Chapter 28 : Chapter 28
Chapter 28: Betrayal
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“Pah. An idiot like Scorpion doesn’t deserve to live.”
Inside the G-Class SUV, Black Snake spat out the window. In his eyes, Scorpion was nothing more than a waste who did nothing but drain the Five Poisons Sect’s resources.
He had managed to cause such a huge blunder just by gathering intelligence.
“Just a somewhat capable rookie, not worth worrying about. Fine. Not worth worrying about, right? Since you look down on rookies so much, then today you can experience it for yourself.”
When Lu Zhan had been chasing him just now, he had nearly pissed himself.
Even now, recalling that suffocating pressure sent a chill down his spine.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
That bastard Scorpion really deserved to die.
Even if Lady Lingyu demanded an explanation, he could simply pin Scorpion’s death on the Demon Extermination Bureau.
Of course, more importantly, he felt that leaving Scorpion behind would buy enough time to slow Lu Zhan down.
The G-Class SUV tore wildly down the broad asphalt road.
Only after that figure disappeared completely from his rearview mirror did he finally let out a breath of relief.
On the asphalt road, Scorpion swallowed hard, putting on a brave front despite his fear.
“Boy, are you really going to make this a fight to the death with our Five Poisons Sect?”
Lu Zhan cocked his head, and a series of crackles rang out from his neck.
There was even a smile in his eyes.
“Oh? So you people are from the Five Poisons Sect. That rat in Anxi Residential Complex was yours, wasn’t it?”
Recently, Lu Zhan had only done two things.
One was taking part in the Apprentice Demon Exterminator assessment, and the other was solving the White Bone Case in Anxi Residential Complex.
Any fool could guess that the owner behind that rat had come to seek revenge.
“Mhm. Go on. Tell me what else you know.”
Scorpion gave a cold snort.
“You think I’ll tell you? Dream on!”
“Fine. Since you don’t want to talk, then die.”
Lu Zhan stopped wasting words. Time was tight. He still had to catch the one who had just escaped.
That was all Slaughter Points.
In the next moment, Lu Zhan’s speed surged. Three phantom figures attacked from three different directions at once.
“Heh, a cheap trick.”
“Don’t you know that poison masters are extremely sensitive to poison? Under normal circumstances, your move might have cost me a bit of effort.”
“But now...”
“Heh. I saw through your trail at a glance. I can smell the poison on you from ten meters away.”
As he spoke, three darts shot toward the phantom directly in front of him.
“This should be your real body, right?”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The darts pierced straight through it and ended up nailed into the corner of a wall.
“Hm? Guessed wrong?” Scorpion twitched his nose. “Then you must be on the left.”
Yet the darts still struck nothing but empty air.
The corners of his lips curled upward.
“Then your true body must be hiding behind that last phantom.”
In the next instant, hidden weapons shot toward that figure in a dense barrage, like a rainstorm of pear blossoms.
He was certain that once they hit, the other party would instantly turn into a pincushion.
“Go die. In your next life, try being smarter.”
However, in the very next moment, a chill swept across his back.
Immediately after came a burst of searing pain that engulfed his whole body.
Slash!
The Longevity Saber ran him straight through.
He lowered his head slightly.
Looking at that bewitching crimson glow, he could even feel that the blade seemed to be devouring something.
It was eerie.
Lu Zhan pulled the saber back out. If the Longevity Saber continued absorbing, the man would die.
He had just avoided the vital points.
The reason was simple—he wanted him to die more slowly.
“Cough, cough, cough!”
Scorpion crashed heavily to the ground.
“You can take off the mask now, can’t you?”
Lu Zhan flicked the blood from his blade and slowly sheathed it. For a moment, the cold killing intent around him gradually faded.
He returned to looking harmless and inoffensive.
“Cough, cough... Lu Zhan, you won. You really are something else for a rookie. To tell the truth, I hadn’t originally planned on making a move against you.”
“I investigated your background. Your father was only a minor official Demon Exterminator, and he died on a D-rank mission. As for you, like most ordinary people, you didn’t have a Spirit Root for cultivation.”
“And yet, for some unknown reason, two days ago you awakened a Spirit Root in a single stroke and soared into the sky, opening your apertures in a single day. Honestly, even the Fantian Martial Saint, who was praised as a once-in-a-century prodigy, was not your equal when he was young.”
“I know your talent is very high, but I always believed that only a prodigy who survives long enough to grow can truly be called a prodigy. And Black Snake promised me quite a lot of resources.”
“So I was tempted.”
“It’s just that I never expected you to grow this quickly.”
Scorpion pulled off the mask.
It revealed a familiar face, and Lu Zhan was not surprised.
Back then, he had already wondered why, out of the four Jurisdiction Heads of Peach Blossom Alley, only this one had survived.
“So it really was you.”
“Then again, it makes sense. If the Rat King hadn’t had you covering for it, there’s no way it could have grown to that point before being discovered.”
The Rat King had seemed to be lurking in Anxi Residential Complex, but in reality, that underground palace had been built beneath Peach Blossom Alley.
Anxi Residential Complex and Peach Blossom Alley were neighboring streets to begin with.
That made everything line up.
“You really are sly. You even knew how to make someone else take the blame for you. Chen Qing truly had rotten luck in eight lifetimes to end up with a street neighbor like you.”
“I’m guessing Sun Xiang and the other two were secretly killed by you as well.”
“So you’re a member of the Five Poisons Sect too?”
But Chen Lin said nothing.
“I really don’t get it. The Demon Extermination Bureau is such a massive backer, so why insist on joining a petty little outfit like the Five Poisons Sect?”
Lu Zhan shook his head and sighed.
That sentence seemed to enrage Chen Lin.
“What would a genius like you understand? I worked diligently for half a year in the Demon Extermination Bureau, yet I didn’t get as many resources there as I got in one month with the Five Poisons Sect.”
“The Demon Extermination Bureau really is a major power, but everything there has to be bought with your life.”
Lu Zhan sneered. “So that’s your answer? Between risking your own life and exchanging lives for resources, you chose to trade the lives of ordinary people for resources?”
“You really think you’re so damn noble?”
Lu Zhan never claimed to be a good person, but even with the tremendous rewards and resources offered by the Slaughter System, he had still held fast to his bottom line and refused to slaughter the innocent indiscriminately.
If he had been like Chen Lin, then by now he would probably already have stepped into the Grand Ascension Realm.
“It’s only a handful of ordinary people. In exchange, one Martial Artist can become stronger. Isn’t that worth it?”
“The stronger a Martial Artist becomes, the more ordinary people he can protect. That is also the greatest value those ordinary people can offer. I’m sure those ordinary people would feel honored by it.”
Damn.
Even a dog would shake its head after hearing that.
“What’s wrong with ordinary people? Did ordinary people eat your rice? You’ve only had power for a few days, and you’ve already forgotten how to be human. Who didn’t start out as an ordinary person?”
“If you’re so high-minded, why don’t you donate your own parents? Or does it only sound righteous when someone else’s family is the one dying?”
“What a lunatic.”
Still, Lu Zhan was certain this was not the first person to think this way, nor would it be the last.
Thirty years ago, the Blood Moon had hung high in the sky.
At the time, everyone had been ordinary people. Now, the moment some people gained power, they immediately wanted to place themselves above others and divide the world into ranks.
And this was only the Aperture Opening Realm. If someone broke through into the Grand Ascension Realm, who knew how outrageous things would become?
Still, those people had better not cause trouble in his jurisdiction.
Otherwise, he would not mind helping them wake up.
Lu Zhan stopped wasting words and asked directly, “Where did Black Snake go just now? And where is your Five Poisons Sect stronghold?”
Chen Lin felt his life slipping away. He looked at Lu Zhan as though he were an idiot.
“You think I’d tell you?”
“Tsk tsk. Black Snake sold you out without hesitation just now, and you still want to shield him?”
Sure enough, the moment Lu Zhan brought that up, Chen Lin—who had been at death’s door—suddenly seemed to return to life. Color gradually came back to his face.
“That bastard Black Snake... he has to die. I’ll make sure he dies.”
He had come to save him in good faith, yet this was how he had been repaid.
How could he possibly accept that?
“Our stronghold is in Jade Bottle Bay, at Blackwater Hall...”
After getting the answer he wanted, Lu Zhan flicked out a strand of saber energy and severed Chen Lin’s head.
At the same time, the system lit up before his eyes.
【Congratulations, Host. Mission completed. Issuing rewards...】