Chapter 53: The Price of Treachery: A Calculated Rescue

“Oh really? So they already suspect I’m Ellis?”

Late at night, beneath a sprawling tree, Ellis leisurely roasted food over a fire, occasionally flicking a piece of meat into the air.

Before the morsel could fall, Little Ball leaped up, snatching it mid-air and devouring it.

The little creature wore no strings or restraints. Such rudimentary methods of restricting a rat’s freedom were far too crude for Ellis.

Possessing far more sophisticated means, she had simply used Mitchell to cast a curse. The elemental art, originally intended to invigorate the spirit, was subtly twisted to weaken it instead. With a few fine adjustments, Little Ball successfully developed anorexia for the duration of the curse.

For Little Ball, the inability to eat was a fate far worse than death itself.

Under this terrifying threat, Little Ball had no choice but to obediently stay by Ellis’s side.

“Oh, Little Ball, Little Ball, you truly are remarkable. Daisy and the others didn’t even notice, yet you exposed me. How should I reward you?”

Ellis dragged Little Ball closer, poking its tiny belly as she asked in a darkly playful tone.

“Squeak!”

Clever as Little Ball was, it naturally didn’t believe Ellis’s absurd words. With tearful, wide eyes, it pitifully tried to awaken Ellis’s conscience through sheer cuteness.

Alas, if Ellis possessed a conscience, she wouldn’t have betrayed Larry in the first place.

After being played with like a yo-yo for a while, Little Ball surrendered, ready to do whatever it was told.

“Excellent. I, for one, always distinguish between favors and grievances. If you help me, I will never treat you unfairly!”

Ellis stroked Little Ball’s head. “If this succeeds, I’ll make you a mountain of delicious treats. If it fails, heheh, heheheheh, from now on, you’ll either choose to starve, or you’ll only get to eat Meixia’s food.”

“Squeak! Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!”

“Very good, a teachable student! Just cooperate with me!”

Another two days passed. Throughout this time, Julia and Irene, their nerves constantly frayed, were utterly exhausted. They couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, simply waiting for Ellis to appear.

Irene, looking haggard, cried out, “That woman is far too slow! Why hasn’t she shown up yet? Isn’t Larry important to her?!”

Inside the stone hut, a somewhat neurotic Larry moaned softly. “Believe me, she only wants me dead.”

Seeing this, Julia immediately approached him, her face radiating charm. “So forget about that woman who doesn’t love you. Be with me!”

“You know she’s Ellis, and you still say such things?!”

Larry quickly retreated into a corner. He was already suffering from an unknown potion, and now Julia wanted to torment him further.

Larry swallowed hard. “I’m telling you, a forced melon isn’t sweet!”

Irene’s eyes were bloodshot as she growled, “I’ll eat an unsweet melon too!”

Julia nodded in agreement. “Exactly, especially when the melon is Larry!”

Larry despaired. ‘What kind of people are these?!

“Julia, stop pestering Larry. Come here quickly, we have a situation!”

“What? A situation?”

Julia joined Irene, gazing down at the mountain path below.

They spotted a tiny creature crawling towards them, its eyes wide and tearful.

It was Little Ball, noticeably thinner, having lost an entire size. It barely had the strength to walk.

Irene’s heart ached at the sight. Moreover, Little Ball was dangerously close to their trap zone.

“Little Fire, quickly, bring Little Ball back.”

Upon receiving its master’s command, Little Fire immediately flew towards its companion, expertly avoiding the traps Irene and her companions had set along the way. It gently scooped up Little Ball.

The situation unfolded far more smoothly than Irene and Julia had anticipated.

They had suspected it might be a trap laid by Ellis and had remained highly vigilant, ready to assist Little Fire and Little Ball at any moment.

Irene looked curiously at the returned Little Ball. “Weren’t you captured by Ellis? Did you escape?”

Little Ball, nestled in its master’s palm, adorably shook its head.

“Then where is Ellis?”

Little Ball pointed with its paw to the spot where it had been just moments before.

Only then did Irene and Julia realize that Ellis had appeared there, seemingly out of nowhere.

Ellis let out the kind of sinister cackle only a villain would make, arrogantly pointing at the two women. “You bunch of weaklings, hurry up and die!”

“Such arrogance, it truly is you, Ellis.”

Irene angrily pointed at Little Ball. “You heartless fiend, look how you’ve starved Little Ball!”

Ellis replied nonchalantly, “I was helping it lose weight, alright? Look, you’ve fed it until it’s a ball. Now it actually looks like a Gilded Burrowing Rat.”

Julia said coldly, “Don’t try to win with words. You’re the one who should die. Come over here!”

“Then I shall come over.”

Ellis burst into laughter, then soared into the sky, flying directly towards them. She perfectly avoided all the traps Julia and Irene had laid, following a path that seemed remarkably familiar.

‘That’s the path Little Fire just took to fly back. This scoundrel planned this!’

“Precisely!”

Ellis’s eyes gleamed with cunning. She knew precisely how doting Irene was towards her pet.

Just by looking at Little Ball’s plump figure, it was clear that Irene knew nothing of balanced diets; she fed her pet whenever it wanted to eat.

As for Little Ball becoming thinner, it was because Ellis had only given it the appropriate amount of food for a Gilded Burrowing Rat each day. With its daily intake halved and exercise doubled, it naturally took on that appearance.

However, in Irene’s eyes, that amounted to abuse.

This was exactly what Ellis wanted to achieve. Irene was a classic example of someone whose concern clouded their judgment. In her haste to save Little Ball, she completely overlooked the fact that Little Fire would expose the blind spots in their traps.

The two women opposite her were still attempting to stop her, one summoning a pet and the other throwing alchemical products her way.

But how could such hastily prepared attacks possibly stop her, a formidable S-rank adventurer?

Activating an invincibility barrier, she charged directly towards the two women. The traps Irene and Julia had painstakingly worked on day and night these past few days were utterly wasted.

“Aha, my fiancée is here to save me! I advise you to be sensible! She’s a notorious tigress!”

Through the small window of the stone hut, Larry saw Ellis arriving on the wind, his excitement palpable.

“Eat shit!”

However, Ellis showed no intention of sympathizing with Larry’s recent suffering, immediately cursing at him.

“For the sake of my black card, suffering a little hardship is your honor.”

“No! We need to show affection, affection!”

“Affection, you big Kira Monkey! My identity has already been exposed, and you still want to take advantage of me!”

Ellis pointed Mitchell at Julia and Irene. “When did you discover my true identity?”

“Hmph, your little trick can only fool Meixia and Daisy.”

Julia gritted her teeth, glaring at Ellis. “Did you think I wouldn’t recognize you just because you changed to a female body?! We have gender-altering methods in alchemy; I saw right through you immediately!”

Ellis was stunned for a full year. She had never imagined alchemy possessed such a capability.

Suddenly, she realized something incredibly important: alchemy could change gender!

Ellis licked her lips provocatively, pointing at Julia. “Deal! I want a deal!”

Julia, still preparing for a desperate struggle, asked suspiciously, “A deal for what?”

Ellis put her hands on her hips. “Change me back into a man, and Larry is yours!”

The friend had now been deemed an extremely useful currency by her.

“Beast! Monster! Cuckoo bird!”

[Cuckoo birds are usually very united, but when it comes to food, they will fight mercilessly with their own kind.]

Larry’s pained cries echoed from the other side, yet they garnered no sympathy from Ellis.

If she didn’t sell her best friend, it would be a disservice to the years of emotional investment!

Irene sneered, “You want to trade with us using something we already possess? Do you take us for fools?”

It seemed Larry had truly become an item of monetary value for both sides.

“Your possessions? Hahahahaha! What a joke. If I see it, it’s mine!”

Then Ellis made her move.

Julia and Irene attempted to resist.

Julia and Irene were defeated.

The battle, from start to finish, lasted barely ten seconds. Ellis had already cast spells to incapacitate both women and all their pets.

“What, did you really think I’d still be the violent healer you once knew? I’m a poison healer!”

Ellis clapped her hands, tapping Julia’s nose with Mitchell. “Deal?”

Julia let out a resentful sound. “You’re ruthless. Deal!”

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to just agree earlier?”

Ellis dragged both women into the stone hut. Larry excitedly shouted, “Hurry, Ellis, save me!”

Ellis said with disdain, “Look at your pathetic state, as if being with two beautiful, blossoming women is some kind of grievance.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you were drugged every day and surrounded by a bunch of sticky pets!”

Ellis’s gaze flickered to Julia and Irene. Both women awkwardly turned their heads away.

“I was only doing it to help Larry recover faster.”

“Me too.”

‘Serves you right for never catching Larry in this lifetime.’

Ellis pulled some homemade dried rations from her bag and tossed them to Larry, who began to wolf them down as if they were precious treasures.

‘Look at how this poor child has been tormented. It seems his stomach has been full of potions these past few days.’

Seeing Larry almost choke, Ellis quickly offered him water.

Larry’s gaze towards Ellis was filled with gratitude and longing.

She even suspected that Julia and Irene were merely setting her up to gain favor with Larry.

Ellis asked Julia and Irene, puzzled, “Are you sure you don’t have a grudge against Larry, or perhaps a case of love turning to hatred?”

“Of course not, we sincerely…”

“Sincerely want to torment him to death?”

Ellis shook her head helplessly. “Alright, these are minor matters.”

Larry: “!!!”

‘Minor matters my ass! It’s not you who’s being tormented!’

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