Chapter 50 The Purified People_1

"That powerful?"

Huai Shi first stared, then immediately beamed with delight, her confidence swelling. This time, without waiting for the enemy to attack again, she launched an offensive of her own.

The length of the Sacrificial Knife wasn't exaggerated, only slightly longer than an ordinary dagger, which suited Huai Shi's Dagger Combat perfectly.

The Rome Dagger Boxing Technique, at LV8, was no longer inferior to the once-famed Red Gloves, reaching the high echelons of the professional domain. It could be said there was not a hint of showiness left, having turned into an unabashed killing technique.

Instantly, Crying Snake felt a wave of dog-day grievance and sorrow.

Having barely survived the bombardment, there was no time to react before getting surrounded.

Originally wanting to reclaim the Sacred Relic gifted by the Lord, and incidentally find a noob to trample on to vent the frustration in one's heart, who could have anticipated that one's own strike would be akin to stirring up a Peppa hornets' nest?

Where did this freak jump out from?

Oddly reactive, unaffected by snake poison, and a Sword Technique so fierce it's frightening, without any Stigma, directly jumping two levels and beating me like a grandson...

"Get lost!"

He howled with all his might, his Bone Blade directly parrying Huai Shi's blade, and turned to flee. But then he saw that a line of people had already taken positions behind him at some point. Seeing him trying to flee, they greeted him with a volley of bullets, seemingly intent on forcing him to a head-on clash with Huai Shi to catch a live prisoner.

Crying Snake was almost laughed to death by anger.

Even if overwhelmed in bladed combat, could he, a Second Stage·Gold Sublimator, really be afraid of a newbie without even a Stigma?

First, take a hostage!

Ignoring Huai Shi's fierce attack, the teeth in his mouth grew rapidly, spewing a stream of clear-water-like venom, which then quickly evaporated in the air, turning into wisps of white mist. Wherever it passed, even rocks were corroded into pits.

Huai Shi was taken aback and hurriedly retreated, but he seized the opportunity, regained the initiative, and reached out desperately with one hand, grabbing the blood-sucking blade edge, while his other hand reached for Huai Shi's neck.

Next, darkness fell before his eyes, and he heard the endless roar of gunfire.

With a knife in one hand, Huai Shi had already drawn the pistol from her vest with her other and pressed it against his forehead, repeatedly pulling the trigger.

The small-caliber bullets couldn't even penetrate his skull, but the severe impact brought on by the bullets was no less devastating than penetrative damage. He was stupefied in an instant, uncertain if his brain had been jolted out.

"Let go!"

Huai Shi pulled out the Sacrificial Knife he was holding onto and chopped down powerfully. As the knife cleaved through the air, she ignited the pale Source of Fire in her hand, adding the heft of an axe onto the blade, and with one cross-cut, she hacked off one of his arms. Then she extracted the blade and chopped again.

She tidily severed both of his arms.

After absorbing enough blood, the damaged Sacrificial Knife quickly started to repair itself. From the shattered Bronze debris, it restored to its original glossy appearance, as though just freshly forged—so much so that it even began to misbehave, attempting to absorb Huai Shi's Source Substance.

"Absorb my Source Substance? Are you kidding me?"

Huai Shi was amused to laughter, thinking even I, a Negative Energy Producer, you dare to absorb? Buddy, have you got it all wrong?

She directly poured into it a mixture of re-materialized Apocalypse and a lot of heart poison, giving that damned thing a good suck.

At first it consumed greedily, and when it felt something amiss and tried to stop, it was grabbed by the Hand of Confinement and forcefully fed. It was like being forced to gulp down chili water, and it did so with gusto.

In the end, the blade trembled violently and emitted a plaintive sound, almost as if begging for mercy.

The pure Negative Energy and an even purer poison of death had truly tormented it plenty, turning it back into a lackluster form, held in Huai Shi's hand like a well-behaved grandson.

With internal affairs settled, it was time to manage external threats.

Huai Shi picked up the Sacrificial Knife, turned the blade around, and went on a fierce chopping spree at Crying Snake. The terrifying weight bestowed by the Hand of Confinement was not inferior to an axe, and soon, Crying Snake, lying on the ground, was twitching and then stopped moving.

It can only be said that a tiger that falls in the plains can be bullied by a dog, as the Gold Stage master who could've easily beaten Huai Shi in a direct confrontation was taken care of with missiles and incendiary bombs in succession, and now was beaten up by Huai Shi, who, with Raven's surreptitious provocation, even scraped off the three horns on his head.

That stuff was valuable.

The essence of the Crying Snake Stigma's toxin was inside; with a bit of refinement, it could be made into an antidote against most neurotoxins.

"Should fetch a few thousand, I guess," Raven paused, then added a unit, "per gram."

After hearing this, Huai Shi, who had been slightly hesitant, decisively took the risk.

Such good stuff!

These high-stage Sublimators truly are treasures all over!

After Huai Shi had finished, the Suppression Troops that had been waiting around for a long time rushed over and put layer upon layer of shackles on the barely alive Crying Snake on the ground.

First were the manacles that bound the flesh, then came the Explosion Collar that blocked the Stigma. Following that, several injections of red, green, and varied potions were shot directly into the carotid artery. In the end, a nail seven to eight centimeters long was hammered in at the base of the neck, making Huai Shi's eyes twitch wildly.

Is that really necessary?

The robust brothers of the Suppression Troops all looked indifferent, signaling that this was merely standard procedure. Huai Shi wondered whether Director Fu was trying to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, subtly warning her not to mess around in the Current Circumstances.

It seemed there was only one fish that escaped the net, so Huai Shi searched the ruins again. This time, nothing jumped out to backstab her.

Unfortunately, she didn't find a trace of King Ocean, and not even a corpse.

Logically speaking, someone as weak as him, who wasn't even a Sublimator, should have died outright in the missile explosion, but Huai Shi still felt doubts: that guy had a tough lifeline; even Red Gloves hadn't killed him, and now that no corpse was visible, it was hard to guarantee he wasn't hiding somewhere, planning to make trouble.

From the woods in the distance, Raven whistled and looked toward another hill.

As soon as the missiles began to fall from the sky, the lurking figure on the ground had already turned and run, like an old farmer who stole watermelons and got shelled, abandoning his companions, fleeing in panic, without even looking back.

It could only be said that King Ocean's ability to sense danger and react swiftly was indeed far stronger than any scheming that was virtually nonexistent.

Watching from the sidelines the whole time, Raven saw everything but said nothing. He simply shook his wings and a feather fell.

The feather drifted down and landed on the nape of his exposed neck, dissolving like diluted ink and turning into a sunburnt mark.

What kind of fish can be caught with such bait in this quagmire?

He was very curious.

.

.

"Well done,"

Ai Qing looked at the Crying Snake trapped in the cage with a calm gaze, "No, I should say, we caught a big fish."

Director Fu looked at the charred ruins with a sigh of helplessness, the Astronomical Society's air strike might have felt gratifying, but it was the Special Affairs Department that had to clean up the mess afterward.

He could only lament that some people really had tough luck; otherwise, not even a single person could have been found to take a statement.

He really couldn't understand the hardcore logic of Ai Qing's Russian Federation style.

However, he had to thank her for her reckless and excessive decision, which successfully avoided a fierce ambush. Just the remnants of those monstrous things at the scene were enough to give one a toothache.

What gave him an even bigger headache was: how did so many Border Variants appear in the Current Circumstances?

These creatures were now formidable enough to engage a modern military in direct combat...

Irritated, he lit a cigarette, "What the hell is customs doing?"

"Although I would love to give those good-for-nothings a piece of my mind, sadly, these things have nothing to do with customs."

Ai Qing sighed regretfully, proposing a new hypothesis, "What if these creatures weren't smuggled in from the Border but were raised right here in the Current Circumstances?"

"Hm?" Director Fu was momentarily stunned, then furrowed his brows.

If that were the case, it would explain where all the money and resources the Savior Association had been scavenging went, and what they did with the privileges they desperately sought from the upper echelons.

But it also meant that the gravity of the situation had escalated once again.

The irony was, after all these years, the shadow of the Savior Association had been silently growing along the coastal regions, and the Special Affairs Department had been none the wiser until it was inadvertently exposed by a Border terrorist organization like Green Day...

One could imagine that in the shadows, someone was constantly covering it up, shielding them to allow their robust growth...

What was more troubling was that Border Variants weren't creatures like chickens, ducks, pigs, or sheep that could simply be fed grass; their environmental requirements were even more demanding than some protected species. Whether it was air, food, or even the depth of their habitat, all could influence their development and growth.

Aside from Astronomical Society's now-sealed giant biological experimentation organ 'Existence Institute,' there were very few institutions capable of such feats.

And coincidentally, among them was an organization known for its ability to raise Border Variants...

"—The Purified People."

Nearly groaning, Director Fu massaged his head and uttered the name, "Damn, looks like we've got a real problem on our hands. Can we be sure?"

"Don't we have a ready test subject?"

Ai Qing lifted her chin toward the cage holding the Crying Snake Sublimator, her gaze growing profound, "If it really is those lunatics, you surely won't get anything out of him. It's more useful to recycle the waste.

The moment The Purified People make use of external powers to achieve sublimation, their souls are marked by their Lord. From then on, everything, including life and body, down to a drop of blood, a piece of flesh, must belong to the ultimate master.

In the Paradise of Bliss in Hell, whether it be believers or envoys, all living beings are merely stored provisions. Once deemed worthless, it is time for the Superiors to feast at the nocturnal banquet..."

As she spoke, she looked toward Director Fu, his expression shifted, and after a long while, he sighed helplessly and waved his hand, "Do as you please, I'll sign off on it later."

So, Ai Qing retracted her gaze, satisfied, and beckoned to Huai Shi.

Off to the side, where Huai Shi who was in the midst of slacking off, jumped with fright. After checking his surroundings and confirming Ai Qing was calling him, he instinctively felt uneasy.

"Um, Old Pal," he hesitated on the spot, not wanting to approach, "Even if I'm a brick of the Astronomical Society, being moved around every day doesn't seem right, right?"

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to dive into boiling water or walk through fire."

Ai Qing pointed to his pocket where the Sacrificial Knife was kept, "Give me that object."

Huai Shi hesitated for a moment, but eventually took out the knife, turned it around, and handed it to her with the handle first, "Be careful, this thing is pretty sinister."

"Just a Level D Border Relic. The risks are within an acceptable range."

Ai Qing took out a handkerchief, carelessly wrapped it around the knife handle, and took it in her hand. Once the object left Huai Shi's hand, it started to act up again, trembling and emitting a hair-raising hum.

Ai Qing braced herself with her cane to rise from the wheelchair, holding the knife in her other hand with an expressionless face, and stepped forward. Through the bars of the cage, the blade plunged into the Crying Snake Sublimator's throat.

Crack!