Chapter 338: This is… fun.

"So even if you have spies everywhere..."

[They won’t know the details.]

Aurelia nodded.

Lucian also noticed she admitted to having spies so deep in their network that her spies were being used to deliver sensitive objects.

Even if they did not know the objects themselves, the very fact that her spies had infiltrated this deep was... quite terrifying.

[My people can tell me that something is being moved, where it was taken to, who ordered it, who received it and how often it happens—

But that is pretty much the extent of information I can get.]

"Even if your people moved Neroth’s Heart at some point, they won’t know..."

Lucian muttered. Aurelia didn’t say anything, but at this point, the answer was pretty obvious.

"Well, it does give you access to these tokens."

Lucian smiled.

Aurelia’s answer gave away how she got the token.

[It does.]

Aurelia did not try to hide it anymore either.

[And because the lower personnel aren’t supposed to know any details, as long as we have the token, your cart won’t be stopped.]

"Won’t they be suspicious when they see me?"

[Who said they will see you?]

Aurelia questioned back.

"Huh?"

And before Lucian could understand anything, Aurelia gave the next instruction.

[Get inside the cart.]

"...what?"

Lucian froze.

[Get in.]

"You cannot be serious."

[I am.]

He looked at the lower compartment of the cart. It was large, barely, but large enough.

"So your grand solution was to put me in a food cart...?"

[Would you prefer to walk into the restricted level?]

"...no."

[Then get inside.]

"What about the things that are inside the cart?"

He asked.

[There should be a few more carts there. Store them there.]

Lucian sighed at that.

[Also, don’t forget to press the elevator button. B6.]

"Yeah, yeah."

Lucian nodded, he pressed B6, then he emptied the food cart, opened the lower compartment, removed one internal shelf and awkwardly folded himself inside and pulled the panel shut.

It was cramped inside, so much so that his knees nearly touched his chest.

"Feels like I am being smuggled to be someone’s slave."

He snorted.

[I’d buy you.]

Aurelia chuckled.

"Then you can’t have anyone else. I’ll kill all your other slaves."

[Don’t worry, I won’t have other slaves if I have you.]

She answered playfully.

Lucian didn’t even have enough room to look around, so he turned silent and expanded his other senses instead.

Seeing the world outside through vibrations.

The elevator continued moving down. He could hear the cart, the metallic clinking, the cables moving, and the elevator itself.

Then, the steady downward movement paused and he heard a ding.

The elevator stopped.

[Do not move.]

Aurelia instructed.

Lucian remained perfectly still.

He heard the elevator door open and footsteps approaching him.

Lucian could tell it was a single person and considering he did not have a heartbeat, Lucian knew he was a Vampire.

Then suddenly—

Lucian sensed the cart shift, someone was moving the cart he was in.

"Is that your..."

He whispered very, very, very softly but then—

Thud

The Vampire pushing his cart suddenly kicked the container he was in.

That made Lucian pause.

Just then—

[Don’t speak.]

Aurelia instructed.

[And yes, that is one of my personnel. That kick meant he can hear you, so be silent. You’ll get killed if it is someone else.]

’Thanks for the timely warning.’

Lucian rolled his eyes.

Of course, this time, he didn’t say any of it out loud. Even if he could sense there was no one else around other than the one who was pushing his cart. He knew his limits, he knew his senses could be fooled, so he did not take any risk.

[Good.]

Aurelia praised.

Lucian didn’t say anything and Aurelia continued making his life hard.

[Fwoooo~]

She blew into the mic, Lucian, who could picture what she was doing, felt his mouth twitch.

[Look at you~ Staying like you were told. How about I really do buy you?]

In the end, Lucian just closed his eyes and decided to ignore this woman. He focused on his senses, he could sense that the cart was still moving.

He tried to picture what the outside was like, how many corridors he crossed, how many doors, guards and Vampires he passed.

Lucian treated it like training and the instant that mindset set in, Aurelia’s distractions no longer mattered.

After a while, Lucian heard a few more footsteps, again, there were no heartbeats, they were all Vampires, at least nine.

That alone made it clear that this was no ordinary basement.

For a moment, his cart did stop, Lucian heard footsteps walking towards them. That made his face turn solemn, he remained still, just then—

Beep

A sound was heard.

"You can go."

The Guard ordered.

The Vampire pushing Lucian’s cart nodded and continued walking again.

Lucian let out a silent sigh.

Then, the cart passed another checkpoint, then another, then one more. No one opened or inspected the cart.

Authorized sensitive cargo.

He remembered what Aurelia said.

The Token Aurelia gave him made the Crimson Hearth recognise an ordinary cart as something that was carrying material so sensitive that no guards were allowed to open it.

And because Arcelis’s System made it so no guard or other lower personnel would know what was actually happening—

Absolutely no one would suspect it.

’This is... fun.’

Lucian couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. As cramped as it was, it felt like he was inside a spy movie and he was now starting to enjoy every second of it.

...minus the constant commentary he was still hearing.

[I’ll take your silence as an approval. You have now sold yourself to me for 16 dollars.]

Lucian sighed at that.

He honestly wanted to know why 16 specifically, but then again, there were a lot of things he wanted to say but he couldn’t.

He focused on the cart again, the cart turned into a different corridor. There were fewer people here. They passed through another checkpoint, then Lucian sensed a heavy metal door moving.

The Cart then moved into a room, Lucian heard the door close behind them, the Vampire pushed the cart several meters forward, then, he stopped and...

He walked away.