Chapter 12: The Trap
Walking along the small town’s streets, cries of agony drifted into Su Xiao’s ears from the buildings on both sides. This town was beyond saving. In the end, only two possibilities remained: either all the residents would die, turning this place into a wasteland, or new residents would arrive, gradually restoring its vitality.
What happened next had nothing to do with Su Xiao. He was only here to deal with dangerous objects.
Dong~, dong dong.
A knocking sound came. Su Xiao ignored it. After a moment, a weak voice reached his ears.
"Drip drop, drip drop, do you hear the sound of water? Do you hear the sound of the sea? Water spreads in the brain, hehehehehe... The bell sound is gone, only the sound of the sea remains. That’s the bell on the mermaid’s hand, and the mermaid’s cries and songs. Water in the brain, drip drop, drip drop..."
Su Xiao stopped, walked to the door from which the sound came, and pushed it open. A figure sitting on a wooden chair came into view.
From her attire, she was a female resident of the town. Her abdomen had been cut open, the skin on both sides hanging loose and slack, as if she had been pregnant, but someone had cut her open before childbirth and forcibly removed the fetus.
The female resident’s head was enormous, with no facial features left. The entire head resembled a swollen, rotting mass of flesh, with blood seeping out from within.
"Baha, go find that little brat."
Su Xiao guessed he might have hit the jackpot this time. Earlier, when his luck attribute was judged, it failed due to poor fortune. Now it seemed that coming to Dongquan Town was the jackpot itself, so naturally his luck wouldn’t be high afterward. Though these were just his conjectures, he had a way to verify them.
Before long, the little boy was brought over, looking furious. He suspected Su Xiao had changed his mind and was about to kill him off.
"Is this your mother?"
"Huh?"
The boy was puzzled. He stepped forward, sniffed, and nodded repeatedly at Su Xiao, meaning it was indeed his mother.
This information led Su Xiao to consider a possibility: under the erosion of the Bell Woman and the Calamity Bell, this female resident had become pregnant for unknown reasons, giving birth to the boy—a special individual who could eat vengeful spirits. The Bell Woman had discovered this, taken the infant boy, and raised him in the inn.
The Calamity Bell had appeared about four years ago. The boy looked around seven or eight years old. It seemed that eating vengeful spirits made one grow fast.
Su Xiao snapped his fingers twice near the female resident’s ear and asked, "What do you want to say?"
"Drip drop, drip drop, water flows in the brain. Mermaid, oh mermaid, don’t cry anymore. Sing to me, ah ha yi~"
The female resident hummed something, the information fragmented. But for Su Xiao, this was enough. Sorting out such fragmented information was routine when carrying out missions for Reincarnation Paradise.
First, this matter was related to the Alliance. Two days ago, the Alliance announced a halt to all maritime trade, including fishing and sea tourism.
Before issuing this decree, one of the Alliance’s councilors had stretched his claws too far and was slapped to death by Su Xiao. This was a trap set by someone, aiming to hold Su Xiao and his "Organization" back, preventing them from participating in a certain upcoming event.
Many signs indicated that the mastermind behind Su Xiao’s imprisonment was Kingsley, the leader of the Eclipse Organization. Kingsley was cooperating with the Alliance. Both sides wanted to obtain a dangerous object at sea. Su Xiao’s "Organization" was the biggest obstacle and risk factor in their operation.
Shortly after Su Xiao was imprisoned, the Alliance banned maritime trade. No ships were allowed to leave port.
Besides this news, Su Xiao noticed a marginal article in the Jihua Daily: a few days ago, fishermen at sea heard a woman’s cries coming from beneath the water.
Just now, a sentence from the female resident caught Su Xiao’s attention: "The bell sound is gone, only the sound of the sea remains. That’s the bell on the mermaid’s hand, and the mermaid’s cries and songs."
If he dared to speculate, was the Calamity Bell the bell on the mermaid’s hand? Even bolder, was the mermaid itself a more powerful dangerous object?
In other words, the Alliance and Kingsley wanted to capture a dangerous object called a mermaid at sea.
The Calamity Bell was, overall, water-attributed. Don’t forget that the Bell Woman, the holder of the Calamity Bell, the vengeful spirit Granny Qian, and the red-dressed female ghost were all female. It seemed the Calamity Bell could only be used by women, and those most affected by it were also women.
Mermaids were, of course, female. The mermaid in the sea also had strong water attributes. Combining this with the Calamity Bell’s characteristics, the two dangerous objects might be in a superior-inferior relationship. The dangerous object "Mermaid" was the superior of the dangerous object "Calamity Bell" and its former owner.
What was the relationship between the boy conceived through the Calamity Bell and the dangerous object "Mermaid"? A child of the mermaid? Su Xiao felt this was unlikely, but one thing stood out: in the Red Pool Inn, the boy was the only male; all other guests were female.
"You’ve outmaneuvered me, Kingsley."
Su Xiao muttered under his breath, his hand resting on his sword hilt. He recalled something: on the way here, the World Child (Fake), the white-haired youth, had crashed onto the roof of his carriage.
Now it seemed that World Child (Fake) was cultivated by Kingsley. That encounter was also deliberately orchestrated by Kingsley, who had the silver-haired youth go there. The dangerous object "Mechanical Giant Bird" he rode had deliberately thrown the youth off, making him land on the carriage roof.
This all seemed like far-fetched speculation, but if there was a spy from Kingsley within the "Organization," who learned that Su Xiao was coming to Dongquan Town, and Kingsley set all this up, then the silver-haired youth, unknowingly, had set a coordinate or something.
Dark blue smoke surged from Su Xiao’s body, enveloping him entirely. His vision turned black and white. He looked at Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha—all normal. When his gaze shifted to Liechao, he saw a color beyond black and white near her collar: a golden-red circular mark.
Su Xiao appeared before Liechao, grabbed her collar, and tore it hard.
"You’ve finally shown your true colors. Don’t even think about it."
Liechao was furious. Just as she prepared to counterattack, she realized there was no point.
Sss~
Golden-red smoke rose from the cloth in Su Xiao’s hand. Seeing this, Liechao’s expression turned cold. She said, "How could I make such a mistake? You go first. I’ll hold the rear. I was tracked. It’s my mistake, and I’ll bear the consequences."
Liechao drew her source bow. Though she had a poor impression of Su Xiao, she never shirked responsibility.
"As expected of... the Legion Commander of the Organization."
A figure emerged from a path between the buildings. His face was studded with steel nails, only the nail caps visible. On his right hand was a ring shaped like a coiled snake—a dangerous object.
Fighting with dangerous objects—this style was unmistakable. It was someone from the Eclipse Organization, a subordinate of Kingsley.
"Legion... Legion Commander, I am Huaziwuo. Since you’ve already discovered me, there’s no need to pretend. Eclipse Organization, Ring 8, sends you my sincere greetings."
Huaziwuo placed one hand on his chest and bowed slightly. He addressed Su Xiao as "Legion Commander" and used "you" as a respectful term. This wasn’t mockery but genuine respect.
Fundamentally, both the Containment Institution and the Eclipse Organization aimed to eliminate dangerous objects, but their philosophies differed. The Containment Institution would contain dangerous objects, while the Eclipse Organization sought complete annihilation, fighting to the death if they couldn’t destroy them.
"..."
Su Xiao said nothing. The enemy’s numbers were considerable. He had only entered this world recently, and Kingsley was troublesome. Being outmaneuvered early on was inevitable.
"Legion Commander, could you hand over that boy to us? Though it’s dishonorable, we can’t deal with that Bell Woman, but we really need this boy. To be honest, I don’t want to fight a legendary figure like you. I sincerely respect you. Having you lead the ‘Organization’ is the fortune of the entire Southern Alliance. The Eastern Alliance doesn’t know how jealous they are."
Huaziwuo smiled and scratched his head, looking as if he might ask Su Xiao for an autograph.
"Tch, he’s pretty polite."
Baha had a bellyful of "greetings" but couldn’t say them. It was hard to hit a smiling face. If he started cursing now, it would seem low-class.
Huaziwuo waited a moment but received no reply. He said, "Be careful, Commander. To take that boy from you, I brought many people. Please understand. After receiving Kingsley’s orders, I even wrote my will. There’s no way to defeat someone like you without risking my life."
Huaziwuo took out three steel nails and, using his fingers, pressed them into the side of his face. As the nails pierced in, the snake ring on his index finger came to life, biting his tiger’s mouth.
Blood gathered in Huaziwuo’s hand. His smile faded. Around him, men and women in white uniforms with a black sun emblem on their backs approached. A total of 195 contractors arrived, plus Huaziwuo and his dangerous object. They were treating Su Xiao like a high-tier S-class dangerous object.
"Old lady, prepare to enter the alternate space. The boss’s interest is piqued."
"We’re avoiding battle?"
"Of course not. If we don’t leave now, we might get killed by the boss by accident. Do you want to fight close to a Blade Grandmaster?"
"No."
Liechao’s tone was firm. She was an Archery Grandmaster and had been partners with a Blade Grandmaster for years. Fighting near a Blade Grandmaster was a nightmare—you’d be sliced to pieces by sharp blade auras.
Baha opened the alternate space. Bubu Wang, Amu, and Liechao all entered.
Seeing this, Huaziwuo’s expression darkened, but when he saw Su Xiao hadn’t retreated, he breathed a sigh of relief.
The contractors gathered from all sides, everyone looking grim. Some swallowed nervously. They sensed that the coming battle would be extremely dangerous, with a death rate no lower than dealing with some unsolvable dangerous objects.
Snowflakes drifted. The town was silent. The atmosphere grew murderous.
On the snowy ground, nearly 200 Eclipse Organization members surrounded Su Xiao. The Blade Domain he had recently mastered was about to reveal its fierce, sharp, and powerful side.
Was Su Xiao surrounded? Not exactly. Though he was alone, in principle, the enemies were about to be enveloped and trapped within the Blade Domain.
PS: (One chapter posted. Stuck for a while, waited for a while. Please forgive me, dear readers.)