Chapter 22: Purge
"Sir, this is not amusing at all. I told you, divining death brings misfortune."
As the female fortune teller spoke, she placed her hands on her lap, the black-cloth-covered wooden table hiding them from view.
"Misfortune..."
Su Xiao looked over this fortune teller from head to toe. If the information in the roster was correct, this female fortune teller was named Joanna, an important member of the Ghost Ring. She was responsible for bribing officials and gathering intelligence. In other words, more than half of the Ghost Ring organization's critical intelligence passed through her. This fortune-telling shop was an intelligence relay station, preventing the Ghost Ring's intelligence network from being wiped out in one fell swoop if problems occurred at the lower levels.
The reason Su Xiao came to find Joanna first was simple: cutting off this relay station would render the Ghost Ring organization deaf and blind within a few days. As for alarming the Ghost Ring, there was no need to worry about that. Su Xiao's Blood Beast move had nearly beaten Sin to death, which had already fully alerted the Ghost Ring forces.
"I don't welcome..."
Joanna's words stopped mid-sentence as the dark muzzle of a gun pointed at her forehead.
Seeing Su Xiao holding the D·Assassination, Joanna was startled, then inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. She knew a lot about firearms—only the city's constables were equipped with these things, and their lethality was very limited.
Pfft, pfft, pfft...
Su Xiao pulled the trigger without hesitation. Three bullets pierced through Joanna's skull.
Joanna let out an indistinct sound from her mouth, the luster in her eyes quickly fading. She eventually leaned back in her chair, dying peacefully, twitching slightly.
[You have killed Joanna.]
[Joanna is an ordinary Wraith (Two Eyes). Due to her special identity, you gain 1.2% World Source.]
[You obtain Arcane Codex: Witch.]
[You have disrupted the intelligence network of the Wraith organization. Estimated recovery time: over 87 hours.]
...
The shell casing fell to the ground. Su Xiao looked at the D·Assassination in his hand and suddenly realized that this gun might play a crucial role.
Joanna was only a Two-Eye Wraith, and she had an almost dismissive attitude toward firearms. It was easy to imagine how stronger Wraiths viewed guns. However, the D·Assassination was no ordinary firearm. Even Sin, when shot in the head, wouldn't die but would definitely suffer a concussion for a short time—enough to decide the outcome of a fight.
Joanna's corpse toppled from the chair. Su Xiao had also considered capturing this Wraith alive, but after thinking it over, he felt it was unlikely. Although this Wraith was very weak, she was responsible for intelligence, essentially a spy among the Wraiths. Trying to capture such a Wraith alive was no less difficult than capturing a Thirteen-Eye Wraith, and if anything went wrong, who knew what changes might occur.
Just as Su Xiao was about to search the fortune-telling shop, a faint, sweet, metallic smell spread. He instinctively looked at Joanna's corpse. The body that had been lying on the floor had disappeared, turning into a puddle of pitch-black liquid.
A faint dizziness came from his head. Su Xiao took a can of compressed gas from his storage space, took a deep breath, then threw down an Alchemy Bomb and walked out of the room.
Boom!
The explosion startled the civilians on the nearby street. Gus, who was eating grilled scallops at a small stall, hurriedly paid, not even bothering to wipe the grease from his mouth before jogging to the front of the fortune-telling shop.
"Gus, go notify the Seventh Unit. Have them handle the aftermath."
"Understood."
Gus quickly ran off. This world didn't have telephones or the like. The most advanced communication method was the telegraph, which was extremely expensive, charging by the word. Civilians mostly relied on letters.
Su Xiao took the roster from his pocket. The addresses provided in this thing weren't accurate. Without a certain status within Zul City, this item was practically worthless. But with the assistance of an intelligence department, it could be used to find Wraiths through the information in the roster, like the female fortune teller Joanna, whose previous identity was a socialite.
Used properly, the roster was far more valuable than 5% World Source.
"Reinhardt, go invite Sir Eddie for lunch."
Reinhardt was the High-Collar Priest. No one knew his full name or where he came from. He was originally a vagrant who one day came to the Execution Agency headquarters and voluntarily ate the flesh and blood of a Wraith.
"Mm."
Reinhardt was somewhat taciturn, perhaps because he had no lips. Just as he was about to leave, Su Xiao called him back and said, "As for the specific dining location..."
Reinhardt understood and looked at Su Xiao with a questioning gaze. Clearly, given his appearance, social interaction was not his forte.
"At Sir Eddie's house."
"..."
Reinhardt nodded silently. Although he didn't understand why they were inviting Sir Eddie for lunch but dining at his home, it obviously seemed like they were mooching a meal.
"Tell him there are five guests."
"Mm, got it, Legion Commander."
Reinhardt tugged at his collar and walked away in silence. In terms of the three men's work capability, Su Xiao trusted Reinhardt the most, followed by Hank. After all, the old man was somewhat mentally unstable; otherwise, he would be ranked first.
As for Gus, he lacked Reinhardt's steadiness and Hank's cruelty, but this young brother was very reckless. Perhaps even if he faced Sin, he would dare to charge in with his staff, disregarding life and death, refusing to accept defeat. Among the Awakened, Gus was the honey badger. If not for this personality, he wouldn't have so many scars on his face.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang appeared, letting out a long yawn.
"Since Sin hasn't been here, that makes things easier."
After Bubu Wang's patrol of the area, there was no scent of Sin nearby. This only indicated one thing: Sin was still severely injured. He didn't even dare to send someone to notify Joanna that the Ghost Ring's trail had been exposed.
Sin was indeed stronger than Su Xiao, but when it came to post-battle recovery, Su Xiao completely outclassed Sin. Only nine hours had passed since the fight ended, and Su Xiao's injuries had recovered by over seventy percent. Knowledge is power—the benefits of investing resources in Alchemy were now evident. As for Sin, unless other Wraiths had a healer-like ability, he could only hide in the shadows to recover.
Just as Su Xiao was about to ask the Seventh Unit how the search for the other names was going, Hank walked over from a distance. His wrinkled old face was now beaming with an unusually bright smile.
"Sir, can I get reimbursed?"
Hank handed over a list. Su Xiao didn't pay much attention at first, thinking it was just meal expenses. But after seeing the amount of Gold Le on it, his eyebrow twitched. 1,280 Gold Le—that was equivalent to an Awakened's savings for over twenty years, and that was with frequent Wraith hunting and various subsidies.
"I bought some weapons. You know, I haven't hunted Wraiths for a few years."
Hank pulled open his collar, revealing a number of daggers, table knives, and other weapons hidden inside his clothes.
"Go find Bonnie for reimbursement."
"Thank you, sir."
Su Xiao had received 20,000 Gold Le this morning. That's right, Lady Nancy had agreed to cooperate. As for why he went to Bonnie for the money, it was because all the Gold Le was in Su Xiao's office. Bonnie couldn't possibly steal it—after all, it was the Execution Agency headquarters, unless Bonnie had lived long enough.
Around ten in the morning, Gus returned. The good news was that Sir Eddie had 'gladly agreed' to Su Xiao's invitation. The bad news was that Sir Eddie's house was a bit far, located on the outskirts of Zul City.
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