Nick looked down at the grate.
He wasn't sure if he should believe the Parasite.
The Parasite was a plague upon the city, and he was only interested in corpses.
Nick hadn't given any corpses to the Parasite in years.
It was very possible that the Parasite just wanted a last load of corpses since he believed that Nick and Dark Dream would never ask the Parasite for some clues regarding a Specter again.
"Why should I believe you?" Nick asked.
"Because of my reputation," the rat said with a smirk from below the grate. "Hey, let's talk somewhere else. I don't think you want to be seen with me in public."
Nick looked around and saw a couple of people walking around.
Without saying anything, Nick walked over to an abandoned house.
Some seconds after he entered, one of the grates started to move to the side, but Nick just stepped on it.
Splash!
The distant sound of something hitting the water in the sewers could be heard.
"What's your problem?!" the Parasite shouted a couple of seconds later.
"I don't want you to come out. Someone might see us," Nick whispered.
"Say that earlier!" the Parasite shouted with annoyance.
"So? Why should I trust you?" Nick said.
"Nick, Nick, Nick," the rat said with a sing-song voice. "I am a merchant by trade, and Dark Dream isn't my only customer."
"If I start to renege on my promises, my other customers won't ask me for another trade."
"Nick, have you ever heard that I didn't fulfill my end of the deal from anywhere?" the Parasite asked.
"No, but that doesn't mean anything," he answered.
"But it does," the Parasite answered. "Crimson Fungus City is one of my favorite territories for getting corpses. I have many more customers here than in many other cities."
Nick wasn't surprised by that.
From what he had heard, the Parasite's actual body was outside the city, which meant that it could work in multiple cities at the same time.
"There is a reason why you haven't heard that I have ever broken a promise, and there's also a reason why I am still in this city," the Parasite said.
Nick raised an eyebrow.
"Crimson Fungus City and I are trading partners, and we both have bottom lines that can't be crossed. If they get crossed, we can't work together anymore."
"My bottom line is that nobody is allowed to besmirch my image. You may call me greedy, cruel, an opportunist, a psychopath, whatever. I don't care."
"But you are not allowed to call me dishonest! My trades are fair!" the rat shouted with conviction.
Whenever Nick heard the Parasite, it was difficult for him to believe that Specters almost had no emotions whatsoever.
"If anyone crosses my bottom line, I will go after them!" the rat shouted. "I might not have the power to kill them, but I know a looooot of things."
"Maybe I'll tell your greatest competition the locations of several powerful Specters for free."
"Maybe I'll tell them some secrets I know about you."
"I might not have a lot of hard power, but I have a lot of soft power!" the Parasite proclaimed with confidence.
"Okay," Nick answered, unimpressed. "So, nobody is allowed to call you dishonest. However, that doesn't mean you are honest. I can threaten someone's life and force them to tell everyone else that I am not threatening their life. Seems like the same thing to me."
Surprisingly, the rat chuckled a bit. "Nick, I was talking about my bottom line."
"What about Crimson Fungus City's bottom line?"
Nick furrowed his brows but didn't answer.
"Do you really think it's that hard to get rid of me?" the Parasite asked. "Do you really think an entire city filled with powerful Extractors can't get rid of a couple of rats?"
"Just send a couple hundred Johns and Veterans into the Sewers to kill the rats. Get some expensive equipment that can find life so that you don't miss any. Go stuff all the holes in the wall. Go poison the waters of the sewers with rat poison."
"You might not get rid of all of my rats, but the effort of getting into Crimson Fungus City would be far greater than what I would get out of it. That would mean that trying to get into Crimson Fungus City represents wasting more Zephyx than I could potentially get."
"Sure, it's a big act and all, but isn't it worth it? After all, according to everyone, I'm one of the biggest nuisances in the city."
Nick thought about the Parasite's words.
If the city guards actually put their minds to it, they could probably eradicate the Parasite's presence within a couple of days or weeks.
Like this, they would have gotten rid of one of the biggest tumors of Crimson Fungus City.
But they didn't.
They could, but they didn't do that.
Nick remembered that the governor had asked several times about the investigation status regarding the Parasite in the yearly meetings.
Yet, all the Manufacturers barely delivered any information.
Had the governor asked for forces to eradicate the Parasite in the past?
Had the Manufacturers simply answered with excuses about why they couldn't help?
Nick didn't know.
However, one thing was certain.
Getting the Parasite out of the city wasn't impossible, and it also didn't need a genius to come up with these solutions.
Yet, the solutions were not used.
That could mean only one thing.
The city didn't want to get rid of the Parasite.
Or, more precisely, not the city but the Manufacturers.
And why was that?
Because trading with the Parasite was advantageous.
The Parasite made them money.
And that meant that the Parasite held his end of the bargain every time.
Otherwise, the Manufacturers would have gotten rid of him already.
Nick's question had been answered.
The fact that the Parasite was still in Crimson Fungus City after decades of being inside it meant that it was honest and delivered on its promises.
The Manufacturers didn't want to get rid of it.
"Alright," Nick said. "Then, what's the deal?"