Tears of Alice, Terror of Dittos

Tyler walked toward a shop inside a combat place. He reached in front of the shopkeeper and as soon as the shopkeeper saw him, he reacted. He immediately got up and lowered his head.

"Please welcome to our shop. I will call miss right away."

Tyler was surprised by this reaction but he still followed the shopkeeper to the upper floor. He sat in a private room. After a few seconds, he was served a green tea.

This got him suspicious. Tyler wasn't sure if he should drink this. At this moment, Carl's voice rang in his mind.

"Lord, let me drink it a little. If it is poisoned, I can detect it."

Hearing his words, Tyler decided to give it a try. He extended his right arm and a small branch sprouted out of his hand. The branch touched the tip of the tea and a small portion of it was sucked by the branch.

After a while, the branch responded in his brain.

"Lord, everything seems fine."

'So, why is he treating me so differently? Did Alice know that I would come here? Did she order the shopkeeper to act in such a way?' Tyler thought for a moment as he drank the tea.

It was quite a great tea. And, after a few minutes, Alice finally arrived. When she arrived, she walked in front of him and sat down. For a moment, there was an awkwardness in the room.

Tyler slowly lowered his head and put his hand on the table.

"I'm sorry for acting like that before. I got lost in rage and responded to you in such a rude way. And, thank you for saving my mother."

"Actually, we are just partners, right?" Alice didn't respond to his thanks and asked.

Hearing her words, Tyler raised his head. Before he could talk, she replied.

"How about we break up our partnership? You haven't fought in the tournament for me and I haven't had any sex with you. As for saving your mother, just treat it as a return favor for saving me in that forest."

Saying so, she slowly stood up and continued.

"Let's just pretend that we don't know each other. Of course, our other deal will still go on especially now that you have your arm back. But, if you want to break that deal as well, then we can break it right now."

Tyler remained there with his face giving out a confused expression. He didn't understand why she was doing this but he could feel her sorrow and sadness.

He didn't understand why she would be so sad while still being so cold. Although he didn't know the reason, this time Tyler didn't remain passive. He looked into her eyes and said.

"No! I don't agree."

This time, Alice froze for a moment. But, it didn't take her long to react.

"What? Why? You obviously aren't losing anything. So, why don't you just agree?"

Tyler shook his head and said "I am losing something. I have already made enemies with the Sulen family. If I lose your support then I would be digging my own grave. So, I can't agree to this unless you shamelessly want to break our partnership."

Hearing his words, Alice suddenly fumed with anger. Up until now, Tyler never showed fear against Sulen Family but now, he was suddenly afraid of them. It didn't make sense to her.

But, except for that reason, she couldn't think of anything else. She clenched her fists and said.

"I will keep your family safe from Sulen family. You don't need to be worried about them. Even if our partnership of this deal breaks, we still have the other deal. But, we must break this deal right now."

Hearing her words, Tyler felt strange. He got up and walked closer to her. She stumbled a bit as she moved back. She wasn't sure why she was trying to run away from him.

He looked into her frightened eyes and asked.

"Are you afraid of something?"

It was the first time he had seen her afraid. Even when she was injured in the forest, she didn't seem to be afraid.

His words stirred her heart. Alice felt extremely weak at this moment but she didn't let this weakness control her. She strengthened her heart and spoke.

"No, I am not. I was just surprised by your approach."

"No, you are afraid of something. And, it's not me. You are afraid of something else, something that is forcing you to break this partnership with me. So, tell me, what is it?"

"What is forcing you? Or, who is forcing you?" Tyler spoke with a strong expression on his face.

Seeing his expression, Alice couldn't help but feel warmth in her heart but this warmth also brought tears to her eyes.

"Why do you care? You didn't care about me when your mother was in danger. You didn't let me explain anything when it wasn't even my fault. You even came here to apologize because I saved your mother."

"It was the only reason why you are standing here. So, why do you care? Why would I tell anything to someone who just acts selfish?"

Her outburst surprised Tyler. He didn't expect her to cry. He felt a strange emotion in his heart. He didn't know why this emotion appeared but when it did, his hands moved around her.

He pulled her into his embrace and spoke.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being a jerk. I never learned to trust or love anyone else than my mother. And, when someone who is not you was appointed to keep an eye on my mother failed, the thought of trusting someone completely faded away from my mind."

"But a lot happened after that. I realized that there are some people in this world whom I can trust. And, I trust you. I didn't just come here because you saved my mother."

"I came here because I genuinely wanted to apologize to you. I wanted to make up for something that I did. Now, please tell me what happened. Why are you so frightened?"

Hearing his words, Alice couldn't control her tears and started weeping on his shoulders.

"I lost! Sob! Sob! I can't win, Tyler. Sob! Sob! No matter how much I try, no matter how hard I work, I can never get my revenge. I worked hard and planned every step for the past three years but no matter what I planned, everything just crumbled when they succeeded in creating a perfectly working Artificial Constitution."

"I can't beat Ditto Family, not anymore."

At this moment, a newspaper came out of her spatial ring. On the front page, there was a picture of ten middle-aged men.

[Ten People From Ditto Family Slaughtered Ten Thousand cultivators]

Below that, there was another title.

[After forty years of research and countless resources, Ditto Family completed its first Artificial Constitution Project.]