Chapter 626 – The Demons’ Disguise

When Mo Lan checked the card purchase records and communication logs left behind by the former Demon members of the Dawn Society, she discovered that what she found was far less than she had imagined.

Those Demons seemed to have treated the Dawn Society and their cards as part of their disguise. Whether it was card transaction records or their Communication Card data, everything looked like a carefully polished facade.

If not for the word “Demon” written in the race field of their personal information, there wouldn’t have been the slightest flaw related to their Demon identity.

Their card purchase lists looked no different from those of an ordinary spellcaster — even more haphazard, in fact. Fire crystals bought alongside frost powder, light-element scrolls ordered in the same batch as shadow materials, like some clueless nouveau riche fumbling through random purchases.

This patternless buying behavior actually served as the perfect disguise, making it impossible to tell what school of magic they specialized in — and naturally, impossible to identify them as Demons.

And within the Communication Card social networks, every Demon was like a masterful actor.

They had wide social circles, yet wore a different mask in each one: in the Dwarf merchant guild groups, they were rough and straightforward ore traders; in the Elf poetry society chatrooms, they transformed into refined and elegant bards.

When Mo Lan mass-deactivated these Demons’ communication accounts, it sent shockwaves through the entire Communication Card network across the Continent of Valen.

Every user who had ever been in contact with a Demon, upon opening the chat window with their Demon friend, would see a glaring notification: “xxx’s racial friendship rating is Extreme Evil. Account has been banned.”

This sudden social earthquake triggered chain reactions across every race.

Through the monitoring system, Mo Lan watched as countless chat windows erupted into chaos.

In the human merchant guild groups, the president of a certain textile guild was frantically tapping away at his Communication Card.

“Help! My old chess buddy of ten years turned out to be a Demon! Just last week he was tutoring my grandson in magical history!”

“Is your grandson’s soul still intact? He hasn’t signed any contracts, has he?”

“Does doing homework assigned by a Demon count? But I checked — he’s still my grandson! I just don’t know if the Demon has already branded his soul with some kind of mark!”

“My condolences, old pal! A Demon surely wouldn’t go through all that trouble just because he’s addicted to teaching! Besides souls, nothing else would be worth that much effort.”

…

A certain Beastmanstared blankly at the notification in his chat window for two seconds, then roared in the legion group chat:

“Blood Hoof! That tactical advisor who always said ‘meditate before fighting’ was a Demon?! I even studied his ‘calm combat techniques’!”

The group chat instantly exploded:

“What?! Wasn’t he the one who kept telling us not to sign loot distribution agreements carelessly?”

“Yeah! Last time I said I wanted to sign a contract with a human merchant, he even called me an idiot!”

“…Wait, could he have been reverse-screening for ‘easy marks’?”

“Damn it! I signed one of his recommended ‘mercenary insurance contracts’!”

…

The Goblin Communication Card groups — which normally only buzzed when a big deal came along — were now scrolling with messages faster than an explosion:

“URGENT! ‘High-Efficiency Financial Advisor’ Grock’s account has been flagged as a Demon!!”

“What?! That guy just helped me ‘optimize’ my investment contracts last month!!”

“Wasn’t he always saying ‘the Sorceress contract documents sold in the Card Shop are too expensive, and he knows a cheaper place to buy them’?”

“Yes! Did any of you buy from him?”

“I did.”

“Me too.”

“We’re done for! What if he added hidden clauses to the contract documents!” “He’s going to steal our souls!”

“And he didn’t even pay us!”

“I’m going to find him! He can take my soul after I’m dead if he wants, but not paying up is unacceptable!”

…

Panicked messages popped up in the Elf treehouse council group: “Who introduced the organizer of the Morningdew Poetry Society’s latest event? His account is now showing as a Demon!”

“It was me! He was actually a Demon? Oh heavens! We had dinner together just last month in the Moonlight Grove!”

“Oh! Poor Berlisius, please tell me you didn’t sign your name on any paper he handed you!”

“He brought my poetry collection and asked me to autograph it… but I still feel fine. Maybe it’s nothing?”

“How could a Demon ever let a soul within arm’s reach go unharvested? If he hasn’t collected yet, it’s probably just because the time hasn’t come!”

“Catch him! Kill him! Then my soul can still be saved!”

…

A certain Dwarf blacksmith’s private chat window: “McKinney! That black iron supplier you introduced to me—”

“Don’t say it! I just saw the notification in the chat window! I swear on my beard, he truly saved my life once. How could he possibly be a Demon?”

“The Dawn Society wouldn’t get a member’s race wrong. Everyone signs a contract when they join.”

“A contract — we signed a business contract with him too!”

“We’re done for!”

“I just went next door to find him. The place is already empty.”

…

Mo Lan’s analysis revealed that this social network purge had affected virtually every race — from human nobles to Beastmanmercenaries, from Elf scholars to Goblin merchants. Even the Dragon social circles, who rarely left Dragon Isle, had a few lurking Demon accounts rooted out.

The only ones spared were the Angels. Their friend lists were as spotless as the land atop Heaven’s Peak — nothing but Angels, and more Angels.

When the investigation results were presented to the Sorceresses, Lilith was staring blankly at her alt account from the Land of Chaos.

Of her three “Demon friends,” two had been her regular “suppliers” for blood purchases — Demon blood included.

“They even helped me make connections with various races behind the scenes, so I could buy all sorts of blood from them!” Lilith rubbed her Communication Card with a cold smile. “No wonder they always had stock I couldn’t find anywhere else!”

Mo Lan’s fingertip paused on a particular list. “The point isn’t how long they’ve been lurking. It’s that they were consistently and deliberately getting close to Witches.”

In every Witch’s social circle on that list, there was at least one “close friend” who had been cultivating the relationship for over five years. These Demons were like patient spiders, slowly weaving webs around the Witches.

“Moira, the Council needs to know about this. Everyone has to be on guard,” Sylph said. “The existence of the Dawn Society clearly has no deterrent effect on the Demons whatsoever.”

Mo Lan nodded and sent the investigation results to the Witches of the Witch Council.

The Witch Council quickly posted an announcement in the group chat, reminding all Witches to be vigilant against Demons lurking around them.

That was enough. Witches were already naturally cautious when outside — though friendly to others, they never let their guard down when it came to matters of personal safety, no matter how close a friend was, unless that friend was a fellow Witch.

Never sign contracts carelessly. When outside, only use contract documents witnessed by Lady Carmela’s Contract Magic. When presented with someone else’s contract documents, always sign with a fake name forged through Contract Magic. This was a critical point covered in the Continental Traveling Guidance course — guaranteed to appear on every single exam.