"Damn it! Horace, that useless fool, can't even send a distress signal?"
Outside carpine's villa, a handsome man in a tailored suit looked at the neatly hung corpses on the streetlights at the entrance, his expression darkening instantly, and his golden eyes filled with rage. He was supposed to protect Carpine, or more precisely, to protect their 'business' with Carpine. Normally, with Horace and the others around, he didn't need to act. His presence was a safeguard, only stepping in when Horace and the others faced an unbeatable enemy. But that required him to detect the enemy in advance.
Unfortunately, Horace couldn't send a signal before his death and was now hanging on a streetlight. If not for a large group of girls claiming to be kidnapped by Carpine escaping to the Church of the EverNight Goddess, or the patrolling police discovering the neatly hung corpses outside the villa, or MI9 being well-informed and alerting him, he would still be in the dark!
But he knew now wasn't the time for impotent rage. He had to enter the villa before other forces reacted. He needed to assess the losses and destroy any evidence.
The handsome man glanced at the corpses above, noting that their spirits had long vanished. He gave up on communicating with the spirits and turned to enter the villa. He stepped over the corpses of servants in the hall and headed straight upstairs. His target was clear: the study at the end of the second-floor corridor.
When he saw the broken vault door in the study, his expression became terrifyingly grim. The vault was empty! carpine's accumulated wealth and the incriminating evidence left by that fool were gone.
"Wah wah wah wah!!"
Suddenly, the handsome man felt a sense of danger. A small figure with a knife dropped from above, aiming straight for his neck.
"Imprison!"
The handsome man raised his left hand, immediately suspending the figure in mid-air. "What on earth is this thing?" He scrutinized the creature, a ghost with a black hood and a chillingly cold curved knife, but its body was semi-transparent. Clearly, it was a ghost. In his understanding, those who could control ghosts were either from the Corpse collector Pathway or the Prisoner Pathway.
"Foolish."
The handsome man sneered. His opponent had placed this ghost here to ambush him, but it was the most foolish move. This ghost could provide clues about the enemy, even if Horace spirit had been erased.
As he thought this, his intuition warned him again. From the corner of his eye, he saw a blinding crimson light shoot out from the shadows.
"Imprison!"
The handsome man's pupils contracted as he raised his right hand towards the figure. The attacking figure was suspended in mid-air, but he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. Despite his quick reaction, his wrist was bitten by a gaunt, red-eyed wild dog.
Rage flared in the handsome man's golden eyes. A mere wild dog had managed to bite him!
"Someone triggered my trap."
In a house in the Hillsdon District, Ashes suddenly spoke.
"How do you know?" Fors, who was cuddling Kurara, asked curiously.
"Because the little slave is dead," Ashes replied casually. He took out a square urn with a glaring crimson color and shook a soul-calling bell. After a moment of silence, Ashes suddenly said, "But he's about to die too."
"Why?"
Xio also asked curiously.
"He got bitten," Ashes put away the urn and glanced at the two. "Just a bite can kill him? Did you poison him?" Xio and Fors exchanged glances, puzzled. They didn't doubt him—after all, Ashes was only a Sequence 9, just recently promoted to Sequence 8 Trickmaster. Even if his opponent was strong, they should be only a Sequence 8. For an official Beyonder of Sequence 8 to kill a wild beyonder Sequence 8 wasn't difficult.
Ashes didn't bother to explain further. Should he explain that the one who bit the enemy was the Dog King, carrying a scarlet corruption capable of killing gods?
Neither Xio nor Fors pressed further. Even as roommates, they knew not to pry into each other's secrets.
"By the way," Fors asked curiously, "Are Kurara and her sisters assassins? I mean, from the Assassin Pathway."
"Yes," Ashes nodded slightly. "Did she tell you?"
His reason for troubling Carpine that night wasn't boredom. He needed to provide Kurara and her sisters, now part of 'this moment,' with opportunities to act. Assassinating scum like Carpine gave them a chance to act without any moral burden.
"Yes." Fors looked puzzled. "Kurara should be a ghost, right? How did you make her an assassin?"
It was understandable for people to become Beyonders by drinking potions. Animals drinking potions to become Beyonders was also understandable. But how could ghosts, without physical bodies, drink potions?
"It's simple," Ashes said calmly. "Pour the potion on their ashes."
"Are you a pervert?!" Fors felt a chill, her skin crawling.
"Is that even possible?" Xio was curious. The idea of ashes drinking potions affecting the spirit was unheard of.
"I tried it," Ashes replied briefly, not keen to elaborate. It wasn't something he found noteworthy.
He was pondering something else—Carpine's last words before his death. "Although he was stalling for time, he probably wasn't lying. He didn't say it directly, but the hints he gave clearly pointed to the royal family. The Beyondes individuals around him confirmed this."
Ashes' eyes flickered as he felt he was onto something important. Based on his experience, ordinary people could offer only 1 soul point. A Sequence 9 Beyonder could offer 5 points, and a Sequence 8, 50 points. Horace provided 5000 points, indicating he was a Sequence 6. This was the most generous and strongest Beyonder Ashes had encountered and killed in this world. The other three provided 500 and 50 points, respectively—two Sequence 7s and one Sequence 8.
Such security rivaled Earl Hall's, far beyond what a trafficker deserved. Initially, Ashes was skeptical of carpine's words, but now he was almost certain. The force supporting Carpine's trafficking and providing protection was the royal family. But why? Why would the royal family support a trafficker and need so many slaves?
Ashes' thoughts paused as he instinctively considered one possibility—related to the Black Emperor?
(End of the chapter)
For the next Extra Chapter this week is 75 Power stones