Chapter 75: Your Wife and Daughter, I Shall Care For
In the military logistics office, no one spoke. Hao Mei stood frozen in place, muttering things like "Ah, this... how could it be..." under her breath, unable to accept what had just happened. Her 3,260 Soul Coins had died a tragic death—throwing them into water would at least make a splash, but now she only had a blank receipt in hand.
What was most infuriating was that if she wanted to file a complaint or report, she would need to go to Reincarnation Paradise.
As a contractor of Apocalypse Paradise, if Hao Mei entered Reincarnation Paradise, having her brand stripped on the spot and replaced with Reincarnation Paradise's brand would be a stroke of luck. More likely, she would be executed on the spot.
Hao Mei stared blankly at the receipt in her hand, forcing herself to reluctantly accept all of this. At this moment, she finally understood what Baha meant by "grinding reputation."
Currently, Hao Mei's reputation gain rate was "Base Gain + Base Gain × 2.8 times." That meant after earning 100 reputation points, she would also gain an additional 280 reputation points.
This situation, where the extra reputation gained exceeded the base amount, was something Hao Mei would have to get used to.
"Isn't what we're doing now... a violation?"
Hao Mei couldn't suppress her doubts and asked.
"My friend, you worry too much."
Kaiza was unusually serious for once.
"We are irreconcilably opposed to violations!"
Baha spoke with righteous indignation, but the words sounded somewhat off to Hao Mei. She glanced at Su Xiao beside her, clearly remembering that in the earlier prompt, it said she had captured the enemy leader alive.
Thinking of this, she chugged down several mouthfuls of wine, and most of her worries faded away. What she was thinking about now wasn't how to grind reputation, but how to save herself.
A gentle breeze blew in through the window. Su Xiao led Bubu Wang and Baha toward the small storage room deeper inside, where Kaiza had set up a small teleportation array.
The seeds had been planted; all that remained was to wait for the harvest. Compared to this, the fruit on the other side had ripened, and it was time to go back and reap it.
The teleportation array activated, and the surrounding world gradually blurred, as if shrouded in thick fog. When the mist slowly dissipated, Su Xiao was already standing on the large teleportation array inside Warehouse No. 2.
Warehouse No. 2 inside the mountain had been expanded several times, yet it still felt cramped. Batch after batch of pig-headed men were being teleported from the human side. Judging by the situation, the human side had a sufficient supply of pig-headed men.
This was normal. Although male pig-headed men couldn't do fine work, they had strength. This kind of one-time purchase, permanent free labor was something no major force could refuse.
Presumably, the Vassal Alliance had already pressured the humans. For other small and medium forces, such pressure would be a disaster. But for the humans, who had once waged war against the Vassal Alliance, this pressure was no different from a dog's bark.
Su Xiao walked through the residential area into the fortress and returned to the top-floor command center. As soon as he entered, he saw Hausmann standing there waiting.
Seeing Su Xiao enter the command center, Hausmann took a satellite phone-like communicator from his handbag, bowed, and left.
This was Hausmann's strength: he immediately carried out whatever Su Xiao ordered and didn't ask questions afterward.
Su Xiao leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes in thought for a moment, then leaned forward to pick up the communicator on the table. He dialed the only frequency recorded on it. After more than ten seconds, the call connected, and a voice on the other end said:
"Is this the Sun Lord?"
A deep voice came through the communicator. Just hearing it gave a sense of authority and intimidation befitting a superior.
"Mm."
Su Xiao set the communicator upright on the table and lit a cigarette.
"I am He Kangdiwei."
The person on the other end of the communicator was the Marshal of the Vassal Alliance, one of the four most powerful figures on the Vassal side: Alliance Marshal He Kangdiwei.
The three major forces of the Vassal Alliance—"Aurora Council," "Vassal Alliance," and "Watchtower"—had three major figures: the Alliance Leader of the "Vassal Alliance," Tuoyin; Alliance Marshal He Kangdiwei; and the leader of the "Watchtower," Feidinan.
Why did only the Vassal Alliance and Watchtower have representative figures? The reason was that the Aurora Council operated on a council + councilor system, emphasizing equality, democracy, and freedom.
Normally, this was fine. The people's happiness was high, and bureaucratic corruption was the lowest among the Vassal factions. But once something happened, things became very troublesome.
The biggest characteristic of the "Aurora Council" was holding meetings. They held meetings for everything. If they waited until their discussions were over, the opportunity would be long gone.
There was a joke about them: if one day the humans went to war with the Aurora Council, the civilians under the Council's rule wouldn't need to worry about the hardships of war at all, because by the time those councilors finished their meetings and announced the war to the people, the frontlines would likely have already finished fighting.
In general, when it came to negotiating interests and resources with other forces, the Aurora Council councilors were unmatched—one of them was worth ten. For them, negotiations lasting one or two months were common. Only when they had talked their opponents to death would they slightly ease up.
These councilors were very self-aware of their ability to control the war. All 14 councilors knew that rather than messing up the battle situation with their chaotic commands, it was better to leave it entirely to the military.
So now, the Aurora Council councilors were holding meetings again, mainly discussing whether or not to fight this war.
The big shots in the Council's military had already set out with various allocated supplies, heading straight for the border region.
During wartime, the councilors and military big shots didn't interfere with each other; they each did their own thing. The military big shots were happy with this arrangement—without bureaucrats meddling from above, they could fight more comfortably and freely.
Alliance Leader Tuoyin, Alliance Marshal He Kangdiwei, Watchtower Leader Feidinan—these were three major figures on the Vassal side. The remaining one was the Chief Justice of the "Tribunal," Fowo.
It could be said that the three major forces of the Vassal Alliance jointly establishing the "Tribunal" was the wisest decision in their history.
Under normal circumstances, the "Tribunal" wasn't exactly a tumor, but it wasn't much better either. During wartime, however, the Tribunal was particularly useful. Those officers and soldiers who disobeyed orders or fled from battle were all sent to the Tribunal.
It was not directly controlled by the three major forces of the Vassal Alliance. For officers below the rank of colonel, the Tribunal had the power to execute them.
This was an independent law enforcement department during wartime, to prevent situations where the pen controlled the root within the three major forces. Overall, when dealing with Vassal officers, the Tribunal showed no favoritism to anyone—this was crucial to its reason for existence.
Su Xiao was now able to contact one of the four highest rulers of the Vassal Alliance, Alliance Marshal He Kangdiwei, through Li Xiniwei, who had already latched onto the thigh of Chief Justice Fowo.
"To contact you directly... is Li Xiniwei dead?"
Su Xiao spoke. According to his plan, the other side shouldn't have been able to contact the Alliance Marshal directly. Given Li Xiniwei's current identity as the Chief Justice's lackey, he should have first contacted one of the Marshal's subordinates, at most reaching the Marshal's trusted aide.
Contacting Alliance Marshal He Kangdiwei directly was only possible in two scenarios: 1. Li Xiniwei was already dead, or 2. Li Xiniwei was about to die.
"Bai Ye, the poison you gave Xiniwei was very hard to cure. I spent a great deal to help him detoxify."
The Alliance Marshal cut straight to the point. Upon hearing this, Su Xiao said:
"Congratulations on gaining a new trusted aide. Li Xiniwei is very capable."
"Trusted aide? This dog can betray you, and sooner or later he'll betray me too. Li Xiniwei, don't you have anything to say to your former lord?"
The Alliance Marshal seemed to pick up the communicator. Amid the scolding of several of his subordinates and the sound of tape being torn off, Li Xiniwei's voice came through. His breathing was rapid, and his voice was distorted by the pain in his body.
"Lord Bai Ye... I've been... exposed, save me..."
Bang!
A dull thud came through, as if someone had struck Li Xiniwei's head with a club or something.
Then a recording was played. It was a conversation between Li Xiniwei and the Alliance Marshal. In the conversation, Li Xiniwei casually betrayed Su Xiao while laughing and chatting. In return, Alliance Marshal He Kangdiwei would use his power and connections to help Li Xiniwei detoxify.
"Li Xiniwei, speak up. Why no sound?"
A voice came from the other end of the communicator, likely one of the Alliance Marshal's subordinates.
"I've lost. I don't want to say much."
"Don't you want to say goodbye to your former lord? You're about to die."
After these words came through, both sides fell silent. The Alliance Marshal didn't speak, Su Xiao didn't either, and Li Xiniwei remained silent.
This silence lasted for more than ten seconds before Su Xiao broke it. In a calm tone, he said:
"Li Xiniwei, thank you for doing everything I wanted you to do."
"What... do you mean? Don't try to bluff me at a time like this!"
Li Xiniwei's shout came from the communicator. The fact that his betrayal of Su Xiao had been part of Su Xiao's backup plan was something he simply couldn't accept.
Ask yourself, was the chronic poison concocted by alchemy so easy to cure? From start to finish, Su Xiao had never lied to Li Xiniwei. According to the agreement, Li Xiniwei's final task was to poison Chief Justice Fowo to death.
During the poisoning process, the poison powder Su Xiao provided, when mixed with water, would have trace particles that floated up with the water molecules and seeped into Li Xiniwei's body—that was the antidote.
Li Xiniwei had been carrying the antidote from the very beginning. As long as he completed the poisoning, he didn't need to wait for the Chief Justice to die from the poison 12 hours later. He could safely withdraw, and the chronic alchemical poison in his body would be resolved.
Back in the hotel restaurant in Free City, what Su Xiao had discussed with Li Xiniwei was cooperation. Some things had been arranged long ago. Li Xiniwei, his lover Xin Alisi, and his daughter Duoluoxi—these three formed a ring.
Li Xiniwei was the starting point of this ring plan, followed by Duoluoxi, then Xin Alisi, and finally back to Li Xiniwei.
Now Li Xiniwei had broken this ring. Although he failed to poison the Chief Justice, he had helped Su Xiao achieve another goal: directly contacting Alliance Marshal He Kangdiwei.
"Xiniwei, you've worked hard. I'll take care of your lover and your daughter—inch by inch, carefully. You can rest assured and go."
"You... will die a miserable death! They'll find out about all this eventually! You won't succeed! They'll see you as their mortal enemy!"
Li Xiniwei had lost his usual composure and acting skills.
"Oh? Why would they see me as their mortal enemy? Because I killed you? Did my hands get stained with your blood? It was the Alliance Marshal who killed you. What does that have to do with me, from the opposing faction?"
"You..."
Li Xiniwei roared on the other end, but in the next second, there was the sound of flesh being cut, followed by the thud of a head hitting the carpet. Faintly, the sound of blood spurting from a severed neck artery could be heard.
After a while, the Alliance Marshal's voice came through again. He said: "Bai Ye, are you satisfied with this gift?"
"Not bad."
"Shall we discuss the issue of those 30,000-plus prisoners?"
"Mm, let's talk."
Su Xiao exhaled smoke and extinguished the cigarette between his fingers. Li Xiniwei, this "double agent," had improved his acting skills. If he wasn't careful, this guy had climbed another step up.
Had Li Xiniwei just been beheaded? Not at all. Everything was going according to plan, including Li Xiniwei's sudden betrayal.