"There are still many people holding onto luck," Rivetta glanced back, speaking softly.
Diescher: "Are you lamenting their choices?"
Rivetta shook her head, dimples appearing as she smiled gently, "Of course not, I’m thinking whether ’Zhuguang Speaker Gave Well-Intentioned Advice, Yet Greed Led to Demise’ would make a good main title for a supplement? And a subtitle—’In the Face of Death, Is There Regret?’"
Before Diescher could respond, Adelaide, standing nearby, snorted, "Trivial nonsense."
Rivetta opened her mouth, ready to retort, but in the end, she said nothing.
If it were anyone else, Rivetta had countless arguments prepared, enough to leave them speechless. But since it was Adelaide speaking, Rivetta found herself at a loss for words.
As one of the top witches in the Southern Domain, Adelaide’s voice carried significant weight. Rivetta also understood Adelaide’s character; she was meticulous and detested the chaotic atmosphere in magazine publishing.
The so-called chaos was really about magazines becoming more and more gossip-centered.
As one of the editors of the "Forest of Time," Adelaide had even published an article criticizing this trend.
When Rivetta first read that article, she actually agreed with Adelaide’s views quite a bit, subsequently making a few hardcore issues of "Glowing City Night Talk."
Unfortunately, it couldn’t be sustained.
After all, significant events are rare while dry spells are frequent; knowledge sharing is limited by individuals, and some wizards writing columns suddenly go into seclusion, leading to much unpredictability.
Under such circumstances, for a quarterly like "Glowing City Night Talk," maintaining high circulation with purely hardcore content is difficult, thus some filler is inevitable; whereas "Forest of Time," being published every decade, is naturally in a better position.
Even with filler and gossip, "Glowing City Night Talk" maintains a stance, unlike most gossip magazines that focus on rumors, it never writes about unfounded stories.
Rivetta personally felt that "Glowing City Night Talk" was already doing a commendable job, but in front of Adelaide, she could only smile awkwardly and let it pass.
"Different publications have their own paths, Black Duke, don’t be too harsh. ’Glowing City Night Talk’ is well-done too, I enjoy it, I’ve read every issue without missing any," the Zhuguang Speaker said with a smile, giving Rivetta some backing.
However, the Zhuguang Speaker’s charm didn’t stand a chance against Adelaide’s demeanor.
"Isn’t your favorite ’Dew-Colored Pictorial’ or ’Wind of Women’?" Adelaide smirked.
The Zhuguang Speaker showed no embarrassment, "I always like new publications the most. After all, a world without expectations would be very boring."
Adelaide snorted, "Who’s talking to you about expectation?"
The Zhuguang Speaker kept smiling, while Adelaide muttered a curse inwardly and then couldn’t be bothered to speak further.
The Zhuguang Speaker turned to Rivetta and smiled, "Write boldly, I am very curious about how ’Glowing City Night Talk’ will cover this incident."
Rivetta nodded gratefully, "Alright."
Once the conversation ended, Rivetta raised her brows at Diescher, clearly implying: Even the Zhuguang Speaker approved, how about that?
Diescher was silent for a moment, then gestured: Switch the main title and subtitle, and remember, it wasn’t just the Zhuguang Speaker who urged those people to stop, I was involved too.
...
There were ears nearby.
Angel, having listened to Rivetta and the others, had a slightly strange expression: He had thought Rivetta was lamenting the lives potentially lost, but their conversation veered off track.
In this tense atmosphere, it felt oddly out of place.
So, is this their way of relieving stress? Or is it just how they normally are?
Angel shook his head, ceasing to dwell on it.
"Even the Zhuguang Speaker’s words had no effect. What a pity," Angel sighed softly.
Observer: "There’s no pity in it. Even though his words had little impact on the scene, for those who weren’t there and those about to arrive, it’s a warning—and from this perspective, it’s not insignificant."
The wizards present had already seen the Mysterious Fruit firsthand, their desires piqued, quelling them is evidently more challenging than for those not at the scene.
Of course, the main reason is still greed and an element of luck.
Since greed and luck have overwhelmed reason, the cost of life for it is self-inflicted.
After a while, the flesh devoured by the Mysterious Fruit was still rushing in from the surrounding Sea Beasts. Sea Demons and Mermaids, however, weren’t seen as this place wasn’t their natural habitat, the previous ones likely only patrolling nearby, meeting misfortune incidentally.
Since there were no other human-like deaths, everyone felt a bit more at ease.
Some secretly wondered if Senator Vila’s prophecy might be flawed.
Yet, those worriers were few; the majority maintained a relaxed yet vigilant state, staying at the periphery of the crowd.
These people were quite savvy, thinking that any progression takes steps—if something truly happened, those at the front would bear it, giving them time to retreat.
Yet, being savvy doesn’t mean being smart, or correct. They ignored one premise: usually, developments are stepwise. But Mysterious Objects never follow the ’usual’.
When time reached a certain point, the situation at the scene took an unexpected sharp turn.
"Thump—"
The sound of the heartbeat, already heard countless times, resounded once again.
From the appearance, everything seemed normal, as before. But all wizards in the Mist Belt... froze simultaneously.
An immensely terrifying attraction emanated from the Mysterious Fruit.
Previously, although it attracted humans, as long as they didn’t come too close and maintained some distance, they could barely resist. But not now, the allure intensified in an instant!
Expressed numerically, if prior allure was at 1, now it surged to 100, even 1000!
This was no gradual increase but a sudden escalation, dragging one from below sea level to high altitude instantly.