Chapter 83: You Might Not Believe It
The target was successfully assassinated, but how to leave was the more critical issue.
Before deciding to assassinate Alliance Leader Toyn, Su Xiao had already arranged both the assassination plan and the retreat plan.
There were two retreat plans. The first was to bring Hao Mei along during the assassination, then have her attract the attention of the search team, while Amu, stationed in the outer district, would deliver a heavy blow to the inner ring wall, drawing the enemies' attention again, allowing Su Xiao to slip out of the inner city.
Aside from this conventional retreat route, Su Xiao had also prepared a backup plan. If Hao Mei was willing to fork over a large sum of Soul Coins, retreating via the backup plan was the better choice.
The alarm outside grew more urgent, with shouts ringing out incessantly. Su Xiao pushed open the iron door on the rooftop, walked to the edge, and leaped onto the roof of a neighboring hotel.
From the rooftop, he jumped onto the sixth-floor balcony of the hotel, pushed open the sliding door, and entered the room. The lights were on, but no one was inside—clearly, someone had booked the room in advance and left it empty.
This was no coincidence. Su Xiao sat on the sofa, lit a cigarette, and under the night breeze, appeared completely unbothered.
Su Xiao wasn't in a hurry, but Hao Mei certainly was. She was beautiful, wealthy, in the prime of her life, and possessed strength that many dreamed of. She didn't want to die—she was the type who would suffer a massive loss if she did.
"We're fleeing for our lives. Shouldn't you show some sense of urgency? You just killed Alliance Leader Toyn. In less than three minutes, the inner city will be locked down by the military police. Even for you, breaking out of their encirclement is impossible."
"Oh."
Blowing on the cool night breeze, Su Xiao remained calm, giving Hao Mei the feeling they were having a conversation on different wavelengths.
Ignoring Hao Mei, Su Xiao opened the kill notification that had just appeared.
[Notification: You have killed Alliance Leader Toyn.]
[You have gained 14.59% World Source.]
[You have obtained the Scepter Box (Chest-type Item).]
[Scepter Box]
Origin: Ser Star
Quality: Immortal Rank (This quality is not directly related to the chest itself but is determined by the world's rank and difficulty level.)
Type: Chest-type Item (Can be used once.)
Usage Effect 1: Open this chest.
Usage Effect 2: This item can be transformed into a Heart of Authority, which can be sacrificed to the Abyssal Warden to conduct a trade, exchanging it for an equivalent soul within the Abyssal Prison.
Rating: 1000 points (This item's rating is fixed at 1000 points.)
Introduction: A convergence of power and the souls of fallen leaders. What you obtain from it may be worthless or a rare treasure.
Selling Price: 7% of this world's World Source (Cannot be sold after leaving this world.)
...
The [Scepter Box] was a chest-type item with multiple uses. First, its quality—Immortal Rank didn't represent the box's inherent value but rather the rank of the world it came from and its difficulty level.
Its rating was also fixed at 1000 points. Opening it could yield ordinary items or extremely valuable treasures. More uniquely, while in this world, it could be directly sold for World Source.
Aside from opening and selling, the [Scepter Box] could also be transformed into a [Heart of Authority] to trade with an entity known as the Abyssal Warden.
From the brief information, this Abyssal Warden guarded the Abyssal Prison. Trading a [Heart of Authority] with it would exchange for a soul equivalent to that heart.
Such trades weren't unfamiliar to Su Xiao. He had traded with the Frenzied Growth a few times and once with the Elder Lord. He had originally planned to try trading with the Candle Woman but decided to hold off after some consideration.
Though all three were Void entities, their styles differed greatly. The Frenzied Growth brought danger invisibly but rarely killed actively—usually, a living being would go mad or have their head explode with a bang just from looking at it.
The Elder Lord, on the other hand, carried strong malice. It spread knowledge from other worlds. Even glancing at the texts recording this knowledge would cause severe consequences, let alone interpreting it.
These texts couldn't fully present the twisted, bizarre, and filthy knowledge. That knowledge couldn't be completely recorded in words or transmitted through sound.
Even so, countless worlds had been turned into dead zones or destroyed by such knowledge.
The Elder Lord was dangerous enough, but at least preliminary negotiations were possible—death only came if the negotiation went wrong.
As for the Candle Woman, this ghost-like Void entity was hard to negotiate with. She killed living beings without any reason: see → kill → devour the soul → continue drifting, waiting for the next victim.
The Abyssal Warden probably wasn't a Void entity. From Su Xiao's understanding, Void entities weren't this peaceful.
Trading with the Abyssal Warden, Su Xiao could even choose within the Abyssal Prison. As long as the price matched, any imprisoned soul was available. This was too "reasonable" and didn't fit the style of Void entities.
After some thought, Su Xiao decided to make an investment, using the [Scepter Box] to trade with the Abyssal Warden for a soul.
He had an idea: in future mission worlds, he would release the Devourer Dark Sun to preach, tricking more natives into praising the sun, thereby gaining more faith power: Solar.
Su Xiao's plan was to use the [Scepter Box] to trade with the Abyssal Warden for the soul of a divine stick, then fuse it into the Devourer Dark Sun.
He didn't want the Devourer Dark Sun to gain independent thought—that wasn't feasible. Instead, he wanted it to have mutual attraction with other divine sticks, thereby finding a divine stick host.
Then, a shattered divine stick soul would influence the host, and with Dark Sun's symbiosis, it would create a divine stick version of the Devourer's host.
His thoughts grew more refined. Su Xiao glanced at the time and listened to the noise downstairs. From earlier, there had been screams from women being forcibly dragged out of their rooms, frightened.
The noise grew closer, reaching the floor below. Seeing this, Hao Mei chugged a few mouthfuls of wine. Even if she died today, she'd drink her fill first.
"15,000 Soul Coins."
Su Xiao suddenly spoke. Hao Mei, who had been ready to fight to the death, furrowed her delicate brows. Things had reached this point; escaping would be very difficult.
"Are you sure this will work?"
"Pay now, and it'll work. Pay in 20 seconds, and you'll die."
"I'll bet on this once."
Loving to drink and occasionally gamble were Hao Mei's flaws. That was normal—no one was perfect.
[Notification: You have received a trade request.]
[You have gained 15,000 Soul Coins.]
...
The payment had arrived. Su Xiao stood up from the sofa and gestured for Hao Mei to kneel on the carpet with her back to him.
Hao Mei hesitated, then knelt with her back to him. "What are you going to do?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He placed one hand on Hao Mei's head. Sensing this, Hao Mei's eyes lit up, and she urgently asked, "Do you have long-range spatial ability? Why didn't you say so earlier? I would have paid sooner. Hurry up and—"
Bang!
Su Xiao punched Hao Mei in the back. As a Melee Grandmaster, his force instantly penetrated Hao Mei's torso. Caught off guard by this blow, Hao Mei's vision went dark, and she nearly choked, passing out on the spot.
Hao Mei's internal organs were shaken by the force penetration, leaving her lying motionless on the carpet. Su Xiao took a standard magnetic handcuff from the Reincarnation Paradise, used by the inner city military police, and cuffed Hao Mei's hands behind her back.
Hao Mei suddenly realized she was about to become the scapegoat. When she saw Su Xiao put on the Primordial Mask, disguising himself as a military police officer, she was even more certain.
"I'll fight you to the death! You Reincarnation Paradise old yinbis, your hearts are so dirty! Give me back my 15,000 Soul Coins!"
"..."
Su Xiao still ignored Hao Mei, pulling her up from the carpet and escorting her out of the room.
With a bang, Su Xiao kicked open the wooden door and escorted Hao Mei out. In the room opposite, three military police officers were pressing down two disheveled men and women, leading them out.
They met head-on. Su Xiao nodded to the three officers in the opposite doorway and escorted Hao Mei toward the corridor corner.
"Wait."
An officer holding a micro-terminal spoke. Su Xiao stopped calmly, looked back at the three, and showed a hint of confusion.
"What's suspicious about this woman?"
The officer with the micro-terminal asked. At this critical moment, everyone was being arrested. Anyone who resisted was killed on the spot, and the sound and fluctuations of battle would quickly attract a large group of military police.
"She entered the city today."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, the officer's eyes sharpened. "Entered the city today?"
"Yes."
"Make a key record. Where are her identification documents..."
Before the officer with the terminal finished speaking, he saw Hao Mei's face. He was first surprised, then looked at Su Xiao strangely. "Why are you arresting her? She's Clarissa, a war hero."
"I know, but she entered the city tonight. She must be taken back for a record."
Leaving this remark, Su Xiao escorted Hao Mei downstairs. Along the way, military police officers and men in black passed by on both sides.
Everything went smoothly. Su Xiao got into a military police patrol car, with Hao Mei in the back seat behind iron bars and metal mesh.
Su Xiao drove toward a military police office. When he escorted Hao Mei inside, the place was packed with people, a mix of shouts, cries, and curses.
Su Xiao joined a queue of dozens of military police officers. Many people would be arrested today, but some needed to be recorded, like war hero Hao Mei. She couldn't be thrown into a crowded holding cell like a commoner.
Two hours later, Hao Mei sat in the interrogation room, completely dumbfounded. She held a disposable cup of hot coffee with both hands. Across from her were Su Xiao, disguised as a military police officer, and a military police captain.
Su Xiao had grasped the general situation. According to the military police's higher-ups, Alliance Leader Toyn wasn't dead but severely injured. After rescue, he was out of danger.
After that, the inner city's media interviewed Alliance Leader Toyn, who lay in bed, looking pale but in decent spirits.
All of this was nonsense. Alliance Leader Toyn had been burned into gas by Solar Flame, and the kill notification had appeared. Su Xiao was certain Toyn was completely dead. The Toyn in the footage was definitely a substitute or a vassal with transformation abilities.
The news of Toyn's death would never be leaked by the Vassal Alliance. They would grit their teeth and swallow it.
Without Alliance Leader Toyn, half the sky had fallen for the Vassal Alliance, but the other half was still held up by Alliance Marshal He Condiwei.
Compared to this, the situation with Marshal He Condiwei was equally explosive. He himself wasn't dead, but his younger brother, He Sevi, had been poisoned. The cup of wine should have been drunk by He Condiwei, but he had left midway due to business.
People of that level and their relatives naturally didn't care about waste, but his brother was a bit lazy. Thinking it was just his brother's wine, he didn't feel any disgust, picked it up, and continued drinking with friends. After one sip, he died on the spot.
Besides these two, the home of Watchtower Leader Ferdinand was flattened by a falling meteorite. Except for him, his entire family died instantly.
Chief Justice Fowor had one arm and both legs severed, and a third of his head was cut off. The century-old Tribunal was reduced to rubble. That wasn't the most extreme part—the coastal city Loyash, where the Tribunal was located, had its central third turned to powder.
Tonight was destined to be restless. The vassal side had tried to assassinate Su Xiao hundreds of times before, but he never responded. The reason was that he was building up for a big move. Either he didn't act, or when he did, the enemy would be unable to handle the consequences.
The current Kevab Ring City's inner city seemed tense, but to hide Toyn's death, they dared not conduct a frantic search for the assassin. At most, they would conduct layered checks.
Alliance Leader Toyn was the leader of the alliance's bureaucrats. Half an hour after his death, his subordinates had already agreed to use a substitute. They needed an alliance leader. Who it was didn't matter. The alliance's rise or fall had nothing to do with them. They wanted power.
As long as the alliance existed for one more day, they would tightly grip that power. The bureaucrats understood everything, but they had to do this.
They were ordinary people without personal martial force. Once they lost the shell of power, their fate would be grim. If that happened, even if the alliance survived or became more prosperous, what meaning would it have for them?
In the interrogation room, the military police captain yawned, looking at the interrogation record. Across from him, Hao Mei was still in a daze.
She never dreamed things would develop to this point. The person who assassinated Alliance Leader Toyn was now participating in the investigation, with no intention of leaving the inner city. He even had a midnight snack at the military police office.
Every time she thought about this, Hao Mei found it unbelievable. Even TV dramas wouldn't dare to write this. What about the fierce assault? Investigating alongside other military police officers was ridiculous. And to top it off, he mooched a midnight snack.
In reality, Su Xiao didn't need to leave. He was certain that all exits from the inner city were tightly sealed. Anyone trying to leave would be immediately apprehended. Neither the military police nor the intelligence department had the privilege to leave the city.
Compared to hiding, disguising as a military police officer and participating in the investigation was a safer choice. The disguise could last six hours, and only a little over two hours had passed.
Su Xiao interrogated Hao Mei for over half an hour. The military police captain beside him got up and left, leaving only Su Xiao and Hao Mei in the interrogation room.
Following the procedure provided by Kaisa, Su Xiao completed the interrogation, recording, and confiscation of identification documents, then decided to transfer Hao Mei to the inner city prison for temporary detention.
Leaving the military police office, Su Xiao drove a patrol car with Hao Mei along the main street. Over ten minutes later, he suddenly turned, and the vehicle entered a general store with its door wide open.
The iron gate slowly lowered. When it was fully closed, Su Xiao got out and unlocked Hao Mei's magnetic handcuffs in the back seat.
Going to the back of the store, Su Xiao took out various materials from his storage space and began drawing a teleportation array on the ground.
"You can set up a teleportation array? Why didn't you leave directly before?"
"Someone was watching."
"A perception type? And now?"
"..."
Su Xiao's gaze turned to Hao Mei. She was talking too much. Normally, she wasn't this chatty. Seeing her slightly flushed cheeks, Su Xiao thought she was probably a bit drunk.
Previously, within a dozen seconds of the successful assassination, the entire inner city was under someone's domain.
That person's domain was vast but not aggressive, mainly sensing spatial fluctuations. That meant setting up a teleportation array at that time would be immediately detected. Before the array was even finished, they would face a siege from the military police.
The inner city had many high-ranking members of the Vassal Alliance. With so many military police and their high overall quality, if Su Xiao was surrounded, there were only two outcomes: die here or escape using the [Drifting Bait].
Now, that domain covering the entire inner city had disappeared. With such a large range, after being active for over two hours, even if it didn't exhaust the user to unconsciousness, it couldn't be activated again for a short time.
Su Xiao had set up coordinates in the outer city, in the military supply office storeroom where Kaisa had been. There was also a teleportation array there that could directly reach the Sun Fortress's Warehouse 2.
Before leaving, Su Xiao had set up a trap in the military supply office. If anyone discovered Kaisa had fled and investigated, it would trigger the trap, destroying the one-time spatial node set up there.
After testing, Su Xiao confirmed the spatial node there was still intact. That was good.
A moment later, Su Xiao finished setting up the teleportation array. Hao Mei, holding a wine bottle, examined it and said, "If I remember correctly, the inner city has a teleportation blocking device. It seems we can't teleport out."
"Get on."
"Alright, alright, I'll get on myself. Your attitude is too cold. Ah, spit, not myself, no, that sounds so awkward."
Hao Mei chugged a few more mouthfuls of wine. Though slightly drunk, she was still worried about the teleportation being intercepted.
In reality, Hao Mei was overthinking.
Boom!
The teleportation array activated. The general store looked like it had been hit by a bomb, with various items flying everywhere and windows shattering.
At the same time, a round tower building in the inner city center exploded violently. Daring to intercept a demon clan's teleportation took courage.
In the outer city, in the military supply office storeroom, teleportation light flashed, and Su Xiao and Hao Mei appeared.
Su Xiao pressed one hand against the wall, leaving a deep handprint. Hao Mei crashed into the wall with unstoppable momentum, sending up concrete dust. She sat half-embedded in the wall, tears quickly welling up in her eyes—not from crying, but from vomiting. Before vomiting, tears involuntarily overflowed.
While Hao Mei negotiated with her stomach, Su Xiao grabbed her arm, stepped onto another teleportation array, and skillfully dropped a bomb. The array activated.
In Warehouse 2, spatial fluctuations emerged, and Su Xiao and Hao Mei appeared simultaneously. Hao Mei covered her mouth, rushed to the wall, and couldn't hold back, vomiting.
This was her first experience with demon clan teleportation technology, and she was slightly tipsy. It was hard not to vomit. From her expression, it seemed this incident had given her a bit of a phobia about teleportation arrays.
Hao Mei hadn't yet noticed the more critical point: she had been brought to the Sun Fortress again.
A short while later, Su Xiao returned to the main control room at the top of the Sun Fortress. Currently, his army had lost the War Lord's buff, which was the foundation of their advantage.
With nothing to do, Su Xiao leaned back on the sofa to rest. He had done everything he could. If the enemy still attacked soon, he would have his army scatter to preserve their strength, while he defended the fortress's main gate.
It turned out Su Xiao's preparations weren't in vain. Of the four major figures on the vassal side, one was dead, and the other three were either half-dead, had their entire families killed, or had their younger brothers die. Under such blows, the enemy couldn't turn grief into strength.
This was like two people fighting. If one took a punch, they could use anger as strength, roar, and counterattack. But if they took a vicious low blow, even an iron-willed man would cover his groin, kneel, and scream past 130 decibels.
This time, the vassal side didn't just take a low blow. They got lime in the eyes, a low blow, an eye poke, and a liver punch.
The vassal side was clearly stunned. The army stationed at the Steel Fortress not only didn't move that night but also didn't attack the entire next morning. It was said that Watchtower Leader Ferdinand would personally come to the Steel Fortress, gradually boosting the enemy's morale.
The midday sun streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling curved windows. A notification made Su Xiao, who had been resting, open his eyes.
[Notification: War Lord has been promoted to an Eight-Star Title.]
[War Lord]
Origin: Reincarnation Paradise
Quality: ★★★★★★★★
Category: Title
Title Effect 1: Lord's Authority (Passive). When the number of soldier-type units under the hunter's command reaches 500, 3,000, 10,000, 50,000, 100,000, or 300,000, the following six types of buff effects can be triggered.