, and a large population would blindly try to rush into the Chengtian Realm, leading to extreme social chaos.

Therefore, the Chengtian Dynasty must need a more reasonable excuse to explain the fall of Ruoshui this time.

The Twilight Society was undoubtedly the best target.

But Mo Yao was still somewhat unwilling. The Twilight Society had become a rat crossing the street that everyone shouted to beat, and that Red King had become the target of everyone's hatred and curses.

"Your tea."

At the same time, a steaming cup of tea was handed over by the landlady.

"Thank you," Mo Yao lowered his head to take it and sighed.

"Why are you downcast again?" The landlady raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Sighing all the time will sigh away your good luck."

"...It's nothing."

Mo Yao naturally couldn't tell the landlady his worries. He sipped his tea alone and fell into silence.

Seeing that he wasn't talking, the landlady didn't ask for trouble and turned to leave.

「The next second, she seemed to remember something.」

「"By the way, bookworm... your handwriting is so beautiful, why don't you go to the Pu family and try your luck?" the landlady said, turning back.」

「Mo Yao was stunned for a moment, "The Pu family? Try my luck at what?"」

「"Don't you know? The eighth-rank head of the Pu family seems to be nearing the end of his life... He left behind a few calligraphy scrolls, and it's said that whoever can imitate the charm of any one of them can get a million-dollar prize," the landlady said excitedly.」

「"Now, not only from our Nanhai, but people skilled in calligraphy from other prisons are also coming here by reputation."」

「Mo Yao was incredulous, "There's such a thing?"」

「It was no secret that the Pu family had an eighth-rank head on the Path of the Book God, and it was no secret that he was old... but Mo Yao really couldn't understand why they would scatter wealth just for copying calligraphy scrolls.」

「Was the Pu family too wealthy? And if there was such a good thing, why didn't the Pu family members participate themselves?」

「"Of course it's true!" The landlady put her hands on her hips. "If you don't believe me, you can go to the Pu family gate and see for yourself... the line there is already stretching out into the street."」

「Mo Yao was somewhat tempted.」

「It wasn't because of the so-called million-dollar prize; he was just curious about what medicine the Pu family was selling in their gourd... If it was just copying calligraphy, it would be too simple for him, after all, he was also on the Path of the Book God.」

「"I see," Mo Yao finished the tea in his cup and stood up directly.」

「"I'll go over and take a look right now."」