Chapter 10: I Heard Your Wife Is Pretty Good
The battle ended. Su Xiao scanned the surroundings, finding only three Scarlet Cards on the ground. Even with his high Luck Attribute, the drop rate for Scarlet Cards in this world was astonishingly low due to a large adventure group like Blood Gate operating within the Holy Grail World. After all, this wasn’t an open world.
Pocketing the three Scarlet Cards and confirming no survivors, Su Xiao led Bubu Wang, Amu, and Beini away without delay.
Bubu Wang took point to clear the path, ensuring Su Xiao wouldn’t run headlong into reinforcements from the Blood Gate Adventurers. Fortunately, no incidents occurred along the way, and Su Xiao soon returned to Fuyuki City.
Not long after Su Xiao left, a large group of contractors arrived at the abandoned factory area. All that remained for them were a vast number of corpses and shattered ice scattered across the ground.
Crack, crack…
Stan stepped on the ice shards, sending fragments flying. Noticing a mutilated corpse nearby, he crouched down—it was Iron Rat’s body.
“Looks like you couldn’t hold out for fifteen minutes, nor wait for me to arrive.”
Stan’s expression was calm. Earlier, Iron Rat had reported the situation in the team channel. Though time was limited and Iron Rat only provided a few key pieces of intel, Stan already understood what had happened: Bai Ye of the Decapitation Unit had tracked them to the Holy Grail World to settle old scores.
In truth, Stan had long anticipated this possibility and had tried to prevent it. Unfortunately, they could never track Su Xiao. The only successful attempt had been under special circumstances, and the cost of that tracking was something Blood Gate couldn’t afford a second time—it drained the team’s resources too heavily.
“Iron Rat… is dead.”
A choked voice came from beside Stan. Stan was momentarily stunned but quickly regained composure. He turned to look at a gaunt man—another of his trusted aides, Old Smoker.
Old Smoker muttered something under his breath, growing more sorrowful as he spoke, until he finally began wiping tears from his eyes. Even with Stan’s composure, he was baffled. This wasn’t the Old Smoker he knew.
Stan’s wife, Naloy, also stared at Old Smoker in surprise. Yet, faced with the grim scene, neither Stan nor his wife shouted for revenge or vowed an endless feud. They remained calm—eerily calm.
“Old Smoker, Iron Rat’s death is irreversible. A lone wolf who can take down 39 contractors on his own—we must be cautious. Forget the artificial Holy Grail for now. We have to eliminate him first. We must!”
Hearing Naloy’s words, Old Smoker wiped his nose and crouched beside Iron Rat’s body.
“Captain, that short bastard owed me 760,000 Paradise Coins. Can the team reimburse that?”
“…”
Stan didn’t respond, but his meaning was clear: Old Smoker could get lost as far as possible.
“Why the hell did you have to die? I only lent you those Paradise Coins because you were a tank…”
Old Smoker was in a foul mood. Understandably so—760,000 Paradise Coins down the drain.
“Stop making a scene here. The others are watching.”
Naloy muttered under her breath. Old Smoker crouched on the ground, one hand covering his face.
“Bai Ye, I’ll **** your *****…”
Old Smoker launched into a lengthy tirade against Su Xiao, lasting over ten minutes. Stan ignored him, instead examining Iron Rat’s body.
“Every strike broke through the shield. Judging by the ice distribution, he must have used the terrain to split the battlefield. But regardless, the fact remains that he wiped out the ‘Purge Squad.’ Halt all plans for now.”
Stan clearly wouldn’t press on with the artificial Holy Grail plan while facing Su Xiao’s assault. Instead, he needed to deal with Su Xiao first.
On the streets of Fuyuki City, Su Xiao wrapped two layers of bandage around his arm before tearing it off. After his attack on the Blood Gate Adventurers, he had no intention of appearing within their sight again.
Su Xiao’s advantage this time lay in his main mission. Even if he did nothing, he could still complete it. At worst, his world settlement rewards would be low, but he wouldn’t face penalties from the main mission.
For now, Su Xiao planned to focus on hunting down the Violators. Once they were dealt with, he could slowly wear down Blood Gate. Though he didn’t know what Blood Gate’s main mission was, they definitely couldn’t afford to stall. If they failed their mission, the Reincarnation Paradise’s forced execution was no joke.
Exploiting one’s own strengths to strike at the enemy’s weaknesses—that was the smart move, not a head-on clash with Blood Gate.
With this in mind, Su Xiao’s mood improved. He even opened the derivative world contact channel to check if any contractors outside Blood Gate had survived. Unfortunately, the channel was dead silent.
After a moment’s hesitation, Su Xiao decided to “greet” Stan.
Bai Ye (Dawn Adventure Group): “Stan, long time no see. How have you been? I heard your wife is pretty good.”
Old Smoker (Blood Gate Adventurers): “Bai Ye, I’ll **** your ***** (200 words omitted).”
Stan (Blood Gate Adventurers): “Thanks for your concern. I’ve been well lately. If you were dead, I’d probably be even better. But I heard your parents died horribly? Too bad I couldn’t see it in person.”
…
Seeing Stan’s reply, Su Xiao smiled as he walked down the street. Stan hadn’t mentioned tonight’s events or shown any sign of panic. Instead, he tried to disgust Su Xiao in return.
Bai Ye (Dawn Adventure Group): “I watched the video. The Emerald Crown suits you.”
Clearly, things had reached a point where neither Su Xiao nor Stan could do much to the other. Adopting an attitude of “if they’re unhappy, I’m happy,” and with nothing better to do, Su Xiao decided to make Stan very unhappy.
This simple remark made Stan, who was on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, twitch his cheek. He turned to look at his wife, Naloy.
“There’s… still… a… video?”
Stan stared at Naloy, speaking slowly and deliberately. Naloy stretched lazily, her curvaceous figure fully on display.
“I also have a video of you and that woman. Three gigabytes’ worth, in various positions. Want to revisit it?”
“No need.”
Stan was speechless. In truth, at the root of it, he had wronged Naloy first. Their marital bond had long been a hollow shell, which was why Stan couldn’t press the matter. The team’s interests took priority.
“Don’t worry. There’s no video. I’m not that stupid.”
At this point, Naloy was gritting her teeth in anger, but she couldn’t find Su Xiao himself.
This was the first formal exchange between Su Xiao and Stan. Judging by the outcome, Su Xiao had clearly won.
…
Fuyuki City, Emiya Shirou’s residence.
Emiya Shirou was asking Tohsaka Rin about the details of the Holy Grail War. As for the unidentified corpse, they had temporarily stored it in the warehouse. Emiya Shirou wanted to call the police, but Tohsaka Rin, out of concern for the police’s safety, stopped him.
“Under normal circumstances, a Servant has an origin. Whether your Servant is good or evil depends on what catalyst you used. When you summoned your Servant, was there anything noteworthy nearby? The older, the better.”
Tohsaka Rin took a sip of hot tea. To be safe, she had sent her Servant, Emiya, to tail Su Xiao.
“Something old? There wasn’t anything old at the time. He forcibly branded the Command Spell onto the back of my hand, and then he appeared.”
“Pfft~”
Tohsaka Rin spat out a small mouthful of tea, pointing a trembling finger at Emiya Shirou.
“Forcibly branded onto you?!”
Tohsaka Rin looked as if she’d seen a ghost, countless thoughts racing through her mind. Just then, the door slid open, and Emiya walked into the room.
“Back already?”
Tohsaka Rin steadied herself, speaking with feigned calm to maintain her “dignity” as a Master.
“Yeah. The battle ended sooner than expected.”
“Battle? Did Bai Ye clash with another Servant?”
“No. They were strange people—not Servants, nor magi, but they wielded considerable power.”
“What was the result?”
“Those people were all killed by Bai Ye. Thirty-nine in total. If you go there now, you’ll see a large pile of mangled corpses. Rin, let me be clear: if that man wants you dead, I might not be able to protect you. Decide what to do from here on out.”
Emiya was remarkably calm. Dozens of corpses were nothing unusual to him.
“A… a large pile of corpses?”
Emiya Shirou stared at Emiya in shock. Emiya ignored him. Just then, the wooden door slid open with a clatter, and Su Xiao stepped into the room.