Yu Xuan threaded his way through the factory, twisting left and right. The scorching forge furnaces turned the very air searing. Frost crept across his body's surface, forming a shell of ice armor before his expression eased.
He made his way to a hidden chamber deep inside. After a long wait, Zhou Xian arrived — his right sleeve dangling empty, expression flat. "He agreed?"
"Mm." Yu Xuan nodded, a trace of satisfaction in his voice. "In the end, he's just a refugee. He doesn't have the leverage to resist."
The remark darkened Zhou Xian's face considerably. "Are you implying that my inability to deal with him was a matter of competence?"
Yu Xuan shrugged. He felt little deference toward a tiger fallen from the mountain. "That's not what I ant."
Zhou Xian smothered his anger and spoke coldly. "Once you've retrieved the Spatial Crystal and the stolen Black Buddha power, kill Su Chen imdiately."
Yu Xuan blinked in surprise. "Weren't we supposed to use him to corrupt Yuan Chenyang?"
"That was a lie." Zhou Xian sneered. "You have to dangle a next step before him, or the initial demands won't go smoothly."
'Sly old fox.' Yu Xuan cursed internally. He asked cautiously, "Is this... the Priest's order?"
"Naturally. He desecrated your god. That's a capital offense." Zhou Xian nodded.
"Fair enough." Yu Xuan showed no excessive zealotry, though he voiced concern. "He's already a 2nd-tier professional. And he's likely a Gale Hunter. Even with an ambush, killing him won't be simple."
Zhou Xian flung sothing at him. "Catch!"
The object ca fast and hard. Yu Xuan's face shifted. He shot out his right hand.
BANG!
He staggered back several steps, searing pain radiating through his palm. Yu Xuan gritted his teeth and looked down — a black, diamond-shaped crystal, glistening all the more sinister against the blood on his hand.
"This is..." Yu Xuan recognized it imdiately. Surprise gave way to delight. "With this, there's no problem."
"Get out." Zhou Xian waved dismissively, bearing none of his forr poise as Director of Internal Affairs.
Yu Xuan was about to turn when Zhou Xian's face twisted viciously. "You idiot — you didn't even notice the tail you brought here!"
Yu Xuan froze. Before he could process the words, an explosion thundered from outside.
"Move!" Zhou Xian didn't hesitate — didn't so much as glance at Yu Xuan — and bolted.
"STOP!" A furious roar erupted from outside. Yu Xuan's heart hamred. He fled through a hidden tunnel.
......
"He's out..." Su Chen tracked the faint ntal imprint, staying well clear of the cordon, circling along the periter.
BOOM!
Thunder cracked across the sky. Brilliant azure lightning lit up the distance, joined by soaring cyan flas.
"Zhou Xian was in there too..."
Su Chen pulled his gaze back. Zhou Xian was beyond his reach for now. If they caught him, great. If not — nothing he could do.
"Over here — soone!"
Explosions echoed in the distance. Yu Xuan's scalp tingled. The periter crawled with Supervision Departnt combat airships, searchlights sweeping in every direction.
'Was it really who led them here?'
The airships seed to have arrived nearly simultaneously with Zhou Xian, but a siege this thorough couldn't have been thrown together on the spot. It was clearly preditated.
His reflexes were sharp. The factory district offered ample cover. He lted into a shadow.
'How was I made?'
Anxiety gnawed at him. He'd been buried deep, only recently activated. How could he possibly have been tagged the mont he moved? There was only one answer.
"Su Chen reported ? How dare he!" Yu Xuan couldn't fathom it. They were both Evil God cultists. Both had skeletons in the closet.
If Su Chen reported him, hadn't the man considered his own exposure?
"Damn it, damn it..." Yu Xuan's fury spiraled. His pupils darkened to black. "The mont I escape, you're dead!"
"Even if I'm caught today, I'll drag you down with . If we burn, we burn together!"
What puzzled him, though, was that nobody seed to be specifically targeting him.
The fleeing factory workers had muddied the situation. Gradually, he slipped past the periter.
'How is this possible?' Yu Xuan second-guessed himself. If Su Chen had tipped them off, soone would have been watching him in particular.
The deploynt pattern looked more like the Supervision Departnt didn't know exactly who was inside — hence the diffuse coverage.
'Regardless, Su Chen is involved.' Yu Xuan caught his breath, stopping in a narrow alley. He glanced back at a distant patrol airship and exhaled with relief.
'Made it out—'
The thought hadn't finished forming when every hair on his body stood on end. A deafening thunderclap erupted overhead. The world went crimson. The air reeked of burnt ozone.
He jerked his head skyward. A writhing bolt of scarlet lightning — thick as an arm, several ters long — was coiling directly above him. One look, and his blood ran cold.
But the lightning wasn't aid at him. A shadow burst from the side — wielding a long, whip-like cable of blue, sheathed in howling wind, swinging straight for his skull.
It seed calculated to the millisecond. The crimson bolt descended at the precise instant the iron whip ca crashing down.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK — the Azure Cable drew the lightning into itself. The two energies fused like living things, and in a heartbeat the weapon was wreathed in scarlet arcs. A killing intent beyond all defense.
Everything happened in a fraction of a second. Yu Xuan's pupils contracted against the blinding glare, but his instincts were fast. Both hands thrust forward. Freezing wind howled, forming a barrier of frost.
SNAP!
The Azure Cable's tip detonated against the barrier.
CRACK!
The ice shield shattered on impact. Shards of frozen crystal sprayed outward.
"Who... WHO?!" Yu Xuan's eyes flew wide, desperate to see his attacker. His hand plunged into his coat, grasping for sothing — but it was too late.
BOOM!
Crimson lightning exploded outward, engulfing Yu Xuan's body in an instant. The thunderclap made even Su Chen flinch.
[Path of the Hunt: targets completed — 2]
"Whipped him straight to charcoal?" Su Chen stared at the blackened corpse, the stench of scorched flesh thick in the air. Even he was stunned. He glanced at the iron whip still crackling with residual scarlet arcs.
Su Chen was no stranger to ambushes. Experience had taught him to strike at the precise mont his target's guard was lowest.
Against a high-2nd-tier professional, he'd held nothing back. Wrath of the Gale supercharged the whip while Crimson Thunder Strike called down the bolt — both layered on top of each other for absurd lethality.
But the result exceeded even his projections. He hadn't needed a second swing.
"That's it?" Su Chen shook his head. Then: "The noise was serious. Ti to go."
His peripheral vision caught the charred corpse. He charged over and searched the body with expert efficiency — then vanished without a trace.
Shortly after, a patrol airship touched down. Several Supervision Guards deployed in formation, approaching the scene with caution.
............
Climbing back through the window, Su Chen finally exhaled.
"Another one down..."
He straightened his clothes, thinking aloud. "Yu Xuan died near the cult's hideout. The official verdict should be straightforward enough. But the Black Buddha side will almost certainly suspect . No telling whether they'll co with assassins or informants next."
"If only my Storage Space weren't so small, and there'd been more ti — making Yu Xuan disappear entirely might have bought so breathing room."
"But at least I got this..."
Su Chen opened his palm. Clutched in it was a black, diamond-shaped crystal.
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