Even when she died, Hu Wei still had a look of disbelief.
Perhaps she still wanted to provoke Gu Nan and wait for an opportunity to counterattack, but unfortunately, she no longer had this opportunity.
Gu Nan never felt that there was any point in sadistically killing someone. Anyhow, the end result was all the same. If he really wanted to make an example out of Hu Wei to deter others from attacking him, then killing her entire family would be much more effective than torturing her to death.
After killing Ye Qinglan and Hu Wei, Gu Nan turned his attention to Lu Li again.
This young master of the Lu family cleverly used three consecutive Substitution Techniques to instantly run 500 meters away, where not even his shadow could be seen.
Gu Nan's lips curled up, but Lu Li wasn't worth paying attention to.
Right now, a part of his mind was on the Chain Event, while the other part… was thinking about how to fulfill his own promise.
Gu Nan walked down the steps from the VIP section, holding the blood-stained golden eagle in his hand. Its left eye seemed to be an even brighter shade of red than before, looking even more demonic.
'I'll visit the Lu family first… If my guess is correct, then it's about time the mastermind shows up.' Gu Nan pondered for a while and determined his next move.
There was still a group of spectators watching the situation from below.
When they saw Gu Nan, someone who didn't fear death actually shouted, "Gu Nan, you killed Chairman Tian. Rot in hell!"
This voice contained a clear accent, as if the speaker had come from a village. This was probably one of Tian Tianrong's heartfelt supporters.
Gu Nan turned his head to look but just saw a large crowd. It was impossible to find the person who spoke up just now—this was the wisdom of the everyday citizens. In any case, it wasn't like the law could punish the entire crowd.
However…
A trace of a sneer appeared on Gu Nan's face. The shadows under his feet suddenly spread out, turning into a huge palm and slapping down directly in that direction.
Bam!
The palm instantly smashed dozens of people into pulp. The person who spoke up just now got one thing wrong—Gu Nan didn't need to find the speaker at all. If he killed everyone, then the speaker wouldn't be able to escape either.
...
When Gu Nan reached Lu family again, the Evil God Temple had already given him feedback.
｢Event Complete: Seize the Eye of Maes. Total Evil Value obtained: 10｣
Another 10 Evil Value arrived, bringing Gu Nan's current Evil Value to 130. And the new event hadn't appeared yet; it would likely be triggered only when he investigated the Eye of Maes further.
Gu Nan's pace was considered fast, but the news of the dueling arena seemed to spread faster than he could walk.
As soon as he arrived at the Lu family's door, Lu Xinyu had already come out to greet him.
This gentle-tempered woman who seemed like she could calmly deal with anything she encountered had a rare and slightly stiff expression at this time.
After she brought Gu Nan inside, she reluctantly exchanged a few pleasantries before letting Gu Nan enter the inner hall by himself. "The two elders are already waiting for you."
"Two?" Gu Nan raised his eyebrows and then revealed a quirky smile.
When Gu Nan walked into the inner hall, he really did see two people sitting in front of him, but there were three cups of tea on the table, all steaming hot and just poured.
Of the two elders, one was the head of the Lu family, Lu Yiming, who had the title of Spiritual Elder, while the other was someone who originally shouldn't have appeared here.
Xu Yuanjun.
Lu Yiming told Lu Li many things, but he left out one thing—not only did Xu Yuanjun visit Heavenly Enterprise Star, but he also never left.
"So you two old men are in cahoots." Gu Nan chuckled and shook his head, plopping himself down across from the two. "No wonder he sent me a note like that."
Gu Nan still carried the heavy stench of blood, but the two elders didn't seem to mind. They just smiled without a word.
After a long time, it was Lu Yiming who spoke first, "I hope that Mr. Gu is satisfied with this gift."
Gu Nan looked at these two sitting together, and only then did he understand the whole story.
He used the Lu family to look for clues on Maes, so of course Lu Yiming knew about that word. And as for news about Lin Yunyun, Xu Yuanjun was probably the one who brought that.
After he killed the Seven Stars Team back then, Gu Nan remained on Ruby Fish Star for a good period of time. During that time, many people investigated him, hoping to gather information on him.
It wouldn't be hard to connect Gu Nan and Lin Yunyun, and then find out Lin Yunyun's former "hobby" from there.
After all, she had already been involved in drugs a long time ago, so investigators would always be able to find traces.
The word Maes, Lin Yunyun's hobby, and Lu Yiming's personal experience with the Tian family back then made it easy for him to connect the word Maes to the drug now banned in the military.
"As the saying goes, an outsider can see things more clearly than those involved in the situation. Mr. Gu is right in the middle of these events. That's why the true meaning of the word 'Maes' didn't occur to you," Xu Yuanjun also spoke up at this time.
Gu Nan nodded slightly this time, agreeing with the other party's view.
He had always approached this event from a conventional point of view but failed to remember that Lin Yunyun was the key to the mission. So the specific meaning behind the word Maes was bound to be related to her in some way.
Thus, he ran around in a circle trying to look for people and places connected to that word but never found anything.
These two old men, on the other hand, only had a few pieces of information at hand, so they could connect the dots and arrive at the correct answer after a little thought.
Gu Nan then looked at Lu Yiming. "Elder Lu is also a heartless person. You sent over such a good disciple for me to kill, just like that?"
Since the masterminds were these two old men, then the people who instigated the conflict that ultimately escalated to a battle between Gu Nan and Hu Wei were naturally these two as well.
Lu Yiming helplessly shook his head and said very straightforwardly, "I've already helped her set the stage. In the end, she simply wasn't skilled enough. In that case, this old man can't do anything about that either."
Gu Nan looked at the two with some amusement. These two old men were very different in character.
Xu Yuanjun deserved the description of "devious old man," while Lu Yiming, who was known as the Spiritual Elder and should've been a calculating strategist, was more like a child.
But no matter how childish he was, he could still scheme when it came down to it.
These two people had gone to great lengths to arrange such a scheme because they wanted to be seen as a supporter of the winning side, no matter which side won the final battle.
Right now, Gu Nan killed Hu Wei and Ye Qinglan. Even though these two elders instigated the conflict, the fact that they sent Gu Nan exactly the item he wanted was undeniably a big help.
Even the idea of a duel was proposed by the Tian family and had nothing to do with these two, so they could avoid attracting Gu Nan's ire.
On the flip side, if it was Gu Nan who died at Hu Wei's hands, then these two would've helped restrict Gu Nan's moves by making him agree to the duel, which naturally helped as well.
In short, no matter the outcome, they would be on the winner's side.
There's a good reason why old families can still stand imposingly without collapsing, even today.
"No matter what, I'm grateful for your help this time, so if you have any requests in the future, just ask." Gu Nan finished his cup of tea and stood up.
The two elders also got up hurriedly. Gu Nan's words were exactly what they had been waiting for—they went to all this trouble to arrange this scheme in order to obtain Gu Nan's promise.
In their opinion, Gu Nan was the kind of person who acted upon his emotions. He was extremely talented and also extremely temperamental. Such people tend to value promises the most.
Of course, they wouldn't understand that a player's promise to an NPC was no better than nonsense. It wasn't a big deal at all for a player to promise one thing while simultaneously breaking that promise behind the NPC's back…
But if there had to be a promise that players would always honor, then it would certainly be: "If I promised to kill your entire family, then I'll definitely kill your entire family."
Devotee's Game System Inspired Note
» This section of the chapter is a Fan based created system to mock-up or simulate the 'Status Information' of our MC - Gu Nan. This implies that you are free to skip reading this and continue your journey onto the next chapter.
» All catalog data below is a summary of various information achieved by Gu Nan that corresponds till the end of the related chapter and is compiled into a singular 'Status Screen.' Additionally, the invented system below would continue to evolve as we progress and learn more about the novel itself.
MC's Status Information
Name: Gu Nan
Current Location: Lu family's residence, Heavenly Enterprise Star
Current Soul Location: N/A
Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫
Advancement Direction: Agility Type
Current Evil God Rank: Tier 3
Equivalent/Current Martial Art: Prodigious Realm
◈ Comprehension of Innate ability: Domain Stage
Chosen Core Skill: The Law of Shadow
Current Evil God Temple Quest:
→ Main Mission Objective/s:
-— Evil Event: Seize the Eye of Maes. - Evil God Temple Issued
◈ Status: Cleared
→ Side Quest Objective/s:
-— None. - N/A
◈ Status: N/A
Current Evil Points: 100
Overall Evil Points: 3875, Overall Evil Value: 130
Core Skill Acquired
— Shadow. ｢Also known precisely as 'The law of Shadow' - its one of the highest-ranked laws in the game. Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Normal Skills Acquired:
— Resistance. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Your body will resist damage, and any damage taken will be reduced by 50%｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
Exclusive Skills Acquired:
— Deceitful Steps. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Movement Speed increased by 30%. Attack Speed increased by 50%｣
— Power of Shadows. [ LVL 3 ] ｢Allows the players to activate the skill "Hidden Shadows" at LVL 1 and unlocks the skill "Shadow Form" at LVL 2. If the 'Power of Shadows' reached LVL 3, the player will be able to use the 'Law of Shadow' to a much finer degree.｣
▸Hidden Shadows. ｢The power to manipulate shadows to a fine degree.｣
▸Shadow Form. ｢An incomparable handy skill that allows the player to manipulate shadows to create things, like weapons and armor. At the highest level of mastery, it could even create a humanoid clone.｣
Equipment being worn
→ Armor
-— Dawn Sage's Robe. ｢Basic level defense. If you are not attacked within 3 seconds, you will receive the "Praise of Dawn" effect.｣
→ Weapon
-— Blade of the Sanguine King. ｢High attack. Ignores external defense. Enhanced sharpness. Triggers the effect "Curse of Blood" on hit.｣
◈ Curse of Blood. ｢This is a cursed divine weapon. Whenever your attack hits your opponent, you will take equal damage.｣
→ Accessories - Facial Accessories, Necklace, Earrings
-— Observer Eyepiece. ｢An eyepiece that have a fixed Tier 2 magic 'Insight' inscribe in it.｣
-— Dragon Heart Pendant. ｢Allows players to activate the skill "Dragon Power". This skill cannot be upgraded｣
-— Shadow Earrings. ｢Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Equipment Skills Acquired:
-— Insight. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Ability to obtain high-precision data analysis when looking at people or objects.｣
-— Dragon Power. ｢Greatly enhances the player's strength and physique. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes｣
-— Praise of Dawn. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Increases self-healing ability by 300%｣
Item/s owned:
→ Four Element Crossbow. ｢Was used in Chapter 9-104.｣