Chapter 86: The Freedom of Choice
"Just say what it is directly."
The Damascus blade flipped in Su Xiao's hand, its cold light gleaming sharply.
An old Mexican stood up, turning his back to Su Xiao and lifting the clothing at his waist. On his lower back was a bandaged wound. He directly tore off the bloodstained gauze, revealing the injury beneath.
Seeing this wound, Su Xiao's pupils contracted sharply. He was all too familiar with this type of injury—it was caused by a "Scorpion's Sting." The only person who used the unique weapon "Scorpion's Sting" was Hai Dong.
Judging by the wound's condition, it had been inflicted recently. But Hai Dong was dead; Su Xiao had buried him with his own hands.
Su Xiao stepped forward quickly, using the Damascus blade in his hand to pry open a small section of the circular wound caused by the "Scorpion's Sting." The old Mexican's face remained expressionless.
After a preliminary examination, Su Xiao realized this wasn't a wound from a "Scorpion's Sting." The exterior looked similar, but there were subtle differences inside. A true "Scorpion's Sting" wound would reveal a mass of shredded flesh inside, but this one was different.
Su Xiao immediately understood—someone was imitating Hai Dong's killing method and had forged a fake "Scorpion's Sting." This kind of thing wasn't uncommon in the assassin industry; it was just a matter of slinging mud at each other. Besides, Hai Dong had obsessive-compulsive disorder; he would never use such a shoddy imitation of a "Scorpion's Sting," let alone use it to attack an old Mexican assassin. Hai Dong was already in the past; perhaps only Su Xiao would remember that someone like Hai Dong ever existed.
"This wasn't done by Hai Dong, so it has nothing to do with me."
Su Xiao made his stance clear. The two bald old Mexicans were somewhat surprised, then their gazes turned cold.
The reason they had come to Su Xiao was to avoid involving his faction when they retaliated. Although Su Xiao's faction consisted only of himself, judging by his current personality, he had never been someone to mess with when he was an assassin. He was the type who would retaliate immediately if provoked.
The faction these two bald old Mexicans belonged to wasn't afraid of Su Xiao; they just didn't want to escalate the situation. Every industry has its unspoken rules, and unless absolutely necessary, no one wants a fight to the death.
Now that Su Xiao had confirmed the wound wasn't caused by a "Scorpion's Sting," the two old Mexicans' anger flared. They had been played—played by a fake. And for this, they had paid a very valuable gift.
Both old Mexicans simultaneously looked at the Damascus blade in Su Xiao's hand.
"Bubu, see them out. And tell those people that I, Su Xiao, am no longer an assassin. Don't come to me with this kind of nonsense in the future. The affairs of the assassin industry have nothing to do with me."
Could he return what he had already obtained? Of course not.
The two bald old Mexicans left with grim faces. From start to finish, they had only spoken two words: "the gift." The thinking of these people simply couldn't be judged by common sense.
Inside the accessory shop, although Su Xiao was somewhat puzzled by the matter, he had no intention of getting involved in the affairs between assassins. With his current combat power, he could easily defeat these assassins with one hand. He also had no interest in becoming some kind of leader among assassins—that would be a foolish move asking for trouble.
This incident was like a small pebble thrown into a lake; the ripples gradually faded. Su Xiao came out as a beneficiary, gaining a valuable Damascus blade and publicly declaring that he was no longer an assassin. Anyone who came to him again would be dealt with by death.
After returning to the small town, Su Xiao had long expected someone would come looking for him. He just hadn't expected it to be two "mutes."
In truth, after Hai Dong's death, Su Xiao had already decided not to meddle in the assassin industry anymore. Back when he became an assassin, it was partly to train his combat skills and partly because the situation at the time left him no choice.
Now, Su Xiao was strong enough to have the power of choice. Anyone who dared to interfere with his choice would have to pay the price.
Only by being strong enough could one live freely. This truth was perfectly illustrated in this incident.
A peaceful real-life routine began. The business of Su Xiao's accessory shop couldn't even be described as dismal. From the moment he returned to the small town, the shop hadn't made a single sale. In fact, since the shop opened, it had basically never sold anything.
...
Evening. Su Xiao sat in front of the accessory shop, a gentle breeze blowing. Beside him, Bubu Wang was playing a mobile game, occasionally getting so angry his fur stood on end—he was being yelled at by his teammates.
Su Xiao clearly heard desperate curses coming from the phone's voice chat. Bubu Wang typed back with his dog paws, but unfortunately, naive Bubu Wang couldn't out-argue them. Moreover, Bubu Wang's "cursing" method was quite bizarre, such as:
"You're stupid, you're stupid, you're stupid..."
"You're very stupid..."
"Reflect, reflect, reflect the insults back at me..."
In a fit of rage, Bubu Wang handed the phone to Su Xiao, his little eyes seeming to say, "Master, help me curse these four idiots."
Su Xiao was good at cutting people down, but as for verbal sparring, forget it.
Su Xiao took the phone. Five minutes later, he tossed it back to Bubu Wang. The angry shouts of those four teammates had disappeared.
"Awesome."
"That's definitely a different player now."
The sighs of Bubu Wang's teammates came through the game. If the puzzle game Su Xiao played was nightmare difficulty, then the mobile game Bubu Wang was playing was at most entry-level.
The peaceful real-life routine quickly passed. Su Xiao had been fighting continuously through two worlds, and now his tense nerves finally relaxed. It turned out that relaxing in the real world was an essential process; Reincarnation Paradise wouldn't create useless rules.
[Tip: A new derivative world is about to open. The Hunter will return to Reincarnation Paradise. Please ensure there are no witnesses nearby.]
[Teleporting... Teleportation complete.]
When Su Xiao came to his senses, he was already inside his Exclusive Room.
Amu sat on the floor. Before Su Xiao left, he had given him an order: to stay put in the Exclusive Room.
Amu was exceptionally obedient. Not only did he stay in the Exclusive Room, but he also sat motionless on the floor. After Su Xiao left, Amu hadn't had a single drop of water.
Gurgle~
Amu's stomach growled loudly. The large amount of food Bubu Wang had prepared for him earlier remained untouched.
Su Xiao and Bubu Wang were both puzzled. Had this glutton gone on a hunger strike? Looking more closely, that wasn't the case at all. Amu was staring straight at the food, his cow eyes practically turning green.
"Eat."
As soon as Su Xiao gave the order, Amu lunged at the food, stuffing meat steaks, seafood, vegetable salad, and everything else into his mouth.
"I'm starving to death."
Amu ate so deliciously that even Bubu Wang, watching from the side, got hungry.
[Tip: The Hunter will enter the derivative world in fifty minutes.]
The notification from Reincarnation Paradise appeared. This time, Su Xiao was entering a normal derivative world. It had been a long time since he had received a main mission. The Demon Castle world had no main mission, the Magic Forbidden world had no main mission, the World War had none either, and although the Holy Grail world had a main mission, it had been completely messed up by the Blood Gate people.
Missions also had different levels. The highest reward was for war missions, followed by main missions, then hidden missions, and below those were side missions. Hunter missions and the like were harder to categorize.
As the second-highest reward type, main missions were naturally very popular among Contractors. Although the penalties for main missions were usually attribute deductions or forced execution, main missions were closely tied to the derivative world's storyline, involving many plot characters and events. This meant more opportunities to gain benefits.
Su Xiao silently waited for the new derivative world to descend. He now had only 500 Paradise Coins left. After creating Amu, Su Xiao had 24,500 Paradise Coins remaining, of which 20,000 were used to create No. 1 Potion. The remaining 4,500 Paradise Coins were spent on Mechanical Street to custom-order a special type of ammunition.
[Tip: As the Hunter has been promoted to the Third Rank, you are required to undergo a large-scale open world (once).]