Chapter 46: Drama Queen Molly
In the night, 72 violators led by Molly were quickly leaping across the rooftops. A few minutes ago, Sphinx had negotiated with them face-to-face, bringing two pieces of news—one good, one bad.
The bad news was that their communication channel had been hacked and forcibly shut down. Sphinx promised that it would be restored within an hour at most.
The good news was that the enemy had charged in recklessly. He was now being eroded by darkness and was no longer the cunning old schemer he once was.
Sphinx detailed Su Xiao's hunting from the previous night to the violators, piecing together Su Xiao's "crude" strategy through subtle clues.
What happened last night couldn't be faked. The violators had all received the voice and text messages in the communication channel. After Sphinx's explanation, they suddenly realized—indeed, if the enemy were still the old schemer, he wouldn't have charged in so recklessly. Last night, they had come so close to eliminating him, but he had withdrawn, clearly still retaining some rationality.
And tonight, he had come again, this time with a frontal assault.
Upon hearing this good news, Sphinx repeatedly emphasized that they must not all swarm in at once. If the enemy had large-scale weapons, equipment, or explosives, everyone would die.
More than 60 sixth-rank violators would be enough to take Su Xiao's life, and without too many casualties. This was intelligence gained from actual combat and was trustworthy.
Therefore, Sphinx used a lottery system to divide their 192 violators into three teams of 64 each. These three teams would intercept and kill Su Xiao in sequence.
As for the order of interception, it would naturally be decided by lottery plus signing a Tree Contract. The team that intercepted Su Xiao first would bear the highest risk.
If they were truly dealing with a Su Xiao whose rationality was suppressed by darkness and killing intent, Sphinx's arrangement would have been flawless—still steady yet ruthless.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Su Xiao's rationality wasn't being eroded by darkness. The Maiden of Sorrow could help him clear it away.
After Sphinx explained all this to the violators in person, some raised objections, but in the end, the minority yielded to the majority.
The truth was, the violators' communication channel had never been hacked. Su Xiao wasn't skilled in that area.
Don't forget, this communication channel was provided by Sphinx. Right now, Sphinx had voluntarily shut it down.
Why did Sphinx do this? Because ten minutes ago, through some ability of his trusted subordinate, he had personally witnessed the explosion of Apollo·Modified.
If the communication channel were still active, the simultaneous death of a large number of violators would immediately alert the others. Who would still listen to him, Sphinx?
So, the moment the first wave of violators was killed by Apollo, Sphinx forcibly shut down the communication channel.
After determining the number of Apollo·Modified Su Xiao carried, Sphinx quickly judged that if the enemy charged straight at him, he was finished—no chance of survival.
Sphinx had vaguely sensed the existence of Bubu Wang. If he dared to flee directly, he would most likely be caught by Su Xiao, who would shove an Apollo into his mouth. Boom~
Therefore, Sphinx used the violators as scapegoats, letting them block Su Xiao and consume his Apollo·Modified.
This showed just how ruthless a heart was hidden beneath Sphinx's scholarly exterior. To stop Su Xiao, he could sacrifice everyone except Connie.
"Damn alchemist."
On the roof of a five-story stone building, Sphinx chuckled lightly.
"Hurry up, you said if we don't leave now, the bomb will be shoved into our mouths."
Connie tugged at the hem of Sphinx's white suit, pulling him back.
"As long as that 'follower dog' is alive, we can't escape. Besides, he also has a demon hawk."
Sphinx spoke calmly.
"Then what do we do? Fight him to the death? I'm probably... no match for him."
"Just wait here."
A strange light flickered in Sphinx's eyes. He was about to play a trump card.
...
Central District of Aisnera. Su Xiao looked at the violators ahead with a puzzled expression, wondering why they had come to die together—and so neatly.
Though confused, his movements were anything but slow.
Crack~
A glass rod was crushed in Su Xiao's hand. Gripping the Apollo·Modified tightly, he assumed a throwing stance.
"Scatter!"
"Sphinx, I'll f*ck your—"
"Wait! (Molly's despairing, piercing voice)"
Boom!
Apollo broke through a layer of air, flying toward the violators who were scattering. Although they tried to flee the moment they saw him, the blast radius of Apollo·Modified wasn't as small as they had imagined.
A typical family car is about 3.8 meters long. Apollo·Modified's explosion diameter was 300 meters, equivalent to 79 cars lined up end to end. Even though the violators were extremely fast, the moment they met, Su Xiao had already activated an Apollo·Modified and thrown it for an instant detonation. Before entering the 300-meter range, the violators couldn't sense the danger.
Boom!
Solar flames erupted, forming a massive fireball. Most of the contractors within the blast radius were instantly incinerated into gas.
A main tank stood within the solar flames, now nothing but a skeleton. His shield was glowing red-hot. The next moment, the skeleton turned to ash, and the shield fell into the ashes below.
The surrounding night faded. Apollo dispelled the darkness, purifying everything. Those who believed in the sun ended up as ashes.
With a thud, Molly, whose back was wreathed in black smoke, collapsed to the ground. She struggled to stand, but the burns on her back were too severe. However, because she had received advance notice and was standing at the front of the formation, looking ready to duel Su Xiao one-on-one, she wasn't fully caught in the blast—only a trace of solar flames had scorched her back.
Of the 64 violators, only the 17 fastest survived the first encounter. But even so, their morale was shattered. Anyone with eyes could see that the enemy still had seven of those explosives. Seven! How despairing.
Boom!
Another Apollo·Modified was thrown by Su Xiao. The violators, who had just recovered from the shock, saw a flash of white light and didn't even have time to scream.
Boom~
Another deafening explosion. Solar flames erupted. Of those 17, only 3 survived. One of them was Molly, lying in the rubble. The second blast had barely touched her.
"Cough, cough..."
A violator, his body mostly charred and sparks flickering, knelt on the ground. He knew he had only seconds left—the subsequent burn damage was too terrifying.
As for the last survivor, he had spatial abilities, specifically a type geared toward rapid movement.
Whoosh!
An orange-red beam shot from afar, piercing the spatial-type violator's head, blowing his entire skull apart.
The headless corpse stumbled forward a few steps before collapsing with a thud.
Seeing this, Su Xiao fully understood the situation. Sphinx had sent these violators to their deaths to consume his Apollo·Modified stock.
Tactically, if the violators came in squads of 20, wave after wave, they could quickly deplete the Apollo·Modified. But the violators weren't fools. If the numbers were too low, they wouldn't come to intercept Su Xiao at all.
For this reason, Sphinx had chosen the seemingly reasonable 64-person team, ensuring the violators wouldn't suspect anything while maximizing the consumption of Su Xiao's Apollo·Modified.
To achieve this, Sphinx didn't hesitate to have his trusted subordinate help Su Xiao silence witnesses.
Realizing this, Su Xiao rushed to Molly in a few steps. Dark blue smoke clung to Dragon-Slaying Flash. This wasn't the effect of the Demon Blade ability but the energy smoke produced by partially activating the Devouring Core.
Pfft!
The long blade pierced Molly's back, stabbing into the ground. After "tanking" Apollo and then taking Su Xiao's blade straight through her "heart," Molly was down.
"Hurry up and die."
Su Xiao said in a low voice. Hearing this, Molly, who had been in despair, immediately understood the situation. If it weren't for the special circumstances, she would have sobbed, "Boss, you still remember I'm on your side? Using something so terrifying to bomb your personal healer—doesn't your conscience hurt?"
"You... bastard!"
Golden-red energy coiled around Molly's right arm. With a boom, the ground nearby exploded, and Su Xiao was knocked back.
Molly slowly stood up, clutching the wound on her chest. Dark blue smoke seeped from the injury.
"Is this... the end?"
She staggered back a few steps, looked up at the full moon in the sky, striking the pose of a fallen female warrior, and finally collapsed to the ground.
This scene was, of course, for the sniper in the distance.
Su Xiao's plan was simple: stab Molly through the "heart," and she'd just lie there and play dead.
But who would have thought Molly loved adding drama? She had to put on a show before "dying."
Aside from Molly, all 64 violators who had come to intercept Su Xiao were dead. They weren't just defeated by Apollo's terrifying power—the real danger was the knife Sphinx had stabbed into their backs.
Three knives, six holes—true brotherhood, as Sphinx demonstrated.
[Tip: The second round of cumulative rewards has reached its limit.]
[You have obtained Diamond Honor Medal ×12.]
[The third round of reward accumulation has begun. This round's reward accumulation will increase by 25%, until it reaches the obtainable 15 'Diamond Honor Medals,' at which point the reward will be forcibly settled.]
[The third round of cumulative rewards has reached its limit.]
[You have obtained Diamond Honor Medal ×15.]
[The fourth round of reward accumulation has begun. This round's reward accumulation will increase by 30%, until it reaches the obtainable 19 'Diamond Honor Medals,' which is the maximum limit for cumulative rewards.]