Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 128: Last Chance

’Essence money?’ The name rammed into Leon’s mind as he stared at Liu Yan. "I know of Physical and Digital, but I have never heard of Essence money."

"Really?" Liu Yan’s head leaned slightly backward. "Aren’t you the one that joined the Alchemania?"

Confusion filled Leon, his mind trying to pulse out an answer. "Those things were never mentioned there."

"Alright. You’ll know it once we get there..." A short laugh escaped Liu Yan as she turned away from Leon’s direction.

’Why is she not telling me anything about it? Does she also have zero knowledge about it?’ Leon tried to make her talk, staring at her with a questioning gaze.

After thirty minutes of walking, they halted at the front of the EX-CH building.

"Hello, Madam, how may I help you?" a guy in his early twenties asked, his face glistening with a wide smile.

Liu Yan smiled back, turned, then politely dragged Leon’s cloth, pushing him forward.

"Tell him what you told me," Liu Yan stated, gesturing from Leon to the man in the glass cage.

’Isn’t she the one that knows how things are done here?’ Leon’s thought cracked as he stared at Liu Yan from the corner of his gaze.

"Hello sir, please, I’m waiting..."

"Sorry," Leon bowed his head slightly. "Please, I want to transport this to Thule."

"Transport this?" the man echoed in a confused tone. "Is someone there to take this?"

"Uhm..." Leon stood there, scratching the back of his head, one eye fixed on Liu Yan.

Liu Yan cleared her throat, then moved to Leon’s front. "Sir, please, he wants to exchange it to digital cash."

"Sure, digital cash is right on the way." The man turned his gaze from Liu Yan, then stretched his open palms toward Leon. "Let me have them."

"Give the items to him," Liu Yan scolded Leon, then folded her arms across her chest. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

’How will I receive it? I don’t have any smart device or even a bank account to keep the digital cash in.’ Leon stood there, shifting glances between the man and Liu Yan.

After five minutes, the man extended a black complimentary card to Leon. "Here you go. Your money items have been transferred into digital money."

"Thank you." Liu Yan took the card from the man, then smiled. "Let’s go and send it."

She began moving, neglecting to check on Leon’s unhappy expression.

"Do you want to sleep here?" she teased, doubling her steps. "If you don’t move with the count of one and a half, I will transfer them to my account."

Leon broke free, then followed her.

Returning back into the Madhouse after forty-five minutes, Liu Yan pulled out her smart device, then inserted the card into it.

"Give me the account number of the person you want to send it to." She raised her head, her wide eyes staring at Leon’s.

’Account number?’ "What number are you asking for?"

Liu Yan’s face shifted to slight anger. "Are you joking, or are you being serious?" She tilted her gaze to the device on her lap, then closed her eyes.

"Okay, since you don’t have any account number, give me the name of the person you want to send it to." Her mouth curled inward as she tilted her gaze back to Leon.

"Li Mei." The name escaped Leon’s mouth with joy.

’Li Mei? The name sounds familiar.’ Liu Yan’s fingers paused for a while, then continued, typing the name into the search section of the unified bank app of the Thule Federation.

"Is it this lady?" She extended the device to Leon, clicking her tongue.

Leon stared at the image for a while, then returned the device. "Nah, this one."

"Is she blind? Her eyes look strange." Liu Yan tilted her face toward Leon, her eyebrow raising.

Her expression shifted when she saw the sudden change in Leon. "Sorry."

Two hours fled like a moving storm. Within those moments, Leon used the number he remembered being given to him by Darian.

He communicated with Darian, talked with Lily, then finally her mother, which took one hour and thirty minutes of the entire two hours.

...

"It’s almost 3:00 PM, and we haven’t completed any task today," Liu Yan stated in a saddened tone as she stood up.

A groan escaped her as she stretched herself. "MMMmmmmm..."

"Since I came before you, I will lead. So follow me." She picked up her gears, wore them quickly, then exited the room.

Having no gear to wear or take, Leon grabbed the red cloth his mother gave him, then wrapped it around his neck, following Liu Yan.

The two of them halted at the front of the deployment bay, waiting to reach their turn of section.

"Do you want to change the location from Chaos City, since it’s only the two of us?" Liu Yan asked, turning and staring at Leon.

"I don’t know, but—" the remaining words scraped at the walls of his throat, his gaze lifting past Liu Yan.

In the second queue at his left-hand side, Tiger stood there, his blue eyes and hair whipping the air with flames.

He raised his index finger, placed it at his neck, then began dragging it in a death signal.

Although no words came forth, even as they walked side by side, entering into the deployment bay, the air still tensed.

Leon and Liu Yan stood at the left side of the bay, while Tiger and Bao Xiong stood at the right.

Loud, taunting laughter hammered on the walls of the bay as Bao Xiong shifted glances from Leon to Liu Yan.

"Where is your savior?" He placed a hand on Tiger’s shoulder, then removed the arm and folded them across his chest.

He leaned toward Tiger’s ears, then whispered, "They are also joining the 7th section of Chaos City."

Tiger’s face blistered with a smile. "Nice..."

After an hour, the bay crashed hard onto the ground. The hatch opened with a mechanical hum, followed by speeding greenish gases.

In a swift motion, Tiger whipped his head toward Leon. "Care to join us?" His face gleamed with a smile that wasn’t touching his lips.

"This is your last chance. Leave and become my slave, or die with guilt. Choose one!"