Chapter 71: Dying Twice (Fourth Update)
Including Lan Zuo, Mask, and others, a total of 43 contractors had surrounded Su Xiao. They were no mere "newcomers" who had just advanced to the fourth rank, but a group of lone wolves who had firmly established themselves at that level.
The severely wounded Mask had retreated to the edge of the crowd, but she didn’t stop there. After being nearly cut in half by Su Xiao, the mere sight of him made the wounds on her body throb with intense pain.
The 42 contractors surrounding Su Xiao didn’t strike immediately. They all knew that once Su Xiao died, Roger’s sidearm would drop.
Moreover, Su Xiao was clearly not someone to be trifled with. It wasn’t impossible for him to drag one or two people down with him before dying. Even getting severely injured in a fight with him wasn’t worth it—it would only benefit the others.
“Focus fire and take him out instantly.”
No sooner had a lone wolf spoken than a blue light flickered across Su Xiao’s body. Blue energy burst outward like needle-like rays.
Moments later, the needle-like energy dissipated. Su Xiao’s body was now wrapped in a hazy, pale blue mist that slowly drifted away. At the center of his black pupils, a blue light flickered.
“Hah.”
Su Xiao exhaled a puff of blue mist. The Demon Hunting Hour had begun, lasting 100 seconds.
“This guy… seems a bit off.”
The contractor who had shouted to focus fire and kill Su Xiao spoke up, slowly backing away.
A faint sound of something cutting through the air came from behind him, and a slash appeared on his back.
The lone wolf blocked the short trident in his hand behind him. Sparks flew, and he stumbled forward a few steps. To his credit, his reaction speed was incredibly fast—an ordinary contractor wouldn’t have been able to block Su Xiao’s blade.
Bright red blood sprayed from the lone wolf’s neck, his expression filled with shock.
With his throat slashed open, the lone wolf was nearly pushed into a near-death state. He immediately tried to use a life-saving ability.
With a sharp *shiiing*, a blue shadow pierced through the lone wolf’s head, leaving only a faint blue thread in the air.
*Thud.*
The lone wolf collapsed. One slash to the throat, one to the head—both vital points. With the massive amount of true damage, he didn’t even have time to scream before being killed instantly.
Su Xiao appeared, having pierced through space four times in succession. The first two brought him behind the lone wolf, where he delivered a slash that was blocked. He then moved instantly to the front of the lone wolf, slashing his throat. Finally, he shifted to the side and thrust his longsword forward, piercing through the opponent’s head.
Seeing the fallen lone wolf and Su Xiao standing beside the corpse, Lan Zuo’s pupils rapidly contracted. He hadn’t even seen how Su Xiao had killed his enemy. The surrounding lone wolves stared in terror.
“That blue mist is… the Demon Hunter Set.”
One lone wolf turned and fled. But the next moment, he suddenly stopped in place, his body leaning back as a longsword swept past his eyes.
Then, the fleeing lone wolf felt a numbness in his thigh, followed by a sharp sting at the back of his neck, and finally, darkness consumed his vision.
Electricity crackled as Lan Zuo transformed into a bolt of lightning, charging into the distance.
*Clang!*
A gleaming blade aura cut through the lightning, sending droplets of blood flying. Lan Zuo stumbled a few steps and reappeared.
A pair of eyes glowing with blue light locked onto Lan Zuo. He stopped, a shallow cut appearing on his chest.
Su Xiao’s entire body was wreathed in drifting blue mist. Repeatedly piercing through space in a short time had left his whole body aching.
Lightning gathered in Lan Zuo’s hand. There was no point in saying anything else now—it was kill or be killed. Surrender or begging for mercy was utterly impossible for Lan Zuo.
*Clang.*
Blade aura and lightning clashed. Su Xiao could only be described as ghostly and unpredictable. Thanks to his increased true stamina attribute, he could now use Dragon Shadow Flash six times in a row, needing only a 1–2 second rest afterward.
After Dragon-Slaying Flash advanced to Legendary rank, Dragon Shadow Flash’s movement range increased to 0–10 meters. That meant Su Xiao could instantly move 60 meters away, rest for 1–2 seconds, and then move another 60 meters.
Cyan Steel Shadow energy was fully unleashed, enveloping Dragon-Slaying Flash. During the 100 seconds of Demon Hunting Hour, Su Xiao didn’t need to worry about mana consumption at all.
*Zzzap!*
Electricity flashed, and an arm flew off, splattering a large pool of blood on the ground.
Lan Zuo, his arm severed, stumbled back a few steps. He had fought space-attribute enemies no fewer than ten times, but he had never seen an ability with such fast spatial movement.
In truth, Su Xiao wasn’t exactly performing spatial movement. He was directly piercing through space, ignoring any rules about fourth or eleventh dimensions. All he had to do was pierce through whatever dimension lay in his way to reach his desired location. This bypassed all the processes of spatial movement, making it incredibly fast.
*Pfft.*
Another half-arm flew off. Lan Zuo, attempting to flee for the seventh time, collapsed to the ground.
Drops of blood dripped from the corner of Su Xiao’s mouth. He had already been injured from his earlier fight with the black cat woman, and the burden of piercing through space was taking a toll on his body.
Su Xiao appeared ten meters away from Lan Zuo. Lan Zuo transformed into lightning and lunged at Su Xiao, having figured out some patterns.
The lightning swept over Su Xiao’s body. Lan Zuo reverted to his physical form, took a few steps forward, and then fell to his knees with a *thud*.
Su Xiao appeared not far from Lan Zuo, exerting force in his hand to crush the heart he held—Lan Zuo’s heart.
Lan Zuo struggled to stand up from the ground, turning his head to look at Su Xiao.
“You win.”
Lan Zuo smiled, then pitched forward. The moment he fell, Su Xiao received a kill notification.
[You have killed Contractor No. 10572.]
[You have gained 1178 Pirate Reputation.]
Su Xiao suddenly vanished from his spot, reappearing in front of a pile of rubble. He thrust his longsword into the ground.
*Crack!*
An arm burst out from the earth, its fingers twitching a few times before going still.
[You have killed Contractor No. 10572.]
[You have gained 206 Pirate Reputation.]
The same number, but a different amount of Pirate Reputation. Su Xiao had killed Lan Zuo “twice.” Or rather, the moment Su Xiao tore out Lan Zuo’s heart, Lan Zuo had split into two. This ability was somewhat similar to the Second Tsuchikage from the Naruto world.
This wasn’t a clone. Lan Zuo had split from one individual into two, both sharing the same number. Su Xiao had killed the split body first, which carried a large amount of Pirate Reputation in an attempt to deceive him.
After splitting, Lan Zuo was incredibly weak—so weak that he could only hide underground, unable to move.
The moment Lan Zuo split, or rather, the moment he was about to die, Su Xiao sensed something unusual beneath his feet. This was likely a passive-type substitute death ability.
Lan Zuo was truly a cunning old fox. Without his instinct ability, Su Xiao would have been fooled.
Su Xiao pulled out his longsword, a wave of weakness washing over him. Looking around, there were no contractors left. Even Mask and the others had scattered and fled. As for Roger’s sidearm, compared to their own lives, it wasn’t worth it.
A scarlet card floated up from the ground—Lan Zuo’s scarlet card. Su Xiao picked it up.
“Bubu.”
Hearing Su Xiao’s call, Bubu Wang quickly trotted over. Su Xiao swung himself onto Bubu Wang’s back.
A kilometer away, the snipers at several high points didn’t fire. They had lost their nerve.
Moments later, Su Xiao disappeared from their sight.
Inside a hospital ward, Mask was curled up under a bed.
“This scared meow to death. What kind of ability was that? Way too overpowered, dammit. If I ever run into him again…”
Mask paused for a long time, unable to think of what would happen if she met Su Xiao again. Most likely, she would still be pinned down and beaten to death.