# Chapter 52: The Jester's Advance
Half an hour later, a minivan stopped in front of the auction house. On the rear window of this minivan was a sticker advertising: '24-Hour Sewer Service.'
Creak, the harsh sound of the door opening came as the Second Brother of the National Football Team was the first to jump out of the minivan.
"Big Brother, is this really okay? You know something about Brother Ruthless's temper."
"It should be fine. Compared to Brother Ruthless, the Red Jester is even worse. That guy is different from us..."
The Big Brother of the National Football Team quickly shut his mouth, as if afraid of letting something slip.
"Big Brother, the escape route has been planned."
"Mm, let's go see Brother Ruthless."
The Second Brother of the National Football Team grinned with a lecherous smile.
"He's already here. Look over there."
The Big Brother raised his chin, and the other two looked toward the auction house. Su Xiao was standing at the entrance.
The three brothers hesitated for a moment before finally walking toward Su Xiao.
"What the hell... what's going on here?"
The Third Brother of the National Football Team examined the row of sandbags at the auction house entrance, as well as the gang members behind those sandbags holding automatic rifles or rocket launchers.
"Come in and talk."
Su Xiao had Dragon-Slaying Flash hanging at his waist. It was now 8:30, with only half an hour left until the Red Jester's attack.
The three brothers of the National Football Team followed Su Xiao cautiously. Su Xiao's footsteps suddenly stopped as he stood at the auction house entrance, his gaze fixed on the darkness in the distance.
"The timing has been moved up. Very much in line with the Jester's style."
"What?"
The three brothers were somewhat confused.
"That."
Su Xiao pointed into the darkness, where faint footsteps could be heard.
"What the... what kind of thing is that? A human?"
The Big Brother frowned as he looked at the figure in the darkness, a vague sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
"I won't explain the specifics to you. Prepare to defend the auction. If this place falls, both you and I will suffer a -3 penalty to all attributes."
Just as Su Xiao finished speaking, a gunshot rang out from the rooftop of the auction house. Before the sound of the gunshot even arrived, the humanoid figure in the darkness had already been shattered, blue blood splattering out from the darkness.
"Clan members, occupy this place. This will be our breeding ground, a place with abundant water (Dark Continent language)."
A three-meter-tall unknown creature emerged from the darkness, and the unknown creatures behind it were clearly a head shorter.
"Damn it. The Red Jester really is going to attack the auction house."
The three brothers of the National Football Team stood in a row, assuming combat stances. By now, there was no need for Su Xiao to explain the reasons; everything was abundantly clear.
[Prompt: The auction house is about to be attacked by creatures from the Dark Continent. Please defend the auction house as quickly as possible. If the auction house falls, the main mission will fail.]
As the Reincarnation Paradise prompt appeared, all contractors knew things had taken a turn for the worse. The Red Jester was being cursed out in the derivative world communication platform, and even Bason and Mr. A, who had previously spoken up for him, were caught in the crossfire.
At this moment, Mr. A was not far from the auction house, but he didn't dare show his face.
It wasn't just Mr. A. Most contractors had rushed to the vicinity of the auction house to observe. The moment the prompt appeared, they all charged toward the auction house simultaneously.
"Roar!!"
A dense chorus of howls came as a large group of unknown creatures burst out from the dark streets. Some slower contractors were immediately surrounded and attacked. In an instant, half of the several dozen contractors were overwhelmed by the unknown creatures.
These unknown creatures seemed to appear out of thin air, not having been hidden in the nearby streets beforehand.
"Get out of the way!"
A burly man wielding a war hammer swung with all his might, smashing an unknown creature into pulp. But these humanoid unknown creatures showed no fear of death, their two claws almost ignoring the burly man's defenses, each strike tearing his flesh.
Pfft, pfft.
Blood and flesh flew as dozens of unknown creatures surrounded the war hammer-wielding man, clawing and biting from all sides, completely ignoring his attacks. This situation was utterly hopeless.
After more than ten seconds, this second-rank contractor killed a few unknown creatures before being torn apart. The unknown creatures began fighting over the burly man's corpse, devouring it completely in moments—not even bones remained. Only a pool of blood and a glowing red Scarlet Card were left on the ground. This was a Scarlet Card that shouldn't have dropped, yet there it was.
This scene played out around the auction house. After more than ten seconds, a total of thirty-one contractors fought their way through, half of them wounded. The other contractors were overwhelmed by the thousands of unknown creatures. Even if they hadn't charged toward the auction house, they couldn't have escaped.
Su Xiao surveyed the situation around him. They were surrounded on all sides, and the auction house had become the only line of defense.
As he retreated into the auction house, the three brothers of the National Football Team also withdrew inside, along with the contractors who had fought their way out.
Gunfire from the rooftop became a continuous roar. It was Weini, the turret. Her firepower was exceptionally ferocious, unknown creatures being shattered by bullets one after another. In less than half a minute, over a hundred unknown creatures had died.
On the rooftop, Weini ejected an empty magazine. Her fair arm moved in a blur as a new magazine was loaded.
Pulling the bolt of that oversized sniper rifle, Weini's slender fingers rapidly pulled the trigger.
Bang, bang, bang...
The impact from the bullets leaving the barrel spread outward, her two blue braids blowing behind her as orange-yellow shell casings fell at her feet.
"Die, hahaha..."
Weini was laughing wildly, unrestrained laughter, but the dense gunfire drowned out her voice.
When she unleashed her firepower, she could forget her troubles, forget the misfortunes of the past, forget the ground covered in corpses, and the bloodstains on her hands from that time.
If there was any solace, it was slaughter—killing until numb, killing until the troubles were forgotten.
Weini's firepower was indeed strong, but she couldn't stop the tens of thousands of unknown creatures attacking from all directions. There were simply too many.
After Su Xiao and the others retreated into the auction house, the gang members stationed at the entrance almost immediately lost their position.
"Help!"
"Is... is this a nightmare?"
"Ah!! My hand!"
Screams and the sound of tearing flesh came one after another. Witnessing this, Su Xiao's expression wasn't good. Things were more troublesome than anticipated.
He was confident he could fight his way out, but protecting the auction house was nearly impossible. The reason was the sheer number of unknown creatures and the many points that needed defending.
This auction house was just a concrete and steel structure. Not to mention the front and back doors, the dozens of windows alone were enough to make things hopeless.
Su Xiao excelled at combat, but he wasn't good at defensive positioning. No one could be omnipotent.
"We're dead this time."
A contractor with a bitten-off arm had a pale face. The situation had changed too suddenly, giving him no time to prepare.
"Is there anyone with a barrier master or similar profession?"
The Big Brother of the National Football Team shouted, but no one responded. There probably wasn't one.
By now, the unknown creatures had already reached the front entrance of the auction house. The contractors all understood the situation. Letting these things inside would mean more than just mission failure—they would all die.
A dozen or so contractors stepped forward to block the main entrance, while the remaining contractors rushed to the second floor or the back door to prevent the unknown creatures from breaking in through the second-floor windows or back entrance. This type of auction house building had no windows on the first floor.
"There's no choice. We'll have to 'take a loss.'"
A female contractor stood still, sporting a Mohawk hairstyle and wearing a black leather jacket.
Her name was Fangui, a member of the Hunter Alliance. This alliance was extremely unpopular within Reincarnation Paradise because they often killed other contractors to obtain Scarlet Cards.
Fangui reluctantly took out a purple-quality scroll. After hesitating for a moment, she opened the scroll.