Tang Qi's special ability, temporarily named "All-Knowing." It enables him to directly perceive the essence and read the attached Information Fragments, whether it's of Extraordinary Creatures or inanimate objects in the Extraordinary Domain.
The Sheepskin Scroll contract before him was naturally among them.
If that weren't the case, he wouldn't have chosen to sign his own name.
The trick to each successful deception lies in the asymmetry of information, and this time is no different.
[Curios: Destiny Parchment.]
[State: not in effect.]
[Information Fragment One: This is a special sheepskin scroll, which records a contract of nearly the highest Level of binding. The parties involved are representatives of the Power of Disaster and the Melting Furnace Power, hoping that they will abide by the contract under the watch of Destiny, or else both will suffer unimaginable punishment.]
[Information Fragment Two: The contract's activation method, capturing the Soul Breath of both parties. Once the lines of soul converge and jointly outline Destiny, the contract will take effect.]
[Information Fragment Three: Before the contract takes effect, both parties have the right to modify its content.]
This, is what Tang Qi saw.
Those few Information Fragments, the Witch's alternate personality was also aware of, but what she didn't know was that there was a problem with Tang Qi's Soul Breath.
The contract captures the soul that resonates most with the signatory's body, which would be the soul of the original host, but that is ineffective, having a breath but essentially a Blank soul, incapable of signing the contract.
Inside the parchment, those two grey lines finally converged. Strangely though, they did not jointly sketch out "Destiny." The grey line representing Tang Qi was rapidly fading away, as if a Burning fuse of explosives was snuffed out just at the End Point.
As a result, the grey line representing the Witch of Misfortune also retracted.
"What's going on...?"
"Boom~"
The original Sally, who was about to return to normal, her eyes retreating fast from the Doomsday Magic, at this moment, underwent a transformation again. The grey-black Ink was about to seep back in, the terrible tide of Magic Power about to burst forth.
She realized she had been deceived. The power of Misfortune turned violent and ominous, and the fitting room that was about to be restored seemed destined for complete destruction.
The Witch's alternate personality wanted to tear Tang Qi to pieces, not giving him any more chance to turn things around.
Unfortunately, the poisonous snake that had shrunk back into its container needed a bit more Time to emerge again, especially at this moment when the Sealing was nearly restored.
As the Witch's alternate personality struggled unsuccessfully, Tang Qi was one step ahead, taking Mrs. Hudson's black-framed glasses in one hand, placing them towards Sally's nose, while his other hand boomed, the last of the Melting Furnace Power turning into golden Light Flames, wrapping around his palm.
Under the watchful gaze of the Witch's alternate personality, Tang Qi suddenly placed his palm on the Sheepskin Scroll.
Below, in the blank space, two grey lines started anew, the true Soul Breath belonging to Tang Qi.
New Information Fragments jumped into Tang Qi's eyes.
Soul information invalid!
Recapture!
Capture complete!
Destiny is being outlined!
Contract about to take effect!
...
As this information flowed past, Tang Qi's palm, like a "golden eraser," slammed over the area where he was obliged to present a duty. Then with one strong effort, as the texts outlined by the Doomsday Magic touched the Melting Furnace Power, the scene that had once occurred happened again.
In an instant, those lines of small print disappeared without a trace.
On the Sheepskin Scroll, only those two short lines of text remained.
Below, those two grey lines strikingly sketched out a symbol that was completely unclear to Tang Qi.
The Sheepskin Scroll immediately caught fire, turning into two beams of grey light with a whoosh, one directly entering Tang Qi's palm, and the other merging into Sally's body.
"No~"
"Boom~"
A shrill howl came from Sally's mouth, a terror-inducing, unprecedented Magic Power was about to erupt, until a fair finger pushed the exaggerated black-framed glasses up, completely concealing the pair of eyes that were about to be tainted by Ink.
Everything returned to calm.
"It feels like closing Pandora's Box, not bad at all."
Tang Qi retracted his palm and silently mused as he watched the gradually disappearing Contract Mark.
At the moment the glasses were put back on, those ominous, malicious auras vanished without a trace, and Sally's charming yet mystical eyes returned to their previous lively shyness, still resembling that of a gentle deer.
Mrs. Hudson also came to her senses, somewhat dissatisfied, chiding Tang Qi for taking back the glasses.
Believing that this unromantic boy lacked a sense of fashion. Or perhaps he was just stingy, unwilling to let his little girlfriend reveal such a beautiful appearance in public, maybe he wanted to keep it to himself.
The latter reason made Sally's face flush with embarrassment, and she had no choice but to explain to Mrs. Hudson: "Mrs. Hudson, the glasses are a legacy from my father, his dying wish was for me to wear them until I come of age. At that time, a distant aunt will come to preside over my coming-of-age ceremony, then I can take them off."
The explanation made Mrs. Hudson smile ambiguously.
The old lady certainly understood, the young lady was explaining to her "beloved" that after the coming-of-age ceremony, she could present her most beautiful self to him.
Tang Qi, with his acute perception of human emotions, naturally understood everything and had no desire to clarify the misunderstanding with Mrs. Hudson. The thoughts of the young girl he attributed to gratitude and shyness towards her only good friend.
At this moment, his attention was absorbed by that "distant aunt."
Clearly, his father's dying wish was real.
But that so-called distant aunt was undoubtedly the Gypsy Witch Leader who'd helped Sally seal the Doomsday Magic.
"No one helps others without reason, unless there's profit to be made."
"Helping baby Sally seal her Magic Power, after coming of age, could it be possible to harvest a witch with terrifying magical powers?"
"That would be a fine investment, and the other party has no right to refuse."
"Unfortunately, there's been a change to this investment."
Tang Qi mused inwardly, unable to help but contemplate whether this encounter was a gain or a loss for him.
He had originally intended to leverage the "bad luck" on Sally's part to increase his chances of encountering Abnormalities as the Witch's alternate personality had said, adding Fuel, to rapidly grow his own strength.
He hadn't expected to come across the host of Doomsday Magic on Origin Blue Star.
This experience was like trying to fish for a small fish, but ending up hooking a prehistoric whale instead.
Fortunately, Misfortune favored the latter, while Tang Qi, leveraging his Special Ability, turned the tables once more.
"Now, the harvest has come."
As Tang Qi silently mused, within his slightly lowered eyelids reflected a sudden and strange mutation between himself and Sally.
Threads of grey-black viscous Magic Power struggled to seep out of Sally, their Source seemingly reluctant to part with them, but compelled by some irresistible force, they surrendered little by little, climbing onto Tang Qi's body.
Finally, they all converged on the back of Tang Qi's left hand, slowly sketching out a special mark symbol: against a blood-red background, a pair of grey-black curved deer antlers.
Ability activated, an interface pops up.
[Curios: Curse Mark.]
[State: Intact.]
[Information Fragment One: It is the mark of the Exotic Realm Gods' Witch of Misfortune. Those who possess it mean they have garnered the Witch's favor, and Extraordinary Creatures of the same Camp as the Witch will have an unconditional basic fondness for the owner of the mark.]
[Information Fragment Two: Activating it can attract Extraordinary Creatures belonging to ominous, negative, and Evil Camps within a certain range.]
[Information Fragment Three: It could lead to the mark's owner encountering some misfortune, but it could also possibly bring more luck. No one can guess the Power of Destiny.]
"Receiving benefits without any cost, this feeling is really great."
Tang Qi looked at the mark on the back of his hand, his lips slightly curving upwards, contentedly.