The Strongest Curse Master-Chapter 353: Elder Mitch

"Shut the fuck up," Elinor snapped, smacking the back of the Overlords’ descendant’s head hard enough to cause it to slam against the table, silencing him. Though he wasn’t hurt, it was clearly uncomfortable to be handled against one’s will.

"Fuck my life," Elinor muttered aloud, trying to figure out how she had ended up babysitting an old man in a teenager’s body when she had a kid waiting for her at home—on top of her promise to guard the Lander family.

"Assassin? Who the fuck would want you dead right now?" Ace asked the Overlords’ descendant, puzzled. At the moment, this asshole was the only lead to the Overlords’ treasure, making him far more valuable alive than dead to anyone Ace could think of.

Hearing Ace’s question, the descendant’s face twisted as if he had just stepped in a pile of shit. He had planned to pit the supposed assassin and Hundred Eyes against each other to create an opportunity to escape this hellhole. The problem was—this newcomer wasn’t an assassin.

Seeing that the newcomer didn’t have a designated Nastrond ID, he had jumped to the logical conclusion that he was an assassin who had broken into the Nastrond to kill him. But it turned out he was wrong. Hundred Eyes trusted this man enough to put her life in his hands. That made him wonder: Who was this newcomer? How had he entered Nastrond without a designated ID?

Sensing the newcomer’s youthful energy, only one possibility came to mind—he had to be a National Asset. Apart from the President, only they were granted such leniency. Realizing this, the Overlords’ descendant cursed his luck silently. Now he knew for certain—he wasn’t leaving this place alive.

"Did you guys figure out his name yet?" Ace asked, picking up the notepad the staff had used to interpret the brainwaves of the Overlords’ descendant. It was complete gibberish. Apparently, he was smart enough to figure out a counter to the mind-reading apparatus. Considering his tier, using drugs to lower his mental defenses wasn’t an option.

"No. But in the Samsara Cult, he was called Elder Mitch," Elinor replied, sharing what she knew. She didn’t seem to care how Ace got into Nastrond or why he was there. She felt guilty for not keeping her promise to him. The only thing stopping her from dying out of shame and guilt was the fact that Delores and Janice were pulling her weight in the Lander Estate in her absence.

"Elder Mitch," Ace repeated with a chuckle, wondering why someone would choose a pseudonym that rhymed with bitch, of all things.

"Who are you?" Mitch asked, still uncertain. While he had assumed Ace was a National Asset, he didn’t want to jump to conclusions like last time.

He needed to escape before Prince McSuile returned. That man had proposed to the General that since they couldn’t hurt him with the cuffs on, they should humiliate him instead. Before leaving, Prince explicitly threatened that he would return with a steaming pile of shit to shove into Mitch’s stomach. Mitch wasn’t afraid of death, but he really didn’t want to eat shit.

"Ace. Didn’t you hear her?" Ace said as he unhooked the mind-reading apparatus from Mitch.

"Ace…Ace Lander? The Samsara Slayer? You’re a National Asset?" Mitch asked suspiciously.

He had always believed Ace Lander was just a patsy, Prince McSuile dangled in front of the remnants of the Samsara Cult to bait them, who kept the rest of the curse community busy while the Prince quietly hunted down the real target, him.

Mitch nodded to himself, thinking that Ace being a National Asset made more sense. It explained why the Prince and the rest of the curse community would reward a Mortal-tier the title "Samsara Slayer." He had always thought his fellow cult members were fools for falling for such an obvious trap—but now, it seemed he was the misinformed one.

"Him, a National Asset? What the fuck are you high on?" Elinor snapped, smacking the back of Mitch’s head without warning. He had called her things that she never imagined could be so insulting. It wasn’t just the words—it was how he said them that made them sting more. If not for Ace’s timely reminder, she planned on using the most terrifying curse spells in her arsenal to teach him a lesson.

"Elinor, where is everybody else?" Ace asked, wondering why she was the one interrogating Mitch and not Prince or someone higher up the chain, especially while the General was dealing with the security breach on the upper floors. He came in here expecting to meet Prince and settle both old and new scores, but was surprised by Elinor instead.

After removing the original mind-reading apparatus from Mitch, Ace carefully placed it back in its case. Then, he summoned Specwork, which morphed into an upgraded version of the apparatus and attached itself to Mitch. Unlike the original device, this one didn’t display graphs—it used Ace’s status screen to narrate Mitch’s thoughts in real time.

"The base systems were hacked—it was you!" Elinor accused. "After the fiasco at headquarters, I should’ve known the moment they said they couldn’t trace the hack and were struggling to undo the damage. What is it this time? Don’t tell me you plan to kill him after getting the location of the Overlords’ treasure? Can you at least wait until I leave the base? I already have enough reprimands in my file—I don’t need another one," she pleaded with Ace.

Meanwhile, Mitch’s gaze flicked back and forth between Elinor and Ace, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Was Ace an intruder or a National Asset? Then he glanced at the unconscious staff member and thought, Why would a National Asset attack a government employee? It had to be the former. How did he miss something so obvious? Shit… did they drug him or something, without his knowledge?

Panic began to creep in as Mitch realized he might’ve made a foolish, obvious mistake. Sniffing the air, he caught a strange scent. Something was definitely off.