Chapter 11: Epic Masterpiece (Fifth Update)
The lights in the screening room dimmed, and a black-and-white film began to play. It was a romance. Ten minutes in, the male and female leads started doing embarrassing things. Su Xiao initially thought this was a pure romance film, but watching it now, he realized he might have boarded the wrong train. This was clearly an adult film—aside from not showing explicit nudity, everything that could be shown was shown, with the beautiful female lead generously offering eye candy.
Half an hour in, Su Xiao found he had underestimated this movie. The female lead, for an incredibly cliché reason, started a passionate scene with the male lead's best friend. In the middle of their fun, the male lead made a dramatic entrance, successfully catching them in bed. What followed was a "epic masterpiece" of grudges and love-hate relationships. By the 50-minute mark, the male lead chose to forgive her...
Su Xiao turned to look at a child about twelve or thirteen years old, who was watching the film with great interest. He gained a new understanding of how open the people of the Geya Alliance were. Judging by the child's expression, this kind of film was nothing unusual to them.
Just as Su Xiao thought the movie would end with the male and female leads happily reunited, the female lead actually married the male lead's best friend. Meanwhile, the male lead was on a battlefield, fighting bravely—turning this into a war film.
After a passionate ending theme, the movie concluded. Su Xiao glanced at the traitor, who had already met with the spy from the Sun Kingdom. Although it only lasted six seconds, Su Xiao witnessed the entire exchange.
Compared to the traitor, tracking the Sun Kingdom spy was far more important. This was the lead, the "vine" in "following the vine to find the melon."
After enjoying a "masterpiece" that mixed romance, action, love triangles, twisted morals, and war, Su Xiao stood up and walked toward the screening room exit, following the spy at a moderate distance.
This spy wasn't the stereotypical man in a suit but a housewife. As she walked out of the screening room, she chatted and laughed with her husband. Her husband was likely just an ordinary citizen of the Geya Alliance. From their conversation, it seemed today was their wedding anniversary, which was why they had come to watch a romance film together—only to accidentally step on a landmine and enjoy a chaotic mix.
"What the hell kind of movie was that?"
The female spy's husband was clearly disgusted. He couldn't understand what the movie was trying to express. Such bizarre films might only be shown in the early days of the film industry.
"Maybe that's just life. No matter what happens, life goes on."
The female spy linked arms with her husband as they walked down the street, their expressions natural.
"Then I'd rather give up on life."
"Hmm?"
The female spy smiled slyly at her husband. The man gave an awkward laugh. The road home was somewhat remote, with streetlights growing sparse and no pedestrians in sight for a long time.
"If I were that kind of woman, what would you do?"
The female spy asked a question comparable to "your wife and mother fall into the water at the same time."
"Of course... I'd forgive you."
The husband touched his chest. Saying something against his conscience still caused some pain.
"You're lying."
The female spy's expression suddenly turned serious. The dim streetlight stretched her shadow long.
"You're deceiving me, aren't you?"
"Huh?"
The husband was clearly bewildered, instinctively thinking his wife was having a menopause episode.
"Let me expl...ain..."
The husband's mouth hung open slightly. He looked down at his abdomen, where a dagger was embedded. A hand he knew all too well gripped the hilt.
An icy, piercing sensation spread from his lower abdomen. In less than two seconds, his entire body went numb. The dagger had been poisoned—a neurotoxin.
"It won't hurt at all. I'll come see you soon."
The female spy pulled out the dagger and looked up at the sky. Unfortunately, at night, she couldn't see the morning light, nor could she feel the protection of the deity she believed in.
With a thud, the man collapsed to the ground, lifeless. The dagger flipped in the female spy's hand, its tip glinting sharply. She reversed her grip and pressed it to her throat.
Clang!
A pale blue blade aura slashed over. The female spy felt a chill at her shoulder, and her entire arm went numb.
Sensing the abnormality in her arm, the female spy immediately clenched her teeth.
Whoosh!
A black shadow pounced over.
Crack!
Bones snapped. Her jaw took a punch, her head involuntarily tilted to the side, and several teeth flew from her mouth.
At a speed the female spy couldn't react to, a metal flask was shoved into her mouth, and a constricting sensation appeared around her throat.
So far, the female spy hadn't even seen who attacked her. But she knew one thing: her attacker was terrifying. In an instant, she was subdued, unable to even commit suicide.
The female spy tried to struggle, but a strong impact hit her tailbone, affecting her entire spine and leaving her powerless.
Su Xiao grabbed the female spy's throat with one hand, forced a few mouthfuls of water into her, and then began observing her pupils.
Her pupils showed no sign of dilation, meaning she hadn't managed to poison herself.
Su Xiao was puzzled. He couldn't figure out how the female spy had detected him. What confused him even more was that when he subdued her, she didn't seem to have seen him before.
The female spy first killed her husband, then chose to kill herself. Rather than detecting Su Xiao, it seemed more like she had received orders from someone. If she had noticed Su Xiao earlier, she would have killed herself immediately, not come to a remote spot to murder her husband first.
After decades of sharing a bed, she turned on him without hesitation. That's how spies were—their thinking was abnormal, with a nearly twisted sense of loyalty.
Su Xiao glanced at the male corpse on the ground. After a moment of thought, he grabbed the female spy in his hand and dashed into a small alley, heading toward the edge of the Hot Capital.
Su Xiao's guess was that the female spy hadn't detected him. This might have been her final mission: eliminate all potential risks around her, then use her own corpse to convey some kind of intelligence.
Conveying intelligence didn't have to be in written form. The location, time, wound position, depth, etc., of the spy's suicide could all be used to transmit information. This method was even harder to crack.
Now that the female spy was captured alive, Su Xiao didn't believe her backers would do nothing. Since he couldn't follow the vine to find the melon, he chose to continue fishing. Besides, he had already captured the female spy alive. The people under Lai Zong weren't incapable of prying information from a spy's mouth.
Moving through the night, with Su Xiao's speed, he reached the edge of the Hot Capital in less than half an hour. The surrounding buildings grew shorter and darker, a stark contrast to the brightly lit city center.
Su Xiao arrived in front of an abandoned house. He seemed to be checking a "trap" at the door, but in reality, this was his first time here.
Opening the door, Su Xiao entered the house and waited.
A few minutes later, faint footsteps reached Su Xiao's ears. He glanced at the unconscious female spy and walked slowly toward the door.
Su Xiao pushed open the door. A man in a round-top hat and black robe stood on the street.
"Sir, may I ask you... to die?"
The man in black tossed a metal lighter in his hand. On the lighter was a rising sun pattern—this was someone from the Sun Kingdom.
Su Xiao drew the longsword from his waist. Seeing the blade in Su Xiao's hand, the man in black was surprised, then found it somewhat ridiculous.
"Members of the Killing Force using such primitive weapons? You guys often mock our Divine Court for fighting barehanded."
Boom!
Mud splashed beneath Su Xiao's feet as the longsword cut through the night.
A minute later, the man in black, his arms severed and body drenched in blood, was thrown into the house, twitching unconsciously.
Su Xiao pulled an energy needle from his palm. It was entirely formed from light elements, with terrifying penetrating power.
Su Xiao's plan had failed. He hadn't managed to follow the vine to find the melon and engage in some spy thriller. Instead, he had directly chopped the "melon" half to death.
Closing the house door tightly, Su Xiao crouched down and grabbed the man in black by the hair.
"You have two choices. One: tell me where your accomplices are, and I'll kill you immediately. Two: I hand you over to the people of the Eye of Losz. Choose."
PS: (Updated two hours early. Originally planned for six updates, but didn't finish writing. Since that's the case, I'll wait for inspiration to return tomorrow and strive for five more updates to apologize for yesterday's missed update.)