Chapter 31: Divine Relic: City of Earth
According to the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise, the final step of the original awakening mission was to offer the blood of the Earth Dragon to the Moon God, after which the Moon God would grant a reward of some kind, allowing Su Xiao to complete the awakening mission.
In the original awakening mission, the Soul Whisperer was the guide, leading Su Xiao to meet the Moon God, while the Earth Dragon·Tamen was the final boss before meeting the Moon God.
Now, Su Xiao's mission had evolved into killing the Moon God, a fundamental difference. This change was most likely due to him killing Eagle Marquis and thoroughly dealing with the Soul Whisperer.
By the time of the third ring mission, the Soul Whisperer trembled at the sight of Su Xiao, so how could he act as a guide? As for the more crucial Moon Maiden in the mission, she had also perished earlier.
Nearly all the important plot characters related to the original mission had fallen at Su Xiao's hands, which made it completely impossible for him to meet the Moon God normally.
Su Xiao walked thoughtfully out of the old church. The two auras outside had both vanished. As he pushed open the door, he saw a mutilated corpse—it was Sword King·Xiusite. The bastard had died miserably, his head stomped flat.
The Tree Wolf, who had completely turned into a monster, crouched on a pile of rubble. In his giant arm, he held his own severed head, a smile still on his blood-splattered face, as if he had found release.
Xiusite was no match for the Tree Wolf. While Su Xiao killed the Moon Maiden, the Tree Wolf regained a moment of clarity and unhesitatingly tore off his own head.
The Tree Wolf was a proud man, often looking at everyone as if they were fools. But along with his pride, he had backbone—even if it meant dying here, he refused to be used.
Su Xiao pressed one hand against the wound on his chest as he walked past the Tree Wolf's corpse. The Tree Wolf stood frozen like a statue. Grief beyond despair—the Tree Wolf's infatuation with the Moon Maiden was nearly common knowledge, yet in the end, she had turned him into a monster.
Su Xiao leaped onto the wall. When he reached the backyard, he saw a surprising scene.
The Little Adjutant was sitting slumped at the base of the wall, her entire left arm severed, her pale face splattered with drops of blood.
Seeing Su Xiao arrive, the Little Adjutant quickly pressed her index finger to her lips.
"Shh~"
The Little Adjutant signaled for Su Xiao to rescue her first, but without making too much noise.
Zzzt~
The Realm Severing Thread wrapped around the Little Adjutant's body, gradually pulling her up to the top of the wall.
"Wuwuwu, why did you hit me? It hurts, it hurts so much. Goddess, where are you?"
The frail figure Su Xiao had seen earlier was still sitting by the flower bed, sobbing softly.
"I almost died."
The Little Adjutant let out a long breath, her eyes filled with lingering fear as she looked at the frail figure.
"Hard to deal with?"
Seeing the Little Adjutant in such a sorry state surprised Su Xiao. If this girl fought for her life, she wasn't much weaker than the Tree Wolf in his normal state.
"She can infect and assimilate enemies. My arm was assimilated by her. If she hadn't suddenly stopped earlier, I'd be sitting there crying too."
The Little Adjutant shrugged, not too concerned about losing an arm. She had experienced this too many times on the battlefield; she was numb to it.
"You have about ten hours to escape the Imperial Capital. Under the bed in your room, there's about 20 million gold notes. Where you go is up to you."
Su Xiao didn't bother with the frail figure sitting by the flower bed. Instead, he tossed a set of keys to the Little Adjutant.
The Little Adjutant's eyes flickered. She looked at the keys in her hand, then at Su Xiao.
"Commander, you're not going to..."
"That's right."
"Huh? You're actually interested in me? I'm seriously injured now—you'll kill me."
"..."
Su Xiao smiled at the Little Adjutant, looking as if he might kick her off the wall at any moment.
"Treason, huh. I'll have to flee to a small country."
The Little Adjutant jumped down from the other side of the wall and gradually disappeared into the night.
Su Xiao contacted Baha. Baha swooped down from high altitude, and Su Xiao grabbed onto his talons.
"Where's the initial landing point? That secret prison?"
Baha dragged Su Xiao into the air, chattering incessantly. Bubu Wang lay on Baha's back, wearing windproof goggles.
"If I'm not mistaken, that's it."
The night wind brushed against his face. Su Xiao glanced down at the Moon God Monastery below. The Fallen Apostles were still locked in chaotic battle with the Transcendents; it would take a while to flatten the Moon God Monastery.
Su Xiao no longer cared about the Old Holy King's stance. Based on the current mission progress, as long as he completed the god-slaying, he would leave this world.
Baha's flight speed was decent. They soon reached the southeastern district of the Imperial Capital. As they descended, a three-story building gradually came into view.
Su Xiao let go and landed from low altitude. The streets were very quiet tonight, not a soul in sight.
Arriving at a clothing store, Baha easily tore off the lock. One man, one dog, and one bird entered the store. As for the team's tank, he was currently swimming in the sea and had made friends with a dolphin.
The secret prison was beneath this clothing store. Su Xiao finally understood why his initial teleportation point was here, especially when the mission had no clues at all.
Su Xiao took out the key to the City of Earth from his storage space. The key showed no change. After thinking for a moment, Su Xiao entered the basement and took the elevator down to the underground secret prison.
There were no guards in the secret prison now. Passing by the cell of Face-Peeler·Aaron Lu, Su Xiao cut open the steam door. A corpse was nailed to the wall, the bloodstains already somewhat dry.
Aaron Lu was dead. If Su Xiao wasn't mistaken, the Old Holy King had ordered this, since Aaron Lu's ability was too feared.
Su Xiao continued forward and soon returned to the cell where he had first been. However, the key to the City of Earth showed no change, and no prompt appeared.
After thinking for a moment, Su Xiao entered the cell where the Little Adjutant had been earlier. Still nothing.
Confirming that there was nothing worth trying in the secret prison, Su Xiao took the elevator back to the first floor of the clothing store. After a thorough search, he still found nothing.
When Su Xiao reached the second floor, the key to the City of Earth in his hand changed. The ruby at the end emitted a faint glow.
Following the guidance of the City of Earth key, Su Xiao entered the bedroom on the second floor—Frank's bedroom.
Bubu Wang's talent for dismantling houses came in handy here, helping to find clues.
By the time Bubu Wang had reduced all the furniture to powder, Su Xiao still hadn't found anything, but the gem at the end of the City of Earth key was now as red as blood.
Su Xiao approached the wall near the head of the bed. He bent his finger and tapped lightly—it wasn't hollow inside.
Bang! Su Xiao kicked the wall. Cracks spread rapidly, and eventually, the entire wall shattered.
Inside the wall was an intricate mechanical structure, overall resembling an inverted hexagram. Protruding metal formed strings of numbers on the surface, completely incomprehensible.
The key to the City of Earth flew up on its own, and with a clink, it inserted into a slot on the metal wall.
Click, click, click...
The hexagram split into two halves, rotating in opposite directions, eventually forming a crescent shape.
With a rumble, the metal wall opened to both sides. Space stretched like threads and was torn apart, crackling loudly.
[Hunter has opened the hidden area of this world: Divine Relic: City of Earth.]
[Warning: Entering the City of Earth has a high probability of angering the Moon God.]
[Checking...]
[City of Earth Guardian·Middleton Family has been destroyed.]
[Hint: Before the Hunter provokes the Moon God, all creatures within the City of Earth are neutral.]