Chapter 139: Life is a Disease
Bang~!
A dull thud resounded.
The tall female orc, like a rampaging wild bull, directly slammed someone, sending them flying four or five meters away.
The other two turned their heads to look at their companion who had been sent flying, showing shocked expressions on their faces.
What's going on?
So fierce.
"Kill her, something's off!"
The person who had been sent flying staggered up, clutching their chest, and said.
The other two also turned around, immediately drawing daggers from their waists, and charged at the female orc from both sides.
They planned to flank her, kill her, and collect the blood.
Duke's expression instantly became serious, and he subconsciously blew a kiss, lowering his center of gravity, and pulled an iron sword from behind his waist.
He watched the two charging figures warily.
Whoosh~!
Just as the two were getting closer, almost upon him.
A sharp whistling sound pierced the air.
Pfft~!
An arrow shot from the distance, instantly piercing through one of their bodies, protruding from the front.
The figure in the middle staggered a few steps.
Looking down at the arrow sticking out of his body, the other person's face changed drastically.
At this moment, the sound of wings flapping came from the sky again.
A black-feathered eagle swooped down from the sky.
The man raised his arm to block.
With a tearing sound, the sharp eagle claws left deep marks on the leather armor.
"Ah!" Duke, still disguised as a woman, shouted loudly.
He rushed forward, swinging the iron sword with wide arcs, blowing kisses and winking while yelling loudly.
Whoosh whoosh~!
Arrows continued to shoot from a distance.
Wu Heng and his team also quickly charged from afar, swiftly taking action and killing the enemies.
......
The mission turned out to be simpler than expected.
Duke handed the veil back to Wu Heng, "Captain, here you go."
Wu Heng took it and put it away.
This thing had cost him thousands of silver coins, yet Duke didn't seem to care.
Still too young.
Does he think opportunities to openly disguise as a girl come by often?
"Drag the bodies over here!" Wu Heng ordered.
Duke and Marta dragged the bodies over.
Three corpses were neatly placed in front of them.
Wu Heng cast [Speak with Dead], "Do you have any other members?"
"There are other members," the corpse responded.
It's not just the three of them.
Moreover, the word "members" sounded more like a team or gang.
Wu Heng tried asking, "What's the name of your organization?"
"Blood Worship Cult!"
Damn, there really is an organization.
Wu Heng looked at Duke and Marta, and both shook their heads, indicating they hadn't heard of it.
Seems like they aren't well-known around here.
"How many people are in your organization?" Wu Heng continued asking.
"Including us, there are eight people in total."
Not a large number.
It should be a newly formed small cult.
That would explain why they're sneaking around, killing people everywhere.
Compared to other cults that spread bizarre doctrines, those who kill randomly like this are even more detestable.
"Why are you killing people?"
"To collect blood."
Wu Heng wanted to ask what they were collecting blood for, but he felt it didn't matter.
He continued asking, "Where is your cult located?"
"In the north, in a separate house."
The five questions finished, and with a thud, the corpse lay back down.
Blood continued to flow from the wounds.
Wu Heng proceeded to wake the second corpse and directly asked, "What's a distinguishing feature of the house you're hiding in?"
The corpse responded, "There's a red crescent moon symbol on the wall."
"What's the name of your leader?"
"I don't know."
Don't know?
"What's your leader's level?"
"Level 10."
"Besides the Blood Worship Cult members, do you have any other helpers?"
"No..."
"You..."
After questioning the second corpse, Wu Heng moved on to the third.
[Speak with Dead] retrieves memories, but sometimes, people have different observations of the same question, so their answers might vary.
He repeatedly asked about the number of people in the cult and the leader's level.
It was confirmed that this was just a newly formed small cult, and there were still five people in their base, including their leader.
A Level 9 or 10 practitioner.
The leader was more likely to be Level 10, because the last time at the tavern, the one they killed was a Level 9 wanted criminal. This one was already a cult leader, so their level should be higher.
"Captain, what should we do next?" Duke asked.
"Let's head north."
......
Wu Heng and his team followed the intel and arrived at the gathering area in the northern outskirts of the city.
They stood quietly in a dark alley, waiting.
The black-feathered eagle circled twice in the sky.
The little ghost, Xiaoxiao, returned from afar, still in its invisible state.
Sharing its vision, they located the enemy's house with the red crescent mark.
The room was small and dim.
Inside, five people were gathered, holding flowers of fresh blood, murmuring something like a prayer, and then drinking it down.
They displayed satisfied, intoxicated expressions.
There was also a basement, where three women were held in an iron cage, along with unprocessed corpses.
It seemed that more than just the three who had gone out hunting earlier were involved.
Wu Heng frowned, thought for a moment, glanced at the building across from them, and said, "There are five people inside. Duke, come with me. Marta, find a spot to keep watch. If anyone approaches or tries to escape, kill them."
"Understood!"
Both nodded.
Wu Heng led Duke and two skeletons toward the house.
As they got closer, a voice came from behind the door, "Who's there?"
Wu Heng responded, "We're nearby residents. We heard there's a Red Veil Tavern here. Is it nearby?"
"Keep walking forward, it's not here."
"What? I didn't hear that!"
Wu Heng gestured to the others behind him.
Duke braced himself, then charged at the door.
Bang~! Creak!
The intense impact made the door creak painfully.
Bagdong immediately replaced Duke's position, kicking the door with a bang, and the shaky wooden door collapsed backward.
A strong smell of blood hit them in the face.
"Ah~! Damn it, who are you?" Angry roars came from inside the room.
Thump thump thump~!
Three figures, as agile as leopards, lunged at them from the doorway.
Bang~!
Bang bang bang!
The team simultaneously pulled their triggers, firing a barrage of bullets at the two figures in front.
The figures that had leaped into the air fell to the ground, bleeding profusely.
Then, bullets continued to be fired at the remaining figures.
Whoosh whoosh~!
The remaining people in the room moved rapidly, leaving afterimages in the dim light.
Dodging bullets?
"Damn it, fight your way out!"
"It's the Iron Guard Knights! They've found us!"
"Fight your way out, the blood grants us immortality."
The figures in the room rushed toward the door.
They were instantly shot through by bullets and collapsed, groaning in pain.
Suddenly, a figure from the rear quickly approached the doorway.
The gun was raised, aimed at the approaching figure.
However, the next second...
Whoosh~!
The figure instantly transformed into a cloud of black smoke, bypassing the team and rushing out the door, drifting into the distance.
"Follow him."
......
The trigger was held down, unleashing a stream of bullets toward the black smoke.
Pfft pfft pfft~!
The dense bullets penetrated the black smoke, making a "pfft" sound.
It was as if the bullets were being absorbed into a swamp.
Clearly, the black smoke couldn't float like real smoke; it could only maintain a height of about two meters.
Even though it tried to escape, the dense bullets caused it to tremble and stagger, unable to move.
At the same time, the substance within the black smoke became more solid.
As the team continued firing wildly.
The black mist suddenly condensed into a figure in a black cloak.
The figure shouted, "I can give you money, just let me go."
"You've killed so many people, and you still want to leave?" Wu Heng gestured again.
Bang bang bang~!
Bullets fired again, piercing his chest.
The man's body jerked with the impact of the bullets, slowly retreating.
"You can't kill me, I have connections with the outer city gang…"
Bang bang bang~!
Before he could finish, more bullets tore through his body.
He collapsed onto the ground, blood pooling around him.
Although they had killed him, Wu Heng was still surprised by how tough he had been.
It took two skeletons to empty two clips before they could take him down.
Duke rushed over, raising his battle axe, ready to chop off the man's head.
"Don't bother, there's too much blood; it'll be hard to carry him," Wu Heng said.
"I'm worried he's faking his death."
"He's dead. Remove his scarf."
Duke tore off the scarf covering the dead man's mouth and nose, revealing the face of a gaunt middle-aged man.
Wu Heng pulled out his tablet and brought up the Guild's wanted list, comparing the face.
[Partchak, bounty: 720 silver, mid-level item reward.]
At that moment, Marta ran over.
She looked at the tablet with them.
When she realized it was indeed a wanted criminal, her eyes widened.
He had escaped from the Kingdom of Ekko.
The reward included not only money but also a mid-level item.
It was quite generous.
Their squad's efforts this time weren't in vain after all.
"So he really was a wanted criminal!" Duke exclaimed, surprised.
Even though it was his intel, he hadn't expected it to actually be a wanted criminal.
After all, these things often came down to luck.
Wu Heng continued, "Duke, go get a wagon. Marta, go to the basement and free the women there. Be careful of any traps."
"Got it, Captain." The two agreed and immediately set off.
Wu Heng walked over to the last body, stretched out his gloved hand, and pried open the mouth.
Two sharp fangs were clearly visible.
He really looked like the vampires from the movies.
"Strip him down!"
Barson and Bagdong immediately stepped forward and began stripping the corpse.
They left only the thin inner clothing.
A black cloak, leather armor, a short blade, and a backpack.
Wu Heng crouched down and opened the backpack directly.
A pouch of coins, a certificate from the Serpent Emblem Consortium, and a golden goblet encrusted with various gemstones along the edges.
[Blood Chalice (Artifact)]
[Type: Artifact]
[Effect: Drink fresh blood from the chalice to alter your physique.]
[Side effects: Blood addiction, sunlight sensitivity.]
(Description: Life is a disease, and curing it requires a steep price.)
An artifact!
A cult this small actually possessed an artifact?
This was certainly unexpected.
But it also confirmed that the cultists' high agility, especially their leader's ability to turn into black smoke and become immune to physical damage for a period, was tied to this artifact.
It was definitely connected to the Blood Chalice.
That was also why they needed to drink blood.
The side effect was "blood addiction."
But that ability to turn into black smoke was something Wu Heng wanted for himself.
Soon, the women held captive in the room were released. They were crying, clearly terrified.
A crowd had gathered nearby, including the local security gang.
Marta was speaking with them.
Wu Heng put the backpack and gear into his spatial ring.
Shortly after, Duke returned with a wagon, and they loaded the corpses onto the cart before heading back.
On the way, the middle-aged man who had shown them the bodies earlier hurried over.
"Thank you, Captain, and thanks to all of you. We've gathered a bit of money to buy you some drinks," he said, handing over a money pouch.
"Keep it; give it back to everyone. This was a wanted criminal, and we'll receive a bounty once we return," Wu Heng said.
"That won't do. We agreed earlier that you'd take it."
The situation in the outer district was different.
Some tricky matters couldn't even be handled by the local gangs.
That's when the residents had to pool money to hire mercenaries, often costing even more without guaranteeing results.
Wu Heng glanced at the man holding the pouch tightly and took it. "Fine, I'll take the money. If anything comes up, just reach out to Duke. We'll help if we can."
"Thank you, Captain, and thanks to everyone."
Wu Heng waved his hand, and the wagon continued forward, passing through the city gates into the outer district.
......
The wagon creaked as it rolled along.
A light rain began to fall, and it looked like a storm could hit at any moment.
Duke and Marta flanked the wagon on either side, escorting it.
The black-feathered eagle perched on the wagon, staring at the corpses with unblinking eyes.
"Captain, did we do a good deed this time? We saved a few people," Duke asked, resting his hand on the side of the wagon.
"Yes, a good deed. Keep gathering intel. Our goal is still wanted criminals."
"Got it. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it," Duke said.
The squad slowly moved forward with the wagon.
They passed a tavern.
Just then, a plump red-haired woman in a cloak walked out of the tavern, a subordinate holding an umbrella for her, whispering something.
It was Wen Mansa, the wife of the Spiked Gang's leader.
As the wagon passed, their eyes briefly met.
Wen Mansa coughed lightly and said, "The weather isn't too good today. I guess we won't need to post any guards."
"Sister-in-law, things have been chaotic lately. Not posting guards might be risky," one of the subordinates said.
Wen Mansa glared at him, "If you don't say anything, who will know? It's going to rain heavily tonight. If the brothers get sick, who'll take care of them? Post guards in the morning instead."
The subordinates were happy.
They thought to themselves that the Sister-in-law was really considerate.
"Thanks, Sister-in-law."
"Hmm, order some food from the tavern and send it to my room. After that, you can all leave."
"Yes, Sister-in-law."
......
The wagon passed by the tavern.
They entered the inner district and returned to the Guild.
They delivered the bodies to the morgue for identification.
"Alright, everyone head home. Once the bodies are identified, we'll split the bounty tomorrow," Wu Heng said.
"Got it, Captain."
"Oh!"
The two orcs left, and Wu Heng packed up his things.
Holding an umbrella, he headed toward Wen Mansa's residence.