Chapter 31: Backstab
Dawn City, 10:00 AM.
At some point, the originally bright sunlight had dimmed slightly. Though difficult to notice, this was the truth.
Pedestrians on the streets came and went in an endless stream, seemingly unaware of the subtle change. Sometimes, knowing less was a kind of happiness, until the moment fear descended.
When an Ancient God 'sucked' on a world, it was generally a slow process. If it plundered too much World Force in a short time, the Dark Prison would be the result. Conversely, if it plundered slowly, it might even achieve a certain balance, like in the Wizard World.
Inside a civilian house on the outskirts of Dawn City, a faint smell of blood permeated the air. A pile of bloodstained bandages lay on the floor.
"I'm fine now, cough, cough, cough~"
Ta Balder coughed dryly as he spoke. He was severely injured. Although the hole in his chest had mostly healed, the damage to his internal organs was a problem that couldn't be ignored.
According to Balder, the damage to his organs was a minor matter. He could return to headquarters and find the Bird Beak Doctor. That person's medical skills were superb. If a Hunter lost a hand or foot, as long as the severed limb was brought back, the Bird Beak Doctor could treat it. The prerequisite was that he could only treat Hunters. Treating an ordinary person would kill them every time, with a 100% fatality rate.
"Bai Ye, I'll explain the severity of the situation to them. See you at headquarters."
Balder walked out of the house. He planned to immediately return to the Watch Guild headquarters and report what he had seen to several high-ranking members of the Watch Guild.
After Balder closed the door and left, Su Xiao began to contemplate his subsequent plans. First was destroying the Dark Prison Gate. In this regard, he could leverage the Watch Guild's power, since only the Watch Guild's high-ranking members knew where the Dark Prison Gate was located.
Second was the World Child. Su Xiao felt this issue was somewhat troublesome. In the many worlds he had experienced before, he hadn't encountered those worlds' World Children. The reason was that the higher the rank of a world, the harder it was to find the World Child it sheltered. Relying on perception to judge was simply impossible; observation was required.
In derivative worlds, finding the World Child was easy. Whoever could court death repeatedly and still escape danger in the end was the World Child, or rather, the Chosen One. A representative example was Monkey D. Luffy.
After a Chosen One died, that world would undergo tremendous changes. Some parts might even collapse, requiring the Paradise to perform a world reset.
Su Xiao discovered that in Primordial Worlds, this rule was broken. Here, the World Child could die suddenly. But after one World Child died, the next would immediately appear, inheriting the power of fate. Here, it wasn't that the World Child was immortal, but that 'Destiny' was indestructible.
Of course, this was just the hidden trend of the world. What truly determined the world's structure was still power. The World Child merely had a smoother path to strength. If they were invincible, Su Xiao's Sky-Plundering Shocking Wave task would never have a chance to be completed. Currently, the Sky-Plundering Shocking Wave task was 96% complete, with only the last 4% remaining.
Regarding finding the World Child, Su Xiao had no good method for now, but he knew a turning point was coming soon.
Baha's injuries were no longer a concern. Su Xiao brought Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha and headed straight for the train station south of the city. He planned to return to the shelter house in Sodo City first and head to the Watch Guild headquarters tomorrow morning.
The shelter house in Sodo City held special significance for Su Xiao. While there, he could issue tasks to contractors. He had to return to the shelter house before 6:00 AM tomorrow because, at 6:00 AM, the Void Tree would complete all its notarizations, and changes would occur.
After arriving at the steam train station, Su Xiao boarded a steam train at 11:00 AM. He was expected to arrive in Sodo City around 1:00 AM. The Watch Guild headquarters was not far from Sodo City. As long as he returned to Sodo City, he wouldn't need to waste too much time traveling afterward.
The scenery outside the window flew by. Before long, large wheat fields appeared outside the window, and a flock of gray sparrows flew past. Everything seemed very peaceful.
No incidents occurred along the way. After all, anyone who would come to assassinate Su Xiao had either been killed by him or had been devoured by the Ancient God. Douglas, whose life or death was unknown, couldn't come to trouble him now. The situation in the Dark Prison would only get worse.
After the Ancient God was resurrected in the Dark Prison, all Dark Demons and Wraiths had only two choices: submit or die. Moreover, there was the Ancient God's believer, Soul, who could act as the Ancient God's representative to negotiate with the Dark Demons and Wraiths.
At 1:15 AM, Su Xiao stepped out of the train carriage. The slightly cool air entered his nostrils. The streets were empty, and Sodo City's iconic large chimney stood in the distance.
When Su Xiao returned to the front of the shelter house, he found cracks all over the surrounding walls, with several large, blood-red characters written on them.
'Whoever enters this place dies.'
Pushing open the shelter house door, the interior was somewhat messy. Su Xiao raised his hand and pressed the switch on the wall, but the light didn't come on.
"Boss, did the Dark Demons do this?"
Baha flew up and used his claws to tap the light fixture on the ceiling. The light flickered once before finally illuminating the room brightly.
Inside the circular wooden table against the inner wall was a wooden wheelchair, covered in dark red bloodstains. On the backrest, there were two fist-sized holes.
Su Xiao walked to the inside of the wooden table and examined the holes in the wooden wheelchair. These were holes made by a high-powered firearm. Although the openings didn't seem large, it was because the kinetic energy was concentrated, sacrificing wide-area destructive power for increased penetration. Several layers of the wall behind were pierced through, and the bullet eventually embedded deep underground.
The large bloodstains on the wooden wheelchair had already dried. Su Xiao dipped his index finger into the blood. Judging by the color, this blood wasn't human. It contained dark special energy—it was Dark Demon blood.
The person who had been sitting in the wooden wheelchair was, of course, the female Hunter, Tiffany. Someone had suddenly splashed Dark Demon blood on her, then aimed at her head and heart, firing one shot each.
The person who attacked Tiffany had some understanding of her. They knew that once Tiffany touched Dark Demon blood, she couldn't liquefy, and her soul would temporarily solidify into a solid state, breaking her counterfeit immortal body.
Setting aside other factors, regarding the high-powered firearm alone, there were only two possibilities: the military of the Rhine Kingdom, or a contractor. Su Xiao felt that a contractor was more likely to have done this. Attacking Tiffany was equivalent to provoking the Watch Guild. The Rhine Kingdom was unlikely to do this, as the cost would be too severe.
As for whether Tiffany was alive or dead, she had most likely escaped. The person who did it hadn't cleaned up the scene. If Tiffany had died here, crystalline remains would have been left behind.
Su Xiao opened the secret compartment in the wooden table. All the items inside had been cleared out, leaving only a note.
'The next to die is you, God Hunter, Kukulin.'
Su Xiao's first thought was of that pair of contractor lovers. They had the motive to do this, provided they were still alive.
"Bubu."
"Woof."
Bubu Wang began sniffing the residual odors in the room. Before long, he discovered a few drops of blood in the floorboard gap in the corner. Based on the smell of this blood, Bubu Wang determined it was left by that pair of contractor lovers.
Inside the shelter house, Su Xiao's authority to issue tasks had been reactivated. He checked the task list. A large number of tasks appeared, most of which were in progress—all tasks recently issued by Tiffany.
The task accepted by that pair of contractor lovers was displayed in gray-white, indicating that the two were dead. Su Xiao could reissue this task to other contractors.
When Su Xiao scrolled to the bottom, a large area of light white tasks appeared. All these tasks had been completed, and the World Reputation was in a pending acquisition stage.
He randomly checked one task, and a prompt appeared.
[Prompt: This task has been completed with the lowest evaluation. Task evaluation: E.]
32 types of tasks had all been completed with an E evaluation. Due to the low completion rate, Su Xiao could gain 3 to 5 points of World Reputation per task, totaling 135 points of World Reputation.
Who had done this was already obvious. As for their motive, it was temporarily unclear. Most likely, they had a poor standing in the Watch Guild faction, coupled with the temptation of greater benefits, leading them to choose this course of action.
The person who did all this was the 'loyal and righteous' Adley, from the Apocalypse Paradise, Holy Hall Adventure Group leader.