Chapter 11: Joyful Miners, Digging Online
The atmosphere at the dining table was somewhat strange. Amu was chewing loudly on meat, crunching the bones along with it, eating with great relish.
Su Xiao sat to the side, having already finished his lunch, looking as if he planned to take a short nap in the afternoon.
Across the table, the female assassin Ghost Shadow stared at Su Xiao. She ignored the food in front of her and paid no attention to Amu beside her, instead fixing her gaze on Su Xiao, as if she was constantly looking for an opportunity to end her own life.
"The situation in Arlans City is already chaotic enough, and now you've jumped out to stir things up."
Su Xiao spoke in a calm tone. If the Soul Speaker from the Moon God World were present, that old hag would surely roar in grief and anger: 'Don't believe a single word this 'demon' says! No! Don't even talk to him in the first place!'
Back then, the Soul Speaker had been thoroughly manipulated by Su Xiao. Although she said nothing, she had provided him with a great deal of intelligence.
Ghost Shadow was different from the Soul Speaker. The Soul Speaker merely had strong willpower and wasn't afraid of death, but she hadn't been trained like Ghost Shadow, who embraced death as glory.
This was also why Su Xiao didn't use the Endless Darkness Collar on Ghost Shadow—it simply wouldn't work.
Based on Su Xiao's observations and deductions, the female assassin belonged to a faction leaning toward order. Although this faction lurked in the shadows, its conduct tended toward 'goodness.'
When Ghost Shadow assassinated Duke Roaring Lion, if she had silenced all the nearby servants, she could have remained hidden for at least a while longer. But she couldn't do that; killing innocents went against her beliefs and faith.
Of course, this didn't mean the faction behind Ghost Shadow was hypocritical. In Su Xiao's view, this faction should be classified as evil.
This faction was likely formed with the belief of not killing innocents and upholding justice, recruiting members based on that principle. If the faction's higher-ups ordered Ghost Shadow to eliminate nearby civilians during an assassination, it would severely impact her convictions—no, it would reach a point of contradiction.
The reason Su Xiao felt this faction should be classified as evil was that exploiting others' goodness was actually the greatest evil.
As for whether this faction's actions were right or wrong, Su Xiao wouldn't judge at all. In fact, if this faction hadn't suddenly appeared to hinder him, he wouldn't have bothered with them at all.
"Hiding in the darkness, yet steadfastly refusing to kill innocents."
Su Xiao tossed a Soul Crystal Fragment into his mouth as he spoke, chewing it slowly.
"Plus, you're fighting against the Saint Descendants. What faith suits you best..."
Su Xiao looked at Ghost Shadow with a smile, but she just sat with her head down, her eyes dim and lifeless. She had already accomplished what she needed to; dying without regret.
Or rather, her heart had already died. Any thought of survival would only implicate her comrades, who were like siblings to her. Though not bound by blood, to Ghost Shadow, they were family.
'The time has come, Ghost Shadow. It's time for you... to fulfill your mission.'
This was what Ghost Shadow's master had said to her before she set out. Though half a year had passed, she still remembered every word.
As if recalling those smiling faces, Ghost Shadow's eyes grew even dimmer. She needed to die quickly; otherwise, those 'family members' would be in danger.
"Hunting Saint Descendants... using the names of the gods is most fitting. The earliest generation of Saint Descendants were all god-devourers, so using the gods as your belief or faith is most appropriate."
Su Xiao picked up the hot tea Bubu Wang had brewed, took a small sip. The tea was slightly bitter at first, but left a sweet aftertaste in the throat.
Ghost Shadow still kept her head down, her expression unchanged. She was even controlling her heartbeat, but what she couldn't suppress was the acceleration of her blood flow.
"At the root of it, Saint Descendants are just a group of bloodthirsty people. They have countless enemies, and among them, there's no shortage of potential threats. Using the name of the gods to eliminate Saint Descendants is your organization's faith. To let you die in peace, they tell you that after death, you'll return to the embrace of the gods, or to Valhalla, or something similar. In short, it's the same nature."
Su Xiao continued speaking in a flat tone. Ghost Shadow, sitting across from him, desperately wanted to stand up and roar: 'Mortals must not blaspheme the gods.'
Unfortunately, she couldn't and wouldn't dare. If she did, everything would be ruined. Her organization would be exposed, and those smiling faces in her mind would face utter destruction. They couldn't yet confront the behemoth that was the Sera Empire head-on; they could only dismantle the empire from within through assassinating its high-ranking officials.
"Thank you for the intelligence. Eat up; you've earned it."
Su Xiao pushed a plate toward Ghost Shadow, containing a juicy steak.
"Ridiculous."
Ghost Shadow spoke for the first time, smiling at Su Xiao. In her view, the intelligence Su Xiao had deduced wasn't enough to threaten her organization.
"Sis, it seems you didn't quite understand what we were saying."
Baha spoke up, having figured out the situation.
"Whether you provided us with intelligence or not doesn't matter. But you're still alive, and we already know your organization is assassinating Saint Descendants 'in the name of the gods.' That's enough. Guess what happens when this information leaks out? Your organization will no longer trust your loyalty. They'll come to silence you, even if the possibility of you yielding is minuscule."
Hearing Baha's words, Ghost Shadow smiled from the heart. This time, she was completely at ease, because in her view, Su Xiao's plan had a massive flaw and couldn't possibly succeed.
Ghost Shadow had strong willpower, but did that matter? Su Xiao only needed to let the organization know that Ghost Shadow had betrayed them. This would make the organization restless, and they would likely send people to silence her—that was the opportunity.
Simply spreading news of Ghost Shadow's betrayal wouldn't make the organization believe it. Su Xiao wouldn't treat his opponents as fools. He needed to let the organization's people see with their own eyes that Ghost Shadow had betrayed them.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao first sent Baha to the Holy Court to find the old duke, then took out a communicator.
Before leaving, Baha sized up Ghost Shadow's figure. It needed to buy her a set of flashy clothes.
At most half an hour later, the front door of the residence was knocked on. It was a group of five men and one woman—the miner squad had arrived.
Once the miner squad arrived, they headed straight for the basement and began setting up mining equipment. This was the old duke's property, and Su Xiao occasionally lived here—who would dare to investigate?
Soon, Su Xiao felt vibrations under his feet. The tremors lasted only a few seconds before stopping. The miner squad had already gone underground to prepare for mining Blue Ore.
The miner squad was already happy and had shown a bit of sincerity, roughly meaning: when it comes to mining, they were professionals.
As for Ghost Shadow, after learning Su Xiao's plan, she was completely at ease. In her heart, her organization would never believe she had betrayed them.
But was that really the case? Back then, the Soul Speaker was also full of confidence, with an attitude of 'I'm not afraid of death, what can you, Kukulin Bai Ye, do to me?'
Later, however, the Soul Speaker not only began to doubt life but also fell into severe self-isolation. During one negotiation, she merely sneered at Su Xiao, and that was enough for him to deduce a great deal of important intelligence.