Chapter 378: Expedition Road: Iyangden's Kitten

The starry sky of the web channel shines its dim light through the colonnades. The dim starlight illuminates the quaint furniture standing inside the colonnades and displayed along one side of the long corridor. The starlight reflects the luster on the old tabletop. Every line and every dent is particularly conspicuous under the silver sand-like light curtain.

On the table, on the wall hangs a portrait. The golden border on the edge of the frame flows with dots of light under the light of the stars. The light filaments that climb up along the frame and then turn to one side are beautiful and dreamy.

The oil painting hangs on the wall, and its surface has been sprinkled with light curtains. The light spots on the surface of the oil paint that has long been hardened and stuttered on the surface of the scroll seem to illuminate a silver beach on the coast. The gravel flickers under the starlight, as if the whole painting is glowing.

But soon, a shadow covered the shining oil painting, and the silver reflective gravel disappeared in an instant. The shadow walked across the picture little by little. As the shadow left, the oil painting would continue to shine under the starlight, as if it was an endless dream.

Vito's shadow continued to cover one side of the corridor, and the shadow covered all the furniture, including the scrolls placed against the wall with frames on them, or the oil paintings directly hung on the wall, which would be covered by the shadow, allowing Vito to see them clearly in the hazy starlight.

Those oil paintings depicted many natural scenery, mountains and rivers, forests and fjords, and the magnificent natural scenes were vividly and vividly painted on the canvas, as if those places were really there and you could touch them as long as you reached out.

Vito walked in the corridor behind the colonnade. His eyes followed the footsteps as he passed the gallery on one side. He looked at the exquisite oil paintings and soon found some unique features. In these exquisite paintings arranged on the side, there were almost parts of animals fighting each other in the natural scenery.

Brown bears besieged by wild wolves in the forest, bison rushing towards coyotes on the prairie, and tigers and lions with bloody mouths opened and claws waving to fight each other. All the pictures are full of such primitive killing and wildness.

This allows you to see at a glance what kind of personality the owner of these furniture and oil paintings is, the painter who is leading the way in front, his personality, style, and dangers, etc.

Vito raised his head slightly and looked at Sturling, who was holding a crow stick in front and leading him through the long corridor. Sturling, wearing a coat with a unique high collar design, walked in front. His collar almost covered his entire head and stood high around him. The edge of the coat also bulged slightly outward.

From Vito's perspective, he looked like a giant bat walking under the night sky, and this walking bat would use its long staff to make a tapping sound on the ground with every step, and the sound would echo throughout the corridor, just like the sound waves of a bat.

Sturling walked through the long starlight corridor, and the towering colonnade on the side cut the light of the starry sky into countless shadows, projected from the outside and densely covered the ground, extending all the way to the end of the corridor, and Sturling was walking through it.

The long shadows between the stone pillars flashed across his body, which made his body constantly switch between light and shadow, just like a slide, constantly switching, like a vague dream.

Vito followed behind him, and the spaced starlight also shone on his face, making Vito's face disappear and then reappear, but it was in this rapidly switching light and shadow that Vito came to the door at the end of the corridor.

It was a black door, the huge door body was embedded in the surrounding equally dark walls. Vito looked at the door curiously. The material on the door body seemed to be almost non-reflective. There was almost no pattern or carving on the surface of the entire door. Only a dim light flashed on the door from time to time, outlining its general outline and the huge crow on it.

There was a crow on the door. The half of the huge crow was embedded in the door. Only the beak of the upper body and the huge wings were exposed outside the door. The huge bird of prey spread its wings, and the pair of black feathers flashed a dark light under the starlight. Only its general outline could be seen.

Vito looked up at the bird head facing him on the door. The crow's head drooped slightly, overlooking the visitors in front of the door. The dark eyes did not reflect any light, only the huge beak flowed a dim light under the light.

"Welcome to my office, Mr. Constantine. Now please follow me." Sturling turned his head and looked at Vito behind him, raising his hand slightly, but his words were soon interrupted by a person who appeared from the shadows on the side.

Sturling stopped abruptly, and Vito also looked at the shadow who interrupted his words. She slowly walked out of the dark corridor leading to both sides of the door. Her dim figure was also illuminated and outlined little by little under the starlight. Finally, as the painter drew little by little on the drawing board, a beautiful figure appeared in the light.

Her silver skirt was almost perfectly integrated with the starlight. The whole light skirt was flashing with pieces of light spots. The light skirt fluttered gently with the footsteps, making the reflected light spots look like the Milky Way on the ground.

Vito looked at her face. It was a white and young face of an Eldar female, a little unexpectedly young, just like a piece of first snow that had just fallen from the sky, pure and flawless, with rose-red hair hanging down from her head, combing a slightly raised wave on the top of her right face.

She dragged a beautiful and small box in her hand. She appeared silently from the shadows holding the box in both hands, and then walked to Sturlin, lowered her head and gently handed the box to him.

Vito paid attention to the girl. He found the collar shackle behind her neck exposed in the starlight. Vito frowned slightly and turned his eyes to look at Sturlin in front of her. The latter reached out to open the box and looked at a unique piece of wood that was placed on a soft red cushion and emitted distorted space fluctuations.

The wood looked very special, with dark gold dots on its black body. The dark gold light climbed up along the wood body, and at the top corner of its soft top that was leaning on the cushion, it flashed a strange light.

"Very good." Sturlin said as he closed the box. He looked up at Vito, probably because since Vito didn't ask, he didn't intend to explain what it was. In fact, it might be better for Vito not to know.

In fact, Vito didn't care about that thing. After closing the box, his eyes quickly locked on the young Eldar girl. She held the box and stood humbly beside Sturlin. There was no trace of spirit in her beautiful blue eyes, which were dim and lightless.

Vito stared at her, looking at the beautiful but dull face, and at the same time, Sturlin in front of him raised the crow's long stick in his hand and knocked on the door with the crow handle of the stick. As the golden crow's beak touched the crow's beak on the door, the whole door changed.

The winged crow on the door quickly raised its head, as if it suddenly came alive, and its wings quickly folded inward and overlapped on its chest. The whole crow curled up, and as the wings closed, the dark door behind it also rumbled inward.

Sturling put down his cane, turned his head and nodded slightly to Vito to indicate that he was invited. He stepped back and made way for Vito. The latter nodded politely in response, then walked up and walked into the open door in front of Sturling.

The young girl in front of Sturling also hurriedly stepped back with the box in her hand. She stood by the door and bowed to Vito respectfully.

But when passing by, Vito turned his head and briefly looked at the young girl next to him. Her blue eyes were slightly raised, and after a brief look at Vito, she lowered her head again. Vito also walked into the door and walked into this luxurious office.

Vito stood on the floor that was cut from a whole piece of expensive wood and then riveted. The rest of the office also reflected the owner's pursuit and persistence for nature. From the walls to the ceiling, they were all made of solid wood. Large trees were cut with a whole piece of machete and erected to build this luxurious office.

Vito walked deeper into the office. He looked at the interior space that was rectangular in shape and slightly contracted and extended forward. There was a huge floor-to-ceiling window in front of the office. Like here, the frame of the window was not made of steel, but cut from wooden strips.

This made the window and the entire room consistent. The large black heart mahogany table and chair in front of the window was undoubtedly the absolute core of the entire space. Vito stood in front of the table, his fingers gently stroking the polished tabletop. All the wood thorns and friction parts were smoothed, making the table look like a smooth marble.

Vito looked at the furnishings on the table. There was an exquisite pen holder on it, with feather pens and ink placed in it. On one side of the pen holder was a small crow statue. The statue was placed on the table, facing the direction of the leather wooden chair. The tabletop in front of the leather chair was also covered with some animal leather to form a place where elbows could rest comfortably.

"How is it? Do you still like my office?" Sturlin walked in, holding his cane and walking into the office. The young Eldar girl behind him also followed in with a box. She lowered her head and followed Sturlin with a dull look.

Vito pretended to turn around and look at the wall full of animal head specimens. There were all kinds of wild beasts' heads hanging on the display boards, and there was also a whole wide long table below, with horns, claws, teeth and other trophies displayed on shelves and display cabinets.

Vito looked at the carefully crafted specimen area hanging on the side of the desk, and his eyes glanced at the box in the girl's hand, and of course, the silent beautiful girl.

"She is... your slave?" Vito asked softly, and Sturling smiled and glanced at the girl behind him. He reached out and grabbed her face, so that she could lift her face to face Vito, so that the latter could see more clearly.

The girl was obviously uncomfortable with being treated like that, but she didn't say anything in the end, just looking at Vito with a sad expressionless face, and the latter also looked at her and squinted slightly. Sturling also frowned slightly at the expressionless girl, and pinched her cheek with his fingers, forcing the expression to accumulate and make a smile.

"Her name is Shatina, my slave and maid. Although she is not very polite, her appearance meets my requirements. She is very young and can learn a lot slowly, so I kept her from the list of slaves to be sold."

Stulin said as he shook Shatina's face away. Her head was thrown to the side, and her hair fell messily in front of her eyes. She turned her head away and looked at the blue eyes under the messy hair blankly, as if nothing in the world was worth her attention.

Vito looked at the girl, Shatina? This name is very distinctive. In Vito's impression, only the Ark Eldar of Iyangden would give such a name with oriental charm. In addition, her hair is rose red, which is very similar to Iyangna's hair color, so Vito is almost certain that she is an Iyangden Eldar.

The Ark Eldar have always been in great demand in the slave market of the Dark Eldar. This group of torturers prefer to use their own people, especially those "elegant" compatriots on the Ark, as slaves, just like the noble ladies in the slave market of the Human Empire, which gives them a unique sense of superiority.

Sturlin looked at Shatina, then raised his head and snorted lightly, then raised his cane and pointed at the box in her hand, "Put it in the treasure room, talk, rude girl."

Shatina did not speak until her shoulder was hit hard by Sturlin's cane. She walked out several steps at once, and the off-shoulder part of the long skirt was rosy red. Her head was facing away from Sturlin. Vito saw the fierce light of hatred in her eyes. The girl was not a docile little cat.

After a while, she turned her head and looked up at Sturlin. After a moment of silence, she lowered her head, "Yes, sir." "Yes, master," "Yes, master."

Her voice was also very young. Vito frowned slightly when he heard the voice. He glanced at Sturlin on the side. The latter snorted and pressed his cane in front of him. "Like I said, she still has a lot to learn, but I will train her until she learns how to be a maid."

"Mr. Constantine, please sit down. I will come to talk to you later." Sturlin is indeed a qualified businessman. When his eyes moved away from Shatina and looked at Vito, they immediately turned into a smile. The latter looked at the hypocritical businessman and responded politely with a fake smile.

Then Vito turned around and looked at the specimen wall on the side. He turned his back to Sturling, who also walked to the wall on the side after looking at Vito for a few times. There were two chairs there, and a high-legged round wooden table between them, on which was a chessboard with chess pieces.

Sturling walked to the chessboard and stood there, blocking the chessboard in front of him with his body. He glanced at Vito behind him with his peripheral vision. The latter still stood in front of the specimen wall with his hands behind his back, carefully looking at a giant claw bear head specimen on it.

Sturling turned his head and stared at Shatina who was following him with his peripheral vision. The latter immediately stepped back and buried her head. Her eyes moved away from the direction of the chessboard table, and she didn't look at the table or Sturling's arm at all. After confirming that Shatina had moved her eyes away, the latter reached out and picked up some chess pieces on the chessboard in front of her and moved them on it.

Vito listened to the sound of the chess piece hitting the table, and slightly turned his head to look at Sturlin behind him. His body blocked the table, so Vito could not see what was happening there, but he immediately glanced at Shatina on the side, and the girl used the corner of her eyes to spy on the direction of the table.

The eyes full of hatred stared at Sturlin, but soon they quickly sank down because Sturlin noticed the gaze and turned his head to observe. Vito on the side saw everything clearly, and he smiled at the girl.

At the same time, Sturlin's hand also lifted from the table. He looked up at the wall in front of him that was embedded inward and then slid back and opened. There was a door there, and there was a secret room inside. From Vito's perspective, he could see a side of treasures on a long row of shelves behind the door.

Sturling fiddled with the chessboard again, then walked away from the table and headed towards the open secret room. Vito stood behind him and looked sideways at the direction of the chessboard, but as expected, all the chess pieces on the board were put back in place, as if they had not moved at all.

Vito raised his eyes and looked at Shatina who followed Sturling after he waved his hand gently. He frowned slightly at the girl, then turned around and looked back at the specimen wall in front of him with a smile.

Not long after, Sturling walked out of the secret room door behind him. He walked to the chessboard and habitually adjusted the collar of his coat. He tilted his head slightly and saw Shatina also walked out of the door, then reached out and touched the Prime Minister chess piece on the chessboard beside him.

As the black side's chancellor chess piece was lightly touched by the finger, the door of the secret room behind Sturling quickly closed. He retracted his finger and grabbed the collar of the large coat with both hands, took it off his shoulders, and handed it to Shatina on the side. The latter took the coat and silently stepped back.

Vito watched the girl holding the large coat and walked to the clothes hanger made of a giant moose head on the wall of the room. The head of the creature was embedded in the wall, and the huge horns on the head spread out in all directions. A large number of hats, scarves and other clothes were hung on it, and now the coat was added.

Vito looked at the girl, who stood on tiptoe and hung up the coat, and turned her head to look at Vito unintentionally. She looked into Vito's eyes, and the latter nodded silently at her, with his hand on his chest to adjust his shirt collar, but in that unintentional action, Shatina saw a familiar gesture.

Vito's palm, which was adjusting his collar, suddenly opened to one side, with the palm and the back of his hand facing Shatina's direction. She looked at the gesture and was startled for a moment, then raised her head and looked at Vito. She knew the gesture. If you put the palm and the palm together symmetrically, you can form a phoenix with spread wings.

And the symbol of Iyangden is the spread-winged fire phoenix. Shatina looked at the greeting gesture on the ark and looked at Vito in surprise. The latter also nodded slightly to her, and then told Shatina to keep a low profile with his eyes, and then let go of his hand and smiled at Sturling on the side.

The latter, holding a cane, walked around the chessboard table and the sofa and coffee table in the corner, and walked straight to the desk from one side. He opened a comfortable soft leather chair and sat on it, raised his hand to indicate the chair opposite his desk, "Please sit down, Mr. Constantine, let's start talking about cooperation."

Vito smiled at him, then walked up from the specimen wall. He pulled the chair away and took off his black windbreaker. Just as he was about to put it on the back of the chair, Sturling saw this and waved in the direction of Shatina, "It's time to hang Mr. Constantine's windbreaker on the hanger, and then pour us a drink."

Shatina nodded slightly, then walked up from one side. She walked lightly to Vito and took the windbreaker that Vito handed over. The latter smiled and handed the windbreaker over with one hand, and the palm holding the collar gently folded outwards. The edge of the coat close to Shatina turned outwards, revealing the pistol hanging in it.

Shatina was stunned for a moment when she looked at the pistol, then she raised her head and looked at the man in front of her. The latter told her everything with his eyes, and then handed the coat to Shatina. The latter took the coat and folded it on his arm, bowed slightly to Vito and retreated.

Vito looked at the girl walking towards the deer head hanger, then turned around with a polite smile, pulled out a chair and sat at the wooden table, "Okay, let's talk about the deal, Mr. Sturling."

"With pleasure, Mr. Constantine." Sturling said, smiling and leaning back in the chair, nodded to Vito across the table, he leaned back in the chair, held his hands in front of his belly and smiled.

"Let's talk about the daily employment commission you give me, 2,000 soul coins per month." Vito smiled and said the outrageous number. Sturling, who was sitting opposite, was stunned for a moment, and then quickly laughed out, with his hands on the table, dragging his chin with his palms.

"2000 soul coins? You have indeed proved your ability, Mr. Constantine, but do you know that this amount can buy dozens of slaves?"

"Wow, we are here to negotiate, right? This will give us a good start." Vito smiled cunningly, leaning on the back of the chair and raising his hand slightly. Sturling in front of him also rested his chin on his palm, and a smile appeared on his slightly blocked mouth.

"Of course, you look like a qualified businessman, sir, so let's start communicating with each other as businessmen."

The negotiation began, and Vito offered Sturling a sky-high price to hire himself. As he expected, Sturling immediately began to bargain. Most of the conversations were very polite and high-sounding businessmen's content. It was the bargaining that Vito learned from being a businessman when he was very young, and the boring game of raising his own value and then the other party bargaining again.

Of course, Vito didn't really bargain with him for the broken money. After all, Vito didn't intend to be with him. He did this to make Sturling focus on him and buy enough time for Shatina behind him.

While Vito and Sturling were discussing business and arguing deeply and heatedly about the commission, Shatina walked to the huge antlers and hung the windbreaker on the end of one of the antlers. She stood on tiptoe and stretched her arms upwards, glancing in the direction of Sturling with her peripheral vision. After making sure that the latter was completely immersed in the discussion and didn't notice her, Shatina reached into the windbreaker and quietly pulled out the pistol.

She gently pulled out the pistol, held it in her hand and stood up. At the same time, Sturling, who was annoyed by Vito during the bargaining, leaned back in his chair. He folded his arms and looked at the cunning man in front of him. He was too good at being a businessman and spoke in a set of ways.

Sturlin looked at Vito, who was sitting across the table from him with a fake business smile on his face. He smiled silently and looked at Shatina in the distance, "Don't be in a daze there! Give us something to drink. This will be a very long negotiation."

Shatina was startled. She stood in front of the antlers and hid her hand holding the gun at her side, using her dress and her body to block the small pistol. She nodded to Sturlin and walked to the low cabinet on the side. After watching the girl pass by, Sturlin also refocused his attention on Vito.

Shatina hung the pistol at her side, blocked the gun with her body, and walked not far away, just in the direction of the low cabinet on the other side of the office. On the table where the curved bull horn trophy was placed, there was also a tall wine glass filled with amber wine and several matching short glasses.

The young Eldar girl walked to the low cabinet. She placed the pistol gently on the cabinet, then began to prepare the wine with both hands and put it on the tray taken out from the cabinet. She placed the plate containing the wine He raised it, and the pistol was held under the silver tray with his hand.

Shatina walked to the desk carrying the plate. When her slightly petite figure walked to Vito, she was barely taller than the sitting Vito. The latter looked at the drink that was handed to him, and he accepted it. After holding the glass, he used his peripheral vision to look at Shatina, who was leaning slightly and bending over.

The open chest of her gauze skirt was just exposed in front of Vito, and her breasts, which had not yet fully developed, were exposed in front of Vito because the skirt hung down.

But Vito's eyes only glanced at the chest, and then saw the silver tray below. Shatina was also hanging down due to her body bending. Her palms were slightly tilted to one side, and most of the tray was facing Si. In the direction of Tulin, and on Vito's side, it was slightly tilted up, exposing the hand holding the pistol underneath.

He took the wine glass and looked at the pistol with a smile. He raised his eyes and winked at Shatina, "Wine should be drunk at the right time, not too early and not too late."

Vito looked at the little girl in front of him and said. They exchanged looks with each other. The blue eyes suddenly became bright. The owner of those eyes nodded slightly to Wei Wei in a way that was not easily noticed. Show that you understand.

"Business should be settled at the right time. It can't be delayed, and it can't be early. It has to be just right." Vito smiled and raised his glass slightly, and raised his glass to salute Stulin opposite, who was cold. He smiled coldly and took down a glass of wine from the tray handed to him by Shatina who walked around the table.

"She's very smart." Vito thought in her mind. She knew that if she handed herself the wine the way she just did, the lower part of the tray would be directly exposed to Stulin with her petite body, so she used a very clever method. method, directly handing the tray to Stalin, using the wide surface to cover the palm underneath.

Stulin took the drink without noticing, and after the tray was immediately put away, he raised the wine glass forward and clinked glasses with Vito, "Of course, Constantine, in just the right way, at the right time. Time to settle the business, for example, the issues we are arguing about.”

"Oh, I believe we will reach a consensus, but before that, let me give you a little surprise." "Surprise?" "Yes, surprise, as I just said, never sooner or later , just the right surprise.”

Vito said as he clinked glasses with Stulin and took out the golden pocket watch from his chest. He looked at the clattering hands on it. At that time, the tip of the needle had almost reached the bottom, and the second hand was about to reach noon.

Stulin looked at the time on the pocket watch, and raised his head to look at Vito in front of him in surprise and confusion, "Surprise? I don't know, there is another surprise tonight."

"Ah, it's true that you don't know yet, but you will know soon, now" Vito was about to say something with a smile on his face, but suddenly he was stuck. His expression became weird and he looked at the passed bag in his hand. At noon, the minute hand had reached the end of the pocket watch, showing a surprised and embarrassed smile.

Stulin raised his head and looked in surprise at Vito, who stood up from the chair and leaned sideways on the table. That action and his awkward smile made him look particularly funny.

He smiled awkwardly and turned to look at Stulin, then glanced at Shatina behind him, "Wow, it looks like they are late, but I believe they will be there soon."

Once again, Vito was interrupted before he could finish his sentence, but this time it was not the click of a pocket watch's hands, but a louder sound.

A huge explosion suddenly rang out from outside Stulin's office. The sky-high fire cloud instantly surged from the glass, projecting the shining firelight into the office. Stulin's back was to the window, but except for his chair and body. The blocked part, the entire tabletop was instantly illuminated by the firelight.

Stulin suddenly turned his office chair and looked back. He saw explosions coming one after another outside. The explosions rose from the floating building. The raging flames mixed with each other at close range and flooded the office glass in the blink of an eye. The fort area below.

"What happened outside?!" Stulin pressed down the surface of the desk, which seemed smooth and had nothing on it. But the moment he pressed his finger down, a flashing figure suddenly appeared on the desktop. The projection button also floats a few inches away from the table.

The communication interface of the audio channel was shaking, and an explosion sound came from it, which instantly raised the audio wave to the top of the display window. The pirate's shouts at the top of his voice came from the harsh explosion sound.

"That silver-haired bitch! And her red monster! They can use psychic powers, and they blew up our control room and substation! The prisoner holding area is out of control, and we are trying to stop her. Wait, don't come here!"

The pirate's voice roared, and then there was a burst of gunfire in the background. Suddenly the gunfire turned into screams in the background, and finally stopped abruptly.

Everything fell silent. The gunshots, explosions and screams disappeared. The audio band instantly flattened into a straight line. Stulin's eyes widened when he looked at the line, but suddenly, the wave appeared again. It shook gently, and a pleasant female voice sounded from it.

"Do you still like this surprise?"

"I love it so much."

Stulin turned his head suddenly and looked at Vito who was sitting on the chair and smiling. He understood everything in an instant. Stulin stood up from the chair and put his palm on the table, pointing it at the man in front of him.

"I just said you would like this surprise, so are you ready to take the next one?" Vito smiled and clapped his hands. Suddenly, Stulin heard the sound of a bullet being loaded behind his head. He slowly turned his head and saw Shatina holding a tray at his side with one hand behind him and holding a gun with the other hand, aiming the muzzle at his head.

The young girl was staring at him fiercely, and her raised arm exposed the bruise on her shoulder. The muscle movement when she raised her arm was enough to make her feel a sting there, and her micro-expression twitched slightly, but the kitten still raised the gun without thinking, and finally showed her own teeth and claws. Sturling was stunned for a moment and turned his head back to Vito in front of him, "Who are you?"

"Then let me introduce myself again." Vito said, supporting himself on the table and stood up. He slowly stood up, put one hand behind his back, and bowed to Sturling like a gentleman.

"Vito Constantine, I'm here to serve you."