Wayne remained silent, swallowing hard to suppress his astonishment. He held his breath and focused on William's hand, where a fleeting light vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, making him question if it was just a mirage.

When urban legends were mentioned, a premonition arose in Wayne's mind that the world was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

The recent scene undoubtedly confirmed his suspicions.

It was terrible. As an ordinary person, Wayne sensed malevolence emanating from the world. Rather than the unknown magical atmosphere, he wished everyone could be as ordinary as he was.

Unless... he wasn't ordinary either.

Book of Greed!

At this moment, Wayne felt an unprecedented desire to open this book.

"Who left the mark on you?"

Facing William's question, Abel's expression grew more bewildered. After a moment, he remembered something, but as he began to speak, the mark of the Death Cultists on the back of his hand suddenly changed.

The inverted triangle symbol extended four tentacles on each side, teeth bared, resembling a simplified black spider.

The symbol was deeply engraved into his bones and even his soul, far more profound than a mere surface tattoo. The toxins from the eight spider legs spread rapidly through his veins, visibly and swiftly occupying his entire arm.

Abel groaned in pain, seemingly engaged in some form of resistance and struggle. His features contorted, the more he struggled, the more he suffered. At this moment, he found it difficult to even breathe, let alone speak.

William's fingers tightened, gripping Abel's wrist like a vice, and a warm light filled the air once more, dispelling the darkness and driving the eight spider legs back.

Abel's groans soon turned into sighs of relief. Meanwhile, the Book of Greed once again expressed its desire, even making Wayne envious.

It was bad. The target of the Book of Greed's desire was William!

Thanks to William's assistance, Abel's pain significantly subsided, returning him to a state of daze. He babbled, recounting a gathering in the warehouse district.

Abel didn't know much. He was unfamiliar with the Death God Sect, to be precise, not even considered an outer member, but a misguided follower.

Due to his long hours of labor, vacant footsteps, lifeless eyes, and a gaunt figure, he caught the attention of the nearby followers of the Goddess of Death, leading him to inadvertently enter the warehouse district stronghold.

With the opponents being numerous and formidable, Abel dared not resist. After a sip of black rum, the mark of the Goddess of Death's followers appeared on the back of his hand.

The information provided by Abel was of questionable value, with only the warehouse district stronghold being worth further investigation. Prompted by William's questioning, Abel also mentioned a few names.

Among them, the name of the dockworker, Bruto, caught the attention of several individuals.

Mrs. Laina, Abel, Bruto—these three were intricately linked. The aura of the Death Walker on Mrs. Laina most likely stemmed from Bruto. Even if he wasn't a true Death Walker, he would still be an important lead.

"Let's go to the warehouse district!"

Veronica decisively took action, cradling the black cat as she headed outside.

William knocked Abel unconscious, covered him with a blanket, then turned and followed Veronica.

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Wayne stood still for a moment, his intuition warning him of the danger ahead. Going would surely bring regret, but not going would bring even more regret!

Thinking about this dangerous world and the Book of Greed that he couldn't open, he clenched his teeth and followed suit.

"Are we going to the warehouse district now?"

In the streets, Wayne glanced at his watch, hesitating, "It's getting late, it will be dark by the time we reach the warehouse district."

Rushing from the docks to Abel's apartment and then back to the warehouse district near the docks had consumed a considerable amount of time. Although Wayne didn't admit it verbally, deep down, he was strongly averse to Lundan's nights. If possible, he wished to depart in the morning.

William sensed Wayne's hesitation, patting him on the shoulder with a powerful and warm hand, then pinching him lightly, "You must have figured it out by now. Yes, both Veronica and I are magicians. So, while the night may be frightening, the moonlight will guide us. Nothing will happen."

"Why are you being physical! And also, it's understandable that the cute Veronica is a magician, but why should this muscle guy like you become a magician? Did the Magic Guild run out of candidates?"

Feeling the warmth and strength of William's powerful hand, Wayne's eyelids twitched, and he dryly responded, "I've only read descriptions of magicians in novels. I've heard it's very difficult, with high requirements for talent. So... can I become a magician?"

"You can, but first, you must have your own faith," William solemnly stated.

"Shut up, you talk too much. Don't involve ordinary people," Veronica interjected coldly.

"I know, but Wayne has already been involved. He's surrounded by death energy, and the Death Walker has targeted him..." William retorted, his voice fading as he spoke.

It was evident that he was afraid of Veronica.

Wayne widened his eyes, unsure of what 'death energy' meant or why the Death Walker had set its sights on him. When discussing life and death matters, it would be helpful to be clearer.

"Don't worry, once we clear out the death cult stronghold in the warehouse district, you'll be safe from now on." William patted Wayne's shoulder again and, while Veronica wasn't looking, infused a bit of light into Wayne.

Veronica glanced at William but said nothing.

---

In the taxi, Wayne remained silent, seemingly lost in thought, and, unbeknownst to the others, he was flipping through the Book of Greed.

The book opened!

William hadn't taught Wayne about magic, but he had placed a defensive spell on Wayne—a simple magic and faith application to protect Wayne from death threats in critical moments.

Wayne was unaware of this; he didn't have time to be aware. In the instant the light entered his body, the Book of Greed swallowed him whole, like gaining an unlocking key, allowing Wayne to browse through the book's contents.

There was nothing much to see; it was almost all blank pages.

The good news was that Wayne's alias was noted on the first page of the Book of Greed. However, the bad news was that this book was too unfamiliar, vastly different from Wayne's original coding intentions.

Perplexed, Wayne could only complain that Jose had mixed in some private goods, or perhaps a bunch of bugs had produced new features.

When Wayne was writing the Book of Greed, he added a lot of settings: title bonuses, attribute doubling, immunity to all attributes, extraplanar gods, and so on.

One of these settings was called 'Sacrifice,' which involved sacrificing a player to obtain all items in their inventory and freezing their account for seven days.

This setting was crude, unreasonable, and severely affected game balance. However, as an administrator's exclusive artifact, a bit of strength was understandable; otherwise, they couldn't control the game.

After all, it was the fourth day of the disaster. If administrators lacked authority, players would walk all over them.

Now, a large part of the settings in the Book of Greed were grayed out, possibly temporarily inaccessible or permanently deleted. Even if there were loopholes, the effects could not compare to the original. Take Sacrifice, for example: from sacrificing a living being at the start to now signing a contract with a specific being.

Wayne tried; his first choice was Veronica, but the signing failed, thwarting his plan to enslave the magical girl.

Reluctantly, he tried with William next, but it failed again. Not even the black cat Monica could be successfully contracted.

Wayne could understand why he couldn't contract with magicians and their pets—he was too incompetent, not qualified. But why couldn't he sign contracts with taxi drivers or passersby on the street? It was baffling.

After finally activating the cheat code, ready to make a big move, the result was the same as before, but with a loss of magical energy!

Was the cheat code too harsh, or was the user too weak and inept?

The more Wayne thought, the more he felt at a loss. Just then, the Book of Greed successfully captured a being that could be contracted.

No, it was a vengeful spirit!

On the blank pages of the book, a series of bloody codes appeared, forming a contract awaiting Wayne's signature.

Without hesitation, Wayne, with a turn of his mind, left his alias on the contract.

"[Humble petitioner, resentful soul wronged in death, I hear your cries...

Under the witness of this sacred contract, all of you belongs to me, you may retain the past but will lose the future...

You are given a chance at rebirth, you will become a spirit of vengeance, wielding the blade for your master, for your god, for me.]"

Wayne, (一`′一)

This thing, how should I put it, doesn't sound like a good person at all!