Chapter 334

Chapter Sixty-Five: The Demon’s Temptation

Pulling down all the curtains, in the dimly lit room, the man sitting on the sickbed had a face that was too delicate, almost entirely filled with fear.

Even knowing the high success rate of the surgery, this didn’t mean there wasn’t a terrible outcome if it failed. Mingtangyuan Gao, the eldest brother of the Mingtangyuan family, felt increasingly afraid as he thought about the surgery coming up. Just thinking about it made cold sweat trickle down from his forehead.

Besides plain fear, he had other feelings reverberating in his heart.

If my sister can finally make a change, succeeding in the surgery means she and Grandfather will be able to relax. As the older brother, I should set an example—I shouldn’t be so cowardly!

In a daze, Mingtangyuan Gao recalled how he always used to take his younger sister to the backyard to sunbathe when they were little. He told her then that no matter what difficulty came their way, basking in the sunlight would always energize them to solve problems.

“That’s right, basking in the sunlight…”

He pulled back the closed curtain, but instead of imagining sunlight seeping through, he saw a shadow cast by a man.

“Yo.”

Ash, without hesitation, opened the window and leaped inside.

“You, who are you?”

“Who knows? Maybe even I don’t know.” Ash pulled his voice to sound slithery and waved his hand grandly. “Sometimes even I don’t know who I am. Perhaps I haven’t figured out that question yet. Just consider me as a passing demon.”

“Demon?” Mingtangyuan Gao felt a bit uneasy, yet surprisingly, found no malice from the stranger.

“Indeed, a villain often seen in novels and animations. The one who lures people with contracts, enticing them to step into the abyss by following a certain principle.”

“I have nothing to exchange with you, demon!”

“Is that so?” Ash approached and pushed him gently in the chest, making him fall to the ground. “But isn’t your body saying otherwise?”

“Guh…”

Their eyes met with a hint of unwillingness from the fear; seeing the hook baited, Ash, with his business-like smile, took out a peculiar seal from his pocket, secretly attaching a faint red glow to it.

As Gao touched the seal, his ability to adapt to anything inexplicably activated. Blinking, Ash saw a wilted flower within the other’s body.

So this is the Heart Flower? What color would mine be?

“No need for words. I know; you don’t want your precious sister to worry and you’re afraid of worse outcomes.”

“But why not try another approach?”

“I…”

Holding the strange seal, Gao found himself hesitating as something unexpected happened. The seal floated up, gripping his hand and forcefully pressing itself against him.

“Aaaaah!”

A scream followed, dark and desolate energy emanating from his body,粉碎着病房内的仪器和杂物。反应迅速的亚修翻窗而出，一只手挂在窗沿上，险些逃脱。

“没有分离，是更高阶层的亡命者吗……不，不是亡命者。” 拔起身躯看着屋内的变化，亚修看到的不是恶魔契约中应有的情况，而是那个人的身体在深色的光芒中缩小成包裹在水晶中的花朵形态，接着渐渐膨胀成怪物模样，与荒漠怪颇为相似。

“两种技术的结合，恐怕我得叫你‘亡命者荒漠怪’了。”

实际上，两者确实有关系。毕竟他刚才让那人使用这枚“印章”，就是自己将罪恶印章交给沙巴克博士后，对方用沙漠使徒的能力复原出来的印章。虽然是山寨版，但恐怕威力还在罪恶印章之上。

“蒂蒙斯，你的力量确实很强，但给予我们力量的杜恩大人，他的力量远超恶魔。”

当时沙巴克就是这么说的，亚修也因此偷偷记下了这一切。

“没错，杜恩……”

如果不是这样的话，他也不必绕弯子借助自己从未见过的上级的力量，最终为了这些不讨好的事耗费心力。

作为一名假面骑士利维的怪物，达到亡命者等级后可以与大BOSS联系，获得非比寻常的能力。亚修正是利用这一点，通过沙巴克的手，将那枚印章中的基夫地位改为杜恩后，得以一窥究竟。

沙巴克博士并非沙漠使徒的首领，名为杜恩的外星存在才是这个组织的顶尖。从同事那里得到的线索显示，对方几十年前曾与上代光之美少女蕾的奶奶爆发过激烈的战斗，结果便是杜恩被驱逐到宇宙，而蕾的奶奶则耗尽力量，失去了变身战斗的能力。

原本，亚修根本不把对方放在眼里。毕竟，按照常理，只是用来给小女孩作为对手的话，能有多么强大？

然而直觉告诉他，事情远非如此。按他的经验，如果不相信自己的直觉，死亡就离他不远了。

因此，他准备了一场戏，不仅考察“光之美少女”一方，也测试“杜恩”一方。

亚修看着屋内逐渐平息的变化，与通常较为可爱的荒漠怪不同，异化的怪物完全继承了亡命者的凶恶狞厉风格，只是头上那荒漠怪般的圆滚滚脑袋显得格格不入。

“作为同样属于外星入侵者的一员，你能达到那种程度吗，黑暗的皇帝？侵略者复制品？还是……呵，我很期待，杜恩大人。”

“五木——等一下！”

蕾和绘里香的体力显然逊色于五木这练家子。着急的五木快步将对方甩在身后，猛地冲进哥哥的房间。

到底发生了什么，难道说是蒂蒙斯先生搞的鬼吗？不，不会的！我相信他，蒂蒙斯先生绝不是那样的人——

当看见房间的狼藉和里面的人时，五木心中的想法彻底停滞下来。

“蒂蒙斯……先生……”

倚坐在窗边的亚修毫无知觉地向对方打了个轻松的招呼：

“如果你想找你哥哥，他已先行离开了。”

“为什么……”

五木后退了一步，她不想看到这样的结局。

“蒂蒙斯，为什么啊！”

“为什么，我们不是朋友的吗？”

情绪失控的五木眼中闪烁着悲伤愤怒的泪水。