Chapter 75: Closing the Net
The clock's minute hand pointed to 7:26. The last patient in the treatment room, after expressing his gratitude to Su Xiao with a timid demeanor, hobbled out.
After taking a few steps, the emaciated believer paused to catch his breath before finding the strength to continue. He felt as if every cell in his body was wailing in tearing pain, yet he was smiling.
Compared to before, his current condition was nothing. Moreover, this was temporary; it would disappear after the recovery period. Previously, his blood was filled with tiny parasitic insects, wriggling and crawling throughout his body. The parasites caused a hissing sound in his ears, accompanied by constant tinnitus. Now, his ears were clear, and the occasional pure chirping of insects was actually pleasant. The parasites inside him had been completely eradicated.
The gaunt believer stopped outside the door, gave another slight bow, and then hobbled away.
Behind the treatment table, Su Xiao held a small vial between his fingers. Inside were red parasitic insects, each resembling a thin earthworm.
"Bubu, these parasites are high-level organisms..."
"Woof howl woof!"
Bubu Wang nearly jumped up, pressing its dog body against the corner of the wall.
"If you can't accept it psychologically, we could juice them."
"Woof!"
Bubu Wang shook its head left and right, its eyes clearly saying: 'Juicing them would be even harder to accept.'
"Too bad."
Su Xiao pressed the cap of the glass bottle. A faint red flame ignited inside, quickly reducing the parasites to ashes.
"Mr. White Night, I've been waiting for you. I wanted to invite you to dinner earlier."
Airo leaned against the doorframe, her hair tied into a ponytail. Today, Airo was female.
After Su Xiao's treatment, Airo hadn't recovered; instead, she had worsened. She had gone from random gender changes to selective gender changes—an evolution.
Over the years, Airo had long since gotten used to it. Or rather, she had pulled off an exceptionally audacious move.
The prolonged gender uncertainty had caused Airo's psyche to split. She hadn't developed multiple personalities; rather, her consciousness had cleaved in two, one side representing male and the other female. The male side was stronger in combat, while the female side excelled in detection and crisis response.
Over seventy percent of the Sun Church members suffered from mental beastification, but the Solar Force within them provided high resistance to this.
Airo's audacious move: after receiving Su Xiao's treatment, she could freely switch genders. So she completely split her psyche in two. The heavily beastified male state was used for combat, while the nearly non-beastified female state was for daily life.
If one day the male state fully beastified, she could use psychic separation to survive, even if it meant a fragmented soul.
This genius idea, Airo actually pulled it off. Upon learning this, Su Xiao was surprised and even hesitated about whether to make Airo the adaptation host for the second-generation Devourer, allowing it to complete its growth. After deliberation, Su Xiao gave up—there wasn't enough time.
Declining Airo's invitation, Su Xiao left the Grand Cathedral and returned to the apartment. It was nearly 8 PM, and the invitation from the Sun Lord hadn't arrived yet. The content of that invitation would determine which branch of the plan Su Xiao would use to wrap up this long-laid scheme.
A whoosh of wind came, and Baha flew into the living room through the window.
"Boss, the invitation arrived. It's not a palace feast; it's an alchemist exchange meeting. It was hastily organized today. All the alchemists of the New Kingdom and a small part of the church's alchemists are participating. This time, the Sun Lord is being quite generous, planning to release several ancient potion formulas from the dynasty's legacy."
Baha produced two invitation letters. One was written by the Sun Lord, expressing his hope that Su Xiao would attend today's alchemist exchange, allowing him to gain influence among the alchemists through this opportunity, facilitating their subsequent actions.
To be fair, the Sun Lord wasn't stupid at all; his intelligence was above average. In terms of combat power, he was top-tier in the Sand World. Compared to him, the Nightmare King was just a little brother.
The Sun Lord's move was quite clever. The palace feast could be either a peace banquet or a Hongmen banquet.
The alchemist exchange was clearly the Sun Lord's way of keeping Su Xiao occupied, subtly implying that if Su Xiao made any underhanded moves, he would have no place in either the New Kingdom or the Sun Church.
Su Xiao had received two invitations to the alchemist exchange. One was from the Sun Lord, and the other from Archbishop Cooper. Archbishop Cooper was also an alchemist, though no one dared to drink the potions he concocted.
Archbishop Cooper's invitation had no ulterior motive; it was just a personal invitation due to their private acquaintance.
Su Xiao decided not to bother with the alchemist exchange. Since the Sun Lord didn't want him to attend tonight's banquet, his path was clear.
Su Xiao had seen people who courted death, but he had never seen someone willingly put their head under the guillotine. What surprised him even more was that the person was holding the guillotine's handle, ready to chop themselves.
Good words couldn't save a doomed ghost. Originally, Su Xiao planned to let the Sun Lord take the blame first, then eliminate him. Now it seemed the Sun Lord couldn't take the blame. If Su Xiao didn't act quickly, he feared the Sun Lord would kill himself with his own stupidity.
For the first time in a long while, Su Xiao was worried about an enemy's safety. If the Sun Lord killed himself with his own stupidity, Su Xiao wouldn't get the treasure chest or World Source, and he might not even be able to snatch the Scroll Fragment.
"Baha, contact Kaiser immediately. Tell him to unlock it."
Su Xiao knew he couldn't wait any longer. Baha immediately contacted Kaiser, pulling out an old-fashioned walkie-talkie. After activating it, static came through, followed by Kaiser's voice.
"Baha, I'm very busy right now. Oh hoo hoo~"
Kaiser let out an ecstatic sound. He was lying back in a recliner, surrounded by several desert beauties. Some were massaging his shoulders, some his legs, some his feet, making Kaiser moan incessantly.
"Send tonight's potions quickly. My boss is still waiting to attend the alchemist exchange. If you delay my boss's affairs, I'll kill you."
"Got it. I'll handle it right away."
Kaiser hung up the communication. The walkie-talkie in Baha's hand emitted a puff of blue smoke. This item was a one-time use tool provided by Kaiser.
Their conversation seemed hostile, which was intentional. Kaiser represented Su Xiao in the New Kingdom. If Kaiser and Su Xiao's side were on good terms, the Sun Lord wouldn't be interested in recruiting Kaiser. Without recruiting Kaiser, how could Kaiser assist Su Xiao in completing the plan?
Baha's meaning was clear to Kaiser. The phrase 'I'll kill you' was a pre-arranged code, and Kaiser's 'I'll handle it right away' meant he was ready to assist.
Su Xiao always trusted Kaiser's work. The greedier the guy, the more reliable he was when handling matters.
Su Xiao walked to the window, attaching metal blocks resembling magnets to the glass. A honeycomb grid appeared on the window. After a few minutes, all the windows in the room looked like this—an optical projection device.
The windows returned to normal. From outside, through the gaps in the curtains and the dim light inside, one could see Su Xiao lying in bed asleep, Bubu Wang squeezed beside his leg, and Baha perched on the grandfather clock, snoring. All of this was an optical projection, complete with last night's audio recordings—sleeping couldn't be completely silent.
Su Xiao released strands of Spirit Shadow Thread, wrapping them around the door handles and window frames. These threads converged at the center of the room, connected to an Apollo. If anyone tried to knock on the door or window, boom~
After doing this, Su Xiao lifted the bed, revealing the teleportation array underneath. The array had changed drastically, its dense patterns dizzying.
Su Xiao glanced at his white robe. Considering he might need to wear it again later, he took it off and stored it.
Soon, Su Xiao had transformed. He was bare-chested, wearing an iron-black head bucket, black pants, and Dragon-Slaying Flash at his waist. A finger-thick binding cord hung from the scabbard.
With a click, the teleportation array emitted a metallic friction sound. The lock-plate-like patterns on it began to shift, indicating that Kaiser had unlocked it.
Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha stepped onto the array. The next moment, they vanished.
Light and shadow flickered. When Su Xiao's vision cleared, he stood in an empty building. Stone pillars stood everywhere, and clumps of green grass grew from the cracks between the stone slabs on the floor.
Kaiser was already nearby. He had activated the teleportation array and opened the lock plate.
The place Su Xiao had arrived at was the Dynasty Ruins: Saint Dan City. Through a hole in the wall ahead, he could see the oval roof of the distant palace. The feast inside the palace would begin at 10 PM.
"My dear friend, among the five targets, I ultimately chose Lancelot. Shall we act now?"
"Mm."
Su Xiao led Baha out of the building. It was abandoned, so there were no doors. Bubu Wang would temporarily act with Kaiser.
Su Xiao was going to find the Sun Lord's subordinate, Lone Skeleton Lancelot. This was his chosen target. Tonight's plan would start with this man.
...
Palace, Grand Banquet Hall.
Calling this place magnificent wasn't an exaggeration. Besides its luxury, every furnishing was an antique, a relic of the former dynasty.
The banquet hadn't started yet. Servants moved among the tables, busy at work. The Sun Lord's subordinates gathered in small groups, either chatting or enjoying fine wine. In this resource-scarce world, wine was a rare treasure.
There were fewer than a hundred people in the Grand Banquet Hall. With such a large space, a hundred people made it feel somewhat empty.
Strangely, all of the Sun Lord's subordinates had their eyes fixed on one table, including the Sun Lord himself, who sat at the head table drinking alone.
The Sun Lord drained his glass and asked, "You said earlier that the two guests arrived long ago?"
He looked at the two girls sitting at a corner table. When they first arrived, on a scale of 100, the Sun Lord would have given them at least 98 points due to their unique temperament. But their eating habits had deducted 20 points, their manners another 35 points, and finally, their appetite deducted 700 points.
Watching the two girls, the Sun Lord felt slightly displeased. These were two of his guests for tonight's banquet, but he never expected that, despite the banquet being set for 10 PM, they had arrived at 7 PM and had been eating ever since.
The importance of this banquet was obvious, so the food was naturally scarce and expensive. Originally, the Sun Lord didn't think the guests would eat much, but he had ordered extra preparations. Now it seemed fortunate he had, or tonight would have been embarrassing.
At the corner table, Yueshitu held a cake in one hand and a fork in the other. Beside her, Molei was wolfing down transcendent beast meat. She held an entire cooked, sauced beast leg in her hands. The meat was tender and sticky, fragrant in the mouth, yet not greasy. Excellent!
"Molei, aren't we being a bit embarrassing?"
Yueshitu spoke with her mouth full. Despite saying this, her movements were anything but slow. After entering the Sand World, their stored food and water supplies had been exhausted. Although Yueshitu was a summoner with the lowest physique among her rank, she was still quite strong.
As for Molei, being a melee-type, her body required more energy. Recently, she had either been starving or being chased, surviving on water plants. Her nutrition was completely lacking. Now, Molei was ravenous. She and Yueshitu had come early specifically to feast.
"Don't talk while eating."
As she spoke, Molei grabbed a bunch of blue grapes from the table. She glanced at the Sun Lord a hundred meters away and nodded at him. What a good person. After starving for so many days, he invited them to eat. Eating more now was the greatest affirmation of the host's hospitality!
At the head table, the Sun Lord witnessed all of this. His expression remained normal, even with a smile. But after more than ten minutes, when Molei shouted for another round, the Sun Lord's brow furrowed slightly. Those two gluttons could really eat.
...
City North, Inner Guard Post.
Under the moonlight, the city's buildings appeared desolate. Most houses were dilapidated or collapsed.
On North Street, a figure walked quickly. A few houses on either side had lights on.
The banquet was still over an hour away. As one of the Sun Lord's trusted subordinates, Lone Skeleton Lancelot should have been at the venue on standby. Yet he had rushed to this area in the evening and was only now hurrying back. He must have received a secret order from the Sun Lord, indicating that tonight's banquet was far from simple.
Lone Skeleton Lancelot was slightly gaunt, with a cold demeanor and a taciturn nature. This was precisely why Kaiser had targeted him, recommending him to Su Xiao as the key point for the plan's conclusion.
Lancelot's pace quickened. A figure ahead on the street caught his attention.
"You are... Kaiser?"
Lancelot spoke coldly, one arm hanging down, ready to extend his arm blade and slit Kaiser's throat.
Kaiser stood by the roadside, grinning slyly at Lancelot. Suddenly, a black shadow swooped down from above. Lancelot leaped backward. The moment his feet touched the ground, a formation appeared beneath him.
"Let's go."
Baha vanished instantly, along with Lone Skeleton Lancelot, thanks to the alchemy formation.
In the alternate space, the full moon was tinged with blood by the spatial barrier. Lone Skeleton Lancelot raised one hand to block, his arm blade extending from the outside of his forearm, thick yet sharp.
Lancelot's gaze fixed ahead. A hundred meters away, a figure stood atop a slender tower, bare-chested, holding a single blade. Behind him was the blood-tinged full moon. This person's aura was fierce, sharp, and powerful.
The figure on the tower leaped down. Though falling rapidly, just before hitting the ground, his speed abruptly decreased, landing slowly.
Click.
Lone Skeleton Lancelot extended his arm blade from his left arm as well. Silently, cracks burst open all over his body, blood spraying out. Just upon meeting, he forcibly overdrew his life force to gain temporary strength. Facing the powerful enemy ahead, the blood aura and pressure made him feel despair. He would bet everything just to have a chance to escape.
"Ah!"
Lone Skeleton Lancelot roared, charging forward like a vengeful ghost.