Chapter 9: Mission?
Outside the main gate of Wadi Manor, based on information revealed by Lady Smoke, Su Xiao learned that the celestial beings who had recently arrived in this world were still in a state of being rejected by the world, and therefore could not leave Wadi Manor.
These celestial beings wanted to burst out from within and wreak havoc in High Wall City, but they had to wait until the purple-black pillar of light descending from the sky disappeared.
In other words, there was still time to prepare. Lady Smoke did not disclose more specific intelligence; she had lost nearly two hundred elites on her side, and the information she had obtained would naturally not be easily revealed, at least not until she received some form of compensation.
Su Xiao and the Duke did not respond to this. Su Xiao was unsure of the Duke’s attitude; as for himself, knowing or not knowing made no difference. He planned to blow Wadi Manor flat.
Knowing full well the dangers inside and still venturing in was the act of a hero in a story. Su Xiao was no hero, so he chose a more direct, efficient, and less acceptable method: first evacuate the civilians in the surrounding area, then blow up this cluster of buildings in the North District.
Did the Duke lack powerful explosives? Of course not. The reason Su Xiao had avoided fighting the Duke earlier was precisely because of the other’s formidable explosive-making ability. This meant that even if he defeated the Duke, he would have to withstand the other’s suicidal counterattack.
The Duke clearly had powerful explosives, so why didn’t he use them now? Because he was the leader of the Steam Cult. There were things he could not do, and not only could he not do them himself, but he also had to strongly oppose others doing them.
Su Xiao, on the other hand, was different. With the infamous reputation of the Vice Dean of the Treatment Institute, anything he did could be barely accepted by the civilians of High Wall City, because they were used to it. After the resurrection of the Eternal God statue in Central Park, many detectives had analyzed the incident that day.
Due to the news of the Wadi family’s upheaval being blocked, the top suspect deduced by these detectives was Su Xiao, the second was the Duke, and Lady Smoke was third.
Pfft～
The lighter flickered to life. Su Xiao lit a cigarette and said calmly, “I suggest we blow this place flat.”
As soon as Su Xiao said this, both the Duke and Lady Smoke looked at him. Lady Smoke even took two steps back, almost declaring she would sever ties with Su Xiao.
“No!”
Lady Smoke stared at Su Xiao.
“Absolutely not!”
The Duke’s eyes flashed with killing intent, but in reality, he was quite pleased. He was almost saying outright: ‘Bai Ye, you absolutely cannot blow this place up. Don’t even think about making explosives yourself. Don’t even think about stealing materials from the explosive storage at No. 16 East District. And definitely don’t open the explosive material safe with the password 95346629.’
The overly intense reactions of the Duke and Lady Smoke were actually subtle hints: go ahead and blow up the manor. They didn’t want to risk entering this place either, and it would be best to blast those bizarre creatures inside to nothing.
“Hmph.”
Lady Smoke snorted coldly at Su Xiao, turned, and left. It seemed hostile, but the actual message was: go for it. If you need anything, contact me secretly.
“You’re on your own.”
The Duke left these words and led his people away, his hidden meaning the same as Lady Smoke’s: if you have any trouble making explosives, secretly contact me. If you lack materials, just let your big brother know, and I’ll find a way.
It was normal for the Duke and Lady Smoke to have this attitude. For both of them, they could neither ignore Wadi Manor nor confront this eerie place head-on. But the situation was clear: in High Wall City, only Su Xiao, the Duke, and Lady Smoke could handle this.
Even if others had the strength, they would likely be useless at Wadi Manor, unable to use even half of their abilities and dying in frustration.
Dealing with this would inevitably lead to casualties among their subordinates. Training a subordinate took not just years, but decades, starting from a young age, investing massive resources, and giving some care to avoid raising traitors.
Thus, every member of the Hammer Organization and the Silver Armor Brigade was precious to the Duke and Lady Smoke. Losing one would hurt. To join such departments, one needed not only strength but also a sense of belonging.
Hearing that Su Xiao planned to blow this place up, both the Duke and Lady Smoke were secretly delighted. In all of High Wall City, fewer than three people could do such a thing, and neither the Duke nor Lady Smoke was among them.
The sky grew darker. Everyone dispersed from the front gate of the manor, but the defensive forces placed around the perimeter by the Healing Church, the Steam Cult, and the High Wall Council remained.
Su Xiao gazed toward the manor’s backyard. In the purple-black mist behind the ancient castle, something was clearly there.
As if sensing Su Xiao’s gaze, a pair of brown-yellow vertical pupils opened in the purple-black mist of the backyard, staring back at him from afar.
Boom!!!
A piercing sound rang out as a black bone spike over three meters long flew out from the purple-black mist in the backyard, tearing through layers of air. It passed almost right by Su Xiao’s ear, lifting his black hair.
In the purple-black mist of the backyard, beneath those brown-yellow vertical pupils, a blood-red maw opened wide. Then the corners of the maw curled upward, forming a smile—a mocking one.
“Damn it!”
Baha was furious, about to unleash a ‘beautiful little lecture’ on the celestial being in the mist, but then held back. The distance between them was truly too great.
Su Xiao used the Eye of All Things for long-range observation. Though he didn’t have high hopes, this detection equipment proved reliable this time. From such a distance, it gathered a bit of information on that celestial being.
「Goat-headed Demon」was the name of that celestial being. Su Xiao guessed it wasn’t a demon race; it felt more like an Abyss Spawn.
Inside Wadi Manor, Su Xiao now knew of four celestial beings: first, the 「Pain Maiden」; second, the 「Celestial Envoy」, learned from Lady Smoke; third, this 「Goat-headed Demon」; and fourth, 「Little Flower」.
Among these, the Pain Maiden was the strongest, likely inside the ancient castle. The Celestial Envoy was in the castle’s library, while the Goat-headed Demon was in the backyard mist.
As for Little Flower, Su Xiao had actually encountered her once before. When he first arrived at Wadi Manor, many civilians in the surrounding buildings had their bodies turn woody, with a small flower sprouting on their foreheads. That was the work of Little Flower’s offspring.
Little Flower’s true form was that of a little girl. Normally, she wasn’t aggressive, but it was best not to provoke her. If she targeted you, she would come to you and say, ‘I’ll give you a little flower.’
Just ignore her and walk away. Little Flower was the type that, as long as you didn’t actively harm her, she wouldn’t send out offspring to protect herself. But if pushed to the brink, she was more dangerous than the Pain Maiden.
This was intelligence Lady Smoke had provided for free. Because of Little Flower’s peculiar nature, although she was a celestial visitor, she wasn’t rejected by this world and had already left Wadi Manor, disappearing somewhere.
Su Xiao had Xiusi open a spatial ghost door, and the group returned to the Treatment Institute headquarters in the Central District. When the spatial fluctuations faded, Su Xiao was in his office.
As soon as they returned, Xiusi picked up a language book and wrote: ‘Sir, are we really going to blow up that building area?’
As a newcomer to the Treatment Institute, Xiusi wasn’t used to such things. But Old Chapman and Lady Marina were long accustomed to it. Or rather, they knew that sometimes, if you didn’t use harsh measures, the consequences would be worse.
The Treatment Institute was founded over four hundred years ago by one of the two old immortals of the Healing Church, the Archbishop.
From its first day, the Treatment Institute was destined to be different from the other two branches of the Healing Church. The Workshop and the Academic Faction were the public face of the Healing Church, while the Treatment Institute, from its founding to the present, had been disbanded many times, but its belief never changed.
「We hide in the darkness, hunting in the dark those monsters that dare to covet the light.」
Sometimes, the best at finding monsters weren’t hunters, but their own kind. Or rather, in the process of hunting them, one might unknowingly become one of them.
Su Xiao had no interest in the chattering old men of the Academic Faction. Though they possessed precious knowledge, they always saw each other as adversaries. He wasn’t envious of the potions they produced; his own concoctions were several grades better.
On the other hand, he needed to visit the Workshop when he had time. Though he currently had no ancient gold coins, he might still get some good stuff from there. The Workshop had craftsmen, blacksmiths, mechanical tuners, and more.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao looked at Xiusi. This young man’s master was a mechanical tuner in the Workshop. Though he appeared to be wearing just a high-collared long coat, he actually had many good things hidden in his clothes, showing his master’s care for his disciple. The master didn’t look down on Xiusi for his origins outside the wall.
But Xiusi hadn’t joined the Workshop. Though his master didn’t treat him differently, others in the Workshop might cast strange glances. After all, in people’s minds, the refugee tribes on the barren lands outside the wall were little different from beasts and mad beasts.
“Xiusi, go to the Workshop and have them prepare the items on this list by tonight.”
Su Xiao signed and stamped a list. The Treatment Institute’s material warehouse might as well be considered empty. Anyone with a shred of reason wouldn’t store resources in a department whose members could lose control at any time.
In the past, over seventy percent of the Healing Church’s supernatural resources were obtained by the Treatment Institute. Naturally, they had some privileges. For instance, when the Workshop received this list, they generally couldn’t refuse. If they did, the last time the Vice Dean of the Treatment Institute went to the Workshop with a knife to pick up supplies was about half a year ago.
After Xiusi left with the list, Su Xiao drafted a second list. He said, “Liss, take this list and go to the Academic Faction to hand it over to those old sages.”
Liss took the list and left. Su Xiao’s gaze shifted to Old Chapman and Lady Marina. Some shady matters couldn’t be handled by newcomers; it was safer to let these two old hands do it.
“You two go and coordinate with the Duke and Lady Smoke’s people. Leave no traces.”
Su Xiao pressed a list onto the table, implying that if any traces were left, Old Chapman and Lady Marina would have to retire early.
After everyone left, Su Xiao signaled Amu to activate detection devices to guard against outsiders. Sitting behind the desk, he leaned forward slightly. Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha gathered around. Amu stood to his left, Bubu Wang crouched by his right side, slightly taller than him while seated, and Baha perched on the desk in front of him.
“Boss, what’s up?”
“You and Bubu go keep an eye on Liss’s house. That mirror ghost isn’t simple.”
Su Xiao felt a strange familiarity with this mirror ghost that had seemingly walked into a trap. It wasn’t familiarity with the ghost itself, but the way it had come to them—seemingly coincidental, yet not entirely so.
This feeling was too similar to when the World Child, Lekeli, had come to him in the alien star battlefield.
This made Su Xiao wonder if this half-dead world was offering help. After all, with so many celestial beings descending on Wadi Manor, the world’s rejection of them was unusually strong.
Since Su Xiao, the Duke, and Lady Smoke were enemies of these celestial beings, if the world wanted to eliminate these foreign invaders, using a series of coincidences to send people or objects to them would be a more reliable way to root out those outsiders.
From the moment Liss learned about that haunted house until she bought it, everything had gone too smoothly, and it all happened after the Wadi Manor aberration incident.
If the haunted house matter only involved Liss herself, Su Xiao wouldn’t dig deeper. But this event unfolded in a way that seemed smooth but was full of coincidences.
One coincidence could be considered normal, two could be ignored, but a pile of coincidences together couldn’t be overlooked.
As for that mirror ghost, Su Xiao couldn’t figure out how it could help him resolve the Wadi Manor incident. So, he shifted his thinking: perhaps the mirror ghost possessed some artifact that could help him solve the Wadi Manor problem.
To determine if the mirror ghost was aid sent by this world, it was simple: keep observing. If, within the next 10 to 24 hours, the mirror ghost also became entangled with the Duke and Lady Smoke, then it was definitely assistance from this world.
“Oh, I see. Then we’ll go now.”
“Woof.”
Bubu barked and left with Baha, heading to Liss’s new home.
Only Su Xiao and Amu remained in the office. Su Xiao was a bit hungry but didn’t feel like going to the cafeteria, so he took out a large bag of spicy beef jerky made by Xia. Just as he pulled out a strip, he saw Amu staring at him eagerly.
“……”
Su Xiao kept one strip for himself and gave the rest of the large bag of spicy beef jerky to Amu. He then opened the title list to check the Deep Blue Shadow title, which had been upgraded to eight stars.
[Deep Blue Shadow]
Origin: Reincarnation Paradise
Quality: ★★★★★★★★
Category: Title · Rare.
Title Effect 1: Adaptive Power (Passive), can elevate the damage tier of a specific attribute. The hunter can choose from the following damage tiers to enhance.