This situation made Hao Yun and his companions even more excited. They continued to emit strange cries of "hui hui hui," "moo moo moo," and "gu gu gu," celebrating their success in avoiding another accident and completing the performance smoothly. Of course, while mocking the audience and clowns, they also took the opportunity to scorn Countess Gogolnikyeva for not keeping her promise. After the three successfully completed the performance, she forcibly demanded another performance from them. She even stated that if they couldn't handle it, she could leave without playing, which was much better than gaining a reputation for being "petty" a hundred times over!
As a result, to the surprise of Hao Yun and his companions, the unexpected happened once again. As if in response to their mockery, just as they were making sarcastic remarks and gestures towards the audience, the lights suddenly dimmed. After a brief moment of darkness for Hao Yun and his companions, the surroundings lit up again. At this moment, they found themselves once again unexpectedly back inside the iron cage in the tent. Seeing this, they could only sigh helplessly, attributing it to the stinginess of Countess Gogolnikyeva, who couldn't take a joke, and preparing themselves for the next performance. So, they restrained their previous sense of triumph and continued to wait vigilantly for the unfolding of the next plot.
"Laa, lalala, lala, lalala..."
As Hao Yun and his companions waited for the clowns to reappear and speculated about their next circus act, a slightly hoarse voice singing a tune that no one understood suddenly came from outside the tent. Then, as the curtain of the tent was lifted, a middle-aged woman with stiff movements slipped in, swinging a white umbrella in her right hand.
This strange woman held the hem of the pink lace dress with white question marks all over it, a dress with a distinct European medieval style, with her left hand. Ignoring the puzzled and wary gazes of Hao Yun and his companions, she awkwardly swayed her stiff waist and exaggeratedly raised her legs, striding back and forth in front of the iron cage where Hao Yun and his companions were detained.
As this woman inspected Hao Yun and his companions as if they were animals, she occasionally approached the iron cage with her face, which was adorned with sunflower-shaped sunglasses, covered in white powder, and two large red circles on her cheeks. Sometimes, she would vigorously sniff the scent of the three, or her lips, which were thinly coated with lipstick only in the middle and extended to her earlobes, would be exaggeratedly puckered as she leaned into the iron cage, making disgusting gestures as if she wanted to kiss them. This frightened Hao Yun and his companions, who quickly retreated to the other side of the cage, fearing being suddenly pulled over by this strange woman for an inhumane forced kiss.
Seeing Hao Yun and his companions retreating, the woman, whose skin was so rough that not even thick foundation could conceal it, immediately revealed a satisfied smile. However, Hao Yun and his companions could tell at a glance that this woman was completely fake smiling. Not only did this fake smile make her face look even more hideous, but it also made everyone feel extremely nauseous because of the rotten yellow teeth exposed by her smile.
"Ah, oh, your scent smells so good, so familiar! Ahem, ahem!" The woman pointed at Dao Lao and Dream Jia, speaking in a hoarse and inexperienced voice.
Then, this strange woman twisted her body and, with her tongue, licked the railing that Hao Yun had just grabbed. Then, puckering her mouth, tilting her head, and using a dirty finger, she lightly tapped Hao Yun, saying, "Oh! Your smell is so fresh! Ahem, ahem!"
After speaking, the woman turned around and returned to the center of the tent, leaning on her folded umbrella. She hummed the annoying little tune again, twisted her extremely uncoordinated body, and began to dance some kind of primitive dance in front of Hao Yun and his companions. She danced awkwardly for a while before finally stopping with an unsatisfied expression. Then, she raised her eyebrows at Hao Yun and his companions and made three consecutive gestures of flipping her hand, indicating that they had no questions to ask.
Understanding the woman's meaning, Hao Yun was the first to speak, asking in a trembling voice, "You... who are you? Do you...?"
Hao Yun's question was interrupted halfway when he suddenly covered his mouth in astonishment. Because he realized that he could speak human language again.
The woman did not pay attention to Hao Yun's surprised expression but instead turned around, facing Hao Yun and his companions, and made a shallow European-style curtsey before directly answering, "Yes, I am the Countess, Countess Gogolnikyeva. May I ask, guests from afar, are you still comfortable staying here? Oh dear! I should have known where you came from. I was negligent before, please forgive me! Ahem, ahem!"
"Do you... recognize us?" Dao Lao asked cautiously.
"Yes. I recognize you. Because the scent on you is familiar. In the divine battle back then, I remember the scent of every hero I encountered. Ahem, ahem," the Countess replied, then clumsily performed a few tap dance steps and pointed her umbrella at Dao Lao and Dream Jia.
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Upon hearing the Countess's words, Hao Yun and his companions frowned because her answer indirectly indicated their identities as bearers of the Mold Spirit Energy. Moreover, since the strange woman standing opposite them was the Countess, the creator of the Fragrant Nebula, it meant that Hao Yun and his companions were even less likely to escape from here now.
The Countess paid no attention to the increasingly solemn expressions of the three, but after performing a poor ballet-style inward spin, she stumbled over to Hao Yun's side again. As she once again enjoyed the scent emanating from Hao Yun's body, she said, "As for you, little guy, you must be the newly awakened rookie, right? Ahem, ahem!"
Although the Countess's ambiguous actions filled Hao Yun with fear, he still, while ensuring a safe distance between himself and the Countess, asked in a trembling voice, " 'Must be'? Why do you say that? Have you heard of me?"
The Countess grinned and laughed dryly, "Of course! You must be the troublemaker who ambushed Elina, right? Ahem, ahem! Elina was really injured by you! She, now, really hates you!"
Hearing the name "Elina," the three immediately glanced at each other, simultaneously confirming their suspicions that Elina had indeed fled to the black hole VOID-5173. What made matters more complicated was that Elina now seemed to have the powerful support of Countess Gogolnikyeva. Therefore, capturing her now would likely prove to be a much more difficult task.
"Are you of the same kind as Elina? Then why don't you—" Haoyun asked cautiously.
Before he could finish his sentence, the Countess, while licking the part of the railing Haoyun had just touched, looked at Haoyun up and down with fiery eyes and said absurdly, "Why not kill you? Hehehe! I quite like your mischievousness. How about staying here as my assistant? You and Algon can become my most trusted aides, and together we will create a more magical world. Hehehe!"
"Ahem! Countess, since you know we are priests, why don't you take this opportunity to attack us and imprison us here? What exactly do you want?" Seeing the Countess staring nervously at Haoyun, Dream Jia asked again, somewhat annoyed.
The Countess turned her strange eyes to Dream Jia and then to Haoyun, then suddenly seemed to realize something, raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, and backed away from the cage where Haoyun was being held, all the way to the center of the tent, saying, "Kill you? Why? Just because I am the mold spirit and you are priests of the Spirit Realm? Or is it to avenge Elina? But she's not dead, she's perfectly capable of doing it herself. Besides, I'm not interested in the grudges between you. Ahem."
Although the Countess's response implied that she harbored no hostility towards the three, her answer was still somewhat unexpected to them, leaving the three somewhat puzzled and suspicious of what conspiracy she might be plotting.
"Since you don't intend to harm us, why do you still keep us imprisoned here? Furthermore, if you're not interested in the grudges between us and Elina, why not let her come out and settle things with us herself?" After some thought, Dream Jia followed the Countess's lead and asked again.
The Countess shook her index finger at Dream Jia and said with a whimsical smile, "Firstly, keeping you here has nothing to do with Elina or our hostile relationship. Secondly, Elina did come here, and it was with my help that she managed to escape your trap and come here successfully. However, she can't come out to settle things with you herself because she's gone. As for where she went, I can't tell you."
"And what must we do for you to tell us where Elina is?" Upon hearing this, Haoyun immediately asked.
Upon hearing Haoyun's question, the Countess once again looked at Haoyun, then giggled and waved her hand dismissively, "You, don't even think—"
Seeing Haoyun's helpless expression, the Countess waved her hand and said, "Hehehe. Teasing you is so much fun! Don't worry, I'm not interested in someone like you. You're too—too normal! Not my type at all. Hehehe!"
Then, seemingly satisfied with the effect of teasing Haoyun, the Countess shifted the topic and began randomly drawing circles on the three with her index finger while saying, "Never mind Elina for now! Since you won't be able to leave here anytime soon, it's pointless to talk about her. Let's talk about your situation first. Ahem."
The Countess set down her umbrella, allowing it to float upright on one side, and then naturally sat on a chair that appeared out of thin air beneath her. After settling down, a set of similarly appearing tea set began to brew tea for her automatically. The Countess delicately picked up a cup of hot tea, took a sip, exaggeratedly smacked her lips to indicate the tea's rich aroma.
The Countess gestured for the three to taste the freshly brewed tea. Three floating teacups immediately appeared in the cage where the three were held. Haoyun took a sip from the cup, acknowledging that the tea indeed tasted good. However, to his slight surprise, instead of Western black tea, the cup contained pure Chinese green tea. Moreover, he felt a hint of smokiness in the tea, giving it a somewhat familiar taste.
"Excellent tea!" Dao Lao also praised after drinking the tea in one gulp, while uncertainly savoring the lingering tea aroma. Only Dream Jia, after taking a sip of the hot tea, expressed no particular feeling, saying that she preferred coffee to tea.
Not receiving immediate praise from Haoyun and the others, the Countess cleared her throat awkwardly. Then, in an attempt to highlight the uniqueness of the tea, she quickly added, "Ahem! Do you like the tea? You should know that this is a rare new tea that I managed to obtain. What's even more special is that these teas were roasted by me using the degree mica stone as a heat source! Ahem."
"What? Degree mica stone!" Haoyun was shocked, quickly spitting out the tea he had just tasted and continuously spitting out saliva, wiping his tongue with the back of his hand to completely eliminate the tea aroma. Dao Lao also put down the freshly poured tea, his face turning blue and purple, looking extremely ugly.
On the other hand, Dream Jia, curious, finished tasting the second cup of tea and said, "Oh! So this is the smoky flavor of the degree mica stone! It's quite unique!"
"Oh, darling, please enjoy it as much as you like! Don't worry, the degree mica stone won't affect you. Hehehe!" Seeing Dream Jia express interest in the taste of the degree mica stone, the Countess happily filled her cup again, laughing contentedly.