Chapter 12: Contractor Camp
Su Xiao lightly flicked the blood off his blade, then took a Soul Crystal (Small) from his storage space and tossed it into his mouth, crunching it as a small reward for himself. Over the past three days, he had been cooking, controlling Baha to drive away powerful beasts, and appearing leisurely, but in truth, he had been quite busy.
"You... you ate a Soul Crystal."
The little healer stared at Su Xiao in terror, trembling as she raised her staff.
Su Xiao casually slashed out a blade aura.
"Holy Shield..."
The little healer shouted, but she was too slow.
Puchi.
The blade aura passed through her, and she collapsed with a thud, killed by the true damage of Cyan Steel Shadow.
"What kind of monster... are you?"
Doro stepped back half a step, her pupils constricted, her whole body trembling.
"..."
Su Xiao said nothing. He raised his left arm, and Zosa, who had already fled dozens of meters away, fell to the ground.
"Ah!!"
Zosa let out a miserable scream, then knew nothing more.
The pulling force on Su Xiao's left arm faded, and a card, smooth and hard to the touch, of unknown material, was grasped in his hand. The card was sky-blue overall, with a symbol on the front and dense patterns on the back.
The symbol represented the Apocalypse Paradise, while the ф symbol represented the Reincarnation Paradise.
"After being teammates for three days, you wouldn't... kill me like a chicken, would you? At least let me die with some dignity."
Doro took a short blade from her storage space and assumed a decent starting stance. She knew she was doomed today. Her enemy was no kind-hearted summoner; he fought without a word and showed no mercy.
Su Xiao's aura exploded, distorting the air around him.
"You blood-qi freak, die!"
Doro, with a wild idea, shouted this and charged at Su Xiao. Her speed was like slow motion in his eyes.
Ding, ding, ding.
The crisp sound of metal being cut rang out, and three slash marks intersected in midair.
With a crack, the slash marks shattered. Doro stopped, and a breeze blew past, her body gradually turning into a mist of blood.
"You're... a violator. An... angel will come... to judge... you."
Doro completely turned into blood mist and dissipated.
Su Xiao sheathed the Dragon-Slaying Flash and looked at the branded card in his hand. With this, he could enter the Contractor Camp.
Su Xiao let out a long breath. The past three days hadn't been easy; he had to maintain his act constantly. Now, he felt very relaxed.
"Damn, I can finally talk normally. I was suffocating."
Baha flew onto Su Xiao's shoulder, holding a Scarlet Card in his beak, dropped by the one-eyed captain, a ★★★ Scarlet Card.
"Boss, wasn't it tiring keeping up the act?"
Baha handed the Scarlet Card to Su Xiao.
"It was okay."
Su Xiao crouched down, picked up a branch, and began sketching a rough map on the ground. After several days of indirect questioning, he had roughly deduced the location of the Contractor Camp.
As it turned out, letting them roam free was more effective than forced extraction, and now the Contractor Camp wasn't far away.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang let out a weak bark. Earlier, he had been busy attracting the undead and traveling, which had exhausted him. The awkward part was that he couldn't show it. Most summons had great stamina, but Bubu Wang was a normal creature.
"Rest for two hours."
"Woof."
"I'm... hungry."
Amu finally spoke. He was so hungry he had started eating tree trunks, specifically the short tree that had been struck by lightning.
"Boss, look, I've been..."
Su Xiao said nothing, just stared at Baha.
"I knew it. Amu, hold on for another half hour."
Baha spread his wings and flew off. Soon, he returned carrying two large beasts that looked like horned horses.
They lit a fire and roasted the meat. After nearly an hour, Amu's stomach, which was as big as a spatial storage bag, was finally full.
"Baha, scout this area in an hour. The Contractor Camp is likely within this zone."
"Understood."
Baha didn't wait an hour; he immediately took off. Despite his constant chatter, he knew what was important.
After nearly six hours of scouting, Baha confirmed the location of the Contractor Camp, which was on a grassland.
The Contractor Camp wasn't a temporary structure; it was a massive spaceship.
Clearly, the contractors from the Apocalypse Paradise had entered Siren Star on this ship, which was probably cheaper than teleportation.
The Reincarnation Paradise wouldn't choose to deploy contractors this way. Su Xiao could easily imagine the scene. Even if the ship was a safe zone, once they got out, who knew what those crazy people would do? They'd probably hold a "friendly duel" near the ship.
This wasn't a joke; it had actually happened. In some Primordial World, due to a single teleportation coordinate, 376 fourth-rank contractors were teleported together.
Three of them had grudges against each other and immediately started fighting. After only one of the three was left alive, that guy, caught up in the thrill, shouted, "Anyone else?"
Then things got even livelier. One contractor after another stepped up, while the others watched. In the end, they all temporarily set aside their missions and held a life-or-death tournament. They even had referees and betting pools.
In the end, the native forces came to watch, merchants arrived to set up food stalls and sell drinks, and some native experts even joined in. If the Reincarnation Paradise hadn't forcibly disbanded them, those madmen wouldn't have gone back to their missions anytime soon.
From this, it was clear that if the Reincarnation Paradise had a Contractor Camp, it would be very lively—violently lively.
Su Xiao moved quickly through the mountain range. Without the Apocalypse Paradise contractors holding him back, his speed increased significantly.
After crossing the mountain range, Su Xiao reached the grassland. A gentle breeze blew, making the grassland look like a green ocean. He could see herbivores grazing with their heads down, occasionally looking up to cautiously observe their surroundings.
After traveling for an hour across the grassland, Su Xiao saw an iron-black spaceship in the distance. It was at least 800 meters long, like a metal mountain parked on the grass.
He put the branded card into his inner pocket and approached the Contractor Camp. Soon, he saw about a dozen contractors near the ship. None of them were wearing armor, but they had folding shovels hanging from their waists that looked very high-tech.
When Su Xiao got within a kilometer of the ship, he suddenly stopped.
[Warning: The Hunter has been locked onto by a Battle Angel.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao immediately retreated. It wasn't suitable to fight a Battle Angel from the Apocalypse Paradise near the Contractor Camp.
Meanwhile, inside the ship's outer hangar, a man with a crew cut, holding a glass of wine, narrowed his eyes.
"Coming to us willingly? A violator dares to approach the Contractor Camp."
The crew-cut man suddenly disappeared from his seat.
"Customer, you..."
The bartender behind the counter was stunned. The contractor customer had been there a moment ago, and now only a glass remained, with ice cubes still spinning inside.
Su Xiao ran quickly across the grassland. When he reached a small hill near the grassland, he stopped.
What to do when encountering a Battle Angel from the Apocalypse Paradise? The answer was to kill them, of course. Otherwise, how could he get close to the Contractor Camp? Besides, Su Xiao was curious about how strong the Apocalypse Paradise's Battle Angels were. After all, they were essentially colleagues.