Even though they shared one body, the two heads were clearly two different consciousnesses. If she hadn't confirmed that the Upside-Down City wasn't within the Shattered Mirror Continent, Mu Anqi might really have thought this dragon was the true form of Mr. Black and Miss White.
When the white dragon head fiercely headbutted the black one, and it looked like the dragon was about to start "fighting itself," Mu Anqi quickly took out another Guan crystal. "Wait! I don't just have one of these crystals!"
Cooperation would obviously be better — if the two heads of this dragon started fighting and ended up collapsing the arena from all the commotion… why start Plan B when cooperation was still possible!
"Two crystals? Perfect! I'll cooperate with you! One to keep, one to eat — wonderful!" The black dragon head immediately agreed with Mu Anqi, then forcefully rammed the white head aside, leaned toward Mu Anqi, and plucked off a black scale to hand to her. "A token of trust. You're cooperating with me!"
However, before Mu Anqi could take the black scale, the dragon's other claw suddenly swiped over, smacking the black scale away. A white scale was then thrust toward Mu Anqi instead. The white dragon head glared wide-eyed. "Cooperate with me!"
"Cooperate with me!"
"I said it first!"
"I was the one who talked to her first!"
The two heads fell into another round of quarrelling.
Mu Anqi's head was starting to ache from all the noise, and she couldn't help but think: she wondered if hydras really existed, and if they did…
Wouldn't their daily life be way too lively?
Mu Anqi even suspected that the reason this dragon had been sleeping under the arena all this time — and why that peacock was so afraid of waking up these two "lords" — was probably because the moment they woke up, they'd start arguing. In fact, Mu Anqi had seen clearly that the white dragon had been the first to wake up; it just hadn't wanted to bother with her, so it had headbutted the black head awake to deal with the situation, then pretended to go back to sleep. The instant Mu Anqi had taken out the Guan crystal, the white dragon head had woken up immediately.
She couldn't tell whether these personalities had been modeled after the real temperaments of Mr. Black and Miss White.
But they couldn't keep arguing like this — Mu Anqi didn't have much time. Once this place started being developed, she still needed to head to the surface world to build connections. Delivering messages all by herself clearly wouldn't work. "My lords, I'm willing to offer one hundred of these crystals to you first. If our cooperation goes smoothly, I'll provide ten crystals every day until I leave."
"You have a lot of these crystals." The white dragon head's eyes narrowed. When it detached from the quarrel and realized the crystals weren't particularly rare, it was somewhat surprised. It knew Mu Anqi was an outsider, but previous outsiders didn't seem to have such things. Or rather, those outsiders wouldn't show them what they possessed. "What if I raise the price? If I kill you here, then everything you have will be mine."
The black dragon head's pair of golden dragon eyes looked over as well. "How about this: if you're willing to cooperate with me alone and give me an extra two hundred crystals, I'll protect you from being eaten by that fellow!"
Before Mu Anqi could find that remark absurd, the white dragon head flared up: "What are you talking about, you idiot!"
"Huh? You think you're clever? We share one body, so you're an idiot too! Haha, and you're a white dragon—idiot!"
White dragon head: "…"
The white dragon head seemed too angry to speak.
Mu Anqi scratched her head and still tried to offer a solution that would satisfy them both: "Then I'll cooperate with each of you separately and accept each of your scales. Then… pay each of you these crystals separately—how about that? Just like my earlier proposal."
The white dragon head felt it could squeeze even more crystals out of Mu Anqi, but after glancing at the black dragon head, it sighed helplessly, losing its earlier enthusiasm. It simply placed the white scale into Mu Anqi's hand. "If you need anything, have the stewards of the White Faction handle it for you. During your game, the cooperation will be effective."
Seeing this, the black dragon head quickly used its left claw to shove the black scale into Mu Anqi's arms. "This is mine. Use it the same way as that one—they will cooperate with you."
Mu Anqi smiled faintly, using her abilities to generate two red envelopes containing one hundred Guan crystals each, handing one to the left claw and one to the right claw, while sending a mental message about the cooperation. "Then… cooperation, happy?"
The dragon claws touched the red envelopes, and in the next moment, Mu Anqi heard two notifications indicating that the skills had successfully activated.
Everything went smoothly.
After bowing to the two dragons, Mu Anqi left the cave. She returned along the same path, her steps extremely light. This path didn't have so many twists and turns, so there was naturally no risk of getting lost. Mu Anqi soon arrived back at the first level of the arena. When she approached Peacock Steward again, the steward's feathers bristled:
"How are you here again!? You promised me!"
The terrified, reflexive gesture of trying to cover his tail feathers clearly showed he thought Mu Anqi had suffered a loss and was now trying to regain face at his expense.
"Mr. Peacock, don't get so worked up, stay calm. I wonder… where is the other steward? It would be better if we all sit down together to discuss cooperation." Mu Anqi smiled and waved, holding up one black and one white scale in front of Peacock Steward. "Your lords agreed with me~"
In an instant, Peacock Steward's expression looked as if he'd been struck by lightning, full of disbelief. Mu Anqi even felt she could read deep doubt in that expression; she guessed that Peacock Steward might think she had taken the scales while the dragons were asleep.
"You… you have some nerve." After all, Peacock Steward said this in a trembling voice upon seeing the scales.
"…It really was those two lords who gave them to me." Mu Anqi rolled her eyes and drew her dagger. "If you delay any further, don't blame me—" Before she finished speaking, Peacock Steward had already disappeared.
About five minutes later, Peacock Steward returned, accompanied by another figure—a lion with radiant golden hair. Its pupils were shrouded in darkness, clearly the steward of the Black Faction.
Mu Anqi once again laid out her ideas from the draft notebook, explaining the time-limited message delivery task. "Of course, it's only for a few days. Once my game ends, I'll leave, so this is a limited-time activity."
"You're setting a precedent this time, which will affect future outsiders." The Golden Lion Steward remained extremely calm. "It's not that other outsiders will think of this, but the residents of the Inner World will develop expectations for them."
"No need to use my name," Mu Anqi said. "You can present this as a gift from Mr. Black and Miss White."
The Golden Lion Steward nodded, seeming to approve of Mu Anqi's suggestion. As for service fees or pricing, the arena could set them on their own. "One communication in exchange for the head of a contaminated resident… meaning the head of a Black Faction resident?"
"That's what I need; you don't have to charge this way," Mu Anqi said sincerely. "After all, residents die in the arena every day. This small amount should be something the arena can cover for me, right?"
This was cooperation, and it was also why Mu Anqi approached the arena. Simply collecting only Black Faction residents' heads would affect the balance of the Inner World, but with the arena handling it, there would be no such impact. They could collect other items if needed. After all… the arena's residents didn't care about the bodies of losers after duels. Large numbers of corpses were cremated, so the arena could easily provide what Mu Anqi needed.
"I have no problem with this," the Golden Lion Steward agreed to the cooperation. He glanced at the black dragon scale in Mu Anqi's hand, which was clearly the main reason for his approval. As for Peacock Steward…
He had already nodded his tail feathers in agreement.
And just like that, the cooperation began.
…
In the Shattered Mirror Continent, Ji Huaichu watched Mu Anqi's actions and revealed a satisfied smile. Whether it was her reactions to enemies or the subsequent cooperation, she performed very well. Of course, if other players did the same thing, it would be considered "nothing special," but if the one doing it was her little girlfriend, General Ji always viewed it through a ten-level filter.
At the same time, Ji Huaichu also realized Mu Anqi's weakness. After losing the skill to control speech, she lacked an absolute ability to make up for it. In other words, Mu Anqi was at her most vulnerable during a period of silence. She thought she should remind Little Money Tree to carefully check in the Nirvana Space for items that could prevent this—both defensive and mental protection items.
As for Mr. Black and Miss White, after the death of the alchemist, inside the rotating black-and-white mirror, Miss White let out a light laugh, while Mr. Black softly sighed, and Miss White regained control over everything.
…Miss White's sense of delight continued all the way until Mu Anqi delved deep into the arena and saw the dragon beneath the ground.
Honestly, very few players ever reach the underground. Almost no player has ever fought this dragon, and even communication with it is extremely rare. Therefore, when Miss White saw the words of the white dragon head, she appeared calm on the surface. In the mirror world, she tapped the mirror with her little white parasol: "Black, what's going on? This data… you created it, right?"
"Darling, we created it together," Mr. Black said, looking utterly innocent. "You agreed to create the arena's managers in this form, to reflect our dual-soul unity in this special way."
"Why does the white dragon have this kind of personality?"
"Isn't it cute?" Mr. Black still looked innocent and aggrieved. "Darling, you see, I also created the black dragon's personality, right?"
"They are just creations, not our avatars. Darling, don't overthink it~ Their personalities were generated randomly, not intentionally by me~"
Mr. Black's words were sincere and innocent. He removed his mask, gazing at Miss White in the mirror with utmost honesty. His golden eyes carried a faint trace of melancholy, his long eyelashes trembling, revealing a vulnerable side: "Darling, how could you think that of me?"
Miss White cast him a glance but remained completely unmoved. In that silent stare, she eventually looked away, and her little parasol vanished in the space, leaving behind a faint "hm."