“What, are you my master?”

The sense of deja vu was so strong that Wayne couldn’t help but blurt out the comment. Hearing his hoarse voice, the black-robed figure’s devout prayers stopped. When she looked up, Wayne stilled, too.

“Demon?!”

“Mina?!”

Wayne looked at this world’s Filomina in surprise. Under the black robe was a face that appeared so much older that she looked unfamiliar to him. Her originally radiant blonde hair was dull and yellowed, her eyes were crimson, as if they were dripping blood, and her sunken cheeks made her cheekbones seem protruding. She had applied dark purple eyeshadow, dark lipstick, and thick foundation to conceal her aged appearance.

Was this really Filomina, one of his three luxury cars? If he hadn’t known her inside out, he would’ve thought this was someone else.

“You know me?” Filomina rose to her feet and took two steps back, crossing her arms behind her back to hold her Single-edged Sword of Waning Moon and Pistol of Full Moon, wary of the demon who had descended for reasons unknown.

The magic circle had malfunctioned and summoned the wrong target.

“You’ve gotten older, Mina...” Wayne sighed. Judging by the unpleasant negativity in the air, this wasn’t the Chosen Land. He was more or less certain that he had entered the inner world.

Hesione and Mona weren’t here. He wondered if they had entered the inner world as well, just summoned elsewhere, or if they had returned to the Chosen Land safely. If it was the latter, why was Wayne so unlucky when they had gone down the same path? He had consumed antique silver coins and supposedly gained a luck buff!

Wayne complained silently. If he had known that shielding his secretary and lover behind him would lead to this, he wouldn’t have pretended to be a warm-hearted man.

Nevertheless, he was thankful that he was the one in the inner world. If his secretary and lover had gone missing instead, it would have taken a lot of trouble for him to track her down.

There was no point crying over spilled milk. The inner world wasn’t a place he should be. His priority was to return as soon as possible.

He remembered how the inner world was often described: a dark, cruel, bleak, and tragic world that consisted of the negativity of the surface world. It was the surface world’s trash can as well as its powder keg. Once the accumulated negativity surpassed its capacity, the inner world would fall apart.

The inner world had an independent story. Since the moment of its inception, the story would start to spiral out of control due to the negativity.

After the world exploded, the mirror effect would replicate another inner world to serve as a trash can. The inner world would continue to revive, explode, revive again, and explode again...

The world had no future.

This Filomina was a good representation of the inner world. The Filomina of the surface world was elegant and stunning, captivating beyond description. Here... even calling this Filomina an old witch would be an understatement.

Wayne looked at Filomina pityingly. He knew how much she cared about her appearance. She must be heartbroken about her wasted form now.

“Who are you, and why do you know my name?” Filomina asked harshly. It was one thing to know her name; it was another to call her with such familiarity. Did she even know him?

“It’s me...” Wayne dispersed his demonic state, shoving the half-complete Philosopher’s Stone into his chest and pointing at the face that had allowed him to earn his livelihood. “Do you remember? I’m Wayne. We’ve met.”

He had encountered the Filomina of the inner world once, back in the Capital Hotel in Luzerbourg. Windsor Ministry of Magic had attacked the Church of Moonlight with a mirror space projection. After the two Filominas fought, the one from the inner world was critically injured. Wayne had patched her up before taking her weapons.

After the projection was destroyed, the two weapons disappeared along with inner Filomina. She looked even older now.

Wayne marveled at the mysterious way fate worked.

Filomina remembered now. Vicious light blazing in her eyes, she cursed the shameless man out and raised her gun to pull the trigger continuously. Magical bullets of light pierced through Wayne’s body, leaving holes in the concrete wall behind him.

Holes had also been put into Wayne’s body, but the scattered white foam landed and transformed into small octopi before crawling back to him with their tentacles.

“You’re not my match, Mina. Stop wasting your energy.”

Wayne immediately saw Filomina’s rank. She was a Gold-ranked mage who had yet to reach Legendary, and because of the negativity in the inner world, her Golden Triangle was unstable. She likely couldn’t even create a vitality field.

How pitiful.

The more he looked at her, the more he ached for her. Though this wasn’t his Filomina, he couldn’t help but project his feelings for Filomina on this version and feel compelled to help her.

Filomina saw that the barrage of mana bullets inflicted no lasting injury. Chanting under her breath to charge up her Pistol of Full Moon, she pulled the trigger at Wayne’s face.

Bullets of moonlight soared and radiated blinding light, making the sewer look like daytime. Covering her face, she rushed toward the depths of the sewer with the blinding light as cover. After taking a few steps, she looked up in despair to find Wayne standing before her. Holding her two weapons, she howled and charged at him, her crimson eyes blazing viciously.

Another barrage of bullets hit Wayne in the chest and the face, turning him into a pile of white humanoid flesh. As soon as she was close enough, she pierced through Wayne’s chest with her Single-edged Sword of Waning Moon, pressing the pistol to his chin.

Wild mana exploded, instantly evaporating Wayne’s chest and head.

“Dead?” Filomina took two steps backward, looking at the Astral creature before her. After two seconds, she turned and ran away.

Bam!

She ran right into his arms.

Wayne held her. Sensing her violent resistance, he lowered his head and whispered, “It’s okay. It’s me. I won’t hurt you.”

Filomina froze. Those simple sentences poured on her dry barron heart like spring rain, and she almost believed him.

Bang!

The Pistol of Full Moon kissed Wayne’s chin, blasting off his head once more. He watched the woman rushing deeper into the sewer in resignation, shaking his head and sighing.

“Can’t help it. I have to calm her down.”

Not long after, Filomina was tied to a stake by tentacles of white foam, gagged by a small octopus with its tentacles hugging her face. Her expression was a mix of terror and viciousness.

She radiated intense negative emotions—anxiety, rage, fear, suspicion, loneliness, and aggression. Influenced by negativity every moment of the day, she craved killing and destruction, and she suffered from a serious self-destructive tendency. Her pursuit of beauty remained, but had twisted into an obsession.

Wayne looked at her, troubled. It was difficult for him to see her and Filomina as the same person. Though the High Reverend he knew could be a little difficult, she loved and hated freely and didn’t hesitate to give herself away. This woman...

Forget it. He couldn’t get close to her.

“Don’t think about running away or attacking thoughtlessly, Mina. I really won’t hurt you. In the surface world, we’re engaged and are living together. You’re even pregnant with my child.”

Wayne lowered the single-edged sword and the pistol to the ground, snapping his finger. The small octopus stuffing Filomina’s mouth slowly moved away, allowing her to speak normally.

“Don’t address me so intimately. She and I aren’t the same person, and it’s impossible that she would like you!” Filomina said coldly.

“Are you sure? If you insist, I’ll have no reason to let you live.”

“...”

“That’s more like it.”

Wayne took two steps forward and started checking her. He realized that the Book of Greed could replicate her negativity, but not take it away.

Negativity was also information and a type of Law. The information streamed into the book’s cover rather than the small eyeball.

Wayne raised an eyebrow. The additional hint gave him a better understanding of the book’s cover. The first few times information went into the cover, he had been unable to figure out what the information meant due to insufficient clues. Now...

There still weren’t enough clues. He would have to wait and see.

After the examination, Wayne clapped Filomina’s shoulder and drew the massive amount of vitality stored in the magic stones in his chest, injecting it into Filomina. Rejuvenated, she recovered her radiant beauty.

Filomina closed her eyes and savored the feeling. Her sickly body felt reborn anew, and all the ailments that had been haunting her for a long time were lifted. Her Golden Triangle stabilized. Everything made her feel alive again.

It felt too good. Even with her jaw clenched, she couldn’t help but groan.

After the surgery, Wayne conjured some water to wash away the terrible makeup on her face. Then he created a water mirror to show her what she looked like right now. The stunning beauty in the reflection made Filomina unable to look away. Lost in her own looks, she stayed silent for a long while.

“Makeup is bad for you, so you never touch any of your cosmetics after you become pregnant,” Wayne murmured, looking up at a forty-five-degree angle like he was reminiscing. His lips curled into a happy smile, as if he really did have a wife and a child.

But now, he was actually picturing Filomina putting on a sheet mask.

Filomina turned to Wayne and couldn’t help but believe him a little when she saw his expression. In that moment of silence, she felt a powerful jealousy and resentment. While she was suffering in the inner world, how could her surface self be enjoying a happy marriage and family life, with such an extraordinary husband?

What gave her the right?!

Filomina’s eyes turned bloodshot. Her deep resentment distorted her perfect facial features and destroyed her beauty.

Wayne clapped her face and rubbed it a few times, pinching her lips together to make a duck face. He snapped, “You’re too radical. She is you, so you should congratulate her.”

“She’s not me!” Filomina scoffed, gaze hardened.

“If you insist on that, I’ll have no reason to keep you.”

“...”

Wayne huffed. “Do you understand now? No matter what grudges you feel about her, keep them under control. Without her, I wouldn’t even care about who you are.”

Filomina lowered her head, feeling even greater resentment for her surface self. Intense jealousy twisted her feelings further. She couldn’t accept it. She wanted nothing more than to destroy her surface self’s everything.

Ah. Filomina’s eyes lit up. Wayne had said that her other self was pregnant. If her husband cheated on her while she was pregnant, she would certainly be devastated, wouldn’t she?