Chapter 24: Give Me Five Seconds
Su Xiao lightly flicked the blood off Dragon-Slaying Flash, his gaze sweeping the surroundings. At least several dozen figures in black robes were nearby—these were all mirror images or shadow clones. As for the six contractors, they had already slipped out of Su Xiao's perception range.
Su Xiao had used Dragon Shadow Flash to kill one upon exiting, causing the remaining enemies to retreat.
When he rushed out of the villa, Su Xiao had sensed seven enemies in stealth. Now there were six left. If these six scattered and fled, Su Xiao truly had no good way to handle it.
A crisp *click* came from not far away. Su Xiao's gaze turned toward the sound source. There was no clone there—an enemy had stepped on a trap.
Having chosen the Don Quixote Family villa as his sniper point, Su Xiao had naturally set up defensive devices around it. He hadn't buried anti-gravity mines nearby, as perceptive contractors would sense them before stepping on them. Therefore, Su Xiao had only set up a few dozen simple trigger devices around the area. These had no lethal power, were hard to detect, and at most emitted a crisp sound when stepped on.
It was this very crisp sound that made a black-robed contractor's hair stand on end. After sensing no danger beneath his feet, he immediately bent his legs and leaped forward.
Su Xiao locked onto the sound source, lowering his body while forming his left hand into a claw shape.
*Boom!*
Debris flew across the courtyard as Su Xiao shot forward like a cannonball.
In an instant, Su Xiao crossed 20 meters. His Instinct ability immediately caught a stealthed enemy. Even if the enemy instantly left his perception range, Su Xiao had already locked onto their position.
After rapidly advancing 30 meters, Su Xiao sensed the stealthed enemy again.
Su Xiao stared intently at the enemy's position. The moment the enemy entered his perception range for the second time, Instinct only caught them for an instant before their aura vanished.
A flash of blade light bloomed as Su Xiao walked forward slowly. He hadn't detected any spatial fluctuations, leaving only one possibility: after the enemy stopped moving, even Instinct couldn't perceive them.
Six meters from Su Xiao, a black-robed contractor crouched low, holding his breath.
Terror filled this contractor's face. He clearly realized that facing Su Xiao head-on meant only death, unless the six of them cooperated as they usually did.
However, Su Xiao had instantly killed one upon appearing, startling the remaining six badly. Their first reaction was to retreat.
The Shadow Group's team channel was already buzzing. The crouching contractor holding his breath was begging for help.
Shadow Three: "I'm drawing his attention from the front. You guys take the chance to kill him."
Shadow Six: "..."
Shadow Two: "..."
Shadow Seven: "Take care of yourself."
Shadow Three: "Take care of your mother! That bastard will find me soon. Come support me quickly, and we'll retreat together!"
...
Clearly, the one crouching still and not daring to move was Shadow Three. His stealth ability was special—as long as he stayed still and held his breath, he could trigger a powerful passive effect: Proof of the God's Absence.
So-called "Proof of the God's Absence" was actually a Nen ability from the Hunter x Hunter world. Shadow Three had paid a considerable price to obtain it.
Unlike the complete version of "Proof of the God's Absence," Shadow Three could only use this ability while stealthed, with two prerequisites: first, he couldn't move; second, he couldn't breathe.
In the Shadow Group's team channel:
Shadow Seven: "Shadow One has the best survivability among us, so he took point. Shadow One only lasted two strikes—two strikes! You should know what that means. That freakishly strong bastard could probably one-shot me. This isn't a game; death is permanent. Shadow Three, sorry."
Shadow Six: "Sorry."
Shadow Two: "Hold your breath. Your stealth is the best among us."
...
Seeing his teammates' "blessings," Shadow Three clenched his fists, his expression twisting.
Shadow Three: "Then... don't blame me."
Shadow Seven: "Damn it!"
Shadow Two: "You *****."
Shadow Six: "Third Brother, calm down. Let's discuss this."
...
*Zheng!*
A sharp blade swept over Shadow Three's head. His body shuddered—Su Xiao was less than two meters away.
Shadow Three took a deep breath and deactivated his stealth.
The moment Shadow Three appeared, a blade slashed toward his neck. He raised his dagger to block while roaring.
"Give me five seconds!"
Shadow Three was ready to gamble. He had already realized that in a direct confrontation, he couldn't last two exchanges against this opponent. So he might as well take a chance.
*Pfft!*
Blood splattered as a head, its face full of shock, flew into the air.
Su Xiao looked at the headless corpse before him. In truth, even if this guy hadn't revealed himself, Su Xiao had already found his position. The earlier slash had cut off a few strands of the enemy's hair. To ordinary eyes, these hairs would be overlooked, but within Instinct's perception range, those suddenly appearing hairs were like fireflies in the dark.
"Amu, what did this guy say earlier?"
Su Xiao had been completely focused on tracking the enemy's position, so he hadn't clearly heard what the enemy said—only catching "five seconds."
"Amu, hungry."
Amu scratched his head, answering off-topic.
"Bear with it."
Su Xiao tore a piece of cloth from the corpse to wipe Dragon-Slashing Flash's blade. As for pursuing the remaining enemies, that wasn't realistic.
Against seven stealth-type enemies, Su Xiao had been somewhat lucky to kill two. If these guys were determined to flee, only a large adventure group's encirclement could stop them. Chasing five stealth-types alone was far too impractical.
If it had been a direct confrontation, Su Xiao was confident he could have taken down all seven.
Dragon-Slashing Flash returned to its sheath. Su Xiao learned a lesson from this incident: when dealing with stealth squads, he shouldn't take the initiative to attack.
If Su Xiao had waited quietly in the villa, letting the seven enemies infiltrate the fourth floor to assassinate him, all seven would have died inside.
As the saying goes, a fall into a pit, a gain in wit. Su Xiao wasn't born strong—his strength came from accumulating experience through repeated failures, building his current power.
Su Xiao checked the battle log.
[You have killed Contractor 12065. You gain 86 Pirate Prestige.]
[You have killed Contractor 11943. You gain 108 Pirate Prestige.]
...
No Scarlet Card dropped, but Su Xiao gained nearly 200 Pirate Prestige. He was still over 400 points behind second-place Qianmeng. As for Kutou, that guy's Pirate Prestige had already exceeded 7,000 points.
Su Xiao looked toward the battlefield on the coast, hesitating. He was considering whether to head to the battlefield between Donquixote Doflamingo and Katakuri. After all, he had already severely injured Cracker. Killing Cracker would not only bring a huge reward but also push his Pirate Prestige past Qianmeng's.