John Stone suppressed the surge of thoughts in his mind and let out a long breath. Whether it was a coincidence or truly intentional, the other party had indeed helped him. In a sense, the old man was his sister’s savior; he couldn’t and shouldn’t suspect him of ill intent.

John Stone reached into his pouch and placed three silver coins on the low table.

“This is the payment.”

“Wait, there’s still one thing left to do.” The old man stopped him and turned to take out a thin sheet of paper. “As we agreed, the divination must be completed in the form of a contract. Only when you sign it will the matter be settled.”

“Hey, there’s no way I’m putting my name and seal on this thing.” John Stone frowned—during the divination, the other party had indeed mentioned a similar requirement, but he hadn’t paid it any mind at the time. Wasn’t the whole point of hustling just for money? As long as the money was right, anything could be negotiated—who needs so many rules? “How about I pay one more seriel coin instead?”

“What’s agreed upon is what it is; the contract cannot be changed.” Unexpectedly, the old man directly refused his offer. “Of course, I understand your concerns, so the signature doesn’t have to be your name or a seal. As long as it’s sincere, any mark will do—a fingerprint, a personal belonging, even a strand of hair.”

Is this guy crazy, preferring a hair over a silver coin?

Since no signature was needed, John Stone couldn’t be bothered to argue further. He plucked a hair, pressed it onto the thin paper, and recited the final words, “The contract is sealed. Is that good enough?”

The old man showed a satisfied expression. “The contract is sealed.”

John Stone didn’t want to stay a moment longer. He stood up, bent over, and walked out of the shack. The moment the curtain fell behind him, he felt an invisible pressure instantly dissipate, and even the air in the West District seemed to smell much better. At the same time, a wave of exhaustion washed over him, making his steps less steady than usual.

He hoped he would never have to return here.

He took a deep look at the sign above the shack, then strode toward the city wall.

……

“Phew, so this is what wish power feedback feels like? It’s almost intoxicating…” William Green closed his eyes, savoring the surge of warmth within his body, and couldn’t help but sigh. The sensation was like someone who hadn’t eaten for seven or eight days tasting delicious food again—and without the worry of overeating.

Unfortunately, the amount of wish in this prayer wasn’t much. The surging warmth quickly subsided. Though it solved his immediate crisis, after deducting various expenses, it would only be enough to sustain him for half a month at best—far from being able to rest easy.

“I still need to keep looking for customers.” He licked his lips and muttered softly.

Even William Green himself found it hard to believe—just over a month ago, he was one of millions of ordinary workers, and now he had become a “demon” traversing two worlds.

All the incredible changes began on the morning he awakened.

That’s right, he had awakened and become a demon—a legendary being that survives on wish power. Just as mammalian infants instinctively seek out milk, he instantly understood the key to his existence: to find people with urgent desires, fulfill their wishes, and collect their souls—or rather, the power contained within their souls.

Then William Green discovered that in the world he lived in… there was no such thing left.

Even though temples in the East were still crowded and worshippers in the West came in endless streams, he simply couldn’t absorb a trace of wish power. This situation wasn’t just despairing—it was utterly hopeless.

Of course, it wasn’t completely nonexistent.

For example, when a child made a birthday wish, or a pet owner searched for a lost cat or dog, he could occasionally catch a faint glimmer of wish power. But this was so meager it wasn’t even worth mentioning, not enough to change anything—he even spent more fulfilling the wishes than he gained.

A demon without wish power would gradually wither away and eventually die. To outsiders, it would look just like succumbing to some unknown terminal illness.

What was even scarier was that he couldn’t refuse this terrifying fate.

The moment he awakened, William Green also understood the true nature of demon blood—it wasn’t inherited by bloodline, but awakened at random, like winning the lottery. It had existed throughout human history, across all times and places. Perhaps as soon as the concept of wishing appeared among humans, so did it.

Over the past month, William Green quit his job and wandered the world, hoping to find a powerful wisher—or at least another of his kind.

But the result was despairing: he found neither, and his body grew weaker by the day.

It wasn’t hard to deduce that all the unlucky ones who awakened as demons had already died off.

Just as William Green thought he would meet the same fate, an unexpected opportunity appeared—the Eye of Insight didn’t lead him to a fellow demon, but instead discovered a strange rift. Figuring he had nothing to lose, he used all his strength to pass through the rift and arrived at this wondrous place called Glorious Fort.

…William Green slipped out the back door of the shack.

The moment he left the fortune-telling hut, age and frailty quickly faded from his body, like shedding a layer of skin. In just a few seconds, he had completely transformed into another person.