"No money???" The white-haired woman looked at Viego with suspicion, then quickly broke into a smile. "Then you'll follow me from today on. Be my mercenary, work for me, until you've paid off the money you owe me."
"Okay."
To her surprise, Viego agreed very quickly.
"Wait… I said you have to agree to anything I say, right? If I told you to lick my feet, you'd agree???"
"?" Viego looked surprised. "Do you enjoy having your feet licked by a strange man you just met?"
"Heh…" The woman let out a cold laugh and pulled out the dagger at her waist.
Viego shut his mouth but had no intention of changing his decision.
He could feel a power within his body, probably the so-called curse of Ruination, but it was extremely weak. To make an analogy, it was as thin as a needle; it made no difference whether it was hard or not.
Having arrived in a new world, Viego temporarily had no power to protect himself, while the woman before him seemed quite strong but not overly dangerous. Sticking by her side would allow him to learn about this new world while also ensuring his own safety. Viego had no reason to refuse.
Viego wasn't depressed, much less did he have any self-destructive, suicidal thoughts. If he could live, he of course wanted to live well, and even more so, he wanted to see the different sceneries of an alternate world.
The woman was a bit surprised but soon stopped caring. As she saw it, Viego was simply unwilling to be extorted and was probably looking for a chance to escape from her, or perhaps... planning to kill her directly?
But it was also possible that he had really fallen from the sky and scrambled his brain. His earlier confused expression when asking about "Ionia" didn't seem fake; he genuinely seemed lost, surprised, and bewildered to find himself in an unknown country.
In any case, she didn't fully trust him either. This land was never a beautiful place, and in a war zone full of chaos and brutality like Kazdel, it was even more so.
She lowered her gun. "Well then, you brain-damaged fellow, what's your name? A friendly reminder—if you still have family or friends, you'd better not use your real name, okay? Give yourself a codename, something simple preferably, lest you die too quickly and I haven't even memorized your name yet."
This woman has a venomous tongue.
"Then just call me Viego," he said. "And you?"
Since I've inherited Viego's memories, then I'll live on in this new world with Viego's name.
But this time, there is no Isolde, and I will not be a simp again.
Being a simp never ends well.
Love? Not even a dog would want it!
How can women be as interesting as an alternate world!
"W." She extended a hand to Viego, as if to pull him up.
Viego stared at her hand, getting the feeling that if he dared to place his hand on hers, W would pull out her dagger and chop it off.
Receiving no response for a long moment, W impatiently grabbed Viego by the collar and forcibly hauled him up.
"I'm really starting to doubt if your brain was truly scrambled. Get up, we're short on time. Stick close to me when we go out, don't get scared. If you fall behind, you'll be killed by the enemy. And if you run away…"
W gave Viego a gentle smile, the massive barrel of her gun faintly pointing at his crotch. "I'll make you wish you were dead, okay?"
Viego seemed dazed. It wasn't until W, growing impatient, was about to raise her hand to slap him that his eyes refocused.
He rubbed his temples. "Sorry… I suddenly got a bit of a headache."
"It seems your brain really was scrambled. We can find a doctor for you once we get into the city, see if your brain was truly smashed into mush," W mocked, then yanked open the wooden door and walked out.
Viego followed closely behind her.
Just now, W's fingers had touched the skin next to his collarbone, causing a massive amount of information to suddenly flood his mind. That was why he had been dazed—the impact of so much information had left him momentarily stunned.
Viego pondered the information that had just appeared in his mind—or rather, the memory.
It was the image of Isolde, along with Viego who had a sword piercing his chest, falling together from the sky. The two seemed to have fallen from a great height. Viego landed on the ground successfully. Isolde, however, shattered like a porcelain doll into countless illusory fragments, each surrounded by Black Mist.
And one of those fragments had flown into W's body.
I've come all the way to an alternate world, and I still have to save that bad woman, Isolde? I refuse!
—Although he really wanted to say that, the reality was that Viego had no choice but to collect Isolde's fragments.
Because from that contact just now, Viego understood that he couldn't use the Black Mist because this world, before his arrival, had no curse of Ruination, nor did it have the Shadow Isles, which was the source and origin of the curse.
If, in a few days, Viego still hadn't obtained the power of the Ruination, he would "starve" to death.
If he were strong enough, Viego could of course create a new base of operations. But right now, he was so weak he couldn't even beat a cockroach, and he couldn't even use the Black Mist.
To use a game as an analogy, he was now a level-zero hero who couldn't even learn a single skill—not only could he not resurrect, but his health would also slowly drain over time.
And within Isolde's fragments was the power of the Ruination. As long as Viego could obtain Isolde's fragments, he could absorb and utilize this power to ensure his own survival.
If he collected enough, he could even become stronger. When he was strong enough, Viego could open up a new "Shadow Isles" to provide him with power. At that point, he would no longer need to worry about "starving" to death due to the weakening of the Ruination.
In short: No fragments = Death. Collecting fragments = Restoring HP and gaining EXP. Collecting enough fragments = Leveling up and getting stronger.
It was a bit like one of those predatory mobile game ads… I've already collected 99.9 pieces of Isolde's fragments! I just need to gather 100 more Isolde fragment essences to synthesize one full Isolde fragment, and I can get a living Isolde! You should come and try it too!
The thought of having to go through all the trouble to revive that bad woman, only to be questioned by her about why he revived her, made Viego feel a little sick.
Whether it was his life as Viego or his life as an ordinary person, looking back, he felt that he really shouldn't have been a simp, and he felt even more disgusted for having once liked such a woman.
He was collecting the fragments only to survive and grow stronger, not to save Isolde...
Viego secretly made up his mind.
I, Viego, will not be a simp!
If I really do revive Isolde one day, I'll tell her to crawl away without stopping, to immediately get out of my sight!
But, how was he supposed to collect the fragments?
Viego stared at W's back and fell into deep thought.